Go Tell It on the Mountain

January 2015 Newsletter
Skyland Community Church

10:30 Sunday Service

Rev. Stephen Glauz-Todrank
 
Church phone: 408-353-1310
Altar Flowers

 

All Sundays in January are open for donating flowers. Please sign up on the 2015 calendar in Whitaker Hall.


New buds push old leaves 
from the branch, a chickadee 
leaps into January. 
 
--Charles Michaels
 

 

 

                 +++

Erica Goss

renamed Los Gatos

Poet Laureate


The Los Gatos Town Council has voted to reappoint Erica Goss as Poet Laureate for another year. She will serve until Dec. 31, 2015.

 

Erica has been an active wearer of the laurel. In Los Gatos, she organized the first St. Patrick's Day Poetry Walk, created Poems-in-the-Window with local businesses, recorded The Poetry Podcast (50-plus recordings of poems in a variety of languages), established the first Los Gatos poet laureate scholarship, and most recently launched The Poetry Kitchen, a poetry reading series at the Los Gatos Library.

 

 

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Meditation Moment



Holy Spirit, we plant our feet
 into the soil of the living God. 
We turn our ear toward the       voice of the calling Christ.
 We lean our lives into the wind       of holy change.
      
Be fierce, be gentle,
Toss us, turn us,
Shape us, dishevel us.

O Holy Spirit,
In gratitude we wait. 
Amen.   

-- Prayer by Pamela C.Hawkins

                +++
Minister's Column

Looking both ways as the year changes
Arch of Janus, granite sculpture by Charles O. Perry, Greenwich, CT.

Dear Skyland Friends,

 

Happy New Year! I am writing this on the last day of 2014, looking back and forward. First backward: thank you for your extraordinary generosity in gifts to others throughout the holiday season, which helped more than 200 families, according to the thank you note from the Family Resource Center in Davenport, plus 21 local families in need this Christmas, as well as lots of blankets for Church World Service. 


 We also had a wonderful memorial for beloved member Alice Schank, a fabulous Christmas Interfaith program at the LDS church, which concluded with a memorable "Hallelujah Chorus"  sung by our three church choirs and directed by Margretta. And I also appreciate your Christmas gift to me of certificates for my two favorite restaurants in Santa Cruz!


 Looking ahead now, please join us this Sunday for an interfaith service featuring Lisa Meehan and her a cappella Jewish singing group from Tufts University. We are having an extra potluck this Sunday so bring something large and tasty to help us feed a dozen hungry singers! 


 On the 11th, I will restart my sermon series on the books of the New Testament in chronological order. Let's think of some new stuff to do also. Jinn Easterday nudged me to read Zealot, a really fresh new look at Jesus' life and times. Would you like to read and discuss that sometime? How about a family retreat? The Design Thinking group came up with that idea to help us deepen our relationships with each other. How about your ideas? No limits but what God plants in our heads and hearts!


 --  Cheers, Stephen

 

-- Photo by Carolyn McCall
Deana Arnold as Mary, with daughter Kaelie (center) with her band of angels in the Christmas Nativity pageant

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Financial Report for January 2015

 NOTE from your treasurer:


 

Thanks to your generous Mission donations, $2,350 plus clothing was given to local Giving Tree recipients, and $1,490 has been sent to the Church World Service Blankets outreach program.

 

Many thanks for your special year-end gifts, which totaled $11,180. These plus an unexpected $4,000 offering donation will make it possible to finish our final 5 months in the black.

 

Pledge and offering donations are now on target for June - December.

 

.                Summary of Operating Finances                


 

               Dec. 2014          Jun 1 to Dec.29, 2014       

            Actual  Planned    |  Actual      Planned


 

Income    $ 37,622  $ 26,064   | $126,036    $121,984

Expenses  $ 23,651  $ 23,946   | $107,286    $107,389

Net       $ 13,971  $  2,118   | $ 18,750    $ 14,595

 

  -- Gerald J. Alonzo


 
Skyland Community Church

Web: http://www.skylandchurch.com 

Mail: P.O. Box 245, Los Gatos, CA  95031-0245