2013 Boundary Training Dates 

Listed below are the 2013 dates for all Boundary Training sessions hosted by the Missouri Mid-South Conference office.  The fee is $30 per person, and this fee is waived for all retired clergy.  Each association is conveniently offering one spring and one fall date, as well as the opportunity to attend Boundary Training at the Conference Annual Gathering in June at Drury University in Springfield.  Please click here for the registration form and further details. 

Eastern Association

Thursday, May 9th at Faith UCC - Wentzville, MO

Thursday, October 10th at St. Peter's UCC - Washington, MO

St. Louis Association

Friday, April 12th at First Congregational UCC - Webster Groves, MO

Saturday, September 14 at St. Johns Evangelical UCC - Mehlville, MO

Western Association

Thursday, April 25th at Country Club Congregational UCC - Kansas City, MO

Thursday, September 26th at Salem UCC - Higginsville, MO

Conference Annual Gathering

Friday, June 7th at Drury University (Sunderland Hall) - Springfield, MO

Annual Information Review Form 

The annual Information Review forms were emailed to all authorized clergy, both active and retired, within the Missouri Mid-South Conference last week.  If you did not receive an email on 2/28 containing the form and the Minister's Code, please contact Renee via email at renee@mmsucc.org or by phone at 314-918-2602.  The forms are due back to the Conference office by May 1, 2013.  If you do not have an email address or your email address bounced back, the form will be arriving in your mailbox soon.  Thank you.

You Are Invited - Installation of Pastor Kim Brinkmann

St. Mark United Church of Christ and the St. Louis Association of the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ invite you to a worship service for the installation of Kim Brinkmann as Pastor.

Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 3:00 PM
St. Mark United Church of Christ
1861 Missouri State Road
Arnold, MO 63010
636-296-6636
www.stmarkucc.org

All clergy are asked to arrive by 2:30 to assemble for the processional and are invited to robe and/or wear red. A reception will follow the service.

Photo of the Week!

Child's artwork - Immanuel Wright City

Cookie Contemplation

Dr. Marc A.  Wessels

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable,

to be compassionate,

to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently spotted a sign that got me to thinking. The sign outside of a business simply said, "Will Work for Cookies." After chuckling and thinking of my favorite cookie, chocolate chip, of course, my mind went to mulling over what it is that motivates people to do what they do. Some people seem to have their lives directed by their love of someone or for something. Others appear to be motivated by the desire to achieve some goal or purpose.

I know people whose lives are guided by a desire to be bonded to their families and their communities. Some of them make their choices solely on whether or not the decision they are making will please or displease family. Others have a focus on the place where they live, and have lived for the whole of their lives. Their parents and grandparents lived in that spot and never moved and so they are motivated to live in that place and to a part of that community where their ancestral roots have been planted and where they call it home.

Some lives are apparently motivated for the love of something. Small museums around the world demonstrate a motivation to acquire, to hold, preserve and interpret specific things. Items and objects are held to be significant for a variety of reasons. There are people who hunt and collect the most unusual things one can possibly imagine. The mind boggles at what motivates some people to travel the world and spare no expense in order to find that object which may or may not have any real value or significance.

Still others are motivated by deeply ingrained desires to achieve. Sometimes those desires are born within them while they are children and basic emotional or intellectual needs are not met. The word "Rosebud" comes to mind. You know the story - the loss of a significant object which had much emotion attached to it as portrayed in the American classic film, "Citizen Kane", supposedly based upon the real life stories of publishing magnate William Randolph Hurst and aviation businessman Howard Hughes.

So, what motivates us? What is the goal or what are the purposes which shape our choices and defines our decisions? These are questions worthy of reflection as we ponder how we will invest our time.  

In the 1960 John Updike novel, Rabbit Run, the protagonist, nicknamed Rabbit, is a man who finds his life unfulfilling and runs away seeking to find more out of life than he presently is experiencing. I am reminded of Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son where all of the characters - prodigal, older son and father are shown to be motivated by different things. Like Rabbit, the prodigal casts away family and his grounded sense of relationships in search of a freedom beyond the constraint of complacent living. The older son in the parable meanwhile stays firmly in place perhaps because he wants to please the father even while resenting his choice or perhaps because he is fearful of taking a risk beyond his comfort zone.

The father in the parable, which by the way, seems to be inappropriately named might be better called the Parable of the Waiting Father. The father motivated by love for his sons gives himself to both of his boys. In a sacrificial act he grants his impudent younger son his wish and becomes like a dead man, granting the child his inheritance which would have rightfully been granted at his passing. He does not stand in the way but allows his younger son permission and blessing to go... and to return with grace. In the same way but in a different manner he extends his love to his belligerent older son, pleading with him to come and rejoice when the prodigal returns. The father is motivated by love which shows no sign of weakened resolve despite the pain which the father endures due to the behavior and choices which each of his sons make.

Jesus was aware of the connections between our hearts and minds and those things which motivate us in life. His call to his disciples was for them to place their lives in the hands of a living, loving God and to seek His kingdom in the reality of the "eternal now". That call is for us today as well. As we consider what motivates us - and others around us - perhaps Jesus' words recorded in the gospel of Matthew 6.21 might be a guide for reflection and praxis: "The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (The Message)

News from CUE Seminaries

Please join Chicago Theological Seminary Spring for our Worship Conference - April 19 & 20, 2013.   

For those unable to attend the event on-campus, selected portions of the conference will be available via live streaming over the internet. Headlining the event will be CTS alumnus and Professor of Worship at Garrett Theological Seminary, Dr. Ruth Duck.

The conference will run from 8:30 am on Friday, April 19 to noon on Saturday.  (There is no scheduled event on Friday evening of the conference.)

 Those who register for this option will be given a link to access all three of the plenary sessions.  

For more information or to register visit our new website at ctschicago.edu in the Continuing Education section of the site.  If you have questions, please email Joe Burt, Manager - Alumni Relations & Special Events at jburt@ctschicago.edu.

There is an important and powerful progressive Christian movement in America and it includes churches from across many denominations. This movement enlivens congregations and communities and gives witness to God's goodness, justice and grace. Music is an essential element of this movement. The harmonies, rhythms and melodies inspire, express and fuel the movement and its people. The music of the movement includes at least three "canons" - a classical music canon, a spiritual/gospel canon and a contemporary canon. The progressive Christian movement is blessed by its engagement with the full range of these musical canons.  This year's Brueggemann and Kulenkamp lectures at Eden Theological Seminary's Spring Convocation will take up the Music of the Movement.

LIFE at Eden Theological Seminary- March 15-16, 2013

Enrich your Lenten Journey with a LIFE retreat in March.

Certificate Course: "Exploring the Presence of God: Thinking Theologically."

Led by Dr. Damayanthai Niles.

Some of the questions we will explore include: What difference does it make how we think about God? Or whether we think about God at all? What difference does it make where we get our ideas? 

Or "Jesus Through the Centuries" led by Dr. Travis Ables. This course will examine the way Jesus Christ has been understood throughout history, focusing on depictions of Christ in art, culture, and worship as well as theology. We will discuss how the Christian faith has drawn from many sources in culture to understand the person of Christ, and how this process continues today.

For more information or questions contact Jill Schantz at: Jill.Schantz@eden.edu or to register: Eden.edu <Programs> <Life at Eden>

Camp MoVal Lenten Work Day

Come join us for our annual Lenten Work Day at Camp MoVal on March 23 from 9am to 3pm. Work projects will include general site cleanup, pool cleaning, cutting and splitting firewood, screen repair, maintenance building cleanup and organization, trail maintenance and much more. All are welcome to come and participate, please make sure that anyone under 18 comes with an adult chaperone.  We also ask that you please let the MoVal office know in advance of your attendance to make sure we have enough food for all of our volunteers and so we can plan an effective and efficient work day.

I thank you in advance for your support of Camp MoVal and our Outdoor Ministry programs. It is your support that makes our ministry possible. To confirm your presence at the Lenten work day, please email Jeremy Force or call the Camp Office at 636-583-2730.

Friends of Emmaus "Mission to Mission"

As many of you know, we are currently in need of new quilters for our Annual Quilt Auction held at Emmaus Homes Marthasville on Sunday May 19. One of our newer donors are the inmates at the Vandalia Missouri Women's Prison. The prison has a Restorative Justice Program the inmates participate in to repay society. It is a unique relationship and we are inspired by their efforts.

The spring festival is a daylong celebration with food and activities and culminates with the famous quilt auction conducted by the Brehe Auction Company. Quilts may be viewed at their website www.breheauction.com. If you know of any other organizations that we can contact regarding donating quilts, please contact Betty Shrum at 636-566-6236 or email her at bkb6699@aol.com.

We appreciate your assistance in helping this worthy fundraising event succeed.

Sincerely,

Betty Shrum

Quilt Auction Chair

St. Louis Association Mission Funds Outreach Application and Criteria

Dear Mission Partners, Congregational Leaders, and Pastors,

It is pleasure to serve you in supporting your work in caring for those in our community. The Outreach Committee in dialogue with the St. Louis Association Council has new criteria it is using to approve agencies and congregational outreach programs for funding support. Not only will we fund existing mission agencies through our ongoing supporting grants but support new projects for funding through one time grants for initiation of new multi-congregational mission projects.

Think creatively what your congregation can do with other congregations in the St. Louis area to care for others in meaningful ways. The application must be received by April 1st.

Western Association Annual Business Meeting

The Western Association Annual Business Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 20th, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Ivanhoe United Church of Christ, 6512 Woodson Road, in Raytown, Missouri.  The featured speaker for the day will be the Rev. Dr. John H. Thomas, former General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.  Dr. Thomas will speak and preach on building covenant relationships, and we will receive a new church, Peace Christian Church UCC/DOC into membership in the Western Association.  More information will be forthcoming, but please place that Saturday date on your calendars and we look forward to seeing you in Raytown.

Send Us Your Photos!  

Currently, less than 20 congregations have provided pictures which have been used to create an example video of this project.  

Anyone can see the short video by following the internet link provided at the bottom of this article. We cannot stress enough that to make this project a success EVERY congregation MUST be represented. Pictures can either be mailed to the Missouri Mid-South Conference office or emailed directly to Rev. Dr. Doug Kaufman. Both the snail mail and email addresses are provided at the end of the video. Please spread the word about this project because we want each MMS church represented.  

Thanks so much! Keep The Faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oMt9NthQs 

Ooops! Event Accidentally Omitted from Last eHappenings