The Electronic Newsletter of MCC Austin at Freedom Oaks
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March 3, 2010
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From Your Pastor 
 The Christian journey is punctuated by difficult terrain, even when it appears straightforward and gently sloping. I've had many opportunities to learn this lesson, and some of them seem particularly appropriate as a way of establishing context for this week's sermon, "Were You There at His Arrest?" which is drawn from Luke 22:47-53. One of the most difficult scenes in all the Gospels to wrestle with is this one in which Judas betrays Jesus...with a kiss. |
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What's Happening at MCC Austin
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14 Worship
at 9 and 11 a.m., and H20 at 2 p.m.
21 Worship at 9 and 11 a.m., and H20 at 2 p.m.
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 Sunday Worship on March 7
9 & 11 a.m.
"Were You There at His Arrest?"
Rev. Karen Thompson Luke 22:47-53
While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, "Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Chosen One?" When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, "Lord, should we strike with the sword?" Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!"
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 H2O ~ Living Water
2:00 p.m. March 7
Receive, refresh, and renew as we explore together...What is the dominion (kingdom) of God, and what does it mean that it's within me?
"Whoever is thirsty, let her come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" Rev 22:17
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 March 2010 New Member Class
If you are interested in becoming a member of MCC Austin please sign up for our next New Member class which will be held on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. If you have any questions or would like to register, please contact Courtney Webster. |
 Sunday School Children's Choir
The Sunday School Children's Choir will sing at the 11 a.m. service on Palm Sunday. Practice will be held every Sunday at 11 a.m. in Sunday School starting March 7th. Come join us.
The Sunday School is accepting donations for the Easter Egg Hunt to be held on Easter Sunday. The following donations will be much appreciated:
- large plastic Easter eggs,
- Individually wrapped candies
- Empty Easter baskets
- Money to buy needed items.
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 The Gardening Angel's Brunch on March 13
The Gardening Angels & Kay Steadman would like to have a meeting with all of those who have adopted an island or garden. We would like to meet with you over brunch to discuss planting, safety, watering, and other assorted information before anyone really starts working on their adopted islands & gardens. Please join us Saturday, March 13th for brunch. We would love for all "parents" to attend, but if everyone can't make it, we ask that at least one person from every team be there. Please contact Donna Scott to let her know if you'll be attending, and also to let her know the e-mail addresses of other people on your team.
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Your participation in the 2010 Census is critically important!
Austin Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, March 23
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
At MCC Austin
MCC Austin, Equality Texas, Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC), Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation (AGLPF), and the U.S. Census are hosting an Austin LGBT Town Hall meeting.
Come learn about important changes made by the U.S. Census Bureau that will affect how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are counted. This will be an opportunity for you to learn how you can help make this 2010 Census successful and beneficial to our community. The Census Bureau recently announced a policy change. When gay and lesbian couples indicate they are married or unmarried partners on the 2010 form, the Census will count them as married. This makes the Census Bureau the first Federal agency to recognize marriage of gay and lesbian couples.
While the Census does not ask anyone for sexual orientation, it is important to note that knowing which "boxes" to check on the Census form will directly affect the counting of LGBT households. It is also important that you have your questions about privacy and safety answered. Come learn all about the new changes and ask your questions at the Town Hall meeting.
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 National Black Church
Week of Prayer for HIV/AIDSThe Black Faith-based Health Initiative ( BFHI) strives to increase awareness and build capacity within the African American community to address issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and other serious health disparities. HIV/AIDS continues to spread out of control in the black community. African Americans are less than 8% of the Austin/Travis County population, but 50% of the all reported HIV/AIDS cases. African American women are becoming the new face of AIDS accounting for 54% of all females living with HIV infections and AIDS. This year marks the 20th National Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS (Sunday, March 7, 2010 - Saturday, March 13, 2010). There is a Citywide Unity Service Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church located at 1801 Pennsylvania Avenue, Austin, Texas. You are invited to join One Love Ministries at the Citywide Unity Service Wednesday March 10th. The group will meet at Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 6:15 p.m. After the service, we will gather at Hoover's Restaurant which is located at 2002 Manor Road, about five minutes from Greater Mt. Zion. Click here for map and information about the restaurant. Rev. Karen Thompson and One Love Ministries strongly encourage you to attend the March 10 prayer service. Our common concern over the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in our communities creates a natural bridge for relationship building between the black and LGBTQ communities, two communities that have not bonded around common causes in the ways we might hope and expect. For more information, send an email to olm@mccaustin.com. |
 March is Women's History Month
-Gerda
Lerner, "Women and History" (1986; 1993)
According to the National
Women's History Project, the overarching theme for March 2010 is Writing
Women Back into History. The history of women often seems to be written
with
invisible ink. Even when recognized in their own times, women are often
not
included in the history books. National Women's History Month provides
an
excellent venue to recognize and celebrate women's historic achievements
as well as an opportunity to honor women within our families and
communities. Read more about Women's
History Month here.
|  See Susie Brenner & Linda Beckstead in concert at MCC Austin on April 17"Our mission in our ministry is to share our stories with others so that
they may experience the love that God has for everyone. Our ministry was formed in January 2005 when we decided to answer a call
that had been tugging at our hearts for several years. We share our personal journeys with Christ through our music and
stories!" Susie is a singer-songwriter and released her newest CD in 2009. She is a recovering alcoholic celebrating ten years of sobriety and some of her music reflects her journey in recovery and her relationship with God. Linda retired from teaching in May 2009 after twenty-two years at a public high school. She is a storyteller and uses the journeys she's experienced to bring humor and thoughtful moments to the words she shares. To learn more about Brenner-Beckstead Ministries, check out their website. |
BEYOND OUR WALLS: MCC News & Updates
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MCC General Conference 2010 News Update
Following the theme of this year's General Conference - IMAGINE, we will be offering four plenary sessions that build on this idea of "Imagine." Also, be sure to register before 30 April 2010! Registrants can receive a discount on their registration fees when they book early. Read Our Full Newsletter to find out more about these and other MCC General Conference News. ________________________________________________________________ |
MCC Moderator Announces New Structure Proposal
Here it is! We are pleased to share with you the draft proposal and implementation plan for a revised MCC structure. We are grateful for the efforts of the BOE, BOA, SRT combined with a consultant from the Alban Institute that have prepared us for and brought us to this moment in the history of our existence. Read Full Newsletter...
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Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches
Calls for
Vigilant Prayer in the Aftermath of Chilean Earthquake
In the early morning hours of Saturday, February 27th, the people of Chile suffered what experts are saying was the 5th largest earthquake the world has known since 1900. It comes just a month after the devastation in Haiti, and was followed by an earthquake of smaller magnitude in Argentina, which took the life of an 8-year-old boy. Read Full Newsletter...
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BEYOND OUR WALLS: News & Community Events
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Be Part of PRIDE and History
The Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation (AGLPF) invites you to be part of its exciting future and forever a part of its history by adding your name to the Proud 100,the one hundred founding supporters of AGLPF.
The AGLPF formed in 2009 for the purpose of educating, resourcing, and connecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in Austin, Texas. The AGLPF strives to do these things in ways which strengthen the LGBT community, serve to lessen discrimination against the LGBT community, and provide opportunities for the LGBT community to participate in and contribute to the greater Austin community.
In addition to educational outreach and community strengthening events, the AGLPF will conduct fund raising events throughout the year to support its largest single event, Austin Pride. Austin Pride has historically attracted more than 5,000 attendees to the annual festival, and more than 40,000 spectators at the annual parade in downtown Austin. In addition to the festival and parade, AGLPF is sponsoring a 5K race as part of Pride weekend begi and will showcase local musicians, local businesses, and local theatrical performance groups.
For a minimum donation of $1,000, Austin's GLBT people and their straight allies can add their names to the Proud 100 list and make a lasting contribution to Austin's LGBT community. Contributions to the Proud 100 will give the organization the financial stability it needs to be successful. For your contribution, members of the Proud 100 will receive a plaque, will be recognized in the printed Official Pride Guide every year from now on, listed on the Pride website, and will receive two VIP passes to Austin Pride 2010.
If you would like to be part of Austin's GLBT Proud history or would like more information about being listed in the Proud 100, please contact Chad Peevy, President of AGLPF. ______________________________________________________________ |
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CROP Hunger Walk CROP Hunger Walk is an annual nationwide event sponsored locally by AAIM. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised stay in Austin to support food needs in local agencies. The rest go to more than 80 countries to alleviate hunger worldwide. Austin has consistently ranked among the top 6 cities across the U.S. in CROP Walk fundraising! Visit www.cropwalk.org or click here to sign up and begin raising dollars to help end hunger.
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OutYouth and Heart of Texas (HOT8) tennis tourney needs volunteers!
Fri-Sat, Mar 5-6 to help at tennis courts during the tournament for 3-4 hour shifts (8am, 11 am, 2pm, 5pm)
Tournament Locations: - Austin Tennis Center (7800 Johnny Morris Road, Austin TX 78724, 512-928-8119)
- Pharr Tennis Center (4201 Brookview Road, Austin TX, 512-477-7773)
Saturday evening, March 6 - volunteers needed to assist with banquet at Embassy Suites Hotel on IH-35 and Hwy 290 during these two time slots:
To volunteer or for more information contact Paula here. ________________________________________________________________
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Movie Night at allgo
Join allgo--a statewide queer people of color organization--for the movie screening and discussion of Farewell My Concubine.
March 9, 2010
6:30 p.m.
allgo offices,
701 Tillery St. Suite A1, Austin, TX 78702
Free. Donations accepted.
Snacks provided
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Our Prayers...
- For all the people in Haiti as they continue the process of recovery from the recent earthquake.
- For our GLBT brothers and sisters in Kenya.
- For all who are healing from spiritual abuse.
- For the people of Chile who are struggling to recover from the recent earthquake and tsunami and all those coming to their aid.
- For MCC Churches as we study and respond to a proposed change in our organizational/leadership structure.
- For all those who will help lead our Capital Stewardship Campaign.
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 E-Link Submissions
If you have information to share through our E-Link, please email it to the editor no later than Monday evening of the week you would like it published.
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(continued from above)
Your questions for me about Judas began last Sunday as soon as you heard that Judas' betrayal was the text for this week: Was Judas guilty or innocent? Did he have a choice? Was he damned from the beginning? Was he forgiven?
A part of me wants to say, "God only knows," and talk instead about Roman law and Jewish tradition and what a wonderful thing it was that Jesus reattached the soldier's ear. But that part isn't a very faithful pastor...
I can't offer simple answers to these questions; in fact, I can't offer answers at all. However, I can offer you stories and thoughts that might help the questions sit a little easier in your soul.
I encourage you to come worship with us at 9:00 or 11:00 this Sunday if you've ever struggled with thoughts about Judas Iscariot. You won't be satisfied, but you won't be alone, either. You'll be struggling along with others in your faith family, and it is often through the struggles that we grow stronger.
Peace,  Rev. Karen Thompson
Sr. Pastor
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