February 19, 2009 Community Church of Mill Valley Newsletter

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Barbara Strader EditorVol. 58, No. 4 February 19, 2009

In This Issue

Winter Shelter for the Homeless 2Pacific Now Online 2March Birthdays 2Lent with Mark 4Highlights of MOC Steering

Committee Meeting 5Lenten Childrens Story during Worship 5Triple C Gathers Wednesday, March 4 5Calendar of Events 6

Lent is a journey to wholeness, to new beginningsborn out of the ashes of yesterday. We begin the

journey by remembering our humble beginnings ashelpless babes in arms and our common end indeath. We anoint ourselves with palm ashes, andwe witness the burning of the once green palmsfrom last year's Palm Sunday celebration as a re-minder of the transient nature of earthly life. Inaddition, we remember the promise of our baptismand the continuous process of transformation of-fered each of us through the grace of God with asimple ritual of cleansing, growth and renewal us-ing water, the source of life on earth.

The Ash Wednesday service takes place in theFireside Room at 7:30 p.m. on February 25 . Wesit together in a circle, reflect in silence, sing sim-ple chants, meditate on the Scriptures, and ponderthe meaning of our lives. It is a service of renewaland hope, of letting go of the things that keep usfrom being fully alive to Gods grace. It is the em-barkation point for a Lenten journey that leads toJesus passion and death but ends in the promise of new life at Easter.

Ash Wednesday Service In Gods NameLenten Series

The Lenten series based on the film In Gods Name begins Thursday, March 5, in the Fire-side Room from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. The film by

French filmmakers, Jules and Gedeon Naudet,seeks answers to many of the troubling questionsof our time from twelve contemporary religiousleaders from around the world. The film is di-vided into 18 intimate scenes allowing the viewera glimpse into the personal lives of these influen-tial spiritual leaders. Each scene gives insightsinto the ways these teachers have come to an un-derstanding of the meaning of life and the humancondition.

The film lends itself nicely to discussion. Theirconcerns mirror ours and the range of topics iswide, but familiar. In just the first six scenes to beviewed on March 5 th the reflections move fromnotions of spiritual warfare to the quest for God tothoughts on vocation to reminiscences on child-hood faith. Later scenes to be viewed on March19 and April 2 include thoughts on love, freedomand fear, sin, the search for truth, the meaning of life, and unity in diversity. Come add your voiceto theirs. Each class will begin with a 30-minuteviewing of a portion of the film, followed by anopen discussion on whatever topics the film in-spires amongthe viewers.

Come to oneclass or allthree; each classwill stand alone.

think on these things

Whatever things are


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Of Good Report is published on the second and fourth Monday of eachmonth. Deadline for submissions is the previous Monday at noon.

Pastor: Pam ShortridgeMinister Emeritus: Jack BartlettParish Associate of Mission: Dora FordMinister in Covenant: Jacquie HoffmanSeminarian In-Care: Arn Lou MutiaSeminarian In-Care: James ChristieDirector of Music: Esther ArcherExecutive Editor: Barbara StraderFacility Operations Manager: Aaron Young

Sunday Morning: 9:00 a.m. The Unexpected Word Class, Foster Room

10:00 a.m. Worship Service, SanctuaryNursery Care for Infants & Toddlers, NurseryProgram for Children in Preschool through ThirdGrade, Children gather in the Chapel

11:15 a.m. Coffee Hour in the Tamalpais Hall

The Community Church of Mill ValleyUnited Church of Christ

An Open & Affirming Congregation8 Olive Street, Mill Valley , CA 94941

Phone 415/388-5540Fax 415/388-1678

e-mail [email protected]

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Happy Birthday to those of you celebratingyour special day in March!March 1 Jane KlohMarch 3 Dora Ford

Matt PhillipsMarch 4 Camilla BurrastonMarch 11 John SchmiedelMarch 18 Jack BartlettMarch 22 Genevieve Yancey

The February issue of the Pacific, the NorthernCalifornia Nevada Conference newspaper, is nowon line at www.ncncucc.org/pacific.html. Forthose of you who receive it free in the mail, it

should arrive next week. Remember: it's free to getUC News and the Pacific in the mail; sign up atwww.ucc.org.

In this issue: info on Conference-wide Church Dayin Orinda March 21, and about Annual Gathering atAsilomar in May. Stories and photos of Fall Youthevent, minister's trip to Palestine and Israel, andRon Buford celebrates science at LaSelva BeachUCC. And much more!

- Deborah Streeter

[email protected]

Pacific Now Online

March Birthdays

Winter Shelter forthe Homeless

As of February 15, the emergency winter shelter atthe Armory has closed because county funding hasrun out. Twelve Marin churches have offered toprovide overnight shelter for homeless men andwomen through March 31. The churches will serveevening meals to those staying the night. In themorning, they will be shuttled to St. Vincents Din-ing Room for breakfast.

There is a need for people to help cook, deliver andserve hot meals. Also needed: volunteers who canbe there alongside staff workers throughout thenight. People can sign up for two-to-four hourshifts at a church that shelters either men or

women. There is an ongoing need for sleeping bagsand blankets.

The website for this new shelter program is:www.ershelter.wordpress.com

Click on Calendar for a schedule showing whichchurches are providing shelter each night and whois providing the dinners. Information on how tosign up as a volunteer is also on the website.

A Comment section features notes submitted by

people who have worked at the shelter or beenserved by it. Their words are very inspiring.

- Linda Xiques


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of Mark, we enter a world of conflict and suspense,a world of surprising reversals and strange ironies,a world of riddles and hidden meanings. The heroof the story . . . is most surprising of all. Accord-ing to Rhoads, The goal in Marks narrative worldis that people be liberated from self-centeredness soas to be willing to lose their lives, their status and

their power in the service of the good news. Al-though scholars differ as to Marks original audi-ence, most agree that Mark was written during aworsening and darkening political situation (C.S.Mann) at or near the time of the fall of Jerusalem tothe Romans in 70 A.D.

Each Sunday during Lent we will read a passagefrom Mark and a more contemporary reading thataddresses a theme raised by the Gospel. If youwould like to follow along, the readings are listedbelow. Even better, take the time to read Mark dur-ing Lent. It is only 16 chapters long. Read it in itsentirety, then go back and read it slowly. Readfrom a less familiar translation, so you wont justskip over the familiar parts. Become absorbed inthe story. Imagine you are hearing the good newsfor the first time.

Ash Wednesday, February 25: Mark 1:9-15First Sunday of Lent: March 1: Mark 2:13-22Second Sunday in Lent, March 8: Mark 2:23-3:6Third Sunday in Lent, March 15: Mark 3:19b-35

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 22: Mark 8:31-38Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 29: Mark 14:1-9Palm/Passion Sunday, April 5: Mark 11:1-11

and Readings from Mark 14-15

Sunday Class on Gospel of Mark9 a.m., Foster Room

The Gospel of Mark is at once challenging and dis-concerting. If you would like to explore the Gospelin greater depth, a 9 a.m. Sunday morning discus-

sion group will take a more leisurely look at thereadings each Sunday. We will begin each classwith an ancient spiritual exercise, Lectio Divina,using multiple readings to allow the passage to sink in and ponder its implications for our lives. Thenwe will discuss our individual reactions to the text.Finally, we will pose questions regarding the textand consider some answers. Coffee and tea areavailable just before class begins at 9 a.m. Theclass concludes by 9:50.

Lent with MarkIn an article written for a collection entitled Incar-nation: Contemporary Writers on the New Testa-ment , Mary Gordon writes: We did not read theBible; we were Catholics. . . We rarely looked at

it. We didnt need to; we were encouraged not to.We heard the truth and the truth would set us free.The truth was not for reading. In her introductionto her discussion of The Gospel according toMark she continues: Did I draw distinctionsamong the four evangelists? . . . Did I have anysense that certain stories were told in differentways, that one writer included events that anotherleft out, that some embellished on a simple incidentand some condensed? Of course not, I stood and Iheard.

For almost two hundred years Biblical scholarshave acknowledged that the voices heard in Mat-thew, Mark, Luke, and John can be distinguishedfrom one another. Even the first three, called theSynoptics (seen together), have both notablesimilarities and differences. Now we recognizethat each gospel was written for a different audi-ence facing different realities, and that each gospelwriter painted a vision of what human life would belike if lived in light of Gods salvation revealed inJesus of Nazareth. Each of the four Evangelists isa powerful and original theologian in his ownright . . . (Stephen Neill).

During Lent this year, instead of following the lec-tionary which follows texts from both Mark andJohn, we will read from the Gospel of Mark only.This will allow us to hear some texts that are sel-dom read in worship.

Before we begin this exploration of Mark, it maybe helpful to read just a few comments about thisGospel from current scholarship. It [Mark] is areformulation of the already formulated good newsof Jesus Christ. It features the extraordinary ca-reer of Jesus the Jew from Nazareth in Galileewhose unparalleled activity establishes once andfor all a new road into life. According to HermanC. Waetjen, Mark understands Jesus as Gods vice-regent, the New Human Being, whose commissionis to establish Gods rule through the reordering of power. David Rhoads and Donald Michie suggestthat when we enter the story world of the Gospel

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During Lent (March 1 through April 5) a specialstory just for children will be included at the begin-ning of worship whenever children are present. Fol-lowing the story, young children may stay in wor-ship and work on a project suggested by Pam intheir Activity Books, or they may go to the Nursery.

- Pam Shortridge

Lenten ChildrensStory Time

during Worship

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Did you mark your calendar for the Triple CLuncheon and program ? You are also welcome toinvite a friend to join the Triple C group(Community Church Club) on March 4 in Tamal-pais Hall at noon for lunch ($6), and/or at 1p.m. forOur Country, Images from the Edges to the Heart-land , a program by artist and raconteur, JohnNorall.

Give yourself a treat, bring a friend and join thegathering. Call Harriet Kostic now (383-6369) toask for a lunch reservation and/or carpooling ar-rangements.

- Betsy Bikle

Representatives of a dozen Marin Organizing Com-mittee (MOC) institutions participated in the Febru-ary 12 th meeting held at San Francisco TheologicalSeminary (SFTS). As always, the meeting wasstimulating because it involved bright, thoughtfulpeople respectfully discussing issues of importance.The meeting was also rewarding because it in-volved representatives from several different faithsas well as those from unions and local non-profitswho share a mutual concern for community well-being.

The main focus of the meeting was a discussion of MOC activities leading up to an Economic Summiton Sunday, May 17 th as well as the MOC Conven-tion tentatively set for Sunday, October 25 th. Mak-ing the presentation and leading the discussion wasAnna Eng, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) leadorganizer for Marin County. Already confirmed asresource leaders for the Economic Summit are: Dr.Dowell Myers, Professor of Urban Planning andDemography at USC; Dr. Paul Osterman, Dean,Sloan School of Management, MIT; Stephen Levy,Director, Center of Continuing Study of the Cali-fornia Economy; and Scott Graves, Senior PolicyAnalyst, California Budget Project. With the assis-tance of these distinguished individuals and otherresource experts attendees will: (1) learn about cur-rent economic shifts, (2) share how these shifts areaffecting our community, (3) reflect on what ourtraditions have to say about the economy, and (4)plan how we can act together effectively duringthese challenging times. Joining with the MOC willbe representatives from IAF-trained organizationsfrom the Bay Area Organizing Committee (SanFrancisco), the North Bay Sponsoring Committee(Sonoma and Napa Counties), Communities Organ-ized for Relational Power in Action (Monterey andSanta Cruz Counties), and Sacramento Valley Or-ganizing Committee (Sacramento and Yolo Coun-ties). The mainstays of each of these regions arelocal congregations like our own. Hopefully, manyof you will choose to attend what promises to be astimulating educational experience.

Highlights of MOCSteering Committee

Meeting

Details of the October 25 th Convention have yet tobe worked out. This gathering will also involve rep-resentatives of institutions from the geographicalareas identified above. The goal of the Conventionwill be more than 1,000 attendees whose presencewill say to elected and public officials: If you think we were organized and knowledgeable on May 8 th,

look at us now! To be able to do this, it will takededicated efforts from each member of MOC. Manyof you will be asked to help shoulder the load.

- Jack Bartlett

Triple C GathersWednesday, March 4


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The Community Church of Mill ValleyUnited Church of Christ8 Olive StreetMill Valley, CA 94941

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Mill Valley, CA

Upcoming Church EventsSunday

8:30 a.m. Choir Rehearsal, Sanctuary9:00 a.m. No Class Today10:00 a.m. Worship with Guest Preacher, Evelyn Vigil

Child care in the Nursery11:15 a.m. Coffee and Conversation, Tamalpais Hall

All are invited.

This WeekTue., Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m. Board of Directors, ChapelWed., Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m. Ash Wednesday Service , Fireside Room

ComingSun., Mar. 1, First Sunday in Lent11:30 a.m. Second Choir Rehearsal, Sanctuary

Mon., Mar. 2, 12 noon Of Good Report Newsletter DeadlineTue., Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m. Christian Life Team, Foster RoomWed., Mar. 4, 12 Noon Triple C Lunch & Program with John Norall

Please call Harriet Kostic (383-6369) to makereservations or request a ride.

Thu., Mar. 5, 11:30 a.m. Lunch for Homeless People, Westminster Presbyterian7:30 p.m. First Lenten Film Discussion on In Gods Name ,

February 19, 2009 Community Church of Mill Valley Newsletter

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