reetings from First Congregational Church!

As the New Creation Worship Team was gathering Tuesday night, we decided to shut off the air conditioner so we could hear each other better. As we opened the windows the din of the air conditioner was replaced with the equally-loud insect symphony outside. The multitude of crickets, katydids, grasshoppers, cicadas, and other insects calling for mates left no doubt that we are in late summer in the Midwest.

Most of us are unaware of how many different insect species we are hearing. Yet we hear only a portion of the sound insects are making. Many species produce “supersonic” frequencies beyond the range of human hearing. I’ve always wanted to isolate those sounds and know the individual “instruments” and “faces” in the insect orchestra. If you share this interest, you might go to http://www.musicofnature.com/songsofinsects/iframes/specieslist.html. There you can listen to sounds produced by different insect species and, at the same time, see amazing photographs showing what they look like. It’s like learning to tell an oboe from a clarinet in the insect symphony. Alternatively, you might just go outside and enjoy the combined chorus while it fills the summer evenings.

This Sunday we’ll be making some human sounds inside the church building. New Creation Worship at 9:00 will be exploring Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers and listening for “the rest of the story” as God changes tragedy into blessing. And we will be looking for the “rest of the story” in modern lives as God’s hand continues to nurture shalom in the most unlikely circumstances.

During the 10:00 Church School Hour there will be learning opportunities for children and adults. Carol Sowle will lead the Faith and Reason Adult Discussion Group in a continued examination of the Dan Mosely book, Living with Loss. Those who have not read the book will still be able to fully participate in the discussion. Two other adult discussion groups, Encounters and Saving Jesus, also will be meeting at this time.

During Traditional Worship at 11:00 our youth will teach us a song they learned at the recent National Youth Event. Jim Preer will provide special music. I will be preaching on the topic, “Voices that call us home.” We’ll be listening for the voices of prophets in unexpected places.

Come help us make our own “joyful noise to the Lord” even as we listen for God’s guiding voice in our midst.

See you Sunday.

Janice

Janice Kemp
Interim Minister

Greetings from First Congregational Church!

It is great to be among you again as Interim Minister while Pastor Dick Clough is away on his much-deserved sabbatical leave!

Isn’t computer technology amazing? It all began with efforts to increase the speed at which mathematical calculations could be made. The Mark 1 computer at Harvard University, designed by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper, began operating in 1944 and was used by the US Navy for gunnery and ballistic calculations. The computer, controlled by pre-punched tape, stored and counted data mechanically using its 3000 decimal storage wheels, 1400 rotary dial switches, and 500 miles of wire. Imagine a room 55 feet long and 8 feet high full of noisy, clicking metal parts. The 5-ton device contained almost 760,000 separate pieces. It worked at what would seem like a snail’s pace today, taking 3-5 seconds for a single multiplication operation!

Today computer technology is EVERYWHERE! Lately I’ve been on the market for a new cell phone, and I’m dizzy with the choices to be made. It seems that phones have become “smarter” than me. How much of my music and picture collections do I want to store on my phone? Is the quality of the pictures taken by the phone’s camera satisfactory? Do I want to watch tv and videos on my phone? What about email capability? Do I want my phone also to be my personal organizer? Is the data transfer rate high enough? How many megabytes of data can it store? Do I need Bluetooth technology so I can use it hands-free? If I can get all this in a device that weighs four ounces and fits in a shirt pocket, will that seem too cumbersome? Howard and Grace, can you believe what human creativity has done with your invention?

We’ve been making some technological advances at FCC ourselves. One of these is to shift the list of people receiving this weekly epistle from Dick’s stand-alone computer to our web server. Probably the biggest change you will notice is that messages coming to you as a member of this list will have [Epistlelist] in the subject line. This week you should have received a message with the subject “Welcome to the ‘Epistlelist’ mailing list.” That message describes how this list will work and gives you your private password, with which you can keep your contact information correct on the list. Using your password you can update your email address if it changes. People subscribe to the list through the FCC webpage or by sending an email to the server. Anyone on the list can choose to stop receiving the epistle by “unsubscribing.” All of this can be done without taking staff time…so we’ll be able to focus on other things that only we can do. Please note, however, that changing your contact information on the web server changes it only for the purpose of web lists and does NOT update your contact information with the church office. At this time those two systems are separate. You still need to call or email the church office with changes in information that appears in the church directory.

Please note that, although the welcome message stated that others could post messages to the list, that function is now disabled for this list. (Some other lists on our web server are interactive). Earlier this week some additional messages circulated but I understand that has been fixed. When someone attempts to send a message to Epistlelist, that message will go to the Moderator of the list (me) for approval or disapproval. It would be an extraordinary circumstance for me to approve, as our intention is that people who sign up for Epistlelist will receive only one message per week, and that will be the Epistle.

This is a busy week at FCC! Training for teachers of Our Whole Lives (OWL) will be held Friday evening and Saturday.

This Saturday (8/09) from 9 a.m. to noon will be the August dance workshop with Ayanna Garrett. Workshop attendees will prepare to dance at the New Creation Worship service on Sunday at 9:00. All who wish to use their bodies in worship are invited to come! This week we will be using Native American music, dance, story, and prayer to explore our relationship with the rest of creation. It should be a very special service!

The 10:00 hour on Sunday will provide opportunities for children, youth, and adults to grow in faith. In addition to the continuing established groups, our youth will present photos and speak about their experience in Nashville during the recent National Youth Event.

At our Traditional Worship service at 11:00 on Sunday, we will welcome our own Rev. Elizabeth Price to our pulpit. Elizabeth is the first of a series of guests who will be preaching in Traditional Worship during Dick’s sabbatical. We’ll be hearing the story of Joseph, whose brothers sold him into slavery. It is a story that invites us to look for God’s redemptive action when trusted people have betrayed us.

Evidence of the creativity of the human spirit abounds at FCC. On Sunday we will worship the Creator who imbued us with the gift of creativity--and so very much more.

See you then!
Janice

Janice Kemp
Interim Minister

Greeting from First Congregational United Church of Christ!

This will be my last Sunday before beginning the sabbatical. Janice Kemp will be present with us this Sunday the church will send me off and as well as welcome Janice into our midst.

Janice has served us well and faithfully in two capacities in the past. She was our Pastoral Associate in the years 2000-2001. In 2003, she was our interim when I had an earlier sabbatical. She was a member here for her seminary years and we were the hosting church for her ordination. She is very much a part of the family. I am sure she will provide excellent pastoral guidance during the interim.

New Creation will consider the 23rd Psalm. Dog lovers will particularly enjoy this Sunday as we will have a couple of friendly pooches in worship.

Parables were Jesus’ distinctive way of teaching and in Traditional worship, we will consider two of his lesser known parables. For anyone who is struggling, these provide words of hope.

We are very pleased that Dan Moseley will be with us this Sunday. Dan is Professor of Practical Ministry at CTS and always offers interesting words.
He will lead a discussion of his book “Living with Loss”. Those who have read it have given it rave reviews. Meet in the Mayflower Room at 10:00.

Are you coming to the picnic? We’ll celebrate my departure and Janice’s arrival with a picnic at Eagle Creek on Sunday beginning at 3:00. Look for Shelter “C”.

The sabbatical will be a grand adventure for me and for the church. I’m excited about the possibilities for both. I ask your prayers for me and for the church during this time.

See you Sunday. Dick

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you wish. If you received a forwarded version, and want to receive future issues directly, simply send a message to epistle@fcindy.org with the word subscribe as the subject.

Greetings from First Congregational United Church of Christ!

Have you ever been to Sedona, Arizona? The New Age folk claim it is a sacred spot. Supposedly, a vortex which is something like a tornado in shape, channels electro-magnetic energy downward toward certain holy places. There are four such places in Sedona. I’ve been there and I can understand why they say that.

The Celtic people refer to “thin places” where the realm of the spirit and our realm come close. What do you think? Are there such places? How about the Isle of Iona? Ayre’s Rock in Australia? Mecca? Jerusalem? Mt. Sinai?

When Jacob awoke from his strange dream about angels climbing a ladder to heaven, he declared, “Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.” This Sunday we will deal with the whereabouts of God in both services.
New Creation will use the wonderful Psalm 139. It will travel to far away places to find God. Traditional worship will deal with the wonderful story of Jacob found in Genesis 28. There will be a Gospel sextet and a Greek chorus as well. Both services should be stimulating.

Plans have been laid for the interim period. Aug. 27 will be my last Sunday before the sabbatical. You are invited to share thoughts and wishes with me through a scrapbook available after both services. Also, are you signed up for the picnic on July 27? It will be at Eagle Creek and will be an opportunity to say good-bye to me and welcome Janice Kemp.

What do you want in our full-time permanent Associate Pastor who will begin next year? The Faith and Reason will discuss the qualities desired. “Saving Jesus” will continue their series based on the video of the same name.
Encounters for 20/30’s will meet.

This Sunday, we’ll gather for worship and, if we are attentive, we will know that God is present as well. See you then. Dick

Looking back on the history of the UCC, we have often been the first church to venture into new ecclesiastical territory. While being first isn’t always laudable, the church needs people who break ground and open new possibilities. I am proud to be part of a denomination that has so often done just that. Here’s a very incomplete list of some UCC firsts taken from their web site.

1636 Harvard is the first American university.

1640 Pilgrim Press is the first publishing house on this nation’s soil.

1646 The first Bible published in the new world is printed in the Algonquin language.

1773 The Boston Tea Party, America’s first act of civil disobedience, was hosted at the Congregational Old South Meeting House.

1773 Phillis Wheatley becomes the first published African American author.

1785 Lemuel Haynes is the first African American ordained by a mainline Protestant denomination.

1806 The modern Mission movement begins with five Williams College students.

1807 Congregationalists organize the first American seminary at Andover, Massachusetts.

1846 The American Missionary Association becomes the first anti-slavery society with a multi-racial leadership.

1853 Antoinette Brown is ordained, a first for any woman in a mainline church.

1972 William Johnson is ordained, the first openly gay individual in any church.

1976 Joseph Evans is elected president of the UCC, the first African American of any mainline denomination.

Over the years, The UCC has had a tendency to show up on time for the major issues of the day. For that I am appreciative.

The Search teams have been busy seeking people to fill several positions at our church. The Interim Search Committee is seeking a clergy person to take Dick Clough’s place during his sabbatical which begins in August. They are also searching for an Interim Pastoral Associate to replace Amy Walters. This team is meeting regularly and making progress in its search. Carol Sowle, Carol Slocum, Heidi Kline, Sue Chapman (chair) and David Jarvis are on this team.

There is also a Search Committee seeking a called Pastoral Associate position which begins June 1, 2009. They are just beginning this process which involves several steps before identifying candidates to interview. Steve Bretthauer, Nancy Dickinson, Sarah Evans (chair), Bill Gillette, Susan Kent, Jessica Kramer, Carol Sowle and Susan Tyler are serving on this committee.

“Here am I; send me!” Isaiah 6:8
The Food of the Month, CEREAL: bring boxes of cereal and place them in the basket in the coat room. With the current economic recession, more and more people depend on food banks such as Gleaners. Thank you.

Equal Exchange Coffee: purchase fair trade coffee from our coffee fellowship after worship on the second Sunday of the month. This assures a decent income to the coffee farmer and eliminates the many “middle men” that are part of the global coffee market

As most of you know the Interfaith Hospitality Network, ironically, has been homeless for the last several weeks. They had to move out of their day center quarters in March because the landlord closed the building, then had to move out of temporary quarters in May due to water problems and mold that was causing illness in staff and families. Essentially they have had to shut down the network for a short time. Their new permanent day center which is being renovated to meet their needs will be available as of June 22. That means they will start taking new families on June 29. All these moves have disrupted the hosting schedule. The IHN director asked for our assistance in making changes to the schedule. They would like to put a new host church (whose only hosting week this year was a cancelled week) in our original hosting week of June 29th. We have been asked to cover a two-week period in September. The dates would be September 14-20, and then our original hosting week of September 21-28. We have agreed to make that change. Our total hosting weeks for 2008 are the same, but just two together. It will mean extra logistical details for Sunday, September 21, and a special effort by extra volunteers to cover so that we can spread the workload. Thank you in advance to our congregation for taking on such challenges. With God’s grace we will have a successful hosting period.
-Ann Leatherman and Katie Booth, FCC coordinators for IHN

We received word that Antonio Aguilar and Romelia Benavides, our partners from Ríos de Agua Viva Church in Wiwilí, Nicaragua arrived home safely, along with Juan Carlos Palma the representative of CEPAD. They were with First Congregational Church from May 13-22. We started the visit with a meeting at the office of Felix Ortiz, the head of Global Missions for Latin America. Our members showed them many aspects of life in Indianapolis. They learned about our history at the Eiteljorg, Connor Prairie and Children’s museums. Local farmers talked with them at the Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market and then they browsed arts and crafts at the art fair. They got a taste of May craziness at the track and then cheered for their favorite at the zoo’s tortoise race. On Friday night we all relaxed at an Indian’s baseball game.

We showed them what our church does and they were excited to see our counterpart of things their congregation does. They chatted with the students at School 42, toured Gleaner’s Food Bank, visited every church school class on Sunday and preached a sermon. IHN coincided with their visit. They got to know us as individuals during the picnic, pitch-ins, meals and meetings in our members’ homes.

The best part of the trip in their opinion was being able to participate in worship with us, see how we help in our community, getting to know us as brothers and sisters in First Congregational Church and live with us as family members.

Here are a few of the observations made during the visit. This was the first time they had eaten strawberries, pancakes, corn on the cob and Cracker Jacks. Pot roast is similar to Nicaraguan “Vaho”. Food here is passed around in bowls at the table instead of being dished up and served. Romelia “loved seeing how married couples live and communicate together.” Men here help out in the home. She also said, “a barrier of fear was brought down”. They were “touched by the love they felt from the children” at School 42. Antonio and Romelia observed that the children clearly wanted to be loved and receive attention and affection in return. “Love, caring and understanding- these are worth so much,” said Antonio.

Romelia and Antonio loved the people they met and felt very welcomed here. They would have liked to know more FCC members and hope that many of us will come to Ríos de Agua Viva to meet their congregation. As far as the partnership goes, Antonio couldn’t have said it better. “The stage of ‘falling in love’ is over; now we are feeding the baby and she is going to school, and eating solid foods.”
--Rita Hummel

Note: Recently we have received phone calls of concern from our friends in Nicaragua concerning the flooding in Indiana. Our friends were concerned for our welfare and the welfare of our Indiana neighbors.

July 6 New Creation Sally Coombs and Susan Kent
Traditional Catie Lichtenauer, Jane Henderson

July 13 New Creation Sally Coombs and Carol Sowle
Traditional Keith and Ann Manring

July 20 New Creation Eric Metcalf and Faith Weaver
Traditional Ross and Brooke Baker

July 27 New Creation Alex and Lauren Good
Traditional Beverly Blose, Eleanora Metzger