FRCC WEEKLY REMINDER

Transcription

1 FRCC WEEKLY REMINDER First Reformed Church of Cary, Week of May 6, 2018 O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

2 Prayers of Joy Thanksgiving and hope: New Prayer Concerns: Alberta Coding, Nancy Dey s mother, passed away on April 18th, celebrating almost 105 years. Liz White asks for prayers for the family of their neighbor Mike Taylor. Mr. Taylor passed away suddenly at the age of 63. The White s also ask for prayers for the family of their friend Warren Taylor (no relation), who also passed away recently. Rodie Slager asks for prayers for her brother in laws family. His niece passed away due to a drug overdose. Continued Prayer Concerns Please continue to pray for Dan Woodward and his family. Prayers are being answered and Dan is doing better, but still has a long way to go. Please ask for peace and comfort for the family of David and Sarah (Kalsbeek) With, as well as for David's mother, Diane With, as they mourn the loss of David's father, Jeff With who passed away on Friday, April 13, Please pray for the family of Carole Angrilla, Carole was called home to Jesus. Chris Forte asks for prayers for her sister Pam to urgent care because she had trouble breathing and was feeling weak. Liz White asks for prayers for her friend s daughter Natalie, who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and is undergoing chemo. Marion Legg asks for prayers for one of the ladies she works with. The young woman has had a bout with breast cancer and it has returned. Heidi asks for prayers for her friend Barbara. She s been having a hard time and is now homeless. Heidi also asks for prayers for the family of one of her coworkers. Michael died in a car accident last weekend leaving behind his family. Please pray for the Christians being persecuted in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Please pray for the Christian missionaries doing Christ s work in dangerous places all over the world.

3 News and Upcoming Events: Mission of the Month for May: New Activities! Adult Sunday School has started, every Sunday from 8:30 to 9:30! Please join us if you are interested in participating in Sunday School and Ethel Yarter if you are interested in dinner. Congregational Meeting May 20 After our Sunday service on May 20th we will be having a Congregational meeting to discuss the FRCC s future and to update the congregation on the search for a new pastor. Bingo at Phoenix If you d like to help with Bingo at Phoenix come any Thursday at 2:30 Teddy Bear Ministry Chris Forte is looking for some help with the Teddy Bear Ministry at Phoenix. Please see Chris if you d like to help. The Dorcas Food Pantry needs our help! The pantry is running critically low on many food items, including: pasta, pasta sauce, mixed vegetables, hearty soups, rice, dry beans, peaches, pears, mixed fruit, baking mix, cleaning supplies and toilet paper. If you can help, please drop off donations to 187 High House Road, Cary. Please call Jill if you have questions: Fellowship! There is a need for volunteers who can provide snacks on Sunday mornings, following worship. Please see the sign-up sheet in over the coffee table and sign up for the Sunday of your choice. Directed Prayer: Pray that Christ will lead us in the direction He would have us go. Pray that we will work in unity and that His will be done. Give thanks for all we have, and who we are.

4 We Speak Normal! Mommy, did you press English? my three-year-old daughter asked. Yes, I pressed English, I responded. Why? We don t speak English?!?! she said, flustered by the thought she may not understand Winnie the Pooh. Yes, you do. English is the language that you speak, I tried to reason with her. No, we don t speak a language, we just speak normal, she explained, in English. My daughter s grasp of the concept of language, is just like my comprehension of race growing up as a European-American child in the United States. Other people had race or ethnicity, but I was just normal. Kind of like the way there is an ethnic foods section in the grocery store, and all the other food is just normal food, right?

5 I found it liberating, later in life, to embrace that I too have ethnicity, and other people who are different from me also think of themselves as normal. I am part of a people group with values and vices to be celebrated and lamented, just like everyone else. Watching my Ugandan neighbor politely try to force down pizza at my dinner table, shows that my normal food may not even be tolerable to someone from a different place. In some contexts, my group, race, ethnicity, or even skin color may be the majority, and in other contexts I am the minority. We talk about skin a lot in our family. Mommy s tan skin, Daddy s brown skin and the hybrid skin our kids live in. At times these conversations lead to larger discussions about different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, and countries of origin. Since my children s skin is unique from their classmates, I decided to share about the wonder of skin on a day when I played substitute teacher at their school in Arua, I pulled out our National Geographic Kids, First Big Book of Why, which answers a range of questions from: Why do planes fly? to Why do doughnuts have holes? And somewhere in the mix is: Why are people different colors? There are many shades of skin among the children in this small school, whose families are from Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, Congo, the UK and the US. The topic caught the students interest, and the book put it simply, Kids whose ancestors came from sunny places are born with more melanin, and darker skin. How cool is it that God gave people more protection from the sun in hotter places? I asked the curious eyes, glued to the pictures in the book. This school is a special place, located in the home of a mother who loves to teach. The committed teachers write with chalk on freestanding blackboards; there aren t any computers or projectors. Even though the educational resources differ from US schools, I am excited that my children are learning alongside friends who broaden their understanding of the world.

6 Fun on the see-saw with classmates Addie getting a push from friends Addie and Jordan s school took a field trip to the only pool in town At home, we talk about there being good present in every culture. You get to choose the good from many cultures and make all those treasures a part of you, I try to explain. We have a large world map on our wall, and when the children meet someone from a new country, we search for it. Helping our kids view life through a global lens became necessary as they interpreted the experience of living in multiple homes their home in Decatur,

7 Georgia, their home in Yei, South Sudan, and now their home in Arua, Uganda. Somewhere along the way, I realized the importance of them appreciating the multiple stories of various people groups, as they learn to appreciate their own multiple stories. Thanks to a series of scholastic books written for children, my kids know about Gandhi and the people of India overcoming colonization. They learn about the Australian Aborigines winning the right to vote in 1962 and buying back some of the land taken from them. A book about Abraham Lincoln helps my children understand the concept of Civil War, which sheds light on the reason we moved away from the home they knew best in Yei, South Sudan. We are in Uganda, like many of our neighbors from Yei, until the Civil War in South Sudan ends or moves farther away My children hear many stories, including the ones that are hard for an American parent to tell. The stories which show the sinful institutions and practices written in the pages of our history as well as the narratives of courageous Americans who work to correct these wrongs. It is important for these young, US citizens to see that such evils and altruisms are in no way uniquely American. Hopefully, in an age appropriate way, they can understand the brokenness in each human being, including themselves, and also the sacred value of each person, which cannot be erased by mistreatment from another. This has been a learning process for me personally. When my firstborn child, Jordan, was three years-old, I was afraid to read him stories about Martin Luther King Jr. At such a tender age, I did not want to expose him to the horrible treatment of blacks in America. It did not feel right. At that point, his world was captivated by blowing bubbles, cartoons about the alphabet, and fitting pieces into puzzles. I did not want him to see hatred, or for him to think people were of different value based on their skin color. Now my second-born, Addie, is three, and I do not hesitate to explain to her issues of race, cultural and religious differences, or the ways people have been unkind to each other, making God s heart sad Why White Parents Don t Talk About Race, is the title of a chapter in a book called Nurture Shock, recommended to me by a preschool teacher in the US.

8 The chapter describes a study of families with kindergarteners which found that 75% of white parents never or almost never talk to their children about race. Some parents felt not talking about race allowed their children to not see color and live without biases. Yet, research shows that young children do recognize and categorize by race and they also form racial biases. One day, when Jordan was in a small class in the US, a classmate said, I don t want to play with you, because your skin is brown. This was a class of 3 and 4-year-olds. The teacher overheard the comment, talked to the child, and informed both sets of parents about the incident at carpool pick-up. At that time, it surprised me that it surprised me that kids make such distinctions by age three or four. The interaction, from what I could tell, did not scar Jordan. Did anything happen at school today that made you sad? I asked. He thought hard about it, looking into the distance with a determined stare, but couldn t think of anything, and said no. The encounter was probably harder on me. Retrospectively, I wish I had prepared him for that moment, so that he could respond from a place of self-confidence, self-awareness, and God-awareness. If kids see color on their own, let us as parents, teachers, and caring adults help them understand it in a healthy way, a way that acknowledges and undermines harmful biases. Let s give them the gift of a vocabulary and divine strategy for understanding race. Let s allow them to see color and see the good in it. God made it good. Thank you for your support of our family s call to international ministry. We are deeply grateful for your partnership.