The Fellowship Post M i r a V i s t a United Church of Christ October 2010 I t s that threshold time again for Mira Vista and harvest season is a perfect time for this experience! The church of the beautiful view is pausing to consider the big picture. Our 60 th year as a religious institution provides the occasion for standing in the gate and looking both ways, for travelling in time. Time travel feels so appropriate for a church that, yes, rents office space and a place to worship, but truly meets on location wherever we happen to gather. Just four years ago we sold our building and property to the Montessori Family School; that July we held a huge celebration of all that had happened in and from that space; on August 27, 2006 we held our final service in our old space; on the next Sunday morning, September 3, 2006 many of us walked down the hill two miles to be joyfully received by Christ Lutheran in El Cerrito, who continue to share their space, creating our new home on location. Walking down Cutting Boulevard and up Stockton Avenue was not arduous for us, but it signified a truly difficult journey that was now mostly behind us, a journey that required many difficult conversations and decisions; we endured many trials and tribulations. Now, in 2010, here we are, more active and vital and committed than ever, with many new companions on the way. How blessed we have been in the ensuing four years! In our returning to celebrate we are time traveling both backward and forward -- where did we come from, who were we then, where and who are we now, and what is next, God? Our perspective necessarily shifts as we do this mental/emotional/spiritual travelling. What a blessing it will be if we remain open to changing attitudes and changing hearts and minds as we reflect from this gateway! I am struck by how many of our current worshippers have never been inside our former building. We are hoping to bring you all back with us to our founding space and the many years of faithfulness lived in and out of 7075 Cutting Boulevard. You newer folks, you who are fellow architects of the church that is and is to come: many of you have rejoiced that we are not tied to and constantly concerned with a building. I wonder what impression you will form of how and whom we used to be as you travel back with us, back to where we used to live. You who will come to the celebration but don t currently worship with us: I wonder what impression you will form after experiencing our new congregation in the space that was once your worship space too, what new word you might hear as we listen together. You who have already traveled from the old to the new four years ago; you who have endured all the burdens of discerning, deciding, negotiating, selling, clearing out AND walking down the hill to a strange place of worship AFTER years of loving and caring for an increasingly burdensome property: I wonder what impression you will take away after returning to worship in your former space with friends both old and new. When I had the opportunity to walk through our rehabbed old building, I felt pride and joy and was overwhelmingly moved to tears, not tears of sadness, not tears of joy, but tears that simply recognized the old amongst the new, the
new amongst the old. I felt pride on behalf of the beautiful, sturdy building that has served so many for so long; pride in the founding families who so faithfully brought this vision to reality; and joy for the new life that fully inhabits this space for the 21 st century. On October 10th I will share a new experience with all of you, and I will stand in that particular gate with you once more. Together we will marvel at what God has done with one small faithful body called Mira Vista Congregational and then Mira Vista United Church of Christ. Together we will give thanks for all that God has wrought in our midst yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Thanks be to God for 60 years of faithfulness. Last Sunday we sang this favorite refrain and this week it is my constant companion: Great is your faithfulness! Great is your faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see! All I have needed your hand has provided; Great is your faithfulness, God, unto me! It s been an eventful month for some of us, especially in the abdominal arena: Patsy Stubbs and Paul Honigs both had emergency gall bladder surgery over Labor Day weekend. Barbara Cook suffered an unknown digestive ailment that received a number of exciting diagnoses until it went away. Margaret Kavanaugh-Lynch s wife Mhel rushed to the emergency room for what turned out to be a kidney stone. All received excellent care from our local physicians, surgeons, and hospitals, all are blessed with good health insurance, and all have returned to the robust health they hope to take for granted again. Blessed be! 2 Nan Smekofsky was the lone exception, departing from our abdominal focus to undergo cataract surgery; she too has bounced back and is grateful to be back to her normal, full life. All your fearless leaders are busy as bees and industrious as ants preparing for our 60 th anniversary celebration at our former building at 7075 Cutting Boulevard, El Cerrito on October 10. Leading the cast of characters are Virginia Carrieri, Beth Koutz, and Diane Young. They have managed this all the way through and are hereby designated Queens For A Year! It turns out to be a lot of labor and advance planning for our church on location to organize a celebration at our previous location and yet there s no place we d rather celebrate our anniversary. We give great thanks for the Montessori Family School who are so generously opening their building for our celebration, and for their staff, especially Margaret, who has fielded our questions for months. We trust you will all be thrilled with the beautiful new space the school has created from the building you loved and care for over so many years. We will bring with us so many hopes and joys and blessed memories. Give thanks also for the unstinting efforts of Kathe Kiehn in helping Alice Parks through the entire process of choosing and moving to her own new location. Congratulations to all who helped and to you, Alice, on another successful transition! May God bless you in your new space with the same cheerful energy you have shared with so many, many people in your lifetime of service. Alice s new address: Pinole Senior Village #321, 2850 Estates Avenue, Pinole, CA 94564, 510-758-5347. Kathryn Burroughs mother Kathleen passed from this life in September; she was 91 and in her last months blessed her loved ones with conversations about the things that matter most to them. Kathleen was surrounded by constant love and attention during her last weeks and died peacefully in her sleep. Our condolences to Kathryn and to her husband Michael Miller and to their children Darcy and Makenda who have had to let go of someone central to their lives. The Burroughs-Miller address: 1245 Evelyn Avenue, Berkeley CA 94706.
Bonnie Hariton and her family are struggling to care for and make decisions on behalf of her mother Jean as her needs for care have greatly increased. We offer prayers for wisdom and patience in going through this new and difficult transition. Nancy Lemon is traveling to Bali during October to participate IN the wedding of a dear friend. It s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. That s all for now be well and have fun out there during our beautiful October! Staying in Touch We are receiving greetings from former ministers and old friends who cannot attend our 60 th birthday party on 10-10-10. *Rev. Shirlee Bromley really regrets that she and Ellen will be on a long-awaited trip to South Africa on October 10. She would love to see the revamped building and visit with all of you. *Rev. Ken and Barbara Coates sent regrets and congratulations and questions about memorabilia they are happy to share. *Rev. Nancy McKay says she truly wishes she could be in two places at once, but since she cannot, she has these words for members and friends of Mira Vista: Alleluia for what has been. Praise for what is. Great hope for what will be. May love continue to guide your life; may service give you meaning; and may the Holy One bless and keep you, this day, this night, and always. Amen. *Rev. David and Sally Hansen sent a letter with family news from Wichita now posted on our bulletin board. They invite you to write them at hansensally66@hotmail.com and/or hansendavid66@hotmail.com. They write: We would absolutely love to come to the 60 th anniversary celebration and raise a glass or two with good friends. It s our loss that we cannot share this time with you in person. Do please send us some pictures, if possible, with names to go with faces (not that anyone has changed a bit but our memories need assistance). We look forward to hearing all about it and getting in touch with friends again. 3 We ve also received a lovely, newsy letter from Selena Epley, daughter of Vincent and Billie Dong. In light of her father s passing, she included a very generous and unexpected gift that was designated for Mira Vista in her parents trust, in reflection of the deep appreciation my father had for Mira Vista United Church of Christ. My brothers and I were so lucky to have the spiritual grounding that the UCC provided and that has sustained us during our most difficult hours. I wish you all the best. She regrets that their home in El Cerrito, a place of so many happy memories, is now on the market. Read the rest of her news on the bulletin board. Susan Meeter New contact information: Davena & Mikayla Hambrick, 2000 Clay Bank Rd, Apt. L-4, Fairfield, CA 94533, 707-624-0074 Alice Parks, Pinole Senior Village #321, 2850 Estates Ave, Pinole, CA 94564, 510-758-5347 Meighan Pritchard, 522 Lilly Rd NE #321, Olympia, WA 98506 OCTOBER CELEBRATIONS Birthdays 1 st Kari Anduiza 2 nd Ion Hariton 11 th Joann Pavlinec 11 th Michael Wisely 13 th Bonnie Hariton 17 th Diane Young 19 th Kristi Anduiza 25 th Ali (Alexandra) Edney (Amy Ukena s daughter) Anniversaries 22 nd Barbara Cook and Susan Meeter Best wishes with love from Mira Vista!
From the Music Stand Dear Friends; I recently came across this quote from Rajesh Vaidha who lives in southern India. He is a master of the "veena, which is a large stringed instrument of the sitar family native to that region. I loved the way he breaks down the word music. M = Morality U = Universality S = Spirituality I = Individuality C = Creativity This pretty much sums it up for me, and for how Mira Vista has historically viewed music in worship. Music helps us to define each of these things as we go through our lives. It is an ongoing experience and one that brings great joy. This month is a busy one for the Amazing Graces as they prepare for the 10/10/10 celebration. We ask your prayers as they rehearse for what will surely be An Important Event in our church lives. Our rehearsals are Thursdays at 7:30 9:00 and I encourage women of all abilities to come and sing with us! The hymn sing that we ve been having before the beginning of the worship service has been a wonderful experience for me. I am learning new hymns and finding out which ones you all love as well. The depth and breadth of your selections never cease to encourage a sense of community, belief, and common love. May your days be filled with music! Amy Ukena NEIGHBORS IN NEED offering on WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY Sunday, October 3, please give to our annual Neighbors In Need offering. Give back -- pay it forward to all God s people in need, freely, just as you have received God s love and grace. Invite your family and friends to share their blessings too with Neighbors in Need. If you can t be with us in church that day, you may send in your check to MVUCC marked NIN. Neighbors in Need is a mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States: a third of NIN funds support the UCC s Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM); two-thirds of the offering is used to help support Justice and Witness initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects. This year s justice theme is Wage theft, which is when employers do not pay deserved and legal wages to their employees. While it occurs mostly in major cities, people all over the country have been victims of wage theft. A portion of the funds collected this year will help support the Memphis Tennessee Workers Interfaith Network (WIN). This faith organization has helped workers to regain their hard-earned wages. Last year WIN helped eight workers recover over $113,000 in unpaid wages. On World Communion Sunday, as people all over the world break bread and drink wine together, let us share God s love through our giving. Amen and be blessed! Davena Hambrick 4
OCTOBER IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH I AM A DOMESTIC SURVIVOR! By God s grace, mercy and protection my life was spared from one of many violent attacks from my exhusband. As my ex-husband was beating me with a folding chair and my three young children looked on, I promised God that if I lived I would leave. I lived and I left! My story has a positive ending. Yet, there are millions of women and children who have lost their lives from the direct result of domestic violence. I celebrate surviving by sharing my testimony of how I made it through and over the moments of abuse. I am still healing from all the brokenness, yet I smile because I survived. I share my story with you and have with many others in different settings and formats. I have spoken at fundraisers to help support the cause. I am striving to continue to bring awareness to our faith-based communities and to bring hope to those who have been silenced. A shocking fact that a lot of people do not know is that every 9 seconds a woman is abused by her husband or same-gendered partner and every 38 seconds a man is abused by a woman or same-gendered partner. That s 11,874 new victims every day or 4.3 million victims every year worldwide. This means that one in every four women you see could be a victim of domestic violence. In October 1987, the first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed. The same year marks the initiation of the first national domestic violence toll-free hotline: 800-799- SAFE. In 1989 the U.S. Congress passed Public Law 101-112 designating October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A purple ribbon is worn to remember and honor the loved ones who have lost their lives at the hands of a person they once loved and trusted. LOVE IS NOT ABUSE. It s really hard to be able to get out of that type of relationship when you re in it. It s hard to see it. It s hard to just be able to talk about it. It s NOT your FAULT. But talking about it may just help save someone else who is going through it! Speak Up and Out for those who no longer can. Davena Hambrick Cathy Noble, Clerk Remember the October 3, 2010 special church meeting to determine the outcome of The Hatlen Center donation. The 60 th Anniversary Celebration is coming up on October 10 th. Have you RSVP d? If you have, thank you; if you haven t, please take a moment to do so. We re looking forward to seeing you there! Council Meetings are always lively and deal with much more than is mentioned above. Please let Diane know if you would like to read the complete Minutes. Mira Vista United Church of Christ 60 th Anniversary Celebration Sunday, October 10, 2010 Come celebrate with us in the old church building, now beautifully renovated and re-purposed as a Montessori elementary school! 7075 Cutting Boulevard El Cerrito, CA 10:10 am coffee, conversation and tour of building 11:00 am Celebration Service 12:30 pm - Lunch 5
SETTING NEW RECORDS IN PHILANTHROPY Did you know that our church is in the top 5% of UCC churches for our giving to UCC special offerings? Do you recall that each year we routinely give away, to causes near and far, 15% (a generous tithe) of our pledges? Now we re talking about kicking that up a notch by giving a larger gift directly from our savings. By the time you read this, we will likely have already voted on whether and how much to pledge to a local nonprofit s capital campaign. Having spent time getting to know the organization, its financials, its purpose, and its track record, we can all agree that this is a great cause and the time is definitely ripe. Whatever decision you reached on October 3, you ve done an amazing job -- with the leadership of Moderator Wendy Wisely and our Council -- of thoughtfully learning and listening to each other s fears and joys and ideas about spending our savings. However much you decide to give, this process has clarified what we will need as guidelines for our future philanthropic (from our excess) giving. Three cheers for you, Mira Vista, you ve done it again talk about track records! A BLESSING FOR EQUILIBRIUM Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, May the music of laughter break through your soul. As the wind wants to make everything dance, May your gravity be lightened by grace. Like the freedom of the monastery bell, May clarity of mind make your eyes smile. As water takes whatever shape it is in, So free may you be about who you become. As silence smiles on the other side of what s said, May a sense of irony give you perspective. As time remains free of all that it frames, May fear or worry never put you in chains. May your prayer of listening deepen enough To hear in the distance the laughter of God. John O Donohue from Benedictus A Book of Blessings Susan Meeter HELP WANTED! CLUELESS STEWARDSHIP CHAIR needs to know What s a PLEDGE? Come, show, teach beginning SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17 6
Mira Vista United Church of Christ 780 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530 phone: (510) 526-0110 fax: (510) 526-0110 email: office@miravistaucc.org website: www.miravistaucc.org October 2010 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 NCNC UCC Church Day, Sierra Arden UCC, 890 Morse Ave, Sacramento, 8:30 am 3:30 pm 3 HOLY COMMUNION Worship, 12 noon Congregational meeting after church, re: The Hatlen Center 10 12 Noon Worship Mira Vista UCC 60 th anniversary celebration 4 5 Mira Vista prepares lunch, GRIP Souper Center, 10 am 11 12 Bible Study, 1:30 pm 6 Council meeting, 7 pm 13 Worship committee, 7 pm 7 Amazing Graces rehearsal, 7:30 pm 14 Amazing Graces rehearsal, 7:30 pm UCC Women s Network, Autumn Day retreat, Little Brown Church, 141 Kilare Rd., Sunol, 94586, 9 am 4 pm 8 9 GRIP Harmony Walk, 9-11 am 15 16 17 12 Noon Worship 18 19 Susan out thru Oct 24 20 21 Amazing Graces rehearsal, 7:30 pm 22 23 24 12 Noon Worship 25 26 Clergy retreat 27 28 Amazing Graces rehearsal, 7:30 pm 29 30 31 12 Noon Worship
October Worship Services October 3, 2010, 12 noon Holy Communion Neighbors in Need offering Psalm 137; Luke 17:5-7 Who Is In Charge Here!?$# October 10, 2010, 11 am! @ 7075 Cutting Blvd., El Cerrito 2 Timothy 1:6-7, 14 Jeremiah 29:4-7 Not a Good Time to Invest!$?# October 17, 2010, 12 noon Luke 18:1-8 M.I.T. Davena Hambrick, presiding October 24, 2010, 12 noon Luke 18:9-14 Liberal vs. Conservative, In vs. Out, Good vs. Bad: A Few Words About Yin vs.yang October 31, 2010 All Saints Sunday Luke 19:1-10 How to Be A Saint in 1 Easy Lesson The Fellowship Post Editor: Diane Young published monthly by Mira Vista United Church of Christ An Open and Affirming Congregation 780 Ashbury Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530 (510) 526-0110 office@miravistaucc.org www.miravistaucc.org Rev. Susan Meeter, pastor revmeeter@miravistaucc.org ******************************************************************************************* Mira Vista United Church of Christ 780 Ashbury Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530 Address Change Requested Dated Material October 2010 8