Extraordinary Times Create Practical Needs
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By Glen Miles,
Senior Minister
After Jesus died, his body was wrapped in a linen cloth and placed in an empty tomb. A large stone was rolled in front of the entrance. Historian Jon Meacham in his book,
The Hope of Glory
, points out the three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, who are on their way to the tomb two days after his execution are filled with practical, ordinary concerns. They are headed there to anoint the body with spices. They are worried about whether they will be able to roll the stone away.
Their entire world had been turned upside down. Jesus, their teacher, their rabbi, their friend, is dead. They are filled with dread and fear. In this dark and frightening moment, they are not thinking about the future or anything like it. They are simply focused on taking care of practical concerns.
We can relate. When we finally began to see the effects of Covid-19 on our country, we were filled with practical concerns, too. Grocery store shelves were soon emptied of everyday essentials like bread, milk, soap, and toilet paper.
There has been confusion and uncertainty. We were told for many days everything was under control until it became obvious it wasn’t. The airwaves and the internet have been filled with confusing and worrisome advice. I feel fine and show no signs of illness, but there were a couple of mornings when I wondered, “Is this a cold coming on or worse?” It was fear-based feeling.
One of the things we have done at First Community in the midst this crisis is focus on the practical and the ordinary. We told staff to work at home. Their focus has been on being sure we are meeting the spiritual and physical needs of our church as best we are able. Our Heart to Heart food pantry created clean, safe, simple plans to distribute food. Our pastors have reached out in new and creative ways to the members and friends of the church within their ministry areas.
My prayer request list is long. Maybe the longest ever. People are desperate for a word of hope, a bit of support.
I have been thrilled by the way we have banded together. Our church volunteers and lay leaders have stepped up as well. All of us have received many notes, emails, and calls of encouragement. Members have offered to make financial gifts over and above their regular giving. Our new mantra around all our locations is “We are in this together.”
This is the simple, practical advice I want to leave with you today. Together we can weather this storm, share with neighbors, find ways to care for the most vulnerable, and finally, trust in the power of love to lead us through.
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By Jodi Patton,
Governing Board Chair
March 2020 has disentangled to be a month of unpredictability, vulnerability, and turmoil. This combination of ingredients is a recipe for the glorious making of tremendous faith, hope, and the resolute opportunity for us to “love our neighbors as ourselves,” (Mark 12:31).
Faith gives us the opportunity to be calm in the midst of chaos; to believe what is unseen, which is good health and wellness for all people; and to realize the power of God working through the hands and feet and lives of each of us doing our part in the world at this time. And may we be reminded, this is a marathon, not a sprint. As we remain safe, compliant, and steadfast in faith, we will certainly get through this together.
Although the COVID-19 precautions are of primary importance at this time, the Governing Board continues to conduct church business as best we are able. The Executive and Finance Committees met via conference calls in March, and the Governing Board did the same. Although we have had to cancel or postpone several programs, we continue to brainstorm ideas and to innovate new online and outreach programming.
In the March 3 all-church email, I announced there would be a Special Congregational Meeting on March 29 to vote on the Constitution revisions. Due to circumstances beyond our control, this meeting has been postponed until a later date. We will do our best to keep you informed regarding the rescheduled date.
Due to the cancellation of church programs, the 2020 Strategic Planning Kick-Off event unfortunately did not happen. In light of remaining compliant with health precautions, we will reschedule this event when it is safe to do so.
Breathe deeply and mindfully, keep physical distance while making safe and loving connections with one another, and get outdoors, if possible, for the sweet birdsong, the trees and the early spring flowers have vast healing potential. Remember to send out cheers of thankfulness for those on the front lines; our leaders, health professionals, and community advocates.
Take good care, be well, God bless!
Jodi Patton, Governing Board Chair
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Foundation Work Critical in Turbulent Times
By Chris Montgomery
As the Covid-19 crisis continues to unfold, causing unprecedented disruptions in all our lives, the work of the First Community Foundation must go on. Indeed, with the Church’s finances stretched as it responds to members and others in our community in need, the Foundation - whose purpose is to support the ministries and missions of the Church - is needed now more than ever. Please consider making a
donation
to the Foundation.
Recent approved grants include:
- Funds to support First Community Village residents whose personal financial resources are no longer enough to meet their monthly living expenses. Funding came from the William and Evelyn Boggs Memorial Fund.
- Funds to support Heart to Heart food pantry, which has seen an increase in demand as the Covid-19 situation has progressed. Funding came from the Heart to Heart Endowment Fund.
- Money to purchase a truck for Camp Akita. A new truck capable of being equipped with a snowplow and salt spreader was sorely needed. Funding came from the Lee and Betty Solis Fund and the Akita Maintenance Fund. Below is a photo of Mike and Danita Young of Camp Akita’s staff with Paul Anderson, Director of the Foundation, picking up the truck.
- A grant from South Capital Improvement Fund, Art Sanders Honor Fund, FCC Permanent Endowment, and the Ken and Marty Fishel Endowment was used to replace one of the furnaces at the South Annex building, which houses the Trading Post and Heart to Heart Ministries.
The Foundation Board thanks the many donors whose funds support the grants awarded. For more information about making a gift to the Foundation, or to learn more about its activities, please contact
Paul Anderson
at (614) 255-3186.
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Letter from FC Treasurer, Jason Milligan
(Click the image to read the entire document)
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New Sanctuary Doors at First Community South
By Pam Jameson,
Director of Facilities Ministry
A generous group of donors quietly rallied together to bless our First Community South Sanctuary with *custom-built, solid white oak doors, mirroring the original 1924 design. The endeavor included installation and new hardware.
The original glass windows were preserved and placed between two pieces of clear glass to improve insulation and avoid breakage. This service was provided by another donor without an expense.
The “Quiet Blessings” group continues to work behind the scenes in efforts to secure funding to replace the remaining weathered doors surrounding the original South building.
Doors welcome families, friends, neighbors, and visitors into our homes and our church. If you are interested in supporting this project or other improvements, send your donation to my attention. It takes many hearts and hands to care for our gifts. Thank you for your continued care and support.
*Keim Lumber provided the beautiful and excellent workmanship via input from Jason Kurtz, Millwork Specialist with Keim, our contact.
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- Annual Mission Council Gigantic Garage Sale Postponed
- The Garage Sale Committee recently met via conference call to discuss the possibility of postponing our beloved Garage Sale to a date later in the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, after weighing all our options and the many permutations, our conclusion was we will have to cancel the sale this year. The decision to cancel “Garage Sale Camp” this year was difficult, but eventually, it seemed like we were trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. In this most unusual time, we want to err on the side of caution, protect everyone’s health, and be realistic about our options. It is sad to think of missing out on our fun time of camaraderie, all working together toward such an important goal, but maybe we can re-channel our energies and raise some money by cobbling together some of the projects mentioned above. I would love to hear any creative suggestions that you might have. Thank you for your understanding and sorry about the pile in your basement!
- Back Bay Mission
- Board announces retirement of Executive Director, Dr. Alice Graham.
- First Community mission trip October 4 through 10, 2020
- Missions Blog
- Headlines will appear in the monthly edition of firstnews.
- Opportunity to include more detailed information and more images for missions-related activities and events.
- Please click here for submission guidelines.
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It’s Choir Time! (for children grades K-5)
All K-5 families are invited to join Youth Choir Director, Sally Beske, on Facebook Live, Friday mornings at 10 am. Sally will conduct a virtual choir rehearsal and music lesson from her piano at home. We will sing songs familiar to choir children, but easily learned by others, move our bodies to music, and learn how music is written and felt inside our bodies. We will also talk about “Loving Choices,” which is our way of being in our youth choirs and in life.
Youth Vocal Ensemble for grades 6-12 and Bell Choirs
Sally is reaching out to members of our Youth Vocal Ensemble and Bell Choir individually. Families are encouraged to watch email and Facebook for announcements around virtual gatherings and rehearsals. More to come.
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A Note of Thanks from the American Red Cross
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Thank You again First Community and
Robin
for your support.... we had amazing donors today and collected
36 units on a goal of 18
.
We had one of our staff taking temperatures as people walked in the building then donors registered just outside the room.
Those units will potentially help to save the lives of 108 patients. Also we had 2 first-time donors today which was wonderful to see!
Take Care!
Kristina Larkin
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79
th
Annual Burkhart Luncheon
Cancelled
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Due to the current public health crisis, the Burkhart Luncheon has been cancelled.
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Our Enforced, Collective, Continuing Sabbath
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By David Hett,
Minister of Religious Life and Learning
Hope is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists.
--
Rebecca Solnit,
Hope in the Dark
Rebecca Solnit’s words were the quote of the day for the March 15 Sunday morning bulletin, which never saw the light of day as we moved quickly to online worship only that fateful week. I need to be reminded of them now, as we all move together into a collective, and continuing, experience of not-knowing; such uncertainty is not a state with which most of us are familiar.
I am sure you are already discovering that whatever spiritual practice we have, or have already created, becomes paramount, for we need to be not only physically prepared, but also spiritually prepared. There are all kinds of online resources if you have internet access or smart phones. For instance, I use the Insight Timer app for my meditations, and contains all kinds of free resources for meditation with words, music or silence.
And if you don’t have access to any of that, there are all those books of verse or fiction or nonfiction, or clippings, newspaper or magazine articles, you’ve put on the shelf or in a box, or even that old Bible, reading the psalms perhaps in particular. There’s meditative walking outside, as long as that is still an option. There is simply being mindful of each and every moment. I believe this is happening in spite of our normal thinking minds, if we can allow for fearful and anxious moments while recognizing there is a
far larger
holding force at play here, the infinite and unceasing Divine Love out of which the entire universe arises.
As a reminder to myself, I keep returning to Unitarian minister Lynn Ungar’s poem,
Pandemic
:
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has become clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love—
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
May all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch, exceed in our own souls
by billions
the tendrils of the coronavirus that may invisibly touch our bodies.
The closing words of John O’Donohue’s Blessing,
Benneacht
, have become a frequent benediction for me. May they comfort each of you as they comfort me:
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
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Spring Cleaning? Donate to the
Trading Post!
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By Rebecca Wolfe,
Director of the Tri-Village Trading Post
What do people do when sequestered at home? They “spring clean,” of course!
That most likely means going through closets and switching out one season’s clothes for the next. What do we do with all those things we no longer wear, you ask? Give them to the Trading Post!
Because of the current Covid-19 health crisis, we ask that you hold all of your donations at home until further notice. We will let you know as soon as we are collecting items at First Community North and South.
If you have questions about a donation, do not hesitate to call us at (614) 488-6564. Imagine, during this difficult time, you will not only have de-cluttered your space but also provided future shoppers with things they can use. Thank you in advance for helping us continue being “A Boutique Shopping Experience at Bargain Prices.”
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Ritual Rebalancing of Divine
Feminine and Masculine
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Conclusion of Mirabai Starr Spiritual Searcher Event
Rev. David Hett, Spiritual Director of The Burkhart Center and First Community’s Minister of Religious Life & Learning, joined with guest author and retreat leader, Mirabai Starr, in a Contemplative Experience Sunday, March 8, in Grace Hall to conclude her weekend retreat.
This service was open to all in the community at no charge, and was meant to meet the church Governing Board’s Mission Imperative to provide a variety of worship experiences, as well as making use of the additional space our new Sanctuary provides to hold concurrent worship experiences on a Sunday morning.
Sacred readings, poems, and prose highlighted the ritual time, as well as moments of silence. David and Mirabai were joined by The Bhakti Mamas
,
a duo of two local women who perform “Kirtan,” a style of chant using Sanskrit words and devotional music (“bhakti” is a form of devotional worship out of the Hindu tradition).
Photos courtesy of Charles Baldeck.
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David Hett and Mirabai Starr in a humorous moment during Contemplative Experience.
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The Bhakti Mamas, Holly Moretti and Abby Dorn, leading Kirtan chants during the service.
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The Contemplative Experience concluding Mirabai Starr’s weekend retreat in Grace Hall.
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Retrofit: A Playbook for Moms
Next Coffee and a Love Sunday Event
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This event has been postponed. We will update you as soon as a new date has been decided.
Marti Bledsoe Post, Hilliard resident and First Community member, will discuss the themes from her new book,
Retrofit: The Playbook for Modern Moms,
at a Coffee and a Love Revolution event.
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We share the joys and sorrows of our church family in our prayers.
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As of March 19, 2020
BIRTHS
Munro Marie Talmage 2/29/20
Daughter of Scott and Meghan Talmage
Granddaughter of Joan and Ralph Talmage
DEATHS
Betty Corn 2/9/2020
Mother of Lisa Brush
Grandmother of Nathan (Samantha) Brush
Grandmother of Jeff Brush
Mary Garvin 2/29/20
Karen Van Hooser 3/9/20
Mother of Scott Van Hooser
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Violet Messick 3/11/20
Mother of Molly (Mark) Miely
Mother of Mike (Gail) Messick
Grandmother of Troy Messick
Stephen Neri 3/16/20
Son of Tony and Peg Neri
Jack VanDerKooi 3/18/20
Son-in-law of Sara Haag
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Please send notifications of Weddings, Births, Hospitalizations or Deaths to
Robin Hood, Congregational Care Coordinator, (614) 488-0681 ext. 235. Our Pastoral Care staff is available if you desire a visit or call during an illness, hospitalization or time of need.
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Heart to Heart
Crystal Allen
Byers Auto
Lynne Ayres
Kelly Bates
Peggy Bellows
Jen and Chris Burns
Julie and Rob Cannell
Becky City Dog Daycare LLC
Sandra and Jack Cotter
Jansen DiDomenico
Mike and Laura Elliott
Austin Felice
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TR and Sarah Gross Jr
Craig and Miranda Kauderer
Kathryn Mason
Jennifer Nichols
Sandy Pfening
Bobbie Reynolds
Dick and Kitty Rohrer
Duke and Jill Thomas
Doug and Darian Torrance
Lisa Young
In Memory of
David Young
Ethan Young
In honor of
Pete McClelland
Susan Forbes
Mrs. Gerald Laver
Christian and Donnalynn Laver
Jane Ledman
Vernon and Jenny Morrison
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General Missions
Sally and Brian Kriska
Donations to The Burkhart Center
Anne Cooper
Cathleen Graf
Bill and Hilda Hensley
Katie Kram
Cindy Kuhn
Lisa and Jeff Norris
Bertina Povenmire
Scott and Laura Toop
Ed and Jan Wojniak
In Celebration of:
Camp Akita
Mike and Jayne Kaylor
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FC NORTH 11AM SERVICE
First Community continues its Virtual Worship Service Series with Dr. Miles, Dr. Blosser, Reverend Shaner, Sally Beske, pianist, and Janelle Rogers, Soloist
Read more
vimeo.com
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First Community Church | (614) 488-0681 | FCchurch.com
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