October/November 2000

The Shepherd

A Bimonthly Newsletter of Shalom Community Church

The Congregational Life Committee (CLC) is actively working in several areas related to our upcoming pastor transition. First, we have worked with the congregation, the discernment committee and representatives of other congregational committees to discern a pastoral search committee to spearhead the congregation's efforts to find a pastor. Thanks to Hollis Sr, chair, and the rest of the committee who are serving us in this way. Second, the CLC is in the process of searching for an interim pastor that will serve SCC between Kathy Neufeld Dunn's term, ending on December 31, 2000, and the arrival of a new pastor. For complete information, see the report and proposal prepared for the SCC November 10 Business meeting. Third, we are prayerfully considering with Kathy several items and details related to the ending of a pastoral relationship, particularly since Kathy and Michael will continue to live in Ann Arbor. We will be sharing these conversations with you in the future. Finally, we are planning a worship service on November 19 that will recognize and celebrate Kathy's term as pastor of SCC. This will be a time of joy and sadness as we contemplate Kathy's leadership at SCC and in our faith journey together. We invite you to a morning of song, readings, prayer and storytelling as we recognize and celebrate Kathy's ministry among us. A potluck will immediately follow the service. Your continued prayers and input are appreciated.

- submitted by Kathy Brubaker on behalf of the CLC

Pastoral Transition Update

Thanksgiving Sunday:

To culminate our fall worship series on faith stories and to celebrate the holiday, the worship service on November 26 will be one of thanksgiving and gratefulness. The worship committee would like you to participate in the following ways:

3. Perhaps share with the group some event that occurred this past year for which you are grateful.

4. Or some other way to demonstrate and share your spirit of Thanksgiving.

Journals of Au Sable:

We arrived on Friday in the dark in anticipation of the morning's splash of color. Surprise! It was better then we had imagined! My own reason for coming is found in Denise Levertov's poem:

Sometimes the mountain

is hidden from me in veils

of cloud, sometimes

I am hidden from the mountain

in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,

when I forget or refuse to go

down to the shore or a few yards

up the road, on a clear day,

to reconfirm

that witnessing presence.

Although there were not mountains as such, there were indeed mountains of color and leaves, all waiting to be revealed in the morning.

Friday, October 13

Gertrude

Warkentin

To begin with, club moss is a fern, and not a moss. And it is a protected plant, whereas wintergreen is not protected. Furthermore, sap happens.

Through binoculars, we can see the pair of crows insouciantly perched on slender waving tip branches of those 60 feet tall conifers on the other side of the dry lake-bed. (Yes, it was full of water a year ago; what's going on here?) Then, by an act of will from a brain so tiny, the crows decide to fly off to another item in their progressively unfolding daily agenda. We small group of Shalomites continue down the path on our own morning agenda of alertly looking and learning from All That is There. See that small branch, now grown past the neighbor tree on its south side, able to move yet locked into a position...unless I, reversing its karma, simply lift and bend it a bit and move it to the North side of the neighbor tree. But in contrast to all the blind insults that I thoughtlessly and daily dish out to the environment, here with this choice, I leave the branch where it is. I look at grains of sand on the lake-bed, and think of the grains of sand encased in cement between the bricks of my house.

Fens and bogs, swamps and marshes, gold thread and rattlesnake plantain. Yes, Solomon was indeed not arrayed like that last yellow cinquefoil of the season. Does anyone know what sharp means before their first cut? Transitions, cycles, death in life, life from death, chicken and egg.

Creeping snowberry, Labrador tea sage, sundew, hey-a pitcher plant with dead spiders marinating in its leafy pools, hackamatack. And I don't even know the names of all the bushes and plants in my back yard! Given these rich sensory organs of ours, how pained the creative spirit of the universe must be with my indifference and ignorance. But in this teachable moment, never mind all that guilt! Standing upright has been a trade-off, for sure, because we can clearly see so little of that humming rich ecology down there on the ground.

After an hour dozing in the slanting sunlight by the side of the dry lake, with geese poking around in the sand and clods for something, I rouse myself for some late afternoon hoops on a bb court paved with brilliant dry leaves.

Later, before a blazing fire, stimulated by our look into unfamiliar niches of creation, a fried chicken dinner, and hot chocolate, we released into our midst a wonderful set of shared reflections on a great question posed by Galen, about acts of creation and acts of evolution, appropriately enough. And this was only (some parts of) Saturday.

Saturday, October 14

Stan Reedy

A Retreat Remembered

I know that if I open my eyes and it’s dark that I can sleep some more, but if I see the sun it’s time to get up. I checked yesterday and the sun is supposed to rise at 7:30, so then I know I should get up to make it to 8 am breakfast. Ever marveled that the rising of the sun—well, the rotation of the earth—is so predictable? Let’s get some of that bacon before pondering that. And some of Gertrude’s carrot marmalade (it has rhubarb and oranges in it too, but not pumpkins.)

Nine o’clock and still no sun, not because of georotational failure but because of the mist clouds that are having trouble deciding whether to precipitate or not. We, being mostly insoluble in water (on the outside), are going canoeing anyway. Derek and I are partners in the canoe: he is in the back and I am in front (stern and bow, respectively.)

It took 20 minutes or so for Derek and I to devise a steering strategy. (OK, Derek did most of the devising and I mostly followed directions. That actually works sometimes…) There may be a lesson here: from the stern, he can steer my end of the canoe out of the way of obstacles (if I alert him to their presence) but he can’t steer his own end unless I’m applying the right amount of forward momentum. We were on the verge of perfecting this technique (perfecting in the sense that Derek didn’t have to give me verbal instructions on every bend), and then the trip was over. Next summer I can learn it all over again I guess.

Dave and Gertrude in the lead canoe have the pleasure of viewing the wild things before scaring them away. Some of the others of us were close enough to see the Great Blue Heron as it stood on a log in the water. Then it gracefully flew away and perched somewhere in the brush. The river has eroded the anchoring soil for many of the White Pine trees along here. They tip at precarious angles toward us in the river. We wondered if they might come crashing down on us if we spoke too loudly. But then we noticed that there was a bend in the thick tree trunks, so that the upper half of the tree was vertical. Clearly these trees had been growing at such an angle for some time!

Before lunch, there is just enough time for poetry. One person can read as many poems as they want to. Or two people together can read a chrysalis chorus.

Driving home is like going back in time. First the leaves are brightly colored, brown and fallen. Then each successive tree is slightly brighter and less bare. Hints of green appear, especially in the underbrush. Then the trees are fully clothed in green and yellow and red. But time will catch us and I can almost smell the delight of winter in the air.

Sunday, October 15

Laurie Yoder

PASTORAL PONDERINGS

— Pastor Kathy Neufeld Dunn

Are we turning toward each other? Recently I had a conversation with one of our members, then shortly thereafter read an article on the same subject. The concern that was raised echoes my own: Is the Church a safe place to be with our pain? Is our congregation a place where "people connect and are forever changed" (Larry Crabb)? We have worked consciously over the last almost nine years at "smashingly good worship." We've tried to expand our awareness and involvement with specific community needs and services. But, I believe one of our growing edges is to become a place where it's okay for life to be "messy." "We need a safe place for weary pilgrims...We need to dive into the unmanageable, messy world of relationships, to admit our failure, to identify our tensions, to explore our shortcomings." (ibid.) In short, the church needs to become the safest place on earth, not a place where we act as if all is fine when it isn't. A safe church would be a place where we would be truly dependent on God and on each other. This kind of radical interdependence would lead us away from self-sufficiency and toward spiritual community. Are we ready to move toward God and each other in this way? It's a risky thing, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it. [Resource: Crabb, Larry, _The Safest Place on Earth_, Word, 1999]

Alternative Holiday Bazaar, where we have a room of 10,000 Villages crafts to sell is Sunday, December 3, 2-6 p.m. at the First Baptist Church. 10,000 Villages helps indigenous artisans get their handmade crafts sold, so they can make a living. Beautiful pieces of soapstone, brass, carved wood, woven baskets are just a few of the items we’ll have to unpack, sell and rebox that day. Call Betsy Harvey (761-1768) with your questions or interest to volunteer for a shift.

Rotating potlucks are back! The third Saturday of January, February and March will be annual rotating potlucks - a chance to eat with a different small group each month. Betsy Harvey will coordinate these family evenings of food, fellowship and fun. You may choose to host and/or be a guest. Also, as a guest you may attend one month and not the next. Please consider this fun way of getting to know a small group of Shalom adults and kids. Questions? Call Betsy (761-1768).

Advent/Christmas worship theme: "Ready, Set, Go!"

Please contact the editor, Maria Witmer-Rich, with

submissions for the next newsletter: e-mail, m_witmer_rich@hotmail.com.