Leadership

Hola! I'll keep this short because I have Spanish homework calling.

Aside from new spanish courses (among others) this semester is particularly exciting for me because I am finally an upperclassman and am beginning to take on leadership roles on campus. Specifically, I have begun to co-lead a weekly freshmen women's "small group." I'm hesitant to call it a Bible study, because it's not, though many aspects of the group are similar to a conventional Bible study.

Here's a brief rundown of what small group is at Pres House:

Each week we begin small group by "checking in" with each other (as we drink copious amounts of tea and coffee and fill up on freshly baked cookies): we hear about the highs and lows of everyone's weeks and receive updates on notable events shared from the week before. Then we re-read the scripture passage from the past Sunday's worship service and spend the bulk of the meeting discussing ideas from our ministers' sermons. Finally we close in prayer.

I was a part of small group last year for sophomore women and this year I agreed to lead a freshmen group with a friend. Our first meeting was on Tuesday night and I can happily report it went pretty smoothly. Three freshmen showed up and all of them had questions about small group, Pres House in general and basic, "freshmany"things like making friends and joining clubs.

It was wonderful to learn about each of the women's lives--I even discovered one girl is from the same hometown, Shoreview, MN, as my freshman roommate and that this girl's sister attends St. Olaf College (where I went to school my freshman year) and is a junior like me. However, though the process of leading a group, I'm learning a valuable lesson about my faith.

I'm discovering that it's a genuine challenge to lead a Christian group. What kinds of questions can I ask the group so as not to offend someone or assume too much? Can I flat out ask a person if they are a Christian? How does the group begin to dig deeper into each other's lives, beliefs and insecurities? I know all of these questions will answer themselves with time and practice. In fact, it's exciting to know we are at the beginning of what will hopefully become strong, enduring relationships with each other. I just pray that I can moderate an environment that can foster relationship building smoothly.

Small group is a unique place where students can gather with one another and with Christ to grow as a group toward God. It's hard to find an similar environment elsewhere on campus. I feel fortunate to be a part of this group and seek God's guidance as I do my best to lead others.

Also, if you have any leadership tips, I'd love to hear them. :)

Adios, es la hora para espanol.

Fundraiser: Dinner with Tony

Friends, this advertisement has gone out in several places including area newspapers and all-church e-mails, but I thought I'd post it here as well. 

It has been so exciting to see the way that the community is rallying around the Raddatz-Rodriguez family in this time.  Just today, we got notice that we will be receiving a flag that has been flying over the State Capital to sell in the auction.  The auction itself has evolved from being just a silent auction to both silent and live, since several of the items are worthy of SuperFast and Exciting words, like a hot air balloon ride and this flag.  

I have loved getting to know Tony as his pastor this year.  He has an absolutely beautiful family-- real and full of ups and downs like any other human family.  I have to say that one of the things I truly love about this community is that here in Ripon people care about each other.  And when you witness and experience that care, you can see just how genuine it is.  I hope you'll come on Saturday night, if for nothing else than to see how much truth is in that statement.  

Here is the write-up that has been sent out in several forms already:

"Tony Rodriguez is a community member that has been battling with an on-going and persistent diagnosis of liver cancer that has spread to his lungs. In this time, Tony has undergone extensive radiation and chemotherapy treatments. We are saddened with heavy hearts for Tony and his family to learn that his prognosis has been recently given as poor. Even with ongoing chemotherapy treatments, Tony has been given four to ten months to live. 

Our hearts goes out to Tony, Cindy, and their family in this difficult time. As they cope with the emotional burden of this news, they also have a complicated schedule of cancer treatments, doctors’ visits, and appointments which results in unpredictable gas expenses and reduced work hours for Cindy and no work for Tony.

Though we cannot change the outcome of this situation, we can rally around the Rodriguez family as a community to ease the financial burden of this diagnosis. Please join us for a pizza buffet and silent auction fundraiser on Saturday, September 7th from 5-8 PM at Roadhouse Pizza. Tickets are $12 for the pizza buffet and available at the door or at First Congregational Church of Ripon.

If you can’t make the event, you can still show your support! Please give generously and make donations payable to First Congregational Church of Ripon with “Dinner with Tony” in the memo line. Contact Stephanie Prellwitz at s.prellwitz@gmail.com for more information."

Celebrating One Year!

Friends, 

Today is the one year anniversary of my service at the First Congregational Church of Ripon, and, in an official way, of my service to God's church in general (though I hope I can say I've been serving God's church for much longer than that).  The anniversary of my ordination was also a week ago, August 26th.  In all the hubbub of my life right now-- full-term pregnancy and purchasing a house-- I haven't really taken time to celebrate either of them.  But when I take a moment to stop and think about how important both of these dates are to me, it's clear that they're dates I should celebrate!  

For now, I will simply say in prayer: 

Thank you God for a beautiful year of service to you and your people, for the way this congregation has blessed my family, for partnership, for Grace, for learning and growth, and for potential.  May this year be one of many.  Amen.  

And share a passage of scripture that has been speaking to me as I look back on the year:
1 Corinthians 3:5-10
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

Thank you friends for working with me, for listening to my ideas, for challenging me, and for encouraging me.  

Sermon Reflection Times TWO! | August 18, 2013; August 25, 2013

Hi Church and Church Followers!
I skipped last week's blog post, and I regret it because I liked the message I preached.  You see, the truth is (thou shalt not lie) occasionally I skip a blog post because I am not particularly pleased with the way the message comes across and I feel like it's one that I'll just let slip through the cracks.  They're all on the website, so if you REALLY want to listen you'll almost never miss one.  But last week, the post slipped through the cracks simply as a matter of prioritizing my work week, and the blog post fell to the bottom of the list.

So here!  I still won't do a full reflection, but I will post the MP3 and the scripture references.
August 18, 2013
Read: Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Listen: Patience


August 25, 2013
Read: Psalm 71:1-6, Jeremiah 1:4-10
Listen: God Is Still Creating
Dig a Little Deeper: 
Here are Meister Eckhart's words.  Originally written in German, this is a translation done by Matthew Fox.

"The Word of God is always 'in the beginning'. And this means that it is always
in the process of being born and is always already born.
     Now it is the nature of a word to reveal what is hidden. The Word that is
hidden still sparkles in the darkness and whispers in the silence. It entices us to
pursue it, to yearn and sigh after it.
     For it wishes to reveal something about God.
What is my name? What is your name? What is God's name?
Our name is:
          that we must be born.
And the Creator's name is:
          to bear.
The soul alone among all creatures is generative
like God is.
               We all are meant to be mothers of God.
In this birth you will discover all blessing.
    But neglect this birth and you neglect all blessing.
          Tend only to this birth in you and you will find there
all goodness and consolation,
     all delight, all being, and all truth.
 [...]
Every day a person bears fruit a hundred times
     or a thousand times or countless times giving birth and becoming fruitful out
of the noblest foundation of all."

Here's a Wikipedia article about who Meister Eckhart is.  I think I've said this before... I'm a shameless Wikipedia fan.  I know it's not for important citations, but it's awesome for quick info!

I'm interested in what you think about the idea that God is STILL creating and forming.  This is a big theological discussion.  First of all, it is an ancient and ongoing discussion about Theism vs. Deism.  Did God create the world and then step away from it (Deism), or did God create the world and continue to be involved in it (Theism)?  Second of all, the question is how much of a role does God play in your life today?  Do you think your life is predetermined by God (predestination) or that you have free will, and God is continuing to play a role in your decisions about your own future?

I'd love to have a sit-down and chat discussion about these things, but for now you can feel free to leave a comment.  Where are you on the Deism vs. Theism spectrum?  Where are you on the Predestination vs. Free Will spectrum?  And with those in mind, what do you think of the sermon I preached this week?  Is God Still Creating you?  

Understanding Others

Given I start school in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd share an experience I'm going to be a part of this year. A few weeks ago I received an email, sent to all UW-Madison undergrads from the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions. The Lubar Institute invited students to apply to participate in their 9th annual Undergraduate Forum which will bring together roughly 30 students (about 10 Christians, 10 Jews, and 10 Muslims) to discuss the following topics for 2 hours each month over the course of the school year:
1. Notions of God in the Abrahamic Traditions
2. Worship and Practice
3. Cultural Stereotypes of Jews, Christians, Muslims
4. Why Should There be Dialogue among Religions?
5. Homosexuality in the Abrahamic Religions
6. Experiencing Religion and Religious Dialogue Abroad
7. Faith and Orthodoxy: Liberal Views vs. Conservative and Fundamentalist Views

This link explains the goals of the Lubar Institute's Forum: http://vimeo.com/52875748

Through a discussion of each of these topics, the goal is to identify an intersection between different Abrahamic faiths. I was intrigued when I read through the email and decided to submit an application. Here is the personal statement I wrote:

I am a Christian. One who is not content. I am tired of my Christian identity being glued to a honeycomb. This  honeycomb appears sweet, but as you look closer you find compartments. And within each of these compartments is a judgment from another Christian or a  Jewish friend or a person a thousand miles away. There are many judgments like:

She’s a Christian and therefore she must not accept my sexuality. She views the words in her Bible as an incontestable guide. I’m sure she believes all non-Christians are going to hell. I doubt she many friends of other faiths. I bet she wishes everyone were Christian.

I am a Christian who is not content, but I am a Christian who is grateful. In an experience like the Lubar Undergraduate Forum I have the opportunity to say:

Hey, I’m a Christian. I like to worship through writing. Gay is ok and my Bible is a bound tapestry of principles, ancient Middle Eastern culture, adventure, deceit, reconciliation, letters and ideas. Through Church and religion classes in college, I’ve learned more about my faith and Christianity and realized that sometimes, these words don’t mean the same thing. I’ve also come to admire questioning. I say, let’s stop causing violence over the answer to who are God’s chosen people, because regardless of the answer, our God desires peace.

I’m a Christian who also wants to be a doctor. I want to be there for a person who is feeling vulnerable, for that person who can’t see what is going on inside of them and who is looking if not for a cure, at the very least for comfort. I do not pray enough. When I do, it’s often in my most defenseless moments. I pray to God for his coziness and reassurance. And I feel better. Other people pray. Christians, Jews, Muslims and Baha’is pray. And they visit their doctor when they’re feeling unwell. If I can learn about the beliefs  they carry close to their hearts, I can provide healing and encouragement when medications fail. I can build their trust by extending the cultural competency they need from me and empower them to celebrate social and spiritual wellness through their spiritual practices.

I am and always have been a Christian. One who writes down her beliefs. Now I’m ready to speak on them. More importantly though, am I ready to listen to the ideas, dreams and fears of others.  I too possess an amber honey that runs syrupy thick with false conclusions about others. Events on the news, from our history and in pop culture have certainly tainted my perceptions of the real identities of people of faiths not like my own. But I yearn to break this chain of wrongful judgment through an authentic understanding of the Abrahamic religions. 

I pray that through collaborative enthusiasm, we each can crumble this honeycomb, letting its honey seep un-tasted into the earth. The Lubar Undergraduate Forum is the perfect medium to express thoughts, cultivate questions, and elicit a positive change in the world through our relationships with each other. I am thankful the opportunity to apply to this program and in gratitude to you for reading my thoughts on faith.

I wanted to share my personal statement with you because, 1) I feel strongly about what I wrote and 2) I believe our church is already a leader at embracing the different Abrahamic religions. This is what I feel most proud about when I say I go to the First Congregational Church of Ripon. We certainly do not all meet eye to eye on issues of current events, other religions and even Christianity, but we have respect for each other and a unique desire to learn.

We demonstrate our longing to learn about people different from ourselves through field trips to a Bahai temple in Chicago, panels at Ripon College, speakers over coffee hour, book clubs, clergy picnics, community vacation Bible school, monthly dinners, partnerships with individuals in Africa and many, more ways. I like that our church represents a vision that acknowledges that we do not have all the answers and that the beliefs of others are as valuable as our own.

There are of course many demographics our church has yet to reach out too and we have a lot of learning to do in the future. But, I am thankful to worship with members that receive new experiences with love. If God made humans in his likeness, we must be worshiping him when we are in relationship with each other.

A couple of days ago I found out I was picked to participate in the religion forum. I will share my experiences in the coming months!

-Andrea

Sermon Reflection | August 11, 2013

Read: Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Listen: By Faith
Dig a Little Deeper: 

•      The Author refers to the Book of Hebrews as a "word of exhortation" in Hebrews 13:22, which is the same phrase used in Acts 13:15 to describe a synagogue sermon of Paul.  So while it's often called a letter, it's really, in the author's own words, a sermon.  Interesting fact to share at your next cocktail party. 
•      A note about authorship.  I like the way it's described in my New Oxford Annotated Bible:
• "When the New Testament was being formed, this anonymous sermon was attributed to Paul, presumably because of the growing authority of Paul's reputation as a letter writer.  The early church leaders Clement, Tertullian, and Origen, however, acknowledged differences in style and theology between Hebrews and Paul's own letters.  Clement argued that Luke translated Pual's Hebrew original into Greek, while Origen suggested that a disciple of Paul wrote the letter based on Paul's notes.  Modern interpreters have suggested other authors, including Apollos and Priscilla (see Acts 18.24-26).  There is no sufficient historical evidence, however, to identify any person named in the New Testament as the author" (New Oxford Annotated Bible intro to Hebrews, New Testament pg 369).
• Many if not all churches struggle with finding the commitment necessary to get dreams and ideas off the ground.  We see so much potential, so much hope, and have so much faith in our community but each thing we want to do takes action, organization, planning, brainstorming, conversation, etc. etc etc...  I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and that's why in this sermon I hoped to really prod people to consider bringing their ideas to the surface and not just handing them off but helping to execute them and make them happen.  
• I wonder, what ideas might you have for our church?  When was the last time you said, "We should..." about our church, whether it was "we should change that lightbulb" or "we should bring about the Kingdom of God," and what can you do to make it happen?  I'd love to hear your ideas.  I'd love to cheer you on and help you where I can.  

Introducing Our New Christian Education Director!

Hi Church! 

After being so blessed by a wonderful interim Christian Education Director, we have hired Olivia Wetzel to fill the permanent position.  Olivia was the obvious choice for us, as she has been such a great nursery attendant, working with our other nursery attendant Nalani for the last several months.  Our little ones think she and Nalani are just awesome, and we're really glad that Olivia can step up and work with them more often throughout the week.  Olivia will be delivering children's messages, teaching Sunday School, continuing her work in the nursery, and coordinating family/church family activities.  She will also be posting monthly on this blog. This position is in constant re-definition right now as we work to understand what Christian Education means in our community, and Olivia and I are excited to work together with the Christian Education Committee to make that happen.  

Please come meet her and get to know her during coffee hour on Sunday, August 25th.  

Here is the introduction that Olivia contributed to the August edition of The Spire, our church newsletter. 

"Hello UCC Community!

            My name is Olivia Wetzel and I will be serving as the Director of Youth Christian Education! I just finished my undergraduate career at Ripon College and I am currently a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the field of professional school counseling. During the school year, I provided nursery care to the church community, but I am extremely excited to take on this new position as a Christian educator. One of my favorite things about the UCC church is the open and caring environment. In this environment, I feel that I have the unconditional support to help inspire the youth of the church community to engage in their own faith journeys.

            I am greatly looking forward to working with not only the youth of the church, but also its adult members in discussing different topics in faith and also organizing events for the church community as a whole. To kick off the start of Sunday School, I would love to meet you at coffee hour after the service on August 25^th! Hope to see you there! Continue to have a safe and fun summer!" -- Olivia

Peace to you all!
Pastor Joanna