Faith is a Verb.. Musings by Pastor Tony September 14, 2018

Faith is a Verb.. Musings by Pastor Tony

September 14, 2018

Friends:  

My last Sunday is in 2 days, so this is my last column I write here. In a few weeks, I step into a new role as the Minister for Committee on Ministry Development and Leadership, to train people across the denomination in how we educate and form people for ministry and how we support Clergy in their ministries. At the heart of this is what churches need, and the changing landscape of churches. Clergy are being trained to address these changes, even as churches are known for their resistance to change and insistence on honoring tradition. In my 8 years as your pastor, we have addressed some of these traditions that may be blocking us from stepping into God's promised future.

Some in our congregation may feel like the changes we have undertaken together are cataclysmic, white others will feel like we are still too stuck in the tradition to be relevant in our world today. For me, the truth is somewhere in between. The cataclysmic shifts that are occurring in our church mirror those in our world, and for us to pass on any legacy as a congregation we must adapt to the changes, which may feel like we have abandoned all tradition. The tradition, though, is always held by God, as is the change, and the weird, wild, wonderful, woozy feelings we get as we live into the change. We have weathered many changes together, and we know there are always more to come, and I believe we have truly honored the traditions in ways that help with the changes.

I have often heard that a good preacher will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The challenge of modern church and ministry is that most of us like being comforted while few of us like being afflicted ( including me); and yet, growth of any kind, whether personal or as a congregation, must include some discomfort and maybe even pain. I hope I have struck a balance, pushing for uncomfortable change while also offering pastoral care during the process, and I pray that I have done this with the health and future of the church in sight.

We don't often get to both live through radical change and see the fruits of our labor be harvested. This is doubly true for clergy who join and lead a community for a season, and leave, relying on God to bring others to lead the harvest. This is part of my sadness as I leave, knowing that your lives and the life of this congregation will continue to change, and I will only get to watch it from afar. I do look firward to hearing what you and God discover together in the future.

Blessings, friends, on your continued ministry here at Arlington Community Church. Be open to some change. Honor the traditions, and also recognize when they are blocking growth. Love each other, love your neighbors, love this planet. This is what we have been handed from our forbears; May it be what we hand to those who follow.

Love in Christ,  

Pastor Tony

Faith is a Verb… Musings by Pastor Tony August 3, 2018

Faith is a Verb…      Musings by Pastor Tony     August 3, 2018

In about 6 weeks we will do a ritual of release, in which I will ask your forgiveness for mistakes I have made, and you will ask me for forgiveness for mistakes you have made. As we approach that time, I am reflecting on the many things we have accomplished together, as well as the things that are still left yet to do. I remember 8 years ago feeling a sense of hopelessness or mistrust, which is no longer palpable. Since then, we have grown in faith, hope, trust, and we show this with the building improvements and the Person of the Planet programming.

One thing that we did not accomplished is growing the numbers in our little congregation. New attendees and members have mostly balanced the deaths and losses, and more than 1/3 of our attendees have been here less than I have; yet, we could not actually bump the numbers up. Eight years ago, even though research shows how difficult it is for congregations to jump to the next size up, I naively believed we might be able to do that. Congregation size is due to many factors including: the pastor; the congregational culture; location; infrastructure of building and leadership; programming; history of choices around staffing, outreach, finances; music and worship style. None of these is in isolation. Changing the size of a congregation is complex, requiring changes to those factors and more.

Knowing this, and still wondering if we made any mistakes around church growth, I recently listened to a favorite NPR podcast, Hidden Brain, a conversation with experts on sociology. The episode called “Creating God” (July 16, 2018)  looked at the study of the evolution of religion, naming how integral religion was for our species to go from smaller roaming tribes of 35-50 to becoming settled in much larger cities. In small groups of a few dozen people, it turns out, you can trust each other because it is easy to keep an eye on each other; in larger groups, it was suggested that we need an external force to judge and punish those who break the norms of the society and create trust.  In ancient societies, God and religion became that judge and ethical arbiter, as well as the source of trust. As those tasks became more the realm of the government, God became described as more forgiving and benevolent.

As fascinating as that is to me, what stopped me was the number-- 35-50, a few dozen--the average number we have maintained for worship over the last 8 years. Our species evolved to be in the size of our congregation! We belong to a congregation that is natural for our species!

We say that faith is not measured in numbers; but can we claim, in this numbers-hungry, data-driven society that our faith is not related to how many people attend or how large our treasury is? Yes. Our small-sized congregation allows us to make decisions as a group, prioritize all voices rather than just a few, act out of unity rather than merely following the leaders, and test visions and dreams in casual conversations to get a pretty good sampling before we vote. We see who is present on a Sunday, and more importantly, who is missing and ask after them. In fact, as I think of all that we have done and will do with just this size congregation, I am convinced that God is in our midst, in this size, in ACC, and will continue to be in the future!  

Peace,                                                                                   

Pastor Tony

Interim Minister Search Committee

Interim Minister Search Committee

August 3, 2018

The Council has appointed an Interim Minister Search Committee for the purpose of finding an interim minister to serve the congregation after Tony's departure, and to help the congregation form its priorities and search for a settled minister. The Interim Minister Search Committee consists of Linda Young, Anita Baker, and Ruth Robinson. Moderator, Nina Harmon is working closely with the committee. We have met with the Rev. Davena Jones, from the Northern California - Nevada Conference of the UCC to learn about the procedure for selecting an Interim, and to share with her the drafts for a job posting proposal. The ACC Bylaws require Council approval for the interim job posting. Therefore, the Council will meet on Monday to review the committee's proposal. Once approved, it will be posted nationally. If you have questions, you are welcome to speak to any of those on the committee. After we have an interim in place, ACC will need a broader Search Committee to be formed. That committee will work with the Interim to search for a settled minister. Please pray with us as we move forward to meet the needs of the ACC congregation.   

Linda Young, Interim Search Chair

Change 4 FiveHundred's 2nd Annual Backpack Giveaway

Change 4 FiveHundred's 2nd Annual Backpack Giveaway

Sunday September 9th, 2018 from 12-4pm 

Shields Reid Community Center

1410 Kelsey St Richmond, CA 94801

This idea was started last year by Marcus Byrd-Ray, who spent some time incarcerated and has recently graduated from CSU-East Bay; this project is his idea a way of giving back to the community, and giving kids at Verde Elementary a good start to the school year. It is a great idea, and in one year has become a festival with many sponsors, a time to highlight the many opportunities in the area, with food, prizes, games, and the backpack giveaway. He is aiming for 500 backpacks.

Last year members of Arlington Community Church UCC raised $500 to purchase 50 backpacks and supplies. We'd like to do that again.

So how can you get involved?

1. Donate-make checks payable to Arlington Community Church, with "Backpacks" in the Memo line
2. Plan on attending the event: Sun Sept 9, 2018, 1-4 pm @ Shields-Reid Rec Center-For EventBrite tickets (free) click here
3. Help put together supplies and backpacks: Fri Sept 7, 10 am (tentative) @ Shields-Reid
4. Write a letter of encouragement to a child. These letters will be placed in the backpacks.
5. Work with Pastor Tony to purchase, deliver, and announce this project.

Let's be sponsors again for this! Talk to Pastor Tony if you can help out at all!

- Pastor Tony

We Are Neighbors by Ruth Robinson

A recent article about Fred Rogers' lessons for our own lives impressed me. There has been a major focus on Rogers, his impact on children via television and the absence of a similar presence today, not just for kids but also for all of us. He left shoes too big to fill and a void that seems to grow daily. The article referenced below distilled seven lessons for us from him. If you'd like to read the other six lessons from Shea Tuttle's article, check this link:

Here is Lesson #7:

7. We are neighbors

Mister Rogers didn't call us "acquaintances" or "friends"; he didn't call us "boys and girls" or "ladies and gentlemen." He called us neighbors.

"Neighbor" is biblical language, which Fred knew well. The Hebrew Bible instructs God's people to "love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Lev. 19:18), and in the New Testament, Jesus discusses this commandment with a legal expert who is trying to lay a conversational trap for him (Luke 10:25-37).

"And who is my neighbor?" the scholar asks, like a sly Thanksgiving table guest or a social media troll.

And Jesus answers, like Mister Rogers might, with a story.

In the story, a man is beaten by thieves and left to die. A priest-a powerful man, both religiously and politically-approaches, sees the injured man, and crosses to the other side of the road to avoid helping. Another religious leader does the same. Finally, someone else comes down the road, someone who is the wrong class or the wrong color, a member of a despised group. He is on a journey, but he stops. He is "moved with compassion" and tends the injured man, takes him to an inn, and pays for his lodging and care.

"What do you think?" Jesus asks his tricky interlocutor. "Which one of these three was a neighbor?"

And though perhaps he can't believe he is saying so, the scholar answers, "The one who demonstrated mercy toward him."

When Mister Rogers called us neighbors, when he hosted us in his own Neighborhood for over 30 years, he was calling us-gently but firmly-out of our structures of power and our silos of sameness, into lives of mercy and care for one another.

Admittedly, maybe he was overly optimistic. Maybe he was calling us something better than we actually were. But maybe he believed that if he got to us while we were young, if he told us, again and again, that we were good, that we were lovable, and that we could extend mercy, maybe we could grow into real neighbors to one another.

Maybe we still can.

Ruth again:

I think as we consider voting to become a Creation Justice Church, the notion of neighbors is critical to the conversation; our neighbors include our world, our environment, those who have no voices...the silent ones, the animals, the plants.

Letter from Pastor Tony July 20, 2018

July 18, 2018

To the Family of Christ at Arlington Community Church UCC

Nina Harmon and I write to announce that I have been called by the Holy Spirit to join the staff of the national setting of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Minister for Committee on Ministry Development and Leadership. I will be starting on October 1, 2018, and over the next few months Darrell and I will be looking for housing and getting ready to move to Cleveland, Ohio. My final day as the Minister of Arlington Community Church will be sometime in September, to be announced in the coming weeks.

Eight years ago, led by God, the search committee and I began the dance of being called into community together. In those intervening eight years, our entire community has changed tempos many times, sometimes moving to a quick-step and other times rhythmically swaying to a slow beat of life together. We have sung a variety of melodies from praising God to crying out in grief, remembering a long tradition of musical types and tentatively trying new forms. Many people have left the dance floor to continue in the eternal dance with God, many people have joined us in the dance, and some have taken a turn on the floor and then moved along to another party. Now it is my turn to leave this dance to join another.

Eight years ago we were a community with few long-term visions; now we are a proud people with purpose as both a community center and a center of the community. We know we are called to steward creation, build a just society, and live our faith as a verb. Together we have written new By-Laws, had an almost complete staff turn-over, became a solar congregation, and faithfully participated in New Beginnings, which led us to approving a new Vision and Mission statement. We developed a plan, Vision 2020, that will continue to improve the facility over the next years. We did all of this as a community of Christ, with input from various voices, paying attention to each other’s passions and gifts, and the presence of the Holy One dancing with us, holding us, swaying with us, leading us, and choreographing our next moves.

The Holy One continues to hold, guide, and urge us on as we dance on to sweet, sad, celebratory, and soulful music. Even as we are called to dance with new partners, I will continue to love you, as many of you will continue to love me. While I am honored and humbled to be asked to join the national staff, I am more than a little scared of what lies ahead of me. Your emotions may be mixed, too; as we celebrate our accomplishments together, you may also wonder what will happen next.

Over the next few months, it will be necessary for us say good-bye to one another, and after the final good-bye, I will need to have no contact with you for some time. While it is appropriate for us to follow each other from a distance, and I will celebrate and mourn with you from Cleveland as life’s dance takes friends and family in and out of the circle, I will not be available for any of the day-to-day needs of ACC. This is part of the covenant we clergy make with the United Church of Christ. It allows the next pastor to form bonds with you that are needed to lead a community, you as a congregation to reflect on our time together without interference from me, and for me to start a new ministry without being distracted by the needs of Arlington Community Church. I will continue to serve as your pastor.

The ACC By-Laws are very clear on this transition time: The Council is to appoint an Interim Search Team to find an Interim Pastor, and through the interim period a Search Team will be formed to find your next settled pastor. Through all of this time, the Church Council will be working with Rev. Davena Jones, our Associate Conference Minister, to assure as smooth a transition as possible.

I have enjoyed and grown from our time on the dance floor together. I pray that you have as well, and that the dance will continue on.

Peace,

Summer Worship 2018

Summer Worship

We are trying some new things this summer!

Each week will have a different easy, relatively well-known Offertory, and we invite you to drop in at 9 am to run through it. To listen to those songs and some other tunes we will use in worship, click the links below.

Repeated chants

Heart of Creation: click here

Breathe : Click here

Offertories

Jun 10: Feeling Good (click here)

June 17: Put a Little Love in your Heart (click here)

June 24: We are Called (click here)

July 1: DeColores (click here) (We will sing it in English...)

July 8: Seasons of Love (click here)

We will also be entering worship with some rhythm and sounds; come a few minutes early, pick up a hand instrument and join the beat!!!

See you in worship!

Pastor Tony, Shanti, and Tim

Reviving Our Democracy: A Conversation with Rev. J Barber

Thursday July 12 @ 7:30 PM

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704   

DESCRIPTION: Nearly two years after Election Day 2016, Americans’ rights are under siege across the nation, from voter suppression and gerrymandering to police violence and attacks on immigrants. Yet there has also been a surge in civic action to protect these rights, and it is gathering dramatic momentum as we near the midterm elections.

Join America’s preeminent civil rights leader Reverend William J. Barber, architect of North Carolina’s Moral Monday movement and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, and Mother Jones' senior reporter Ari Berman for an in-depth discussion about the current state of civil rights and democracy, and how we can energize both.

Books will be available for sale; book signing to follow the main program.

Sponsored by Ben & Jerry's, the San Francisco Foundation, and FreeSpeechTV.

Special thanks to Peter and Mimi Buckley, Susie and Mark Buell, Loren and Anne Kieve, Michael and Jackie Klein, Tom Layton and Gyöngy Laky, Roger McNamee, Panta Rhea Fund, Rosenberg Foundation, Dick and Sue Wollack.

Click here for more information and tickets.

May 2018 Council Notes

COUNCIL NOTES

Items from our May 2018 meeting:

Building and Grounds Trustees reported that new carpeting will be installed in the Fireside Room and up the stairs to the offices.  Windows are being installed in the doors from the Fireside Room to the hall, the stairwell, and the choir room.  A window is also being installed in the door from the hall to the stairwell.

Council agreed to hire a Minister in Training for the 2018-2019 year. 

We heard an informative presentation from Marin Clean Energy (“MCE”) about programs to supply electricity from renewable resources.  We agreed to consider our options after we review the annual “true up” reconciliation from PG&E in September.

We discussed plans for “Blessing of the Animals.”  The lawn area and the Community Center will probably not be available for a large event as we have produced in other years.  This year, the event will probably only be a blessing, and it could take place in our patio or possibly at one of the dog parks.

We began plans for a special all-congregation event around worship planning. 

If you would like more details about any of these items, feel free to ask our moderator, Nina Harmon, or Pastor Tony.  Complete church council minutes are available in the administrative office.

Faith is a Verb… Musings by Pastor Tony June 1, 2018

Faith is a Verb…     Musings by Pastor Tony     June 1, 2018

Last Sunday in worship, I introduced the idea of Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (click here for more info) as a way to understand each of our different experiences of our world and  the Divine. Gardener claimed that teaching and testing to 2 styles-- verbal/linguistic and mathematical—as our schools do, misses huge parts of the ability for us to process information. He said there are at least 7 Intelligences—verbal/ linguistic, mathematical/logical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual, musical, and body/kinesthetic. There may be more, and each of us probably has more than one intelligence or even all of them.

Using Gardener’s theory, to best connect with all people who attend ACC I  think broadly when I produce educational and faith forming Spectrums as well as worship. I ask these and other questions: Where is there movement (and can we do movement in the pews for folks with limited mobility)? What visually changes periodically? How do we incorporate both interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences? 

Last  Sunday after reading the scripture, I asked people to move into the one of Gardener’s categories with which they most resonated, and then I asked them to think about using that category to bring the scripture alive in worship.  The mathematical/logical people naturally came up with a spread sheet. The visual people said they liked the visuals of the space. The intrapersonals (those who have a rich inner life and seek answers from within) said they would like more meditative music played as we meditate and explore the scripture. My favorite answer was from the Interpersonals (those who connect with others and feel the energy of the room as a significant part of the experience), who said that for worship to be meaningful for them, they needed to participate. And not just reading some of the liturgies, but participate in the writing, reading, acting out, singing, movement of worship.

Worship is the most meaningful when each of us (all of us!!!) has ownership in the outcome. What is the outcome? Some will say it is to please God, but I say it is to experience God, to come near enough to God to be moved to go and change the world, to feel God’s refreshing, waking power so that we know deep in our bones that we are called to be stewards of creation and to build a just society based upon the inspiration of our faith. Worship is a team sport, and we are a team of worshippers, thus we are, as an entire congregation, a Worship Team.

This Sunday we will explore more of this in worship, and discuss worship and the Worship Team in a Spectrum after worship. Worship is perhaps the most important thing we do together, so I hope you join us for this exploration.

Peace,

Pastor Tony