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The Columns
 January, 2013
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The Eliot Church of Newton
474 Centre Street, Newton MA 02458
617-244-3639
www.eliotchurch.org
No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey,
you're welcome here.
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From Rev. Debbi 
The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to reassess your every day lives, reorganize one of those junk drawers, reclaim what is most important to you and re-commit yourself to countless old and new projects for completion. It seems like a lot to do in a day, which is why New Year's resolutions have trouble sticking it out to completion.
My New Year's suggestion is: commit yourselves to one thing--the one thing that has staying power and purpose. Come to church and maintain the spiritual connections that keep you courageous, that keep you in community, that keep your lives full of purpose and joy. Let go of whatever disappointments or excuses that may prevented you this past year from feeling spiritually alive and make an effort to personally invest in nurturing your spiritual life at Eliot. The New Year is full of potential for a new settled pastor, a new role for yourself at church, and perhaps a renewed way of expressing your faith and love for others.
This past year, Eliot supported so many incredible mission projects both locally and globally--your generosity is exemplary! I know that will continue in 2013, along with the support and passion of the members of Mission and Social Justice Commission.
Though the days are colder, the snow increases, and the desire to turn inward for warmth is strong, it is far richer an experience to stay in the warmth of the congregational embrace so that together we can accomplish things beyond our individual capacity...let your love take root and grow.
I want to personally thank each of you for adding to this diverse and merry mix of people. The Christmas season has been lovely thanks to all the volunteers who beautified the sanctuary, read during Christmas Eve services and who extended hospitality with grace and charm.
Happy New Year 2013! See you in church!
Rev. Debbi
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From Rev. Karla
Dear Church: I wrote the following words for the January 2008 Columns, and it still resonates with how I see God is calling our congregation into the new year. I always find this time between Christmas and New Year's a little disconcerting. It's an in between time of wanting to savor the beauty of Christmas, but there is also restlessness to pack things up, re-organize my life and make a list of goals and hopes and dreams for the New Year. So, I try to embrace the restlessness, to allow myself to meditate on the fullness of life-the quiet and peace of Christmas, the shadows of suffering and questions of the world, and to wonder about the unknown future. The lists can be later (we all know January is long enough that there will be plenty of time for that!). In the restlessness there is much fertile possibility...and it is good to let it just bubble up. There is much fertile possibility on the cusp of this new year at Eliot. Restless wanderings, and fertile possibilities. Our membership commission is working on new initiatives so that our community can be an even more gentle and prophetic presence in our neighborhood and world. Our children continue to "grow in stature and wisdom", and we will be blessed by all that they teach us. Our society continues cry out for truth, for Light, for hope, and each of us will be nudged and stirred by the very presence of the Holy on how to comfort those cries for compassion and change. It is a good place for a people of faith to be, and I look forward to sharing all of this with you in 2013. In peaceful restlessness, Pastor Karla |
Mission and Social Justice Commission
Double & triple thanks to Eliot
The Eliot community opened its heart to others this season in a big way, with local and international repercussions: - A near mountain--40 bags full!--of gifts for City Mission Society. CMS redistributes them to 'stores' where eligible people make their own selections.
- Presents in the form shoes, meals and school fees for our partner children in Lusaka, Zambia. Purchases at the Alternative Giving table totaled $1,776, all of which goes to the Linda Compound.
- Boxes and boxes of food to restock the Newton Food Pantry, which received them happily. (This opportunity will come again in March.)
The Mission and Social Justice Commission thanks everyone who participated and connected us to the larger world. Thanks also goes to those who handled the logistics and gave us the opportunity: Patrick O'Reilly, Dean Anderson, Ellen Abele, Mark Link, and Connie Stubbs.
Coming up: Hands-on service opportunity on MLK Day
Fair Trade: For all who love making a difference... By serving Equal Exchange coffee at coffee hour every week during 2011, Eliot Church became a part of the group of individuals, schools and congregations across the United States who purchased 785,034 pounds of fair trade coffee, equal to 31,401,760 cups. These purchases were equal to the entire year's harvest of 377 small family farms. Equal Exchange is a worker-owned cooperative that founded the U.S. Fair Trade Coffee movement in 1986 and continues to offer 100 per cent fairly traded coffee, tea, chocolate and foods. To learn more: equalexchange.coop/community And make sure to enjoy a cup of coffee at coffee hour this week! -Ellen Abele
If you would like to be more connected to the work of MSJ, please contact Connie Stubbs connie.stubbs@alum.mit.edu or any of the members listed in the church directory. |
From the Search Committee
The Search Committee continued its work throughout December and will be doing so in January as well. We are pleased with the ministerial profiles for the 53 candidates we have received. The Senior Pastor vacancy has attracted candidates from as far as the west coast, as near as the Boston area and many places in between. Eliot Church is blessed to be in the enviable position to make a choice.
Each candidate's profile was individually read by all committee members (the ministerial profiles for the 53 candidates totaled 1,219 pages) and then discussed as a group. We have selected the candidates to be granted first round interviews and these are being held in December and January. The Committee does not foresee any problems in completing the search process in a timely manner.
We are ever mindful of the faith and trust you have placed in us to fulfill this important responsibility as we strive to represent the congregation's wishes. We thank you and ask for your continued prayers and encouragement as we go through this process of discernment.
Michael Benn
for the Senior Pastor Search Committee
The Search Committee members include: Cathleen Finn and Susan Nason, co-chairs; Jonathan Bassett, Michael Benn, Joe Holt, Barbara Oppenheimer, and Doug Stuart. Ex-officio members include Interim Senior Pastor Debbi Carter and Moderator Kevin Curtin.
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Commission-Committee Meeting Dates
1/8 Leadership Council - 7:15pm
1/9 Spiritual Life Commission - 7:30pm
1/10 Confirmation Support Group - 8:30am
1/15 Mission and Social Justice - 7:15pm
1/23 Membership Commission - 7:00 pm
1/21 Finance - 7:30
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
January 19, 2013
This year Eliot is participating in the ML King day of service through the City Mission Society. The cost is $20.00 per person. We will be volunteering at the Newton Community Center.
People of all ages are able to participate in this opportunity to help honor Dr. King by doing something good for the community.
We will be heading directly to the work site from 10 AM to 12 noon. I did not sign us up for the lunch and program afterward.
If you are interested in participating, please email Rev. Debbi as soon as possible.
We need to fully register with City Mission Society. Participants 18 and under need to complete a permission slip for CMS.
Let's have a great turn out this year!
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 Christmas Pageant News
A great big shout-out to all who participated in the Christmas Pageant! A special thanks to Jon Bassett, writer and director extraordinaire. It was a pageant like no other, with ninja soldiers and a Mary like no other before; a very tiny baby Jesus, and angel dust flying all about! The sweet sheep! A grumpy donkey with a plaid suitcase! That spitting camel, really! A 21st century family pressured by technology and teenagers teaching us ALL the true meaning of Christmas, enhanced by the joyful strains of the Eliot Philharmonic. Thank you, thank you all.
It was a wonderful way to be immersed in the amazing story of the nativity.
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January Hospitality Needed
As you may have noticed, for the past two program years, each commission has taken a turn at hosting Coffee Hour for "a month of Sundays." This rotation has worked wonderfully, but there is a slight flaw: We don't have quite enough commissions to cover all the months of the year.
This year, the month of January is untaken and we are looking for a few volunteers to organize Coffee Hour during that month of (four) Sundays. Please join up if you are available for one or all of the following dates: 1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27.
For information, please contact Mary Anne Schoonover. Thanks.
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 Brown Bag Book Discussion
"Speaking Christian" by Marcus Borg
Forum, Sunday, January 20th, 11:30 am Parlor
Join the Eliot Church staff in a lively book discussion around the book, "Speaking Christian" by Marcus Borg. This is the book that was referred to at the last women's retreat in February, 2012. Bring a bag lunch, and we will provide beverages, salad, and a sweet treat. The book is available at Amazon, in hardcover and Kindle editions.There will be 7 copies of the book available on Sunday, January 6.
Book Description: Modern Christians are steeped in a language so distorted that it has become a stumbling block to the religion, says internationally renowned Bible scholar Marcus J. Borg. Borg argues that Christianity's important words, and the sacred texts and stories in which those words are embedded, have been narrowed by a modern framework for the faith that emphasizes sin, forgiveness, Jesus dying for our sins, and the afterlife. Here, Borg employs the "historical-metaphorical" method for understanding Christian language that can restore for us these words of power and transformation. For example,
*Redemption: now narrowly understood as Jesus saving us from sins so we can go to heaven, but in the Bible it refers to being set free from slavery.
*Savior: now refers to Jesus as the one who saves us from our sins, but in the Bible it has a rich and wonderful variety of meanings having nothing to do with the afterlife.
*Sacrifice: now refers to Jesus's death on the cross as payment for our sins, but in the Bible it is never about substitutionary payment for sin.
In Speaking Christian, Borg delivers a language for twenty-first-century Christians that grounds the faith in its deep and rich original roots and allows it once again to transform our lives.
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Women's Spirituality Gathering, January 17
Women's Spirituality Gathering will be meeting in the Parlor at 7:15pm on January 17!
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| Confirmation Launch Meeting - January 27
Launch Meeting for Confirmation will be after Worship Sunday, January 27, 2013!
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To Worship Participants:
If you find that you will need to cancel as Reader or switch Sundays with someone, please call Susanna Peyser at 617-924-4959.
Susanna coordinates all our Readers each week and needs to be in the loop if there are any changes. Thank you.
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Teen Jobs Available!
The Food Project Summer Youth Program
Summer Youth Program, Crew Workers Since 1992, The Food Project has been bringing young people (14 yr-17 yr)together to make a difference in the lives of people in MA. Each year, a group of over 100 youth participate in the the Summer Youth Program and work to grow and distribute thousands of pounds of organic produce. Youth will have the chance to farm on urban and suburban land, sell produce at Farmer's Markets, prepare and serve meals at hunger relief organizations, and participate in workwhops on issues of diversity, hunger, homelessness, and sustainable agriculture. There is a weekly stipend of $200, plus MBTA passes for transportation. For more information, check the church bulletin board or go their website for more information and for an application: www.thefoodproject.org/syp Deadline is Friday, March 8, 2013.
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Church Family News
BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, WEDDINGS and more...
Happy January Birthday!
1 Beverly Craig
4 Rob Dare
5 Scott Rutherford
6 Nick Iacuzio
6 Janice Tura
9 Kristen Moody
10 Jeff Smith
12 Leslie Creedy
12 Remle Stubbs-Dame
12 Ed Zielinski
13 Matteo Greenberg
14 William MacDonald
19 Karen Fritz
20 Elizabeth Ghormley
22 Sam Perrone
22 Steve Smith
25 Ian Waitz
26 Andy Hackford
28 Doug Stuart
29 Marshall Craig
29 Joe Holt
30 Bill Ghormley
30 Evan O'Reilly
31 Liz Thurston
Happy January Anniversary!
4 Elizabeth Baker & Robert Abbe
30 Jackie & Dennis Scott
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