RS News Vol. 5 No. 16
Covering July 26, 2009 to August 8, 2009
Have A Minute?
by Janet L. Parker
“How do we enter Christianity’s Ecological Phase?” That was the core question that participants wrestled with during the course I attended at Ghost Ranch in June. That is the core question that animates this ten-year series, of which this course was a part, named “Earth-Honoring Faith: A Song of Songs.” This year’s course, entitled “Change We Believe In: Ritual and Loving the Earth Fiercely,” focused on recovering lost or underused resources within the Christian tradition that can transform our ritual and worship life together in earth-honoring ways.
What does it mean to enter Christianity’s Ecological Phase? According to Larry Rasmussen, it means passing through the “shock of recognition” in which we realize that the basic relationship of humans to the rest of the planet has fundamentally changed. Due to the “great collision” between human overuse of the planet’s resources and the planet’s own requirements for regeneration and sustainability, the rest of nature now has no independent life of its own. As Rasmussen explained, we have restructured the biosphere according to the industrial model; now we are restructuring the atmosphere (climate change).
This shock of recognition leads to the awareness that the basic human relationship to the planet must change again if human life is to continue on Planet Earth. Our great work, as Christians, and as Earth Citizens, is to address human poverty, injustice and disease at the same time as we find ways to meet nature’s requirements for sustaining life. All the moral and religious energies that human beings can muster must be pressed into the service of this great challenge. How do we begin?
Do we need to reexamine our economic practices, reconsider our political systems, reinvent our lifestyles, and transform our worship? Yes. Is this where we start? No. We start with the simple realization that we will not save what we do not love. And we will not love what we do not know. Without passion and deep emotional attachment to the planetary life that sustains us, we are indeed lost. Where do we begin?
Doug Griffin’s Have a Minute in the last Rock Spring News exuded the kind of love for particular natural places that is the key for saving our planet home. Which small piece of this beautiful planet do you love the most? Go to it as often as you can, commune with it, get to know it in all its complexity and beauty. Recognize both its brokenness and its integrity. Advocate for it. Start with what you love. Then find other places to love. And if you are excited about helping Christianity enter its ecological phase, come join your fellow travelers in Rock Spring’s eco-justice committee. We meet the third Tuesday of every month. Join us.
News and Notes
Joys and Concerns
Congratulations to Neil and Collette Dziemian on the baptism of their daughter, Gwendolyn Brenda Ann Dziemian, on Sunday, July 19! Godspeed and best wishes to Chris and Catherine Maness, who have left for a fourteen month work assignment in Colombia. We will miss you. Continued prayers are requested for Dick Merrill as he copes with cancer.
We also have word that Jim Mayer, stalled from traveling after 14 years fighting cancer, welcomes short visits from friends and church mates with stories to tell from beyond his door. Call the Mayers to settle a time to bring him your insights and thoughts.
In Memoriam
We are saddened to announce the passing of Lou Per-Lee, long-time member of Rock Spring, who died in her home at Goodwin House early Sunday, July 19th. Lou and Charlie Per-Lee were members of Rock Spring since 1953 and were extremely generous contributors to our church’s Endowment Fund. A memorial service will be held at Rock Spring on Wednesday, August 19 at 3:00 PM. All are invited.
Rock Spring 20s/30s says “SEE YOU LATER!”
Rock Spring 20s/30s would like to say buen viaje to Chris and Catherine Maness and Megan Tetrick as their careers take them to new and exciting places. We look forward to seeing you when work brings you back this way! And best of luck to Kate Rothgeb as she leaves the DC area to explore new opportunities in The Centennial State. You’ll all do wonderfully well in your new homes!
Staff Notes
Janet Parker will be the theologian-in-residence for the National Council of Churches’ Young Adult Eco-Justice Conference, which will be held July 27-29 on Port Isobel, an island in the Chesapeake Bay. The conference brings together young people in their 20s and early 30s who work on earth issues for a concentrated opportunity for experiential learning and theological reflection. This year, the theme will be climate change and poverty. A highlight will be a visit with the watermen of Tangier Island to learn about how their Christian faith has impacted their decision to engage in better stewardship of the Bay’s resources.
What’s Happening In Our Interim Time
Search Committee’s Local Church Profile draft ready for congregation’s feedback
On July 2, 2009 the Search Committee for the Senior Pastor provided the congregation with a DRAFT copy of the Church Profile for review and comments. The committee continued the effort started by the Interim Team to create a Church Profile that accurately portrays our congregation and its requirements for a new Senior Pastor. The profile is based upon the information the Congregation provided in response to the survey at the end of 2008. It is now time to make sure that the Search Committee has clearly communicated the vision of the Congregation in the profile.
The Search Committee hopes that you will take the time to reflect upon this document to make sure it communicates who we are and who we are looking for. If you didn’t get the Draft in the eblast we sent out, you can get it now if you click here. We ask that you provide comments no later than August 3, 2009 so we can review the comments and make any revisions necessary to the draft document based upon the overall response of the Congregation. We intend to present the Profile to Council at the July 27th meeting and will provide a summary of comments and changes, as well as a Final Profile for their approval in mid August once we have received, considered and incorporated your comments.
Please feel free to contact the Search committee with comments and questions at SearchCommittee@rockspringucc.org or leave hard copy comments in our Rock Spring office mailbox. A copy of the profile can be downloaded by clicking here.
2009 Senior High YoRS Mission Experience
A report on our week, in verse:
We went to Habitat
because we didn’t want to spend the summer playing jacks.
We arrived at Almost Heaven
with Cynthia and Devin,
Spencer, Mae, Jane, Ben, the Overholts, and Hankie too.
Nearby were some cows saying moo.
Then arrived Arcola and St. Mary
from Dulles and Shrewsbury.
Arcola was middle-high,
their energy seemed to never die.
Among them Nick and Eric had some awesome traits,
they helped us with coolers, fires, and crazy eights.
St. Mary’s was older like us,
they had to drive 15 hours from Massachusetts.
We helped out with painting and yard work to lend a hand.
Ben, Spencer and Devin made their own guitar band.
Mae, Spencer and Warren built a wheelchair ramp
and everyone dug some post holes then headed back to camp.
By the end of the week we were all pretty tired,
covered in paint and poked by briars.
On Friday night we went to a drive in movie Land of the Lost.
On the way there we passed a glowing cross.
Saturday morning we cleaned up the place.
We finally left with smiles on our face.
Penned by Jane Foster and Mae Whitesides
From all of us on the trip, thank you, Rock Spring, for your support! Check out the photo display on the YoRS Bulletin Board outside the Saegmuller Room!
Social Action Board News
World Peace Sunday to be observed on August 9 at Rock Spring
A special worship service is being planned by members of the congregation to bring attention to the fervent human desire for world peace. August 9 was chosen because of its proximity to Hiroshima Day of Remembrance on August 6; and in fact, August 9 is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Due to the inspired leadership of one of our newer members, Takako Dickinson, this unique worship service will incorporate an abbreviated demonstration of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
The tea offering that will be done by Ms. Soyu Miyahara, Takako’s teacher, is a form of prayer for world peace. Nobody drinks the tea she makes on this day, but it will be symbolically shared with the congregation and the larger church family. By incorporating the tea ceremony into worship, we will be honoring in an appropriate way the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the spirit of peacefulness which infuses the tea ceremony. A brief introduction at the beginning of the service will explain what you will witness and make the connections between this beautiful Japanese ritual and core values of the Christian faith relating to peace. Please come and participate in this day of prayer for peace.
Orientation and Training Opportunity for those interested in VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement)
If you have been to one of the VOICE actions, or are just intrigued with what you have been hearing about VOICE, then consider taking advantage of a golden opportunity to learn more about this exciting new interfaith community organization in Northern Virginia.
When?
Tuesday, July 28th, 7:15pm-9:30pm
Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church
2700 South 19th Street
Arlington, VA 22204
OR
Saturday, August 1st, 9:15am-11:30am
St. Paul United Methodist Church
1400 G Street
Woodbridge, VA 22191
At each session those attending can attend one of two Tracks:
Track 1: For those new to V.O.I.C.E.
Introductory Training – Learn more about V.O.I.C.E. and the history and methodology of the Industrial Areas Foundation.
Track 2: For Current/Prospective Core Team Leaders
Core Team Training – Learn about leadership roles in V.O.I.C.E. and practice individual, relational meetings to build a Team in your institution that can strengthen your congregation and engage its members in public action.
IF YOU PLAN TO GO, PLEASE RSVP TO SOCIALACTION@ROCKSPRINGUCC.ORG
Singing Verdi’s Requiem at a Nazi Concentration Camp:
A Moving Account of a Commemorative Performance
Honoring the Memory of Prisoners at the Terezin Concentration Camp
Wednesday, July 29, 7:00 pm
Bethel United Church of Christ
4347 Arlington Blvd, Arlington
At 7:00 pm on Wednesday, July 29, you are invited to hear an audio-visual presentation by Arlington resident Scott Hedges as he shares his moving experience as a participant in a “remembrance requiem” performed at Terezin, a former Nazi concentration camp.
In May, a multinational group of performers commemorated an extraordinary event that took place at Terezin, a concentration camp outside Prague in the Czech Republic: In an act of ironic defiance, Jewish prisoners at the camp sang the Verdi Requiem, the Catholic Ode to the Dead, to their Nazi captors – though the performances were as much a requiem for themselves and a bold statement of the power of music amid unspeakable horror.
To commemorate this event, conductor Murry Sidlin, dean of the School of Music at The Catholic University in Washington D.C., created a powerful multi-media concert drama which incorporated actors, film of survivors, and original footage of Terezin under Nazi occupation into a full performance of Verdi’s monumental score. The Berkshire Choral Festival performed Maestro Sidlin’s multi-media concert drama–referred to as the “Defiant Requiem”–in an old factory building in Terezin on the afternoon of May 17, the annual Terezin Commemorative Day.
Scott Hedges, a regular attendee of Bethel United Church of Christ (UCC), sang with the Berkshire Choral Festival at this event. Please join us as he shares his moving experience of this “remembrance requiem” through his own audio-visual presentation. You’re invited to attend a reception immediately following the presentation.
Bethel Church is located at 4347 Arlington Blvd (Northeast corner of Arlington Blvd & George Mason Dr). Free parking is available in the Red Cross parking lot next door (access to lot off Trenton St. N. or Arlington Blvd).
For more information about the event, please call Bethel’s main office at (703) 528-0937.
Submitted by:
Mary Schantz, Bethel Church Outreach Committee
703-888-0231 (H)
202-641-6350 (C)
schantzmj@starpower.net
Church Staff
| Interim Senior Pastor | Rev. Dr. Douglas L. Griffin |
| Pastor for Parish Life | Rev. Dr. Janet L. Parker |
| Pastor for Children,Youth & Families | Rev. Henry E Fairman |
| Director of Music | Elizabeth Kluegel Niblock |
| Asst. Director of Music | Edward Roberts |
| Acting Office Administrator and Bookkeeper | Lisa Mikell |
| Acting Administrative Assistant | Audrey King |
| Property Manager | Don Bauman |
| Child Care Providers | Fern Lawrence & Roxanne Clark |
| Custodians | Willis Gardner, Vicki Morales |
| Bus Driver | Rico Picarriello |
Rock Spring News is published bi-weekly by
Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ
5010 Little Falls Road, Arlington, Virginia 22207-1810
tel: 703-538-4886
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