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GoodNewsLetter - December, 2007 |
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Cooperating in Ministry Office Phone: 734-663-5503 Administrative Assistant: Ellen Magee
St. Aidan's Officers Northside Officiers NAM Officers
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Pastor's Corner:Our Christmas Call: Be Evangelists for Peace For it was not a peaceful time - the much-heralded Pax Romana notwithstanding. Neither is it for us, in our contemporary "empire to end all empires". This good news needed, and needs, to be heard. But it could not, and cannot, But it can be heard - and it must. For as a Christmas-celebrating Christian, I believe we are called, first and foremost in this day and age, to be evangelists for peace. The first century Christian community among whom and for whom the gospels were written spoke of peace on earth as a projected image of God's heavenly glory - and vice versa. These twin understandings could not be separated. And yet, in seeking to delineate the rules and qualify the conditions for everything from our resentments to our warfare, we moderns and postmoderns vainly seek to separate the two. Therefore, we both abuse and neglect God's heavenly glory when we refuse to give ourselves wholeheartedly and full-bodily for the making of peace when conflict inevitably arises: at home, at work - among sexes and sexual orientations and gender identifications - among religions and ethnicities and nations. Alas and alack, our half-measures go for naught. If Jesus is truly Lord of us all, let us this Christmas forsake the popular cry, ancient and now modern, that any Caesar-figures in our world can ever be Lord, or even lordly. If Jesus is truly the Prince of Peace, let us forsake the futile exercise, once and for all, that violence of any kind can ever prove a redemptive solution to conflict, of whatever ilk. Violence cannot redeem violence. Only Jesus and his unmitigated way of nonviolence can. Thanks be to God for the multitude of angels that trumpeted that good news for the very first time. May that multitude of evangelists this Christmas also include us. Grace & Peace, Chuck B-H In the News this month: As it happens, December is also noted for being
National Bingo Month.
For my New Year's Resolution, I am going to stop lying. At least, about this newsletter. I've been promissing that I was going to stop sending it out to the (too) well-known mailing lists, and that to subscribe one would either have to join the Google Group or subscribe to the RSS feed. Starting next issue, this is actually going to happen. So, if you still want to receive the newsletter, and you have not done either of the above, please click on the how to subscribe link and follow the easy instructions. Because it is still timely, and the details are complex, last month's article on the Mission Trip has been reprinted in its entirety. Answer to Last Month's Question: How much does Micael Earle's scraper
really weigh? Question of the Month: What truck was Grandma driving that fateful Christmas? Now back to the news. Our Turn to Host the Men's Rotating Shelter So our week starts on Monday, January 7 and runs through the night of Sunday, January 13. Although the later date gives us a few days' breathing space after Christmas, it is imperative that we get organized before Christmas! Please sign up, preferably in the sanctuary at the end of the service, or in the lounge, where we will try to keep the master list posted on the notice board. The Shelter Association of Washtenaw is committed to providing a safe place to spend the night for everyone who shows up at their door during the winter. Frequently, there are not enough beds at the Delonis Center, so a group of up to 25 men spends the night at the rotating shelter. The site of the rotating shelter changes every week (or, occasionally, every two weeks) and is in a local church or synagogue. NAM has been one of the participating churches for many years. For our congregations, it is a big commitment, both in terms of space-sharing and volunteer hours. However, it is also a wonderful piece of outreach to a part of our community that is marginalized. Last year, we had very positive feedback from our guests about the warmth of our welcome. Many members from both churches volunteered, so the work did not fall heavily on a small number of people. Please do all that you can to make this happen again!
HOW YOU CAN HELP (Please sign up in the lounge):
Please sign up as soon as you can. We plan to have all slots filed by mid December. Thank you all for your support. Contact one of us if you have questions. NAM Social Action Committee: Fran Board, Chuck Booker-Hirsch, Ann Grosse, Sue MacDermaid, Rose Maxwell, Betty Rees, Angela Williams St. Aidan's Welcomes Noel McRobbie as Church Musician Noel will begin working with the choir immediately to prepare for Christmas. So, if you are a singer and have not sung with St. Aidan's choir before, please think of doing so now. New singers, who want to learn how to sing with others in a choir, are also invited. Please contact Susan Wyman SEW1134@att.net; (734) 663-1670 for information about schedules. Noel, who will be with us for his first Sunday on December 16, will be St. Aidan's first Church Musician with responsibility for both choir direction and congregational accompaniment. Until recently we have had the gift of volunteer choir leadership. Thanks to Stephen Eddins our most recent volunteer choir director who found his new job responsibilities prevented him from continuing in this leadership. Expect to see him sometimes singing in instead of leading the choir. We will celebrate Andrew Anderson's last Sunday as Church Musician on December 9. Please stay after the 11:00 service to share in a small reception honoring his 15 years of service.
Christmas at St. Aidan's and Northside
Sunday before Christma:
Family Worship and Pageant and Party:
Christmas Eve Services:
Christmas Day Christmas Communion: The Mission Trip to New Orleans There has been a been a date change: Lodging:St. Augustine's Metairie, New Orleans (click here for pictures of this facility. Who may go:People from both Northside and St. Aidans; Adults, youth (under 14) with a parent, high school students may go with the adult chaperones. Costs:NAM is providing $150.00 scholarships for youth and official chaperones to help with airfare. Currently, Air Trans has airfare available for $300.00 (with one stop). Other expenses will include a shared car rental and groceries. Registration: You will need to fill out the registration and medical forms ( get hard copy at the church or click on this, this, and this. ) and return them to Susan McGarry or Marian Laughlin. If you are a high school student who will be traveling without a parent, fill out the youth form (hard copy at church or download them here and here Leave the youth leader space blank. We will fill that in. Our group will be organized as a church volunteer mission. Helen Brewster is the team leader. Any high school aged volunteers without parents will be organized as a youth sub-group of the overall mission. The information available at the church or on the web site www.edola.org will give you an idea of the scope of our work. The church project is not yet listed since the work will begin in January. You may see more general information by going to the web-page www.edola.org and choosing 'volunteer resources'. Book Group The Usual Suspects |
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by those in power who desire peace at any price -- as long as the peace is theirs, and someone else pays the price.