The Communicator 1
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February, 2017 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Communicator 1. Search for New February, 2017 Lead 2. a. New Lead Spirit-Guided Search for the New Lead cont’d. Minister b. February By Rev. Nayiri Karjian, Interim Lead Minister Worship [email protected] c. Shrove Tuesday “How long will you be here?” “How long will the search last?” These are some of the questions 3. a. Organist I am asked as many of you wonder about the search process. I am glad to share how the process b. Soup Fundraiser usually unfolds. c. Peanut Butter The Search Committee currently is gathering information from you, the congregation, to compile 4. Youth & Adult the Church Profile, a 20 page document that introduces our congregation to an interested Ministry candidate. Their goal is to complete the profile by the end of February. 5. The Forum The next step is to activate the listing in the UCC Ministry Opportunities 6. KC Worship http://www.ucc.org/ucc_ministry_opportunities 7. Financial Ministry or exact page http://oppsearch.ucc.org/web/searchresult.aspx?q=jobposition&v=Senior_Pastor 8. JWW Lectureship Once the listing is activated, interested candidates will send their profile/professional resume to our Search Committee via the Rocky Mountain Conference UCC. 9. Mission Giving & Outreach The Search Committee reads the profiles and responds to the candidates. They check candidates’ 10. A Peek in the Past online presence, listening to sermons or reading them, checking Facebook, and so on. They also send candidates information about our church. All communication is usually done electronically. 11. Congregational Life The committee discerns the candidates who are a good match and contacts them for interviews, usually set up via skype. Meanwhile, additional profiles arrive for the committee to read and 12. New Members screen. 13. a. A Bluegrass Mass All this, of course, takes time. Once the Search Committee has chosen a finalist and both sides b. JWW agree that this “feels” like a call, the candidate is invited to FCC for his or her “candidating” Lectureship weekend. During the weekend, the candidate is introduced to you, the congregation, leads worship and preaches during worship. Following that, the congregation meets, and a vote is 14. News from the taken and the relationship confirmed. UCC Following the vote, it generally takes two to three months for the candidate to say goodbye to 15. Bible Studies his or her congregation and prepare for FCC. So, the Search Committee, the conference and I 16. Opportunity Fair anticipate that the soonest a new Lead Minister will arrive is autumn 2017, the longest, the end 17. Staff & Volunteers of 2017/January 2018. 18. Upcoming You may consider this a long and tedious process. In some ways it is. Deadline Why? Because the relationship between a congregation and a minister is a covenantal one. The minister signs a covenant not a contract. The minister is called not hired. A covenantal relationship is like a marriage relationship where a good match promises a healthy partnership, a productive journey and ministry. Hence, the time involved to get to know the candidate and make sure it is a good match, and a Spirit-guided call. You can be part of this process not only by participating in the interim conversations, by speaking February, 2017 2 LEAD CONT’D| FEBRUARY 2017 WORSHIP | SHROVE TUESDAY to Search Committee members, but also by praying for the Search Committee and for our ministry together as we prepare for the new ministerial leadership God has in mind for FCC. Blessings and Peace, Pastor Nayiri FEBRUARY WORSHIP Sunday morning worship services are at 8:30 & 11:00 a.m. with Faith Formation Hour in-between at 9:45 a.m. Fifth Sunday of Epiphany 05 Today, our Epiphany theme of Discovering New Prisms continues as we gather for this multigenerational service February and share the banquet of the Lord’s Table. Rev. Nayiri Karjian preaches “Jesus, the Refugee,” interpreting Matthew 1: 13-15, 19-23. The Chancel Choir sings Carl Frielitz’s “Light and Truth” at 11:00. Sixth Sunday of Epiphany 12 Today we continue to celebrate the time of light and illumination. Rev. Jacque Franklin preaches. The Chancel Choir shares an February uplifting and fun gospel tune called “No Night There!” by Craig Curry. Seventh Sunday of Epiphany 19 On this day Candace Datz, Director of Youth and Adult Ministry, preaches reflecting on our Epiphany journey of February “White Privilege.” The Bells of St. Vrain Handbell Ensemble plays, “Siyahamba” and “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Last Sunday of Epiphany - 26 Transfiguration Sunday Today as we celebrate transfiguration Sunday we welcome February to our pulpit The Rev. Sue Artt, Conference Minister of Rocky Mountain Conference UCC. The Chancel Choir sings John Rutter’s “Go Forth into the World in Peace” at 11:00. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 5:00 p.m. A Fun & Transforming Spiritual ALL CHURCH Event! Burying of the Alleluia Banner Imposition of the Ashes Traditional Palm Burnings Pancakes February, 2017 3 ORGANIST | SOUP FUNDRAISER | PEANUT BUTTER Update on Hiring an Organist By Mandy Todd, Director of Music and Arts Chris Reimer, Council Member for Worship and Spiritual Life Susie Marten, Chair of Music and Arts Ministry Team We have good news! After eight months with very little response to the organist opening at First Congregational, in the past month we have received information from multiple qualified applicants. Because of the budget process at FCC, we will delay the start date of this position until June 2017. In the meantime, we will be moving forward with the interview and audition of the applicants we have. During the audition, candidates will play a prelude and a postlude, play two hymns, sight read a hymn, and participate in a choir rehearsal. We will keep you updated on our process. Second Sunday of Each Month We are the Peanut Butter Church! This means we collect jars of peanut butter and donate them to Ecumenical Social Ministries (ESM). Please bring your jars of peanut butter to church on the 2nd Sunday of the month, and drop them off in the shopping cart provided. Thank You for your ongoing support of this vital ministry! Peanut butter is nutritious, filling, and a great healthy eating option. It is a convenient source of protein, and is extremely rich in monounsaturated fats. It is easy for ESM to hand out jars of PB to those who are hungry and in need. February, 2017 4 YOUTH & ADULT MINISTRY “Intersectionality, what?” By Candace Datz, Director of Youth & Adult Ministry [email protected] As we dive into our White Privilege studies during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent, I am excited for us to explore together the idea of “intersectionality.” Yes, this is a big word, but it gives language to an important framework from which to understand the ways in which we all have areas of both privilege and oppression in our own lives. The definition of intersectionality according to The Knapsack Institute is “An approach largely advanced by women of color, arguing that classifications such as gender, race, class, and others cannot be examined in isolation from one another. They interact and intersect in individuals’ lives, in society, in social systems, and are mutually constitutive.” Intersectionality helps us to frame our conversation about white privilege because it becomes a more nuanced conversation, one in which we’re drawn into deeper listening to one another, because each of us has experienced privilege and oppression in different ways. Many in our congregation have experienced the marginalization of being LGBTQ in a heteronormative society. And yet, many of them have also experienced the privileges that come from being born white in a system that has whiteness as the norm. Understanding these intersections of privilege and oppression can be a liberating part of the process as we deal with a small portion of privilege in the world by looking at whiteness. I’m so proud of and grateful for the response of this community as we engage with a difficult topic like this. You lovely people make ministry so meaningful. The youth are taking on the same issues as we will be addressing white privilege and systemic racism on our mission trips this summer. Middle Schoolers (current 5th-7th graders) will be visiting La Puente in Alamosa again, and the High Schoolers (current 8th-12th graders) will be working with the DOOR organization in Chicago. Our first soup dinner will be after service on February 12 and all are welcome to join us as we raise funds for these trips! (see ad on page 3.) Adult Faith Formation offerings during February will be the last couple of weeks of the five-week White Privilege Epiphany classes, The Forum, and a White Privilege 101 class on Feb. 12 in the Sanctuary with Dr. Christina Jimenez (drop-in, no registration necessary!). There will also be two documentary film screenings to support and expand on the white privilege classes. The first will be the Netflix documentary 13th which we will screen on Friday, February 10 at 6:30 p.m. The second will be a film called Traces of the Trade which we will watch together on Friday, February 17 also at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to those two events. February, 2017 5 THE FORUM IN FEBRUARY Buddhist Compassion, You and Your Computer, and the Standing Rock Conflict By Howard Ray, FCC Member Here’s what’s happening at the Forum in February (Sundays 9:45 a.m. in the Carey Chapel): 5 Feb: David Gardiner - The Power of Compassionate Grieving: Buddhist and Christian Approaches. The Forum welcomes David back for another visit by popular demand.