Go Tell It On The Mountain
Monthly Newsletter
Skyland Community Church, United Church of Christ
Minister: Rev. Kevin Omi
|
|
Sunday Worship Service 10:30 a.m.
|
|
April Church Calendar
Tuesday, April 2
3:00 p.m.
reVision Small Group
Wednesday, April 3
10:30 a.m.
Loma Prieta Club
Thursday, April 4
9:45 a.m.
Bible Study Downstairs
Sunday, April 7
9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m
.
reVision Convergence Summit in Whitaker Hall
Thursday, April 11
9:45 a.m.
Bible Study Downstairs
Sunday, April 14
Palm Sunday
10:30 a.m. Worship Service with Rev. Kevin Omi
11:30 p.m. Discussion re: Harvest Festival
Thursday, April 18
9:45 a.m.
Bible Study Downstairs
6 p.m. Maundy Thursday Soup Supper & Service in Whitaker Hall
Please bring your soup bowls and spoons.
Friday, April 19
Good Friday
Sunday, April 21
Easter Sunday
7:00 a.m. We are invited to share Sunrise Service
with Mountain Bible Church and Christ Child Church
at the Gazebo area.
10:30 a.m. Worship Service with Rev. Kevin Omi
12:00 p.m. Women's Fellowship/Deacons Tea: All Invited!
Thursday, April 25
9:45 a.m.
Bible Study Downstairs
Sunday, April 28
10:30 a.m.
Worship Service with Rev. Kevin Omi
12:00 p.m.
Council Meeting
1:00 p.m.
Dana Scoby Concert in Whitaker Hall
Regularly Scheduled Events in Whitaker Hall
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mondays
:
Alcoholics Anonymous 8:00 p.m.
Tuesdays
:
Qigong
8:30-10:00 a.m. with Teacher Marcy Reynolds
Thursday
:
Qigong students only from 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Thursday
:
Yoga 7:00 p.m.
|
|
Message from Reverend Kevin Omi
Get Ready for a Big Month!
Dear friends, April will be an extra-big month for us:
We completed our reVision 90-Day Journey in March, preparing us for the Convergence Summit on April 7
th
. You have been
so
faithful in attending as many of our small group meetings as possible - thank you so much! April 7, our Convergence Summit, is a very important Sunday, so please plan to be with us from 9:30 am (not 10:30!) to about 1:30 p.m.
Lent/Holy Week/Easter is the most dramatic portion of the church year. I’ve always thought of Holy Week as an emotional roller coaster ride starting with the incredible joy of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; warm remembrance of his Last Supper in the Upper Room, devastation of his crucifixion, desolation of Holy Saturday, and incredible joy of Easter when we celebrate the resurrection – Hallelujah! At Skyland we will gather for a Tenebrae Service including a meal on Maundy Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m. Please join us for service Easter Sunday, April 21, followed by tea and light snacks
I’m delighted to share the news that the pastors and congregations of Mountain Bible Church and Christ Child (Catholic) Church are inviting us to join their Easter Sunrise Service on April 21 at 7 a.m.! This is a major step towards bringing our congregations and the wider community closer. Praise God!
I’m looking forward to a careful and respectful conversation about the Harvest Festival right after worship on April 14. This is an important opportunity for us to revisit the purpose of the Harvest Festival, learn from the past and agree upon a process to plan and carry out the Harvest Festival – our biggest community outreach event of the year.
Church Council will get its first glimpse of the 2018-2019 budget and prepare to bring to before the congregation for a vote in May.
It’s going to be an amazing month and we will grow closer together. Through it all, God will be our guide and constant companion.
Rev. Kevin Omi
|
|
The Convergence Summit
This week the small groups in reVision finished their 90-day journey. We worked on the emerging themes that have occurred in all of the reVision small groups around
Thriving in a Safe Community
i.e. fire safety, health and well-being of our youth and elders,
Building a Nurturing Community
i.e. community-building and social events and
Creating a learning and resource center
i.e. classes on multiple subjects, conflict resolution, information sharing.
The
Convergence Summit
on
Sunday April 7
will be an idea incubator around these emerging themes. Everyone in the congregation is welcome. Kevin will begin an informal worship at
9:30 a.m.
integrated into the Summit. Participants will gather in small groups to discuss important aspects of the 90 day journey.
They will then select a theme they are interested in working on and begin generating their project proposal ideas in small groups. As ideas are generated, documented, discussed and organized, the excitement grows. During a break, the facilitators/guides will distill the ideas into about a dozen discrete ideas arising from the different themes. After the break each idea will be explained briefly by representatives that generated the idea.
Then each participant gets up and stands by one of the 12 ideas they wish to work on. Thus declaring their interest and commitment! A proposal team is formed wherever there are two or more people standing by an idea. Their first task is to create a name for their proposal team even if it's just a working title.
Then we celebrate and honor all the work we have accomplished thus far in reVision and congratulate the proposal teams. We thank God for guiding us in this work and giving us the stamina to change and grow.
Anne Evans
|
|
LITANY THROUGHOUT THE INTERIM PERIOD
For God’s holy presence amidst change, we pray.
For comfort because loss is part of change, we pray.
For Christ-like steadfastness during the challenges of transition and seasons of faith, we pray.
For reassurance through frailty and failings, we pray.
For the abundant creativity the Spirit provides, we pray.
For our loved ones in this community of faith, we pray.
For God’s children beyond this community, we pray.
|
|
Church Council News
++++++++++++++++++++++
The council met on March 24. This was the first of our two annual budget meetings to discuss both pledging and input from boards and committees to formulate the 2019-2020 budget. The pledge letter was reviewed and approved. It will be sent out in the coming week. The annual budget approval meeting will be held on May 26. Gerry reviewed the status of the current budget. He also gave us in-depth and informative review of our accounts and funds, which is included along with the meeting minutes.
Reverend Omi brought us up to date on the Interim Roadmap and timeline. He also gave us an updated version of the document, ‘Events Involving the Church and Wider Community’. Both documents are available online and on large posters in Whitaker. Members are invited to mark them up with additional information.
Jeremy Cole gave a status report on the women’s bathroom project. A completed Project Status Report has been posted in the Women’s bathroom and will be posted in Whitaker Hall, so everyone will understand what’s planned. A Project Status Template will also be posted for the elevator project. Anne Evans explained the items in the Pastoral Search Budget that will be needed later in the year or early 2020 when we are closer to finding our settled pastor. Anne also reviewed a summary of the Convergence Summit Plan
for April 7.
Larry Lopp from the Communications Committee expressed gratitude that a naming convention for subject lines in emails has been adopted and discussed the Dropbox strategy his committee is working on. They anticipate finalized church documents will eventually reside in such an account as a permanent record. Nancy Jo Lopp from the Deacons said they are working with Rev. Omi on a slightly different style of Maundy Thursday soup dinner and service; and requested information from him about the worship components of the Convergence Summit. Deacons and Women’s Group will be planning a tea after the 10:30 service on Easter morning.
Rev. Omi shared that he will begin discussions of Harvest Festival at a meeting on April 14. He also requested and it was approved that we form a Philanthropy Team to help us look at ways to improve our financial basis.
|
|
Flu and Cold Season is still around us.
As we gently step into spring we are o
ccasionally
reminded that the flu and cold bug is still hanging around the mountains. If you feel that you may have any of these symptoms:
sore throat, headache, cough, weakness, fever or rhinitis, Please refrain from hugs and hand shakes. Your Skyland friends will understand and will thank you for not sharing. 😊
If you are very sick, 🤢 please stay home and take care of yourself.
All of us here at Skyland Church will wish you a speedy recovery.
|
|
Gratitude for the Lenten Retreat
Nine of us gathered on March 16th for a lovely morning of
contemplation
,
prayer,
sharing, and reflection.
Guided by Rev. Kevin, we explored how we might experience the Lenten message and mystery more fully in our lives, and the Lenten season as one of turning and transformation.
Rev. Kevin's thoughtful structuring of the retreat, including evocative music and imagery, created a safe and holy space in which to be present to God, Christ, one another, and ourselves. I experienced deep joy at hearing from others as well as from the time set aside for prayer and inward observation.
Rev. Kevin, thank you for offering us the opportunity to turn with more intention toward the light of Christ, within us and among us.
Thank you to those who brought food and flowers, and to all who participated.
Julie Victorine
photo: Lenten Roses
|
|
|
|
Flowers for the Altar
Several Sundays during March and April are open for floral gifts. Please sign up on the calendar in Whitaker Hall. You can check the calendar in the links at the end of this newsletter.
|
|
MEDITATION MOMENT
Inspiration:
In his book, The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to the Love You Need, Gerald May writes this about “Awakening”:
Our heart’s desire goes on no matter what; it is awake even when we sleep. But when we accept the invitation of love, our minds must awaken to our hearts; we must sense our desire and know our intent. We may not know exactly how or why we are choosing, and we most certainly do not know what we are letting ourselves in for, but we need to realize our act of opening. The yes to love, chosen with immediate awareness and full responsibility in the absence of certain knowledge, is the most free and authentic thing a human being can do.
|
|
Missions Board Spotlight
LOCAL AID:
This month Julie and Bruce delivered clothes to the Davenport Resource Center. They still need men's jackets and jeans. Their teen center was very happy to have snacks too.
Please bring new or clean and lightly used sleeping bags, coats, jackets, scarves, hats and gloves for MHCAN
(Mental Health Client Action Network)
located off of Cayuga Street in Santa Cruz:
http://www.mhcan.org/
Loma Prieta School and CT English are always appreciative of peanut free snacks and drinks to serve the students at recess.
Our Wider Mission Outreach:
During April, we will be asking members to start collecting children's books preschool- 8th grade for the Africa Library Project. Please contact Shannon Edwards if you need a pick up:
ShannonEdwards14@gmail.com
We received a lovely thank you letter (from Maimuna) and photo of one of the students (Jesika) that we adopted in Africa.
|
|
|
|
Jesika at The Baobab Home
|
|
Food Pantry Requests
The pantry can use a few of the following items:
- Cereal
- Crackers
- Peanut butter (yes, it's true!)
We have
plenty
of canned tomatoes and chicken broth so do not need more at this time.
Thank you for sharing your gifts with others in our community.
Blessings,
Julie Victorine
|
|
NOTE From Your Treasurer
Pledge income continues to run about $255 less than anticipated each month. After 10 month pledges received are $2,555 less than projected.
Due to reduced expenses our 10 month, June-March, operating net is +$17,919 which is $6,839 more than planned.
Another $3,000 gift for Flood & Fire relief was received and sent to NCNC-UCC to help with their Northern California Emergency Relief efforts.
We are able to accept credit card payments for pledge, general and special offerings if that is more convenient than check or cash. See me after service for these transactions.
Here is our operating finances as of March 25 for our 2018-19 fiscal year.
Respectfully
Gerald Alonzo, Treasurer
|
|
Skyland Community Church, United Church of Christ
25100 Skyland Road, Los Gatos, CA 95033
phone: 408-353-1310
USPS mail: Skyland Church
P.O. Box 245
Los Gatos, CA 95031-0245
Website
http://skylandchurch.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
