Have a Minute?

by Janet L. Parker

Whoosh! After a (slightly) slower summer, Rock Spring Church has swung back into high gear! We have welcomed one another back from our summer vacations, celebrated Rally Day, and launched our Sunday school, youth and music programs. Our interim period is underway, we are enjoying the energetic leadership of our interim senior pastor, Doug Griffin, and our church is bursting with activity. Within the period of time covered by just this issue of the News, at least four major activities will take place at Rock Spring.

A major community forum on the issue of torture will be hosted by the Social Action Board on September 21, continuing Rock Spring’s historic commitment to providing prophetic witness on the pressing issues of peace and justice in our day. We hope many of you will turn out to support this event that we anticipate will draw many from our wider community. On Saturday, September 27, a very different kind of activity will take place. The Deacons will launch “A Moveable Feast,” and all Rock Springers are invited to come and take part in this opportunity to get to know one another better through a small group fellowship program that will extend throughout the year.

Wrapping up this whirlwind week, we will celebrate Harvest Sunday and a Mission Fair on September 28. Come and celebrate the abundance of God’s good earth, the first season of our AFAC garden and all who made it possible, and learn more about the community organizations that Rock Spring supports at our Mission Fair after both services.

As we zoom ahead into the fall season, let’s enjoy all that our church has to offer. At the same time, though, let’s not forget to take some time each day to pause and listen for God’s “still, small voice.” Let’s remember that it is the quieter practices of prayer, worship, and listening in the stillness for the whispering of God’s Spirit that ground our lives and our community of faith. “Be still and know that I am God,” says the psalmist. As you engage in all that our church has to offer, don’t forget to take some time to connect to the One in whom we live, and move and have our being, the One who imbues our lives and our work with meaning, purpose and joy.

Church Calendar

Please click here to view the current Rock Spring calendar.

News and Notes

Joys & Concerns

Congratulations to Matthew and Yesenia Chappell, on the baptism of their daughter, Mia, on September 28.

Prayers, cards and visits are welcome for Gene Schultheis, who is recovering at Powhatan Nursing Home from a recent hospitalization—visiting hours are noon-8 pm but call first to make sure she has not been discharged. Continued prayers are requested for Alexander Kincaid, and his parents Mark and Karin, as he passes some milestones in his healing.

Staff Doings

Tuesday, September 23 - Friday, September 26 Doug Griffin will be in Bedford, PA for the Board of Trustees retreat of the Homewood Retirement Centers Inc. of the UCC.

Rock Spring Celebrates Harvest Sunday on September 28

In worship on September 28, we will celebrate our organic AFAC garden, the work of all who built, planted and harvested its produce, and the food that it provided to hungry people in our community. This harvest-themed service will honor God for the gifts of our good earth and recall our responsibility to be partners with God in caring for the earth and all God’s people.

Children and adults are encouraged to bring both fresh produce and non-perishable food to the Harvest Sunday service for a special offering which will go directly to AFAC.  Children will be invited to bring their food items up during the children's sermon and adults will have an opportunity to give their food donations during the regular offering time.

WF Fall Bazaar Reminder

The Women's Fellowship reminds all Rock Springers who knit, sew, paint, or make crafts to begin creating items for the craft table at the Annual Fall Bazaar. The bazaar will be Saturday, November 1, so put your imaginations and fingers to work in your "spare" time.

Bead Workshop

Don't forget our BEAD WORKSHOP continuing through October on: Wednesday, October 8 at 10:00 am-2:00 pm and Monday, October 20 at 7:30 pm-9:00 pm.  Everyone is welcome.  Come learn and create!  Questions? Please contact Florence Otstot.  

Neighbors in Need Offering

On October 5, as part of our stewardship ministry through the United Church of Christ, Rock Spring will receive the Neighbors in Need special offering.  The Neighbors in Need offering supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States.  One-third of the offering supports the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM).  Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects.  We hope that you will prayerfully consider strong support for the Neighbors in Need offering today.

Please note that we will continue to receive donations for Neighbors in Need over the next few weeks for those who might wish to contribute at a later time.

Board of Deacons News and Notes

Save The Date For "A Moveable Feast"!

Would you like to get to know other Rock Springers in a small group setting?  Want to feel more connected to our church?  Join A Moveable Feast!  Come to our organizing meeting on September 27 from 5pm to 7pm, where you will be randomly assigned (with your spouse, significant other, or a friend, if you so desire) to small groups of 8 people.  You will meet monthly with your small group through the fall, and then reconvene in January to be assigned to a second small group if you want to continue in the program.  A final gathering in May will mark the end of this year's Moveable Feast.  Over the course of the year, you'll make at least 12 new friends at Rock Spring!  Small groups will afford the opportunity to share your interests, background, faith, and life experience with other members of our community.  Come for fun, friendship and fellowship.  Child care WILL be provided.  We hope you will join us on September 27.

Youth Ushers

Isn’t it wonderful to know you have a place to call your church? This year, the Board of Deacons is extending an invitation to all youth, grades 4-7, to help in the celebration of our worship services as Youth Ushers. The Youth Ushers will assist the Adult Ushers in their duties, including welcoming people to worship, handing out programs, collecting the offering, and, most specially, lighting the candles to begin services each week.
The organizational meeting for the Youth Ushers will take place on Sunday, September 28 after the 11:00 service. Parents, you should have received a more detailed letter/email on the Youth Ushers. If your child is in this age range and you have not received the information, please contact Hank Fairman.

Sunday School News and Notes

Welcome back! The Board of Christian Education hopes you had a great summer, and that you are ready to come back to another year of encountering God’s still-speaking word.

During the 9:00 hour, we offer professional care in our Infant and Toddler Nurseries, and a multi-age class for Pre-K through 2nd grade. At 11:00, we offer professional care in our Infant and Toddler Nurseries, and classes for Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten-1st grades, 2nd-3rd grades, and 4th-5th grades.

In our Middle High and Senior High classes, we will be trying something different this semester. Classes for the upper grades will meet during the 11:00 hour for 6th-7th Grades, 8th-9th Grades, and 10th-12th Grades. The goal is to provide a more age-relevant encounter with the Bible and faith, and to provide an experiential time for our youth to examine their faith.

Our Sunday School uses the Seasons of the Spirit curriculum. For more information on the scope and sequence, the foundations, and the specifics of the curriculum, please visit www.spiritseasons.com.

Come Meet Your Teacher(s)!

Please come and meet our Sunday School teachers on Sunday, September 21 following both worship services. This is a time to meet the students and parents in each of our wonderful educational programs. Rest assured, juice and cookies will be provided!

Children and Youth Information Update

At the beginning of each program year, the Sunday School reviews its roster to make sure that we know everyone’s name, grade, and birthday. Parents, please fill out a Sunday School Registration form, verifying your child(ren)’s information. These are located in the atrium to the Hunter Building, by the bulletin boards. The Board of Christian Education thanks you in advance for helping us keep good records!

Confirmation Class 2009

The Confirmation Class of 2009 will be forming during September. This is a time to get to know everyone who will be sharing in the class, and set our meeting day and time. We will hold a Rally Dinner before the end of this month (date/time TBD).

Confirmation is open to any youth who is currently in or beyond Ninth Grade. If your child is in this age group, you should have received an invitation letter in late August. If you have not received this letter, please contact Pastor Hank at hank@rockspringucc.org. Confirmation is a year-long group study in personal faith and spiritual discernment. Classes are usually every-other-week, and focused on teaching the faith and order of the United Church of Christ. The class begins in October, and will conclude on May 17, 2009, with the Confirmation Sunday service led by the class.

Youth of Rock Spring (YoRS)

Middle High YoRS

Our first meeting at our regular time of 6:30 pm-8:30 pm every Sunday will begin September 21, with a trip to Upton Hills Mini-Golf! We’ll gather at Carpenter Hall and head over on the bus! Bring $10 for fees and ice cream!

MH-YoRS Dates:

9/21/08 Mini Golf at Upton Hill Park, meet @ 6:15 pm, leave @ 6:30 pm
9/28/08 Regular Meeting, 6:30 pm-8:30 pm @ Carpenter Hall

Save the Date!
10/12/08 Service Project: Dinner Program for Homeless Women; Meet at 3:45 pm, Return 7:30 pm!

Senior High YoRS

Our fall begins with our planning for the Tents of Hope initiative!  This will be our first focus this fall, leading up to the Tents of Hope Weekend on the National Mall.  For more information on the "big picture," please visit www.tentsofhope.org.  For information on Rock Spring's involvement, see the article from Rock Spring Tents Team.

Our first in-church gathering will be on Sunday, September 21, from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm. We’ll do a pizza lunch for this one, and plan out our meeting times for the rest of the calendar year. The hope is to meet weekly!

SH-YoRS Dates:

9/21/08 Lunch Meeting, 1:00 pm -3:00 pm @ Carpenter Hall
9/28/08 Lunch Meeting, 1:00 pm -3:00 pm @ Peace Room

The Tents of Hope

by:  The Rock Spring Tents Team

This Autumn, the Board of Christian Education, the Social Action Board, the Board of Stewardship, and the Youth of Rock Spring (YoRS) invite you to engage in a special project of compassion and peace with the people of Darfur, Sudan. Together, we welcome you to join in the Tents of Hope.

The Tents of Hope project was founded to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan but also provide simple shelter to people who have none and a message of hope that the world cares. The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.

Initiated by Tim Nonn, a member of our sister church in Petaluma, CA, the project quickly gained wide support. The Tents of Hope project emerged in June 2007 through a partnership between the United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Dear Sudan. With the support of these two denominations, Petaluma, CA-based Dear Sudan has engaged in national organizing efforts since May 2004 to build a community-based response to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. National coordination is focused on giving support to these local efforts in such areas as the project website and the national event in Washington, DC November 7-9, 2008. The conclusion of the event on the mall is an interfaith worship service at 11:00 on Sunday November 9. For complete information, please visit www.tentsofhope.org.

Here at Rock Spring, the Rock Spring Tents Team has come together to organize the many parts of our congregation into a unified voice. With the help and support of the Board of Stewardship, YoRS, and the Social Action Board, the Sunday School has acquired two tents for display on the National Mall. During the month of October, each of our Sunday School classes will spend one week learning about the Tents of Hope mission and painting a tent.

The SH-YoRS and MH-YoRS groups with the Board of Social Action are holding an evening teach-in and painting party for the whole congregation. This will take place on Sunday, November 2 from 6:30-8:30 in Carpenter Hall. The SH-YoRS will present the Tents project in great detail. Following the presentation, the MH YoRS invites you to add your voice to the project by painting a “tent square.” These tent squares will be sent back to the project, where they will be sewn together into tents, and delivered for shelter to the refugee centers in Africa serving the Darfur refugees. Each square costs $5, and paint/markers/etc will be provided. $4 of the cost will be donated to the Tents of Hope project to be used in support of the people of Darfur. Specifics on the teach-in and the “tent squares” will be in the upcoming Rock Spring News.

Because of the efforts of the SH-YoRS, the Tents of Hope project has been adopted by the Potomac Association as their Youth Gathering for this fall! Thank you Social Action Board and the Youth of Rock Spring for helping bring this issue to our hearts and our wider church connections together!

Final Notice:  Rock Spring Hosts Community Forum on Torture

“Torture: A Moral, Legal, and Political Disaster for America”
Sunday, September 21, 7:00-9:00 PM, Carpenter Hall

The Board of Social Action will host an open forum to discuss the moral, legal, political, and military implications of our current practices and policies relating to torture. Churches and organizations throughout the metro DC area have been invited. Janet Parker, Professor of Government Tony Arend of Georgetown University, and U.S. Representative Jim Moran are scheduled to address moral, legal, and political aspects of torture, respectively. Rock Springer Steven Xenakis, Army Brigadier General and psychiatrist who has done much work in this area, will provide the context and moderate the meeting. We hope to raise awareness and maintain enough continued interest to bring about a legislative change.

Mission Fair Fall 2008

The Board of Stewardship is sponsoring a Mission Fair, on September 28 in Carpenter Hall from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Representatives from local non-profits that Rock Spring supports through its Benevolences will be available to tell you about the services their agencies provide and opportunities to volunteer with their groups. Coffee and pastries will be served.

Help is needed for signs, letters to organizations, and setting up on Saturday before the event. If you can help us email Bill Wooten or Ann Rudd.

Make A Difference!  Join the Caring Ministry Program

The last two issues of the Rock Spring News have introduced readers to the visitation and transportation components of our Caring Ministry Program. This issue focuses upon the card ministry. The Caring Ministry program currently is recruiting new volunteers for all three components of the Program. Launched in January of 2006 by the Board of Deacons, the Caring Ministry is a network of care that supports members and friends of Rock Spring. Lay caregivers provide regular visits to those who are ill, homebound, or living in long-term-care facilities, in addition to visits to those in the hospital. Transportation volunteers provide rides to those who need help getting to church or to important appointments. And an extensive network of volunteers sends regular greetings to members no longer able to attend church, as well as cards expressing get-well wishes, sympathy, and congratulations on the birth of a baby. For those who desire to join our visitation ministry, a training program will be provided beginning in October. Continuing training and support will be provided to returning lay caregivers. We hope these articles will inspire you to join us!  If you would like to join any facet of our Caring Ministry Program, please contact Bettie Clark or Janet Parker, or fill out a "handprint" form that will be in the pews through September and place it in the offering plate.

Submitted by the Caring Ministry Team:
Bettie Clark, Susan Daniels, Eileen Jinks, Marcia Johnson, Ann Rosser, Stuart Scott, Ellen Swain, and Janet Parker

Card Volunteers

A kind word makes anyone feel better.  The work of the card ministry is to provide kind words to those homebound, grieving, or healing.  We also send congratulatory cards to families greeting new family members.  About twenty Rock Springers currently write cards--some write several times a year and others write only once or twice responding "as-needed."  Some will likely wish to end their time on this project, and we will need new volunteers.  This is a special opportunity for service since there are not strict time schedules or large time commitments.  Some have involved their children in designing and sending the cards, making real the lesson of caring about others.  The cards are much appreciated. One recipient reported that the cards were a real "pick-me-up." A young family member reported that the cards were important to her grandmother--"Sometimes one says all the right things."  One volunteer wrote:  "The most important thing is the sense of satisfaction we get in knowing that we are helping people feel 'connected' to Rock Spring and that their church family is thinking of them."

Caroline Hufford-Anderson summed up beautifully the hope and mission of the Caring Ministry.  She wrote:  "For Del and me, the Caring Ministry was an outpouring of help as welcome as daffodils in the spring.  To see familiar faces in the hospital was a joy.  To receive meals at home was a thanksgiving.  To be recipients of all the other sorts of gifts--cards and letters, transportation, trash removal, books, grocery-shopping, etc. was a true shower of blessings...Through all this caring, our spirits were uplifted.  Let it be noted that Caroline is also a card-writer. -Marcia Johnson

Update:  Rock Spring Web Site Enhancements

By Dawn Sword

Improved Rock Spring Calendar Now Ready

We've implemented a robust new calendar for the current Rock Spring website that enables visitors to view events in daily, weekly, monthly or yearly view and sort events by category. Each committee has its own login information and can enter events into the calendar.  Submitted events are then reviewed, approved and posted to the live calendar by Rock Spring office staff each day. We're hoping this new calendar will be a better resource for our community while making it easier for church groups to announce their events in a more timely manner.

Next Generation of the Rock Spring Website Under Development

We're currently in the process of rebuilding the Rock Spring website to include a powerful open source content management system and database-driven features. Our goal is to create a more interactive and up-to-date resource that serves the Rock Spring community as well as prospective members and friends. This overhaul will also enable church committees to update the content on their specific pages as regularly as they choose while greatly reducing the burden on the church office to complete these updates.

The new site will include all content we currently have plus additional features such as current announcements and upcoming events listings, "Recently Updated" content alerts, RSS news feeds, searchable archives for sermons and Rock Spring News articles, sermon podcasting, a robust calendar with color-coded categories, rotating "Eco-tips" that refresh on page load, and other enhancements.

We hope to have this new site ready for launch in the next few months. Additional possibilities for future development include an online member directory, online giving and individual wikis/group collaboration tools for church committees. We'll keep you posted!

Shaw Community Ministry  (SCM) Seeking New Executive Director

Earlier this summer Rev. Robbie Morganfield informed the SCM Board that he was accepting a call to pastor a church and therefore would be leaving his position as SCM Executive Director. Disappointed as the Board was to lose his enthusiasm and impressive talents, they were delighted for him that he has such a wonderful opportunity. Consequently, the Board is seeking a replacement - Position Announcement follows. (Please pass it along to anyone you think might be interested.) SCM will not be initiating programs until a new Director is found. The Board will use this period of transition to engage with key stakeholders in the neighborhood and the UCC to have them help identify key needs. The results of those discussions will help the Board determine strategic directions for SCM under the permanent director. Interested Rock Spring members are encouraged to contribute to the discussion of SCM's future. Please contact Susan Nelson Johnson for more information.

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Executive Director, Shaw Community Ministry, Washington D.C. Small non-profit serving low-income youth and families in inner-city Washington, DC, seeks a dynamic executive director to create and implement programs, raise funds, and coordinate volunteers. SCM, an urban ministry of the United Church of Christ, provides its programs on a non-sectarian basis. Director should be a self-starter, possess strong organizational and management skills, have proven success in working with youth, and be adept at communicating with a wide range of people and groups. Clergy and lay applicants will be considered, as will those seeking part-time as well as full-time work. Send resume and salary requirements to : Musil SCM Search, 860 Irvington Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20817, or musil@aacu.org. Visit our website at www.shawministry.org.

Church Staff