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THE UKIAH DISCIPLE News of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ & United Church of Christ) January 2012
SERVING IN JANUARY: Elder: Porter Dinehart
First Sunday Pot-Luck Sunday, Jan. 1st
Board Meeting Sunday, Jan. 8th
Women’s Ministry Group Thursday, Jan. 19th
Annual Meeting Sunday, Jan. 22nd
Bag Lunch Day Saturday, Jan. 28th
A NOTE FROM PASTOR CHERIE ...
Happy New Year! 2011 was some year. Some things ended and others began. It was a year we were saddened by the loss of our dear Art Church, but we also gained two new members in Joyce and Gale. Both Dennis and Dawn were gone away from us for extended lengths of time, temporarily – we look forward to having them back with us this year. Our Spanish-language church is no longer using our worship space and a Tai Chi class came and went. But this is also the year we gained an intern – a first for this church – and Gale has pumped some new life into our congregational happenings. And – maybe most importantly – it was the year when our dear Susan’s health improved enough to allow her to come back to worshiping with us. I’m often fascinated by the many ways in which God works among us. Some days we wonder how we can pay the bills, and other days it seems we are bathed in abundance. We are small – but there is such a spirit to be found here! We help each other out; we reach out to the hungry in our town; we share learning experiences with our sister churches – we stretch and grow and seek to do more and more for God’s service.
Love, Cherie
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD ...
Greetings and Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I enjoyed being with my family for the weekend. December was very busy for me thanks to Irrigation District work. But we say goodbye to 2011 and welcome the new year. I want to thank my board members for service above and beyond. You all are the best! Gary reminded me of an equation that was in the Secret Place devotional recently: You plus God equals enough. We certainly have had God in our equation this year. There's no other explanation for this small group doing as much as we do! I look forward to serving on the board with you this coming year. We have our congregational meeting coming up on January 22nd. Dennis should be back with us again! I have also been meeting with Gale as part of the Teaching Parish Committee. Basically, 2 or 3 of us meet with Gale as representatives of the congregation once a month to discuss her interaction with our church. If you have any questions about the committee, please ask me or Gale about it. We welcome your comments! I heard rumors that Dawn-Karen was on her way back. Hope it's true! Sure miss her smiling face and gracious spirit! Hopefully January will bring all our wanderers back: Dennis, Dawn-Karen and Ruth. And maybe Di will have to work a little less so we can see her too! Only God know what is in store for us in this new year. Let us be open to His guiding Spirit! Love and Blessings, Patti
WOMEN’S MINISTRY NEWS ...
Our January gathering will be held Thursday, Jan. 19th at 11:30, here in the parlor. Now that the holidays are behind us for another year, we’ll resume our extremely thought-provoking Bible Study on the Beatitudes. Bring your own sandwich!
NEWS OF THE CONGREGATION ...
· Dawn Karen Roberts was here for our Christmas Eve Service – what a joy to see her again. She is on her way back to SoCal again for two or three weeks more work, but then she will be back home with us to stay. · And speaking of Christmas Eve, wasn’t that a lovely service? Such a nice way to open the Christmas celebrations! Very good to see so many of you there. · Dennis Fulks won’t be staying, but he will be here briefly the weekend of January 22nd. Looking forward to seeing him again. · It’s been somewhat empty feeling around here at times recently. Dennis and Dawn were both away on jobs. Ruth has been in Southern Cal visiting family, Gary and Betty took off for 2 weeks in Hawaii, and Di has been working a time-consuming schedule. Craig was away visiting family. It will be good to have everyone together again, even if only briefly! ‘Safe Travels’ as everyone moves around. · Don’t forget to be in church Sunday, the 22nd. We’ll have our Annual Congregational Meeting at the end of the service. · In December Cherie and Gale attended a luncheon gathering with many (most?) of the women clergy/spiritual leaders from various denominations around the Ukiah area. It was good to meet with others who travel the same path, without judgment, and just enjoying meeting each other. · Gale is now at the halfway point of her assignment w/us.
THOUGHTS FROM OUR STUDENT MINISTER: Gale Tompkins-Bischel
Happy New Year, First Christian Church!
This month I'll be taking a short "vacation," if you can call it that, so I won't be seeing you on the 15th or the 22nd. Instead I'll be knee-deep in assignments for my two-week intensive Christian Ethics course at the Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley. Among other things, we'll be studying the life and work of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, one of my all-time heroes. This brave German Lutheran pastor stood up to the Nazis and was martyred for doing so, leaving voluminous writings regarding the ethics of true discipleship. Most importantly, perhaps, are Bonhoeffer's concepts of "cheap" vs. "costly" grace: "Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace....Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. Because grace alone does everything, everything can stay in its old ways.' Our action is in vain.'.....Costly grace is the hidden treasure in the field, for the sake of which people go and sell with joy everything they have....It is costly because it costs people their lives; it is grace because it thereby makes them live." When I return from "vacation" there will only be four more months of my field-education placement left. I hope to make the most of them with your help. Will you join me? I plan to canvass the neighborhood this month, inviting folks to join us for worship now that we have a safe children's space available. Would you like to come along? Would you like to wash the feet of the "least of these" in Ukiah? Would you be interested in having a "Friendship Soup Night" in February to feed the hungry and/or host a Spring community concert? Let's talk costly grace..... Love, Gale
BAG LUNCH DAY
Saturday, January 28, 11:00 Invite a Friend!
... for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me ...
HAVE A GREAT MONTH, ALL!
January 28, 2012 Saturday 11:00 a.m.
Invite a friend! COME JOIN THE FUN!
May today there be peace within... May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be... May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith... May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.... May you be content knowing you are a child of God...
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