|
PASTOR’S NOTES Eric Kelley On Sunday January 20th my sermon dealt with how John the Baptist viewed Jesus. We explored the scripture and it was easy to see that in places John made it very clear that he saw Jesus as the Messiah but yet a careful reading of the text raised many challenging issues. My conclusion was that John was not crystal clear as to whether or this cousin of his was the Messiah. Even from prison it was evident that John was struggling with the identity of Jesus when he asked, "Are you the one or should we look for another?" John struggled with the identity of Jesus to the very end of his life. The source of this dilemma for John was the fact that Jesus didn’t turn out to be Messiah he expected. Instead of the overpowering judge Jesus came as a gentle healer who embraced all people with compassion. The Jesus of John’s mind was not the Jesus he was experiencing in real time. We too create the Jesus we want and need and curiously enough the Jesus we create is a lot like us. John wanted a Jesus who would erupt from the wilderness with overwhelming power which would address the religious and political powers of his time with a quick strike victory – something like a religious Delta Force . Sounds a lot like our image of John coming out of the Judean wilderness doesn’t it? Who is the Jesus of your religious journey? Take a minute to reflect and you may even write it down. Does it reflect who you might be if you could live out your version of the most perfect religious life? I’ll bet it does. Like Adam and Eve, the archetype man and woman, we try to usurp the position of God and until we deal with this fact of human nature we will be outcasts from the Garden, the place of peace, we so dearly desire to inhabit. Our version of the perfect religious life is always going to be flawed and we cannot save ourselves so what do we do? First of all we remain faithful to the biblical testimony by bringing the best we have to its understanding through a community of faith. We commit ourselves to fellowship, study, worship and good works through the community of faith. And finally, like John, even when we have big questions and doubts creep in we never take our eyes off Jesus. We may falter and we may fail but if from all these vantage points we take a conscious moment to refocus on Jesus we will come out at a better place and be a bit closer to the peace we all desire. Grace and Peace, Eric
 Moderator's Notes Phil Crane What a year last year was! We inaugurated the most contentiously elected President in American history. Then, following 6 years of an incredibly strong economy, we hit a slide that astounded even financial analysts. And, of course, the horrid events of September 11 that marked a loss of innocence for our nation and its people. Little did most of us know that while these events were spinning out that our little community of faith here at Williston-West was building toward a time of strife that would threaten the very foundation of our church. That was last year. Here in the opening months of 2002 we find that our President has grown rapidly into a very tough job, that the economy is already showing signs of recovery and that as a nation we have discovered a new sense of pride in our resolve and resilience. And here at Williston-West in my first weeks as Moderator I am aware that there is a powerful sense of our church moving positively toward a bright future. Many of us share my sense of sadness over the fact that not every member of our church has decided to stay to help us determine our future. I hope, and I pray, that all who have ever been a part of this fellowship know that, like every visitor who comes through our doors, all are always welcome. We are a unique church. While statistics tell us that churches everywhere are experiencing a decline in membership we here at Williston-West continue to attract wonderful new people. On Sunday mornings and at our various meetings and events I am aware of what a wonderfully diverse community we are. I believe that our diversity is one of our greatest assets as we attempt to be a vital Christian presence in our community and our world. I am very enthusiastic about what we can do here together. We will not always agree on all things but if we face the future together with all of the remarkable gifts that God has given each of us, we can spread the word of Christ, support one another and be of service in the world. Lenten Program 2002 Lent 2002 will begin with an Ash Wednesday Service, February 13th, 7:00 PM in the sanctuary. The weeks of Lent will be observed by sharing a simple meal of bread and soup with prayer and discussion led by different members of the congregation. The meal will start promptly at 6:00 PM on Thursday evenings February 28th, March 7th, 14th & 21st. You will be home by 7:30! Holy Week schedule will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Reservations will be required and there will be a nominal charge to cover expenses and provide childcare. If you could help with the set-up and/or clean up please contact Donna Kane through the Church office or e-mail dlarson@freeportmaine.com. To make reservations call the Church office at 774-4060. Christian Education Comm Tom Riddell Through the fall and holiday season all I could think about is what an important time in our Christian lives to be involved with our young members. As we struggle to make sense out of the complex emotions and events one can only imagine how difficult it is for our youngsters. They all look to the elders as we look to the scripture to try and understand these events. Let us all make a commitment to share our experience, wisdom and courage with the young members as we go forward. Only by our example and our experience will they understand that these terrible events will pass and fade - and we can go on with our lives. Every year the members of our church look forward to the Christmas pageant---this year again, they were not disappointed. I can assure you that the Christmas pageant would be a shadow of what its current production if John Tewhey were not demonstrating the leadership around this event. Thank you John—for all you do! The Christian Education Committee is happy to have Jann Yankauskas joining the committee as Chairwoman. We would like to have a warm welcome to have Jann back. Linda Riddell has been the Chairwoman for three years, and has done a great job. Linda has started graduate school and is no longer able to act as chair—she will stay on the committee as a regular member. Finally, we are looking for a few brave soles that are willing to teach a few classes in the Sunday school this winter. We are looking for people to teach the middle ages. They will get support and we will make this process as easy as possible. Music Notes Judy Malette The choir would like to thank everyone who supported us at the Gospel Extravaganza: We certainly hope everyone had as good a time as we did. We hope to make that an annual event. We have several things in the planning stages for the coming year. Our last Contra-dance was a big success. A number of people have asked when the next one will be. We don't have a date yet, but it will be sometime in April. We should have everything arranged by the next newsletter. On June 1st we will be having our next Williston-West Cabaret. If you can sing, dance, play a musical instrument, or have some other talent, please see me after worship or contact me through the Church office. This is the perfect place to show case your talents. We would love to have new people perform this year. Denise has graciously agreed to be the accompanist again this year, and she would like people who are going to perform to get music to her as soon as they can. She doesn't like last minute things. I would like to thank several people who have been members of the music committee for many years and are now retiring from that position, Maggie Robinson, Deb Heald, and Beth Stevens. I would also like to welcome aboard new members: Beth Campbell and Dick Loughlin. Welcome New Deacons Bill Whelan At the annual meeting we approved a new slate oaf committee members. We had a lot going on and there were many new people on a variety of committees. I want to take this opportunity to welcome all the new members of the 2002 Deacons' Committee, and welcome back the returning members. Returning: New Members: Mission Committee "Food for Thought Sunday" - The Last Sunday of Each Month Please bring in nutritious snacks for students at Reiche School. Reiche is the public elementary school in our neighborhood. Many of the students there are from families who have immigrated to our country and have little in the way of financial resources (30 languages other than English are spoken in the homes of these students). Since good nutrition is so important to a productive learning environment, our donation of snacks is an easy way to make a difference in the life of a child. Just put an item or two on you’re weekly shopping list and bring the snacks in on the last Sunday of the month. It’s such an easy way to make a difference in the life of a child! Suggested Items: apples, oranges, raisins, granola bars, peanut butter or cheese crackers, popcorn, pretzels, fruit roll-ups, juice boxes. Missions Timeline—Mark Your Calendars! … -April showing of "Peace of Mind", a documentary featuring Seeds of Peace campers and how the camp experience impacted their lives after they returned home. Date not set yet, but be looking for announcements about our showing of this powerful film! -May 19 Olive Tree Children’s Clothing Drive. Be sure to save the outgrown clothing of your kids to bring in for this collection…or you can shop at a thrift store (infant to size 16 is what we’re looking for). Clothing is shipped to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem for distribution in the Bedouin community. -June 1 Williston-West Cabaret to benefit the Missions Committee Seeds of Peace fundraising efforts. Come and enjoy dinner and/or Cabaret performances by many talented members of our church community and know that you are helping to send a camper to the Seeds of Peace Camp this summer! -June 15 Annual Planting Outing at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine. Be looking for sign up sheets to donate flats of annuals, perennial cuttings from your garden, and/or a day of gardening at the camp! Membership Committee The Membership Committee welcomes Barbara Loughlin as a new member of Williston-West, as well as a new member of this Committee. The Membership Committee’s focus is primarily on church growth – membership retention and new member development. The Committee is also responsible for recruiting greeters; the friendly faces and warm hands that welcome church friends outside the church each Sunday. Serving as greeter is of utmost importance as it’s the first impression visitors get of our church community. We are looking to assign greeter duty for the upcoming months. A committee member will make calls in the next few weeks for this purpose. We hope you will be willing to assist by responding affirmatively when called. Your participation in putting forth a warm Williston-West welcome would be most appreciated. We would also welcome a new member or two to the Committee. Please call Sidney Hodgdon, if interested. Olive Tree Clothing Drive Betty Kelley The Missions Committee would like to thank you all for making the last children’s clothing drive such a success! At the beginning of January, we shipped 10 boxes of good-quality clothing to the Mount of Olives. For distribution to children in the Bedouin community just outside of Jerusalem! In today’s Israel, the nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouin people has been severely disrupted as a result of land development and the diminishing acreage available to them. Confinement to small areas has created a kind of poverty that is debilitating to these people whose livelihoods have always depended on their animal herds. Therefore, this mission is quite important to the well being of the Bedouin children. It is also heartening to know that this particular mission project is sponsored by Palestinian’s and Jewish Israeli’s, long-time enemies, who are working hand-in-hand despite these times of political strife to help their fellow Arab countrymen. The next clothing drive will be May 19th, so when you’re putting away your children’s winter wardrobe and unpacking their spring and summer things, be sure to bring in any clothing they’ve outgrown! Learning Center Can use Volunteers Audrey Tanner Portland West is one of the agencies that our Missions Committee’s Apple Tree Program is currently partnered with. Goals at Portland West are "community-building" and various types of assistance to low-income families and kids in Portland’s West End. Located at Brackett and Pine Street across from Reiche Elementary School, they are quite definitely in our Williston-West neighborhood. There is a host of Portland West Programs in operation, including some that offer teens the chance for both GED study and training/experience in construction. They work at rehabbing houses for sale to low-income families. And they start programs, a Family Outing Club, and a series of monthly neighborhood forum (recent forum topics: Muslim beliefs, rent control, forming a second time dollar network. Many of these groups make use of volunteers. However, the particular program that Williston-West is hooked up with is the after school Learning Center. On school days, from 3PM to 5PM the Learning Center offers a snack, help with homework, some enriching projects and computer fun to kids from Reiche School and sometimes King Middle School. Some kids are from families that left African or European countries as refugees. They’re lively and delightful-mostly ages 9 to 11. There are about 12 to 15 kids each day supervised by volunteers. The Learning Centers coordinator is Pat Lincoln. Several of us at Williston-West have had fun volunteering, usually once a week, for a year or so. Ann Bonney and Audrey Tanner are two who would be able to answer questions concerning their experience. Currently, the Learning Center would like a few additional volunteers, individually or maybe a pair of you who’d enjoy being they’re on the same day. To inquire further please call: Pat Lincoln atPortland West 775-0105, Ext.22. She’d love to hear from you. Wish-List A Very Apple New Year Betty Kelley The Apple Tree is Williston-West’s local outreach mission project, a "giving tree" concept that strives to fill some small needs of area organizations. The Apple Tree is located in our dining room/fellowship hall and you are invited to pick an apple from the tree. Fill the need that’s printed on the apple, and return the item with the apple to the apple tree basket, which is located in the vestibule just outside the sanctuary (you pass by it when leaving the sanctuary on your way to coffee fellowship). This year the three organizations that the Apple Tree is sponsoring are:
Reiche School (the public elementary school nearest the church) Portland West (neighborhood center across from Reiche School) The Center for Grieving Children As a result, there are many new needs identified and labeled on the apples you will find on our tree. A comprehensive list follows: Needs of Reiche School Needs of Portland West Needs of The Center for Grieving Children If you have any questions, please contact Betty Kelley through the Church office, or email bkelley@fps.k12.me.us. As always, The Apple Tree encourages and welcomes your donations and appreciates your generosity! Many Thanks Betty Furman It takes a lot of people to make the Silent Auction at the Christmas Fair a success. And a success it was in raising over $2700 for the annual budget. So please add you’re thanks to those who stepped forward. Some gave of their time and others donated items. Those Who Helped Church World Service Madeline Bates The people of Afghanistan suffer almost unimaginable hardships. Burdened from a devastating three-year drought and more than 20 years of war, a woman dies in childbirth every 15 minutes. One in four Afghan children dies before reaching a fifth birthday. CWS will provide over 15,000 Shelter Kits to new arrivals near the border cities of Luella and Peshawar. Family Shelter Kits include a family sized tent, ground cover, plastic tarp, and four blankets. We are purchasing the blankets from local sources. Afghan women who live in Pakistan will be making 20,000 quilts that CWS will purchase and supply to families. We’ll be providing a family food supplement to accompany the Shelter Kits. Each supplement will supply a family for six months and cost $256.00. Spring Harbor needs Volunteers Spring Harbor Hospital, a non-profit psychiatric facility in So. Portland (formerly JBI), needs volunteers. Presently, they are looking for greeters, particularly on weekends and early evenings. They also need people to deliver supplies, develop and design a newsletter, and do clerical jobs in administration. If you have 1 or 3 or 10 hours a week to help, Please contact Mary Finnegan through the Church office for the latest scoop. Thank you for any help possible. The Big Deficit Circa 1887 At the end of 1887 Williston Congregational Church found itself with a deficit of $610. Now "so what’ you say. That is not enough to be concerned with. But let’s put in a different perspective. The Pastors salary for 1887 was $2292.87 that makes the deficit 26.6% of that. Or look at the total budget for the year of $5720 making the deficit 10.66%. It would mean that we would have a deficit for 2001 of $16,934. Consider also that at that time Williston had more than 300 members. So what did they do? Easy twenty-seven men (the women were not part of these deliberations back then) sat in a meeting and each pledged enough to make up the deficit. Which of us today would sit and chip in $16,934? This was an average of $627 each. Times have changed. "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" Bill Whelan I work for a large company, which recently went through a round of layoffs. Twenty people in my department are gone; many of who had a lot more time with the company than I do. I feel like a wave came over the area and randomly dragged people off. Oh, I know it was not random. I understand it was well thought out and probably very painful for those who had to make the final decisions. But I am dealing for the moment with my own feelings, not the corporate view, which I have struggled to maintain. I look around and feel the quiet of the empty offices. Oddly enough the silence in those spaces seems very different now that I know the occupants are not coming back. Some of these folks were good friends, friends I haven’t had a chance to say goodbye to yet. And today? Five days later? I am at my desk, looking at the monitor of my computer and doing my job. People are in the aisles, chatting, laughing, and talking about the latest football scores and successes, doing what they have always done. My sadness has subsided slightly, my frustration with it. My sense that life will go on is as strong as ever. You see, I am one of the fortunate ones. No, not just because I have survived the cuts and retained my seat in the office. I am fortunate because I had been on the losing side of this ‘coin toss’ years ago. I know what it is like to feel the shock and confusion and sadness of leaving a job I enjoyed and didn’t really choose to leave (‘eliminated’ is the current word to use). "Why me, Lord?" – the question goes either way: why did I have to go? Or, why am I still here? I use the word 'fortunate' because I saw my life improve after what I considered to be 'a terrible event'. I feel that God did not abandon me when my employer did. I also realized that there were other jobs that I enjoyed even more than the one I lost. I am reminded of an interview that I read several years ago. A reporter speaking with Rose Kennedy asked her where she got the strength to go on in light of all that has happened to her family. She replied that God never gave her more than she could handle. She ended by saying "After-All, birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t I?" "God doesn’t give me more than I can handle"…Boy, He must think a lot of me because at times it seems I’ve been given more than my share of struggles. I realize, too, that I have been given a lot of tools to work with. I have family and friends. I have a church where I receive lessons every week and have people who care about me. I have been given the power of prayer. I have learned to frequently say "God, if it be your will…" And many years ago I was taught a prayer by my mother that I probably use a dozen times a day: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I don’t know why prayer helps, but it does. I don’t know why I still have a job while equally or more qualified people don’t. but I do. I live in a wonderful place; I can pay my bills. God, if it be your will, I will make it through another day. |
