Giving Thanks 11-21-10

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Weekend Update 11-26-10

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A Week for Hope

Some of us are old enough to remember those pre-internet days when, every year about this time, catalogs arrived in the mail.  Sear’s, Penny’s, Macy’s, Nieman’s (we never had one of those) and all those exotic department stores from far away places which pictured all of the wares a kid could want.  Sears even published a special Christmas edition, just for boys and girls to sit and discover what they should really hope for at Christmas.  The wares we often chose turned into the “wears” my parents believed were more practical.  I am sure yours did too.  Nowadays, it seems that it is the opposite – internet ads, mailers in the mailbox, and newspaper circulars all seem to be hoping I will come to their stores for the comfort and joy of purchasing.

If you grew up the way we did with catalogs though, you may have done what we did.  My sisters and I would scan and scour every page and every photo, make our selections, and turn the catalog over to mom and dad.  Usually by the time we were finished with our work, every toy page had a dog-ear and every item had a circle drawn around it.  From there, mom would pretend we were able to hope for those impractical items by asking us to choose the top ten items we wanted and list them.  So, list we did, all the while wishing and hoping teh exercise did not have to degenerate into the practicalities of a family budget.  And I knew one thing above all – my sisters would get whatever they wanted, but I would not.  But, I would never let year after year of practicality destroy my reason to hope.

I really am grateful we don’t do that any more, and my hopes at Christmas have long since left behind the assumption that Christmas is to be all about me.  It is not.  It is about, of course, the hope that God brought to the world through Mary and her son Jesus.  It is about how God calls me to respond to his great gift of Jesus Christ and how I might pass on that supreme expression of God’s infinite love for all of us.

Each week this month, we will have an opportunity to make hope tangible for someone else.  Someone else at Sidewalk Sunday school will have hope because of a gidt we will give, someone else’s child from the Angel Tree will have hope for the same reason.  Someone I may never know or meet will stay in a home for which I bought a cinder block instead of a Poinsettia.  Someone will know that God loves them at Christmas, because I intend to tell them.  I know all of us will respond as we are able, because we know we are God’s bearers of hope to the world.  This week, we light the Advent candle we call Hope in order that we can be reminded that the hope that lives in us must not be the best kept secret we know.

See you soon, in the place where He floods our lives with the Hope of the World.

Pastor Mark

Serving in Ministry

November Greeters

8:00   Melba Dyal, Norm & Eldene Amundson,                           Betty McCann

9:30 Melba Dyal, Becky Martin, Lyn Gan,

Misty Lindsey

11:00  Debbie Hand, Robert Horn, Ginny Moe, Sue Minor

November Ushers

8:00     Bill & Pam Hooten, Dick Yetter,

Randolph & Sandra Young, Joy Wilson

9:30     Julie Perez, Ana, Deanne & Kevin Battles

11:00     Joe Barnhill, David & Judy Chicka,  Johnelle & Victor Moore, John Magruder

Coffee Time

9:00 Nancy & Jerry Roberts

10:30 Ginny Moe & Jerry Roberts

Muggers

Jerry Barney

Media Ministry

Manny González, Bob Phillips, Mike Jacobs,

Dave Beck, Don Wilkinson, Marty Alexander

The Gathering Band

Alan Shioji, Felipe Perez, Jackie Gaines,

Charles Ogren,  Steve Putnicki, Paul Behrendsen, Adrien Reyes, Melissa Ogren, Dave Boone, Mary Gaddy

Hospital Ministry Visitor

Roberta Harrison

Acolytes

8:00  Ryland Smith & Robert Ferrell

11:00  Grace & Hannah Gan

Altar Flowers

Today’s flowers are given by Carolyn & BA Hallum in gratitude of the many blessings

received over the years.

Disciples . . . Recognize and listen to prophetic voices raised about their community, their nation, and the world.

Weekend Update 11-19-10

Filed under: Uncategorized,Weekly Update — admin @ 6:12 pm

The Opportunity is still in need of turkeys! If you would like to donate, please drop them off at the opportunity center by Wednesday.
Thanks!

Excellence

I have just come from having a tremendous honor.  Pat Swaney asked this nasally, twangy-voiced preacher to be the “pronouncer” of words for the St Clement’s Children’s School Spelling Bee.  I was in a full sanctuary with children and their parents who were pulling for their children as they spelled.  It was interesting for me to note my own enthusiasm for the students as they boldly stepped to a microphone to hear me say, “The word is ….”  The students did admirably through the first few rounds, then began to drop out of contention over words like zigzaggedly, lugubriously, xanthium, and virulently.  As one would suspect, the looks of confidence and the looks of panic swept over faces as I spoke them, reminding some of how well they studied, and how well they hadn’t.

It was remarkable how caught up we adults were in the outcome, not of the bee, but of each and every speller at the mike.  As they would struggle for letters and their sequences, hear words used in sentences, listen for alternate pronunciations, the tension would heighten, then would come sighs of disappointment or relief.  The young lady who won was gifted and performed flawlessly, even taking time write the words with a finger in one or the other palm.   The one glaring error I made was to find my tongue unable to wrap itself around the “v” word above.  Rather than see me botch it twice and confuse a child, Pat marvelously communicated the word with excellence when I could not.  I found myself grateful to God for all of the complexity with which we are made and all of the ways we have to excel for the sheer pleasure of it.  I can just imagine the pleasure of a creative God seeing all of that unfold in some of the best that humanity has to offer.

Wherever we see it, experience it ourselves or simply hear about the grandest of human achievement and excellence we sense that rush of possibility for ourselves and for humanity at its best.  If it weren’t for the marring of sin, this place would truly be the Eden God designed it to be.  As we are giving thanks this week for all of God’s genius and provision to us, let us not forget to thank God for all that makes us truly experience the best we have to offer God and our neighbors.  And, let us not forget that some have nothing excellent in their lives at all.  Offer a prayer of thanks, and offer a prayer of change for those who have missed the excellence of God in their lives.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark

Be sure and bring your items to fill the Food Baskets this Sunday!

Be here to help decorate and stay for the dedication service and potluck dinner.

Be sure and bring items for this valuable ministry to our young adults.

Serving in Ministry

November Greeters

8:00   Melba Dyal, Norm & Eldene Amundson, Betty McCann

9:30 Melba Dyal, Becky Martin, Lyn Gan,

Misty Lindsey

11:00  Debbie Hand, Robert Horn, Ginny Moe, Sue Minor

November Ushers

8:00     Bill & Pam Hooten, Dick Yetter,

Randolph & Sandra Young, Joy Wilson

9:30 Julie Perez, Ana, Deanne & Kevin Battles

11:00 Joe Barnhill, David & Judy Chicka, Johnelle & Victor Moore, John Magruder

Coffee Time

9:00 Bill & Pam Hooten

10:30 Connie Smith

Muggers

Jerry Barney

Media Ministry

Manny González, Bob Phillips, Mike Jacobs,

Dave Beck, Don Wilkinson, Marty Alexander

The Gathering Band

Alan Shioji, Felipe Perez, Jackie Gaines, Charles Ogren,  Steve Putnicki, Paul Behrendsen, Adrien Reyes, Melissa Ogren, Dave Boone, Mary Gaddy

Hospital Ministry Visitor

Bob & Peggy Craig

Acolytes

8:00  Luke & Nathan Speelman

11:00  Kelley Ann Martinez & Alex Bozeman

Altar Flowers

Today’s flowers are given by Margie Melby & Dottie Smith in loving memory of our parents, Bill & Irene McClenahan.

The roses are given by Bob & Margaret Horn’s daughter, Margaret Ann, in honor of their birthdays.

*Scripture      Deuteronomy 26:1-11

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Faux Faith 11-7-10

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Weekend Update 11-12-10

Filed under: Uncategorized,Weekly Update — admin @ 8:38 pm

The Weekend Update has a new feature! We will be listing those serving in Ministry this week. Please read all the way to the bottom and make sure you know if you are serving. If you are scheduled to serve but can not attend, please arrange for a substitute.

If you have not yet filled out all 5 commitments for the Prayers, Presence, Service, Gifts, and Witness, please do so this Sunday! The commitment cards are in the Narthex. Even if you are already serving in an area, please fill out new commitment cards – this is how all committee chairs get their information. We would hate for you not to have an opportunity to serve where God has called you.

Finding Joy

Have you ever noticed the most joyful people we experience are usually the most grateful?  Rarely do we see ingratitude in someone who is joyful.  Most of the time, those of us who tend toward cynicism see grateful and joyful people as those who are simply out of touch with real life.  In fact, we see their joy, enthusiasm, and optimism as license to offer them the chance to “get a life.”  Rarely do we see someone who is joyful cynical.

It also seems rare to have the most joyful around us to be critical.  Those around us who are critical often seem to be the ones who focus on what is unsatisfactory about life or the circumstances they fear will impact them.  To be sure, our culture tends to move us to the critical side of life.  We listen to broadcast journalism that teaches us to be analytical and critical of the findings.  We listen to quips on television meant to make us laugh, only to find they are harshly critical and insulting to someone else.  Joy filled people are rarely critical.  It is not that they don’s see how life really is, it is that they see life with a different set of lenses.

Perhaps the quip is over-used and it is the joyful people who really do have a life.  They have a life of gratitude it seems for two reasons.  One, their faith in God is greater than their circumstances.  I remember the first time I realized that Paul was writing to the church in Philippi from the dankness of a Roman prison.  If one counts how many times he encourages joy for them, the number is over two dozen.  He is able to look around and even count it good that the Gospel is preached by people who are pretentious and full of mixed motives.  I am sure the cynical and critical part of us would want that to stop, but Paul sees value in it for one reason.  He knows that His God is greater and far better at reaching people with the Gospel than even he in the greatness and clarity of his own preaching for all the right reasons.

The second reason for the joyful to be having a great life is this:  God is able, and they know it.  They have lived life as practical theologians rather than practical atheists. “God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask, think, or imagine,” says Paul and he lives his life in the joy of that reality. Essentially, when God is involved, nothing is permanent except God.

We are, almost unbelievably so, closing in on the public season and personal season of Thanksgiving.  We do so because the first imported Christians to America felt it necessary to respond to the grace of God and the grace of their neighbors by taking time to give thanks. We, of course, sometimes are forgetful of what it meant to those first people who did so in their eucharist.  Just as we gave thanks over the elements of bread and wine last Sunday in worship, they too practiced their own eucharist.

I want to encourage all of us as we move into the season of Thanksgiving to look for the Joy and Peace. I want to encourage us to move less into the analytical and critical side of life to the celebrating side of life. I want to encourage us to be more complimentary than we are critical, more assuring that we are analytical.  And, to be practical theologians, so we with Paul may say, all is well, God is able to do more than we could ask, think or imagine.

See you soon in the place where we always give thanks, for being with God always seems to remind us just how blessed and spoiled we are.

Pastor Mark


Monday is the deadline to make reservations! Don’t miss out on this special fellowship time with your Church Family!


Sunday is the last day to order and pay for tamales. Look for the sombrero in the Narthex !

Serving in Ministry

November Greeters

8:00   Melba Dyal, Norm & Eldene Amundson,                           Betty McCann

9:30   Melba Dyal, Becky Martin, Lyn Gan,

Misty Lindsey

11:00  Debbie Hand, Robert Horn, Ginny Moe,                               Sue Minor

November Ushers

8:00     Bill & Pam Hooten, Dick Yetter,

Randolph & Sandra Young, Joy Wilson

9:30     Julie Perez, Ana, Deanne & Kevin Battles

11:00     Joe Barnhill, David & Judy Chicka,                                                Johnelle & Victor Moore, John Magruder

Coffee Time

9:00 Judy & Dave Chicka

10:30 Carol Pancoast & Alleen Burkholder

Muggers

Jerry Barney

Media Ministry

Manny González, Bob Phillips, Mike Jacobs,

Dave Beck, Don Wilkinson, Marty Alexander

The Gathering Band

Alan Shioji, Felipe Perez, Jackie Gaines,

Charles Ogren,  Steve Putnicki, Paul Behrendsen, Adrien Reyes, Melissa Ogren, Dave Boone, Mary Gaddy

Hospital Ministry Visitor

Marilyn Stanley

Acolytes

8:00    Victoria Nwobike & Grace Gan

11:00    Chelsea Nwobike & Sarah Carter

Altar Flowers

Today’s flowers are given by Victor Mireles & Ramona Russell in memory of Christopher Rippee (Ramona’s son) and in honor of David Mireles (Victor’s son).

Newsletter 11/12/10

Filed under: Newsletter — admin @ 5:04 pm

NL111210

Who Needs Us? November 7, 2010

Filed under: PODCAST — admin @ 4:51 pm

Listen to Your Heart

Filed under: PODCAST — admin @ 4:38 pm

Weekend Update 11-5-10

Filed under: Uncategorized,Weekly Update — admin @ 11:49 am

The Weekend Update has a new feature! We will be listing those serving in Ministry this week. Please read all the way to the bottom and make sure you know if you are serving. If you are scheduled to serve but can not attend, please arrange for a substitute.

If you have not yet filled out all 5 commitments for the Prayers, Presence, Service, Gifts, and Witness, please do so this Sunday! The commitment cards are in the Narthex. Even if you are already serving in an area, please fill out new commitment cards – this is how all committee chairs get their information. We would hate for you not to have an opportunity to serve where God has called you.

Sailboats and Cruises

I once called it “yachting for the middle class,” even though the cynical sound of that in no way expressed how much I enjoyed the cruise we took as a family.  All of the right elements are there – lots of everything to indulge and enhance the experience of being on the water.  What I loved most perhaps was the fact that no phones worked and internet costs prohibited us from even thinking about email.  Mass cruising of course, gives loads of people an opportunity to see places and experience things they might never have available to them any other way.  Just think about the experiences if you’ve been on cruises – how would any of us ever be able to continually afford the benefits of cabin stewards, table stewards, beautiful and tasty food, ice cream on demand, or the simple fact one can have almost anything the ship has to offer at any time of the day or night?

One of the other reasons I love a cruise is the simple fact that I have always had great affinity for the ocean and sailing.  I can stand in a marina, on a bridge or on the coast watching sail boats all day long.  If I were not a desert-dweller, I am sure that I would live near the coast and have a boat.  Now, I know mass cruising is really not sailing.  However, I once did a lot of research and found a company that actually placed people in small crews that allowed them to sail a large sailing ship.  I was intrigued and wanted to book passage, but not everyone in the family felt as I did.  They wanted a vacation, and I wanted an adventure.  The desire to find one’s way by the stars, hoisting and lowering sails, tacking against the wind and all the rest that goes with sailing was particularly strong. However, I resigned that desire for one that allowed me to be pampered rather than prepared to help sail a boat.  For some reason, the adventure of helping the boat along has always been more appealing than sitting back in a chair sipping pineapple juice and being waited on.

Now, it occurs to me, that people can also approach the church in the same way.  Some can come and participate in all the church has to offer, watch others make the ministry happen, be waited on and sample the best of spiritual food without a single thought they should be involved in the adventure or give anything back.  Many people would rather feel the gentle churn of massive props under the boat than the slapping of wind-whipped nylon and canvas while hoisting sails.  Many don’t consider the destination or journey, and many never think about what is needed to make the journey happen.

It has been observed that in a lot of organizations like the church, the Pareto efficiency is alive and well (20% of the organization accomplishes 80% of the work).  Staff and active volunteers are viewed to exist to serve the minimally involved and the organization, and to also take the good ideas of those minimally involved – like assignments to be handed out rather than calls to ministry in which to involve themselves. Often, when staff or others involved in ministry say no, there is offense and withdrawal from even minimal participation.

What is missed, at least for me, is the adventure of being on board with where God is taking us.  What is missed is the excitement of participation. What is missed is the opportunity to emerge out of ourselves and the self-centeredness encouraged by our culture and becoming involved in the calling God has issued to us.  The truth is, the church cannot be all it can be until we all answer the call and remember Jesus: “The Son of Man did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”

I hope you are on board with the adventure called Western Hills.  One never knows what will be found on a journey that asks a lot of us and gives us back so much more.  Take one more look at the prayers, presence, service, gifts and witness materials in the Narthex this week.  Where is God calling you to be involved in each?  If your calling is not yet part of a list of choices, talk with us about it.   Our new vision is meant to create the opportunity for all of us to set sail in God’s call to each of us as we seek to achieve that vision.

See you soon in the place where the Holy Spirit calls all of us to the adventure of God’s Kingdom.

Pastor Mark

Serving in Ministry this Week

November Greeters
8:00   Melba Dyal, Norm & Eldene Amundson, Betty McCann
9:30   Melba Dyal, Becky Martin, Lyn Gan, Misty Lindsey
11:00  Debbie Hand, Robert Horn, Ginny Moe,  Sue Minor

November Ushers
8:00     Bill & Pam Hooten, Dick Yetter, Randolph & Sandra Young, Joy Wilson
9:30     Julie Perez, Ana, Deanne & Kevin Battles
11:00     Joe Barnhill, David & Judy Chicka, Johnelle & Victor Moore, John Magruder

Communion Servers
8:00 Dave & Suellyn Lehrschall
9:30   Janis Hillis, Bobbi Rettig, Dave & Virginia Beck
11:00  Joe Barnhill, Johnelle & Victor Moore, Marilyn Stanley, Christina Garcia, Teresa Alexander, Ramona Russel, Victor Mireles

Coffee Time
9:00 Sarah Raffel & Nancy Jullian
10:30 Michelle & Tony Aguilar & Family

Muggers
Jerry Barney

Media Ministry
Manny González, Bob Phillips, Mike Jacobs, Dave Beck, Don Wilkinson, Marty Alexander

The Gathering Band
Alan Shioji, Felipe Perez, Jackie Gaines, Charles Ogren,  Steve Putnicki, Paul Behrendsen, Adrien Reyes, Melissa Ogren, Dave Boone

Hospital Ministry Visitor
Lois Wilner

Acolytes
8:00    Robert Ferrell & Garrett Hingst
11:00    Sophia Valenti & Denali Gonzales

Altar Flowers
Today’s flowers are given by Joe & Barbara Barnhill in memory of Mr. & Mrs. Cully Barnhill and John B. Martin.