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CCC NewsNotes February 25, 2002 Church School Calendar Lists Special Spring Dates, God Blossoms In Us During Lenten Journey, Money Sought for Organ, 'Wood' You Help, Please? One Great Hour of Sharing Set For 3/10 Collection, Biblical Author To Speak, CCC's Budget Tradeoffs Affect Upcoming Decision, Suggest Groups for Funds, March Meeting Scheduled For CCC Musical Plans, Day Trip Coming Up, Coming This Summer! Vacation Bible School, Arts Committee Items, Sisters for Sisters, News Notes Deadlines, CCC Staff Church School Calendar Lists Special Spring Dates March 10: There will be a Teaching Training Session for all teachers at 2:30 p.m. in Room 309 at Marvin Memorial. We are working to make sure that we provide a safe place for all our children and for you. This process will be introduced to the teachers at this time. Information will be shared with the congregation. Also, last year we engaged in a very deliberate process of setting our Christian education mission. Out of that we chose a curriculum that matched our mission statement. That curriculum now is out of publication, and a new curriculum has been created to replace it. The UCC is one of the developers of the new curriculum, and we anticipate that it will fit our mission statement as well as the old one did. It also will offer some new approaches. At this meeting, the teachers will get an introduction to the curriculum. March 24: Pastor Linda and the Church School Committee will coordinate a Walk Through Holy Week experience for all our children 5 years old and above. Teachers will escort their classes from one experience to another. Students will get to see Jesus overturn the tables at the temple, see the woman who anointed Jesus, experience Jesus watching the disciples' feet and be a part of the last supper. They will also make a craft that will help them experience Easter. Some of the older children will be asked to help with these activities. March 31: The 4 p.m. Easter Worship Service will be designed so that children will be involved. The Alleluia Banner will be resurrected and brought back in and given back to the children. We will sing great alleluias! The worship bulletin will have parts written especially for children with activities to help them be a part of the worship experience. And there may be a surprise or two. There will be Alternate Church School for nursery through first grade, with Glenda Neal teaching 3-6 year-olds. Pastor Linda Carder God Blossoms In Us During Lenten Journey I came home the other day to discover that my camellia was in bloom! There it was, in late February, all dolled up looking like it was Easter already. Some of my Catholic friends who grew up in New England tell me that it is hard to get into the Lenten mood around here, because we are so far south and things bloom so early. Here we are, they say, trying to get into a more solemn and prayerful mode, and resurrection is happening all around us. It makes our task so hard, they say. I took a long, and I must admit joyful look at my camellia. I walked over to it and took one of the fullest blooms to give to a friend. Yes, I thought, we are on the road to Jerusalem, and we know the cross awaits. But along the way, there were and still are many surprises and much color. Jesus seemed to reach deep down into the depths of his spirit at that time and gave much to those who followed. For me, the Lenten journey is much richer when we recognize the surprising gifts before us, and we share those with others. God is on that journey with us, and for that reason our journey is not barren, nor are we. Pastor Linda Carder CCC members voted Sun., Feb. 24 to try to raise $74,000 within a week for major repairs to the sanctuary's organ. John Touchton, CCC director of music, said the money will cover major maintenance needed by the 25-year-old instrument and include improved electrical wiring and computerized memory. The upgrade was proposed after electricians inadvertently severed the organ's wiring. Simply rewiring the instrument would cost $6,000, but Touchton said that work would not address the instrument's long-term maintenance. Meanwhile, church officials are negotiating with the renovation contractor to cover the cost of the damage, said Jackie Walters, co-chair of CCC's Building Design Committee. Moderator Rick Brush said church leaders favored the one-week limit on fundraising so that it wouldn't conflict with the upcoming stewardship campaign. Members voted to approve the organ fundraising on a voice vote, with some no votes and abstentions. Before the vote, member Bob Brown said, "I'm hopeful we will be able to take the risk." He noted that a leadership gift of $15,000 already has been received for the project. However, member Rob Platky said, "It seems a little implausible that drawing $75,000 out of the congregation this week is not going to impact the operating budget for next year." Those wishing to make pledges for the organ upgrade should contact Moderator Rick Brush, Treasurer Dan Pence, John Touchton or office administrator Ruth Avery to obtain a pledge form as soon as possible. Susan DeFord, News Notes editor Our return to the building is coming soon! With the excitement of the return comes opportunities for people to help. One area is woodworking, because the classrooms need shelves and cabinets. Several people already have volunteered to work on these tasks, saving the church a considerable sum. No woodworking experience is necessary! The immediate plan is to address the classroom needs, then work on additional projects such as window seats or benches. Once the contractor has allowed other people onto the site, work will begin one night a week or an occasional Saturday. The Tuesday Night Men's Support Group will help with this project. If you are interested in giving your time, talents or machinery, please call Bruce Strand at (301) 942-8883. Bruce Strand One Great Hour of Sharing Set For 3/10 Collection On March 10, CCC will collect its annual special offering in support of One Great Hour of Sharing. Gifts to this offering serve persons with needs resulting from natural disasters and political or economic crises. Supported are programs of sustainable development, emergency relief, disaster response, social service, and refugee resettlement. Gifts to this program serve God's people around the world. An envelope is included in this copy of News Notes for your contribution to this special offering. Carl Brandt, Board for Social Witness CCC and Westmoreland Congregational-UCC invite you to a day in April with Steve Patterson, author of "The God of Jesus." He is a member of the Jesus Seminar and a professor of New Testament at the UCC Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He will speak from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sat., April 27 at Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD 20816. He will cover these topics: the wisdom of Jesus, the ways of Jesus and the God of Jesus with remarks introducing his new work, "The Death of Jesus." The cost is $20 (students $12). Coffee and donuts will be served in the morning, and lunch also will be provided. To register, call Westmoreland Church at (301) 229-7766 by April 19 to ensure a place. Your name will go on a list, and you will be registered for the event when your money is received. Send checks to Westmoreland Congregational Church at the above address. Make checks payable to WCUCC, with a notation that it is for the Steve Patterson event. Register early -- space is limited. Marvin Wunderlich CCC's Budget Tradeoffs Affect Upcoming Decision The first article about trends in our operating budget showed that over the last two decades, we have placed a high priority on increasing the size of our staff and doing a better job with pay and benefits. The overall budget has increased from $231,500 in 1982 to this year's $480,084, and in the process we increased the portion devoted to staff salaries and benefits from 54 percent to 69 percent. In doing this, we have necessarily decreased the portions devoted to missions, program and property. The decrease has not been uniform. The percentage devoted to missions -- the next largest category in the budget -- has declined only slightly. In the early 1980s, we generally devoted about 19.5 percent of the budget to missions. This includes our contribution to Our Church's Wider Mission, our dues to the Potomac Association, and the discretionary grants managed by the Board for Social Witness. This year, the budget allocates 17.7 percent. The percentage devoted to program expenses -- the allocations to our boards and committees, postage, office supplies, music, the CAC annual meeting, etc. -- has shown a greater reduction. In the early 1980s we devoted about 9 percent of the budget to these expenses. This year, we have allocated 6.9 percent. The biggest reduction has been in what we have allocated to property expenses -- equipment, insurance, utilities, routine maintenance, major maintenance, and retreat house repair. In the early 1980s, we generally allocated about 14 percent of the operating budget to property expenses. In the budget for the last full year before the renovation (1999-2000), that had dropped to 9.9 percent. There have been year-to-year variations, of course. The mission allocation has been as high as 20 percent and as low as 16 percent. Money devoted to programs has ranged from a high of 9.9 percent to a low of 5.8 percent. The property allocation has been as high as 16 percent and as low as 8.8 percent. But the trend has been for each of these categories to receive smaller portions of the operating budget. The data only tells us what we've been doing in recent years. It doesn't tell us whether what we've done has been good, or desirable or the wisest use of our funds. Nor does it tell us what we should do now. But that is the evaluation we make as a community in each year's operating budget, and this data may help give us a context for the decisions we must make in constructing next year's budget. How would you like to see our funds used? What should we do now? What should be our priorities? There will be a number of opportunities this spring to discuss these matters. Watch for them, and share your thinking. Dave Ackerman, chair, Board of Trustees The Board for Social Witness again encourages members of the congregation to suggest the names of local, national or international organizations that should be considered for financial support from the CCC Missions Fund. Organizations in which CCC members are themselves involved tend to be considered particularly worthy of funding by the board. Suggestions should be left in the Social Witness box in the church office, or given to a member of the Social Witness Board. Carl Brandt, Board for Social Witness March Meeting Scheduled For CCC Musical Plans An organizational meeting is scheduled from 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sun., March 3 in the Choir Room at Marvin Memorial for all people interested in participating in a full-length staged musical. Performance dates tentatively have been set for Nov. 14, 15, 16 and 17 in the newly refurbished McClelland Social Hall at CCC. If you are interested in supporting this project, but cannot attend this important meeting, please contact me via e-mail (johnrt777@aol.com) or by phone (301) 585-8010, ext. 224. John Touchton, director of music Thursday, March 14 is the date for the day trip to the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade, MD and lunch afterwards at Club Meade. We will car pool from the Marvin Memorial parking lot at 9:30 a.m. and return by mid-afternoon. The cost for the buffet lunch is $10. Make checks payable to CCC (designate Ft. Meade). RSVP by March 10 on the sign-up sheet on the CCC bulletin board at Marvin Memorial, or by calling Mable Elliott at (301) 622-3174, or Dale Ostrander at CCC. Dale Ostrander, older adults program director Coming This Summer! Vacation Bible School This new program will be coordinated by Toby Ratcliffe. It is scheduled for Aug. 5-9 during the mornings, and is for toddlers and children through age 10. If you can volunteer to help with this program, please call Toby at (301) 649-3578. More information will be available soon. Some members of the church's Arts Committee have a project which requires small scraps of ultra suede in beiges or browns or greens. If you are willing to donate some material, please contact Terry Strand at (301) 942-8883. Many thanks! Peggy Zeran has invited Sisters For Sisters, a support group for widows and single women, to her home on Sat., March 16 at 12:15 p.m. for a light lunch that she will provide! Newcomers are welcome. Her address is 9812 Bristol Ave., near Forest Glen and Brunett Avenue. June Leonard PLEASE NOTE: Deadline for the MARCH 11 issue will be THURS., MAR. 7 at 5 p.m. News Notes editor -- Susan DeFord (301) 649-3093, or sjdkjk@erols.com The Rev. Jim Todhunter, senior minister; the Rev. Linda Carder, assoc. minister; John Touchton, director of music; the Rev. Dale Ostrander, director of programming for older adults; Richard Meyer, property administrator; Ruth Avery, office administrator. |