Visitors: We're delighted you are here. Please complete a Welcome card (at the Welcome Table) and we invite you to introduce yourself during the sharing time.
Call to worship
A welcome to you
all,
Some of us have
strong faith. In some of us, faith
falters.
But we are all here
as children of God, as inhabitants of one earth.
We bring to this
place our fears and anxieties, our visions and dreams for the future.
We bring our
politics and our prayers, our strengths and our weaknesses,
our issues and our concerns; and we lay them out on the
ground,
Hoping that the
middle ground my become
Not waste ground,
Not battleground,
But common
ground. [Worship in the Celtic
Tradition from the
Congregational hymn All
hail the power of Jesus’ name
HWB
285
Poetry reading
“I,
Too” and “Mother to Son”, by Langston Hughes
A witness against racism [The Pattern of our Days,
Iona Community]
Leader
Listen to these words from the
World Council of Churches:
‘Every human being, created in the image of God, is a person for
whom Christ has died. Racism, which
is
the use of a
person’s racial origins to determine the person’s value, is an assault
o Christ’s value and a rejection of his sacrifice.”
Voice 1
“[Jesus said] How terrible for you,
teachers of the Law and Pharisees!
You hypocrites! You give God
one-tenth even of the seasoning herbs such as mint, dill and cumin,
but you neglect to
obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and
mercy and
honesty.” [TEV]
Voice 2
Don Helder Camara said that it is very
difficult to create awareness in the privileged.
Leader
God, you call us to see and hear
and understand, to open our eyes and ears and hearts, to be aware. Forgive us for our false pride and
complacency, for our unthinking consumerism.
Leader
forgive us for our complaining, for
growing bitter and sorry for ourselves, for becoming hardened and
indifferent
to the pain of others.
Leader
God, make us aware, repentant. We
turn to you. Heal us of our privileged
blindness, and
make us whole.
Voice 3
Racism is a sin against God and against
fellow human beings. It is contrary
to the justice and the love of God.
It destroys the human dignity of both the racist and the victim. When practiced, it denies any faith or
conviction we profess to hold. We
condemn racism in all its forms.
Congregational hymn We
are one in the Spirit
bulletin
Children’s story
Congregational hymn
Jesus call us here to meet him
SJ
3
Sermon
On the road to recovery?
Offering
Sharing, offering and prayers
Hymn of sending Lift every voice and sing
HWB
579
Benediction
Leading us in worship today: Song Leader-Nelson Shantz, Worship leader Paul Versluis, Sermon by John Powell, pianist is Michelle Webster – Hein, Tim Smith on the guitar, Miriam Weaverdyck on the string bass, and Joy V reading poetry.
If you
have congregational concerns, contact
the pastor or the
Congregational Life Committee: Dave
Polley; Roxanne Cross; Curtis Weaverdyck
SHALOM COMMUNITY CHURCH
HAPPENINGS
Peace and Justice Interest Group, Feb 9, 7:30 PM Weaverdyck
· Gertrude Warkentin
Readers’ Club: Our Mutual Friend by Dickens Feb 8, 7:00 PM Warkentin,
· Priscilla Chamberlain
Slow Cookers:
· Gertrude Warkentin
Committee Meetings:
Finance
Committee:
Nurture Committee:
Worship Committee: Jan 26, 7PM Versluis
Congregational Life Committee
Feb
10,
Service Outreach
Committee
Feb
26,
Congregational Business Meeting Feb 15, Gretchens House
The next Congregational Business Meeting will occur on February 8th, following potluck. Child care will be provided. Topics will include annual reports from the Discernment, Worship and Congregational Life Committees, introduction to a online Google calendar and Google group for the church, and others. All are encouraged to attend. If you would like to add a specific topic to the agenda, please contact Jon Sprunger
SERVICE – OUTREACH
¨
Food
collection: The
Service-Outreach committee asks you to remember to bring canned/
packaged food
to potluck for donation. 110 lbs of
food was delivered last week to Food Gatherers.
¨
Titus and Joy K , Nelson and Ruth S,
Paul V, and
Paul S are making plans to volunteer with Mennonite
Disaster Service the week of Feb 15th in
¨ On the third or fourth Sunday of each month Paul and Joy will be hosting guests at their home for lunch.
¨ Interfaith Hospitality House sent a note thanking us for the paint job..
February Rotating
Potluck line-ups. If you have been missed and want to
participate,
let Betsy Harvey know. If you have a conflict with this month,
talk to
your host.
Host: Harvey, Guests: Brubacher/Clingenpeel, Showalter
Host: Cross, Guests: Clemens, Hansen
Host: Webster-Hein, Guests: Kaufman, Ropp, Tang
Host: Sprunger, Guests: Chamberlain/Hollander, Hicks
Host: Ponstein, Guests: Brubaker, Hallberg, Shantz
Host: Nofziger, Guests: Weaverdyck, Burkholder, Versluis
Host: Warkentin, Guests:
New online calendar!
Go to our church website and see the new Happenings page
(http://shalomcommunitychurch.mi.us.mennonite.net/Happenings.html).
To add calendar events you will need to set up an account with
your
e-mail address. It's very
straightforward. Just let Kevin know and he will have an
invitation sent
to your e-mail address. We also
have a new Google Group! The link is below the calendar.
The Google
Group is great for posting items of interest that you wouldn't
necessarily send
to everyone at shalomcc. It's also a place where you can start up
a
discussion on anything you like.
Paul’s schedule
for 2009
¨
¨
InterSpiritual Dialog and its
Mentoring Program,
June 2 – 8th with Father Thomas Keating at the St Benedicts
Monastery in
¨
¨
Central District Annual Meeting June
25-27,
¨
Michigan District Annual Meeting ,
Anita T reports that Shalom received more money in contributions
in 2008 than we spent. We
received $116,462.87 in income for the General Budget fund.
This
leaves us with a surplus of about $1,300 for the year.
Thank you for giving during a difficult
economic year. Many of you gave an extra gift at the end of the
year and
that helped us to meet the budget.
Next week Sunday will be a contemplative service that will include Communion
We are one in the
Spirit
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Chorus: And
they'll know we are Christians
By
our love, by our love,
Yes
they'll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in
hand.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land.
We will work with each other, we will work side by
side.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side.
And we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride.