Church of Christ Uniting

I love fall…its colors, and smells of wood fires burning, the sound of geese flying south, cold apples and warm cider, the crisp fall air that puts color in cheeks, and makes us want to wrap up in sweaters or cuddle up with a book by a warm fire. It also is a time of home-coming. This year we are planning a first Fleming Thanksgiving at my brother’s home outside Philadelphia…the result of having become closer knit after celebrating my niece’s wedding on 8-08-08 and having us all together for a week in North Carolina for Charis and Tim’s event this year, 7-17-09. As our family grows we count so many blessings in our lives!

However, whatever the situations in our families, our churches, or individually- Gratitude is a Choice we make on a daily basis. Robert Emmons has written the book THANKS- a life of Gratitude can make you happier! We know that people who count their blessings are those who not only feel happier, but spread that attitude to others. He lists three important aspects of living with gratitude and how it can change someone’s life:

• An appreciation of the goodness of the gifts given-AND the goodness of the giver
• A sense that gifts are unearned- they come to us from God not thru our deserving
• A knowledge that our gifts and blessings are MORE than we expected

In other words, as a friend Debby Heida recently shared her father’s words of wisdom often repeated in their family- with Scott’s church for their consecration celebration:

“We’re Rich- and we have some money too!”

We have lots of opportunities in this month of Thanks-giving to show our appreciation for the gifts we have been given- and to the GIVER of all gifts- our triune God!

On November 1 we will celebrate all the saints in our congregation; giving thanks for all the children baptized into our church this year, as well as those who have gone on to the church triumphant- those faithful saints who have died over this past year but whose legacy of giving will long be remembered

November 8 will be our Consecration Sunday, when we will dedicate our pledges to the ongoing ministries and outreach from COCU and our new care ministries. Please make every effort to join us in worship where Virginia Miner of Peckville will be bringing us the message “don’t eat the chicken till we see who’s at the door”! Then we will enjoy a celebration lunch prepared by Mike Carr of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Scranton- after worship in our fellowship hall.

November 15 is our annual conference meeting- after worship here at COCU and the Wyoming Cluster Church conference at 2pm at the Nesbitt Center

November 22 we celebrate “Christ the King Sunday” in our traditional worship time

November 29 is the first Sunday in Advent (already!) with candle-lighting and our annual Trim the Tree at 5pm with a carry-in dinner and games/crafts for all attending.

It’s a full month of celebrating who we are as the ‘whole family of God’ together- but it won’t be the whole family if YOU aren’t there! Remember, Gratitude is a Choice- every day- so “Choose this day whom you will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24)

Pastor Carol

As I write this, we have only 2 days left of ‘official’ summer- Fall arrives September 22 with the colder weather and the changing leaves and schedules to make and fulfill. I wonder ‘where did summer go?’ as the seasons change more and more quickly it seems.

The seasons of the church year also come and go. Some may be more familiar; Advent, Christmas, Lent, for example usually have definite programs and events in our life together that remind us of the life of Christ guiding and directing our own with certain cherished holidays and traditions. Yet we are, presently, in a very important, though often neglected, season of the church year. This is the season of Pentecost, sometimes known as ‘ordinary time’ that begins after the day of Pentecost – with its RED reminding us of the gift of Holy Spirit like tongues of flame.

The color for this late Pentecost is GREEN. Like summer it reminds us of the season of growth – with its green leaves and colored flowers, the warm yellow of the sun, and the bright blue of cloudless skies (didn’t see too many of those this summer!). In this season we are to be growing in our faith together; learning together, as children go back to school, how to be, as our mission statement says, “A Community of Christians, Uniting for Service.” How do we continue to grow in our understanding of faith and in our ability to follow Christ and be in relationship together as his church? It takes some effort and intentionality. The church would call it discipline; the way we learn the ways of Christ and develop the practices of being God’s people together.

That’s what we SAY we believe. Too often, it is not what we actually DO. Most of us stop learning and growing as Christians after confirmation – the ‘official’ certificate that we have ‘arrived’ as members of the church (and so no longer need to participate). Too many of us leave it there. We may come to church on those special ‘seasons’ we remember from our childhoods. But we neglect to continue our ‘Christian education’ as young or mature adults. How sad for us – we would think it abnormal to stop growing or learning in any other way when we were only 12! What a loss to our life together as a community of faith that can’t fulfill those baptismal promises to those no longer here.

No one would expect to grow a family without some intentional planning; to teach a child how to be a mature and responsible adult takes time and effort. I can attest to what happens to a garden, especially at the end of summer when lovely flowers are over-grown by weeds; the result of a busy life that moves on to the next thing without tending to what was planted there. No one would be surprised at a marriage that failed if the partners stopped giving any time to one another, or decided they liked someone else better. So why are we surprised when the church ceases to have meaning for us? Why do we wonder why we don’t get much out of a service if we only come once a week for an hour? How do we expect to GROW our fellowship in Christ as the church if we spend no time or energy getting to know and share with one another? Why would we think we could understand and keep faith if we never studied scripture or learned about the beliefs of our church traditions? Are we surprised during a crisis to find our faith stretched to the limit when we’ve spent no time talking to God in prayer when things are going well?

We have many opportunities to “turn over a new leaf” this fall and begin again to actively GROW our faith as a community. Come to worship, join a study, choose to serve!

Pastor Carol

IT IS NOT TOO LATE to join one of the new groups that have started this fall:

Souper Saturdays with a study of N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian
Saturdays 5:30-7:00pm

Discover God’s Vision for YOUR Life: A spiritual gift study.
Thursdays 11:30am or Sundays 5:30-7:00pm

Sunday Study Groups
9:15am Adult Education with a Bible Study – Mike Little
11:15am A study of Calvin’s life and work – Brian Kachak

Book Group Discussion
Tuesdays 10:00 a.m. – Bill Reed

Circle of Grace
Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. – Lesley O’Boyle

A dream and plan of the Parish Life Ministry Team took one giant step closer to becoming reality this summer, thanks in part to a grant from the Lackawanna Presbytery new and emerging ministry fund that helped cover COCU’s enrollment fee in Stephen’s Ministry

If you haven’t heard of Stephen’s Ministry before this, we hope it will be the last time you can say so! Over the fall you will be hearing a great deal more – about what it is – and what it isn’t.

Stephen was the first deacon of the church whose story can be found in Acts 6 and 7. The role of deacon was developed after Greeks complained to Hebrews about their widows and orphans being neglected in ministry. People ‘of good standing and full of the Spirit and of wisdom’ were chosen to reach out in ministry to the most vulnerable in the community. Stephen, the first martyr of the early church, was thus chosen as a model for this ministry of one on one, Christ-centered care and support of people experiencing a crisis or going through a difficult time. A Stephen’s minister meets with his or her care-receiver for about one hour each week, for as long as that person needs care during loss, grief, divorce, chronic illness, new parent-hood, an empty nest, or retirement.

A Stephens Minister walks with a care receiver through difficult days to provide support and encouragement, prayer, and hope. A Stephen’s Minister is NOT a therapist, counselor, doctor, or other health professional, nor a substitute fill-in for the pastor. But just as the first apostles discovered, after a crisis there is often an ongoing need for support that the pastor can’t provide after he/she has gone on to the next crisis in the congregation. That is when a Stephen’s Minister can make all the difference!

Stephen Ministers must undergo 50 hours of training before being assigned a care-receiver. In addition, there are on-going hours of supervision and continuing education each month to equip laity for this important role in the congregation. COCU sent four people to an intensive training for Stephen’s Leaders in Pittsburgh from August 2-8 where they learned about the organization and how to best equip members for this ministry. There are 250 organizations (other than churches) involved in Stephen’s Ministry that include hospitals, military, correctional institutions, and social service agencies. We joined more than 55,000 pastors and other church staff and lay leaders who have attended leadership training that began first in 1978 (four held each year). There are now more than 500,000 Stephen Ministers trained in congregations and organizations through skilled Christian care-giving to walk with hurting people during difficult times.

Could God be calling you to this important ministry of care and outreach in our church? Pray about your participation! Pray for our leaders; Pastor Carol, Donna Dickinson, Jan Reese, and Marilyn Bezek! Open your mind, and your heart, to this new opportunity. Open your ears and eyes to upcoming announcements and interpretation. Pray for the personal support and encouragement and financial resources needed to continue to develop and train members for this ministry. We’re counting on YOU!

Pastor Carol

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!” Numbers 14: 1-2

If you have ever tried to ‘read your way’ through the Bible you’d find a lot of it tough going; especially books like Numbers that contain a lot of detailed ‘rules and regs’ for a people trying to establish their own identity and getting settled in a new ‘foreign’ land. Nothing was familiar and- as we so often do- they yearned for Egypt, and Pharaoh’s yoke. Better the ‘devil’ they knew than this invisible God who sent them into the wilderness. Thus, the people complain to Moses and Aaron, blaming them for it all.

It’s human nature to stand back and criticize others. We may not want to do the job ourselves, but we don’t mind sharing our opinions about the way it IS done! That’s why we have that popular cliché- ‘if you want something done RIGHT you’d better do it yourself!’ – i.e. the way YOU want it done! But the flip side is that there is nothing more demoralizing than giving someone a job to do and then trying to ‘micro-manage’ every detail to our own satisfaction. My children roll their eyes every time I ‘rearrange’ the ornaments on the Christmas tree; and have flatly said if I do it again, I’ll be doing the job alone next year! I have also even been known to re-do dishes according to size in the dishwasher, as well as in the cupboards. My family understandably thinks I’m controlling.

We are no different in the church family. There are people who have been ‘running’ the church for years, cycling through various committees and conscientiously getting all the many details accomplished ‘decently and in order’ (our Presbyterian motto). We may yearn for ‘new blood’ to take up some of those responsibilities, to share the burden of leadership, but still want everything to stay the same. We may accept new pastoral leadership, then still call upon that one special pastor who ‘knows’ me from when I was active at church, to do our wedding, baptism, or funeral. We think it is the pastor’s job to order worship and choose music; but that doesn’t keep us from complaining when something new is introduced, or the ‘right’ hymn isn’t chosen for the right occasion. (By the way, since we have a Methodist hymnal, ALL the hymns chosen are from that tradition, not Presbyterian- and MANY are unfamiliar to me!)

So- if you want something done right – you’d better to do it yourself. For the summer, we will go back to our ‘bulletin light’- just the outline of worship; with hymns chosen by the congregation. Then for the next year, we will assign a ‘task force’ to work with our Director of Music who has volunteered (been coerced) to choose hymns based on the theme, season, or special occasion of worship. Those of you who have been especially critical of hymns chosen will want to offer your services for this special assignment!

God said ‘behold, I am doing a new thing- do you not perceive it?’ Now it’s up to you!

It is my hope and prayer that this period of exploration will bring us a deeper understanding of worship and increased participation in the life of our church.

Serving with you in Christ’s Service,

Pastor Carol

You may have heard of a “Passion Play.” Passion plays recount the life and ministry of Jesus Christ from the four gospels in a dramatic form. This tradition began in the Middle Ages and are often performed in churches during Easter week. By watching a Passion Play we have a chance to reflect on the events most central to our faith, that Jesus died, was buried and rose again from the dead.

Your opportunity for our next “great adventure” in travel will lead us on a trip to distant places, and to commemorate a distant moment in time. The history of the Oberammergau Passion Play begins in 1633. During the Thirty Years’ War, after much suffering and also many deaths caused by the bubonic plague, the surviving population of Oberammergau vowed that they would perform the “play of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ” every ten years if they were spared from extinction. Unexplainably, the adult death rate slowly began to subside to only one per month by July of 1633. The villagers of this little Bavarian town believed that they were spared because of their vow and their great faith.

So, in 1634 they kept their promise for the first time. With only two lapses, in 1770 (because of a government ban on such productions) and in 1830 (when the Roman Catholic Church succeeded in halting the performance) it has been presented faithfully every ten years since. As early as the middle of the 18th century spectators came to Oberammergau from all parts of Germany, attracted by the great power and mystique of the play. In 2010 the village will perform the play for the 41st time, maintaining the continuity of this unique world famous event.

We are planning and organizing a trip for the upcoming production of this unique experience, scheduled for June 18 – 29, 2010. The entire cast consists of villagers who have lived in Oberammergau for at least 20 years. They must also be amateurs and people of high moral and ethical principles. Villagers also make the outstanding costumes.

By glorifying the Lord for saving their village during the plague, they are fulfilling Psalm 145:4-6 “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.”

The itinerary for our tour will culminate with a stay in Oberammergau to witness this play, and will be preceded by visits to some of the grand, imperial cities of Eastern Europe: Vienna, Munich, Prague and Budapest. I’ll have all the specific information and cost available in a brochure. Simply call or ask me for it. And look forward to a trip of a life-time. Consider joining Scott and me on our next touring adventure.

Blessings,

Pastor Carol

On the Sunday after Easter – and for all of the fifty days following of Easter-tide (the SEASON, not the day,) we read in scripture and hear about the appearances Jesus made after his resurrection. These help us to answer the questions: How do we know it is true? And, What difference will it make for my life? When the crowds go home – as they did after the spectacle of the crucifixion, and as they do in our church after Easter Day, those questions take on specific meaning as we deal with faith in our Lord who is no longer walking with us on earth, but still present with those who have ‘eyes to see.’

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on April 7, 2009, titled, “God Still Isn’t Dead”- talking about the decline of religion in America that has been predicted again and again, and always proves with Samuel Clements, “The report of my death is greatly exaggerated.” It’s easy to get cynical when we see empty pews and decry lost morality and wonder after ‘the good old days’ when people believed in God and came to church. We think we remember when we were a Christian nation – but do we really?

“America has long stood out among developed countries for its religiosity. This has less to do with innate godliness than with the free market created by the First Amendment. Pre-revolutionary America was not that religious, because the original Puritans were swamped by less wholesome adventurers – in Salem, Mass. The setting for “The Crucible” 83% of taxpayers by 1683 confessed to no religious identification. America became religious after the Constitution separated church from state, thus ensuring that religious denominations could only survive if they got souls into pews. While state sponsored religion withered in Europe, American faith has been a hive of activity: from the Methodists, who converted close to an eighth of the country in the half century after the Revolution, to the modern mega-churches” by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

So – God is not dead. Jesus continues to make appearances to disciples in the present. Perhaps what has changed is our attitude as we think of religion as a private belief rather than a public profession that can, and must, influence our policies and practices in the world. “You are my witnesses” Jesus told the disciples before he ascended; then he gave them a job to do… “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28: 19) It’s up to ALL of us!

It was true then…it is still true now. Let’s roll up our sleeves and practice what we preach!

I’ll see U in CH_RCH!

Pastor Carol

Easter is the great festival of the church! And, although this year it comes on April 12 when the six long weeks, and forth days of Lent (to lengthen- as in the spring days) are over, buds are actually beginning to come, and spring has sprung. It is truly a celebration of new life!

The apostle Paul reminds us, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain.” More than any other Holy-day, Easter is at the center of our belief in the God of love that is stronger than hate, the God of life that is stronger than death. “The powers of death have done their worst, but Christ their legions hath dispersed; Let shouts of holy joy outburst. Alleluia” sings the Easter hymn of triumph ‘The Strife is O’er.’

In the book Eternal Seasons Michael Ford describes the hope of this season.

“The Easter mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection lies at the heart of the church’s liturgical life. In the Spirit of the risen Jesus, we are urged during the next fifty days (before his ascension) to journey together ‘on a high plateau’ where the way is smooth and peaceful, full of joy in the certitude that the Lord is living. After the ceremonies of Holy Week, it can sometimes seem like an anti-climax.”

But scripture assures us we will meet Jesus along the journey, as the disciples did on the Emmaeus Road, an opportunity to dispel doubt and bring reassurance to all we meet along the way. Easter brings the awareness that God is active even when divine presence is not directly noticed. Whatever the headlines, Easter announces the news that evil has ultimately been overcome by good. Easter is about acknowledging the breaking in of eternity into the ordinary patterns of our lives.

Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer and teacher, has this to say of Easter.

‘The resurrection of Jesus was a hidden event. Jesus didn’t rise from the grave to baffle his opponents, to make a victory statement, or to prove to those who crucified him that he was right after all. Jesus rose as a sign to those who loved him and followed him that God’s divine love is stronger than death. To the women and men who committed themselves to him, he revealed that his mission had been fulfilled. To those who shared in his ministry, he gave the sacred task to call all people into the new life with him. The world didn’t take notice. Only those whom he called by name, with whom he broke bread and to whom he spoke words of peace, were aware of what happened. Still, it was this hidden event that freed humanity from the shackles of death’

Easter is new clothes, uplifting hymns, spring flowers, egg hunts- but so much more. As Easter people we are a community that stands in witness against all the powers of evil and destruction in this world. We are those God has called by name to proclaim the God of life that will not be defeated. Easter is our promise of hope and new life – not only in the future, but right here and now.

Join us as we make this journey from death to life together.
We ARE a Community of Christians Uniting in Service! I’ll see U in CH_RCH- and in homes, and on the street, and at work…everywhere U are making Christ known.

Pastor Carol