May 17th, 2022

Dear friends in Christ,

My devotion today is drawn from “The Spirituality of Imperfection,”

by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham

Being-at-Home: Using the pain of the past for healing in the present

"The mistake we make is to turn upon our past with airy wholesale negation…The way of wisdom is to treat it airily, lightly, wantonly, and in a spirit of poetry; and above all to use its symbols which are its spiritual essence, giving them a new connotation, a fresh meaning." — John Cowper Powys

Virtually all people have a complicated relationship with their family of origin, with home. On one hand, it serves as a shield and protects against our early vulnerabilities, and yet it is also the setting when we suffer our first wounds.

We often hold nostalgic memories of our family. The root of our word “nostalgia” actually means “the pain of returning home.” That sense of longing and suffering appears in words of other languages. The Welsh word for nostalgia is Hiraeth which actually means “a homesickness for home you can’t return to or that never was.”

Life situations inform us that we are basically imperfect and any relationship we enter into—voluntarily or involuntarily, familial or otherwise—will be flawed. None of us is perfect.

To be in relationship with another person is to be both healed and hurt, both wounded and made whole. The choice is not between whether we will be healed or not but, rather, which of those realities will we choose. Will we choose to be healed and will we choose to be made whole.

We can feel homeless in the deepest meaning of the word: not in the sense of having no place to sleep or even in the wider sense of poverty’s homelessness, but in a universal sense of having no place where we fit in and can feel broken, cut off and fundamentally estranged.

Applying spiritual principles such as acceptance and gratitude we learn how and where we can fit. By accepting ourselves as imperfect we can fit into our own being. And in accepting our imperfections we can accept the imperfections of others, especially within our family. When we accept ourselves as well as our relationships with others we can find a real home.

In life we learn that what we do affects others, that what others do affects us, and that we are related to each other through need and through love…as well as through blood.

Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov learned to love when he went to an inn and heard one inebriated man ask  another, “Do you love me?” “Certainly I love you,” replied the second. “I love you like a brother.” But the first man shook his head and insisted, ”You don’t love me. You don’t know what I lack. You don’t know what I need.” The second man fell silent, but Rabbi Leib understood: “To know the need of men and to bear the burden of their sorrow, that is the true love of men.”

"...so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything." 

~1 Peter 4:8 (the Message) 

With caring and love,

Madeline Weston

I'm sharing this beautiful rendition of "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" by Sam Cooke. It ties into the devotion and we can all relate to the lyrics. 

Sam Cooke "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"

From the desk of Sue Sklansky,

Spotlight on the Deacons

It was a pleasure last night to have a year-end celebration dinner with the deacons to thank the deacons rolling off, Nancy and Sam Bennett, and Greg Korak. They all quietly have served our members in a steadfast way during the past several years, and have built lasting relationships with their care partners. As I end my time with this church, I reflect most on the relationships we have provided through Stephen Ministry, Deacons and in my role as the Congregational Care Coordinator. These are often invisible signs of ministry, but so vital. In a community that seems to value having our "lives put together," we know as deacons that this is rarely the case. The role of a deacon is the one who "bears witness" to the more difficult moments of life, without judgment. In the world of spirituality, it is known as holding space. We hold space for grief, illness, infidelity, loneliness, depression, divorce, substance abuse, incarceration, lost babies,tragic accidents, and many more life altering moments. The deacons do not share these with you all, as they hold them in deep confidence. Just know that the deacons are caring for nearly 50 of our members with whatever moments or seasons are presented and hold space for those members in order to stay connected to their faith and their church community. So as I leave, my hat is off to the wonderful deacons who quietly and without fanfare love deeply those who need us most. 

Sunday, June 5th will be Sue Sklansky's last Sunday at fpcw. Sue will be moving to Michigan this summer to begin a new chapter in her life. We hope you will join us on this special Sunday as we celebrate Sue, and thank her for the many ministries she shepherded during her time with us. Sue has been a gift to fpcw and she will be missed greatly.

Congratulations to these three fpcw members who graduated, this spring. We celebrate your accomplishments and many gifts. 

Member and Clerk of Session, Dr. Carol Korak, received her PhD in Historical Theology and Church History from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2020. Due to the pandemic, her hooding ceremony and commencement was delayed until this year

The Pentecost Offering unites us in a church-wide effort to support young people and inspire them to share their faith, ideas, and unique gifts with the church and the world and offers them opportunities to build a solid foundation of faith to last a lifetime. Pentecost Sunday is June 5th, please consider giving generously ...for if we all do a little, it adds up to a lot. 

Bible Study: Meets Thursdays at 10 am 

Join us in-person or via Zoom for an hour of lively and thoughtful discussion of the Bible and its import for our faith today. Led by Pastor Jeff, there’s no pre-reading or any expertise required. Everyone is welcome.

We take the Bible seriously, but not literally. We try to interpret it with historical and literary understanding, but also recognize that no interpretation is perfect or final.

We believe that questions are more transforming the answers, and we’re interested both in what the Bible meant (to its first hearers) and what it means (to us today). We apply St. Augustine’s “rule of love” (i.e. all faithful interpretations of Scripture will promote a love of God and neighbor). Currently, our group is studying the book of Genesis and would love to have you join us weekly, monthly, or whenever you are able. The group is coordinated by church member Bonnie Wehrenberg. We meet in hybrid format from 10-11 am on Thursday: in person in the Upper Room at church and virtually over Zoom Link.