| June 2011 |
The Good News |
|
Justice. Spirituality. Food. Music. It is an ordinary workday, a Wednesday afternoon to be precise, and yet the atmosphere is festive and everyone seems to be relaxed and in a good mood. It helps that the sun is shining. This is an outdoor event and rain would have put a damper on it. Today, however, is a perfect day in late spring, not too hot and not too cold. All kinds of people and families have shown up and there are lots of children in the mix. It is very multi-cultural, and people of all ages and backgrounds are enjoying themselves, sampling slices of fresh fruit, munching on buttery cobs of corn, engaging in conversations. “Have you tried this before?” – “No, but I have an open mind…” Someone plays the guitar and sings folksongs; he plays all my favorite songs. I take a seat on a low stone wall under a shady tree and sing along - in my head only, I don’t want to scare anyone off. A young mother lifts her little girl out of the stroller and into her arms and dances along to the music. I close my eyes and enjoy the sun on my face. A while ago I had a headache, but now it is completely gone. Where is all this taking place, you ask? At our local farmer’s market! Unlike shopping at the supermarket which at times leaves me a bit stressed, I find shopping at the farmer’s market fun and relaxing. The sights and sounds are so joyful: fruits, vegetables, flowers, crafts, homemade food, music, and sense of community which is both local and global. I learn about the food, what it is, where it is grown, and by whom. One stall sells Bolanis made by an Afghan family. The son tells me about his mother making the food. Church could be like this, right? Joyful, festive, colorful, multicultural, fun, relaxing, child friendly, earth friendly, intimate …and building a community that is both local and global. A place where justice and spirituality and earth care and art and music all come together. In fact, I think we are already headed there, and have always been headed there. From the earliest beginning on the day of Pentecost, and throughout the ages, when people planted gardens and cooked and ate together and “spent much time together in the temple, and broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” (Luke 2:46-47) In this season of Pentecost, the season of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, may you sense God’s presence anew through sight, sound, touch, justice and community.
Social Action updates During the season of Lent this year we undertook several projects dealing with hunger in our community and in the world. Our congregation supported the CROP Walk raising $ which went to Second Harvest Food Bank, Catholic Charities Community Center and Church World Services. We also encouraged designated giving to ELCA World Hunger to fight poverty and hunger in the U.S. and around the world. The Sunday school children were a great help in this project by collecting change in donation boxes for a total of $18.29. They also colored chicks for our chicken coop that was meant to track our donations. It was a colorful visual aid and drew attention to the project and was meant to illustrate each $10 donated could buy ten chicks for a family starting an egg business. In all we were able to send $420 to ELCA world hunger. Get more information online: elca.org/hunger. Our third project was selling Fair Trade Easter chocolate candy from Lutheran World Relief. LWR invested in Devine Chocolates which is a farmer owned chocolate brand in Ghana. Being Fair Trade means farmers are getting a fair price, access to credit, protecting the environment and funding programs that benefit the entire community. We not only sold all the candy we purchased, ($750 plus postage) but hopefully we brought some insight into the world’s problems with the chocolate trade. Get more information online:
Summer of Comfort
During August we will be having two “Undies Sundays” when we will collect new underwear and socks for low income school kid ages 5 to 12 years. Watch for more information on this project in the coming months.
New-Heritage Services
Second Mile Giving for June is L.O.P.P and L.A.M.N. LOPPThe Lutheran Office for Public Policy is a vehicle for public policy education and advocacy in matters of hunger and economic justice, the health and integrity of God’s creation, and human rights and human dignity. It serves the California expressions of the ELCA as they seek to express God’s love and care for our neighbors—especially the “least of these”—who experience poverty, deprivation, and discrimination.Priority areas include the state budget for health and human services (state safety net in health, food assistance, child care and protection, etc), including revenue options; budget and governance reform which moves state government away from the gridlock and partisanship which have harmed low-income people and led to broad distrust in government; and care for God’s creation (especially climate change). LAMNLutheran Advocacy Ministry in Nevada seeks to:
Sierra Pacific Assembly 2011 The central theme of the meeting was Matthew 25:31-46, summed up in the tagline "Lord, when did we?" There were several Bible study sessions devote to this, with different scholars approaching this familiar passage in interesting ways. A secondary theme was the ongoing work with anti-racism workshops and ethnic ministries. We were reminded that for most people, Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week, and that our congregations frequently do not look like the communities they purport to serve. The discussion of the budget occupied most of the time allocated for business sessions. The receipt of a very large one-time unrestricted gift (from the sale of the Golden Gate Lutheran Church property in San Francisco), while greatly needed and appreciated, complicated the discussions. While it was not argued that the synod should put more into reserves, it was generally recognized that building a budget on a gift like this is not sustainable, and that unless congregational giving increases significantly or other sources of income are found, next year's budget will be even more difficult that this year's. Although it was clearly the sense of the room that folks liked the way the new distributed model for synod operations was working, folks seemed to be in denial about paying for the staff needed to keep it going. It was fitting that after the budget discussion there was amazing talk on stewardship. I hope that when the video becomes available, we'll get a chance to see it and discuss it together. As a result of the amount of time spent on the budget and other discussions, the assembly did not get to some of the resolutions on the agenda, most notably the anti-bullying resolution. As with any other business not completed by the assembly, this will be taken up by the synod council. Whether you go as a voting member, visitor, or volunteer, I highly recommend attending a synod assembly. Next year's is planned to take place here in Silicon Valley, so the opportunity is coming!
Who are the quilters?
W.E.L.C.A.
Congratulations to the Graduates! Esther and Rick Rechenmacher will honor granddaughters who are graduating: Laurel Malea Smith graduates from Los Angles State University with a Masters in Nursing. [Nurse Practitioner] Stephanie Rechenmacher will graduate from Presentation High and April Quittner from Mitty High. Sarah Komnick is graduating from California High School. She plans on attending Sacramento State University in the fall.
In Memoriam-Arthur Petersen A memorial service in celebration of his life was held on Saturday May 28 at Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
Birthdays
Anniversaries
Calendar of events
|
June Good News In this issue: Justice. Spirituality. Food. Music. |
|
The Good News e-Version June 2011 If you wish to subscribe to this newsletter, email us here. Our mailing address is: 1550 Meridian Ave San Jose, CA 95125 Our telephone: 408-266-8022 Copyright (C) 2011 Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church All rights reserved. |
|
During the months of June and July we will be collecting items for Personal Care Kits for Lutheran World Relief. In the first year of the aftermath of the earth quake in Haiti LWR gave out 77,585 personal care kits. The need is great. When natural disaster strikes families often have little chance to gather their belongings before fleeing the danger. The simple items included in a Personal Care Kit allow them to wash away the dirt and sweat, with fresh scent of soap and the softness of a towel as reminders of someone’s care and concern for them. The following are included in the kit:
Five people from CGS attended this year's Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly, held in Burlingame May 13th through 15th. Pastor Bea, Paul T. and Jean H. were voting members; Laurie G. was there as a member of the synod staff, and Randy P. attended as a member of the synod nominating committee.
We have a group of women at CGS that find much satisfaction in putting together quilts for needy people. They call themselves the Quilters. But they are not really doing traditional quilting. What they are doing is taking fabrics that have been donated, piecing them into attractive quilt tops, adding a filler for warmth and then a back to form a quilt. They stretch these fabrics out on a wooden frame so they can tie the quilt with yarn. They then hem and stitch the edge and it is ready to give free to some family in need. Many of them go to family shelters where there is always great need. The quilters take great care to make the quilts attractive, feeling these families need something in their lives that is beautiful.
The quilts are made from donated materials, even using used blankets for fillers. We do have material on hand. What we often need is used blankets, but what we desperately need is extra hands to help with the tying of the yarn. Are your hands available?
Out of the quilting project, we have a new project. I am making clothes for orphan children. From the smaller pieces of donated fabric I have been making children’s clothing. I started making dresses for girls and pants for boys, but soon realized dresses were labor intensive to make and hard for families to keep up. What both girls and boys need is play clothes or sleep clothes. They all have t-shirts, so if I make shorts or long pants then they have an outfit for play or sleep for boys or girls. Orphans come in all sizes. When I receive outing flannel I make infant garments, kimonos and receiving blankets.
These garments are filling a need for many children at little expense. I do have to buy elastic for the pants, but can buy 50 yard for $8, which means elastic for one pair of pants costs 8¢. I have made 1350 garments so far and they are much appreciated. 
The WELCA meeting for June will feature Joan Byron speaking of her nursing adventures in Nigeria on June 26th at 1:145 in the Fireside Room. A light lunch will be served.
Becky (Herhold) Langholz will graduate from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary on May 22nd. Becky now lives in St. James Minnesota where she is completing her internship at Augustana Lutheran Church. Her husband, Rev. Joel Langholz is the Associate Pastor at First Lutheran Church in St. James. Becky and Joel became parents to Alec Robert on April 11, 2011.
Art Petersen died on Saturday evening, May 14. He lived a long and engaged life and leaves behind a big family and a large number of friends and associates. Our prayers are with his children and grandchildren and their families. May his memory be for a blessing. 
