It used to be that everyone emphasized sacrifice for Lent, the “giving up” of something as a penitential act in preparation for the celebration of Easter, God’s redemptive act for the whole of creation.But that traditional approach hasdevolved into the half hearted acknowledgement of Lent with comments like “I’m giving upgardening for Lent” with two feet of snow on the ground, from someone who loves to work in her garden.The new twist for me several years ago was to “take something on” during Lent,focus on a positive change in my life, or undertake a special project as a way of deepening my spiritual walk with God.Same idea as the first, just turned around with a positive spin.The fact is that while most people still seek or claim spirituality, fewer and fewer of us connect our spirituality with the Gospel message of sacrifice and salvation through Christ.Some of us know true sacrifice.But I suspect that most of us have forgotten what it truly means… even in the context of our churches.
Saul Morales Cruz is a coffee farmer who lives in RanchoBonito, Mexico.He has to walk to his plot of coffee plants; it takes two hours to get there.And it’s a small plot.Rancho Bonito is a small town in the mountains of southern Mexico.Every day Saul makes that two hour trek down the steep mountain trails.Coffee is just about the only thing there is in Rancho Bonito.
The coffee crop offers a meager income, better than nothing at all, but as with most farmers, the paycheck comes only once a year at harvest. In mid-July, the December harvest is still six months away.
July is a time of scarcity, uncertainty, and hunger in these rural mountain communities, a time that coffee growing communities in Central America call los meses flacos*… “the thin months.” Not only is there less money during the thin months, but it is also harder to grow food crops as it is the rainy season.Towns with food stores are few and far between, even if there were money to spend, and the price of that food skyrockets anyway.Money lenders prey on poor families with high interest loans borrowed against the next season’s coffee crop that keep some food on the table but guarantee another lean year even if the coffee harvest is good.It is a cycle that is difficult to break, a cycle called seasonal poverty.And it is not unique to southern Mexico, or even Central America.Imagine if our Lenten experience were not a six week intentional sacrifice, but the six “thin months” of seasonal poverty.
The good news is that Heifer project, and other church agencies, including our Wider Church Ministries board, are helping communities like Rancho Bonito by providing rabbits, fish, bees, and other livestock, along with mushrooms, fruit trees and training, to help bridge the gap during the thin months.In 2008, the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (a Vermont based company) funded a project that allowed Heifer to begin working with 183 families in 10 coffee growing communities in southern Mexico.This is a story of sacrifice, death, resurrection and redemption!And it places my own spiritual journey during this season of Lent into a whole new context.It makes the message of the Gospel real once again!
Blessings be with you this Lenten Season!
Pastor Koenig
* Source: “The Thin Months”; World Ark from Heifer Project, 2010, p.23ff.
DAWN'S DAYLIGHT
Dear Friends, Every year Group Publishing sponsors a research project by commissioning, an unbiased, independent third- party market research firm to conduct on-line surveys on the “State of the Church”.A synopsis of the findings of the 1st installment of six is summarized below. The goal of the research was to determine where the Church ranks ascompared to other “around-town” venues when measuring the places,people, and attributesthat define friendly to Americans today.
The Friendliest Place in Town by Group Publishing, January 2010
KEY FINDINGS: PLACE: ·Home is the friendliest place in town by a wide margin. Less than 18% of Americans define Church as the friendliest place in town as compared to only 24% of self-declared Christians. Important to note: oChurchcame out 8% points stronger than a Restaurant/Pub/Sports Bar in the overall ranking among Americans... oAccording to all Americans, Coffee Shops get it right when it comes to being friendly more often than the Church.90.6% versus 84.2%.Among Christians, Church (92.5%) was chosen over Coffee Shops (88%). oThe Mall, the Post Office and Auto Repair Shops scored at the bottom for both Americans and Christians. o16% of Americans say Church is their favorite place to meet new friends, 2% points behind a Restaurant/Pub/Sports Bar at number one. And Churchranks 5% points higher than Online as their favorite place to make new friends. [Among Christians, Church improves slightlyto 19% as their favorite place to meet new friends, but it is the place where they meet more new friends more frequently than any other group, in any other place.]
PEOPLE:
Friends & Family are the friendliest people in town according to over 65% of Americans. Minister or Religious Leader (less than 10% of the time) ranked behind a Neighbor and a Co-worker, and only slightly ahead of a Service Attendant. No one seems to like Government Officials. They are the number-one rated least friendly person in town among all groups. Merchants and Neighbors round out the top three least friendly people you’ll meet walking down the street! Ministers and Religious Leaders fared better when asked to rank least friendly people, coming out second to last. (So while not scoring as highly on the Friendliest People list, at least they’re not being called out as being generally unfriendly.) Christians need to feel like they belong before they call a place friendly. More Americans and Christians chose “Making me feel like I belong” as the number-one factor for making a place friendly. “Making me feel comfortable,” “Making me feel at ease,” “Conversation,” and “Smiles” rounded out the top 5. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE: ·Each of us, as church members, has a responsibility to do everything we can to help visitors feel that they are warmly received. Perhaps our church leaders will wish to look at what changes need to be made to help make PCUCC friendlier to both visitors and its congregation.
PLANTSVILLE COMMUNITY NURSERY SCHOOL
The children enjoyed learning about their shadows the beginning of the month and how the silly groundhog tries to predict an early spring. We talked about the postal worker who is a community helper and even made a special ‘Valentine for our parents’ to mail home so they would get a loving surprise. The children helped me this month by cutting out all sorts of hearts to decorate our school and made a couple cute heart handworks to take home. I hope everyone has had a chance to see how we decorate our windows each month. Some of the younger children thought the snowmen were for Christmas rather than winter. We ended the month talking about all different kinds of pets, particularly dogs and cats. It’s amazing how many children have some type of pet at home that they play with and take care of. Next month we will start an exciting new Parent/Child literary program. Our school has been given a ‘Grant’ from this area of CT as part of a program I have been attending the last few years. Each child will take turns bringing home different books for their parents to read to them to work on rhyming skills and help them get ready for kindergarten. See you next month. The staff at Plantsville Community Nursery School.
HELPING HANDS Our Helping Hands Ministry needs your HELP!We are looking for people to sign up and to be on call to cook and deliver a meal for one of our members in need. Our list of cooks is very small and our list of folks in need seems to grow. Would you please consider putting your name on our list. We need YOUR Helping Hands. See Joan Brooks for more information.
FIRST FRIDAY FELLOWSHIP The First Friday Fellowship will be attending the Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury. Thursday March 4th Everyone wanting to carpool should be at the church no later than 1pm. Our next meeting will be a Bible study with our beloved Pastor. Bring a bag lunch, dessert will be provided.
STEPHENS MINISTRY Stephen Ministers sole purpose is to listen. For one hour a week, you will have our undivided attention and know that we are there to support you during this time. If you, or someone you know, could use a Stephen Minister, please let Pastor Sandy know.
MEMORIAL FLOWERS To sponsor flowers for worship, please contact the Flower Committee to request a Sunday, by calling Linda LaForge at 860-620-0256.
STEWARDSHIP MESSAGE Checking Our Balance For everything there is a season,and a time for every matter under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted… Ecclesiastes 3:12 How about these improvisations of this familiar text about the “seesaw” of life: A time to break down our budgets at home or church in new ways, and a time to build them up by asset mapping.A time to weep for recession, unemployment and homelessness, and a time to meet doomsayers with humor and hope.A time to mourn for the time-famine of contemporary families, and a time to dance with our faithful volunteers. A time to embrace generosity, and a reminder to refrain from embracing consumerism.A time to keep recycle, re-use, renew in church and home and time to throw away responsibly. A time to tear our clothes on a mission trip with teens, and a time to knit prayer shawls in the parlor.A time to love our children enough to teach them stewardship, and a wake up call whenever and whereverthey learn hatred for themselves or others.A time-out for war, and always time enough to work for peace… a peace for every season that blesses God’s purpose under heaven. It is March– the month of balance. Life isn’t like Daylight Savings time. We cannot “Make” hours or resources or energy or sunshine.On the other hand, the spring equinox is a true teaching moment. We even use the word “balance” financially. The balance is what we work with, give with, use to care for ourselves and others.Financially, emotionally, and spiritually, as individuals and as communities of faith, this is the season to commit ourselves to balance. Maren C. TirabassiUnited Church of Christ“God is Still Speaking” NEW MEMBERS SUNDAY We will be welcoming New Members into the churchon March 14th. Make sure you are in church on this very special Sunday. LENTEN MISSION: FILL—THE—CHURCHBANKS Sunday School students received Church-shaped banks to fill with loose change during the weeks of Lent, culminating on Palm Sunday, March 28th, when these donations will bereceived and dedicated during that morning’s worship service. Proceeds from these banks will be used to provide relief to the people of Haiti after theEarthquake destroyed their homes, killing hundreds of thousands of residents and leavingorphaned children to survive on their own. The entire congregation is also invited to support this important outreach campaign, asadditional banks are located on the window sills in the Sanctuary and in FellowshipHallduring the weeks leading up to Easter.Donations may be dropped into these boxes or for those who wish to fill their own banks at home/work, additional banks may be found on the stage in Fellowship Hall.
Remember, all donations will be received on Palm Sunday, March 28th.
SUPER SNACK SUNDAY Thanks to the support of many, $250.00 was raised to benefit Haiti Relief, and Silver Lake’s “Now for the Future” capital campaign. The following groups, without whom the sale would not have happened, are to be commended for making the sale a success; the Bd of Christian Education for sponsoring the sale, all the Sunday School families fordonating snack items to sell, each of the Sunday School classes for providing donations, and the congregation for purchasing snack items after worship. Our church’s generousresponse toward this important outreach campaign is much appreciated and urgently needed in Haiti.
The Christopher Koenig Memorial Concert Series The Christopher Koenig Memorial Concert Series is proud to present two concerts each year in the Fall and Spring. Concerts are funded by ticket sales and donations to the Memorial Fund. Coming on April 10, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. we are honored to announce our program featuring Paul Bisaccia, Concert Pianist in an all Gershwin program
Since its beginning in 2007, the Series has presented a variety of artists including: > Christopher Houlihan, Concert Organist - Nov 2009 > The Hartt Youth Orchestra (Opus 89) - April 2009 > The Taubl Family (from "America's Got Talent") Nov - 2008 > Elizabeth Von Trapp & Erich Kory - June 2008 > "Number 9" the Beatles Tribute Band - Nov 2007 The Music Series is funded by free-will donations and ticket sales. We also welcome donations to the Memorial Music Fund in honor or memory of loved ones. If you would like to donate to the fund to perpetuate this valuable contribution to the culture of our community, please contact the church office. Checks should be made payable to the Plantsville Congregational Church with the notation "Memorial Music Series".
CHRISTIAN ACTION Community Services has informed us that what they would most like for the month of March is items that can help fill children's Easter baskets: candy, small toys, Easter grass. They already have the baskets - they just need help filling them up! Thanks for all your help!
MYSTERY DINNER
SAVE THE DATES! It's coming soon - our 10th (can you believe it?) Mystery Dinner. It should be something special, with a theme that will appeal to both the young and the young at heart. Our title is "Over the Rainbow: a Mystery of a Different Color." Performances will be on Saturday May 8th, Friday May 14th, and Saturday May 15th. Tickets will go on sale this month, beginning March 21st after church. Tickets are $30. each, and we will be serving an elegant chicken dinner. We hope you will all plan to join us, "somewhere over the rainbow." BOOK CLUB March’ s Book is;Champlain’s Dreams by Daniel Hackett Fischer. The Group will meet on the 19th.
For more information, please call the church office at (860) 628-5595 Church Office Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 8:30-2:30, with the office closed on Monday.
