THE CLARION. First Congregational Church, UCC. September 2017 Pastor s Reflection

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1 First Congregational Church, UCC THE CLARION September 2017 Pastor s Reflection Wrapping up a lovely first summer here in Las Vegas, we have seen a lot of activities come to fruition. The Wired Word was a study I brought from my days with the Gathering for Christ and the Gathering North. It is an informal study plan looking at everyday events and connecting them to scriptures. I have initially introduced this as an early bird special for anyone who d like to warm up before worship with God s Word and our fellowship. No matter if only two or three are gathered, Spiritual Formation is critically important to offer in any church. I don t truly know how much Spiritual Formation, First Congregational has been given over the years. As a part of my calling to serve in this vocation as a minister for the Gospel of Christ, it is an extremely important factor to the life and livelihood of any given congregation. The saying has always been that the church is like a ship that the captain must steer very slowly. This is still true, but it needs to be steered not down an old, comfortable and familiar path, but the Church of Christ is called to transformation. Transformation doesn t take place naturally or easily for that matter. The pastor is implemental in leading and feeding the flock not just with God s Word and instructions for our hearts to consider, but we must be active and create activity. We are a living Body of God s Spirit, to share not only with one another, but with the larger world beyond the east side of Vegas! One of the gifts, I have to share, with First Congregational Church beyond my creative nature, is Cursillo. I was not only blessed to experience my first Cursillo right after my conversion experience, the late summer of 2003, but have served it ever since for the last 14 years. It is a wonderful spiritual formation weekend opportunity for laity and clergy to come together and more or less, celebrate an extended pep rally, for God. It is an excellent program of Spiritual training, in essence, for empowering Lay leadership. I am most excited and blessed that there is a wonderful Ecumenical Cursillo community here in Las Vegas Via De Cristo, Light in the Desert. They offer two retreats a year, one being this Fall, September 7 th through the 10 th and one in March, TBA on those dates. This coming Fall s retreat is being held on Mt. Charleston at the Lee Canyon Retreat center. The Spring Retreat in March will be in town and will be cost free as my gift to truly welcome everyone to consider participating. Continued on Pg 2

2 This Fall s retreat, I am serving as one of the weekend s Spiritual Directors. I was delighted to come to find out that the Booths have previous been active in this Via De Cristo community and this is Norma s perspective on the importance of the Cursillo experience: Completing and participating in a Cursillo was a unique and enlightening experience for both Bear and I. We were sponsored by church friends from Community Lutheran Church (CLC). The weekend began on a Thursday evening at the church with greetings and dinner. We met others who were also Pilgrims. After dinner, we were transported to Mount Potosi for our "Light in the Desert" experience (#12). We arrived in the dark and were assigned to cabins. Our bunks had gifts or palancas on them with the weekends agenda. Each Pilgrim has a Prayer Angel who assists them and guides them through the sessions. The food is remarkable, prepared and served, by others who are Angels. We attended many short sermon sessions presented by others who have experienced a weekend at another time. There was a lot of sharing, listening, praying, and reflecting. We were pampered all weekend in many ways with gifts, quiet time, and wonderful new friendships. Saturday night was very somber as we had an awesome candle light dinner to reflect the Last Supper. Sunday ended the weekend with a formal church service that honored the Pilgrims and their experience. Everyone's experience is different and special to them. Mine was a reenergizing feeling of knowing God loves me! Bear's experience was one of overwhelming feelings that made me smile to see him feel God's love! It is a wonderful time to reflect on your life and God's gifts in it. We are blessed to have Pastor Nicole participate in this experience this September with Via De Cristo, Light in the Desert. It will be an opportunity to meet new people, continue to share God's Word, and hopefully give our church and its family new experiences. I will be a prayer angel for Thursday's first hours. All I need to do is spend some quiet time with God in my favorite place, my backyard, praying that the Pilgrims and angels serve God with their many talents and have a safe journey with Him Thank You so much Norma and Bear for sharing your input here on the power of Via De Cristo and its gifts. We will be looking forward to seeing how this ministry may be further encouraged here at First Congregational. In closing upon the thought of being encouraged and sharing this joy, I am looking forward to our fellowship opportunities this Fall being a church family picnic at Norma and Bear s home October 1 st and a larger outreach to the greater world of Vegas with another church picnic planned later that month. In regards, to special services and celebrations, please keep September 24 th open to come to worship and celebrate my official installation by Section N of the Eastern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. Speaking for myself, this will be a great milestone and joy to share with all of you~ I hope you will encourage extended family and friends to attend. I am planning on inviting a lot of family and friends to hopefully trek out here to Nevada and share this day! As Autumn brings in the cooler air and we rally towards the eventual turning of another year, may God eclipse your hearts with love, peace, and joy now and always.

3 At the August 13 th meeting of the board of trustees, we recommended that Phil Collins take over the duties of Shirley Norman as Clerk. After talking with Phil and explaining what the duties entailed, he accepted and in church council the vote was unanimous. Other items discussed were QuickBooks, the accounting software we currently use and when we will update to the new version. We are currently using the 2015 version. Further discussion will take place in future meetings. Our other major subject for discussion was for a New Property Team. Their goal is to look for property or property + building for our church to move into. Trustees asked if Don Grandjean would chair the committee to which he accepted and the motion for the committee was brought to council where it was voted on and approved. You can read about the committee elsewhere in the Clarion. Nelson Grandjean -Treasurer New Property Team We have formed a new team to locate and buy either a new building or property on which to build on for our future church. Don Grandjean is chair of the group which included James Norman, Ray Sitkiewicz, Norma Booth, Donny Grandjean and Chris Orozco. Others might be added later after Don talks with them. Marv Rayno has volunteered his experience and expertise on any questions the group may have. Currently we are looking at one prospective property on Sandhill. We would like to invite the congregation to bring us prospective properties. If you do know of a building or empty property for sale, please bring the address or plot # + name of realtor + phone # to Don Grandjean. Please do not contact any realtor because this is the job of the committee and they are the only ones with authority to do so. Don Grandjean Chair

4 What is a SOAP? Scripture a snippet of the Word of God to be contemplated, meditated upon & prayed upon Observation What are your initial responses to its meaning? Application From all you have contemplated and meditated upon, how will this be applied to your discipleship journey? & Prayer This should naturally flow from the Spirit s voice in your heart to create and share. This is your witness. As disciples of Jesus, Christians need to realize deeply that the Word of God is indeed living as well as needed to be incorporated into all that we do and say as a body within the Body of Christ. We need to build our individual union with Christ through the Word. This simple exercise is wonderful with nearly all texts and can be done at any time you feel the need to dive into the Word. I normally have done these in the morning hours after I have had a whole evening of peaceful meditation. I hope this SOAP and future ones I share here will be motivation for others to grow and go with the Word as a daily prayerful journey.

5 A S.O.A.P. Series on the Beatitudes By Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins Scripture Observation Application Prayer Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Today s Verse: 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom Scripture of heaven. Observation: Blessedness is holding all your trust in God with a deep humility which reveals the lifestyle of GRACE the Kingdom of God. Application: Humility is a beautiful kind of poverty that helps you to deepen your relationship to God and Love towards neighbor. Prayer: Heavenly Father, may our hearts grow and transform to know the blessedness of being humble. May our lives strive in humility to know deeply your love and share deeply our love for you and our neighbor. May we live into the lifestyle of GRACE always trusting in you, following your guiding light. May we never not be grateful for all you have given us! You who live and reign, forever and ever AMEN

6 Well here we are again, summer vacation is over and our students and teachers are back in school or back to work. I hope you all had a blessed break in spite of our heat in Las Vegas. We look forward to our Church Picnic/ Congregators on October 1 st put on by Norma and Bear Booth at their house. We thank them for all they do for our congregation. Please come and enjoy with us! We have formed a new Building Committee chaired by Don Grandjean to look for a new location for our church to call "Home". We will keep you all posted on their progress. We are also looking forward to the formal installation of our new pastor Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins on Sunday September 24th. I hope you will all attend this important and historic event and show your love and support for Nicole. Our Advent Season will be coming upon us soon and we look forward to many wonderful Sunday Services as we celebrate these important holidays. May God bless you all and keep you safe. Richard Stubrich, Moderator Christian Education Welcome back to all! Now that summer is nearly over and school has already started, we hope to begin our regular Sunday School time. First, thank you to Caitlyn Orozco for all her help this summer! The boys loved her! Lessons planned for this season include the books of the Bible, how to use our Bible, and what it means to us. There are lesson plans for those who wish to help Carla and I teach, but you can always do your own thing! The boys have also helped with lighting candles and offering during the summer, which teaches them to be a part of the church family. Please offer your help with teaching anytime. Norma Booth

7 September Sept 4 Sept 7 Sept 10 Sept 11 Sept 22 Sept 24 Labor Day Pinochle Grandparents Day Patriot Day First Day of Autumn Pastor s Installation Don t forget to come be social at our weekly Thursday morning Breakfast! Starts at 9am, venues change each week so just ask where we will be.

8 First Congregational Church, UCC 3415 S. Mojave Rd., Las Vegas, NV (702) Visit us online at: UCClasvegas.org Facebook: UCC Las Vegas Google+ Community: First Congregational UCC Every Sunday: Sunday School 8:30 9:00 am Worship Service 9:30am