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February 28, 2007
The SPIRIT of Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
Click here to see the March calendar.
Telling Our Story
Carol Hoefer gave me a card last week. On the front there’s a picture of Moses coming down the mountain with two tablets of stone in his hands. One man in the crowd turns to the other and says, “Geez, not another mission statement.”
The inside of the card says: “Attitude. Give new ideas a chance!” I think that’s a good message for us as we continue our visioning process (Many Voices, One Vision). Probably we’ve all been through visioning processes that seemed to spin and spin and go nowhere. It’s easy to be skeptical, weary of “another mission statement.” So it’s important for us to remember to “give new ideas a chance.”
But the card also points to a common misunderstanding about mission statements. Mission comes from God, but notice it’s Moses bringing it down the mountain. Sometimes congregations think the minister should define their mission. God gives it to the minister (Moses) and then he or she passes it along to the people.
That’s not how it works, at least in our tradition. We do think mission originates with God, but it comes to us, not through the minister, but through the people—through you. You discern who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do. I fully support this visioning process, and I will do everything I can to make it count. But I am being very intentional about staying out of the way and letting a vision emerge from you.
That’s why it’s important to hear your voice. And not just your opinions about what you like and don’t like, but even more: Who do you think God is calling us to be and what do you think God is calling us to do?
The next step in our process is an afternoon of historical reflection. On Saturday, March 10th, at 11:30am we will gather in the fellowship hall (food will be provided). We will tell the story of this congregation, going all the way from 1839 to 2007. And we will look to you to fill in the details.
God doesn’t just call us into the future. God speaks to us through the past. Knowing where we’ve been is an important part of knowing where we’re going.
I hope you all will come and help tell our story.
-Richard
Elders in the Gathering Place
In an effort to improve communication during this time of transition and visioning, there will be two elders stationed in the Gathering Place between Sunday services throughout the season of Lent. If you have any questions or comments you’d like to share, you are invited to seek them out. They will answer questions to the best of their ability and pass along any comments you have to the Session.
Christian Worship:
Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever
Lent is traditionally a time of discernment – listening for God’s voice. This is especially true for RCLPC during this Lenten season. We are beginning our visioning process – Many Voices, One Vision. We are also trying to discern the future shape of our worship life. To support that discernment process, I will be leading a discussion of Christian worship for the six weeks of Lent during the 10am adult education hour. We will explore the purpose, shape, and history of Christian worship; we will talk about the centrality and meaning of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and we will discuss current trends in worship, both for the larger church and for RCLPC. I will be drawing on materials from Christian Worship: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever by Ronald P. Byars. I encourage you to acquire the book and read along. (the church can order copies for you). Worship is central to our identity and mission, so whether you read the book or not, I hope you all will participate in this important conversation. –Richard
Opportunities to Study and Create
Lectionary Study Group
(LSG--Get High on the Bible!).
The LSG will meet every Tuesday at noon. We invite everyone to bring a brownbag lunch and an open mind. We will study the lectionary texts (the scripture readings) two months ahead of when they will be used in worship. Not only will this be an opportunity for scripture study and spiritual growth, but it will also help to shape the theme for our worship.
Worship Planning Group (WPG).
Our worship life is still in transition, and there are still unanswered questions. But one way or the other, it’s time for us to get together and start planning future worship! The WPG will meet every Thursday at 6:30 pm, starting on March 8th. This group will take the theme for a given Sunday and help develop creative ways to worship for both our alternative and our more traditional services. If you have an interest in helping to plan our worship, please come on Thursday, March 8th, at 6:30 pm.
RCLPC Worship Blog.
Have an idea for worship but can’t make the WPG meeting? The RCLPC Worship Blog will be updated every week with scripture and themes for upcoming worship services. You are invited to read the text and the theme and then share whatever comments, suggestions, or ideas you have. We will do our best to incorporate these into the planning process. The Worship Blog is at rclpcworship.blogspot.com. It is also linked here on our main website from our worship page. (Aren’t we high tech?!)
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Don’t Forget!!!...
Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 11th this year. Set your clock an hour ahead. Don’t be late!
Support the Youth Mission Trip
—eat a fabulous Spaghetti Lunch!
Our next fundraiser offers you an opportunity to fellowship too! Come this Sunday, March 4th and stay after the late morning service for a lunch of spaghetti, salad, and bread. Cost is $5 per adult, $2 for kids, with a cap of $15 per family. Proceeds go to the Senior High Mission Trip to New Orleans.
Interested in exploring membership at RCLPC?
An Inquirer’s Class has been scheduled for March 24th from 9am until 11am. The class will be held at the church in the fellowship hall, and a light breakfast will be served. During the class we will explore three things:
- what it means to be Presbyterian,
- Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church’s past, present, and future, and
- the meaning of membership.
Attending the Inquirer’s Class does not obligate you to become a member. But for those of you who do wish to become a member, session elders will be joining us and will be happy to talk with you.
Please RSVP to the church office (815-459-1132) so that we can know how much food to prepare. Childcare will be available upon request (let us know).
The Meanderthals
Book Club
Next meeting is on Tuesday, March 6th at 7:15 pm at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake. Discussion starts at 7:30 pm. We will be reading Chapters 7 & 8 of Barack Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope." We will also start considering ideas for our next book. Any questions just give me a call. Cecily Weber
Save the Date:
Saturday, April 7, 11am
Easter-Egg Hunt for children here at the church! cost: $5. Proceeds go to the Senior High Mission Trip To New Orleans.
Easter Greetings to RCLPC’s Soldiers
Please come to Fellowship Hall on Sunday, March 11 to write Easter messages to our soldiers serving in Iraq: Matt Emerson (nephew of Lou and Kathy Rabe), Kate Pelz (friend of Dave and Deb Steele), and Aaron Burleson (nephew of Cindee Robinson). If you would like to donate items for the care packages, please check the wish list that I will post in the Connecting Link. If you have a loved one serving in the military in the Middle East, please contact me.
~ Thanks, Mary Moltmann
Girl Scout Cookies for Soldiers
at the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq
For all of you who plan to donate Girl Scout cookies to the soldiers - please bring them to RCLPC when you get them, and put them in the donation boxes in the lounge. Also, please tape a note to each box with a greeting and your name if you wish. For information, please call or e-mail me at cookielift@rclpc.org.
~ Thanks, Mary Moltmann
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Christian Music + Roller Skating =
A Great Time!
RCLPC families and friends: Let’s All Go Roller Skating Together!
(Please invite a friend or two)
RCLPC has reserved the entire rink!
(We have it all to ourselves…and our friends!)
Sunday, March 18th
4:45-7:00 pm
$10.00 per person
(just pay at the door)
Includes: admission, and skates (if needed), all you can eat pizza, all you can drink pop! Location: Xtreme Wheels, 691 Virginia Road, Crystal Lake, IL 815.356.8705. Please contact Debi Keyzer with any questions.
What’s the Scoop on the Primetimers?
Who are the Primetimers: A group of energetic, enthusiastic folks who get together once a month during the day. Their purpose is to meet for fun, fellowship, and food (of course), while striving to help others. They do this by completing a mission outreach project each month.
What have the Primetimers done: The first organizational meeting was held in January and our second meeting in February found sixteen people sprucing up our own church building. Tina Stipati and Betty Vargason not only cleaned all the windowsills in the church, but also wiped down all the Sunday school chairs. Nancy Vazzano, Kathy Rabe, Barb Turley, and Dorothy Vick cleaned and polished the Sanctuary pews and restocked them too. Jim Holder built a platform for Associate Rev. Teri to stand on in the pulpit on Sunday mornings (we wanted to be able to see her) and Charlotte and Tom Irvine put together a bookshelf for Teri. Wayne Prindiville and Ed Waters installed a new light in the Gathering Place, with June Water’s help, and Rick and Lois Johnson cleaned all the doors in the church (by the way, they say we have 150 doors). Dale Prindiville was all over gopher, gathering supplies and helping wherever needed.
When do they meet next: The Primetimers meet on the third Thursday of each month at 10am. The next meeting will be Thursday, March 15th.
Where do they meet: They meet in Fellowship Hall at church.
How can I join the fun: All are welcome to join – just come. We will be starting a new project at 10am and then breaking for lunch about noon. Bring a brown bag lunch, coffee and dessert will be provided. We hope to see you there.
Go Gators!
I found a big, beautiful Florida Gators rug by my office door on Sunday. Either this dropped directly from the Great Gator in the Sky (you know, like manna from heaven), or some generous person gave this to me anonymously. My thanks to whoever did this. I was going to stop talking about the Gators for a while, but now you’ve inspired me to continue spreading the word! In all sincerity: thank you. -Richard
Share Your Easter Blessings
The Northern Illinois Food Bank is making Easter baskets available for the needy. It will include a 6-8# ham with all the trimmings and a dessert. Baskets cost $15. If you can help, please make your checks payable to the “Crystal Lake Food Pantry” and put them in my box. You could also pay them to RCLPC and make “for food pantry” in the lower left hand corner. Help make Easter special for someone out of work, a senior or a single parent and their children. Thanks to all of you for being the kind generous people you are. ~ Nancy Vazzano
A Celtic Spirituality prayer
reprinted from
“Listening for the Heartbeat of God” by J. Philip Newell
A prayer of George MacLeod’s during the rebuilding of the Abbey on Iona draws on the themes of the community:
It is not just the interior of these walls,
it is our own inner being you have renewed.
We are your temple not made with hands.
We are your body.
If every wall should crumble,
and every church decay, we are your habitation.
Nearer are you than breathing,
closer than hands and feet.
Ours are the eyes with which you, in the mystery,
look out in compassion on the world.
So we bless you for this place,
for your directing of us,
your redeeming of us, and your indwelling.
Take us ‘outside the camp’, Lord,
outside holiness,
out to where soldiers gamble, and thieves curse,
and nations clash at the cross-roads of the world....
So shall this building continue to be justified.
George F. MacLeod, “The Whole Earth Shall Cry Glory”, Wild Goose Publications 1985 p. 45.
Teri has made available the CD of her Celtic spirituality PowerPoint presentation and a list of resources for further study. Both are available in the church office.
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CROP Walk Planning Meeting
Greetings to you all and thanks again for a great Crystal Lake CROP Walk for 2006. I was happy to learn that our total was $11,648.08… very good considering all the disasters and 'causes' that have come up lately. Our first planning meeting of 2007 will be on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00 at the First United Methodist Church (corner of Dole and Crystal Lake Ave). Please RSVP at 224-569 6401 or sharonkar@aol.com. ~ MJ Towne
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Correction to
Souper Bowl Update
This year we collected $1300.78 and 130 canned items! All the donations were given to the Crystal Lake Food Pantry. Thanks, RCLPC! |
Food Pantry Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Since April is also the 25th anniversary month of the food pantry (which our church helped co-found), I thought we might bake cookies for the open house. We have so much talent in the church. If you are willing to bake for the food pantry, call me and bring the cookies with you to church that morning, April 1st. Thank you all for having the kindest hearts, making this possible. ~ Nancy Vazzano
Meals on Wheels
We are involved in mission in many different ways… one of those is the Meals on Wheels program, with hands on involvement that costs us only a little bit of our time (1-1/2 to 2 hrs). The Meals on Wheels program provides regular contact with the elderly, and the primary goal is to help people remain in their home as long as possible. This is a ministry that would not be able to operate without volunteers from this and other congregations; currently 11 churches deliver meals. Our participation is a vital contribution to this program. If you feel you could join others from this congregation in providing delivery service during the week of March 12 to March 16 please call Marina Hoffman at 847-516-2659 or sign up on the sheet in the Connecting Link.
THANK YOU FROM HOME OF THE SPARROW
Dear Teachers, Students, and Congregational Members,
On behalf of the Home of the Sparrow and especially the women and children in our program, we thank you for your generous donation of gifts and goody bags to the Holiday Gift Program. Families were overwhelmed with joy this season, many brought to tears at the generosity of our community. Children were in awe at the site of so many gifts under the Christmas trees.
Through your practical responses, as this New Year begins, 30 women and 56 children in our program have been blessed with new clothing, gift cards for life’s essentials and fun items to warm hearts. Your partnership in the Holiday Gift Program allows the families we serve to experience a semblance of normalcy around the holidays and also supplies the residents with courage, dignity and a positive living environment. Many are well on their way to a healing journey that brings them to the road of independence.
Thank you for your outpouring of love and generosity. Please continue to keep Home of the Sparrow in your thoughts and prayers so we may continue our mission to eliminate homelessness and poverty one family at a time.
Sincerely,
Caryn Rigsby
Community Outreach Coordinator
Bread for the World: Offering of Letters
Each year Bread for the World, a nationwide, nonpartisan Christian citizens’ movement with a membership of over 56,000, sponsors a national letter-writing campaign called the Offering of Letters. People of faith and conscience have the opportunity to place the concerns of hungry and vulnerable people front and center before elected leaders.
In this year’s Offering of Letters campaign, Seeds of Change, people of faith will be asking Congress to improve the farm bill so that our farmers receive better and broader support, rural communities are strengthened, hungry people in this country are helped, and farmers in developing countries are supported in their efforts to sell their crops and support their families.
On March 25, the congregation will be invited to stop in Fellowship Hall before or after the worship services to sit down at a table and write a brief letter to their elected official(s). Paper, envelopes, and pens, along with a model letter, will be provided. Our letters will be placed in an offering basket and mailed the next day.
As individuals and as a church body, we work and volunteer in social ministries and give financially to hunger appeals. But a single decision by Congress can outweigh or multiply our contributions. By writing members of Congress about legislation that addresses hunger, we can make a great impact for God’s people in need.
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NATIVE AMERICAN CONNECTION
Sioux to Illinois – Chicago Tribune
In the 1982 halftime ceremony at Memorial Stadium at the U of I, a 93-year-old Oglala Sioux chief and medicine man presented the university with tribal regalia for use by the schools mascot, Chief Illiniwek. The university paid $3,500 for the moccasins, blanket, peace pipe pouch, breastplate and war bonnet with 90 eagle feathers, all of which was owned by Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow, according to the schools archives.
The tribal Oglala Sioux members, including Fools Crow’s grandson asked for the return of these items in January 2007. In Illinois the debate over the mascot has been raging for many years. There has even been some discussion on the pro and con between us members of The Native American Connection. But is it our place to criticize this growing campaign by students, faculty, Native American groups and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (which has already penalized the U. of I) to dump the mascot?
Eagle feathers were replaced on the headdress with painted turkey feathers in 1990 with the original eagle feathers resting place unclear according to school officials and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The executive committee indicates that Chief Illiniwek was intended to honor Illinois-based tribes but the Oglala clothing is not what tribes in Illinois wore. And so the argument goes on. What say you? To see the rest of the article, stop and read it in the Connecting Link. Is the decision up to the tribe or was it simply from an old Indian Chief who never dreamed of the ongoing conversation his gift to the University of Illinois would generate? Joy Martin
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Youth Schedules...
Middle School Youth
March 11:
Planning for Youth
Sunday
March 18:
Planning for Youth
Sunday
March 25:
NO MEETING
Friday, April 13: 6 PM
Youth-worship rehearsal
April 15: YOUTH-LED
WORSHIP, all services
Senior High Youth
March 4: (after 11 am
Worship service)
Spaghetti lunch
fundraiser
March 11:
Planning for Youth
Sunday
March 18:
Planning for Youth
Sunday
*April 1: $50 mission trip payment due!
Friday, April 13: 6 PM
Youth-worship rehearsal
April 15: YOUTH-LED
WORSHIP, all services
Senior High Study Break
Join us each Wednesday evening from 7 - 8 pm.
Confirmation Class
Sunday, March 4: 6-8 pm
Sunday, March 11: 6-8 pm
Friday, March 16: 7 pm -
Saturday, March 17: 8pm
RETREAT to Stronghold
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