UCC Missoula Blog

Confirmation Class - talking about God.

2012-01-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

A member of our church who is a 4th grade teacher (Jane McAllister) often uses a poem called "I am..." to help her children describe who they are to thier classmates at the beginning of the school year. She suggested that we might want to use this poem in confirmation class to help us describe God.

So we took her poem, revised it a bit and at the end of the class invited the confirmation students to journal on this poem. Here it is:

God is...
God wonders...
God hears...
God sees..
God wants...
God is...
God feels...
God touches...
God worries...
God cries out..
God is...
God understands...
God says...
God dreams...
God tries...
God hopes...
God is...

The point of this poem is for each of us to finish the sentences to help us describe who God is in our midst. By knowing our own images of God, we are able to claim our relationship in more intimate and deeper ways.

After that confirmation class, we invited parents and confirmation mentors to write thier own version of this poem and then share it with their confirmation students. Here's what Bill Avey, one of our confirmation mentors wrote.

God is...love
God wonders...why
God hears...us
God sees..how things are and how they should be
God wants...us to have joy
God is...love
God feels...us
God touches...everything
God worries...not
God cries out...to us
God is...love
God understands...all of us
God says...I am with you
God dreams...of peace
God tries...to help us grow
God hopes...for us
God is...love

So... who is God to you? What images come to mind, what hopes are revealed as you answer these questions. I invite your responses in the form of this poem or otherwise.

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in Tennessee

2011-08-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

August 9, 2011
I arrived in Nashville, Tennessee yesterday to visit my father. He has been living in Tennessee since 1998' retiring here after being a career missionary in Tokyo, Japan. The last time I came to Tennessee was five years ago when my mother passed away. My father has come to visit me in Missoula every year since then, so I thought it was high time I came here to see him.
Today we went out for a drive in his sweet red convertible (a Pontiac Solstice) with the top down. My father lives in Crossville which is about an hour and a half drive east of Nashville. It is beautiful around here with rolling hills, winding roads and lots of lush vegetation.

As we were driving we passed a yellow road sign with these words: Slow Church Ahead.
(I took a picture of it, but I am unable to get my IPad to post it onto this page). We stopped and I took a picture of it because I thought it was an apt description of where the church is today. We have been slow. Slow in our ability to adapt to the changes in our culture, slow in our desire to risk and try new things, slow in our openness to accept the ways of worship that are appealing to the next generation.

One of the questions the leaders of the workshop I went to in Berekeley, California on renewing churches asked us these two questions:
1. What would our community look like without our church?
2. What would the world look like if our church was even more vibrant and healthy?

It is in answering these questions that the beginning or renewal happens. A church needs a clear vision of it's unique ministry and mission in the world.

I ws glad to hear this because at University Congregational, United Church of Christ in Missoula we have been working for three years to articulate a vision for the future. And that vision is cast for us under the theme of "Going Deeper....."
Going Deeper in Spiritual Formation
Going Deeper in Welcoming the Younger Generations
Going Deeper in Becoming a Greening Congregation
Going Deeper in Intentional Relatioships
Going Deeper in Transformative Mission

It is clear that in order for a church to be vibrant and healthy it must always strive to reach out beyond itself. If a church us only willing to serve its own members then it will die. So ponder this vision, give it some thought, think about what part of the vision you can connect your own sense of ministry to in the world.
Amen and Amen.

Amy's Sabbatical, adventures in Berkeley,California

2011-07-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of classes at the Pacific School of Religion. This is the seminary I graduated from 20 years ago. (gosh that makes me feel old.). I am taking a class put on by the Center for Progressive Renewal taught by Cameron Trimble and Mike Piazza. The class is called Renew, Skills for Leading and Renewing Churches.

Today the class began discussing what the teachers called,"The Situation." They began talking about the major shifts in our culture over the last decade. In December of 2010 Time magazine focused on the shifts occurring in the last decade. Here's a summary
2000 - marked the failure of our political system with the counting of hanging chads and the supreme court deciding our next president.

2001- with the horror of 9/11 marked the failure of our national security.

2002 - the beginning of the failure of our military system as the war on terror began.

2003 - marked the beginning of the shift in power when Napster and the advent of the Internet began challenging the powerful music industry.

2004 - China surpasses the United States in economic superiority.

2005 - marked our failure as a nation to manage natural disasters with the example of Hurricane Katrina

2008 - is the beginning of the failure of our economic system as the economy collapses.

This may all sound like doom and gloom, but I think our teachers were trying to show us that while we may feel like the church is in a time of terrible decline and that the church is failing, unreality life on every level is shifting and changing in huge ways.

We also discussed a book by Phyllis Tickle called "The Great Emergence." in this book Phyllis states that every 500 years Christianity has gone through some radical changes. He's a quotes
"every 500 years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. We are living in and through one of those rummage sales right now."

Which is to y that many. Of the old ways of doing church and being church, especially on an institutional level are in flux, and are changing.

But there is a new form of Christianity that is emerging. This is what some people call the emerging or emergent church. It's characteristics are:
It is radically Jesus oriented
It is communal
It is post denominational
It often is found in virtual reality
And it is getting rid of Christian exclusivism.

That was all in the first two hours.

Then last two hours of threat we talked about more practical things like church growth.

Here are some thoughts about church growth...
For your church to grow your number one asset is the visitor. Visitors are the VIPs of a church that wants to grow.

It is important as a church to have a clear identity as a church and to know who is likely to come to your church. We cannot be all things to all people. And that identity of your church should be clear to visitors when they come.

Once people come to church, here are some things that help people come back
Friendliness towards the visitor
Worship that is exciting and moving
Great music
Service opportunities
Good children and youth programming.(a teenager has absolute veto power in a families decision to come to a church.)
Hope for transformation

This evening I walked to downtown Berkeley and picked up some take out sushi. I spoke Japanese to the man in the store (and he understood me!). I brought the sushi up to the seminary campus and sat on the lawn as I overlooked the bay. It's been an amazing day full of challenging thoughts and expansive experiences. I am so appreciative to be here and have this opportunity.

Take care.
Amy

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the UK #6

2011-07-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 17

Driving in close quarters

Returned to Chester on this day, again by High Speed Train. Today was the day we picked up the rental car. We made these arrangements over the internet before we came to the UK. Huw has agreed to drive (Thank heavens!) And it is a bit of an adventure getting back to Tim's house. We have rented a Ford Focus, which is a pretty large car by UK standards. Most of the cars here are on the compaq size, smallter than the Focus. Driving a stick shift on the left side of the road, navigating all the round- abouts, is quite a feat. Plus the roads are quite narrow and everyone else is used to driving on these narrow roads, while we are not. But Huw does really well. Thank goodness too for the GPS unit (or the Sat. Nav. as the British say), because without it I am sure we would have spent a lot more lost without a clue about where to go.

The dinner party

In the evening we are invited by Tim and Ashlea to their friend's birthday party at a fancy restaurant right next to the Chester race track. The men are in suits, the women are all in beautiful dresses with plunging neck lines and three inch stiletto heels. I have brought a brown skirt and a button down shirt given to me by the staff before I left on sabbatical and I am wearing my "Keen" sandals - the only shoes I brought beside my sneakers. I feel quite out of place among all these beautiful people. But they are warm and accepting, kind and open hearted, engaging both Huw and I in great conversation. We eat a three course dinner - which is just excellent. After every course, the men who came to dinner are instructed by the host to sit in a differet place around the table. It's an interesting way to keep the conversations lively and to help everyone to get to know each other.

Lester, the 8 month old
black lab.

Evan got to stay home, watch movies and hang out with the dogs. I think he enjoyed that better than a fancy dinner.

Saturday, June 18 on to Abersoch, Wales.

the beach at Abersoch

We make our first venture into Wales. As we drive into the Welsh countryside, we notice that everything is written in Welsh and in English. the Welsh Language seems very difficult - especially in its pronunciation. Tim and Ashlea have a caravan (an RV) in the hills of Abersoch overlooking the Cardigan Bay. They park their caravan from May to October with several of their friends close by. We stop in the town of Pwhelli ( I have no idea how to pronounce this!) for groceries.
After we get settled in the caravan and met all the good friends, we walk down to the beach with the dogs and stop for a drink at the local pub.

Dinner with friends, again a barbeque of ribs, burgers, lamb chops, and pork loins. Outside it is windy and raining. We are glad to be inside the caravan.

Amy's sabbatical, Adventures in the UK #5

2011-07-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

June 16, 2011

Huw with the statue of Darwin
in the Natural History Museum

We have had pretty good weather so far. It's been cool with a few rain showers here and there. Today it is raining so it seemed like a good day for museums. We make our way on the underground to the science museum. The main entrance to the museum has been blocked due to side walk reconstruction. There is a lot of construction going on in London because they are getting ready for the Olympics in 2012. Our entry into the science museum takes us into the museum of technology. There are displays of old steam engines and old computers (boy were they huge when they were first invented!). There is also a section of the building dedicated to the history of medicine which I thought was fascinating. When the displays got a bit boring we moved over to the hands on section where you can build things with blocks, launch water rockets and enjoy the museum on a more interactive level.

Swans in Hyde Park.

Then on to the museum of natural history, which is just huge. Lots of displays about rocks and the formation of the earth. There was even an earthquake simulator! The mineral and gem stone exhibit was wonderful too, showing off all the colorful minerals found inside the earth. After most of the day inside these two museums, we were pretty museumed out. Plus I think we were all still pretty tired from jet lag and all the hustle and bussle of big city life. So we decided to stroll through Hyde park and just take it easy for a while. We walked to Buckinghan Palace and then down to Victoria station where we ate "bangers and mash" at a traditional English pub called the Kings Arms. Then back to the hotel almost overwhelmed with all the things we saw, tasted and experienced today.

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the United Kingdom # 4: Views from Above

2011-06-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

June 15, 2011

Amy and Evan in front of the Cathedral

Today is the day for views from above. Today we got above the skyline to get the more expansive view of the city of London. Our first stop was to St. Paul's Cathedral. Located right in the heart of downtown, this Cathedral is getting ready to celebrate it's 300th anniversary. While the Cathedral in Chester had a very rectangular feel to it, this Cathedral was more circular.
Inside the Cathdral, as soon as you walk in the main entrance is an enormous baptismal font. They place it at the front of the church to show that baptism marks the beginning of the journey in the Christian faith. Walking futher into the nave, and then into the central part of the church, chairs are set in a semi circular pattern around the eucharistic table.

All around the church are crypts. Most of them are in the basement, crypts of famous people like Shakespeare. But there are many within the main body of the church too. It seemed to me that many of them were war memorials, memorliazing one general or another, or the men who fought in a particular battle. I found the juxtaposition of these war memorials inside a church difficult to appreciate. For me the church should be all about living in the ways of non-violence. How does one do that when the glory of war is all around you?

The part of the Cathedral that we all enjoyed the most was the climb up to the top. If you climb about 300 small circular steps you get up to the Whispering Gallery, a sort of balcony found beneath the dome of the church. There you can stand from one side of the gallery and whisper and the person on the other side can hear you. Amazing acoustics.

Making our way through the
tight spaces of the Cathedral

If you climb another 230 steps, this time steeper and in tighter spaces, you can reach the top of the cathedral and get the wondrous 360 degree view of London. The steps seem almost maze like and are in very tight spaces, well worn from all the years of use. You weren't supposed to take pictures inside the cathedral, but I could not resist taking this one.

The London Eye from across the river

The second view from above came from the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel that was built in celebration of the millenium. While we were standing in line waiting to enter one of the pods that goes around the London Eye, I noticed that there were people from all over the world around me. In front of us was a man who was a hasidic Jew, with his long black coat and his curly locks of hair hanging down the side of his face. In front of them was a family that seemed to be speaking French. There were women whom I assumed were of the Muslim faith because they had their heads covered with a scarf. There were women in saris from India or of Indian descent, and we even saw a woman covered in a burka, covered from head to foot in black with only her eyes showing. London is clearly an international city!

London Eye

The London Eye travels around very slowly on its axis. It never stops. People just get on and off as each pod slowly comes around to the entry/exit area. It is located right by the banks of the Thames river, so you get a breath taking view of the river and all the activity on it. Plus you can see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and all of the wonderful buildings that make London so unique.

After the London Eye, we found walked the city enjoying all the views of London. Joyce Watson gave Evan a pedometer for his birthday before we left Missoula. We clocked in 31,000 steps on this day. If the pedometer's calculations are right that was almost 13 miles!

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the United Kingdom # 3

2011-06-29T02:17:00.000-07:00

June 14, Tuesday

Evan and Huw in front of the high speed train.

On this day we took the high speed train from Chester to London's Euston station. It was a comfortable ride and well used - every seat was taken. Then from London's Euston station we took the underground to our hotel. There were problems on one of the subway tracks that we were supposed to take, so we had to navigate our way around that and figure an alternative route. I really enjoyed taking the underground and figuring out how to use it to get where we wanted to go. It reminded me alot of my childhood growing up in Tokyo and taking the subway there. Huw's cousin Sarah got us Oyster cards, (don't ask me why they call it that) to get on and off the underground. You just flick the card into a scanner before getting on the subway. Then as you get off the underground, you scan it again and it takes of the amount of money it cost to ride that far. It was very cool. The underground system feels like a massive maze that you have to work your way around with multiple escalators taking you deeper into the depths of the earth where the subways zipped through to take you where you needed to go.

Evan and Amy standing by the figure
of the world's tallest man. One thing is clear -
Evan is getting taller than me!

After checking in to our hotel we took the Thames Clipper into the center of London. It is a large boat that goes up and down the Thames river with pier stations that you can get on and off. Evan fell asleep on the boat. So we decided that the first thing we did in London needed to be something that would keep Evan awake. So we went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum where you can see crazy things like portraits made out of gumballs, and manekins of the world's tallest man. It was fun and weird and it engaged Evan.

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the United Kingdom, # 2

2011-06-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 13.

This was a day to just catch up on our jet lag, so we took it pretty easy. We went into the city of Chester and walked around this wall that surrounds the entire city. It is a walk of about 2 miles. Sections of the wall were built during the days of Roman rule in Chester and other parts were built in the medieval times.

We also stopped to view the Chester Cathedral (of the Anglican Church). Built over thousands of years this cathedral is huge. Tim, Huw, Evan and I just wandered around the cathedral. At one point a priest came out and asked all the tourists in the church to pause for a brief period of prayer. He offered a prayer for the people suffering in the world, for people travelling on holiday that they may be refreshed and renewed, and he asked us all to say the Lord's Prayer in what the language that we were most comfortable praying in. It was wonderful to pray in this ancient cathedral.

Main entry way into Chester Cathedral

The church was established by Benedictine monks in 1092. And thrived until 1540 when the monastary disolved and the building of the church ceased. In 1541 Henry VIII signed the Letters of Patent creating the Cathedral and construction resumed. There is massive amounts of stone work that took thousands of years to build. It boggles my mind to think of the history of a church that is so long. Nor can I imagine what kind of work it must take to keep such a building going. It is a thriving church with a worshipping community. In the brochure it says it takes a million pounds to maintain every year. Imagine that stewardship campaign!!!

Inside the Chester Cathedral

After touring the cathedral we stopped for some tea and cakes in the Refectory. There is a full service cafe inside the church in the exact same spot where the 13th century monks used to eat their daily meals.

Beeston Castle

Later in the day, we went back to Tim's house for lunch, picked up his dogs, a big black lab puppy named Lester and a mutt called Nancy, and took them for a walk up Beeston Castle. There are old castles in almost every town in England in various states of ruin. My son Evan says that this was one of the high lights of his trip. I think he really enjoyed the company of the dogs.

Then dinner at Tim's house with his wife Ashlea - a chicken curry dish that she had cooking in the crockpot all day. She put out some different chutneys and pickles, some hot and spicy, some sweet. It was a diversity of flavors. Wonderful! Then we all watched the original version of the movie "The Italian Job," starring Michael Caine. I must admit that I slept through much of the movie because I was tired. Still suffering from a bit of jet lag.

Amy's Sabbatical, Adventures in the United Kingdom

2011-06-28T03:24:00.000-07:00

We arrived on Manchester, United Kingdom on June 12th at 10:20 am. After flying all night from Newark, New Jersey, we were pretty bleary eyed. Huw's cousin, Tim, was there to meet us at the airport. Huw's father, Vernon Griffiths, and Tim's mother Joan Gordon, are siblings. Vernon came to the United States when he was about 20 to study at MIT in Boston. There he met Huw's mother, they married, and after they both finished their degrees moved to Butte where Vernon taught at Montana Tech for a very long time. He taught metallurgy. So it is his relatives that we were visiting on this trip.

Huw's cousin Tim working the grill

After travelling from the airport we got settled at Tim's house, ate some lunch and spent time hanging out. That evening all the family gathered at Joan and Gordon's house. Joan is Huw's aunt. We gathered for a barbeque, even thought it was raining pretty hard. Joan and Gordon live in Waverton, which is outside the city of Chester. We received a warm welcome. Many of the relatives had taken this opportunity to travel into Chester to get together. Some travelled from Portsmouth, in southern England and others from southern Wales. We ate lots and lots of meat of all kinds - burgers, lamb chops and sausages.

After dinner Huw's uncle Gordon, brought out his ukelele and a pair of spoons. He taught me in the art of "spoon bashing," as he called it. And we played a few songs together. Before we left, he gave me a pair of spoons that he had used many times "bashing" because they are quite dented in the middle. He made me promise that I would practice so that the next time we got together, we could play some more music. He also advised me that it was probably not a good idea to "bash spoons" from the pulpit in church. Gordon is quite the comic and seems to enjoy all the attention from his antics, but I got the distinct impression that his children and grandchildren had all been listening to his spoon bashing for many years and while they didn't seem to enjoy it, they did tolerate it. The evening came to a close around 8:30 pm and we promptly went to bed - quite tired from all our travels.

Spoon bashing with Uncle Gordon

Amy's Sabbatical, week 2

2011-06-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

Day one on the big journey. We started this morning with a shuttle to the airport at 9 am. We flew from Missoula to Denver, Denver to Newark and then from Newark to Manchester, United Kingdom. Huw, my husband has family here. Huw's cousin Tim was here at the airport to greet us. It is a cold and wet June day in Manchester. Later today we will have time for a gathering with all the relatives.
We didn't sleep much on the plane, but we are not too tired. Looking forward to the big adventure.

Amy's Sabbatical Week 1

2011-06-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here we are in week one of the sabbatical. It has been both wonderful and strange. On the first day of my sabbatical I felt a bit unmoored. While it was wonderful to not have any specific schedule or time constraints, it was also very strange. I found myself asking, "Who am I when I am not a pastor? Who am I when I am not working?" That is all a part of the discovery....

Bear taking a break from our walk up Crazy Canyon

So during this first week I have been going on long walks with my dog, Bear, up Crazy Canyon. Walks where I can just meander around and lose track of the time. In between the rain drops I have also been weeding the garden. The weeds come out quite nicely in this soft wet ground. And when the rains have been falling hard, I have been reading. My first book is one loaned to me by John Garrity ( a member of UCC) titled "With or Without God; Why the way we live is more important than what we believe," by Gretta Vosper. Gretta is a pastor ordained in the United Church of Canada and is the founder and director of the Canadian Center for Progressive Christianity.

Here's a Quote:

"The world is seriously in need of clarity around what values will help us create a sustainalbe future and what values will compromise aour ability to get there. In the early church, the values of love, forgiveness, and compassion drove the work and lives of those known as Christians. This is a legacy of the church, and it must once again become the agenda by which it chooses to live. Not what we belive. Not our isntitutional survival. Our focus must be waht we can do to challenge, edify and support individuals as they seek to live virtuous and responsible lives. It is vitally important that we stop fumbling the ball; that is, if it's not too late."

There's some food for thought... Gretta is advocating moving away from all the institutional stuff that tends to divide us as churches and focus on the values that unit us.

More to come....

Take care and remember the sabbath and keep it holy!

Snap Shots from Church School

2011-03-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the prayers of children are so sincere and true, they touch the very core of my being. This past Sunday, I invited the children to prayer the same way I do every week. I told them that we can tell God all the things that we are thankful for, things that make us sad, things that we are happy about and things that we might be worried about. The children always offer up prayers of gratitude - "Thank you God for my friends," they pray, or "Thank you God for my family." Those are the two that are most often offered up to God. This week though, one little voice piped up and prayed, "Dear God, help us to end all the wars." And then shortly there after another voice prayed, "Please help all the people in Japan after the Tsunami." And that's exactly how I wanted to pray - please help us end all the wars, and help the people of Japan... Children know what's going on in the world, and there is nothing more true, or more sincere than a child offering up a prayer to God.

Notes from a pastor's life

2011-02-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

Last week I officiated at two memorial services - which is highly unusual. At the first one there were several young children in attendance, grandchildren of the man who had passed away. After the service was over and the reception was winding down, I went into the sanctuary to put away all the AV equpment we had used. The little children were running around the sanctuary squealing with laughter, sliding under the pews, running up and down the long aisles. They were having a grand time. One of the adults was appalled at the behavior of the children and swooped them all up and told them to get out of the sanctuary. The sanctuary, in her mind, was not a place to play.

But I thought, after the sadness of a memorial service, God must have loved hearing the laughter and the squealing of the children. Although I understand the need for solemnity in the sanctuary, at times, I also think it is wonderul that children can feel free to be who they are in this space of worship.

Halloween Sunday

2010-11-05T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday, on October 31st, I witnessed the power of community. It began with Prudence Smith, a member of our church who must be close to 90 years old. On Sunday as we were munching on "witches fingers" and "eyeballs" (gross, just gross!) I asked her to join me in going through the haunted house put on by the Middle School Youth. We walked through it together, hand in hand, watching out for creepy characters popping out of nowhere and hands reaching out for our feet. When we finally made it through the darkness and landed in the light, she looked at me wild-eyed and said, "How in the world did they do that?"
She was clearly impressed by the the youth's haunted house, and I was impresseed by her willingness to walk through it. There is something powerful about having people of different generations enjoying each other's presence. There are few places in our lives where that happens any more - but Halloween Sunday at this church was definitely an expereince of that. It was marvelous and wonderful. It was all the best of what a church community can be about. Now I just wish I had some pictures to go with it!

Snap Shots from Church School: Spiritual Accounts

2010-10-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

The song came floating in from the back seat of the car on the drive home from soccer prqactice. "Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me," sang the little boy. This is the story one grandmother told me a few weeks ago.
Sometimes when I think of teaching children songs and stories, I think we are making deposits into their spiritual accounts. I know there are times in my life when a song, a saying or a scripture verse just comes floating into my mind - something I needed to remember at just the right moment; something I pulled out of my spiritual account that someone helped me deposit earlier in life.

We are trying to give children an account of spiritual tools to draw from through out their lives - in moments of celebration and in moments of struggle.

Snap Shots from Church School (October 10, 2010)

2010-10-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Selfless Giving:

This Sunday was the first time I didn't go into worship with the adults, but spent the entire time with the children moving from one classroom to another. ( I hope to be able to do that at least once a month). Each class had its own tone, some more reflective and quiet, others more exuberant. While I am immensely grateful for all our teachers, I was struck this week by the number of teachers we have who teach, even though they have no children or grandchildren in our church school program. They are models of selfless giving to me - of giving beyond themselves for the good of the larger community. They teach with joy, they teach out of a place of deep faith, they live out their baptismal coveanant - to love and accept every member of our community. To these teachers, I give thanks.

Amy

Snap Shots from Church School (October 3, 2010)

2010-10-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

Feeding the Spirit...
This 4th grader admited that she didn't want to come to church that morning. Her family had gotten out of the habit of going to church over the summer, and getting back in the habit just seemed too hard. But mom and dad were going - so she would be going too.

She came into children's church and let the music of the morning wash over her. She later learned the Lord's Prayer in sign language and thought it was so beautiful. On the car ride home from Church School she told her parents, "I'm so glad we went to church today!"

It's true for me too - that even on the Sundays when I find it difficult to come to church, (yes, there are those days for me too), I find hidden treasures of love and joy when I come here, and my spirit is fed.

Each week the spiritual lives of about 30 children are treasured and fed through our Church School Program. I invite you to be a part of this amazing journey by volunteering your time and your presence to these children and I am sure that you will find your spirit fed at the same time.

Snapshots from Church School

2010-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we baptized a little boy, only two months old. Whenever we baptize a child, the poeple of the church are always asked by the minsiter if we will love the child who is being baptized. In baptism we celebrate the love of God in the life of a child and we also make a pledge to that child to make God's love known to that child.

Clearly the children were learning that message these past few weeks in church school. Last Sunday I noticed a lot of the children were enthusiastically teaching thier parents how to say, "God loves you," and God loves me," in sign language. There is no other place in our lives where children will receive this important and significant statement of faith - that the love of God can be found and celebrated in everyone's life. In Church School we steep our children in that message of that love. And that is the very foundation from which faith begins to grow.

Thanks to all the volunteers of the church who make this happen every week!

Amy

Snap Shots from Sunday School

2010-09-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Snap Shots from Sunday School.

This fall I began a shifted my call as a minsiter to include more work with children and families. As part of that call, I am hoping to capture some stories that arise out of our expereince with Sunday School. I am going to call this - "Snap Shots from Sunday School." As part of the church, the congregation worshipping in the Sanctuary is unaware of what's going on in Sunday School, so here are a few stories from the smaller, younger sector of our congregation.

Last Sunday two girls, 4 and 6 showed up for Sunday School for the first time. Wide eyed and a bit nervous about the new situation, they came up the fireside room and joined in our songs and our prayers for Children’s Church. Still a little unsure of what to expect, they joined their workshop teacher to learn how to say, “God loves you,” in sign language. When they got home, they sang a song from Children’s Church to their grandmother, only to be wildly surprised to find out that she also knew this song. The grandmother and granddaughters have been singing that song all week, before meals and at bedtime. They have been using sign language to tell each other how God loves them. A wonderful and deep connection was made between grandmother, granddaughters and our stories of faith.

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of this story?

It has only been two weeks now since Church School started. As part of my new call at the church, I have been working more with children in the church school. And I have witnessed remarkable things and learned something new from the children of our church. Children are learning the stories of faith, they are being surrounded people who love and nurture them, they are growing in their understanding of and connection to God.

I am deeply humbled by this experience and realize that I cannot do this alone. That it takes the nurture and care of an entire congregation to make this Church School program be a place where children are taught about the importance of prayer, the wonder of the world around them, the depth of care that a community of faith can offer. If you are interested in being part of this adventure, please call Amy Carter at 543-6952 or e-mail me at amycarter@uccmsla.org

Guide My Feet

2010-03-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

We took off our shoes and socks and walked around the church to find a place to take a picture of our feet. The grass was cold and wet. It had been a long time since our feet had seen the sun (except for one person who took a vacation in Hawaii in January)

Guide our feet - this has been our Lenten journey. On Thursday a small group of people walked along Waterworks hill to the peace park. Silently they walked to meditate and contemplate being guided by their feet.

Next week we will gather on Thursday at 5pm to walk around Maclay Flats. I wonder what our wanderings will bring forth for us there?

On the front cover of our worship bulletin, Peter Shober has chosen this quote from Anselm Grun, "Jesus is always on the way. He wanders from place to place. He is the divine wanderer who comes down from heaven to wander among us men and women and to remind us of the divine kernal within us."

A few questions come to mind as we continue with this theme:
When have you felt a guiding presence in your life?
When has walking been an important spiritual practice for you?
Has there been a time when you have wandered and through that wandering been blessed by the presence of the spirit?
Through walking have you been led to find that divine kernal within you?

Just some questions to ponder - we would love to hear your stories.

Amy and the UCC staff

Guide My Feet, an invitation into Lent

2010-02-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

We began our Lenten journey last night with a beautiful Ash Wednesday service. The service was led by Emmaus Campus ministry, included a beautiful song by University Congregational Church's Ensemble Voices. We ended with the imposition of Ashes reminding each other that from Dust we have come and to dust we shall return.

This Lent we are being guided by a Lenten theme taken from a traditional African American Spiritual "Guide My Feet."

Inside the sanctuary of our church are many beautiful drawings of feet done by Missoula artist Katherine Kress.
This image brings forth all kinds of questions and thoughts. We invite you to share in these thoughts and quesitons in the weeks to come as we journey through lent together.