Wednesday, May 18, 2005
wed weekly May 18
wed weekly
Fairlawn-West United Church of Christ
2095 West Market Street, Akron, Ohio 44313
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
office@fairlawnwest.org
Sunday worship service May 22
We will using the format of the Fridays' Taize service. It is a much more meditative style of service. There will be the baptism of John and Julia Glass' grandson, Victor. The order will be different. The greeting will be at the end. You are encouraged to enter the sanctuary and begin to meditate in quiet.
Confirmation pictures
The pictures from last Sunday's confirmation experience for TJ Ghinder, Ian Mitchell and Ryan Critchfield are at http://www.fairlawnwest.org/confirm05.htm
Visit our web page
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
There are a variety of new things available through our web site.
Leaders retreats
Every other month, the leaders of Fairlawn-West will meet in retreat for worship, reflection and direction. This month they will meet on Saturday, May 28th at 10:30 a.m. in our courtyard. In July they will meet on Saturday the 9th at Shady Hollow pavilion in Sand Run Park starting at 9 a.m.
Will Play for Change concert Mon, June 13th
Visit the web site for this tour of which we are hosting one of the concerts http://willplayforchange.com/index.php
The money raised from these concerts will go to Mission of Mercy. We need some help in advertising and hosting. If you can help, contact dloar@fairlawnwest.org
Music Director posting
Adam Kukuk sadly submitted his resignation because he prefers moving with his wife Christina as she starts her new call as a minister in Minneapolis over staying with us. :-) Adam's last Sunday with us will be Sunday, July 10th. The posting for our Music Director position is at http://www.fairlawnwest.org/director.htm If you know of anyone who might be interested, direct them to this site, please.
New worship to start July 10th
Visit the web pages http://www.fairlawnwest.org/page2.html to learn more about this new service...6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary with cafe setting. "No Experience Necessary (or 'Turned off, burned out, and left out')". Andy Michaelic will be playing the keyboards for this service...Andy was the leader of our jazz trio for the ChristStream service. This service will not have a set liturgy. It will be focused around music requests of those who attend and the questions, affirmations and concerns of those who attend. It will be more of a conversation style, with music and prayer. We will be preparing fliers and advertising in the community for this service. If you can help with that, let dloar@fairlawnwest.org, know. If you know of folks who you think would be interested in being part of such an experience, please begin to let them know about it.
Other items
Celebrate Recovery, every Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. in the parlor
Bible study in the food court at Summit Mall, Thursday, 9:00 a.m. We are studying Ecclesiastes (see intro the book below).
Leader's Prayer for worship service and church, Sunday, Fellowship Hall lobby, 9:10 a.m.
Study of the Book of Acts, Sunday, David Loar's office, 10:45 a.m.
Cell groups are available for all. Contact dloar@fairlawnwest.org Right now we have room in Monday 7:00 p.m. and Tuesday 6:30 p.m. groups.
Ohio Conference Summer Camps
===================================================
Introduction to Ecclesiastes from The Message
Unlike animals, who seem quite content to simply be themselves, we humans are always looking for ways to be more than or other than what we find ourselves to be. We explore the countryside for excitement, search our souls for meaning, shop the world for pleasure. We try this. Then we try that. The usual fields of endeavor are money, sex, power, adventure, and knowledge.
Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts--but the harder we work at it, the less we get out of it. Some people give up early and settle for a humdrum life. Others never seem to learn, and so they flail away through a lifetime, becoming less and less human by the year, until by the time they die there is hardly enough humanity left to compose a corpse.
Ecclesiastes is a famous--maybe the world's most famous--witness to this experience of futility. The acerbic wit catches our attention. The stark honesty compels notice. And people do notice--oh, how they notice! Nonreligious and religious alike notice. Unbelievers and believers notice. More than a few of them are surprised to find this kind of thing in the Bible.
But it is most emphatically and necessarily in the bible in order to call a halt to our various and futile attempts to make something of our lives, so that we can give our full attention to God--who God is, and what he does to make something of us. Ecclesiastes actually doesn't say that much about God; the author leaves that to the other 65 books of the Bible. His task is to expose our total incapacity to find the meaning and completion of our lives on our own.
It is our propensity to go off on our own, trying to be human by our own devices and desires, that makes Ecclesiastes necessary reading. Ecclesiastes sweeps our souls clean of all "lifestyle" spiritualities so that we can be ready for God's visitation. Ecclesiastes is a John-the-Baptist kind of book. It functions not as a meal but as a bath. It is not nourishment; it is cleansing. It is repentance. It is purging. We read Ecclesiastes to get scrubbed clean from illusion and sentiment, from ideas that are idolatrous and feelings that cloy. It is an expose and rejection of every arrogant and ignorant expectation that we can live our lives by ourselves on our own terms.
Ecclesiastes challenges the naive optimism that sets a goal that appeals to us and then goes after it with gusto, expecting the result to be a good life. The author's cool skepticism, a refreshing negation to the lush and seductive suggestions swirling around us, promising everything but delivering nothing, clears the air. And once the air is cleared we are ready for reality--for God.
Fairlawn-West United Church of Christ
2095 West Market Street, Akron, Ohio 44313
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
office@fairlawnwest.org
Sunday worship service May 22
We will using the format of the Fridays' Taize service. It is a much more meditative style of service. There will be the baptism of John and Julia Glass' grandson, Victor. The order will be different. The greeting will be at the end. You are encouraged to enter the sanctuary and begin to meditate in quiet.
Confirmation pictures
The pictures from last Sunday's confirmation experience for TJ Ghinder, Ian Mitchell and Ryan Critchfield are at http://www.fairlawnwest.org/confirm05.htm
Visit our web page
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
There are a variety of new things available through our web site.
Leaders retreats
Every other month, the leaders of Fairlawn-West will meet in retreat for worship, reflection and direction. This month they will meet on Saturday, May 28th at 10:30 a.m. in our courtyard. In July they will meet on Saturday the 9th at Shady Hollow pavilion in Sand Run Park starting at 9 a.m.
Will Play for Change concert Mon, June 13th
Visit the web site for this tour of which we are hosting one of the concerts http://willplayforchange.com/index.php
The money raised from these concerts will go to Mission of Mercy. We need some help in advertising and hosting. If you can help, contact dloar@fairlawnwest.org
Music Director posting
Adam Kukuk sadly submitted his resignation because he prefers moving with his wife Christina as she starts her new call as a minister in Minneapolis over staying with us. :-) Adam's last Sunday with us will be Sunday, July 10th. The posting for our Music Director position is at http://www.fairlawnwest.org/director.htm If you know of anyone who might be interested, direct them to this site, please.
New worship to start July 10th
Visit the web pages http://www.fairlawnwest.org/page2.html to learn more about this new service...6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary with cafe setting. "No Experience Necessary (or 'Turned off, burned out, and left out')". Andy Michaelic will be playing the keyboards for this service...Andy was the leader of our jazz trio for the ChristStream service. This service will not have a set liturgy. It will be focused around music requests of those who attend and the questions, affirmations and concerns of those who attend. It will be more of a conversation style, with music and prayer. We will be preparing fliers and advertising in the community for this service. If you can help with that, let dloar@fairlawnwest.org, know. If you know of folks who you think would be interested in being part of such an experience, please begin to let them know about it.
Other items
Celebrate Recovery, every Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. in the parlor
Bible study in the food court at Summit Mall, Thursday, 9:00 a.m. We are studying Ecclesiastes (see intro the book below).
Leader's Prayer for worship service and church, Sunday, Fellowship Hall lobby, 9:10 a.m.
Study of the Book of Acts, Sunday, David Loar's office, 10:45 a.m.
Cell groups are available for all. Contact dloar@fairlawnwest.org Right now we have room in Monday 7:00 p.m. and Tuesday 6:30 p.m. groups.
Ohio Conference Summer Camps
===================================================
Introduction to Ecclesiastes from The Message
Unlike animals, who seem quite content to simply be themselves, we humans are always looking for ways to be more than or other than what we find ourselves to be. We explore the countryside for excitement, search our souls for meaning, shop the world for pleasure. We try this. Then we try that. The usual fields of endeavor are money, sex, power, adventure, and knowledge.
Everything we try is so promising at first! But nothing ever seems to amount to very much. We intensify our efforts--but the harder we work at it, the less we get out of it. Some people give up early and settle for a humdrum life. Others never seem to learn, and so they flail away through a lifetime, becoming less and less human by the year, until by the time they die there is hardly enough humanity left to compose a corpse.
Ecclesiastes is a famous--maybe the world's most famous--witness to this experience of futility. The acerbic wit catches our attention. The stark honesty compels notice. And people do notice--oh, how they notice! Nonreligious and religious alike notice. Unbelievers and believers notice. More than a few of them are surprised to find this kind of thing in the Bible.
But it is most emphatically and necessarily in the bible in order to call a halt to our various and futile attempts to make something of our lives, so that we can give our full attention to God--who God is, and what he does to make something of us. Ecclesiastes actually doesn't say that much about God; the author leaves that to the other 65 books of the Bible. His task is to expose our total incapacity to find the meaning and completion of our lives on our own.
It is our propensity to go off on our own, trying to be human by our own devices and desires, that makes Ecclesiastes necessary reading. Ecclesiastes sweeps our souls clean of all "lifestyle" spiritualities so that we can be ready for God's visitation. Ecclesiastes is a John-the-Baptist kind of book. It functions not as a meal but as a bath. It is not nourishment; it is cleansing. It is repentance. It is purging. We read Ecclesiastes to get scrubbed clean from illusion and sentiment, from ideas that are idolatrous and feelings that cloy. It is an expose and rejection of every arrogant and ignorant expectation that we can live our lives by ourselves on our own terms.
Ecclesiastes challenges the naive optimism that sets a goal that appeals to us and then goes after it with gusto, expecting the result to be a good life. The author's cool skepticism, a refreshing negation to the lush and seductive suggestions swirling around us, promising everything but delivering nothing, clears the air. And once the air is cleared we are ready for reality--for God.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
for Wed May 11 and beyond
wed weekly May 11, 2005
Fairlawn-West United Church of Christ
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
office@fairlawnwest.org
updates to the calendar and announcements during the week can be found at http://fairlawnwest.blogspot.com
Blogs:http://discipledavid.blogspot.com/
http://readeachday.blogspot.com/
Pentecost this Sunday the 15th. Worship at 9:30 a.m. Sunday School at 10:45 a.m. Confirmation this Sunday. The disciples were in constant training and experience with Jesus for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, over three years. But after that in depthy training and experience, they still weren't ready to go on the mission that Jesus had given them. It wasn't until the power of God came upon them, the Holy Spirit, that they were able to use the things they learned and experienced with Jesus. They tried those things out from time to time over the three years with them. Most often they wound up frustrated because things didn't work out the way they expected. Sometimes things worked…a healing, a sermon, and so on. But they were never able to sustain it. This Sunday we don't celebrate the birthday of the church. This Sunday we wait for the Holy Spirit to give us the confidence, courage, wisdom and insight to use what we have been trained in…if we have been in discipleship training. (cell groups and Bible study groups are a great way to train as a disciple.)
Mall Bible Study Thursdays in the food court at 9:00 a.m.We are starting the book from the Old Testament of Ecclesiastes. This book has a lot to say to us in our present circumstance. Feel free to join us any time.From Ecclesiastes 12Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That's what the Quester says.]There's nothing to anything--it's all smoke.3What's there to show for a lifetime of work,a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?4One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,but nothing changes--it's business as usual for oldplanet earth.5The sun comes up and the sun goes down,then does it again, and again--the same old round.6The wind blows south, the wind blows north.Around and around and around it blows,blowing this way, then that--the whirling, erratic wind.7All the rivers flow into the sea,but the sea never fills up.The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,and then start all over and do it again.8Everything's boring, utterly boring--no one can find any meaning in it.Boring to the eye,boring to the ear.9What was will be again,what happened will happen again.There's nothing new on this earth.Year after year it's the same old thing.10Does someone call out, "Hey, this is new"?Don't get excited--it's the same old story.11Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.And the things that will happen tomorrow?Nobody'll remember them either.Don't count on being remembered.
No Godless Announcements
The following is from an article in "United Church News" called "Talking the Walk" about helping local church people to talk about their faith.
"(Pastor Lillian Daniel of Church of the Redeemer UCC in New Haven, Conn) asked her congregation to adopt a new policy: "No Godless announcements."
"Our rule was you had to talk about God. You couldn't just get up there and talk about the homeless shelter, you had to talk about how you had experienced God through your work in the homeless shelter.
"The congregation's new-found guideline was actually a return to an ages-old Christian practice, known as 'giving testimony.'
"She said, 'Testimony is really different than getting up and talking about something of interest in the church. It's talking about your experience of God.'
Heifer International
You can help more than you realize. Visit the site for Heifer International. Five dollars can help a family in poverty in the world to grow up and become self-sufficient.
More
"Beyond Bandaids:Partnering for Poverty-Free Communities" at Trinity UCC, 8101 Manchester Ave, Canal Fulton, Monday, May 16th, 7 p.m.
"Soul to Sole" a prayer and movement/dance workshop at the University of Akron, Saturday, May 21 9-11:15 a.m. Sponsored by Leaven Dance Company. Stretch:spiritually and physically. Strengthen:bonds with God and each other. Ignite: the creative spark. Turn: to embodied prayer and worship. $12.00. Contact Kathryn Mihelick 330-688-8806 or kmleaven@neo.rr.com for more info. Send registration to OhioDance, 77 S. High Street, 2nd Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215 with your name, address, and phone number.
Ohio Conference Annual Gathering, June 17-18 at First Community Church, Columbus, North Campus. Information is on our bulletin board.
Ohio Conference Summer Camps
Eastern Ohio Association, UCC
SARA Sharing America's Resources Abroad part of the Ohio Conference of the UCC
Fairlawn-West United Church of Christ
http://www.fairlawnwest.org
office@fairlawnwest.org
updates to the calendar and announcements during the week can be found at http://fairlawnwest.blogspot.com
Blogs:http://discipledavid.blogspot.com/
http://readeachday.blogspot.com/
Pentecost this Sunday the 15th. Worship at 9:30 a.m. Sunday School at 10:45 a.m. Confirmation this Sunday. The disciples were in constant training and experience with Jesus for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, over three years. But after that in depthy training and experience, they still weren't ready to go on the mission that Jesus had given them. It wasn't until the power of God came upon them, the Holy Spirit, that they were able to use the things they learned and experienced with Jesus. They tried those things out from time to time over the three years with them. Most often they wound up frustrated because things didn't work out the way they expected. Sometimes things worked…a healing, a sermon, and so on. But they were never able to sustain it. This Sunday we don't celebrate the birthday of the church. This Sunday we wait for the Holy Spirit to give us the confidence, courage, wisdom and insight to use what we have been trained in…if we have been in discipleship training. (cell groups and Bible study groups are a great way to train as a disciple.)
Mall Bible Study Thursdays in the food court at 9:00 a.m.We are starting the book from the Old Testament of Ecclesiastes. This book has a lot to say to us in our present circumstance. Feel free to join us any time.From Ecclesiastes 12Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That's what the Quester says.]There's nothing to anything--it's all smoke.3What's there to show for a lifetime of work,a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?4One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,but nothing changes--it's business as usual for oldplanet earth.5The sun comes up and the sun goes down,then does it again, and again--the same old round.6The wind blows south, the wind blows north.Around and around and around it blows,blowing this way, then that--the whirling, erratic wind.7All the rivers flow into the sea,but the sea never fills up.The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,and then start all over and do it again.8Everything's boring, utterly boring--no one can find any meaning in it.Boring to the eye,boring to the ear.9What was will be again,what happened will happen again.There's nothing new on this earth.Year after year it's the same old thing.10Does someone call out, "Hey, this is new"?Don't get excited--it's the same old story.11Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.And the things that will happen tomorrow?Nobody'll remember them either.Don't count on being remembered.
No Godless Announcements
The following is from an article in "United Church News" called "Talking the Walk" about helping local church people to talk about their faith.
"(Pastor Lillian Daniel of Church of the Redeemer UCC in New Haven, Conn) asked her congregation to adopt a new policy: "No Godless announcements."
"Our rule was you had to talk about God. You couldn't just get up there and talk about the homeless shelter, you had to talk about how you had experienced God through your work in the homeless shelter.
"The congregation's new-found guideline was actually a return to an ages-old Christian practice, known as 'giving testimony.'
"She said, 'Testimony is really different than getting up and talking about something of interest in the church. It's talking about your experience of God.'
Heifer International
You can help more than you realize. Visit the site for Heifer International. Five dollars can help a family in poverty in the world to grow up and become self-sufficient.
More
"Beyond Bandaids:Partnering for Poverty-Free Communities" at Trinity UCC, 8101 Manchester Ave, Canal Fulton, Monday, May 16th, 7 p.m.
"Soul to Sole" a prayer and movement/dance workshop at the University of Akron, Saturday, May 21 9-11:15 a.m. Sponsored by Leaven Dance Company. Stretch:spiritually and physically. Strengthen:bonds with God and each other. Ignite: the creative spark. Turn: to embodied prayer and worship. $12.00. Contact Kathryn Mihelick 330-688-8806 or kmleaven@neo.rr.com for more info. Send registration to OhioDance, 77 S. High Street, 2nd Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215 with your name, address, and phone number.
Ohio Conference Annual Gathering, June 17-18 at First Community Church, Columbus, North Campus. Information is on our bulletin board.
Ohio Conference Summer Camps
Eastern Ohio Association, UCC
SARA Sharing America's Resources Abroad part of the Ohio Conference of the UCC
Friday, May 06, 2005
what's happening this week
WedWeekly
Fairlawn-West UCC
updates to the calendar and announcements during the week can be found at http://fairlawnwest.blogspot.com
Mother's Day this Sunday. The theme is "Mom's in Space."
Cell Groups
We have a number of cell groups that are open to folks to join them. Cell groups are the basic piece of our community life here at Fairlawn-West.
Monday 7:00 p.m. group is using Companions in Christ
Tuesday 6:30 p.m. Blessedness
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Companions in Christ
Thursday 7:00 p.m. Forgiveness
If you would like to learn more about a group or to join one, contact our office.
Mall Bible Study
We are starting next Thursday with the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is little known, but may well be one of the best for understanding the times we live in and what God is doing in such a time. Join us at 9:00 a.m. in the food court at Summit Mall. We are the folks with the Bibles near the back of the court as it leads into the rest of the mall.
Some interesting blogs and web sites
Blue Like Jazz the book that David Loar is presently reading as part of a clergy reading circle/blog which was featured this week in Diane Evan's Living Well column in the Akron Beacon Journal.
Brian McLaren is going to be "grilled" online May 9th about his views about hell and the criticism of his writings by more fundamentalist folks. http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2005/04/the_grilling_of.html
Celebrate Recovery
The Celebrate Recovery ministry is growing weekly. More and more people are coming to listen in, to investigate, to get help for the numbing emptiness in their life and/or to grow more deeply in the spiritual practice of their daily life. Join us on Wednesdays in the parlor at 7:00 p.m.
Ascension Day
We had a great celebration of Ascension Day on Thursday, May 5th.
see the pictures from our drumming
