The. Light. September Inside

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1 The N o r t h e r n Light Featuring the people and events of First Congregational Christian Church of Anchorage September 2018 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Inside Moderator s Message Fellowship Ministry Outreach Ministry Lifelong Learning & Book Study Worship Ministry Stewardship Ministry Crop Walk NACCC News Bridge Builders Prayer Poem Just for Kids Fall Faire Puzzle Answers Moderator s Message By Louis Smith, Moderator It has been a busy summer for First Congregational. You each have volunteered many hours to make this possible. We have had beautiful sunny days, but last week I was complaining to Tom Ward about all the rain. His reply was, you know it is August. We take what God gives us as he knows best. With summer waning and school starting, our choir and Sunday School will begin. It is important for us to recognize our children. Call them by name and talk to them. Some are shy, but they hear you. Children learn by observing and copying. How can they learn to participate in the community of God without our guidance? A special thank you to the teachers this year. Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such of these. Matthew 19:14. I will be happy to have the choir back as well as the hand bells with their wonderful music under the direction of Caroline and Lori. By the way, wish Lori the best as she starts her third grade teaching job at Sand Lake School. If at any time you have suggestions or new ideas for the church, feel free to make them heard. 1

2 Fellowship Ministry Lynn Barber, Chairperson MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THESE FCC FELLOWSHIP EVENTS: The FCC Fellowship Ministry enthusiastically announces the following events for the coming months. Please feel free to participate in any or all of these as your time and interests allow: September 14 (Friday) at 5:30 pm Our second Friday Food and Fun Folks gathering. This time we will get together at Don Jose s just down the street from church (2052 E. Northern Lights) to talk and eat and have an enjoyable evening. Everyone is welcome! Please call the church ( ) by 4 pm on Thursday, Sept. 13, to let Marcy know if you plan to join us. Also, if you have an idea for a good place (open at night, not too expensive, plenty of seating) for a future Friday Food and Fun Folks gathering, please contact Lynn Barber at dalybar@aol.com. September 28 (Friday) at 6 pm Game Night at church. Bring yourself, bring a friend and bring a game if you wish. Also, feel free to bring a snack to share. October 26 (Friday) at 6 pm Singing Jam Session at church. Come for a fun evening of singing together whatever type of music you like. We will have books with words and chords for people to sing from, and to play from if they bring an instrument, and we can also sing from the hymnal. Also, if you have multiple copies of music of your choice, please bring them so others can join along with you. Feel free to bring a snack to share. October 28 (Sunday) after church. Bean Hole Potluck Lunch during the Fellowship hour. More information to be provided. Outreach Ministry Kathy Means, Chairperson Your Outreach Ministry is Your Local, State and World Outreach On August 28, the Outreach Ministry met to discuss the proposed budget for 2019, which involved a review of projects completed in 2018 to date. With the help of and coordination with the Thursday morning Creating Liturgia group and our Fellowship Ministry, the church was successful in meeting our goals. We will again review our goals and projects for 2019 during the church planning retreat on September 15. We welcome your input. Thanks to Kate O Dell and Vivian Pike for providing a soup, salad and sandwich lunch to the 4As group on August 12. It was very much appreciated. In September, we will be sending $420 to the Panamerican Institute in Tijuana, Mexico to provide a scholarship for a student for a year. We will post information about our student on the bulletin board in Cary Mead Hall as we receive it. We continue to support the Church World Service CROP Walk, which will be on Sunday afternoon, September 30. Think about sponsoring our walkers, especially our youth. This organization supports local service organizations as well as worldwide efforts. Again, check our bulletin board for information. Future projects include a socks and gloves drive for Brother Francis Shelter and our Christmas brunch for Volunteers of America s Grandfamilies Network. Watch for updates!!

3 Lifelong Learning Ministry Marcie Errico, Chairperson Life and Learning Ministry reports that Sunday School is off to a great start as they study the miracles of the Old Testament. We are also looking forward to a year of fun PF outings and activities. We have added an activity corner to the back of the meeting house for the little ones to use if they get restless during the service, and so far, the users seem to love it. Also, we are looking for volunteers to help staff the nursery. If you regularly volunteer as greeter, usher, or lay reader, please consider adding the nursery into that rotation signup is in the volunteer book in the narthex. Remember, if we have visitors with young children, they won t return if we don t have a staffed nursery. Since it is a frequent comment that we want to add more young people to our congregation, we want to make sure we re meeting the needs of those that decide to try us out. Lifelong Learning: Book Study What: Lifelong Learning: Book Study Where Is God in Our Contemporary Spiritual Habitat? Facilitated by Kate O Dell When: Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30 for five weeks beginning Sept. 11 and ending Oct. 9, The plan will be to read and discuss two chapters each week. Where: We ll meet in the Board Room at First Congregation Church, or join us online with Appear in which provides for both audio and (optional) video participation. We will read Diane Butler Bass s book, Grounded: Finding God in the World, A Spiritual Revolution, together and explore Bass s engaging and many-layered answer to the question Where Is God? Bass brings her understanding of the latest research and studies and her deep knowledge of history and theology to Grounded. She cites news, trends, data, and pop culture, weaves in spiritual texts and ancient traditions, and pulls it all together through stories of her own and others' spiritual journeys. Grounded observes and reports a radical change in the way many people understand God and how they practice faith. In doing so, Bass invites readers to join this emerging spiritual revolution, find a revitalized expression of faith, and change the world. If you are planning on joining us through Appear.in, please let me (Kate O Dell) know by contacting Marcy File at FCC (fcc@gci.net, ). She will give you my direct contact information so we can get you set up. Everyone who is able can join us for the face-to-face discussions in the FCC Board Room. However, Appear.in only accommodates 12 online participants for each weekly session, so if you wish to join in from a remote location, be sure to make these arrangements very soon since they will be first-come, first-served. An online search indicates that the book is available as follows: Kindle, $9.24; Nook, $10.24; Hardcover, $14.83; Paperback $11.26; Audio CD, $28.14; Audiobook, free on Amazon with an Audible trial. You may also be able to check the book out from your local library. 3

4 Worship Ministry Claudia Kniefel, Chairperson Good, better, best; Never let it rest, Until your good is better, And your better best. That was my grandmother s motto, and it served her well. It might well be the motto of the Worship Ministry. We constantly strive to improve the worship experience as First Congregational Church. Often, it s just little adjustments you may not even notice. A couple of things you may have noticed are the beautiful paraments designed and executed by Irene Stewart, Jeanette Dillon, and Susie Coats. We also have new communion table service items. There are new bread trays allowing us to do away with the tacky white napkins we were using. We knew we still needed napkins for the chalice and the loaf, so I jazzed those up with a bit of simple embroidery. In order to be more welcoming to families with small children, we have turned the back of the meeting house into a quiet play area for restless children to go and play during the service. Several of these projects are an outgrowth of the Thursday Liturgia group, which is now the Liturgia and Soup Group. You are invited to join the group. It meets every Thursday at 10:00 am. If you have any ideas for changes, please let Jacob or any member of the Worship Ministry know. We re here to serve the church. Stewardship Ministry Sharon Higgins, Chairperson It is September! School is in session for most students and teachers. We will celebrate Rally Sunday and soon after, plan for the upcoming year. In years past we have kicked off a pledge drive in order to present a new budget. This year the Stewardship Ministry will present a budget draft prior to receiving the new pledges. We want to present the reality of the Church s financial needs. It is like the planning we do for our personal financing in that we have a certain amount coming in (our income) and a certain amount going out (our expenses). Why Pledge? The Church receives donations that vary from month to month; always in the hope that the income and outgo will balance. Pledges are a way to help the church know what to expect. Pledging helps me to give intentionally. It becomes part of my personal budgeting. It means that I have given thought to what I plan to do, and I am sharing that plan. Crop Walk is Sunday, September 30, 2018 You can sign up on-line at the address below. You can form a team, join a team or walk solo. All are encouraged to participate. It is a great activity for Youth Groups, Friends and Families. The Walk begins and ends at First Congregational Church. Hope to see you there, Penny, President, Interfaith Council 4

5 NACCC News By Sharon Higgins The 64 th annual meeting and conference met in June at the San Diego Marriott. 96 member churches were in attendance, representing 23 states. Delegates, alternates, attendees, observers, missionaries, staff, and speakers made up a total of 226 participants. Our church was well represented; Sharon Higgins, delegate; Louis Smith; Claudia Kniefel; Kate O Dell; and Rev. Jacob Poindexter attended. Rev. Jacob also presented at one of the workshops. The conference always includes a mission project. On Sunday afternoon, the youth and adults joined together to work on the Sole Hope Mission Project. This is a project to supply shoes to children in Ghana. There is an epidemic of a parasite (jiggers) that bores into the children s feet. Over a period of time, they are crippled. The shoes are made from recycled blue jeans. The picture below shows us cutting the jeans into parts for the tops of the shoes. We were able to complete 312 sets. They were then sent to Ghana where they are sewn and attached to a sole made from old tires. An inspirational Bible Lecture was presented by Dr. Terry Lindvall. This will be available at a later date on the NACCC website. Our Congregational Lecturer was Dr. Lowell W. Linden. Dr. Linden served as the Senior Minister of Redlands, California from In 2014, he became Minister Emeritus. He is the author of A People at Prayer. SAVE THE DATE: June 22-25, 2019, Cleveland, Ohio National Association of Congregational Christian Churches 65 th Meeting & Conference 5

6 Bridge Builders of Anchorage We Are Better Together By Kate O Dell The Bridge Builders of Anchorage ( mission is to make Anchorage the first city without prejudice. On Saturday, August 18, several members of the Interfaith Council gathered at the Captain Cook Hotel for the Bridge Builders of Anchorage 2018 Unity Gala. His was a joyous occasion, especially for the many ways the motto and mission were woven into the evening s activities. The celebration began with an expression of gratitude to the Alaska Native Village of Eklutna for their allowing us to hold the Unity Gala on their land. This acknowledges that, under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Eklutna, Inc. owns 90,000 acres of land in Southcentral Alaska, including all of the Municipality of Anchorage. After we stood for the United States national anthem and the Alaska Flag Song, we then read together this inspiring Pledge of Mutual Respect. We the people of Anchorage, Alaska pledge to respect one another, celebrating the differences that make us unique, our customs, our spiritual beliefs, cultures, colors, dreams, and ancestral traditions. Standing together hand-in-hand, young and old, we affirm that through mutual respect, we can build a stronger more harmonious community, a more united nation, and a better, safer world. After the dinner, President Penny Goodstein accepted the trophy for Interfaith Council of Anchorage as a 2018 Excellence in Community Service awardee. First Congregational Church is a member of the Interfaith Council, and you are enthusiastically invited to join in the fun as we plan for the 2018 CROP Hunger Walk in September. Please watch for announcements in the Bulletins, the Daily Updates, and on the FCC Facebook page. You can also talk with Rev. Jacob, Sharon Higgins, or Kate O Dell to learn how you can participate. 6

7 Prayer Poem A Poem, by Eric Gordon Johnson Middle Fork I stand up above the cliff and leave the world behind. The solemn patience of misted trees clings To cliffs that shine from the gorge With a powerful peace. A rainbow Arches between rock walls. The muffled roar Calls from the unseen stream, spirit of An unsunned shadow under leaves. Earth s stony Gash below my feet, an oracle, Nothing to mankind. It is earth s breath, Today ignored. Still its jealous Grasping tears at the heart amid The blood-red salmon berries. The swoop of silence of a great horned owl Floats over the chasm As the quiet ghost surveys the green Tumult, with span of wing and extended claws, gray feathers aflutter in its Wind. Flight mastered without demand but to the depths below Where waits the unsuspecting hare. Dare I step down and count myself a part Of this? Or do I stay, hearing As I today the god talk of the gorge. 7

8 Puzzle Answers on page 9 8

9 FCC People Senior Minister Rev. Jacob L. Poindexter (work) Caroline Valentine, Organist, Director, Northern Lights Ringers Lori Wasco Director, Chancel Choir Laney Hanas Acolyte Attendant Contacts Administrative Assistant & Editor Marcy File FCC Church Sexton Scott McClure Wedding Coordinator Barbara Widtfeldt Serving the NACCC Sharon Higgins, Year-Round Delegate Serving the PNACCC Fall Faire! Saturday 10/6/18 9:00am to 4:00pm First Congregational Christian Church 2610 East Northern Lights Boulevard Anchorage, AK It's all downstairs in the Cary Mead hall. Park in the upper or lower parking lot. Arts and crafts, baked goodies, holiday decor, new-to-you treasures, books, CDs, record albums, collectibles, along with original art from Dianne Barske, and beautiful hand-knit winter warmers. Something for everyone! Lunch of homemade soup and bread available 11:00 am-2:00 pm.beverages and Baked Goods available all day. For any questions, call First Congregational Christian Church ( ) or Sharon Higgins ( ). We will be setting everything up on Friday, 10/5/17, from 10am -4pm. Please plan to join us Friday or Saturday or both. The success depends on your help in spreading the word. Claudia Kniefel 2018 Delegate Puzzle Answers: Let all that you do be done in love. Remember You can find the current monthly calendar on the Church web site ( It s updated almost daily, so you might want to make checking it part of your daily routine.