WITHIN THE PEWS Monthly Newsleer of the CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF GRAFTON, UCC Worship & Sunday School 10 am ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ APRIL 2016 EDITION A word from our Pastor… A few years ago, a lile girl whose mother only occasionally aended my church, brought a picture of the crucifixion to me. I don’t know where she found it, but she knew it was a “church” thing and she wanted to give it to me. It was an old-fashioned sort of drawing of Jesus on the cross with the two Mary’s standing on either side of him. As she handed it to me, she said “I found this picture and I want to give it to you.” “Thank you,” I replied looking at the delicate print. “See how prey the two ladies are?” she said. “Yes, the two ladies are very prey,” I said. Then the girl added, “Too bad we don’t know who that guy in the middle is.” I have to agree with her. It’s too bad we don’t know who that guy in the middle is. The identy and na- ture of Jesus is elusive. Just when I think I have him all figured out, a queson arises or a bible passage is pondered, and the next thing you know, I’m asking myself—who was Jesus? Really? Here are some commonly used words that describe Jesus: savior, Son of Man, Risen Christ, messiah, in- carnate diety, Son of God, human being, prophet, Anointed One, Emmanuel, carpenter’s son, the Stem of Jesse, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Good Shepherd, Paschal Lamb, the judge of the quick and the dead, historical figure, Only Begoen of the Father, Redeemer, the True Vine, Lord. The list could go on and on. No wonder we are confused. And then, as if the waters weren’t already muddied enough, in Mark we have Jesus asking the disciples, “who do you say I am?” One wonders if he wasn’t a lile confused as well. So who is Jesus? Or do we say who was Jesus? Is Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, as the scripture tells us, or is Jesus dead and buried like all other humans who have walked this earth? I would imagine that some of you are very confidently on either end of that spectrum and a bunch of you are somewhere in between. Some of you may very honestly say that you don’t know who Jesus was, while others of you are appalled that any Chrisan can “not know”. _____________________________________________________________________________ Staff & Office Informaon: How to contact us: Office Phone 508-839-4513 Rev. Jane Willan, Pastor FAX 508-839-9772 Kristen Graham, Admin. Asst., Editor Email: graſt[email protected]Organist/Choir Director: Greg Gray Pastor’s email: [email protected]Web Site: www.uccgraſton.org Jane’s cell 508-581-0786 Jane’s blog: hp://uccgraſton.wordpress.com
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
WITHIN THE PEWS
Monthly Newsletter of the
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF GRAFTON, UCC Worship & Sunday School 10 am
A few years ago, a little girl whose mother only occasionally attended my church, brought a picture of the crucifixion to me. I don’t know where she found it, but she knew it was a “church” thing and she wanted to give it to me. It was an old-fashioned sort of drawing of Jesus on the cross with the two Mary’s standing on either side of him.
As she handed it to me, she said “I found this picture and I want to give it to you.”
“Thank you,” I replied looking at the delicate print.
“See how pretty the two ladies are?” she said.
“Yes, the two ladies are very pretty,” I said.
Then the girl added, “Too bad we don’t know who that guy in the middle is.”
I have to agree with her. It’s too bad we don’t know who that guy in the middle is. The identity and na-ture of Jesus is elusive. Just when I think I have him all figured out, a question arises or a bible passage is pondered, and the next thing you know, I’m asking myself—who was Jesus? Really?
Here are some commonly used words that describe Jesus: savior, Son of Man, Risen Christ, messiah, in-carnate diety, Son of God, human being, prophet, Anointed One, Emmanuel, carpenter’s son, the Stem of Jesse, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Good Shepherd, Paschal Lamb, the judge of the quick and the dead, historical figure, Only Begotten of the Father, Redeemer, the True Vine, Lord. The list could go on and on. No wonder we are confused. And then, as if the waters weren’t already muddied enough, in Mark we have Jesus asking the disciples, “who do you say I am?” One wonders if he wasn’t a little confused as well.
So who is Jesus? Or do we say who was Jesus? Is Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, as the scripture tells us, or is Jesus dead and buried like all other humans who have walked this earth? I would imagine that some of you are very confidently on either end of that spectrum and a bunch of you are somewhere in between. Some of you may very honestly say that you don’t know who Jesus was, while others of you are appalled that any Christian can “not know”. _____________________________________________________________________________
Staff & Office Information: How to contact us: Office Phone 508-839-4513 Rev. Jane Willan, Pastor FAX 508-839-9772 Kristen Graham, Admin. Asst., Editor Email: [email protected] Organist/Choir Director: Greg Gray Pastor’s email: [email protected] Web Site: www.uccgrafton.org Jane’s cell 508-581-0786 Jane’s blog: http://uccgrafton.wordpress.com
I would offer the challenge to you to struggle with who you think Jesus is. Deity? Human? Dead and gone? Alive and well? The one who defines your very life? Someone to whom you give very little thought?
For what it is worth--here is what I think: first, I am not called to believe in Jesus, but to follow Jesus and second, sometimes metaphor is more powerful than “fact.”
I don’t have to completely understand incarnation, miracles and the virgin birth. I don’t have to understand every nuance of a belief system to follow. And for me, following is far more imperative than believing.
Sometimes metaphor is more powerful than “fact.” Much of Christian doctrine says that Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead after three days. Yet there is some evidence that that was not how the early Christians described the resurrection. Paul, whose writings pre-date the gospels, discusses the “spiritual and metaphorical resurrection” ra-ther than a literal rising from the dead.
As Joseph Campbell put it, if you read metaphor in the bible and then you interpret it as the hard cold fact “it would be like going to a restaurant, asking for the menu, seeing beefsteak written there, and starting to eat the menu.” To understand resurrection and transcendence as metaphor is far more powerful and transforming for me than any literal interpretation.
So who is that guy in the middle? He is and was Jesus—our savior because he taught us to live in a new way and our redeemer because he revealed the nature of a just and loving God. And today, he is the one we follow.
Do I really “get” Jesus? No. Is that wrong? Not at all. My relationship with God and my attempts to follow Jesus are works in progress.
And it’s a good journey.
Pastor Jane
Notes from Greg Grafton church family, grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ is
risen! We have just come through Holy Week, and what a busy time in the life of the Church it was. While it may appear that things are slowing down after this past week, it is important to understand where we are in the Chris-tian year and how that will affect our worship. Beginning with Ash Wednesday (Feb 10) we started the season of Lent and began our journey over 46 days to the morning of Easter Sunday (March 27). It is easy to think that after that long season of preparation that we are through once we get to Easter, but that is only partly true. Easter Sun-day ends the journey through the season of Lent, and starts us on the new journey to the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The season from Easter to Pentecost that we have just begun is called Eastertide or The Great Fifty Days. During this season we will hear in worship the Biblical stories of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples after his resurrection. These are some of my favorite stories in the whole Bible. In these texts we get to see what the community of faith begins to look like with the understanding that Jesus truly is the messiah, he truly is alive, and he has conquered sin and death. As we make our way through the month of April and the rest of Eastertide let us ask ourselves now that we have come through the resurrection how can we behave as a community of faith which has experienced Christ’s resurrection in our lives?
There is so much to look forward to in the coming month!
See you at the church!!
Pax tecum,
Greg Gray, MST, MDiv
Save the date: Styrofoam Recycling Fundraising Event
at our Church Parking Lot: April 16th 8:30 to 12:30
What items to bring for the cleanup? Gather up Styrofoam including cups, rinsed out food trays
with the PS recycling symbol, take-out containers with the PS symbol, and Styrofoam packing and
packing blocks. Also bag up your packing peanuts (in a zip lock or closed bag), and bring along your
bubble wrap. It’s a great time to kick off spring cleaning.
Our spring Styrofoam collection is in partnership with ReFoamIt, LLC. ReFoamIt transfers the
Styrofoam into useful materials and helps us all keep it out of our community landfills. This event
is in keeping with our mission to keep our church as green as we can.
All those who can help greet the cars, empty car trunks, or help pack the ReFoamit truck are wel-
come! Would be delightful to see the boy scouts and the return of the girl scouts for this special
community event! For questions, please talk to Justin Mussler, Fundraising Chair or Sandy Cooper,
the Recycler. Thank you!
From the Communication Team:
Please consider helping the church to spread the good news about our services, our events, our
programs. We can’t help or interact with our community if they don’t know about us! I’m look-
ing for people who can update the website (or are willing to learn), write a newsletter article,
communicate with the church committees, post on facebook/twitter/instagram, and brainstorm
ways to get our news out to the world. We can publish articles in local papers, in the weekly e-
newsletter from the UCC Central Association, and beyond.
Please email Kathy at [email protected] or call me at 508-887-0985. No regular meetings
needed - you can do all this from home! Thank you!
The Sunday School has been busy making Baby Moses snacks, learning about Easter with a Veg-
gie Tales movie and Berenstain Bear book, decorating the vestry with handmade “stained glass”
crosses, visiting Crescent Manor Nursing Home and making birthday bags for the Grafton Food
Bank.
Coming Up…
April 3 - May 1: Pentecost Workshops
May 8th: Planting with Elaine Hatch
Elaine will lead the kids in decorating the front sign area with flowers on May 8th
Join the Care and Concern Circle by keeping these people in your prayers now and throughout your week. To add or remove a name, speak with any deacon, email the church office at [email protected] or the deacon chairperson at [email protected]. Thank you!
We pray for recovery, well-being and comfort for:
Lucy Hedley Michael
Jennie G. McGrail John Keane
Kelly Betty B.
Mark Judy & Arnie Hays
Kelley Lennon-Hopkins
All our service men and women at home and away
The transgender children and their families
All those affected by acts of cruelty, abuse or random shooting
We’re planning on a Spring Cleanup Day
on Saturday April 30th
Bring your family, bring your friends! We have a list of spring
cleaning ‘to-do’s’ that ranges from fun and easy to an aerobic
workout! If you can come for an hour or all morning we’ll have
something for you to do. Any questions please contact Andy
Charlotte Woodbury 4/3 Don Lutz 4/4 Mary Dennis 4/5
Julie Burdsall 4/9 Curt Paine 4/9 Joanne Hable 4/14
April Lane 4/15 Joe Holm 4/21 Colin Peacock 4/21
Gwyn Klumpenaar 4/22 Sandy Cooper 4/24 Steven Lane 4/24
Dr. Marcia McPhee—Worship Design Studio LIVE!
Join us for this one day event sponsored by the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ!!
Saturday, April 9, from 8:30 – 3:30 at our church.
The cost to attend is $50, including lunch, and registration is now open.
(Register on our Facebook Page)
Dr. Marcia McFee is a professor, worship designer, author, preacher and ritual artist. Drawing on a first career in professional dance and musical theater and equipped with a Master’s in Theology and a PhD in Liturgical Studies, she understands the role of any worship artist in the church as that of creating ex-traordinary portals through which communities journey with the Spirit. The task is at once deeply theo-
logical and wonderfully artistic. Connecting worship professionals and volunteers to their passion and depth of spiritual leadership is her aim in teaching and consulting as well as equipping them with skills to carry this out. Dr. McFee has designed and led worship for regional, national and international gatherings of several denominations for the last 20 years. She is the creator and visionary of the Worship Design Studio (www.worshipdesignstudio.com), an online experience of coaching, education, inspiration and a design applica-tion.
Join Marcia McFee for this one-day workshop which includes:
Creating Worship with Deep Soul
Think Like a Filmaker
The Rhythms of Liturgy and Life & the Politics of Change?“