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

   Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost    
August 19, 2018    


Our Core Values: 
Spiritual Growth. Welcome. Justice-seeking
                      


                                     
                       

  
Join us for Summer fun at the Cordova-Brookey house this Saturday from 1:00-5:00. See details below and please RSVP.

Reflection for Worship. . .

                                                                        
  Wild Goose
 
In July, seven of us from FCC went to the Wild Goose Festival in the hills of North Carolina, west of Asheville. Modeled after the Greenbelt Festival in Southern England, Wild Goose is four days of workshops, music, art and worship with four thousand progressive Christians in an informal, campground setting!  We all paid our way with a combination of church funds and personal funds to see what we could bring back here to Pasadena that might enliven, inform and reshape our collective church ministry.  Randy and Meagan VanDeventer will share in worship this week about their experiences  - they were participants as well as support for three young adults - Lachlan, Andy and Kaley.  Come join us as we listen to others offer insights about their faith journey and how it can be nurtured by famous and even not so famous writers, thinkers and practitioners when we are open enough to take the time to listen and share in a faithful environment!  Join us for worship this Sunday at 10AM in the Chapel!
 
Rev. John H. Pomeroy
 
   
Also This Sunday
 
Judi Tyler will be doing some art work with the children and youth this Sunday.
 
After worship the Sept. 8th Planning Committee is meeting from 11:15-11:45 in the East parlor, followed by the Youth Outreach Committee meeting at 11:45 to plan outreach work for our youth this Fall. 
 
Save the Dates:
 
Council Annual Summer Retreat: will be held at the Pomeroy house on Saturday Aug. 25th from 9-3.
 
Aid Africa Update: Sunday Aug. 26th: Peter Keller and Jeff Levison will share after worship about their travel and recent work in Northern Uganda.  
 
Sunday Sept. 9th Building Tour
after worship with Jeff Tyler, Chair of Building Ministry
   
Saturday Sept. 15th - Aid Africa Walk for Water fund-raiser.
 
Wednesday Sept. 26th - Friends in Deed Jazz on the Green fund-raiser at the historic Green Hotel.
 
Saturday Sept. 29th - Fall Association meeting which included the Ecclesiastical Council for Randy VanDeventer at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles (now a UCC Church!!). This is one of the final steps before Randy is cleared for ordination. Let's plan to come and support him. Copies of his ordination paper are available below as a link.

Sunday Oct. 28th Annual Halloween Party and Festivities.
 
Saturday Nov. 3rd Aid Africa Annual Fund-Raiser.
 
Saturday Nov. 4th Pasadena CROP Walk.



Worship Leaders 
Rev. John H. Pomeroy
Rev. Marlene W. Pomeroy
 
Liturgist   
Ron White  
 
Ushers
Sandy Biehler
Robert Rinck
Kevin Cordova-Brookey

Pianist & Music Director  
Connie Washburn

Church School Teachers  
Combined class for elementary & youth - teacher is  Judi Tyler.

Church Nursery (for infants - K)
J. Rodriguez and Moriah Vega       
 
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.   
 

Nina Kung   
Visit us at:  uccpasadena.org
Sermon Podcast: 
  
D id you miss a worship service 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
 

    
 
Office Hours
 
  Mon. - Thurs.
 
9 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 . . .  
 
-Summer Pool Party
-Aid Africa Upcoming Events
      -Aid Africa Forum
      -Walk for Water  
      -Fall Fundraiser
-All Church Celebration Planned for Sept. 8th  
-Friends In Deed - Jazz on the Green 
-Fall Association Meeting 
-Transition Update 

Summer Pool Party

Come join us at the Cordova-Brookey house for a summer pool party! Saturday Aug. 18th
from 1-5 p.m. This is for all ages. There will be a grill set up for you and a pool to swim in! Membership Ministry will provide drinks, chips, condiments and paper goods. Please bring something to grill for yourself and a side dish to share (either a salad, a vegetable or a dessert). This will be a chance for all of us to catch up with one another after our busy summers. Please RSVP to Nina in the church office by Thursday so we know how many folks to expect. You may RSVP to Pastor Marlene after that at [email protected]. Thanks to Membership Ministry for organizing another fun event for all: Kevin Cordova-Brookey, Lu Burd, Tara Bernard Kim Story and Marlene Pomeroy. When you RSVP we will give you the new Cordova-Brookey address if you don't already have it.  They now live in the Hastings Ranch section of Pasadena. 
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Aid Africa Upcoming Events
   
Aid Africa Forum
Now that church members Peter Keller and Jeff Levison have returned from Uganda, we will have a chance to hear about their trip after worship on Sunday August 26th. Jeff and Peters have stories to tell and pictures to share with us.


Walk for Water
Please join us on Saturday Morning Sept. 15th at Montrose Community Park for the Walk for Water fund-raiser. We will gather at 9:00 a.m. for a brief bit to hear about the work of Aid Africa. We will then fill our water cans and walk through Montrose to the Fire Station and back. Once we return we hope to relax together for a picnic at Montrose Park around 11:30. Please let Peter or Irene Keller know if you can participate.
 
 
Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club
Sponsors a
Walk for Water
A Clean Water Fundraiser
To Benefit the
Water Projects of Aid Africa
Saturday September 15, 2018

-Registration is at 9 am at the Montrose Community Park
3529 Clifton Place, Glendale 91208

-Walk to the Montrose Fire Station
less than a mile

-Inspect the fire equipment
-FILL your water container
-CARRY your container back to the park
-LEARN what it is like to get water when it doesn't come from your kitchen faucet
-ENTRY FEE is $25 and include a T-shirt
-GET FRIENDS to sponsor you
-TELL EVERYONE what it's like to carry your own water
-YOUR DONATIONS save lives!
*80% of communicable diseases are water born.
*1 Billion people in the developing world don't have clean water.
*Women and girls especially bear the burden of finding and carrying water.
*Less time is available for school, farming and family care when women and
girls have to walk long distances.

For Information and Sponsorship Forms
-Call - 818-389-6442
Donate Online at: AidAfrica,net/donate
Checks to: Aid Africa
3916 Pennsylvania Avenue, La Crescenta, CA 91214


Fall Fund-Raiser
 
This year FCC will be hosting the annual fund-raiser for Aid Africa on Saturday Nov. 3rd from 5:00-9:00 p.m. We will be feasting on home-made soups in a hand crafted pottery bowl for dinner. We will also see and hear updates from Uganda and the work of Aid Africa. More details and invitations will be forthcoming but save the date and plan to attend!


Saturday Sept. 8th Date for our All Church Celebration  
 
 
We are planning a grand celebration in thanksgiving for our ministry in and through this building on Saturday September 8th from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The planning committee is busily working on the details of the evening and invitations have been sent! Please mark your calendars and let anyone you know who might be interested in attending to save the date! If you have questions please ask Rev. Marlene Pomeroy. 
 

Friends in Deed Jazz on the Green

On Wed. Sept. 26th Friends in Deed will host their annual Jazz on the Green event at the historic Castle Green Hotel. This is their biggest fund-raiser of the year and provides support for their growing services. The event includes live jazz, food and drink as well as a silent auction on the first floor of this grand old hotel. The tickets are $95 each and we are supplementing up to 20 tickets for FCC folks thanks to the generous donation of the Appley Foundation. The cost to FCC folks is $50 per ticket to the first 20 folks who RSVP to Pastor Marlene. Over 10 folks attended last year and really enjoyed an evening out together. Please click on http://www.losakatombros.com/ to hear sample music of the jazz group LosAKAtombros who will be playing this year. Please click on
http://friendsindeedpas.org/fid/events/event/2018-jazz-on-the-green/ to read more about the event and the ongoing work of Friends in Deed.

Central Association
of the
Southern California Nevada Conference
United Church of Christ
 
Fall Association Meeting
 
Featuring a wonderful 15 minute prelude on their world famous organ, a festival of hymns including the singing of many of the traditional hymns of our faith, and exciting additional events. Also the date of our Moderator Randy VanDeventer's Ecclesiastical Council. See below for a link to his Ordination Paper so you may read in advance. 
 
Saturday, September 29, 2018, registration begins at 8:30 am. Meeting begins at 9:00.
 
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
540 South Commonwealth Ave.
Los Angeles, CA  90020
 
RSVP
Marcia L. Hoffman, by text at (626) 940-7497 - Cell
By email at [email protected] 
 
Cost:
$5 per person for registration
$5 per person for lunch
 
Proposed Amendment to our Bylaws
The Executive Committee, upon the recommendation of the Committee on Church and Ministry, recommends the following amendment to Central Association's Bylaws as section "j" on Page 9 of 11, line 382:   Section IX. Committees, 2. Church and Ministry:
 
(j) Sections of the Committee may meet separately from the Committee of the Whole, on, at most, a quarterly basis, as that Section's workload or agenda may require.  When a Section elects to meet separately from the Committee of the Whole, a written report must be submitted to the Chair of the Committee prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee.  At any meeting of the Committee in which a Section is not present because that Section has or will meet separately in that month, no formal decisions will be made by the Committee.  Any pending votes will carry over to the next meeting of the Committee of the whole.  The quorum for any Sectional meeting shall be a majority of its membership.  The quorum for the Committee of the Whole shall be a majority of its membership.  The quorum for two Sections meeting together shall be a majority of their combined membership.
 
Explanation:  As you may remember at the Fall meeting on Oct. 28, 2017,  this item (paragraph "j") was removed from the bylaws and referred to the Committee on Church & Ministry for rewording.  The above amendment is the result of that referral. 
 
Child care will be provided
 
Randel VanDeventer's Ecclesiastical Council
Ordination Paper Attached
 

 
Transition Update

Several things are happening that we want you to know about related to our upcoming move. First, our pastoral staff, Church Council and Scouting Committee are all working on your behalf to look for a new building space. We are looking at both leasing and purchasing options. We have one leasing option in a church that we have been in negotiations with over the summer. Once we have worked out the details we will let everyone know of the location and details. As you can imagine, there are many steps in leasing space within another church, but we do want to have a viable option in case there is nothing on the market that we wish to purchase at this time. We are also in contact regularly with our realtor Carl Whidden who is looking for potential properties for us to purchase.

In addition, we are planning a wonderful celebration of our ongoing ministry and our time in this building on Saturday September 8th.  Please note that the committee was originally thinking that we would charge $25 per person for the event. After some feedback, the committee decided to offer the evening at no cost so everyone is able to attend. We ask that you please RSVP by August 25th since a beautiful dinner is being catered and we want to have a seat for you!

Connie Washburn is putting together a wonderful selection of music for us in the sanctuary starting at 5 p.m. She is bringing several of our favorite musicians along with our Choir for the event. The Planning Committee is also inviting some folks to reflect on our time and ministry here and we hope to have some pictures to share throughout our years here. The dinner will be held after that in the parlors and will be a Mediterranean style meal with meat and vegetarian options.

Bonnie Hughes and Lu Burd are gathering together some church memorabilia and pictures to be viewed in the parlors as well. Meagan VanDeventer will have a photo booth for instant pictures - one to take home from the evening and a second one that will be used in a group mural in our new space. You will also be able to enjoy the company of previous staff members and church friends from near and far! Please plan to attend this wonderful celebration on September 8th.

Some of you have asked why we are having the event in September when we are not leaving until February. We didn't want to crowd our usual Thanksgiving Feast and Christmas events by doing it later in the year; in addition, we don't exactly know when the new owner might want to begin renovations on the building or limit our access to the sanctuary, so we selected a date that seemed to work for us! Many thanks to the members of the Planning Committee for their work on this event: Connie Washburn, Randy VanDeventer, Meagan VanDeventer, Kim Story, Dana Pell, Mary Camacho, Lu Burd, Roberta White, Carolyn Olney and Pastor Marlene.

Also, long-time member and Chairperson of Building Jeff Tyler will be giving another building tour on Sunday Sept. 9th after worship for those who wish to tour the building and remember stories of our time here in this space. If you missed the last tour led by Sue Miele, please plan to attend this one! It takes about 90 minutes to get through the building, and is a great reminder of the grandness and scope of this edifice!

Our Scouting Committee will be holding another listening session to answer your questions about the transition in the next month. We will let you know when that date is. It will be after church so you may have the chance to connect with any of those committee members with your questions or input. Many thanks for the work of the Scouting Committee: Carolyn Olney, Heather Bland, Randy VanDeventer, Jeff Tyler, Sue Miele and Kim Story.