First Congregational Church, UCC. September Pastor s Reflection

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1 F First Congregational Church, UCC THE CLARION September 2018 Pastor s Reflection all is just around the corner! You can't really tell too much in Vegas though, the temperatures cool down a little bit, but no leaves changing, no birds starting to make paths for other destinations~ just settling into going back to school, getting organized and preparing for afternoon football. When I was a parishioner at Bethany United Church of Christ in Chicago, first coming back to church, I enjoyed their celebration of Rally Day. There is a certain spark to be felt throughout the congregation. This spark would be getting ready to dive into the more busier time of the year. We've definitely had a Fairly hot and somewhat challenging summer with the California smokes making the ozone levels poor As well as just the lull of summer. That's the only thing I've always ever disliked about summertime; I like working straight through things. Perhaps some people would consider me a workaholic, for I do work every day of the week. I don't {really} have days off. But it's like the summertime too, many people take a vacation not only physically but spiritually and I almost want to say: Hey, let's wake up and get to work! Getting down to work we have a brand-new space that has been beautifully decorated and as I said in a couple messages this past month, we got to start looking at what we can do outside of it. The homelessness plight in Vegas is definitely something we should look into seeing what we could do to help. Other things that we could do we just finished off our former swimming pool and we have to lay concrete there, but I'm hoping that the Ministry and Mission board will start digging into ideas for activities. Continued on following page

2 We need to appeal to our youth and new families. We need to look towards doing weddings. I've been studying up on weddings here in Las Vegas. Some styles of weddings we won t be doing but seeing all types of people and all situations. We have a beautiful little Sanctuary inside and we could make a beautiful setting outside in our backyard not just for weddings but renewals, for memorials There are many things we can do, and I hope we take advantage of that. There's a wonderful scripture that says: sleeper awake! Time to shake off the sun from your eyes and get ready to dig into planning and preparing Ministry. This planning and preparing shouldn t think small or just for our flock here at First Congregational but we need to bring in our neighbors and friends and family. These are those have not seen for some time. We need to welcome them to our new community. We must remember we are not an old perennial plant ebbing on to what little life is left. That plant is dead. We are a New Creation. We are a renewed seedling that has been planted in the earth at 2709 Horseshoe Drive. We are to be a real Church, not a social club for ourselves, but do real Ministry here in Las Vegas. May God bless you this coming September and onward! Your Pastor Reverend Nicole Collins

3 End of summer greetings to you! All the interior construction is now basically done. Attention to computing and networking is in progress. The Interior Decoration Crew has done a marvelous job making our new home feel cozy and welcoming. We again express thanks to everyone that has invested time and energy to achieve this goal. Our new hymnals have been put into service and seem to be a big hit. Thanks again to Jane and Don S. for their efforts in constructing our custom insert. Join us for Congregators on September 2 nd. We hope to see you there! James Norman, Moderator Christian Education is once again resuming meetings for the upcoming year. Caitlin, our chair, has relinquished her position to attend college full time in North Dakota. Farewell s and thank-you s were given as a token of our appreciation for her dedication and teaching, she will be missed! Now that we are in our new location and have a place, we will begin both Adult Sunday School and Children s Sunday school beginning, September 2. Adult Sunday school will begin at 9:00am on Sunday morning s before service begins. Adults will be following the Lectionary and alternating leaders each Sunday. Children s Sunday school will start after announcements are made during the service. Anyone interested in teaching some or all of the Children s Sunday school (a curriculum and lesson plans are already available) should contact Carla.

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 Galatians 5 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

5 Choosing to do this SOAP came out of reflecting on being a compassionate pastoral leader inside and outside of both yourself and in your ministries within the church. The first church is the soul the heart, inner core of the disciple. This is the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit s ministry in Your life to shape and transform you to live into God s plan for you as His disciple. St. Paul was very frustrated with the Galatians not understanding the steps of living into the lifestyle of Grace. In fact a good chunk of the letter nearly has him yelling at them to shape up! This final aspect of the letter articulates what Paul experienced personally on his journey as someone greatly hearing and living into God s plans. 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Observation: The Christian life needs to be centered in obedience to the work of the Spirit, which bears great gifts. Application: How we come to bear spiritual fruit is through a disciplined focus on listening deeply for God s Word in your heart allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through you. Spiritual fruit is not born of human wisdom but of heart wisdom grown in faith as a manifestation of GRACE lived. Prayer: Gracious and ever loving God, help us to build our spiritual foundation, Mold and shape us through your Grace to be fruitful trees, May our hearts over flow with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, May we come to share this with the world? As we grow in obedience to your New Law The one founded in the Love and Grace of Christ Jesus Your Son. AMEN

6 Trustees would like to thank the many people who have helped and are currently helping FCC piece together our new building. Overall the response has been just wonderful. Our building is coming along as expected and below original budget. Once we are finished the final total cost will be available to all our members, but for now we need to thank each other for all your efforts. We have gratitude for those who have helped in the remodel of the inside. We give thanks to our interior decorating committee and there helpers and there very tasteful touches not all of us could have done. We have several people who have helped out in our kitchen, restrooms and social area. As many of us can see on Sunday's we have been trying new configurations of our rooms in an attempt to maximize our space. We may not be able to functionally use all the suggestions we received, but that does not mean they are not valued and desired. I know some of the brilliant ideas I have had turned out to be train wrecks after a short discussion. Our committees and groups have done well filtering through the possibilities. The interest our members have in our new building has been a great launching point for us to recommit ourselves in Christ. We will soon be seeing new efforts come to fruition. Trustees will establish new office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's. The outside of our building has many folds yet to be discovered. On one hand we have Norma and Bear who have worked as hard inside and outside as anyone, yet we have much more exterior building needed. They are working diligently building and planning our outside landscape all the while maintaining much our front landscape today. In closing I want to thank Ellen for her patience in waiting for my article. Ellen should not have to wait, for I know I should pay more attention in my efforts. Jobs and tasks like hers that include many of you are not limited in our hearts; they do matter to all of us. Casey who cleans our church matters, our coffee committee matters, our council and trustees matter. We live in a time that we forget to tell those in our lives they matter and we love them. We are all in this together. All of you in our FCC family matter. May God continue to bless you as I have been blessed to know all of you? Chrisy

7 ! Announcements! V Every Monday Morning Coffee with Jesus book study, the Starbucks is back at 840 S. Rancho Drive in the Smith s mall! V Every 3 rd Sunday after worship, we will have The Wired Word Next Sunday for the Wired Word will be September 16th, " Thursday Morning Breakfasts at 9am " V V V V September 6th Omelet House 50s Diner (3050 E. Desert Inn Rd.) September 13th Bonanza Lounge September 20th Denny's on Maryland (across from Sunrise Hospital) September 27th IHOP on Decatur (South of Charleston) Special Dates Labor Day, September 3, 2018 National Grandparents Day, September 9, 2018 Patriot Day, September 11, 2018 Holy Cross Day, September 14, 2018 Autumn Begins, September 23, 2018

8 First Congregational Church, UCC 2709 Horseshoe Drive, Las Vegas, NV (702) Visit us online at: UCClasvegas.org Facebook: UCC Las Vegas Google+ Community: First Congregational UCC Every Sunday: Worship Service 10:00am Sunday School offered during worship