In this Edition . . . 

       

 

                     

Happenings Around FCC From Your Pastors... 

It has been a very busy few weeks around the church with several highlights we want to share with you. As we learned in the book Real Good Church, churches tend to do wonderful things and either no one knows about it if they didn't attend, or we rush onto the next activity without taking the time to celebrate what we do well. Just in the past few weeks we had a wonderful Scholarship Tea with 60 in attendance. We also had over 100 people present to honor and celebrate the life of Ann Appley at a service in the chapel. We baptized the lovely Helen Gamber-Thompson in worship two weeks ago and Sue Miele led a tour of our building after Worship  that day for about 20 folks. Pastor Marlene and Moderator Elizabeth Lanski attended the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast with over 500 faith leaders and community activists from Pasadena.  Closer to home,  your Co-pastors hosted a staff luncheon one day so our available staff could be together and check in with each other over a meal...our Moderator Elizabeth and Treasurer Barb Bonzo were kind enough to join us.

 

This Thursday, Pastor Marlene and Sallie McNair are hosting a Friends in Deed luncheon for 30 clergy and faith leaders in our parlors to talk about addressing homelessness in Pasadena. We hope to hear of potential new ways for us to get involved with the needs in our community.  

 

Saturday September 8th has been selected as the date for our All Church Celebration in anticipation of leaving our building. The Planning Committee will be meeting in the next few weeks to decide about the details of the event. It will include music and a meal. The time frame is 5-7 p.m. More details to come!  

 

Many thanks to all who worked to made the above events happen!  Our church is active and involved in the lives of many people. For that we give thanks.  - Revs. Marlene & Jake 

 

 

New Church Home Update

  

Transition work, sorting, cleaning, packing - It has now been three months since we closed escrow on our building. We will try and give periodic updates on what is happening with our move. During late February and early March there were a lot of details to be attended to during the sale and transition to us being renters. Sallie, Moderator Elizabeth, our bookkeeper Celina and our pastors were all busy in meetings with the new owners, providing documentation for the transition, transferring utilities and other services, coordinating staff assignments and scheduling room assignments for FCC events.  Sallie has been busy going through rooms, beginning with storage areas and our downstairs kitchen, boxing up items, removing trash and discarded furniture, and sorting through banners and linens so that things can be packed when the time comes.  

 

Inquiring, calling, visiting, discussing - Our realtor Carl Whidden, Moderator Elizabeth, Jeff Tyler and Pastor Marlene have toured several potential church sites and been in touch with one another regularly.  We have until February of 2019 to find a new home, with either our new owners or ourselves offering a 60 day notice should we need to leave earlier. Carl has reached out to several churches and looks regularly at listings and rentals on our behalf. There is a lot of looking, touring and phone calling being done by all. In addition, Pastor Marlene will be meeting with Carl and our Scouting Committee this Saturday May 19 to clarify our work and schedule visits to properties for the next few weeks. We plan to schedule a Forum after worship in the next couple of months when the Scouting Committee has news to share about their search. Scouting Committee is: Carolyn Olney, Heather Bland, Jeff Tyler, Randy VanDeventer, and Sue Miele (in Pennsylvania till the Fall). Here are the Desired Building Characteristics that the Scouting Committee is working on. 

 

Touring, celebrating and looking back - Jeff Tyler will lead a second building tour for those who would like to see the building in its entirety before we leave.  The date will be announced in advance - stayed tuned! And please put Saturday September 8th on your calendar in the late afternoon/evening for a celebration in our Sanctuary and a dinner here at church to celebrate our history and ministry here. Pastor Marlene will be contacting the planning committee for that event to meet and begin our plans. Thanks to those who signed up to organize it. Please contact one of our co-pastors with any questions or if you wish to help out in some way.  We have shown great faith and exercised good stewardship of our resources in selling our building;  our transition to a new home requires the same faith, persistence, discernment and trust!  Our faith promises that God goes before us in this work and this search - so onward we go! 

 

On behalf of Church Council, Pastors Marlene & Jake 

 

Church School Kids Headed to Universal on Sunday May 20th!

Our Church School Teachers challenged our church school kids to raise over $200 for a local non-profit during Lent. They did - they raised $280!!!! As an incentive, we promised to have a group outing to Universal Studios. The date has been set. Please contact teacher Krysty Leckrone to RSVP and for further details. Harry Potter here we come!

Do you have a high school, technical school,college, or graduate school graduate this year? If so, please send in their name to the office and let us know if they are able to be in worship with us on Sunday June 3rd. We will honor all these graduates and shower them with our love. So far we know of Elizabeth Brookey, Kim Mendez-McLeish, Ethan Rinck, and Jackie Rodriguez. Feel free to buy cards and bring any gifts for each of them on June 3rd.  Please let Pastor Marlene know of others at [email protected] or email Nina in the church office at [email protected]

Choir Appreciation in worship, Celebration of High School, college and graduate school students during Coffee hour, Annual Business Meeting/potluck lunch after.

  Saturday Sept. 8th - All Church Celebration from 5-7 p.m. in our Sanctuary/parlors - more details to come!

The Rev. David Held, pastor of our congregation from 1963 until 1968, died on May 10th, 2018.  David served churches both in our Conference and elsewhere in our denomination, last serving at the Claremont United Church of Christ before his retirement.  David had been a resident of Pilgrim Place in Claremont since 1988 and his memorial service is tentatively scheduled for   June 30th, 2018 at 2PM  at Claremont United church of Christ.  David is the uncle of Kim Story of our congregation - please offer your condolences to her.