Christ Church Connections: November 2005

The Christ Church chapel transformed!

These pictures were taken just before last night's Taizé prayer service in the chapel. Although the Christ Church chapel is frequently used for meetings and Adult Seminar classes, its versatility as a beautiful worship space is less commonly witnessed.

The next Taizé prayer service will take place in January 2006. More specific information will be posted soon on Christ Church Connections.

The Messiah!

The Old Testament lesson for this second week in Advent is from Isaiah 40:1-11. Familiar words to many people because of the historic work of Handel. I found the following story told in a sermon by Ms Terry parsons. I thought it was worth sharing.

Hope you are having a good day.
Carolyn

The Messiah has been called the most influential and widely performed oratorio of all time. Opera, as we know it, has strong roots in Italian culture, but the oratorio is a very English form of music.

Oratorios are somewhat like opera in that they are dramatic works but they are performed in concert, without costumes or staging. Most are based on Old Testament stories. One of the important aspects that sets The Messiah apart from other oratorios is that it focuses more on meditation than action.

The story of Handel's writing of this work is also inspiring. George Frederic Handel was born in Germany in 1685. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but as a youth he demonstrated extraordinary musical gifts, mastering several instruments and composing in a variety of styles while still in his teens. He composed music for some of the most important patrons in Europe before settling in England. There, he became London's leading composer and director of Italian opera. He also became interested in the characteristics of English music and eventually abandoned his operatic writing to concentrate on the English oratorio.

After thirty years of popularity and prosperity, Handel found his fame fleeting and more creditors than admirers at his door. A stroke left him with partial paralysis on his left side. He had difficulty sleeping and suffered from rheumatism. He was depressed. Without another musical success, he feared his next home might be the debtor's prison. In the midst of this dreadful summer of 1741, two critical letters arrived. The first, from the Duke of Devonshire, invited him to Dublin to produce a series of benefit concerts. Proceeds from the concerts would be for the relief of the prisoners in the several jails in the city and for the support of a hospital and an infirmary. The opportunity of a change of scene and a temporary escape from his creditors was an attractive one.

The second letter came from his friend Charles Jennens. Jennens was a somewhat eccentric English landowner who had written some lyrics for Handel in the past. This letter was a compilation of Old and New Testament passages that comprised the story of Christ's birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and future reign.

Handel shut himself in his room and completed the entire oratorio in the incredibly short time of 21 days. Part I, the prophecy and birth of the Messiah, took only seven days to complete.The first official performance of The Messiah took place on April 17, 1742, and was a tremendous success.

Handel conducted the work many times in the remaining years of his life, including a performance eight days before his death on April 14, 1759. During his lifetime, The Messiah was most often heard in the Easter season. Handel himself conducted an annual performance to benefit the Foundling Hospital in London.

Today, while the oratorio is often performed in its entirety, it is most often heard in Advent, and then frequently limited to the first section and the story of Jesus' birth. This music leaves the concert hall ringing with Isaiah's prophetic words of comfort, release, and God's glorious return to the earth.
http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/sermons-that-work/021208sr.html

An Advent Word

Sr Joan Chittister is one of my favorite writers on the spiritual journey. I heard her speak at Trinity Cathedral last summer in Portland. It was one of the highlights of my past year.

These are her reflections on the season of Advent. I hope you glean some "simple wisdom" from what she has to say.

Carolyn

The following article is by Sr Joan Chittister:

It's Advent again. And if anyone cares about Advent, Americans should.

Advent may have more to do with American life than any other season of the year. Yet, Advent remains the period of spiritual preparation that is too often least appreciated, little understood and commonly ignored.

One of the problems with Advent is that it gets swallowed up by Christmas. The truth is, of course, that Advent signals the coming of Christmas. But the kind of Christmas the liturgical period of Advent is meant to signal is not the Christmas we celebrate in the United States. Civil Christmas is about the storing up of things. The Christmas to which Advent points is about being emptied out so we can become full.

Advent is about the spirituality of emptiness, of enough-ness, of stripped-down fullness of soul.

Advent points to the essentials of life; commercial Christmas points to its superfluities.

The two great liturgical seasons of the church year, Advent and Lent, are about very different things. Advent is not "a little Lent." Advent is not a penitential period. Advent comes to trigger consciousness, not to provoke our consciences.

The Talmud teaches that every person should wear a jacket with two pockets. In the one pocket, the rabbis say, there should be a note that reads, "I am a worm and not completely human." And in the second pocket, the rabbis say, the note must read, "For me the universe was made."

The story is clear: The function of Lent is to remind us who we are--and who we are not. The function of Advent, on the other hand, is to remind us who God is and who we are meant to be, as well. Advent is about the riches of emptiness.

The Jesus "who did not cling to being God," but is like us in all things, models what most of us take the greater part of our lives to learn: how to "be ourselves." The divinity who comes to us as an infant is the paradigm of what it means to learn from life as we grow into who and what we're meant to be. The God who comes without retinue or riches is the metaphor of a humility that requires us to remember how really small we are in the universe--and to come to the point where that is enough for us.

Advent is about the power of emptiness and the spiritual meaning of smallness.

When we have little to begin with, we have even less to lose. We know, then, that we don't have all the ideas or all of the answers. It means that we have nothing to fight over and even less to boast about in life. We become full of possibility.

When we know who we really are, when we present no disguises and parade no pretensions, when we are honest both with ourselves and with others, we fired ourselves free to be ourselves. We have no image to keep up, no lies to gild in a gilded society. We become full of integrity.

When we learn to live with the basics rather than to hoard what does not belong to us, we can never be made bereft by the loss of life's little baubles because we never depended on them in the first place. We become full of contentment.

When we recognize our own limitations, we need never fear failure. Then we can't possibly be destroyed by losing because we never anointed ourselves entitled to win. We become full of confidence.

Finally, when Advent seeps into our souls, we come to understand that small is not nothing and empty is not bereft. To be small is to need, to depend on the other. Smallness bonds us to the rest of the human race and frees us from the arrogant isolation that kills both the body and the soul. To be empty is to be available inside to attend to something other than the self. We become full of the blessings of life.

Then, emptied out by the awareness of our own smallness, we may have the heart to identify with those whose emptiness, whose poverty of spirit and paucity of life is involuntary. Then, we may be able to become full human beings ourselves, full of compassion and full of consciousness.
An Advent spent in serious reflection on the power of emptiness and the meaning of smallness puts everything else in perspective. Most of all, ourselves. Or, as Isaiah put it, "The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low."

November Taizé worship service

Our final Taizé worship service of the fall season will take place Tuesday evening, November 29, at 7:00pm in the chapel. If you haven't yet had the chance to attend Christ Church's new monthly worship service in the style of the Taizé community, tomorrow's service is a perfect opportunity! The hustle and bustle of the commercial holiday season can sometimes be overwhelming -- worship in the style of Taizé is quiet, contemplative, and peaceful, a renewing experience during hectic times.

Taizé Worship at Christ Church
Tuesday, November 29, 7:00pm
Christ Church Chapel

The First Sunday of Advent, November 27

This Sunday Christ Church will celebrate the First Sunday of Advent, which is also the first Sunday in the church calendar year. Please join us in worship this Sunday, November 27, at 10:15am, as we begin to prepare the way for Christ's promised coming on Christmas.

Sermon (Rev. Carolyn Waters):
"Let the Waiting Begin"

Scripture Lessons:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80
Mark 13:24-37

Hymns:
"Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" UMH #196
"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" UMH #626
"Emmanuel, Emmanuel" UMH #204 (prayer response)
"People, Look East" UMH #202
"Soon and Very Soon" UMH #706 (closing response)

Choral Anthem:
"People, Look East" arr. Eugene Butler

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service 2005

A Denver tradition for more than a century, this year's Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will be held at University Park United Methodist Church (2180 S. University Blvd.) on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, at 10:00am. This annual event was founded in the 1880's by three local faith communities that still participate to this day: Congregation Emanuel, Montview Boulevard Presbyterian and First Universalist Church. What better way to begin your Thanksgiving Day celebration than joining with the diverse faith community of Denver for for this special worship service of gratitude, prayer and praise!

"In-Gathering" Update

Thank you ALL for your overwhelming participation in this year's Thanksgiving "In-Gathering" last Sunday morning. We had an abundance of donated food, as was evidenced by the kids' SEVERAL trips up and down the center aisle with their arms fully loaded!

A gentleman from Denver Inner City Parish picked up the food donations on Monday morning. Office manager Cle Lewis reports that he was "ecstatic" over the sheer amount of food as they together packed his van full to the brim. The Denver Inner City Parish will feed more than 300 people on Thanksgiving Day, thanks in large part to the generous contributions of Christ Church and other area congregations.

A very special "thank you" to our wonderful Sunday School teachers for their help organizing the food processional, and to the children of Christ Church for their participation in the In-Gathering and blessing of the donations.

Thanksgiving Worship & "In-Gathering"

This Sunday at Christ Church we will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with music and liturgy in our 10:15am worship service. In addition, we will conclude our annual Thanksgiving food drive with an "In-Gathering" led by the children of Christ Church. Plan to attend this Sunday and bring along some canned goods (especially corn and green beans) to donate as a part of the "In-Gathering". Your contributions will help a family in need have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

Please join us in worship this Sunday, November 20, at 10:15am.

Sermon (Rev. Carolyn Waters):
"A Big Enough Table"

Scripture Lessons:
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

Hymns:
"Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" UMH #694
"Let All Things Now Living" TFWS #2008
"Now Thank We All Our God" UMH #102

Choral Anthem:
"A Song of Thanksgiving" by Natalie Sleeth

Worship Events in December

As you might imagine, December is the busiest month of the year for worship and music at Christ Church. December is equally busy in the lives of our congregants -- I encourage you to put these dates on your calendars in advance and plan to attend with your family and friends!

Hanging of the Greens
Saturday, December 3, 10:00am
Join us on Saturday morning, December 3, as we decorate the sanctuary for the Advent and Christmas seasons. This is an event for all ages, and will include special craft activities for the kids, a complementary soup and bread lunch (from the Smiling Moose Deli) and a brief time of worship to commemorate the season.

Festival of Lessons & Carols
Sunday, December 11, 6:00pm
The Christ Church Chancel Choir will present a special Festival of Lessons & Carols on Sunday evening, December 11. The service will feature the traditional reading of lessons (Scripture readings) interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols by choir and congregation. Following the worship service, there will be a holiday dessert reception in the Fellowship Hall, prepared by the United Methodist Women.

Children’s Christmas Pageant
Sunday, December 18, 10:15am
The annual children’s Christmas Pageant will be held during our regular Sunday morning worship service on December 18. This not-to-be-missed event incorporates the move from Advent into Christmas with the help our Christ Church children. Please contact the church office if you are interested in volunteering to help with costumes and other preparation for this year’s Christmas Pageant.

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service
Saturday, December 24, 7:00pm
Christ Church will celebrate Christmas Eve with a worship service at 7:00pm on December 24. This service will include special music from the Chancel Choir, carol singing with the congregation, Holy Communion, and a ceremony of candle-lighting. Extend an invitation to visiting family members, friends and neighbors to share in our celebration of Christmas Eve worship on Saturday, December 24, at 7:00pm.

Youth Group News

Christ Church Youth Group will meet THIS SUNDAY night, November 20, from 6:00-7:30pm.

Coming up in December, Youth Group will meet on December 4 (6:00-7:30pm) and hold our annual Christmas Party and Gift-Exchange-Game on December 18 (6:00-7:30pm) -- Youth need to bring a $5-10 wrapped gift to this event.

The Youth Group is partnering with Social Action to once again go Christmas shopping for homeless teens. This was a HIT last year with the Youth and so they are very excited that Social Action is committed to this project again this year. We will be shopping on Saturday, December 10, 9:00am-12noon. Extra drivers will be needed.

We've been spending a lot of time talking about diversity in Youth Group -- what makes us unique and also what draws us together. Take a look at the personal collages created by the Youth, hanging on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall.

Joel Jeffries, our new superstar youth volunteer, will be getting married on December 17. In his absence, I need some grown-up support for Youth activities. If you are willing to come and simply share your presence with the Youth, please call Jennie or contact the church office. Dates needing support are:
December 18 (6:00-7:30pm)
January 8 (6:00-7:30pm)

Finally, I'd love to accommodate the Youth Group wishes for the Annual Winter Lock-in. Anyone willing to come spend the night in the church with this gang? I am looking at Friday, February 3rd. Thanks so much!

Jennie Kauerz, Youth Group Director

A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice

More than ninety United Methodist Bishops (including Denver's Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr.) have issued this statement regarding the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Here is an excerpt...

As elected and consecrated bishops of the church, we repent of our complicity in what we believe to be the unjust and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. In the face of the United States Administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent. We confess our preoccupation with institutional enhancement and limited agendas while American men and women are sent to Iraq to kill and be killed, while thousands of Iraqi people needlessly suffer and die, while poverty increases and preventable diseases go untreated. Although we value the sacrifices of the men and women who serve in the military, we confess our betrayal of the scriptural and prophetic authority to warn the nations that true security lies not in weapons of war, but in enabling the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized to flourish as beloved daughters and sons of God. We confess our failure to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to be a people who welcome and love all those for whom Christ died.

I encourage everyone to read A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice in its entirety. For further information regarding the Bishops' statement, please read this news bulletin from the United Methodist News Service.

Social Action at Christ Church

Koins for Kids
Our monthly "Koins for Kids" offering will take place on Sunday, November 27. Donations will be added to last month's collection to purchase gifts for homeless children at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. The youth from Christ Church will go on a shopping spree Saturday, December 10 to purchase the gifts. Adult drivers are needed on December 10; please contact the church office if you are available to drive.

Denver Inner City Parish
Christ Church volunteers continue to help Denver Inner City Parish serve lunch to the elderly and needy on the first Saturday of the month. Sign up list is in the church narthex. If you have never participated in this event, it is fun and easy. You get a free lunch, too! The next opportunity to serve is Saturday, December 3.

Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Mission
Christ Church will be joining other Front Range-area Methodists in a mission to the devastated Gulf coast for clean-up and recovery help. Specific information on joining the mission team will be posted soon!

Warm Drinks and Warm Friendships

The holidays are a special time to share fellowship with family and friends, and to consider how we affect the lives of our neighbors down the street and around the world. When you offer gifts of fairly traded coffee, tea and chocolate from Equal Exchange Interfaith Program, you are giving not just once but twice: to your loved ones and to small farmers and their families around the world.

Because 100% of the products are fairly traded, every package represents our commitment to social justice, environmental stewardship, and building long-term partnerships with farming communities. Equal Exchange products are for sale during Coffee Hour after service on Sundays. Coffee is just $7 per 12 oz package, tea is just $5 for a 25-bag package.

Coffee, Tea, Hot Cocoa and Chocolate - new varieties just in!

Tanzanian Jubilee (drip grind and whole bean): Full-bodied and flavorful, this fairly traded coffee is grown by small farmers on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa.

Organic Mind, Body and Soul (drip grind): A euphoric blend, lively, smooth and spicy. Fairly traded coffee grown from indigenous cooperatives in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.

Organic Ethiopian (drip grind and whole bean): From the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, this exotic and complex coffee has heavy body, gentle acidity and hints of vanilla, black pepper and raspberry.

Organic English Breakfast Tea: A delicious blend of malty Assam and crisp Darjeeling teas, creating a refreshing tea that can be enjoyed throughout the day. In bringing you this fairly traded tea, we are working with both fair trade tea gardens and independent small-scale growers in India.

Congratulations, Julie & Gary Zerbe

A happy announcement this morning from Julie Zerbe...

Gary and I have a beautiful new granddaughter, named Violet James, born Sunday night, November 13, 2005, 9:00pm, weight 7 lb. 15 oz, height 20 inches. Violet and her parents and brother, Jenny, Derek, and Holden Knostman, are doing very well, and I'm a little tired! ~~ Julie

Appreciative Inquiry Lesson I

Last night at Ad Council, I shared some basics of a process called "Appreciative Inquiry" I was introduced to at the recent Conference Clergy Retreat.

It is quite positive, and motivating! I'm excited about the possibilities for Christ Church if we begin to use some of this philosophy for our dreaming and visioning and even day to day process of being the church.

I'll share a few things from time to time with you about the whole concept.

For all kinds of information, go to www.appreciative-inquiry.org

"The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes."
Marcel Proust

(The following is taken from "What is Appreciative Inquiry?" by Joe Hall & Sue Hammond)

TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Define the problem
Fix what's broken
Focus on decay

What problems are you having?

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY:
Search for solutions that already exist
Amplify what is working
Focus on life giving forces

What is working well around here?

The Assumptions of Appreciative Inquiry are:

1. In every society, organization or group, something works
2. What we focus on becomes our reality.
3. Reality is created in the moment and there are multiple realities.
4. The act of asking questions of an organization or group influences the group in some way.
5. People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown)
when they carry forward parts of the past (the known).
6. If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past.
7. It is important to value differences.
8. The language we use creates our reality.

------------------------
I'd love to talk to anyone that has interest in learning more! The bottom line in this is that we look at what is working, what our strengths are......And we amplify them; rather than focus on our weakness or problems and get stuck in them!

It's very scriptural I think! To look at the best in each other, in the church as a community. To focus on the positive, the gracefilled parts of our lives. Energy comes from positive thought and positive affirmation. Spirit is drained all the way to empty from negative thought and feedback. Just ask me how it feels to be loosing members that seemed to be strong parts of this congregation.

Onward and Upward as some famous should have been theologian once said!

Carolyn

The Dogs Go to Ad Board

Rev. Waters spoke to the Administrative Board tonight about Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a systems-based theory of human development that encourages the positive focus of energies on "what's working" rather than the traditional method of mere "problem solving". Hence the title of this post -- rather than focusing on the typical assumption of "The Ad Board Goes to the Dogs", we would instead state that "The Dogs Go to Ad Board". I believe that the pictorial record of tonight's meeting will support that AI-influenced statement!

Billy, Carol & John

Jim, Carolyn, Ben, Julie & Margaret

Jane, George & Robert

Patricia, Jane, George & Robert
(Sadie is SERIOUSLY relaxed below the table!)

Murphy, pastoral canine

A great Day on November 6th

What a great Sunday! From its beginning to end, Sunday truly lived out what our image of being the church is.

There were the kids!

There was wonderful participatory worship!

The music!

The candles!

And then the food!

And the conversation!

And the smiles and laughter.

The intelligent conversation!

The dialogue!

The interaction!

The community!

The community of faith!

Thanks!

I loved it!

Carolyn

Christ Church staff

A picture of three of our fantastic Christ Church staff:

from left to right:
Rev. Carolyn Waters, Minister

Eloise Edwards, Program Assistant
Cle Lewis, Church Administrator

Christ Church Mission Statement

Christ Church is a United Methodist congregation committed to theological pluralism and cultural inclusiveness. Our faith community encourages a thoughtful approach to religion, taking seriously both the heart and the mind in nurturing the spirit. We strive to meet the world around us with compassion and love. We seek wholeness in living by working to identify, articulate, and act on the connections between our personal lives and the world around us.

Our hope is that you will find here a Christian community of integrity that will challenge you and encourage you in your spiritual journey. We offer many opportunities for congregational involvement and community service. We invite you to be a part of our congregation.