In the coming weeks, be watching for details about an exciting fund- and visibility-raiser for Faith Church. New member, Philip Graves, is an ultra-runner, meaning he does very long runs and has multiple 50-mile races under his belt…or laces!
He plans to do a 24-hour training race in December and then do a 100-mile run along the Lone Star Hiking Trail in February. To provide emotional support to him, make the process more fun, and to help the congregation, Philip has offered for us to use his races as a run-a-thon to raise funds for the church.
Folks will be invited to pledge an amount per mile that Philip runs, with all proceeds going to Faith Church. Council has approved this and we will get more formal details to you in next months Glimpses of Faith newsletter.
Til then, start a mayonnaise jar to collect change to put toward your pledge, consider where on social media and in print and local news you could help publicize this fundraiser, and keep Philip in your prayers for wise and injury-free training for these two big events.
You are invited to come to the Heart of Texas Association Fall Meeting on Saturday, October 23rd, hosted by the Austin cluster of churches. Because of the evolving COVID situation in Austin, we do not know yet whether we will be meeting online only or at one of our churches in a hybrid format. The time we start will depend on whether we are meeting in person. We will let all of our churches know the plans as soon as a decision is made. Bear with us in this unusual time! We would love to be together in person but we need to make a determination about whether it will be safe for those who come into the Austin area.
Our sister in Christ, Billie Watts, co-pastor of Touchstone Community Church, is retiring from active ministry. Her last Sunday at Touchstone, with a farewell liturgy and with Billie’s vibrant preaching, is on August 28th. Billie committed to the intensive ministry work of starting Touchstone with Kerry Kirtley before retiring, and Billie is now stepping back to well deserved time with her family. Our heartfelt blessings go with her as she transitions into this new phase of life, along with our gratitude for the work she has done. Kerry will continue as the pastor of Touchstone, and we continue to offer prayers of support for the community and ministry there.
Amy Grogan, an ordained minister with the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, is completing the process of gaining standing in the United Church of Christ as an Ordained Ministerial Partner to share her ministry gifts with Touchstone. Amy moved to the Boerne area with her husband for family reasons after living for several years in Belgium. She completed her Master of Divinity at Phillips Theological Seminary in a hybrid program, and has served in online ministry with the Disciples. Like Amy, people living abroad often are in areas where there is little Protestant presence and where few people are part of a church, so her work online has been part of the outreach to others like her and to people who live in places where they would have to travel far to find a church where they feel at home. She has been very active in the Touchstone Community, and will be helping as a volunteer in several ministry areas. Our relatively simple process for welcoming ministers from the Disciples reflects the close relationship between the UCC and the Disciples. We welcome Amy to the Heart of Texas Association.
Our Committee on Ministry also has accepted Brittany Hicks as Member in Discernment. Brittany is a member of Open Cathedral in Leander and a student at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She served our country in the US Navy for a number of years. We welcome Brittany to our discernment process and look forward to walking with her on her ministry journey.
For those who wish to spend a week of service in the marvelous, lifegiving work of Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, MS, I invite you to a work camp there with others from the South Central Conference (if the COVID situation is safe enough for work camps to happen), November 7th to 13th. Our group will need to conform to the COVID safety measures there. Please be in touch with me if you are interested: [email protected]. Back Bay Mission is our treasured UCC related outreach to the poorest in Biloxi, with a work camp program of repairing homes, building, and work at Back Bay Mission itself that brings groups in from many places across the country. People of all skill levels are welcome. Come see why we go!
Blessings in Christ, Liz Nash, Association Minister
The Heart of Texas Association of The United Church of Christ formally announces its Search and Call for a new Association Minister. The position is an average of 15 hours per week. Each prospective candidate should ensure their United Church of Christ online profile has been updated. Candidates may access the profile section of the UCC.org website here: Create an account and log in here.
Once your online profile has been completed on the United Church of Christ website, you may forward a copy of your profile to me at [email protected], and I will distribute it to the Search and Call Committee. If you are outside the United Church of Christ, you may submit your information directly to Conference Minister, Rev. Phil Hodson at [email protected].
The application deadline for this position will be Thursday, September 16, 2021. The job description and other pertinent information will be posted to the Heart of Texas Association website at: http://hotaucc.org.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Peace and Blessings, Pastor Carl
Carl Schwartz-King Moderator, Heart of Texas Association The United Church of Christ [email protected]
The Planning Committee for the 2021 UCC Southern Regional Women’s Retreat has been hard at work. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee postponed the in-person retreat originally planned for October 2021 to October 2022. A virtual afternoon retreat was added to the schedule for this October. The Committee would like to invite you to participate in a
Virtual Retreat on ZOOM October 2, 2021 – 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
We will have a chance to fellowship and worship with old and new friends from all parts of the Southern Region (area from Texas to Virginia). Our guest speaker/presenter for both retreats will be Rev. Dr. Georgia A. Thompson, UCC Associate General Minister of Wider Church Ministries and Co-Executive for Global Ministries.You are encouraged to watch at home or any location you select, by yourself or with a group of fellow UCC Women. The cost is $15.00 for mailed registration or $16.00 online registration. For a flyer, mail-in registration form or to register online, click here.
Submitted by Rev. Phil Hodson, Conference Minister
Your anchor passage at annual meeting 2021 came from Mark’s gospel. It referenced the storm over the lake and Jesus’ rebuke of the storm. At annual meeting reflections were offered on how God is with us in the midst of the storm and the power of faith in uncertain circumstances.
But there’s something else here, buried in the text. After Jesus rebukes the storm, all becomes quiet and still. In the stillness, in the quiet, the disciples reflect on who Jesus is and his significance in their lives. Today I write you in that strange quiet, almost surreal in-between space. A space where we are just beginning to understand the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in New Orleans. A space that has yet to be found for many as rain continues to shower across Louisiana, Mississippi, and makes its way north and east. A space where we can take stock of the reality of climate change in our world. A space where we can give thanks for lives spared. A space where we are going to remain, prayerfully together, for a little bit. I’ve heard from many already who want to spring into action, but we’re in a place where we don’t have enough information yet. We know there has been damage to several of our churches, and so we pray for them, knowing that we will respond with our bodies in working prayer to help rebuild and repair when the time comes. As we sit together in this space for a little while there is one other thing we can do: get ready. Pray up and ask God if we have the capacity to step in and help with rebuilding physically when the time comes. Pray up and then share our gifts so that the resources will be available to our churches and the wider communities when the time comes.
We are a denomination built on being in covenant with one another. Being there for one another. And we, in the South Central Conference, will be. For today, we pray. And we prepare for the next faithful steps when the time is right. Each of us can give, as we are able, to lay the groundwork for recovery by responding to the Special Appeal issued this week by the national setting. I encourage us to do so. Let’s get ready, the action will spring forth in God’s good time.
Blessings,
Rev. Phil Hodson Conference Minister South Central Conference, United Church of Christ 3610 River Road New Braunfels, TX 78132 T: (830) 625-2212 x 4 C: (765) 532-3429
Submitted by Rev. Phil Hodson, Conference Minister
Is your church interested in applying for grants from the United Church of Christ? Justice and Local Church Ministries has announced a simplified method to apply for these funds.
Submitted by Rev. Brooks Berndt, Minister for Environmental Justice, Justice and Local Church Ministries
UCC Webinar— They Knew: 50 Years of the US Government Causing the Climate Crisis
The UCC’s next Creation Justice Webinar will feature one of the leading voices in environmentalism over recent decades: James Gustave Speth. Among his many accomplishments, Speth served the Carter administration, founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, and spent ten years as Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. In August, he is releasing a new book entitled, They Knew—The US Federal Government’s Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis. Naomi Klein has described it as “a damning record that will become a potent tool for justice.”
Even if you can’t make the scheduled time of 1 pm ET on Wednesday, September 8th, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording.
The Church Council and I have talked and prayed and (honestly) cussed as we grappled with our very torn feelings about what to do regarding in-person worship in the light of the rapidly rising numbers of COVID during this Delta surge.
With this in mind, the Faith Church Council has decided to move to online/Zoom worship services until further notice. This decision is effective immediately and means that there will be no in-person service this Sunday (8/15/2021).
None of us want to go back to Zoom-only, even just for a few weeks. It seems most to all of our folks, except our children under 12, are vaccinated. Everyone has been SO gracious about masking properly, giving distance, staying home if exposed, and self-selecting to worship with us via Zoom if they feel at risk–which has also served to keep the numbers in our sanctuary at a lower and safer number.
AND…
Though the risks of death and serious illness to those fully vaccinated are low, they still exist and already we are finding some having more long-term effects from this variant, even if vaccinated. I personally know over 3 dozen vaccinated persons who have had breakthrough infections with severe symptoms and at least 6 of those I know of had to be hospitalized.
The Herald-Zeitung reported yesterday Comal County’s hospital usage hit an all-time high number of patients being cared for with COVID and I’ve heard from some of you that friends with other serious medical conditions are being turned away from hospitals because there is no more room to care for them.
The head of the ICU of one of our local hospitals shared that healthcare workers are breaking down and feeling betrayed now more than ever. I’m seeing the same in my students and clients in healthcare. The patients they are caring for and venting are MUCH younger than ever before and our children are being hit harder by this surge than any other, which impacts us all emotionally that much more.
Most of our children and teachers are returning this week to classrooms where masks cannot be required, so numbers are expected to only go up significantly in the coming weeks.
We made the decision to return to in-person worship (along with continuing Zoom) June 27th when the number of daily cases remained under 20 per 100,000 people in Comal County for more than 14 days. As of this past Sunday, that number was 66 per 100,000 and that number is projected to climb to 121 by this Sunday and 135 by the following (8/22).
Therefore, we have decided to resume Zoom-only services for a period of weeks as we watch the numbers and await cooler weather that will allow outdoor services until worshiping indoors again feels safer for us all. We do not yet know what this means for those who rent our space, and will be making those decisions and discussing our thoughts with them in the coming days.
TO BE CLEAR, WE ARE NOT CLOSING!!! The church is not closed. WE ARE THE CHURCH (yes, I’m shout-talking, here!) and the Still-Speaking God has MUCH to say in and to and through us in the coming weeks.
So please:
Come to worship on Zoom and come on camera–we need each other and to see each others’ faces and hear each others’ voices.
Continue to give as you are able–giving is up by about $13,000 compared to this time last year, but we’re still about $5,000 below budget. Rather than pinching pennies, skimping on our needs, and being distracted by anxiety about our financial health and sustainability, I’d rather spend our time serving and finding new ways to meet the needs of our community.
Keep inviting your friends, even those out of state–now more than ever people need community and want one that matches their beliefs and lives but cannot find that in their community. We can be that place for them.
Engage in our social media–share posts, share recordings of our services, send me items you think would work well to be shared on our Faith Facebook page. Visitors are finding us on-line and through our website. The bigger our presence there, the easier it is for them to find us.
Prepare to participate in discussions with our Pastoral Search Committee about the future of Faith Church and where God is calling us.
Prepare to participate in a Zoom study on the book of Job later in September.
Prepare to participate in an on-line watch party of a movie with a spiritual theme and then to discuss it afterward (it’s called Reel Faith and is tremendously fun!).
Reach out and ask myself and Council questions as you have them and if you hear others with questions or concerns, please send them to us directly so we can be clear and communicate openly with one another.
And more importantly, do not despair, but join us in seeking God’s face about where God can work through this circumstance to bring the most good, the most healing, and use us to spread the Good News of God’s hope amongst ourselves and to those around us.
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