Vol. 14, Issue 8
New Covenant Community Church
The Messenger August 2018 Continue the Journey with God
Ecumenical in Outlook, Presbyterian in Heritage 1587 West Exchange Street, Akron, OH 44313 330.253.6989 | www.covenantakron.org | office@covenantakron.org 1
To think of oneself as being “on the way,” en route, so to speak, is to admit quite openly that one has not arrived at one’s destination.* Douglas John Hall As you are probably aware, the first Christians didn’t really think of themselves as members of a “church.” Instead, the earliest believers considered themselves to be people of “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:23), meaning the Way of Jesus, the Way of the Cross. Of course, to be “on the way,” implies transition . . . moving from one place to another . . . following the call of Jesus Christ, and being ready for new awakenings of the Spirit. As we seek to follow Christ’s way, we can be encouraged for the journey by the unconditional and life-changing love of God. Indeed, whatever else may happen, we can count on God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. Therefore, while the church will always be flawed and in need of reform and renewal, God’s love inspires those of us in the church to continue “on the way,” so that we can demonstrate God’s new and inclusive community of a liberated humanity who seek to be reconciled to God and to one another. While the church will always see a chasm between what is proclaimed and what is practiced, God’s constant and unconditional love prompts us to move into the world and join our Lord in breaking down the dividing walls of hostility between people and fashioning a new humanity (Ephesians 2:14-15). While the church will always be blessed with diversity in its culture and theology, God’s love embraces us with all our differences, so that we may be united in reaching out to people of many nations, cultures, and ethnic groups as we anticipate the day when all God’s people will celebrate around the Lord’s table. Continued on Page 6 2
The kitchen is really taking shape through the concerted efforts of John Sezna, Ken Heischman, Ken Williams, Tim Meyer (plans) and Jackie Horton (some design features). The day is not far away when every aspect of our renovations will be complete and we can enjoy a very beautiful and comfortable building. At the July Governing Board meeting, we approved a building rental agreement with the Gospel of Christ Ministries Church for their worship services at 1:00pm on Sundays and 7:00pm on Wednesdays, as well as choir practice on Thursday evenings. We entered into a 90 day trial agreement in order to become acquainted and sort out terms for hopefully a longer time agreement. A number of their members live in west Akron, and our building is a convenient location for them. The rental will help us financially with the increased mortgage cost, so this should be a win-win for both churches. The Board also reestablished two committees which are much needed at this time, Member Development and Member Care, particularly the Helping Hands function which has been carried on in a less formal manner for a while by a few faithful folks, but needs revitalization and a more formal structure. We need co-moderators particularly for the Member Care committee, so anyone who would like to be involved in this very necessary function, please let me or a Board member know of your interest. Finally, we are looking forward to the Caribbean Nights Party on Saturday August 25 at Ken and Nancy Williams’ home. Break out your Caribbean garb for what is shaping up to be a very fun evening. Continue to have a great summer, Hal Newsletter Deadline | Friday, August 24 | 1:30pm Thank you for submitting your newsletter articles to Lynne by Friday, August 24 at 1:30pm. I would very much like you to receive the newsletter by the 1st of each month. Due to my office hours, receiving submissions earlier will be extremely helpful! Thank you so much! 3
Fellowship News A fun play in June, Anything Goes, attracted 18 of us. Thanks to Jackie Horton for arranging for the tickets and food items brought for a delightful picnic beforehand on the grounds of Porthouse Theater. Thanks also to Susie Stevenor for supplying many small water bottles for the congregation for people on Sunday, garden workers, kitchen workers, and others. Water can be found in both refrigerators.
Lemonade Hour before and after the service this summer has been successfully chaired by Mary Lindsay. It runs through Labor Day weekend.
Caribbean Nights Party at the Williams’ house, August 25, beginning at 6:00pm, will feature unique, tasty food supplied by attendees, plus Caribbean musical sounds and entertainment featuring “Kenny & the Islanders.” Maybe we’ll sing along, too. Betty Miller and Nancy Williams are co-chairing the event. John Miller is in charge of parking your car. Twenty five are attending, so there is still room for five additional people. Sign the sheet on the hall table and pick up a recipe from Betty Miller. Three different food items remain. Remember to wear colorful, island-type clothing.
4
Fellowship Meeting The next Fellowship meeting on Friday, August 10, 10:00am at the church, will focus on the following items: lastminute details of the party, the upcoming coffee hour for the year, Trunk or Treat, a possible Christmas party, and any other fall event either at the church or somewhere else. Anyone is invited to attend the meeting to work on one or more events during the year. If you would like to assist but cannot attend the meeting, please contact Nancy via email, phone, or text. AAIC Updates As you know from the photos on the hall bulletin board, the 2018 Fairlawn Hunger Walk was a success, certainly so from the standpoint of NCCC. We had a record number of walkers24 to be exact, thanks in part to the extended families of Ken and Heidi and Marty Pastor. Monetary donations from our group totaled $1817.00, partly due to a contribution from the Dietz family in honor of long-time walker, Mary; plus a $200 gift from the Missions Committee. A check in the amount of $24,832.44 was presented to Dan Flowers on July 25 at the Foodbank. The money represented donations from both the Fairlawn and Stark County Walks, as well as in-kind donations from various other groups. Looking toward the fall, AAIC will be part of an important weekend September 15 and 16. Global Village Festival On Saturday, September 15 from 12:00pm-5:00pm, our group is part of the annual Global Village Festival, in its third year on the grounds of the Jennings Learning Center, 227 E. Tallmadge Avenue in the North Hill area. The event features singing, dance, crafts, and information on various faith groups, a trolley ride to view the businesses in the North Hill neighborhood, games, and food. AAIC sponsors a “Snack Walk,� similar to a Cakewalk or Musical Chairs. Winner of each round receives a snack box (drinks, granola bars, etc.) Adults and kids participate in this event. The following day, Sunday, September 16, AAIC is co-sponsoring with the Akron Public Library downtown, author Bernard E. Powers, who wrote the powerful book, We Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, which recalls events 5
of the 2015 Charleston, SC Church massacre. The event is from 2:00pm-5:00pm and represents our annual Fall Forum. We are excited to be partnering with the Akron Public Library with their vast resources. Hopefully this important talk will attract people from our congregation as well as other churches and houses of worship in the area. More publicity on both events when it becomes available. The August 7 AAIC Council Meeting occurs at the Sree Venkatesvara Temple, 4406 Brecksville Rd., Richfield. Following a brief business meeting, Surinder Bhardwaj will be sharing basic aspects of Hinduism. Call, email, or text Nancy if you wish to attend as a guest. It should certainly be an uplifting and educational interfaith experience. Conservative clothing, please, and no black. In closing, I continue to be amazed at my friends on the Council, all representing different faith groups, who work together to promote interfaith understanding in our complex, often troubling world in which we live today. Nancy Williams, Chair Pastor’s Note, continued While there will always be individuals who may not recognize the significance of the church, God’s love inspires us to humbly offer our gifts and talents to serve our sisters and brothers in the world. God’s love summons us to continue the journey that leads us into new communities, introduces us to new people, blesses us with new insights, so that as people “on the way,” we may move into new arenas as God’s instruments who call for the transformation of humankind as well as corporate structures, who invest ourselves in overcoming indifference to global poverty, and who characterize what it means to live for Jesus Christ. So, let’s consider how we might serve as people of “the Way,” because who knows where God may lead us or how God may use us? Blessings, Tom *Douglas John Hall, Why Christian?, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), page 126.
6
Christian financial author and radio host Howard Dayton claims that the Bible references money and possessions 2,350 times. I haven’t verified that. But because I am certain that God cares about His people and since so much of our physical and emotional wellbeing is influenced by our financial health, then it would seem logical that God must indeed care about our finances and our financial stewardship. With the expectation that you, too, care about such matters, here is a brief summary of New Covenant Community Church’s (NCCC) financial health at the midpoint of 2018. Operating fund pledges are on track with an operating surplus of $18,160 at this time. Over half of the surplus is attributable to pledgers paying their entire yearly commitment in January. However, the financial restraint of our program committees, deferred pastoral travel expenditures, and a special $5,000 gift from a friend of the congregation also played a role. This surplus will erode as we honor our commitments to our people, our building, and our missions, but we are optimistic that we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” Special mission appeals continue to set records. We collected $972 for the Hunger Walk, $685 for the Book Fair, and $355 for One Great Hour of Sharing. This will be an increasingly important method of funding missions going forward as we cope with a possible decline in pledges. We have received memorial gifts totaling $13,211 thanks to a significant bequest from the Mary Mitchell estate and generous contributions from the family and friends of the recently deceased. Although not reflected in the above figure, NCCC received another substantial memorial gift of $15,000 in July. Construction expenses should cease soon. The cost of the primary renovation was approximately $640,000 which is $185,000 over the original estimate. We covered that overage by adding an additional $100,000 to the mortgage, using $50,000 of operating reserves, and raising $35,000 in building funds from additional pledges, fund raisers, and special gifts. The kitchen component of the project is on a “pay as you go” basis. It is expected to be finished by late summer at a cost of around $25,000. Thank you for ensuring the financial soundness of New Covenant Community Church and its mission by your generous support. Sincerely, Jacqueline Myers Roth, Treasurer 7
Speak with Betsy Davis if you are interested in helping at Genneserat! We are always in need of volunteers and it’s just a couple hours on a Saturday. Check out the pictures of our beautiful Mission Garden. Thank you to our Garden Committee for all their hard work!! Margie Frlich, Chair NCCC Mission Garden Ready to Begin Harvesting! We made our first 2018 harvest delivery of yellow squash and collards to Gennesaret on June 30. We expect the beans and cucumbers to be ready soon, with the tomatoes, peppers, beets, carrots, and potatoes to follow. Everything’s growing great! Stop by to check it out and feel free to pull a few weeds while you’re there!
NCC Butterfly Garden We are applying to become a beautiful Monarch butterfly waystation through MonarchWatch.org. There are over 40,000 certified waystations to help the declining Monarch butterfly population on their way to Mexico by growing milkweed, their host plant. We will receive a certificate and a sign to post in our milkweed mission garden.
8
Actions of the 223rd General Assembly On the fourth ballot, the 2018 General Assembly elected as co-moderators Cindy Kohlmann and Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri – a minister and a ruling elder; a mid-council executive and an educator; the daughter of a military family, born in Greece, and a Puerto Rican native for whom Spanish is her first language; one from the north (Boston) and one from the south (Florida). They also elected a team - both in their early 40s - that exuded a sense of warmth, hope, welcome, and commitment to justice. As an act of witness for the 223rd General Assembly, approximately 30 people from Fossil Free PCUSA, a project of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, WALKED from the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Louisville to the doors of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, where General Assembly was being held. When they began their trek, the heat index in Louisville was 105 degrees . . . but 210 miles later they arrived in St. Louis to announce their goal of a fossil-free church. However, the assembly favored the minority report from the Committee on Environmental Issues. That report replaced the committee’s majority report directing divestment. The substitute – and now Assembly-approved – resolution calls on the church to continue engaging with fossil fuel companies it holds stock in. The one item that directly affects us is a 15% increase in the GA per capita from $7.33 to $8.95 per active member. There has been, and will continue to be, extensive conversation around this subject. Of the 15% increase, 10% will be used for assembly operations and staff, and 5% will be directed to the actions taken by this assembly, such as the formation of new committees and task forces to address the issues raised during the assembly committee and plenary meetings. The General Assembly also spoke to the issue of immigration. With a 484-34 vote, the GA endorsed a resolution that calls for an immediate end to the government’s zero-tolerance policy toward families illegally entering the United States. The resolution also calls for federal authorities to promptly reunite parents and children who have been separated and to place families “under the care of the community,” rather than in detention. In addition, the assembly approved the selection of Alton B. Pollard III as the new president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Pollard spoke to the assembly briefly, saying he is committed to building bridges within the seminary and “beyond the classroom and into our communities,” reaching out to those who are most in need. A new “Reclaiming Jesus” movement which is composed of religious leaders from a variety of denominations also presented “A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis” – speaking of Christian opposition to authoritarian rule, lying in political life, racism and “language and 9
policies of political leaders who would debase and abandon the most vulnerable children of God,” among other things.
The Annual Conference of the ICCC From July 16-19, the International Council of Community Churches held its annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri. During that time, a number of enlightening workshops were held, including: • “The Ten Questions Every Church Must Answer,” which was designed to help pastors and church leaders reshape their congregations for mission and growth. • “Theology Intersecting Culture,” which highlighted the importance of having a theology that intersects with culture to build a sustainable relationship with Christ. • “Changing the World in Four Easy Steps,” which focused on making a difference in a world where God’s creation and God’s children face many challenges. In addition, the participants in the conference were invited to gather on the steps of the courthouse, which was the site of the Dred Scott decision, one of the low points in our country’s history in regard to civil rights. As we assembled, we offered prayers of unity and affirmed that all of us are one in Christ. The Bible Study leader for the conference was Dr. David Greenhaw, who serves as the president of Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, and he led us in examining some passages from the book of Exodus and the gospel of Matthew. At the conference we also installed Rev. Phil Tom as the Executive Director of the ICCC, and Rev. Harry Foockle of Kansas City, Missouri, was elected as president. At its core, the conference served as a witness to the inclusive love of Jesus Christ, and we are grateful to Jaci Chetelat and Sue Smith for serving as our congregation’s delegates. Outdoor Worship On September 9 On Sunday, September 9, we will have the joy of joining our sisters and brothers in the faith for an outdoor worship service and picnic at Tadmor Shrine. We will celebrate with our friends at Allenside Presbyterian Church, North Springfield Presbyterian Church, and Firestone Park Presbyterian Church. Worship will begin at 10:00am, and a picnic will follow. Please mark your calendars for this meaningful time of worship.
10