Wheat Ridge Congregational Church United Church of Christ

Transcription

1 Wheat Ridge Congregational Church United Church of Christ September 2018 Volume 80 No.9 A child s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full or wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later year the alienation from the sources of our strength. If a child is to keep alive his or her inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, that child needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with the child the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in. Parents often have a sense of inadequacy when confronted on the one hand with the eager, sensitive mind of a child and on the other with a world of complex physical nature, inhabited by a life so various and unfamiliar that it seems hopeless to reduce it to order and knowledge. In a mood of self-defeat, they exclaim, How can I possibly teach my child about nature why, I don t even know one bird from another! I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide her it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love then we wish for knowledge about the subject of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts the is not ready to assimilate. If you are a parent and you feel that you have little nature lore at your disposal, there is still much you can do for your child. With him or her, wherever you are and whatever your resources, you can still look up at the sky its dawn and twilight beauties, its moving clouds, its stars by night. You can listen to the wind, whether it blows with majestic voice through a forest or sings a many-voiced chorus around the leaves of your house. You can still feel the rain on your face and think of its long journey, its many transmutations, from sea to air to earth.... You can find a park or golf course, where you can observe the mysterious migrations of the birds and the changing seasons. And with your child you can ponder the mystery of a growing seed, even if it be only one planted in a pot of earth in the kitchen window. The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world are not reserved for scientists but are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea and sky and their amazing life.

2 September & October 2018 P a ge 2 Volume 80 No. 9 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat AUG September 1 LAITY SUNDAY No Yoga 2 Communion after worship 3 LABOR DAY 4 5 1st Choir rehearsal At the home of Ro and Deana, 630 pm No Yoga Deacons, 9:30 Trustees, 10:30 9 David Preaching 10 Wheat Ridge Partnered in Faith 11:30 1: Choir 7 pm City of WR community meeting (Fellowship Hall) KICK OFF Sunday Community Recycle Day October WORLD COMMUNION :00 Deacons, 9:30 Trustees, 10:30 14 A nnual BBQ

3 P a ge 3 V olume 80 No. 9 Mouse Morsels Hello, everyone, and happy September! Where did the summer go? We sure had a lot of fun this summer! We enjoyed the church picnic in the park. We were also happy to see some of our church members march in the Pridefest parade. We loved the two tours to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and we have to admit we ate many hot dogs and much ice cream on Hot Dog Sunday. We had a jazzy time on Jazz Communion Sunday and we heard that Laity Sunday was awesome, too! The confirmation youth finished a year of Christian education and formation. Thank you to everyone who helped with the Women s Homelessness Initiative. We had an excellent turnout with many of our youth showing up to help! We ve been having so much fun, and now we are gearing up for our fall kick-off, scheduled for September 16. The Song Beams will be singing with the choir, and our church school kids will help lead worship. Come and join us for this celebrative and enjoyable worship service! We received a nice message from Krista Williams. She moved into her new house on August 12. Krista says, The woman next door had a get-acquainted-with-theneighbor-ladies party with 10 awesome women! Now that truly is neighborly! Krista s new address is 207 Mildred Lane, Benbrook, TX We are glad you are enjoying your new home and new friends, but we still miss you! Jeanne Gallagher has also moved but we are happy she hasn t moved too far. Her new address is 6550 Yank Way, Apt. 327, Arvada, CO Your pastors had a lot of family time this past month. James, Hae Min Lee, Olivia, and Hope Conner came for a visit all the way from Vienna, Austria. They are a beautiful family and it was nice to see them! James is the son of David Conner and Nancy Conner. Speaking of family, Pastors Claudia and David had a reunion with all Claudia s siblings and several other family members. They had a great time in Leadville, CO. Congratulations to Dave Nachtweih and Shea Kluender on the birth of their third daughter, Violet Rae Nachtweih! Violet was born on July 29 and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. Her proud older sisters are Zadie & Lia. Just in case you didn t hear, Karen Ugolini has officially changed her name back to Karen Parkinson. Yay! Speaking of Karen, we are glad Karen had some enjoyable trips this summer because she is now very busy substitute teaching with the Jefferson County School District. The district has a teacher shortage. We were so sorry about the unexpected death of Ann Rowan but we had a wonderful service celebrating her adventurous and full life. She will be missed. Ann was the person who taught Bonnie Daly how to crochet. Thanks to Bonnie and Deb Packard, we have had a wonderful prayer shawl ministry for many years. Just so you aren t surprised, the tall pine tree at the front of the church on 29th Avenue is about to be removed by the City of Wheat Ridge. The tree was declared, in decline by the city arborist due to a pine beetle infestation. The cost will be covered by the city. (That s cool!) You probably have noticed that there is an increase in homelessness in Wheat Ridge and other metro- Denver cities. This includes individuals on foot, on bikes, in campers, and in cars. Over the last several months our church has seen an increase on our own property. The causes and solutions to homelessness are many. From left to right; Christa, Carl, Curt, Carleen, and Claudia and complex. We do not have the facility or resources to address the multilayers of issues but we can be kind and compassionate, and there are ways we can support homeless individuals. Our Rocky Mountain Conference is actively involved in supporting the ministry of Archway Services and Housing. Please read more about this opportunity on page 6. We hope you have a great fall! See you soon. Please let us know if you have any news so we can add you to the Mouse Morsels.

4 P a ge 4 V olume 80 No. 9 August and Offerings and Attendance 7/1/2018 4, /8/ /15/ /22/ /29/ Total July 13, /5/ /12/ /19/ /26/ Total August Bonnie and Curt Daly 1-Sep Anniversary Claudia Schmitt and David Conner 2-Sep Anniversary Matt Brozovich 9-Sep Birthday Lee Rains Thomas 13-Sep Birthday Joanne Dyer 15-Sep Birthday Marilyn Olson 15-Sep Birthday Rod Gustafson 18-Sep Birthday Christine Bland 29-Sep Birthday Our church needs about $9,500 per month to fund our operating expenses. You can now Zelle your church pledge! You will need to sign up with your bank*. It is very easy. You simply send your pledge via Zelle to: wheatridgeunited@outlook.com If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person. Mister Rogers Per Capita Dues Due Now Hi, everyone. We are now collecting per capita dues. The dues are $13.50 per member. $12.00 goes to the Rocky Mountain Conference to support La Foret and Rocky Mountain Conference Ministries. $1.50 goes to the Denver Metro Association which supports administration, student scholarships, and other needs.

5 P a ge 5 About OCWM Our Churches Wider Mission (OCWM) is a monetary gift that our church gives to the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. The amount we give varies each year and is dependent on what we collect from your pledges and specifically the amount you designate as benevolences. All churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference are expected to support this mission. It is virtually our Conference s only source of revenue. Our church is one of 13 churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference that give less than 1% of our annual budget. Some churches give as much as 10%. I am happy to report that we are continuing to increase our giving, but you may wonder why this is so important. The following information is a summary of what OCWM supports. In 2016, about 80% of RMC churches sent OCWM Basic Support to the Conference. Unlike mission-directed giving such as One Great Hour of Sharing, Basic Support allows us to faithfully retain a staff that provides necessary guidance and resources to sustain the health and vitality of our churches. Without Basic Support, these services wouldn t exist. Basic Support is a covenant: The Conference does everything it can to enrich local churches, and in return, churches send funds to make it possible. As a covenanted people, we are concerned with the wellbeing of all of our churches, so we support every RMC church, regardless of how much they ve given. This is where it gets tricky, though: Even when 20% of churches give $0 (as in 2016), these churches still need and receive the same support as churches who gave generously. There are three ways for the church to affirm its mutual covenant: OCWM Basic Support: 78% supports RMC ministries, while 22% supports the UCC National Offices in Cleveland. Per Capita ($12/member/year): 80% supports RMC ministries, while 20% supports La Foret. Friends of the Conference : 100% supports RMC ministries! These are gifts from individuals who want to want make an even bigger impact in our Conference. Our church doesn t currently include Basic Support in our yearly budget, but our Trustees are considering adding this. Support isn t an all-or-nothing proposition. We are grateful for whatever you give. Of every dollar: Ministry Development: 33 Ministry Development focuses on the health and vitality of our local churches and their ministries, including transition support, pastor search & call process (interim minister recruitment, church mission discernment, etc.), crisis management, communications and technical support (website, promotion, branding, etc.), boundary training, Annual Celebration, and support for our five Associations. Faith Formation: 38 We believe that building up bold and faithful leaders for the future is a top priority. That means educating our children, youth, and adult leaders through RMC camps & retreats, national UCC events, the IGNITE Leadership Initiative, and other vital trainings. UCC Covenant: 18 We are stronger together than we are alone. The covenant funds we send to the National UCC forward Christ s mission beyond us, via Accessible to All (A2A), disaster response, General Synod, and so much more. Mission: 6 Our missions support area ecumenical ministries, as well as local community outreach through In the Mud grants. Building grants: 5 Provides workspace for RMC Boards and Teams, as well as reduced-rate space for CO Council of Churches and Family Promise. The Church Mouse is published monthly by the Wheat Ridge Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. The deadline for copy is the 3 rd Tuesday of each month. Articles may be handwritten or typed, but we prefer plain text sent via to wheatridgeucc@gmail.com. Articles must indicate the name of the writer and/or sender. Unsigned articles are written by the editor. The church website is: News and photos for the website should be sent to the same address listed above. Sunday worship is at 10:00 a.m. Sunday School for children is held during morning worship beginning at approximately 10:20, following the Time With Our Children in the sanctuary. Adult Education begins at 9:00 a.m. every Sunday. Office hours are 8:30 to 1:00 pm daily. Monday is the minister s day off. The pastor may be reached at (office),

6 ARCHWAY HOUSING AND SERVICES YOU ARE INVITED TO ENGAGE! by Rev. Robb Lapp We are seeking to recruit a communication advocate from your church. Archway Housing and Services is one of three ministries directly related to the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ, the other two being La Foret Conference & Retreat Center, and the Endowment Fund of the RMC. Archway is inviting local congregations to engage in the mission of making life better for marginalized people living on Colorado s Front Range, people who need safe places to live, and who need to feel God s love as they seek to stabilize their lives. In our 23 years we have created 563 affordable apartments in 10 properties, with an 11 th containing 78 units now under construction in Lakewood. This makes the Rocky Mountain Conference the national leader among UCC Conferences in addressing this critical social need in an age of growing homelessness! Over a third of our residents are immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Of all our residents, racially, a third are black, a third white, 20% Hispanic, and the rest Asian. Some folks have been chronically homeless, while others are disabled veterans, often unemployed. Many families are single parent households headed, not surprisingly, by women. And, nationally, we are one of the only low-income housing developers that provides social services like food banks, ESL training, after-school supervision and tutoring, summer youth recreation programs, as well as job search support for adults. HOUSING MINISTRY PARTNER CONGREGATIONS Archway is seeking pioneering congregations who wish to play meaningful roles in our ministry. The first step will be that of identifying one or two people who will represent your congregation as Archway Champions. These persons will be the main contact between your church and Archway. Next will be site visits that show the depth of our programs and services. Then, volunteer engagement will include a variety of opportunities like volunteering for youth events and tutoring, helping with adult activities such as resume preparation or ESL training, food pantry set-up, advocacy for our work and mission, and even, perish the thought, Family Services fund-raising for staff and equipment. Additionally, Housing Ministry Partner Congregations will be invited to nominate persons for the Archway Board. Our goal is to have congregations vote to engage with and support Archway by voting to become Housing Ministry Partner Congregations. Church members will be encouraged to participate as volunteers even if their church does not become a partner congregation. If you are interested in becoming your church s liaison representative, even just to get things going, please speak with one of the 5 UCC Archway Board members. They are Jack Wieczorek, Jake Joseph, Jody Huntington, David Nester and Robb Lapp. These people are willing to come to your church to share information on Archway s ministry, and to lift up the immense need in America for justice and fair play for those who fall below a region s median income. This program likely will seem more appealing to our congregations along Colorado s Front Range, simply because of proximity. However, it would be significant if more distant congregations would publicly declare their support of this ministry. If this sounds like a passion and mission you would like to be involved in, please let Claudia Schmitt know, and she will put you in contact with one of the Archway Board members! Page 6