SCC Newsletter

This is the final installment in my summer series on our denominational connections and my desire for all of us to more fully understand them and more strongly engage them in our life in community.

I’ve written over the last couple of months about the need for interdependence in our churches that is part of the foundation of the NACCC and ABC church bodies. This month I want to talk a bit about how we can participate actively in the lives of these larger fellowships.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, the American Baptist Churches, being a much larger group, is actually a bit more difficult to get involved with for a small church. There are more churches around with which to fellowship, but the sheer number of churches means that we may not have as many opportunities to develop personal relationships with other ABC folks. That’s why I have been looking forward with such enthusiasm to the proposed constituting of a Twin Cities association. On the Congregational side of our affiliations, you have built-in relationships through Patti H. and myself because of our history with that group and a tight-knit, active local association. But the degree of difficulty with which we might enter into relationships with other churches does not mean we ought not to try. I am personally committed to living out these connections as best I can, but I am convinced that it cannot be the job only of the pastor to do so.

Patti and Bob and I have served for the last five years (or most of it) as your representatives to the MN gathering of Congregational churches. There is no reason why somebody else from our church could not attend. I have attended a couple of ABC gatherings as a representative of this church, but I would dearly love to share that responsibility with others. I don’t want to give the job away, just share it with a lay person who is interested in maintaining that connection. The fact is that I don’t believe we can call ourselves “members” of anything that we don’t support. Support means both that we send financial contributions and that we have lay members of the church who actively participate in meetings and fellowship. Support means that we must be more than simply a “community” church, we must be a church that knows and embraces its roots in these two great traditions.

I am going to ask that the delegate positions be placed on our list of elected/appointed positions for the coming year, to remind us of the importance of those connections. I am also going to be asking for increases in the budget for denominational gifts. Lastly, I offer you this promise: while it is clear that my roots and my relationships lie primarily with the Congregational churches, I will never knowingly promote one affiliation over the other in my work as your pastor.

I look forward to stepping out in faith with you as we live into our identity as a church.

Calendar Highlights

Summer worship schedule through August 31st—Worship at 10 AM

Open Prayer: Wednesdays - 8:45-9:45 PM

August 2008

1st—2nd—Relay for Life at Burnsville High School—6 PM-2 AM

3rd—Finance Committee Meeting at 11:15 AM

3rd—7th—Vacation Bible School—Power Lab—6:15-8:15 PM

20th —Council meets at 6:30 PM—Wednesday

17th —Centennial House at 2 PM

24th—Missions Meeting at 11:!5 AM

31st—Outdoor Worship Service at 10 AM

Looking Ahead to September—Mark your calendars now!

Rally Day—Sunday School Begins—Sunday, Sept. 7th—9:15 AM

Fall/winter worship schedule begins—Sept. 7th at 10:30 AM

All Church Clean Up Day—Saturday, Sept. 13th

Council Meeting—Sept. 14th

Deacon’s Adult Steak Fry—Saturday, Sept. 20th—6 PM

Harvest Festival—Saturday, Sept. 27th

On August 31^st, we will celebrate another Fifth Sunday Worship experience together. On that day will be hold our worship service outside and we will incorporate the Meditation Path and Stations of the Cross into the service. We hope that you will be able to join us for this special event!

Confirmation, Adult Education, and Men’s Group are on break for the summer, but Pastor Casey is already preparing for the Fall startup of programs. Confirmation will begin with a kick-off meeting on Tuesday, September 16^th at 5:30 – with a special invitation and information to be sent out soon to all participants. Adult Ed will start, along with Sunday School classes, on September 14^th. Men’s Group resumes on Wednesday, September 17^th at 7 p.m.

Register your child now to be a part of this fun and exciting bible school!!! Complete with “experiments”, crafts, cool treats, songs and learning about the Power of God.

We still need help for this new evening program so please let Vicky know if you are able to help during that time.

We hope you are spreading the news to your neighbors and friends!! We want kids from age 3 to those entering 6^th grade!! Any other youth are welcome to volunteer to help- we would love to have everyone!! Adults- that includes you!! You are welcome to volunteer your time with God’s kids!!

I can’t thank you enough for attending the congregational meeting on July 20 so that we could have a quorum and make a final decision about the contractor/employee question. The results were: secretary and music director will be hired as employees and the accompanist and custodian will be hired as contractors as of January 1, 2009. If you are interested in the actual vote, the numbers are recorded in the minutes of the July 20^th meeting. Also, at this meeting, we agreed to not revisit this topic for at least five years.

Now let us go forth and continue to serve the Lord!! God has much for us to do!!

The inspections are done, the lease is signed, the equipment is paid for, they have moved other items in and Sunflower Daycare will be starting in August. Only one more small install related to the fire system and they will get their license. Their approximate opening day is Aug. 18th!

Please remember IF you use the Fireside Room on the weekends or in the evenings after 6 PM—please return it to its original condition. And, if you see the owners, Tatyana or Roy Peterson, wish them well.

Please sign up today to help change the church sign on a Sunday. It is a great means of outreach to our community.

Many thanks to those who have given of their time and money to help make the Meditation Path project a success. We hope to put some more finishing touches on it this month.

Don’t forget to use those Mission Statement Cards and share them with friends. They are one way that we can help our community to know more about us.

item or ten, the staff and students really appreciate your generosity! Please check off the items you bring on the sheet on the mission table.

This year our team will be leaving at 2 AM. You may buy luminaries on Sunday, Jul. 27th OR at the event. Each Luminary helps support our team while raising funds for research and support services of the American Cancer Society!

For those who would like to help our Iowa neighbors and others who have been affected by recent flooding, you may donate to One Great Hour of Sharing by writing a check to the church, put in the memo part, Flood Relief—OGHS. We will forward the funds through the NACCC to help those who need it the most.

We thank all who have helped on the Meditation Path work days. After the storms there was much more brush to clear and we appreciate all your hard work.

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, Sept. 13th for our All Church Clean Up and Work Day starting at 9 AM. If you can give us a couple hours or all day, any time you share will be a big help.

We are always looking for folks to provide special music during the summer. If you or a family member have a musical gift you’d like to share, please talk to Ruth today.

Please remember that there is a sign up hanging above the info center in the narthex for anyone interested in being a layreader for worship. You can read the Call to Worship and Unison Prayer or the scripture passages for the day, or both. It is not a difficult job and it is so helpful, we hope you’ll give it a try. Never done anything like that before? Maybe this is just the challenge your faith has been waiting for. Ask Pastor Casey if you have any questions. Thanks for serving!

Each month we bring you information about what is going on with the church organizations with which we are affiliated. Those are: the American Baptist Churches (ABC) and its local twin cities group of churches and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) and its regional counterpart, the Minnesota Fellowship of Congregationalists (MFC). We regularly display newsletter and other information for these organizations in the literature racks in both the Narthex and the Fellowship Hall.

ABC Happenings: The Mid-American Baptist Churches have been working this summer to help those impacted by the flooding in Iowa, with lots of funds and numerous teams sent by our churches.

NACCC Happenings: We have had several ordinations of new clergy in the MFC this summer, which is always a blessing. This is possible, in part, because churches like ours provide training for those new pastors. Thank you!

There were a couple of comments in the suggestion box this month. One reads “Could we get a bench at the end of the sidewalk and ceiling fans in the sanctuary and fellowship room?” I don’t see why we couldn’t consider budgeting for that. I will refer the questions to the Property and Maintenance Committee for their consideration and action.

The other comment reads “Why did we change the Choral Blessing to the ‘Trees of the Fields?’ What was wrong with ‘Go Now in Peace?’” The Worship and Altar Committee decided this, based on a comment that it might be nice to have some more variety in the choral blessing at the end of worship. We chose this one to try, but will be evaluating it at our next meeting. It may be that we will periodically change the choral blessing or we may decide on something more permanent. We’ll let you know.

Thanks for the comments! If you’d like to submit a question or comment, please write it down and put it into the box on the small table outside of the office. Please feel free to include your name, just in case your question requires a private response or so that we can clarify things with you if necessary. You can trust us!

I decided to take a break from writing this article for a couple of months to focus on my book. Now that I am at a point where I can work on this, here I am.

This month I am going to discuss hackers. After knowing how to hack software myself, I am reframing my knowledge to use it for good. Hackers are normally tech savvy people who work to steal your personal information stored on your PC. If you own a Mac, you needn’t worry about hackers.

So, how do you stop these crooks? One answer: a firewall. Macs have an advanced firewall built in. All windows computers do not. A firewall is like a shield. Now, there are a lot of firewalls out there. I personally love Zone Alarm Free. It has stopped a lot of hackers from getting to my PC. There are other programs out there, but I strongly advise you to use this one. You can find it at www.download.com. If you need help setting it up, you can call me anytime after 3:45 p.m. on weekdays and I will walk you through it. (My number is available from church.)