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| Christian Spirituality Book Group |
Deepen your knowledge and your practice.
Join others seeking wisdom from sources both ancient and new.
2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 7 pm, at the Blossom Hill Barnes & Noble. Pastor Elane leads.
August's book: The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis.
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Brothers and sisters,
I write from I-40 East, just outside Kingman,
Arizona. The Mojave
desert is utterly unlike our cinematic images: there is no sand,
no wind, and where I am, no horizon. Here it is rocky and spacious and verdant.
Verdant? Not a word much used in
the same sentence as desert. Desert is desolate, desert-ed. It
is a truly unconquerable landscape. It
destroys the arrogant and the independent, turning their pride to naked bone.
Desert requires of its creatures adaptation and resourcefulness. Desert
necessitates yielding. Here chollas gather in teddy bear clusters. Trees appear
like prairie dogs, their pert heads popping out of the dirt. Here and there are
boulders, round and smooth, as if they had just been drawn out of a gushing river.
For all its emptiness, for all
its invincibility, the desert is a verdant place, where
unlikely seeds grow into unlikelier lives. The desert is where we may be drawn
from living water smoother, humbler, lighter. Our God knows this: in the desert
valley of death, in front of Ezekiel's astonished eyes, God drew together the
desiccated bones of slain warriors into a newly living golden army. God's
Spirit led the newly baptized Jesus into the desert wilderness, where he was
tempted with surplus, influence, and power. That deserted place, that land of
desolation, was for Jesus full of worldly enticements. He was hungry. He was
tired. He was alone. Yet in the desert,
where God's Spirit led him (and surely did not leave him),
Jesus became who he was to be: the most unlikely life, as unimaginable as the
reality of the desert itself.
God knows the desert is verdant,
because God created and sustains the desert. The desert runs with water - not
with the common stuff of hydrogen and oxygen - but with living water, the water
of rescue and transformation. The water in which the most unlikely lives
flourish.
Have you been to the desert? Are
you there now? Are you in a place that feels empty and desolate? Or one that is
filled with demonic enticements of surplus, influence, and power? Do you feel
too far gone to ever find your way out? Take heart: the desert is a verdant place,
filled with the living water of the actual presence of Jesus. Find him there in
the desolation, for God wants nothing else than to wash you of your arrogance
and independence, turning your pride and loss into yielding, smooth,
resourceful, adaptive, hope.
You are never too far gone. An
unlikely life is there for you, a life you cannot imagine, in the desert.
Enjoying the space,
Pastor Elane
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Parking Lot Closed August 6 & 7
The parking lot will be closed for repaving from 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 6 through 6:30 p.m on Thursday, August 7. The office will be open on Thursday as usual, but visitors and staff will need to park on side streets.
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Dive! into Family Worship -
Wednesday, August 6, 7 p.m.
Join us tomorrow, August 6th at 7:00 p.m.for the
experience of God we know as Dive!. When we Dive!, we plunge into our souls through song
and prayer. It's an encounter with God both intimate and worshipful. There is
usually some kind of tactile experience - a labyrinth walk, paint waiting for
prayerful hands - that draws us deeper into the themes of our Sunday communal
worship. Bring your best friend, a niece or nephew, the boyfriend or girlfriend
who might be a "keeper", and dive in.
Remember, the parking lot will be closed that evening so you will need to park on a side street or take public transportation. |
Massage Therapy
Aching back? Sore
feet? Can't relax? We've got the solution for you! How about
a massage from massage therapy students Ken or Jen Brown? They are graciously offering
one hour massages on 8/31, 9/21, 10/11 and 10/26 with all proceeds to support ministries of the church. If you're interested contact Jen here (email is preferred method) or
call her at 408-887-1757 to schedule your appointment.
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Hot Off The Presses - The Garden of Eatin' Recipe Collection
It is not too late to get your very own copy of Garden of Eatin', a recipe collection put together by the Faithful Follower's to support The American Cancer Society. Contact Mary Alice Edson or Teresa Lewis to reserve your copy, or see one of the Faithful Follower's after services on Sunday.
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Mark Your Calendars
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 Coming in September -
Life in Balance
Toppling? Spinning? Falling
off?
Life in Christ is life in balance. Find out how to get there, Sundays in
September and October.
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Celebration of Ministries September 7
Each fall we come home to
Campbell UCC to party! We eat together, and share all the good work God has
done through our ministries over the last year.
We say goodbye to our friends who have moved elsewhere, and remember
those who have passed from this earth.
On September 7, come and
celebrate God's presence in Worship, and God's amazing works of transformation
and healing at our Annual Celebration.
Campbell UCC alumni and new friends are especially welcome.
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Service and Fellowship Opportunities
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Ice Cream Social at the 
Montgomery Street Shelter August 12
Come and eat ice cream with the men of the Montgomery Street Shelter. On-site parking is limited so we will gather at 6:45 p.m. at the Church and car pool to the shelter. We need your homemade cookies and brownies, and any monetary donation to offset costs of the ice cream and toppings are greatly appreciated. Most important, you can make a difference in the lives of the men of the shelter by sitting with them and sharing in Christ's love.Contact Cheri Whaples or Jeralyn Spradlin for more information.
Church
Family Campout August 22 - 24
 We'll cook, play, and worship together in the woods and under the stars at the Portola Valley Redwoods State Park. Bring your tents, sleeping bags and camp chairs (flush toilets and showers are easily accessible). RV sites are available near the campsite for an additional fee for those not feeling quite so adventurous. Costs are expected to be $20 per person or $75 per family of four or more (includes camp registration both nights and all meals). Save the dates and watch your inbox for the e-vite to follow, or contact Susan Hough or Teresa Lewis if you would like to help plan, organize or shop for the event. |
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Hats'n'Chat Knitting Party
August 25, 7 p.m.
 Novice knitters needed. And if your stitches always line up neatly on the
needle and your yarn never tangles, you might feel out of place at the Hats'n'Chat
group -- but you're welcome anyway!
We make hats for the
Montgomery Street Ministry -- our Christmas gifts and party for the homeless
men living at the Montgomery Street Inn in San Jose.
Hats'n'Chat is the fourth Monday of the month,
7-9 in the Fireside Room. Materials, tools and instruction are always available. Childcare is possible with notice. Contact Susan Hough by email or at 737-8192. |
PRAISE REPORTS!
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Shelter Dinner Update - July
From the pen of Angie Jaggars:
Red, white & blue star garlands
decorated the dining room tables along with matching holiday napkins.
Ray Pollock cooked chicken
tetrazzini & Audrey Pecsok brought chicken lasagna. I also served meatballs
& spaghetti from our Italian Dinner. Theresa Albers provided juices while
Debra Carpenter brought French bread & the makings for a green salad.
Despite the 100 degree heat all 14 women & 10 children had good appetites
& were delighted with our meal. I made our joy/concern prayer cards
available & 4 women expressed prayers to be shared in our worship
service.
I was not able to bring our basket
full of personal items for the women as only a few small bars of soap are on
hand in my cupboard right now. So please collect more of those
complimentary hotel room goodies from your traveling friends & neighbors.
Our August dinner will be here soon & much help is still needed.
Please see me or the sign up sheet on the welcome table at Sunday worship.
Thanks to so many of our members & friends
who contribute so regularly to make this meal happen every month.
Shalom,
Angie Jaggars
Shelter Dinner Coordinator
292-4063
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 Campbell UCC brings
Hula Hoops and Veggies
to Relay for Life.
The final accounting isn't in yet, but our
team has over $2,000 in online donations, $655 in off-line donations and $239
from the sale of healthy snacks and the Garden of Eatin' Recipe Collection,
bringing our total donations to well over $2,800 - more than double our original
estimate!
Special kudos to Mary Alice Edson who designed and
built the fantastic garden vegetable theme for our camp site, to the CREATE
Youth Group for taking the 4:00 - 7:00 am shift, and to Sandy Holloway, Jen
Brown and Courtney Johnson for daring to take laps dressed as Cal Carrot and Susie
Strawberry.
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Youth Lock-in and Walk-around
After a walking the evening hours at Relay for Life, our youth gathered for
games and snacks in the Fireside Room. Around midnight sleep dropped a net over the group until
3:45 a.m. when they jumped
up or stumbled out back to Relay. Three more hours of walking and talking, then
pancakes and a movie and worship with the larger community. Next up: August 10th's
meeting, then more life under the stars at the Church Campout!
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Green Ministries
The July e-waste collection brought in another semi-truck full of electronic and other recyclables that won't be going to a land-fill! Our next collection date is October 18, 2008.
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Want to learn to play rhythm guitar or piano by "ear"?
From Director of Music
Ministries Cheryl
Forest Morganson:
The vast majority of music that is performed by Campbell UCC's instrumentalists
relies on chord charts and the human ear - not on little black dots scattered
across a page of music. If you are able to walk up to a piano and
pick out a tune - any tune - you have the basic skills necessary to learn to
read chord charts and participate in Worship as part of the Music Ministry
Team.
We are now offering chord chart
coaching sessions. I have designed a program of progressive "pop
piano" study based on several praise and Worship songs. These
sessions are much more flexible than the piano lessons we offer, and you will
go at your own pace. Advanced participants will also receive instruction
in how to produce chord charts from scratch. We are also expanding out from
piano and drum to guitar lessons as well. The group lessons will be
casual and focused on chord-based worship music.
As you learn, you'll participate in Worship (either Sunday morning or as part of a small group ministry). Absolute beginners encouraged! Contact Cheryl Forest Morganson for more information.
If you have a guitar sitting unused in your garage, please consider donating it to the Music Ministry for use in Worship!
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Real Faith for Real Life In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and
over again. God never tires of bringing us to the one point until we
learn the lesson, because God cares only of producing the finished product.
Oswald Chambers
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