Tidings from Tibbetts

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1 Tidings from Tibbetts R e v e r e n d D o c t o r J o a n n e C a r l s o n B r o w n O c t o b e r Founded 1909 I n f o r m a t i o n a n d I n s p i r a t i o n f r o m T i b b e t t s U n i t e d M e t h o d i s t C h u r c h J o a n n e s Jottings Rev. Dr. Joanne Brown When the Black Plague was raging through Europe, legend claimed that the plague traveled disguised in the form of an old woman. As the plague was about to enter a certain town one day, she met a farmer beside the road. Since she was hungry, she approached the farmer, Look, I m hungry and want to M usical Notes In these next two issues I will be tracing the origins of Hymns and their development. Hymns mean a great deal to many people (including myself). make a deal with you. If you will give me some food, then I will only take five people when I go into the town. The farmer thought it a good deal, so he gave her some food. Days later when the plague left the town she again encountered the farmer who was furious with her. Look, he screamed, you didn t keep your b y John Va n L ie rop People remember the hymns of their childhood, family events as well as great occasions. The word Hymn comes from the Latin word Hymus and the Greek word Hymnos. part of the bargain. You didn t take only five people, you killed 500! Replied the plague, I kept my bargain. I only took five. The other 495 died from fear. Franklin Roosevelt said during WW II that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. Well it seems we live in fearful times. Continued on page 7 Originally it was a song written in honor of the gods, leading figures or heroes. It wasn t until the 6 th century Continued on next page... It s the Extra- Ordinary Time Inside this issue: CROP Hunger Walk 2 Wear a costume to church on October 31st The men are starting their own group! October Book Club Hattie Big Sky, books in office Fall Rummage Sale Planned for Oct. 8/9 WUU Building Dedication, we re invited

2 Page 2 Ti di ngs from Ti b b etts CROP Hunger Walk October 3rd is the CROP Walk where we join others from the Seattle community in walking to raise money to fight hunger here and around the world. It is sponsored by Church World Service. This year we will be walking as a team. We are asking folks to pledge to us as a team and not individuals. Look for sign up sheets and pledge sheets that Sunday and join us in any way you can, either walking or pledging. What does CROP stand for? When CROP began in 1947 (under the wing of Church World Service, which was founded in 1946), CROP was an acronym for the Christian Rural Overseas Program. Its primary mission was to help Midwest farm families to share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-world War II Europe and Asia. Today, rather than thinking of CROP primarily as an acronym, we retain it as the historic name of the program. CROP Hunger Walks are interfaith hunger education and fundraising events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by CWS/CROP regional offices across the U.S. F r om t he Wo rshi p Commi ttee Important Deadlines In an effort to keep as much of our time together focused on worship and provide as many details as possible for your event, we encourage you to submit your announcements of meetings, activities and gather- ings in time to be included in our weekly bulletin and monthly newsletters. Newsletter submissions are due on the 15 th of each month and bulletin submissions are due on Wednesdays. Send them to churchoffice@tibbetts umchurch.org or drop them off in the office. We love the fantastic work (and play!) that our Tibbetts family generates each week! Let s read about it! M usi c al Notes ~ by John Va n Li erop ( continued from pag e o n e ) John Van Lierop, Jr. Music Coordinator and Keyboardist (continued from previous page) that hymns took on a Christian meaning. Saint Benedictine, who founded the Order of the Monks, started setting the psalms in Latin to music. These were known as plainsong hymns or metrical psalms. At this time only the monks sang the songs. By the 16th century the reformers wanted the liturgy to be said in the vernacular and insisted that the hymns be understood and sung by the people. Martin Luther of Germany played a great role in the development of hymnody. He was a fine musician and had a deep knowledge of the German Folksong. Luther s famous A Mighty Fortress is one of the pillars of church hymnals. Another hymn reformer was Isaac Watts of England. His Joy to the World and Our God, Our Help in Ages Past are two of his better known hymns. Watts was one of the first hymn writers whose texts were not exclusively taken from the scriptures. He felt that hymns were to express the religious feelings of the people.

3 Page 3 Rever end Doc to r Jo a nne C ar ls o n B rown All Hallow s Eve It is not often that All Hallow s Eve falls on a Sunday. While it originated as a pagan holiday it also has Christian roots as we come to All Saint s Day the next day. It is also Reformation Sunday marking the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church. We will celebrate both those happenings that day in church. We ll sing A Mighty Fortress, to mark the beginning of the Protestant movement, and indulge in a little fun. You are invited to dress in costume for church. Let s see how much creativity we can express as we come in joy to worship our God, a God who delights in us and loves laughter and fun as well as praise! Calling ALL Tibbetts Men, from age 16 to 99 We would like to start an official Tibbetts Men s group at Tibbetts. There are lots of different approaches that could be done for this, and to get the discussion started we will have our first meeting on Saturday October 9 th at 8:00 AM in the Parlor. Breakfast will be provided and assuming that an early Saturday breakfast meeting works for everyone, we will have breakfast meetings on November 13 th and December 11 th at 8:00 AM. This is the second Saturday of each month and the meetings will be held in the Parlor. If you like additional information, please contact Mark Pierson or Myron Lindberg Welcoming Elizabeth Nye, Praise Team Director Last year at the Cluster Choir, I was honored with an invitation to conduct the multi choir piece. I was impressed with your openness and enthusiasm. In the ensuing months I imagined how lovely it would be to conduct at Tibbetts. Finally I made a phone call and now, with the greatest of ease, I find myself conducting at Tibbetts. My passion for music started as a child from exposure to the classics from my parents and my ballet studies. At the age of 17 the love of music propelled me to create it. Thus an opera singer was born. Being a classicist, I enjoy learning all I can about my muse. I've therefore studied singing at Boston Conservatory of Music, the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria as well as myriad teachers. I found my ultimate teacher here in Seattle, Charles Peterson, who conducted at the big Methodist Church downtown for years. One of his beginning students said after her first voice lesson, "Gee, I guess I can sing after all." (the rest of this article can only be found in the printed version of the newsletter, available to members, since it was on a page that had private information and was removed.)

4 Page 4 Ti di ngs from Ti b b etts Fall Rummage Sale October 8th and 9th The famous semi -annual Tibbetts Rummage Sale is October 8th & 9th so it s time to CLEAN HOUSE and bring the results to the Game Room. Sorting began on September 20th and continues Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 AM- 2 PM or whatever length of time you can come and help. Come and work for an hour or a day. Coffee and tea will be available at noon, so bring your lunch. Come for FUN, FOCUS AND FELLOWSHIP. In order to work there has to be RUMMAGE so bring lots of it, but please remember if it doesn t work for you it won t work for us. Please don t bring TVs, computer equipment, broken electrical equipment, chandeliers, ceiling fans, tires, venetian blinds or drapery rods. Also we can t accept worn out sofas, chairs, bed springs or mattresses. Thank you! Help is needed Wed. Oct 6 at 6:30 PM, especially those under age 70, to move Rummage from the Game Room to Adams Hall. Thu. Oct 7 at 9 AM to help set up for the sale. Fri. Oct 8th 6:30-7:30 AM MEN TO HELP move Rummage outside before the sale. And ALL to help during the sale Fri. Oct 8 9 AM-4 PM and Sat. Oct 9 during the sale and at 3 PM to help clean up after the sale. To volunteer to help or for further information please call Mary Margaret Kolze at I n ter Generat io n a l Book Club, H a t t i e B i g S k y b y K i r b y L a r s o n Monday, October 25 th, 6-8pm at the Carters ( th Ave SW) Potluck followed by discussion. In this engaging historical novel set in 1918, 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks leaves Iowa and travels to a Montana homestead inherited from her uncle. In the beautiful but harsh setting, she has less than a year to fence and cultivate the land in order to keep it. Neighbors who welcome Hattie help heal the hurt she has suffered from years of feeling unwanted. The authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-german bias that endangers her new friends. Copies are available in the church office for donation. WUU Building Dedication Our partners in Family Promise, the Westside Unitarian Universalists, have purchased a building and have moved into it to further their ministry in West Seattle. The dedication of the building is October 24 at 7pm. We are all invited to help them celebrate this milestone in their worshipping community.

5 Page 5 Rever end Doc to r Jo a nne C ar ls o n B rown Let us be the voice that speaks the truth in love Worldwide Communion Sunday October 3rd is Worldwide Communion Sunday when we intentionally join with Christians around the world in affirming our beliefs and our commitment to Jesus and to God and to our intentionally living together in community with folks here and around the world. We will have a special service that Sunday with breads from around the world used for communion and symbolically going to the four corners of the world to receive them. Please plan on being with us in church that Sunday to join yourselves in this celebration of community. Joanne s Jottings c ontinued f r om p a ge 1 Continued from page 1 The economy is not good. People are losing their jobs that they have had for years due to being laid off or the whole company closing. We look and think if it can happen to them, it can happen to me. And the fear spreads. That bad economy affects the church as we rely on people s generosity and their ability to give to survive. And so the fear spreads. Just going to the airport reminds us how vulnerable we are. Security check points, identity screening, pat down searches, items from our homes swabbed for explosives. And so the fear spreads The government tells us if the threat level is yellow or orange or red. And the fear spreads. We hear on TV and the radio about murders and terrorist attacks, of Anti-American demonstrations in the streets of Kabul or Baghdad, of so-called Christian pastors burning the sacred scriptures of another religion and whipping up others to join their hate-filled, fear mongering cause. And the fear spreads. And it kills far more than the actual events. Maybe not physically but emotionally and more devastating spiritually. We find ourselves trapped in our own insular world afraid of the outsider, the different, the stranger. And we lash out in that fear and our best selves are lost in that cloud of fear. And fear leads to hatred and intolerance. It leads to Koran burning, and burning people in effigy, gay bashing and denial of people s basic human rights. It leads to hatefilled speeches based on misinformation and lies and prejudice. And words turn into deeds and acts of violence, too often in the name of God or Jesus We, in the church, have an obligation, a calling to speak up against fear and hatred. We have a message of radical, transforming love to bring to the world. If we are truly followers of the Way of Jesus there is no way we can be silent in the face of violence, killing, hatred. We must say, NO! to people who invoke the name of God or Jesus to justify their actions of fear and hate. The world needs to hear another voice a voice of reason, a voice of love, a voice speaking from the depths of our soul that says there is another way. We at Tibbetts, as a church and as individuals, can and must be that voice and embody that voice in action. We must not allow ourselves, our congregation, our Church, our religion, our country to succumb to fear and the hatred fear engenders. Let us be the voice that speaks the truth in love, that affirms as Jesus says in John that he has sheep that are not of this fold and know he loves them too. Let us speak and live out the conviction that we are all treasurers created in God s image, of infinite worth and infinite value. And if we believed that about ourselves first, what a difference that would make in how we live our lives and view ourselves and value ourselves. And if we then believed that about everyone else, there is no way we could kill, maim, hate, rob, oppress another person. That message is what the church has to offer that no other institution can offer. And we must be the vehicle for that message. Beloved of God, live into your identity and bring that radical, lifetransforming message and reality to all you meet, indeed, into all the world. It will make a difference.

6 Church Members receive a lengthier printed version via US Mail. Tibbetts United Methodist Church st Ave. SW / Seattle, WA Phone: churchoffice@tibbettsumchurch.org The Communications Committee has ensured addresses and phone numbers of church members who host events in their home are not published on the internet, and also protects the privacy of its Youth. Facebook.com/TibbettsUMChurch We welcome all people to celebrate and share God's love. To the Great Spirit We return thanks to our mother, the Earth, which sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squashes, which give us life. We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit. We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases. We return thanks to our grandfather He-no, who has protected us from witches and reptiles. We return thanks to the Sun, that he has looked upon the Earth with a beneficent eye. We return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children. After an Iroquois song (19th century) USA from The Bridge of Stars We return thanks to the Moon and the stars, which have given us their light when the Sun was gone