Pastor Letter
Rev. Rob Mark, Pastor
"Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people, your God will be my God." ~Ruth
Dear Church,
These are unsettling times. The mid-term election is around the corner, and our country is deeply divided. But what is more concerning to me is the source of such division: lies, hate speech, fear, racism, anti-Semitism, and violence. It seems that the faith and integrity of biblical Ruth is sorely missing. We miss the voice of someone who stands up against the grain of societal expectation and says, "I will go where you go." We crave seeing more Ruths rise up to walk in solidarity with caravanning asylum seekers. We miss the voices of people saying, "your God will be my God." We desire to see more people courageously crossing the aisle-turned-crevasse of politics to see the face of God in those with whom we passionately disagree who say, "your people will be my people." We long to see more Ruths rise up to join in solidarity with Jewish congregations in the wake of Pittsburgh to say, "your God will be my God."
Friends, as hard as it seems, may we strive to be more like Ruth. May we strain to see that there is far more that unites us than divides us. May we shout out prophetically that lies, hatred, bullying from our government can never cause us to lash out in hatred, or forget to seek the face of God in the other - even those our world tells us are "enemies."
And let us pray for these elections. May they be fair. May they be representative. May people not be discriminated against or kept from voting. And may whoever gets elected be continually converted to the ways of love, peace and justice.
Here are two letters I recently wrote in these busy days clamoring for more justice and love in our community:
For Rev. Rob's Testimony on Oct. 30, 2018, before Boston's City Council regarding Gas Leak Justice,
click here.
For Rev. Rob's Letter to the Editor on YES on Question 3, Boston Globe, Nov. 1, 2018,
click here.
A Prayer for Elections:
O God of love, bless all who vote, bless all who keep polls open and safe, and bless all who are elected to serve. O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Liberator. Amen.
In peace,
Rob
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An Update from the Kindling Collective
By Rev. Julie Avis Rogers
The Kindling Collective is now entering it's second academic year of offerings and it's been exciting to see a shift in how our student leaders are taking increased leadership and ownership of this initiative as we become clearer on who we are and what we do. After lots of one-on-one conversations and trial and error, we have zeroed in on being a place to amplify and encourage artwork about faith and spirituality through our Kindling Zine and to offer spaces of prayer and nourishment through periodic Artist Retreats (both here at Covenant and on campuses.)
And in looking ahead,
please save the date for Saturday, December 2, from 4-6 pm when the next Kindling Zine will launch! This time, the launch will be held right at Emerson College where many of the contributing artists are currently students. This afternoon of sharing art and faith journeys is open to the Covenant community and we would love your presence and support! The following
Sunday, December 9, the Kindling Collective will host one of our Artist Retreats in Bates Hall from 2-5 pm for those who identify as students or young artists in our midst.
As ever, thank you so much for the support and trust that you've placed in me and the Kindling Advisory Team as we seek to provide innovative spiritual nourishment for our local young artists!
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Bill Brown, Building Manager 
Bill grew up in Western Connecticut where his father ran a tool and die manufacturing business. After finishing his education, Bill joined the family business, where he learned the importance of hard work, customer service, and attention to detail. After 25 years in business, his family sold the company and Bill embarked on a new career in real estate. After meeting his future husband, he relocated to Boston where he continued working in real estate in the areas of property management, sales, and rentals. He is now excited to bring his experience in business management and customer service to the Church as its Building Manager. In his spare time, he enjoys biking, kayaking and spending time on the Cape with his husband. Bill has been a temporary staffer at Covenant, and has now moved to a 25 hour per week core staff member. He can be reached at [email protected].
We welcome Hillary as Covenant's new Parish Administrator, our main contact for all administrative matters of the church such as bulletins, announcements, internet presence, etc. She will be working 16 hours per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and can be reached at [email protected]. Look for Hillary's bio and photo in the next issue of Covenant News!
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Volunteer Opportunities
by Kathy Bull, for the Children and Youth Christian Education Committee
In the Youth Class, for 10-13 year-olds, we're looking for volunteers to be secondary teachers who provide support and help to keep the class moving forward. The primary teacher is responsible for developing and carrying out the lesson plan. The class is interactive and key themes from the Bible are explored using stories, arts and crafts, music and games.
In the Godly Play class, for younger children, we're looking for volunteers to be the second adult in the room and help as needed, for example, with supporting a child or accompanying a child to the nursery. Godly Play is a Montessori-based curriculum, centered on stories from the Bible.
Both volunteer positions require no preparation for class - just show up. The classes are from 10:45 to 11:35am. You can volunteer as frequently as you'd like.
If you are interested or would like more information, please contact us at
[email protected].
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Creation Care Thanksgiving 
By
Evelyn Kimber for Consumption and Justice
The Creation Care pledge puts
love into action for every living creature, and considers protecting this precious planet with our votes and our everyday choices.
Thanksgiving gives us an occasion to learn about the bird so unfortunate to become the "symbol" of the holiday, and how commercial breeding has altered the noble wild turkey to become the disabled factory farm inmate barely able even to stand. To learn more, click here, and for a short video click here.
Whether considering an all-plant-based holiday meal, or curious to include a plant strong dish or two,
you can have some fun with these recipes: a centerpiece entree (lively instructional video)
here, a "Thanksgiving in an hour"
here, to-live-for-Harvest stuffed portobellos
here, and why not a few more
here.
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Blessing of the Animals Service at Covenant 
Sunday, November 11, 2018
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News from the Pews
Complied by Linda Pursley
Celebrations
Rebecca Groves Ludovico and
Vinicius Ludovico are happy, proud parents of a daughter,
Selma Louise Ludovico born on October 18. Almost as happy and proud are Selma's grandparents,
Tim and Betsy McAlister Groves in Cambridge and
Agostinho and Lucinha Ludovico and Vinicius's grandmother
Selma in Brazil. Pictured is Selma at age 36 hours.
Harry Forsdick writes, "
Whenever I am at Fenway Park for a Red Sox game, I try to go over to where I know Nancy Hollomon sits -- so, when I was at the second game of the World Series, I stopped by to see her. As usual Nancy was brimming over with enthusiasm for the Sox. The results of this game proved her to be right as they beat the Dodgers, 4-2!
While I was making my rounds, I next stopped by where my son
Will Forsdick
works at Fenway and captured this shot of Will with his Red Sox buddies."
Updates
From the Lauber Doherty household, Diane reports that she is very happy  with her new job as the part-time office coordinator for the five Multifaith Chaplains at Brandeis University. Josh, 17, a senior, is in the middle of sending out applications to colleges around the country with hopes of studying business in a location where he can surf. Jon, 13, an 8th grader, and Jim are both doing well and spending a lot of time in ice rinks as Jon continues as goalie. Everyone in the family is thrilled with the new addition of little Hazelnut (Hazel for short) who has won over cat brother Dragonfly and bunny brother Butterscotch.
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Elections Scheduled in the Congo:
Presbyterians Engage in Advocacy
by Anne Crane
A sharing from Anne's recent participation in Congo Mission Network activities. CMN is a grass-roots organization affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A (PCUSA).
T
he long delayed presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been scheduled for December 23. President Kabila's second five-year term ended two years ago, but only under intense pressure from the Congolese people and the international community did he finally agree to leave office and set a date for new elections. Few people expect that the elections will be free and fair, and there have been violent demonstrations in recent days and weeks as the Congolese people express their anger and frustration about the electoral process. Many people believe that the voting machines that the government purchased from South Korea will not work or will be rigged. No paper ballots have been distributed, and one of the major opposition candidates has been disqualified from running and continues to live in exile.
Our Presbyterian partners in the DRC have been seriously affected by the continuing uncertainty over the elections and the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflicts that have rocked the country in recent months and years, as have all the Congolese people. It was with this in mind that about 20 members of the PCUSA's Congo Mission Network from across the US, including myself, spent October 10th advocating for the Congo on Capitol Hill and at the US State Department. As we met with key staff members, our major "ask" of both House and Senate members was that they promote the authorization and appropriation of funds to enable USAID, the World Food program and other US and UN agencies to support free and fair elections in the DRC and to provide vital humanitarian assistance to regions in the Congo that face food insecurity and potential famine. We asked our Congressional Representatives to press for immediate consideration of HR 6207, the DRC Democracy and Accountability Act of 2018. This bill was reported out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support on June 28th, but House leaders have yet to schedule a vote on the legislation. HR 6207 commits the US government to providing support for democratic governance, conflict mitigation and humanitarian assistance in the DRC. We urged our senators to sponsor companion legislation to HR 6207.
A few of us spent about an hour in a fruitful meeting with Rory Anderson, a Policy Advisor at the Department of State's Office of Religion and Global Affairs. Well informed about the DRC, Ms. Anderson asked a lot of questions about the work of the Presbyterian Church there and about the relationship between the PCUSA and our partners in the Congo. She listened to our concerns and proposals and talked with us about how best to get the US Government to play a positive role there.
After the advocacy day in Washington, we went to Portsmouth, VA for the two and a half day annual meeting of the Congo Mission Network. We were joined there by the newly elected General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in the Congo and by the Rector of the Presbyterian University, both of whom had several opportunities to speak and share their insights about the work of the church in the midst of conflict and uncertainty. We heard reports and had lively discussions about the challenges and accomplishments of the Build Congo Schools Project (to which Covenant has contributed), post secondary education, health, development work and trauma healing. Our Congolese partners are involved in all of these areas, and there is much to celebrate despite the significant challenges.
We celebrated that a Congolese, Dr. Denis Mukwege was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his remarkable work with women who have been victims of violence in the eastern Congo. In January 2016 I was part of a  PCUSA Travel Study Seminar that spent ten days in the eastern Congo meeting with victims of rape and with the women who were engaged in trauma healing work. At one point our group of twelve divided into three groups to visit three different cities along the eastern border of the Congo. One group went to Bukavu and had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Mukwege, who talked with them about his work at Panzi Hospital and about what the churches could do to challenge the political status quo that has created the problem. The group made a video of Dr. Mukwege's comments, and that video was shared at our Congo Mission Network meeting this year. We also viewed a video presentation made by PCUSA mission coworker Christi Boyd about the trauma healing training program that was sponsored by our Congolese partners two months ago in the city of Kananga, where many people were killed or displaced by conflicts that broke out in 2017. The training program was very well attended and well received. Sponsored by the Presbyterians, the program included people from other religious communities, including Catholics, Muslims and Kimbanguists (an independent church based in the DRC).
The situation in the DR Congo often looks hopeless, but there are many committed people there who are willing to risk everything to bring about change in this country that is rich in human and natural resources. The Presbyterian Church in the Congo is a vibrant and growing community that has played an active role in the Congo for 127 years and has been a voice for justice, peace and reconciliation in an often volatile atmosphere. Our partnership with this church and the larger ecumenical community of which it is a part has deep roots and deserves continued nurturing.
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Under the Mango Tree 
by Tim Groves
Note: This column will be a monthly sharing of stories from our sister church community, Dulce Nombre de Jesus, in northwest Nicaragua.
At our All-Church Retreat in October in Duxbury, we had special guests join us, Memo and Amanda from Entre Culturas along with their daughters Sophia and Julia, and Amanda's parents Kathy and Stan. Memo and Amanda are living, at least temporarily, with Amanda's parents in Damascus, Maryland, as the violence and civil divisions in Nicaragua has made them question the safety of their family in Managua at this time.
Memo and Amanda led us in games to help animate us, to get us to connect with each other in new ways, and to enjoy ourselves. And at Covenant after worship the next day, they also shared their perspectives of the turmoil and divisions Nicaragua is currently experiencing.
Even outside of Nicaragua, Memo and Amanda are in close contact with Eduardo Valdez and Luis Aguirre, the other two core staff members of Entre Culturas. Below is Memo's English translation of the first part of the most recent workshop in Dulce Nombre that Entre Culturas leads with our village and also with La Danta, the other village in the region that they accompany. [Covenant, through our Mission and Advocacy annual budget, helps fund these workshops.]
On Saturday, September 29, we had our fourth session of the Escuela de Animadores with the theme "Let's Celebrate the Word of God with Joy" with our brothers and sisters from Dulce Nombre and La Danta, at the Dulce Nombre High School. The attendance was 22 people. 9 people came from Dulce Nombre and 13 from La Danta. Jessica Juniet has a newborn child and could not attend. Nestor could not attend because he is living in Costa Rica now. With Luis and Eduardo there were 24, plus some small children from La Danta who accompanied us.
After a coffee with sweet bread, each community led a song: "Vayamos Cristianos" and "Alegre la Manana", and then Mariana led the opening prayer.
To create a more relaxed environment conducive to participation, we played the game of "Counting" where each member of the group in a random order says numbers from 1 to 24. If two people said the same number at the same time we started again from one. At least we managed to get to 24 once. It's an example of a simple game that they did not know and that serves to liven up a meeting.
Luis Aguirre gave the introduction to the meeting remembering that the Celebration of the Word is one of the most important times that gives life to both communities.
[Note: "The Celebration of the Word" is the name of the community-led worship practice that we at Covenant have learned from Dulce Nombre.]
The very word "Celebration" suggests that it is a happy, festive gathering that motivates us to return to see each other once again and share our lives.
The first activity we worked on were 3 questions that were asked in mixed pairs. In each pair there was one member from La Danta and another from Dulce Nombre. It was nice to see, for example, the two delegates of the Word of the two communities paired together, the political leaders or friendships that have been formed in previous workshops.
The questions that were discussed were the following: 1) For me, how important is the Celebration of the Word? 2) What do I look for in the Celebration of the word? 3) What things do I like and what things do I not like about the Celebration of the Word?
For the participants, the Celebration of the Word is important because it is a moment of encounter with their brothers and sisters. Maybe it's the only time where they can meet and talk about what they have done during the week. In their brothers and sisters they see the face of Jesus and learn to show solidarity to others. It is also a learning space: about the Bible and about God's message for our reality today.
In the Celebration of the Word they seek Peace, to have the opportunity to be better in life. Feed yourself spiritually and Reconciliation with God. They go not because they consider themselves holy, but because they have made mistakes. They look for more wisdom, understanding, and commitment. Maintain the community spirit and be in contact with Jesus and the problems of the community. To transmit and share with others what we have learned in our homes.
What they like most about their celebrations is the opportunity for everyone to reflect on the Biblical readings. Asking God to help us through the realities we are living and give thanks for everything received. Sing and participate without being judged.
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Council Report
By Christine James
October 2018 Meeting
Under Care
- Nancy Hollomon reported that
both Tim Groves and Holly Humphreys will serve with her as a committee to support and encourage Tom Reid as an inquirer.
Finance and Investment Committee Report
- Faith Perry, treasurer,
Joan Tighe, Chair of the Investment Committee, and Sada Geuss from Trillium, Covenant's investment firm, gave a report on COTC investments.
Council agreed to charge the Generosity Generators with developing some educational information for the congregation on different kinds of financial gifts to the church.
Council Update
- Dennis McCullough is moving to Dusseldorf, Germany, on October 17 to start a new job and, with sadness at his departure, Council accepted his resignation from Council and Personnel Committee and thanked him for his participation in the life of the church.
Arts, Spirituality and Justice Student Ministry
- Rev. Julie led a discussion of the informative and well-attended gender conversations at Covenant over the past couple weeks. She also updated Council on plans for the October 20th All Church Retreat, including the happy news that the retreat would include guests from Entre Culturas. Julie also updated Council on the revised COTC website and the new youth class being planned.
Personnel
- Council reaffirmed the need to compensate Sexton, Fred Lopes, for the additional hour of clean-up he does for the church on Sundays.
The Personnel Committee had reviewed about a dozen applications for the Parish Administrator position. An offer has gone out to the top-ranked candidate. Council affirmed the Personnel Committee's choice.
Worship and Music Committee
requested help from Choir and other congregation members with some regular tidying tasks in the Sanctuary.
Mission and Advocacy
- Council approved the recommendation of M&A that COTC become a Partner Congregation with Mass. Interfaith Worker Justice. The Mission & Advocacy committee will schedule an Adult Christian Education session to educate the congregation more on MIWJ's work and mission.
Stewardship Committee/Generosity Generators
reported that the theme and schedule for the 2018-19 Stewardship Season are in place.
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5 Arnold Rots
6 Luke Phung Helveston (born 2017)
7 Trudi Veldman
14 Tom Sutcliffe
16 Kay Thomas
18 Donald Denniston, Glenda Yoder
21 Gerri Owen, Ben Crosby
26 Phyllis Galt
27 Tori Surette
29 Barbara Englesberg, Nancy Ammerman
Note: If your November birthday does not appear on this list, please notify Hillary in the church office so we can include you next year!
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November  2018
Calendar
most up-to-date church calendar.
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About This Issue
November 2018 Covenant News
Editor and Graphics: Evelyn Kimber
Template: Harry Forsdick
Deadline for the December 2018 Covenant News is Sunday, November 25. Please email your submissions to Evelyn Kimber at
[email protected]
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