From Dr. Jay . . .
I usually do not use this
newsletter column as an advertisement, but
this month I am going to make an exception.
Because I am so enthusiastic about the opportunities in worship over the
next few months because of two consecutive sermon series and the themes we will
be focusing on during these worship services.
First, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO
BE A MEMBER OF A UCC CHURCH?
Over the next few weeks our
worship themes will be focused around a half dozen seminal ideas which are
distinctive about our church and faith in a UCC church. I will be trying to be thoughtful and
provocative, educative and persuasive about the principles which make us
unique. I am really proud to be an
ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and am often asked what it
means to be a Christian in a UCC church.
This sermon series seeks to address this question.
I have said several times
that I have always wanted to teach an adult class about what it means to be a
member of a congregational church in the UCC denomination. For a number of reasons I have been drawn
to do this teaching as part of worship Sunday mornings.
As I write this we have
actually had the first of these sermons:
Listening for the Still Speaking
God! And I am well into planning for
the next one: Who Owns You?, subtitled We Belong to Christ! During this worship service all will be given
the opportunity to remember or renew their baptism vows. This ritual will be deeply spiritually
meaningful to those who take this step of faith and commitment.
Second, SPIRITUAL PRACTICES:
APPREHENDING THE GOD WITHIN!
The season of Lent begins on
February 22nd Ash Wednesday, and our Deacons and I have already been
prayerfully considering our worship theme.
Although we are still making plans, the theme for Lent is coming to be
about spiritual practices and how they help us to be open to the God who
resides in our souls. The worship
services during the season of Lent, which runs until the second Sunday of
April, will focus on practical disciplines or spiritual practices, which can
help us to deepen our relationship with God, assisting us to live in closer
communion with the God who is within us.
So we will consider
practicing such things as: seeking silence, breath prayer, holy reading of
scripture (lectio divina), fasting, corporate worship, hospitality, service to
those in need. These ancient spiritual
practices encourage us to experience more fully the presence of God within us.
This theme for Lent will
encourage us all to deeper faith, greater love and living in closer alignment
with the Spirit of God in our daily lives.
I hope you will make your
participation in worship a priority over the next few months. The journey of faith and life we share will
bring you joy!
Dr. Jay
Church Cancellation notifications are available on NBC, CBS (WFSB) and ABC (both channel 8
and Mytv9).
Dr. Jay on Pilgrimage. Our
Transitional Pastor will be on pilgrimage in the Holy Land from February 20th
to March 7th. Dr. Jay enjoys the deep spiritual inspiration of the land
where so many of the stories in our Bible and so much of the teaching took
place. Last February, he led a group of people which included Irmgard and
Kyle Boling from our congregation, on a 10 day tour/ pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
And though he enjoys leading groups, this pilgrimage is being done on his
own.
While he is in Jerusalem, Jay will be studying at St. George's College which is
connected to the Episcopal cathedral. The course he is taking is
"Pilgrimage and Spirituality" which provides worship, lectures, and
time for contemplative experiences at some of the major holy sites associated
with the life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
While he is away, pastoral emergencies will be covered by Rev. Toni Smith who
will also be leading worship on the first two Sundays of Lent, February 26th
and March 4th.
Dr. Jay is already planning another tour/ pilgrimage to the Holy Land next
February in which he would be leading a group to visit Bethlehem, Nazareth,
Jerusalem, and the Sea of Galilee. If you are interested in
participating, be in touch with him.
Our
Giving Tree
There
are always many in our greater community who are in need … especially during these
difficult times. Our giving tree is located
in Fellowship Hall and there are several needed items hanging from its
branches. Please take one and leave
your gift in the bin under the tree.
Thank you.
Pastoral Search Committee
(PSC) Update January 2012
Your PSC is thrilled to
announce that the following advertisement has been posted on ucc.org and we are
formally now searching for our settled Pastor!
North Madison
Congregational is a 250-yr.-old parish on the CT Shoreline with
vibrant/heart-touching worship services, exceptional music, welcoming
atmosphere, popular CE/youth programs & strong
lay leadership. Seeks pastor with relevant contemporary views, focus
on spiritual growth, inspirational
preaching/ admin./leadership, & youth and adult education.
Prospective
candidates will read this and when interested, submit their Profile to the UCC
office, which will then forward it to our
committee (the candidate’s Profile will have gone through appropriate
reviews/channels within the UCC). YOUR PSC will then read the Profiles and
begin to make decisions regarding who should move further in the process. Our
NMCC Church Profile will be sent to those candidates who we feel meet our goals
and vision for the future and who will then move to the next level of the
Search process. We are happy to say that at Wednesday’s Executive Meeting, your
Executive Board unanimously voted in support of our Church Profile!
Exciting weeks and months are
ahead, and rest assured that your PSC will be meditating and be listening for
God’s voice as we proceed with this integral next step! We ask
that you continue to offer us up in your prayers, as your support and belief in
us as your Pastoral Search Committee gives us strength.
Members: Gail Benson, Rene Chin, Scott Conover,
Kate Davis, Lucia Day, Marjorie Dorr, Jacob Griffith-Gardner, Peter Meier, John
Nassif
Christian Education Corner
There will be NO Sunday
School on February 19th or February 26th due to the February Break from Madison
Public Schools.
The next rotation, The Last Supper, will
begin March 4th and conclude on Palm Sunday, April 1st.
If you are interested in teaching or shepherding for this rotation please sign
up on the bulletin board outside the office or at the bottom of the stairs, or
contact Morgan via email or phone.
We also need people to
give 2-5 min long Children's
Message during the
service.
Youth Group News
The Junior and Senior
Youth Groups will meet on February 12th. JYG will meet from 4:30-6:00pm and SYG
will meet from 6:30-8:00pm. Da Vita McCallister, the Associate Conference
Minister for Youth and Young Adult Ministries will join us to discuss upcoming
youth events in the United Church of Christ and generate faith growing discussions.
Our Senior Youth
Group is looking for adults from the congregation, especially those
without teens in the group, to join us on our Annual Mission Trip. We would also love to have
a few adults, especially those going on the Mission Trip, to attend our Sunday evening meetings (approx.
2/month), and fundraisers. It is very important for teens to build relationships
with adults outside of the home and school. If you are interested in becoming
involved with our Senior Youth Group, please e-mail or call to discuss
this opportunity.
A
Confession from Dr. Jay
I did not pay my whole pledge last year. I did not intend not to
pay it all. I pray about my giving and practice tithing, as I have told
you before. And in fact, I try to pay my monthly pledge to our
church at the beginning of every month. But last year, I did not do
this. I missed a monthly contribution. I skipped one
month. I didn't mean to do it. But it happened.
I
discovered this unintentional error when I got my year end statement and looked
it over. It clearly showed I did not give my November 2011 monthly pledge
amount. I was shocked and embarrassed. But my check book register
says the same thing. I just forgot to make this donation.
So I wrote out a check the second week of January....for the missed amount of
my pledge for last year.
I
am sharing this public confession, because our treasurer reported to the
Executive Committee that there are a large number of folks like me. In
fact, he reports that something like a third of our pledge units did not
complete their pledge last year! Over thirty thousand dollars in
amounts that were pledged were not paid by the end of the year. That
means that our budget lost that amount of income--that we had planned to have
to spend. It means that we ended last year with a large deficit, because
people like me did not complete their pledge.
Our
treasurer reported that many of the unfulfilled pledges are from people who are
very active, even in leadership roles, in our church.
I know there are many reasons why a family or individual may be unable to
complete a pledge (which is after all just a good faith promise made after
praying about one's blessings from God). Circumstances can make it
difficult to fulfill one's pledge: job loss, or some unforeseen financial
drain, an emergency. There are many legitimate reasons for
this. And God knows we have all struggled through the horrific
economic recession of the past several years. And one year, some
years ago, I had to modify my pledge in the middle of the year. I wrote a
note to the treasurer to advise her, that I was not going to be able to fulfill
my pledge that year. Things happen like this.
But last year, I just missed my monthly commitment. I forgot.
And
maybe some of you reading this did too.
A Lenten Journey
with Tom and Ann Whitaker
Community Room, 11:30am-1:00pm
During Lent we seek ways of turning or returning
to the Creative Mystery who is our Source.
Here we will be following Matthew Fox's "Meditations with Meister
Eckhart." Copies may be obtained
from the Church Office for $10. After bagels and coffee, sessions will
include readings, discussion, and meditation. We'll be supplementing
Eckhart with some selections from J. Philip Newell's "Sounds of the
Eternal" and Joel S. Goldsmith's "Practicing the Presence."
Topics
Feb 26:
Introduction to Ekhart's fourfold path
Mar 4: Path I: Creation
Mar 11: Path 2:
Letting Go and Letting Be
Mar 18: Path 3:
Breakthrough
Mar 25: Path 4:
The New Creation: Compassion and Social Justice
Book Group
The days are getting brisk, and our nights are feeling
longer. But through our books, our friendships are stronger
Come join us to talk, to laugh and to
share!
Just look below to find out WHAT and
WHERE
~~~~~~~
February 28 – The Golden
Compass by P. Pullman (a young adult book to keep US young)
We
meet in Fellowship Hall at 7:00pm. Please contact Rene Chin at 203.421.3498
with any questions. Please come join us…
New Email Addresses: Our church email addresses have changed! Currently, emails sent to the old addresses
will be forwarded, but this service will likely be cut off in a few months. Please update your address books to include
the following:
Dr. Jay: Pastor@NorthMadisonCC.org
Office: Office@NorthMadisonCC.org
Morgan Aery: CE@NorthMadisonCC.org
Robert Osso: Property@NorthMadisonCC.org
Please remember in
prayer those who are serving our country
during this difficult time:
Sgt. Dustin Lau
(grandson of a friend of Holly
Francis)
In
our Thoughts & Prayers
Cora Ogden; Bob Taylor (Kathy Dann’s father);
Cameron LoBianco (niece of Adrian Wisting); Edward Frisbie (friend of Sharon
and John Kwiatkowski); Bobby Franculli (cousin of Sharon Kwiatkowski); Michael
Malloy (friend of Ginny Armitage); Lisa Cornell (Karen Stigliano’s
sister-in-law); David Grice (Karen Stigliano’s colleague awaiting a kidney
donor); Francis Banisch; Ted Johnson
(Roberta Hanlon’s cousin); Cynthia (friend of Andrea Beaulieu O’Connor); Butch
Heiden (friend of Roberta Hanlon); Patrick Raymond; Trudy Hunt (friend of Debbi
Cocco); Tom Brown (friend of the Tierneys); Walter Wisting; Norman and Judy
Kraft (Sharon Mallon’s parents); Laura
Sunblade (Herkie’s sister); Jim Boling;
Christina Kursawe; Helen Bischof; Jessica Terbush; Meggan Schaffer; Deb
Dittmer; Charlene and Paul Hill (cousins
of Robbin Nassif); Andrea O’Connor (friend of Joyce Tierney); Shannon White (Sherry Meyer’s daughter); and
Rebecca West.
