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December
2003
November
Choir Concert Postponed
The Old First Choir and
Orchestra performance of Lux Aeterna
that was originally scheduled for Nov. 21 has been postponed.
Watch for the announcement of a new date.
Revised Jazz Vespers
Schedule, 2003-04
Dec
14 — John Thomas
(vocals) & Michael Smolens (multi-instumentalist)
Jan 11 —
Gerry Grosz and The January Jazz Jam
Feb 8 —
Clairdee & the Ken French Trio
Mar 14 —
Geoffrey Keezer (internationally known jazz pianist)
April 11 — Dave Rocha
Quartet
May 9 —
John Callaway Quartet
June 13 — Paul
Scheffert Trio
July 11 —
Don Pender Quartet
January
17 Potluck
After Thanksgiving comes
Christmas, after Christmas comes New Year’s, and after New Year’s
comes ...... the post-holiday blahs.
Our Congregational Care
Committee will sponsor a potluck dinner on Saturday, January 17 guaranteed
not only to beat the blahs, but to help you with your holiday leftovers.
Put aside that unwanted fruitcake or one-box-too-many of gift
cookies. Freeze unused party foods or the turkey bones.
We’ll have soup and
salad, plus whatever oddments of appetizers and desserts turn up.
6:30 pm; discounted parking; signups at Coffee Hour beginning
December 14.
Workshop
Focuses on Pastoral Expectations
About 60 members and
friends of Old First gathered at the church on Saturday, November 15, to
discuss their dreams and visions for the role of pastor at Old First. The
workshop, entitled “Articulating a Vision of the Role of Pastor at Old
First”, was facilitated by Rev. Joanne Whitt, Associate Pastor at
Calvary Presbyterian Church.
The tone for the day was
set in worship and singing of hymns. Participants then broke into small
groups to look at and discuss relevant passages from scripture, the Book
of Order, and our Mission Vision Statement. Questions developed by Rev.
Whitt helped us to focus on implications for the pastoral role at Old
First.
Results from each
discussion were then presented to the larger group. Our talk together
continued through lunch with the help of pithy "fortune cookie"
wisdom provided by our facilitator. Finally, we met in full session to
highlight and elaborate on ideas about the pastoral role at Old First
brought out during the group discussions.
While emotions rose at
times, our family discussion was civil and constructive. A "no
venting" rule was followed, which helped our love for each other
prevail.
Results from the
discussion are being processed by the workshop planning group for use by
Session in planning the upcoming year and will help us clarify
expectations for both our pastor and congregation as we live out our
Christian mission together. These results will also be shared with the
congregation. Questions may be addressed to Roger Lindahl, Planning
Committee moderator.
Pastor's
Ponderings
Dear Friends,
I was glad that so many
of you were able to come to the workshop concerning the role of the Pastor
at Old First. I think we learned a lot together. It will be interesting to
see how this develops over time.
During a sermon a few
weeks ago, I said that I hoped some of you would accept the challenge to
read the entire Bible during 2004. I have found a calendar of readings
that I think makes that as easy as it can be. The calendar has four
reasonably brief readings a day for 25 days a month. If you skip a day or
two, you can still catch up!
I will have copies of the
reading chart in the back of the sanctuary. You can also ask Tom for one,
tom@oldfirst.org, and he can either mail, or e-mail one. For those of you
who use a computer calendar, here is a link to download the calendar into
your computer.
http://navpress.smartbusiness.org/dj_brp.asp?opt=old
Hope you enjoy the Advent
season. See you in worship.
Grace and peace,
Sam
Edgewood
Giving Tree
Unwrapped gifts for
Edgewood Center for Children and Families need to be turned in to the
church by Sunday, December 7 If
you don’t have time to buy a gift, you can make a financial donation;
the Mission Committee will shop for a gift for the child of your choice or
a child who has not been chosen.
Your generous support for
this program is deeply appreciated by the children and staff of Edgewood.
If you have any questions or need some help, please call Betsy Chiao.
Sanctuary
Flowers and Coffee Hour in 2004
Watch the bulletin board
in the back hallway for the new 2004 signup calendar for sponsoring
sanctuary flowers and coffee hour.
You can claim your
special Sunday to donate flowers, or coffee and donuts, to celebrate a
special occasion or remember a loved one.
Where
the Money Goes
by Barry Clagett
As you know, our budget
provides the financial support needed to complement the thousands of hours
of volunteer support that make our many ministries and programs successful
each year. Our volunteers can’t do it all, though. We need our trained
paid staff to partner with us. Working together we have wonderful worship
services on Sunday and the first Wednesday each month. We have our great
Jazz Vespers service once a month that is now attracting 70 people
average. Standard features each week here at Old First are childrens’
church school and adult Christian education classes, and an outstanding
music program for children as well as adults.
Our benevolence program
benefits a huge number of people through the national church, the
presbytery and their missions. We support 15 local programs from Network
Ministries to Larkin Street Youth Center to Project Open Hand to the Night
Ministry. We also directly operate three community ministries — for
seniors, children and our homeless neighbors — which directly benefit an
average of 120 people each week right here in our building. We make a
positive difference in many lives -
young, old, near, far, homebound, homeless, hungry, day and night.
Actually doing what the Lord teaches is very rewarding stuff!
Many programs underlie
our primary ministries. We provide Shared
Life, our monthly newsletter, in both print and electronic versions.
Social and study activities like small groups, congregational lunches and
dinners, coffee hour after worship, and off-site retreats support our life
together. Our evangelism ministry renews us over the years. We support a
fine church library and Sunday childcare. We pay for utilities, postage,
office and housekeeping supplies, a reliable copier, insurance and
building maintenance.
Did you notice that two
months ago our four beautiful exterior doors were refurbished by the man
who built them and brought back to their original brilliance? Have you
been on the south roof lately to
see the recently waterproofed and painted exterior window frames that help
keep our beautiful sanctuary dry? Well, maybe that’s asking a bit too
much.
For next year, we face
some questions. Do we want to restore our Christian Education staff to an
ongoing trained professional level? Do we want to restore music program
funding which is operating partially from one-time savings this year? Do
we want to restore our benevolence program, which presently is operating
at half of last year’s level? Do we want to restore our building’s
major maintenance account so we can maintain this beautiful church
building we all inherited? We have significant maintenance problems to
take care of.
We each love Old First
for our own reasons. For me, it’s the wonderful people who are Old First
members and friends, the great worship services and music, the friendship
opportunities, and the opportunities to serve our fellow members and
community neighbors in need, as Jesus has taught us to do.
Wedding
Ceremonies at Old First
by Marne Krozek
The leadership of Old
First is emphasizing more wedding ceremonies. There are several reasons
for this: 1) We believe in the marriage commitment, 2) Ceremonies can be
an outreach to the community, and 3) Revenue enhancement.
Couples of all faiths or
no particular religious affiliation will be welcome here. To quote from
the wedding literature we send to engaged couples: “While we do not
require that all wedding ceremonies in the Sanctuary be specifically
Christian, we do expect that our faith and tradition will be respected and
that our Sanctuary will be treated with care.” Pre-nuptial counseling
for the couple will be required — no exceptions. All weddings will be
hosted by church staff and a wedding coordinator who is a member of the
church.
In the near future, we
will have information on the Old First website, new packaging for our
wedding literature, and information on parking in our garage for weddings.
We’ll have an ad in the Wedding section of the next Yellow Pages
directory.
We look forward to this
ministry growing with God’s grace. We welcome your prayers and
suggestions as we begin anew.
Getting
Off the Track
by Rosemary Bledsoe
Christmas at last, at
last: one holy day in the dark time at the worn-out end of the year: as
desperately needed, feared and misused as any other holy thing.
Holy days are about
wholeness, and always have been, but they're even more important now that
we not only exist in a splintered-into-pieces state but are actually proud
of it. How can anyone value holy days, Sabbaths and sabbaticals when
time-out has become a punishment?
We're afraid we won't win
if we're not in the game. The life of the Spirit
isn't a game, though. There is actually enough to go around, and
you don't need to fight for your share. There's nobody to compete with
except God, who wants you to have everything, who gives you everything.
Our hard-edged,
top-speed, mechanized and urbanized world needs the regular, predictable
blessings of the liturgical seasons. There's probably nothing it needs
more. When our straight line of progress arrows through God's great cycles
of timelessness, it becomes life where they intersect: and only there.
Christmas can liberate us
from the relentless procession of day-after-day-after-day and allow us to
escape into God's unmeasured is-ness. Christmas has nothing to do with
progress or the work ethic. We
demonstrate that when we turn to the past for ways to celebrate the
season, trying somehow to unlive our lives and escape the persons we have
become.
Every now and then we
really do need to stop our relentless forward motion, get off the paved
track and wander around in the trees for a while. If you should happen to
go in circles or turn back toward your starting-place or even lie down for
a nice nap, it doesn't matter. Away from the signs and traffic, any
direction is "ahead".
Lectionary
Dec. 7
2nd Sunday of Advent
Mal.
3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79;
Phil. 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
Dec. 14
3rd Sunday of Advent
Zeph. 3:14-20; Isa.
12:2-6;
Phil. 4:4-7 Luke
3:7-18
Dec. 21
4th Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:47-55 or Ps. 80:1-7;
Heb. 10:5-10; Luke
1:39-45 (46-55)
Dec. 24
Christmas Eve
Isa. 9:2-7; Ps.
96; Titus 2:11-14;
Luke 2:1-14
(15-20)
Dec. 25
Christmas Day
Isa. 62:6-12; Ps. 97;
Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7) 8-20;
Isa. 52:7-10; Ps. 98;
Heb. 1:1-4 (5-12); John 1:1-14
Dec. 28
1st Sunday after Christmas
1 Sam. 2:18-20; Ps.
148;
Col. 3:12-17; Luke
2:41-52
Jan. 4
2nd Sunday after Christmas
Jer. 31:7-14; Ps.
147:12-20;
Eph. 1:3-14; John
1:(1-9) 10-18
Things
are Happening at the Doris Krauss Senior Center
By Judith Dancer, Senior
Center Director
The newly renamed Senior
Center has had a busy Autumn with new programming, wonderful trips and
entertainment galore.
We’ve started having
monthly lectures on health issues, our first lecture was on “How the
Brain Works and Ways to Promote Brain Health.”
Our crafts project in November was really fun.
We made leaf garlands as table runners for our Thanksgiving meal.
Our Spirituality Discussion Group continues and helps each of us
contemplate our lives and how Spirit informs us.
The trips this Autumn
have been fun and interesting. Thanks
to a member’s donation on behalf of the church, we went to the Degas
sculpture exhibit at the Legion of Honor for free.
The Conservatory of Flowers was fantastic, with the giant lily pads
and incredible sculptures. In
December we will have a docent-led tour of Grace Cathedral; in January, a
tour of the Buddhist Church with tea afterwards.
Entertainment has ranged
from belly dancing to Judith’s stilt dancing.
We’ll also have the privilege of hearing Don Pender and Bob
Ramirez perform a Jazz concert for us on Monday, December 15th from 1-2
p.m. in the Sanctuary in celebration of Christmas.
The Rhythm Tappers, a group of senior women who tap dance,
choreographing their own numbers and making wonderful costumes, will visit
us in February.
Please know that church
members and friends are always welcome to visit and/or volunteer.
We’d love to have you as our guest at lunch one Monday! Lunch is at noon; come early and check out what else is
happening. If you are
interested in volunteering, we could use help on the Monday before
Thanksgiving (November 24th) for our Thanksgiving luncheon.
Please let Leila MacDonald or Judith Dancer know.
You can reach Judith at 415-776-5552 x 316.
Thank you all for your support of the Senior Center, and blessings
to you in this holiday season.
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