THE PILGRIM VISITOR. Summer, 2014-Vol. 39 No. 7

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1 First Congregational Church of Royal Oak 1314 Northwood Boulevard, Royal Oak, Michigan Phone: Fax: Web Site: Published Monthly Return Service Requested Summer, 2014-Vol. 39 No. 7

2 Senior Minister s Minute by John Miller Children live in a world of dreams and imagination, a world of aliveness There is a voice of wonder and amazement inside all of us; but we grow to realize we can no longer hear it, and we live in silence. It isn t that God stopped speaking; it is that our lives became louder. - Mike Yaconelli Does that sound familiar to you? Does your schedule push you to stressful places? Does your daily practice keep you moving, fast and loud? Do your daily assumptions push you away from the new and unknown to the familiar? God can still speak to us, and does speak to us. But do we hear? Does the voice of God, and the moving of the Holy Spirit, still guide us on our journeys? And there s more to it than just our own personal journeys. While our ability to hear God is vital, how we function together as community is also impacted by our busyness and our volume. We set ourselves up to miss out on much of the message if we are not careful. Colin Harbinson writes, as the biblical story unfolds, it does so in stories and poetry. In fact, approximately seventy-five percent of scripture consists of narrative, fifteen percent is expressed in poetic forms and only ten percent is propositional and overtly instructional in nature. In our retelling of the same story, we have reversed this biblical pattern. Today an estimated ten percent of our communication is designed to capture the imagination of the listener, while ninety percent is purely instructive. We have a congregation full of creative people, and an extended network of talented friends and family from there. I believe all of us have gifts to offer beyond just what we can see, as writers, poets, artists, singers, musicians, dancers, creative beings. I want to extend an invitation to all to embrace this imbalance in style and structure, and take it head on. The answer to all of this is the moving of the Holy Spirit, promised to us to continue to sustain, inspire and unite us along the way, on our own and especially together. So here s what I propose: we plan a series, extending from the end of September until the end of November, to seek the moving of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God among us. We plan that series to explore wherever God takes us, in song, in word, in deed, in creative arts, in shared community. While Galatians, chapter five, begins with reminders that the world can guide in lots of ways, the key verses are 22-23, 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and selfcontrol. There is no law against such things. Beginning September 28 with the theme LOVE, we will explore each facet of the fruit of the spirit, in a schedule like this: October 5-JOY, October 12-PEACE, October 19-PATIENCE, October 26- KINDNESS, November 2-GENEROSITY, November 9-FAITHFULNESS, November 16- GENTLENESS and November 23-SELF- CONTROL. All are invited to share, in any way the Spirit guides you! Paint, draw, carve or create! Write a poem, a haiku or sonnet perhaps, or a short story, or a memoir or reflection! Take a photograph, write a song, choreograph a dance, create a collage, build your own vision and creation! Can you? I believe you can! Will you? That s between you and God-let nothing get in the way! There will be internet and paper signups to see where God is leading us. Watch for those, share the word and see where God takes us next! Peace, John

3 Impressions from The Director of Family Ministries THE PILGRIM VISITOR. Let us make humankind in our image...and let them have dominion...upon the earth. Our Sunday School students will find out who said that and they will explore the meaning of that quote in many different ways this summer. It is especially appropriate that the multi -age group gathers in our art room, which we call the Creation Station, for this theme! The quotation can, of course, be found in the Creation Story in Genesis. Each Sunday students who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade will hear a story that will help them understand what it means to have dominion upon the earth. They will talk with their teachers, Mary Gwen Stange, and Christina Hinkle, about what how God expects us to take care of the amazing home that humans have been given. They will have the opportunity to create an art project that will help them remember the story each week. In the past few years we have collected several fascinating books that focus on the opportunities that people have to preserve the many resources of our planet. Some have stunning photographs of beautiful animals and plants. An example of that is the book, One Child, One Planet, which was written by Michigan author, Bridget McGovern Llewellyn. Others are timeless classics, such as The Giving Tree, which was written by Shel Silverstein, and can be found in our FCC Library. The books, discussions, and projects the children do this summer will help them understand that everything God created has value. As they talk about ways to recycle and to use resources wisely, they may come to understand that living on this earth is a privilege, and taking care of it is a life-long responsibility for people of all ages. Dianne Kruzman. This cheery logo invited then greeted us at our national meeting and conference in Omaha, Nebraska in June. Highlights of this very fulfilling and very busy meeting are available at a collection of thoughts and reflections on the meeting from a variety of NACCC voices, including John Miller. Bill Ahrens was our delegate to the meeting, with John Miller as his alternate. Both participated in discussions that included passing our new articles and bylaws, and restructuring our executive staffing to feature a new Executive Director position. A search committee will be formed soon to find the right person to fulfill that position, while our Congregational Foundation begins a search for a Director of Development and Communication. These are exciting times for our association and your prayers for these transtions are appreciated! Our Bible lecturer was Dr. Richard Cleaves. You can learn more about him and read his lectures at withyouwhereveryougo.blogspot.co.uk/. See John or Bill if you have more questions.

4 Stewardship 365 Days a year We re in the throes of those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, but just like all of those department store displays of heavy coats and autumn colors, FCC s Stewardship committee is already looking forward to the fall. Here is a suggestion for your summer reading. Why not try a classic? These are the books you probably read as a child, or maybe missed out on reading as a child. Here are some suggestions: Charlotte s Web, the Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh and Anne of Green Gables. Take a chair under a tree and glass of ice tea and get acquainted with an old or new friend. Do you like history and travel? Our library has a gem of a book by Cecil Beaton: Chinese Diary and Album. For several months in 1944, Cecil Beaton, as a member of the British Ministry of Information, traveled to both India and China. The Chinese Diary is the second half of Cecil s travel to remote theaters of war in WWII. It is fascinating to read about his travels and see the photographs of China from 70 years ago. The Socks Box is back in business for the summer too! Donations for the Welcome Inn are still needed. See this message: Stewardship season traditionally begins in the fall, when the kids are back at school and life returns to normal In fact, this year, October 19th has been officially declared Stewardship Sunday. That day, we will make our commitment to support our church financially for the coming year, but it s never too soon to begin thinking about that commitment and what it means to each of us. Your commitment to support the church financially means that you are an integral part of helping to keep FCC our home away from home. When you think about it, that s quite an awesome responsibility-more responsibility than can fit into one Stewardship Sunday. Stewardship is something we can think about year round, even during these delightful summer days. See you in church this summer! Our National Association has a new logo, created at the Center for Congregational Leadership at Olivet College! Our association is riding the wave of our Way into the future! As many of you know we are open in one day a week for the homeless to come over, get out of the weather, shower, relax and get a bite to eat. We try and supply them with socks, underwear and summer clothes. For this reason I am asking for donations. We are very low on Men's Socks and underwear including T-shirts. All sizes are needed but Medium and Large is the most popular. Drop your contributions in the box at any time. We will deliver on Wednesdays.

5 PARISH REGISTER Birth Madelynne Jeanne Attan, daughter of Natalie Attan-June 5, 2014 Baptisms Warren Henry Teets-son of Warren & Sarah (Wright) Teets-May 25, 2014 Henry Albert Wright-May 25, 2014 Chase Brian Pams, son of Matthew & Crystal (Pamer) Pams-June 15, 2014 Deaths Charlotte Lowery-May 22, 2014 Dody Mapes-May 22, 2014 Ruth Stratton-May 30, 2014 THE PILGRIM Members & Friends Who Have Lost Loved Ones Scott Carlson-grandmother, Rosemary Carlson On June 8, 2014 we extended the right hand of fellowship to our Covenant Class: Emily Ahlstrom Nick Christy Rebecca Messner Jocelyn Nitta Kelly Stapelman Liam Ward Anna Watson Bread & Bake Sale: will be July 20th after the service. We will have bread, muffins and cookies for sale from On the Rise Bakery. FCC Outreach purchases goods several times a year to help support the bakeries efforts to give ex-cons and recovering addicts a chance to get back into society and learn a useful trade. New Name is GOOD NEWS!! Good Shepherd Lutheran Fresh Food Pantry has changed its name to Beacon of Hope Fresh Food Pantry. Here is the Mission Statement: As the Good Shepherd cares for us, we seek to shepherd and care for others by helping to meet the nutritional and spiritual needs of others through Christ's love and generosity. This program is sustained through contributions of food and cash that are given to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, First Congregational Church and Royal Oak Missionary Church. Together we work to provide fresh produce and a variety of pantry products to families (couples, adults with children and elderly) each month in our community. This name change was a step they needed to take to become part of the Gleaners network. They have passed inspections, gone through the food handling training and have been certified by Gleaners. Last month they were able to purchase some of the items needed for the pantry. As a bonus we were also given 126 containers of 24oz yogurt, 30lbs of blueberries and 24 cans of Ocean Spray concentrated Cranberry juice absolutely free! We had (8) volunteers from FCC on Saturday, June 28th and served 59 guests which equaled 152 people who will be fed from the pantry. Thank you FCC members, families and friends for volunteering and donating. Without your help we could not support this outreach effort each month! The next Fresh Food Pantry day is July 26th for those wanting to volunteer. FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF ROYAL OAK 1314 Northwood Boulevard, Royal Oak, Michigan Phone: (248) Fax: (248) fccro@fccro.org Webpage: The Rev. John F. Miller, Senior Minister Melissa Ambrose-Eidson, Minister of Music Dianne Kruzman, Director of Family Ministries Patricia Noll, Administrative Assistant Lori Dixon, Adult Bell Choir Director