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| T O U C H S T O N E - A M i d W e e k B u l l e t i n |
First Sunday After Pentecost
Our Core Values:
Spiritual Growth. Welcome. Justice-seeking
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June 11, 2017
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One of our four teams who cook and serve the monthly meal at Union Station in Pasadena. Our church serves the meal the first Monday of each month.
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Reflections on Worship . . .
You Have What It Takes!
Matthew 28:16-20
Our text in worship this Sunday is Jesus commissioning the disciples - asking them to make disciples of all nations and authorizing their work by describing how they have inherited the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In a reflection entitled "You Have What It Takes!" we will consider the mechanics of ministry for us all and look at what it takes to do the work of God from day to day in our lives. The model in business - and sometimes in parenting - is to delegate responsibility all along the way so that as we age and grow in our experience, we are doing less and less of the "grunt" work and more of the decision-making and visioning. Is ministry always simply "grunt" work - service to others, compassionate and Godly, but service nonetheless? Come join us for worship at 10AM in the Chapel as we reflect on ministry and our gifts this Sunday.
- Rev. John H. Pomeroy
Ways to Get Involved!
Join a Union Station meal team. Sign up for Summer Habitat build day. Bring non-perishable food for Friends in Deed. Join the Union Station "March Home" event. Contact the church office or speak with a pastor for more info.
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Rev. John H. Pomeroy
Rev.Andy Schwiebert
Brian Brandenburg
Kathie Arscott
Thom Meyers
Jim Maddox
Liturgist
Elementary class with Krysty Leckrone/Roberta White in room 232. Youth class with Jeff Tyler in the youth room.
Church Nursery (for infants - K)
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Jaquelyne Rodriguez & Serena Van.
Nursery opens at 9 :15 a.m. for early birds and then everyone comes to worship at 10:00 and stays through the Children's Time and then heads to the nursery with caregivers and parents.
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Nina Kung
Sermon Podcast:
D
id you miss a worship and want to hear the sermon? Please visit uccpasadena.org and select 'podcasts' from the menu on top of the home page or click below
http://uccpasadena.podomatic.com/
Office Hours
Mon. - Thurs.
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Lunch hours:
12:00 p.m. -1:30 p.m.
Tel. # 626.795.0696
Fax # 626.795.0698
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In this Edition...
June 10th, March Home
June 10th, Irene & Peter's 70th Birthdays
June 10th, PCC Chamber Singers Concert
Summer Happenings!!
Celebrating Graduates June 18th
Report on Learnings from our (a)Spire Ministry
Friends in Deed Update
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Join Us, Saturday, June 10th,
March Home
I hope this finds you well! I wanted to personally reach out to invite you and your Adopt a Meal group members to Union Station's upcoming event,
March Home, happening
Saturday, June 10th from 8am-12pm in front of Pasadena's City Hall.
March Home is a mission-driven walk to end homelessness, and participants will be able to walk from City Hall to all three of our permanent supportive housing locations. The event will culminate with a finish line festival featuring live music, food trucks, and other fun activities. We'll also be featuring speeches from former clients, staff, and city officials.
For more than 40 years, Union Station Homeless Services has been fighting for the rights and needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in Pasadena. This event will help us to continue bringing awareness to this important cause, and we would love to see you there!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We are still in need of volunteers for this event, so please find below a list of available shifts for you to choose from!
VOLUNTEER SHIFTS:
Event Volunteers:
Shifts are
6:00am-12:00pm
Break Down Volunteers-Route Monitors - assist in ensuring all the walkers have a safe, fun experience.:
Shift is
11:00am-2:00pm
Please email
[email protected]
to sign up for a volunteer position.
Please include the following information in your email:
-Your desired shift (event, or break down)
-How many are in your group.
Once confirmed, you will receive the volunteer details by the end of the week, before the event.
You can register here:
http://unionstationhs.org/event/march-home/
And please feel free to share this info with any friends and family who you think might want to walk to end homelessness!
We'd love to see you and your group at March Home!
Thank you for your support!
-Stephanie
Stephanie Harris
Director of Volunteer & Community Programs
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You're invited to
Peter & Irene's 70th Birthday Party
All are Welcome!
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PCC Chamber Singers June 10 8pm Sexon Auditorium, PCC
PCC Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and Orchestra will be joined by the Don Brinegar Singers to present Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Tickets are usually $5-10 for Students and Seniors, $15-20 general admission.
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Summer Happenings!
This Summer at FCC we will try and slow things down with a break from committee meetings for July and some outings/activities that help us enjoy the pace of the Summer months. Join us for any or all of our planned activities:
Sunday June 18th
- Join us as we celebrate and honor our five high school, college and graduate school folks for 2017! See article below for details.
Sundays June 25-Aug. 6th
join your preachers in exploring basic theological themes from a progressive Christian perspective. We will be using the book The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg and exploring a chapter each week both in our preaching and with the children/youth in our combined church school class. The first theme on June 25th is "the Bible" (chapter 3). We have books for sale at $10 each or you may purchase your own and read along with us. We will let you know what chapters we will be using and when. July 2nd is "God" (chapter 4). The intent is to increase our biblical and theological literacy with this overview of several topics and themes. Speak with Pastor Marlene if you wish to help staff our Summer Church School.
Saturday July 29th
Habitat Build 8-11:30 a.m. followed by a pool party and barbecue and Barb Bonzo's house starting at noon. Speak with John Gamber Thompson for Habitat details. Sign up for food for the barbecue after church with either Kim Story or Lu Burd in the next few weeks.
Sunday Aug. 27th
Hollywood Bowl Picnic and Concert. We have five extra tickets to see Pink Martinin in concert. This eclectic musical group is fantastic. The concert starts at 7 p.m. and we will be picnicking ahead of time starting around 5 p.m. Come and join us and bring a friend! You must reserve your $25 seat by July 4th before all extras are released. Speak with Pastor Marlene to join the group.
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Graduates Celebration June 18th
 On
Sunday June 18th (also Father's Day), we will briefly celebrate all high school, college and graduate school graduates during coffee hour. We know of Lachlan Ashenmiller, Moriah Vega, Andy Speakman, James Chavers and Mary Camacho. If there are others to be celebrated, let Pastor Marlene or Lu Burd know! We will have a cake and there will be tables around the room for each graduate, including a basket to receive cards etc. So please bring a card for each and anything you'd like to include; gift cards or funds or whatever. We are very proud of our graduates!!!
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Report on Learnings from (a)Spire Ministry Now Available
(a)Spire was a ministry launched 6 years ago and supported by FCC to engage the next generation of progressive Christians in the broader community. Last Fall we made the difficult decision to close our ministry and celebrate our successes. In October, the FCC Council charged the Pastoral Relations Committee for Rev. Andy Schwiebert to work with the remaining (a)Spire community to generate a report for learnings from our experiences. The report was presented to FCC Council in May and shared with the broader FCC Community at our Spring Business meeting on June 4th. We are making it available
here for congregants to read through carefully on their own time.
REPORT: Learnings from (a)Spire Ministry
Presented to FCC Pasadena at the Spring 2017 Business Meeting
This report is designed to reflect feedback from
(a)Spire
members and those who helped to develop
(a)Spire
as a new ministry at First Congregational Church, Pasadena (UCC). Over its life of ministry across the last six years
(a)Spire
brought in 25+ new members and dozens of others who in some way participated in our ministries, and subtly influenced the focus and vision of its host church (FCC). The input reflected here below comes from 25 survey responses that were massaged into a consolidated form both by (a)Spire participants and this group, the Pastoral Relations Committee for Andy.
Those who compile this report are immensely appreciative to all the persons, organizations, and agencies who helped to initiate and sustain (a)Spire Ministry through time, talent, and financial gifts. As you see in this report,
(a)Spire in its relatively short life made a difference in the lives of faiths of its members and constituents in significant and long lasting ways.
Although (a)Spire officially launched in January of 2012 and was progressing well for 2-3 years, the last two years were challenging. A significant chunk of key leaders moved away from Southern California in 2014-2015 so (a)Spire
downsized a bit in January of 2016 in hopes of recovering, and then growing. But after a realistic assessment in the Fall of 2016 by the remaining (a)Spire folks, they came to the conclusion that it would not likely get to the point of sustainability any time soon and didn't have the necessary energy and passion among the group to take us there. Because we were facing even more significant budget challenges in 2017, the group decided it was best to end (a)Spire and celebrate the many successes and learnings through a couple events in November of 2016: a celebration in FCC worship and a meal and worship in the park.
(a)Spire accomplished quite a lot over the past 6 years, and truly changed lives. Here is one video from 2014 and another from 2013, two peak years that highlight some valuable testimony. Another video from 2012 is also worth watching, as it shows some of the first members and early leaders.
-Pastoral Relations Committee Members (for Rev. Andy Schwiebert)
Carolyn Olney, Kim Story, Claire Richardson
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Update on Friends in Deed
FID continues to expand its programs and offer support and help to those in need. See the current newsletter from the Executive Director Joshua Levine. Please continue to bring in non-perishable food items to be taken up to FID food pantry and check out other volunteer opportunities outlined by Joshua.
Summertime is on the horizon, and with summer comes more heat. That is why, starting Monday, we are excited to open The Women's Room from 11-4, Monday-Thursday, two additional hours each day! Friday remains 9am-12pm. Thank you to Marlene, with Jane's assistance, for all the hard work that went into this expansion, adding volunteers, meals and activities. We know this will be great for our ladies!
Also starting next week, the Food Pantry will be open on Thursdays. Thanks to Tim for his commitment and for the new volunteers that are stepping up to help. Together, we are increasing our services to help our clients in new and better ways. And if you read last week's (longer) message you read about a variety of ways you can help us support these, and other, expanded services. Check out
www.friendsindeedpas.org to learn more!
Our landscaping project continues to unfold. This week we are thrilled to have our new Lending Free Library installed and stocked for use! Rhonda Stone, one of the leaders of this project, shared this with me:
"Today is the graduation of the apprenticeship class at Flintridge Foundation so the installation happened just in time for those who built the Lending Free Library to install it. A yard sale was happening across the street and those folks kindly donated the first set of books (with a promise of more to come). The placement is close to the bus stop and turned to attract the attention of pedestrians, clients and those waiting for the bus."
We are excited about the ways FID is growing, and if you'd like to get more involved this summer, individually, with your family, your congregation or another group you belong to, we welcome you to volunteer. Come one time, once a week, even once a month, we'll have something for you to do!
I was honored to represent FID at the Tournament of Roses Foundation annual grantee awards ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. We were 1 of 45 recipients, out of 81 applicants!
And finally, I look forward to being with the folks at Church of Truth this Sunday at 11am. My sermon is entitled, "The Holy Task of Serving Others."
Have a blessed weekend,
Rabbi Joshua
P.S. SAVE THE DATE: August 24, 5:30 PM for our ANNUAL MEETING AND SUMMER BBQ at FID. Details to follow!
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Summer Hollywood Bowl Outing - 6 tickets remaining!
 Membership Ministry has selected the date of
Sunday Aug. 27th for our Summer Outing to hear Pink Martini. They are an eclectic group of performers and musicians and are not to be missed! The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. and our discounted group tickets at $25 each. See Lu Burd or Pastor Marlene to sign up and pre-pay for your tickets. We have about
six tickets left in section L-1 and will plan to picnic together before the event. You must include $25 with your reservations. Any unused tickets will be released July 10th so get your tickets soon!
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