No. 26, Dec. 19 Courier

December 19, 2009

Inside the Courier

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•

A Look at the BriteSide, page 2

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FCC News Briefs,page 5

On the Web: fccminneapolis.org

Christmas Eve Service

7:00 Reception7:30 Prelude8:00 Worship

Meditating on Mary a

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I have made the trip between Naza-reth and Bethlehem many times. Theroute that Mary and Joseph traveledhas changed little in two millennia.Even much of the landscape remainsthe same: a few broad plains andmiles of terracedhillsides.By foot and donkeyit is a journey of aweek. By car, ingood times, it is lessthan three hours. Butthe route passes from Nazareth in Israel,south for several miles, then entersthe West Bank. And these are notgood times. For many the journey isimpossible now. Israeli military or-ders bar most Israeli citizens fromentering the West Bank. The ordersalso prevent all but a few Palestiniansfrom entering Israel. With few excep-tions, the journey is only possible for foreign visitors, especially the HolyLand tourists who pass up and downthe ancient highway in large, lux-urious buses.On a tour there may be little time toreflect, as the guide offers an almostcontinuous narrative. Mary and Jo-seph would have had much time for thought as they passed through thelonely stretches. Even today solitarytravelers have time for reflection prompted in part by disturbing sightsalong the way: refugee camps, the barbedwire perimeters of Israeli settlements,glimpses of the separation barrier that cutsin and out of the West Bank.For Mary and Joseph and for usmany of the thoughts along theway must be anxious and fear-ful. Times are uncertain. Po-werful forces extend their influ-ence, changing ordinary livesand engendering bitterness. Vi-olence is never far away.

Yet at journey’s end is the angels’ me

s-

sage: “Fear not. God is with us. God’s ruleis peace.” Looking north from Bethlehem

to Jerusalem, I hear the an

gels’ message

merge with the words of

Isaiah: “Comfort

ye, my people. Speak ye comfortably toJerusalem and cry unto her that her war-fare is accomplished, that her iniquity is par

doned.”

We are called to do God’s work in the

world. We must speak comfort, pardon,

and peace to all of God’s peo

ple in the Ho-ly Land.

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Page 2

Pastor Bob Brite

December 19, 2009

Beard Challenge a way to encourage YOU to inviteothers to mission and community

I hope you are all taking me upof the challenge of making meremove my beard on Sunday.

If I do have to do so, I’ll leave

church right after the Hymn of Commitment and (hopefully)return in time for the benedic-tion, beardless. (I am also

hopeful I won’t have a ton of

Kleenex on my face to stop thenecessary blood flow!)Why am I doing this? I like my

beard. I haven’t been beardlessin 31 years. Well, as I’ve said before, it’s just a gimmick, a

means to encourage YOU toinvite others around you toworship God-thru-Jesus-Christwith us. And we do have

something to share! We’re r

e-gaining a sense of purpose in

mission around here. We’re

working along the next steps of

what our future is. We’re ad

d-ing depth to our practices andspirituality to our mission.We

’re doing more than just

go

ing to church; we’re BEING

the church.

And what if we don’t get 250

people in worship on Sunday?

Well, I’ll keep my beard, butI’ll pr

obably still send off some$$ to regional ministry (maybe$1 for every person here.) Thatwould be a symbol of what

we’re working to be around

here; a deeper, more mission-focused Body of Christ! Bless-ings as we continue the journeytowards Christmas.

I’d like to see YOU (and at

least 2.6 of your friends) onSunday!Bob

Annual Meeting on Jan. 10

The annual meeting of the cor- porate body known as FirstChristian Church (Disciples of Christ), Minneapolis, MN, isscheduled for the time follow-ing worship on Sunday, Janu-ary 10. A slate of nomineesand consultation on the 2010church budget will be the pri-mary items on the agenda.

Have you thought about your 2010 pledge?

You should be receiving amailing shortly about our bud-getary needs for the year 2010at FCC. It is a challenging budget, using up all of the an-nual resources available to thecongregation. It is a budgetwherein congregational givingis only projected to support54% of the total budget.Would you like to make that55% Maybe 60%? What eachof us chooses to give impactshow ministry is done in the life

of Christ’s body

here.Stewardship Commitment Sun-day is scheduled for January 3,2010.

A Look at the Brite Side

In our prayers

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God

,

w

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li

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up

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on

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in our pray

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and ou

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your Lov

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.

We pray in sympathy for the family of long-time member and Handcrafter extraordinaire

Ell

e

n Ayn

e

s

, whose memorial service was held last week; inhealing for

Mary Lou Cain

and

Barbara D

e

an

who are both experiencing

shoulder issues; for Pastor Brite’s daughter

Corri

e

who was scheduled for knee surgery last week; for

Ir

e

n

e

Ha

c

k

e

tt

who is to have eye surgery; for

Jani

ce

Brady

; in hopes of future blessings for

David Grant

as he movesto Ohio; in joy with

War

ren Westphal’s brother

who has secured a job inhis field; in concern with all those who are still seeking work or worriedabout job insecurities; for all those who work to ease suffering of those inour community, especially Community Emergency Services; for all our homebound, including

Phylli

s

Dunlap

and

V

e

lma Fan

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h

e

r

, Amen.

Page 3

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Christian Courier

Pastor Dennis Sanders

When I was asked to come onstaff at the end of 2008, I wastasked with promoting and streng-thening the mission and outreachministries here at First Christian. I personally saw my task at First tohelp us enter a "missional" age,where we as a faith communitydiscern what God is up to outsidethe doors of the church and join inGod's mission. I wanted to takethe time in this column to share a bit of where we have joined Godin mission to help our sisters and brothers.We restarted FoodShelf Sunday inFebruary. Every Third Sunday,we bring our non-perishable fooditems and our donations to helpGroveland Foodshelf;We went to Feed My StarvingChildren in June, August and Oc-tober and were able to feed thou-sands of children around theworld;We were represented for the firsttime at Twin Cities Gay Pride;We established a relationship withCommunity Emergency Services,a local agency that helps the poor in South Minneapolis;We took part in a back-to-schooldrive to help Whittier Elementary;We gave children's books toProject Homeless Connect to givehomeless children stories to readand enjoy;We baked cookies for the Alive-ness Project; andWe raised $1000 for the Heifer Project.And so much more.As a community, we also wereable to help restart our children'sSunday School program with Artof the Covenant. We have seenkids come and learn the stories of the Bible by using the arts. It has been a smashing success of whichwe thank God for. We are alsothankful for Deb Murphy's wil-lingness to step up and create thisrewarding ministry.What's on tap for 2010? Thingsare still forming, but we hope tosee more continued involvementwith Feed My Starving Childrenand Community Emergency Ser-vices, increased work in helpingthe community become more di-verse in all forms, working withother community groups such asTubman, an agency that helpsthose dealing with domestic vi-olence, and continued work withthe Downtown CongregationsEnding Homelessness.First Christian, I am thankful for you for not only going to churchon Sundays, but for being churcheveryday of the year through your acts of compassion, love and jus-tice. May God bless you all in2010 and may we together as FirstChristian Church in Minneapoliscontinue to be church.Dennis SandersAssociate Pastor for Diversity andMission

Former FCC organistgives gift of music

Howard Bye, organist at FCCfrom 1978-1983, has recently re-leased his first studio recordingwhich is dedicated to all thechurches he has served.

Called “Christmas Eve Pr

e-l

ude,” the recording has 16 tracksof Christmas piano music. “

I de-veloped a tradition of playing a piano prelude for each Christmas

Eve service,” he says in notes for

the recording.Anyone can listen to the trackson this website or download themfrom the website to personal lis-tening devices or CDs withoutcharge:http://tinyurl.com/HByeCD Thanks & blessings, Howard!!