Pastor Greg s Gandering

Transcription

1 THE UNITED CHURCH OF BROOMFIELD an Open & Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ The Center of Our Lives Pastor: Greg Garland 825 Kohl Street, Broomfield, CO Pastor Greg s Gandering Advent in the 21st Century Nov 2014 The prophet Micah warns Israel and us saying, Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the HOLY ONE and say, "Surely the HOLY ONE is with us! No harm shall come upon us." A study from Princeton University has concluded that we no longer live in a democracy. Over the past four decades the system has been gradually altered so that the United States is now functionally an oligarchy. An oligarchy is a system where power is effectively wielded by a small number of individuals defined by their status called oligarchs. Members of the oligarchy are the rich, the well connected and the politically powerful, as well as particularly well placed individuals in institutions like banking and finance or the military. That means that the country is no longer in the hands of THE PEOPLE, but is under the control of the oligarchs. What the Princeton study found was that, "the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, nearzero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." Public policy is not determined by the people, but rather by the oligarchs. [mic.com, Tom McKay,April 16, 2014] Now you may wonder what this has to do with religion and faith and why I m talking about this in the church newsletter. Well, because it s a matter of righteousness a matter of justice it is exactly what Micah was referring to when he warned Israel that its rulers give judgment for a bribe. Now as the Princeton study points out, "Perhaps economic elites and interest group leaders enjoy greater policy expertise than the average citizen does." Gilens and Page, the study s authors, write, "Perhaps they know better which policies will benefit everyone, and perhaps they seek the common good, rather than selfish ends, when deciding which policies to support But we tend (Continued on page 2) Look Inside. NOV Anniversaries & Birthday s 2 Circle of Concern / UCB Wall of Prayer / THANKSGIVING SERVICE Daring To Be Loved Advent Study Series Small Groups & Activities - Attendance & Offering 4 Mission Update - KSK Update 5 News from the Preschool C.E. ALLITERATIONS OF LIFE 6 7 Advent & Christmas NOV-DEC calendars - Meet Heather 7-8 Sunday Hours: 8:30AM Adult Choir - 9AM Sunday School 10AM Service of Celebration 3 Our Mission Statement Our Church is dedicated to the love of God as demonstrated by Jesus Christ and inspired by the Holy Spirit. We demonstrate our love of God through everyday living. Everyone is welcome to join us as we grow in our faith and in our relationship with God and each other through worship, teaching, caring and fellowship.

2 2 Nov 2014 Your Church Leadership Greg Garland - Pastor Jay Malec - Moderator Jane Martin-Shelton - Vice Moderator Jonathan Wade - Clerk Carolyn Crouse - Financial Gary McKee - Treasurer Marti Pratt, Mark Stevens - Members at Large Gary Pratt - Trustees Chair Jonathan Wade - Worship Chair Laura O Kelly, Carolyn Crouse - Spiritual Care Chair Carissa Fralin - Christian Education Chair Kathy Plomer - Mission Chair Heather Ottem - Fellowship Chair DBSA Depression and Bipolar Support Group Open to all those diagnosed with either depression or bipolar disorder. Families and friends are invited the fourth Thursday of the month. We will meet every Thursday from 6:30-8pm in the Steele Commons Room. *This is a peer support group and in no way is meant to be medical advice nor is it to replace individual therapy. Pat s Adult Class - The Adult Sunday School class that meets in the Steele Commons Room will continue their study on the life of Jesus studying all four Gospels at the same time to get an overall picture of His life. All are welcome to join in. For more information, contact Pat James. (Continued from page 1) Pastor Greg s Gandering to doubt it." They will do what is good for them. This means that our government is no longer of the people, by the people and for the people. It is a government by the oligarchs and for the oligarchs. Under such a system how can there be justice for anyone but the rich. There will be some overlap between what is good for the rich and what is good for the other 98% and that may help us some, but the oligarchs aren t interested in the needs of the poor except for as the care and feeding of the workers may be required to best increase their wealth and power. What would Jesus and prophets have to say about such a system? A lot. Just read your Bible. In fact, a lot of the scriptures we read during Advent are specifically directed at the hope of overcoming just such a system and the ADVENT of replacing it with one of equality and equity. Pastor Greg {If you are interested in reading the study by Gilen and Page, please let me know and I will get it to you.} Birthday s 12 Larry Emery 13 Pete Crouse 14 Mary Lanzavecchia 15 Roberta Wenger Leroy & Barbara Schonberger 11/10/1950 Glen & Bev Hopson 11/18/1962 Joe Evertz & Carissa Fralin 11/27/1999 Josh & Kristi Foshee 11/27/ Edgar Riehl Terry Crimmins Carol Bliss Laura O Kelly Sophie Jacobs Will Wathen George Cheatham Mark Stevens 27 Erma Sauer 29 Mason Hill If we missed your b day please contact the church office.

3 Nov Prayers for family & friends of Linda Pardun who died unexpectedly Jackie Lyle on the passing of her sister Bev Hopson on her continued recovery Maggie as doctors try to identify & treat her illness Sonja & family as she awaits new life in hospice Jessica & family as she recovers from multiple abdominal surgeries Janet Mane, long time dance partner of Jonathan Wade, whose mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor Gladys Burtt, Carol Bliss mom, who had her gallbladder removed Russ Parker, Pat James son, who is healing slowing from his beating after work several weeks ago Terry Crimmins who had knee replacement surgery those affected by Ebola Eric & Jill, neighbors of Dawn Miller, Eric s sister committed suicide Jan Fausset who is suffering from a bad case of shingles thanks to my church family & prayers of remembrance to Paul Beaty, husband of Bette Erickson, who entered new life 4 years ago Corey Hill as he starts a long rehab from knee surgery Walt Grebing who had surgery for a pace maker Advent Study Series Daring To Be Loved Mondays at 7PM - Dec 1st, Dec 8th, Dec 15th and Sunday Dec 21st at noon. Jesus spent a good deal of his time trying to convince those who did not believe they were lovable that not only were they lovable but GOD LOVED THEM. This Advent season we will be exploring how we can become more loving by become more lovable with the help of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Dr. Brene Brown Sociologist Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. The book is available at Amazon, Google and Nook as an E Book or paperback or at your local bookstore. 3 To sign-up for this class, please sign-up in the narthex (lobby) or RSVP to ucbucc@aol.com.

4 4 Nov 2014 MORNING STAR GROUP WILL MEET AT NEW STAR CAFÉ TUESDAY Nov. 4TH AT 11 AM. ALL WELCOME!!! Men s Fellowship will meet Sat, Nov 1st 7:30AM at Egg & I & we will meet Sat, Dec 6th 7:30AM at New Star Café Book Club Update: The next meeting of the Book Club will be Friday, Nov 21st (note it is one week earlier) 7PM at the home of Lu Reuter. We will be discussing "Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, by Kristen Iversen. Gathering Circle will meet Sat. Nov 8th at 8:30 AM at the New Star Café 1255 E 1st Ave in Broomfield (near Home Depot) Everyone is Welcome Duct Tape Deacons Work Crew This is open to anyone that can come & help with repairs around our church building. We will work no more than 2 hours & then go out to lunch. Fix-it, Fellowship & Fun! Thursday, Nov 13th 10AM followed by lunch Attendance & Offering Sept Offering: $9, collected / $11, budget (under by $1,437.33) Oct Offering: Adults / Kids Oct 5 = 70/11 Oct 12 = 54/6 Oct 19 = 56/8 Oct 26 = 56/6 $10, collected / $11, budget (under by $1,050.65) YTD Offering: (thru 10/30) $103, collected / $112, budget (under by $8,320.74) Please make sure to get all of your pledge payments in before the end of the year - if you would like a statement request from Gary McKee

5 Nov KSK Update Submitted by Linda Neville, KSK Director Thanksgiving Food Donation for Henderson UCC We have been working this year to help the Henderson UCC with their small food bank. In addition to weekly food, they provide Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to 37 + families every year. We would like to provide Thanksgiving food for 20 families if possible. Needs are: Turkeys or hams Stuffing cubes Packaged mashed potatoes Canned sweet potatoes Canned green beans Canned cranberry sauce Canned corn Canned olives Gravy packets Pickles Bring your donations (whatever you would like to contribute) to church on Saturday, November 15th from 10 a.m. noon. If you prefer not to shop, we will also take donations of cash or grocery gift cards. Thank you! Ongoing giving opportunities: Non-perishable food for FISH and Henderson UCC (First Sunday of the month) Vases Gently used Bibles (new opportunity)- we will be donating them to the Bible Foundation who distributes them around the world. A box will be under the mission table to collect them. Pie crust mix or frozen pie dough Canned pie fillings (pumpkin, apple or cherry) Jello Cake mix & frosting Bagged pinto beans In November my mind turns to Thanksgiving and families. At Kohl Street Kids, we are fortunate to have 32 wonderful families in our program. Many of them live in this neighborhood but because Kohl elementary has many children open enrolled, they really come from across Broomfield. We are providing partial scholarships to five families this year. Thank you for your part in this outreach to Broomfield families and Happy Thanksgiving. Mission Update cont Christmas Christmas gifts will be collected for a Precious Child. They appreciated our donations for teenagers (their hardest gift requests to fill) so much last year we decided to do it again! Tags will be available on November 22nd and gifts will be due back to church on Sunday, December 7th. Here is a preview of suggested items: Gift cards: Target, Walmart, Forever 21, Pac Sun or Kohl s Headphones MP3 players Skateboards Basketballs/footballs Broncos gear Jewelry Nail polish and makeup Thanks in advance for making a teenager s Christmas!

6 6 Nov 2014 News from the Preschool submitted by Nancy McKee, Director The Preschool will once again be holding our holiday food drive for Broomfield FISH which is our local food bank. 1 in 20 Broomfield residents needs assistance from FISH. The following items are of the greatest needs; Peanut Butter Canned Fruit Diapers size 4, 5, & 6 Baby formula Personal care items; toilet paper, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, hand soap, hand lotion, deodorant & mouthwash All non-perishable foods are welcome, too! There will be a box in the hall outside the CE/preschool office for you to drop off your items. On-going fundraising projects: Cartridges for Kids We recycle inkjet cartridges and get cash! See recycling bin in the narthex. Kellogg's Family Rewards We collect points for new books from Scholastic. Bring us the codes from specially marked boxes. Leave in Preschool/Christian Ed. Office. Milk Caps for Mooola Collect milk bottle caps from Longmont Dairy products. Place in specially marked box down by the nursery. Sunday School We re off & running! We are a class down this year due to lack of children participating, but will gladly fill in gaps if we have more children come. Sunday School begins at 9AM so please bring your children & join us. Christmas Pageant Time is approaching for the Christmas Pageant! The CE Committee, while moving ahead, is small in number & we need help to make a pageant happen - please volunteer to help. Talk to any member of the committee - Carissa Fralin, Bob Wathen, Mary Beth Jones, or Kristi Foshee. On-going Committee Needs Christian Education needs you! Please consider becoming a member of this active committee. We will be restructuring for next year - no required fundraising and splitting responsibilities into smaller pieces in order to make things more manageable for all members. Your time is valuable, as is the work we do for our church. Please see Carissa Fralin if you are willing to participate with us! ALLITERATIONS OF LIFE Instill an Itinerary If you can't make a million dollars, then make a million friends. If you can't make a million friends, then entertain a million lofty thoughts. -Constant Gardener Can anyone guess who the Constant Gardener is? There might be a prize

7 Nov 2014 Nov

8 8 Nov 2014 Meet Heather Reinhart our new church Administrative Assistant Heather Reinhart has lived in Brighton CO since She has been married 25 years and has two sons. She has her BS in Accounting. The last year she work as an admin at an investment group. Her UCB office hours are Monday 9:00 to 1:00, Wednesday 9:00 to 2:00, and Friday 9:00 to 12:00. Stop by & welcome her. The United Church of Broomfield 825 Kohl Street Broomfield CO designed & printed courtesy of TopTrack, LLC