The Williston-West Navigator

We believe in you, O God, Eternal Spirit, God of our Savior Jesus Christ and our God,
and to your deeds we testify:

You call the worlds into being,
create persons in your own image,
and set before each one the ways of life
and death.

You seek in holy love to save all people from
aimlessness and sin.
You judge people and nations by your righteous
will declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our
crucified and risen Savior,
you have come to us and shared our common
lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling
the world to yourself.

You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit,
creating and renewing the church of Jesus
Christ, binding in covenant faithful people
of all ages, tongues and races.

You call us into your church
to accept the cost and joy of discipleship,
to be your servants in the service of others,
to proclaim the gospel to all the world
and resist the powers of evil,
to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at
his table,
to join him in his passion and victory.

You promise to all who trust you,
forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace,
courage in the struggle for justice and peace,
your presence in trial and rejoicing,
and eternal life in your realm which has no end.
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto you. Amen

In the following weeks and months, there will be a number of projects undertaken, identified through our retreat. A long-term plan for our church will be devised based on your input in the retreat. It will take every single one of us contributing to these projects and to the long-term health of our community: less than 100% participation is less than fulfilling what we as individuals have professed as our statement of faith. I invite you to participate! I invite you to use your talents and gifts (yes, you are talented and gifted!!)! I invite you to action! I invite you to contribute! I invite you to the costs and joys of our community’s discipleship! - Tanya Anderson Chair, Board of Deacons

May was a very busy month for music in the church. Beth Campbell and I started a junior choir on May 1. The rehearsals take place right after church in Memorial Hall while parents are having coffee fellowship. We have a very nice group of young people and I’m sure more will join the group. Sunday School graduation happened on May 22, and the new junior choir joined the adult choir in singing the choral call to worship. After the graduation ceremony, the children sang "Jesus Loves Me." They did a wonderful job. The next junior choir rehearsal will be June 5. We are planning to have the junior choir sing the offertory anthem on June 19. If your young person likes music please have him or her join us. Like the adult choir there are no rehearsals during the summer, but rehearsals will begin again in September.

We also had our second choir concert on May 22. The theme of the concert was pieces of music based on old favorite hymns. The concert went very well, and those in attendance seemed to enjoy themselves. After the concert, there was a reception in Fellowship Hall. We would like to thank the Missions Committee for organizing that. In total we raised $110.00 for the Seeds of Peace camper fund.

The choir will sing through June 12, and after that the summer soloists will begin. I hope everyone enjoyed Funk Shui, the group of young musicians who joined us for Pentecost. I understand they will be joining us again in the near future, perhaps on June 12. I hope everyone will have a wonderful summer, and the choir will see you in September.

Calling all Gardeners…Just a reminder from the Missions Committee that we’d love to have anyone planning a vegetable garden allot a small space in it to planting a couple of plum tomato plants or some basil, parsley, or oregano. (Pots on the patio work just as well as a large garden space!) Are you getting a mental image of spaghetti sauce yet? Fresh tomatoes and herbs can be brought in at the end of summer to be used in our "Sauce for Seeds" project. We’ll be cooking up a fantastic sauce that will be canned and sold, with the proceeds going into our Seeds of Peace Camper Scholarship Fund. It’s an easy and fun way to help us reach our goal of sponsoring a camper to attend the Seeds of Peace International Camp next summer!

As I sit down to write this required part of my role as the chair of the trustees, it is early morning, with no sunshine to be found. The birds, however, do not care whether there is sunlight, what matters to them is that it is morning. As I contemplate my annoyance with that fact over a cup of coffee, I realize it is the birds’ attitude that I would most like to cultivate in myself. How important it is to find joy in the simplest of things, to recognize that God is present in all the small daily moments. And yet it is not so easy. I want God to be big and filling all the time, to move mountains for me, or to at least be right behind me as I move them. I want God to help me manage my challenges at work; I want God to show me without any uncertainty the best way to respond to every situation.

It was easier when I was a child. That was simple right from wrong. As an adult, things are murkier, more complex, like that oft quoted passage from one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. And yet, I know I can find direction and peace from God in my daily life, if I am simply aware at how blessed I truly am, and listen to the birds’ song with an open heart and mind. As I apply the lesson of the birds to our retreat this past month, I am so grateful for all who came with an open heart and mind. We were not in complete agreement on all things, and we certainly have much more work to do to assure a shared understanding about the direction most of us identified we want to head. But, we had at least half the congregation present and participating in that gathering. That level of participation is most certainly a blessing.

We have agreed that we want Williston-West to be a stronger presence in our community, to send our ministry of love to places that have known too much hate, and to wrap our neighbors who have been left out in the cold by other church communities, in the comforting blanket of truly respecting each person as one of God’s beloved. It does mean lot of work ahead for us. From the trustees’ perspective, we will need to begin to view our budget from a lens of it being a moral document, a document that is the underpinning of what our mission activities are, rather than simply the scaffolding that supports the basic functions of the church. Our budget process will need to begin sooner, and with greater participation from the various committees that submit budgets. There may be some dissension around what we can afford to do and what we would most like to do. We will find our way to do as much as we can, and we will be all the richer from the process.

In my profession over the years, I am blessed to have experienced many situations that have been frustrating, difficult, emotionally and cognitively draining, that have also made me feel great joy in the commitment from others, and with results that are significantly more inclusive and respectful. When I contemplate times when I walked away from such an opportunity out of fear or frustration, I realize that I lost an opportunity to be more fully present in my life’s journey. When I have stayed with those opportunities, I have rejoiced in the final product being never what I imagined at first it would be, always richer than had someone done the work alone.

I look forward to entering on the same journey with my partners in faith, all the members of Williston West.

Sunday, June 5: Pick a Flower for Peace!

Sunday, June 12: Bring Your Hanging Basket/Flower/Herb Donations to Church!

As you read this, Williston-West’s Sunday School program is officially in summer mode. This means we run one classroom (rather than the two or three we regularly fill throughout the school year). It also means we have a few upcoming dates where there will be no Sunday school offered- Memorial Day, Fourth of July weekend, and Labor Day weekend. Sometimes we do not get these dates out well enough in advance, so I thought I would advertise them here. We will continue to hold our parenting group the first Saturday of each month from 3-5pm in the sitting room adjacent to Fellowship Hall. Please join us. Childcare is always provided.

Beyond logistical Sunday school news, I would like to say a few words about something which has been on my mind lately- marketing.
At the church retreat we discussed how the United Church of Christ has developed a strategy to advertise itself. The goal is to increase membership and visibility, and to remind the public of the many wonderful things that can be said about Christianity, (and the UCC in particular) amid much negative publicity surrounding "the Church." I have been thinking lately about how salesmanship is such a significant part of our culture. Corporations market their products to children directly. They have bypassed the parents in their marketing because they know they can ‘get’ the kids, who apparently have quite a lot of power over their wallet-toting parents. I am angry about all of this buying power, and I wish it weren’t a fact of life in 21^st century America. Part of me wants to just hide from it, part of me wants to stand up and scream that we are so missing the point of life, and part of me wants to just buy stuff, because it does feel good. Another part of me (I am a multifaceted woman) wants to move farther north where there are too many trees for all of these subversive messages to get through to our children- problem is I don’t like cold weather, so that is not my best plan.

But, here is my best plan….
I remember hearing once that the most highly advertised food products have the least nutritive value. In other words, the more spent on advertising, the more likely they are marketing a brand rather than actual food. The less spent on advertising, the more likely for the food to be, well… real food.
So, how does this relate to church? I figure all good things- apples, ice cream, bread, sunshine; necessitate little paid advertising. These products benefit instead from an old fashioned, and free, form of advertising- word of mouth. Everyone knows "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." And everyone knows that ice cream, regardless of nutritive value, just tastes good. We tell each other these things all the time. We pass this knowledge to our friends, our family, even strangers we bump into on the street. Why not use this informal network to advertise how great our religion is? Our faith is healthy. It doesn’t need a slick ad campaign to prove its worth, because it can sell itself.

I realize that we are waging an uphill battle against those who have professed Christianity as a doctrine of the conservative right, and I am grateful for all the work the United Church of Christ has done to bring information about the UCC to the public. I am, in fact, grateful because this high powered marketing campaign has forced me to admit that I am a closet Christian. I struggled to put that Red and Black ‘God is still speaking’ bumper sticker on my car….what will my neighbors think, what will the car behind me think, what will my co-workers think? I am ashamed to admit, I thought all these things. But, later, as I began to drive around town with the word ‘God’ on my car, I felt good.

First, seeing those words in my rear view mirror reminded me to drive like a humble and gentle citizen, rather than the half-crazed competitive driver I sometimes become. Then, seeing those words reminded me to breathe and allow God’s spirit into the car with me when someone cut me off. Most of all, seeing those words every time I walked to my car reminded me that I am telling the world that God is important to me, and that I am proud to be a Christian. I am reminding anyone who notices my sticker that Christianity might not be what they think it is, and that it is worth a closer look. I think our community needs this reminder.

My liberal political stickers make me feel good, but I wonder, am I preaching to the liberal New England choir? With my ‘God’ sticker I know I am not. There are so many people in my life, and in my generation, who are lost. They know politics, but they don’t know God. I have never wanted to be an evangelist. I believe people have a right to choose what to believe in, or whether to believe in anything at all. I can’t convince anyone of anything unless they are willing. So how did I become this banner-waving Christian who my husband calls, "The Church Lady"? It is because, while I don’t need to convince anyone to come over to my side, I just need to share that there is more out there than Atkins, Coke, Wal Mart and Cable TV. I want people to know that God (or our higher power, or whatever label you give to the life force) is near, and will give so much to our lives if we are willing to make room. And, if I want people to know, I guess I had better start telling them….

If Williston West is to grow, it needs healthy organizational structures which help all who attend to live out our faith, and to support each other as we each work in our own way to serve God in our community and our world. Worship time is the core of everything we do. But there is not time during worship to share concerns or organize around those concerns. The Coffee Hour is a good and important way to be in community with others who have come to church, but is also not a time for social activism. The committee structure of the church serves vital purposes, yet is not always an efficient way to share information or concerns that need to be met in a timely way.

We on the Missions Committee would like to try out another organizational structure which will be called Faith in Action. These will initially be held bi-weekly and will begin 10-15 minutes after the start of the coffee hour, taking place in the Parlor adjacent to the Parish Hall. Anyone with a social concern or anyone with an interest in being made aware of such concerns is welcome to attend. Next to the door as you enter will be an easel, on which anyone with a concern they wish to bring up can list his or her name and the item.

The meetings will be limited to ten minutes or so. A facilitator from the Missions Committee will see that concerns are expressed briefly and that discussions of them stay focused. If a wider concern arises that demands more of an organized response, a separate meeting can be scheduled afterwards or at a later time for those interested in working together on it. We hope that service to meet community needs will become an important focus of the meetings, along with information about political issues of concern which participants feel need to be addressed because they are relevant to our faith.

Care must be taken in the planning of any actions that call attention to our church. As with our Iraq War discussion several years ago, participants will have to be mindful of who they do and do not represent.

Faith in Action meetings could accomplish some or all of the following:

• help us to learn from others in the church who are knowledgeable about or feel strongly about a given issue
• build friendship and community with each other as we become more familiar with each other’s interests
• provide opportunities to work together more frequently and more powerfully on issues of common concern
• provide a bridge between the Sunday morning service and the other six days of the week, helping us to better live out our faith in constructive ways
• help the church to become more visible in the community
• provide tangible evidence to visitors that we are an active church which takes its mission seriously

• an opening prayer
• a quick look at the agenda so that time is budgeted efficiently
• brief discussion of each concern and possible related individual or group actions
• announcements of events of potential interest to members of our community which are taking place outside the church itself, and therefore would not be announced at the beginning of the worship service
• Concerns related to the welfare of church members will not normally be dealt with in these meetings.

The first Faith in Action meeting will take place after church on Sunday, June 12^th. Minutes will be kept of meetings and emailed to anyone in our community interested in receiving them. Just fill out an email address form we will provide and leave it on the table by the entrance to the parlor. We hope you will consider dropping in, sharing a concern if you wish, and joining us in pursuit of some aspect of social activism. – Sam Saltonstall