T O U C H S T O N E  -  A  M i d W e e k  B u l l e t i n

 
      


 
10:00 a.m. FCC Worship in the Chapel
1:00 p.m. (a)Spire Worship, Alden Hall



  
 

        
                   August 16, 2015   
            

                       

  
Image: Lamp of Wisdom from Art in the Christian Tradition a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

 

Reflections on Sunday Worship . . .
 
Our scripture this Sunday, 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, reintroduces us to Solomon, son of David, the greatest of Israel's kings.  Rev. Kathryn Matthews, dean of Amistad Chapel, shares: "A number of enemies also had to be eliminated to establish Solomon's firm grip on the monarchy, and ultimately, a peaceful kingdom. In fact, today's passage is a golden moment in an otherwise bloody and certainly instructive narrative of infidelity, violence, and sin. The path to the throne wasn't pretty for Solomon, and it was far from Israel's finest moment." Solomon is also known as the builder of one of the most significant worship centers in Biblical times but his heart strayed to false gods.  We will look at some of the learnings from Solomon's relationship to God that may ring true for us today. 

See you in church!

Carolyn

Also this Sunday . . .

Josh Ashenmiller and Jeff Tyler will be teaching the children and youth after the Children's Time on Sunday.

This week's music spans from Bach to the early American "Tis the Gift to Be Simple" to Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas"--all with the 5 C's--singers Carol & Coril, Cathy & Cello, & Connie--we look forward to hearing Carolyn also!  See you Sunday at 10!

 
   
To see the latest e-news from (a)Spire, click here . (a)Spire worship will take place at 1p.m. in Alden Hall with Andy Schwiebert preaching.

 

 
Worship Leaders:
Carolyn Olney
Rev. Andy Schwiebert

Ushers: 
Brian Brandenburg
Kathie Arscott
Jeff Levison
Jim Maddox

Liturgist
Chris Herb

Pianist & Music Coordinator:
Connie Washburn

Church School Teachers:
Teachers are Josh Ashenmiller and Jeff Tyler.

Nursery is staffed for infants and small children after the Children's Time.
Nina Kung  
[email protected]

Visit us at:  uccpasadena.org 

Sermon podcast:


Office Hours

Mon-Thurs  9AM - 5:30PM

  We close for lunch 
12 - 1:30PM

Tel. # 626.795.0696
Fax # 626.795.0698

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Faith Sharing Testimony: "How I've Seen & Felt God's Presence in My Life Lately"

Just before moving to New York City last week, we sat down with KC Bugg to hear his testimony on video. We simply asked KC, former chair of the (a)Spire Leadership Team (LT), 

          How have you seen God at work in your life lately? 

Check out KC's response in this video link:

This is the first of a few testimonials we hope to collect and share over the next year. Both FCC and (a)Spire discovered through the Natural Church Development survey that each took earlier this year that "Passionate Spirituality" is the minimum factor (i.e. greatest weakness) for both of our communities. To address that growing edge, the (a)Spire LT decided to launch two initiatives; 1) a sermon series and simultaneous small group both focused on the topic, "coming out evangelical" (see below) and 2) a "testimony" series where leaders and volunteers share their testimony of faith in worship and/or on video. This is the first one we've produced, but hope to do several more in the coming months. Thanks to Shane Apple for his hard work on recording and editing. 

 

(a)Spire has met new fundraising goal 

 

Thanks to several (a)Spire and FCC leaders and friends sharing this effort with their friends and family, (a)Spire has reached and then surpassed the goal of raising $2,000 within 30 days to help us host 3 meals in the park over the next 5 months. At each event (Sept, Nov & Jan), we will offer a meal to the homeless followed by one of three healing practices; storytelling on video, art or laying on of hands. August 5th is the last day of the fundraising effort, and already we've raised $2,250! Our first meal will be September 13.

 

This was made possible by a brand-new web-based fundraising tool at  www.woodtothefire.org that was created by the Center for Progressive Renewal and the United Church of Christ (Local Church Ministries at National Setting) to help churches raise funds for ministry projects like ours. To visit the page for the (a)Spire project, click here.


Efforts for Dignity for Low-Wage Workers & Huntington Nurses
At the June FCC Council meeting our Council voted to "endorse" the Pasadenans For a Livable Wage Coalition (PFLW) in their efforts urging Pasadena City Council to raise the Minimum Wage to $15 per hour by 2020. This follows on the heels of a similar wage hike policy passing LA City Council and the LA County Board of Supervisors in the past 2 months. Many local congregations and organizations are involved in this effort including All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center... and now FCC has added its name to the list. The PLW argues that the current minimum wage does not give workers enough to make ends meet in Pasadena without having to work 2 or more jobs. As part of this continuing effort, last week FCC Associate Pastor Andy Schwiebert set up a meeting between Pasadena City Councilman John Kennedy and other faith and community leaders to urge passage of this policy. Similar meetings are being set up with other members of Council. See this recent article about the effort.

The week before, on Sunday July 26th Associate Pastor Andy Schwiebert co-moderated a panel of nurses from Huntington Memorial hospital along with faith leaders and other community supporters to hear testimony about intimidation and harassment experienced by pro-union nurses leading up to the recent vote. The results of the election about whether to form a union or not was very close, roughly 445 (yes) to 539(no), with more than 175 contested votes. There will likely be another vote, if the National Labor Relations Board determines there were inconsistencies or unfair practices that warrant another vote. The repeated accounts of harassment and intimidation were shared at the community forum on 7/26 with not a few tears. Regardless, this group of nurses are as determined as ever to press on and work towards what they believe is a needed change in their workplace.

The group of pro-union nurses are requesting support from faith community to ensure that the hospital play fair in their dealings with pro-union nurses. To read more about the community forum, see this article. If you'd like to learn more or find out how to get involved, please contact Andy Schwiebert.
Coming Out Evangelical Small Group Kicked Off This Past Sunday 8/9

As mentioned above, (a)Spire discovered that our mimimum factor (i.e. area of greatest weakness) as a congregation, according to the Natural Church Development survey we took earlier this year, is Passionate Spirituality. So to address that, one initiative Randy, Andy and Claire are leading is Coming Out Evangelical, a sermon series and small group focused on reclaiming a sense of passionate evangelicalism from a progressive Christian perspective. 

Through some discussion, we found that many of us are sometimes shy to share our faith with one another and especially with others outside our community. We believe we are cautious sharing our faith experiences with progressive or even moderate friends because we don't want to be labeled one of those kind of Christians.  We realized that too often we describe our faith in contrast to what others hold to be true (e.g. we are not homophobic, not judgmental, not Bible-thumpers). So we wondered, rather than being NOT something, what is it that we CAN affirm? 

Can we reclaim a sense of passionate Evangelicalism, as progressive Christians? Join us for this small group, that will meet each week after (a)Spire worship each Sunday August 9, 16, 23 and 30, beginning around 2:30-4PM. We will have the same core group but others are welcome to drop in as they like.

Contact Randy or Andy if you wish to be involved.

Children's Choir will sing Aug. 23 and Aug. 30th

 

The children will practice a song after worship on Sun. Aug. 23rd and then refine it with Connie before worship on Aug. 30th. Please join us and be in touch with Connie if you have any questions.

 

Profiling FCC Members and Friends

 

We try to let you know when FCC folks are involved in events around the L.A. area - including musical events and plays or other kinds of offerings. This time we are profiling two folks who are connected with us who are part of the restaurant scene. The first is Ted Hopson - husband of Pam Hopson who was our soloist for several years. (Now her sister Kim Mendez is one of our soloists!!) Ted and his work partner have opened up a brand new restaurant called Bellwether, located at 13251 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City. You can make a reservation on their site (there are pretty pictures on Yelp). Let's support these friends as they launch their new venture this week!

www.thebellwetherla.com

 

Also, Jason Orr (famously the father of Mattias) is a manager at Islands Restaurant and he is usually placed far away from us. However, he has been relocated as the General Manager right here at the Paseo Islands restaurant!! Let's support him and his restaurant when you need a quick bite locally!! Glad to have you nearby Jason!

 

Have an FCC friend who is involved with something we might be interested in? Let us know so we can let others know and we can support our church community in their lives beyond the walls of church.

 

Time for Some Summer Fun with our Dive-in Movie!

 

We are having a pool party and movie viewing of
Big Hero 6
at the Weltman house/pool on

Saturday Aug. 29th.


Click here for more info.

Leadership Dinner
On Sunday August 30th the pastoral staff will be hostng a Leadership Dinner for all in our church who serve on a ministry or a committee. Invitations have gone out to those 40 people this week. Please RSVP to Nina in the church office. We will be together for a meal, informal worship, some leadership tools and to be inspired for our collective work in the coming year!
Ralphs Community Contribution Program

Attached is a letter from Ralphs, the letter indicates all participants need to re-register on or after September 1st, for the church to continue to benefit from their participation. I would contact all participants directly, but Ralphs will not tell me who they are due to privacy concerns.  I do know some of the participants, and I will contact them directly.

Anyone who shops at Ralphs, and has a Ralphs Rewards card, can participate by registering and naming any charity to receive a minimum of 1% of their purchases.

If anyone has questions, they can contact either Nina or myself.

Thanks,

Don