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January 2002 REV.
ALEXANDER TO BE INSTALLED JAN 27 On
Sunday, January 27, at 3 pm, the San Francisco Presbytery will install the
Reverend Samuel G. Alexander as the 18th Pastor of Old First Presbyterian
Church. There will be some old friends taking part in the service and some
close friends of Sam’s. Rev.
Jana Childers, Ph.D., Professor of Preaching at San Francisco Theological
Seminary, will deliver the sermon. Rev. Charles A Hammond will deliver the
charge to the pastor and Rev. Glenda Hope the charge to the congregation.
Rev. Chandler Stokes, Rev. Keenan Kelsey and a cast of thousands
(including us as the worshipping congregation), will take part. There
will be a reception following the service. Join us on this glorious
occasion.
At
our Congregational Luncheon and Annual Meeting on Sunday, February
3, we will review the year 2001 through the Annual Report, look forward to
the year 2002 by way of the proposed budget and Pastor Sam’s vision for
us, and honor the present moment with a good lunch and some fine music. It
all begins right after the worship service, approximately 12:15 pm, in the
Fellowship Hall. The Congregational Care Committee will coordinate a
semi-potluck luncheon of baked ham and lasagna (provided by the Committee)
and whatever side dishes, breads and desserts the congregation
contributes. Tickets
are $5 for an adult, $3 for ages 5-12. Tickets go on sale at Coffee Hour
on Sunday, January 13. Dear
Friends, I’ve
had a wonderful month, and most of the reason for that, was all of you. It
has been fun getting to know you. It
is true what one of you said,
“Old First is a personality-rich congregation.”
Indeed, personality-rich and committed to seeing God’s work done
in the city of San Francisco. I find that I’ve become quite fond of you
very quickly, really. And the staff . . . the staff is an excellent group
of people – every one of whom cares what happens to this church. It’s
a privilege to be here. There
are two somewhat challenging questions to ask you this month. They come
from a Pastor who cares about you, not one who is critical of you. We
at Old First are very good at doing. (I say “we”, because I am big on
doing too.) Sometimes though, it has seemed to me that we lose track of
being. It’s easy to do, and as fast as I’ve started here, you can bet
I need to be reading my own words at this moment. Service that flows out
of our relationship with God does not burn us out. How did Jesus put it
when Martha complained that her sister wasn’t doing enough to help?
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is
need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part.” Now of course,
someone will say, “Yes, but if we all just sat around listening to Jesus
day in and day out, nothing would ever get done.” I’m not at all sure
of that. There seems to have been a cadence in Jesus’ life between
attending to a relationship with God and attending to the work he was
about in the world. One could even say that without the one, Jesus could
not have done the other. Which brings me to the first question: How do you
feel about the balancing act you do between attending to relationship with
God and your work in the world? This
may also lead to the next question. Amelia Kaymen came before the
congregation on Dec. 16 and said this: “I have good news and bad news
about our Stewardship campaign. The good news is that we have plenty of
money to support the programs of our church. The bad news is that it is
still in your pockets.” We are $80,000.00 – that’s right, $80,000.00
– below our goal. Stewardship too flows out of our relationship with a
loving God. Honestly, this is a spiritual issue. I know that these are
financially anxious times and I know that it is important to be fiscally
responsible. But consider this - most people who spend their life looking
for ways to give more of what they have will tell you that such an effort
does not heighten financial anxiety; it relieves it. So to my second
question . . . Why are you working so hard? Is it to make yourself safe
and secure, or is it to make a contribution to God’s work in this crazy
world?
Grace and peace,
Sam
LAY
LITURGIST TRAINING CLASSES Sunday
mornings , January 6 - February 10, 9:30
- 10:30 am Lay
participation in the Sunday service is essential to the way we worship. We
all have high standards for the worship we share together, but many of us
feel we do not have the training and experience to lead worship in the way
we would like. Rev.
Alexander will lead a series of six classes to train laypersons in the art
of leading worship. RETREAT
2002 Are
You Tired of Doing?
Is Your
Spiritual Pantry Bare? Our
Retreat is March 15, 16, 17 at
Westminister Woods in west Sonoma Planning
is underway for the All Church Retreat next March — a
well rounded weekend of out-of-town activities designed
to refresh minds and spirits. Rev.
Sam Alexander, our own pastor, will be leading us, ably assisted It
will be a great opportunity to get to know Sam and Barbara. We'll
have time for socializing with fellow Old Firsters,
and the chance
to be mentally and spiritually recharged.
No planning - no Task
Force report - no
goal. Just
be with your friends at Old First. If
you have the feeling, however slight,
that supplies
in your spiritual pantry are running low,
join the
Retreat and get some new perspectives.
It’s a chance
to step back from the everyday emphasis on getting things done, to
get a fresh perspective on who we are and what we believe.
Spend some
time enjoying fellow members and
enjoying God. Be
sure to save the dates — March 15,16,17. Further
details will be announced in worship, in
the Sunday bulletin and in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday mornings. 2002
PHOTO DIRECTORY We’ve
needed a new Old First photo directory of members for a while now; the old
one is very out of date. We have a new pastor whose top priority is
getting to know the church members and who majored in photography in
college. Put those two facts
together and ...... smile! This one’s for the record! The
Rev. Sam Alexander is going to take everybody’s picture for a new
directory. Instead of dealing with a directory service and paying their
(high!) prices, we will produce the directory ourselves. The printing will
be financed by photo sales, just like with a service, but the prices will
be much more reasonable and the sales pitch will be non-existent.. Most
photos will be taken on Sunday afternoons, but there will also be some
weekday appointments available. Look for the signup board after worship
service and make an appointment with the pastor! NEW
OFFICERS ELECTED Elected
at the December 16 Congregational Meeting were the following Elders: Class
of 2002 - Glen Potter; Class of 2003 - Alison Armstrong, Michael Berg,
Cindy Burt, Pam Byers, Tom Culp, Bill Feister, Dana Nojima. The
Deacons’ Class of 2003 was elected: Shirley Buono, Carol Carter, Kyle
Glodow, Jan Hammock, Bob Hermann, Rod Macdonald, Sarah Taber. The
Congregational representatives on next year’s Nominating Committee will
be: Dan Joraanstad, Steve Schacher, Sally Spencer and Kathleen Stuart. Many
thanks to this year’s Nominating Committee: George Becker, Moderator;
Mary Culp, Kelly Cunningham, Dan Joraanstad, Ingrid Larnis, Steve Schacher
and Jerry Stuart. SESSION
NOTES From
the October 23 regular meeting Christian
Education - The Town Hall meeting presented an excellent forum to discuss
the benefits and drawbacks of Children in Worship; no recommendation
for schedule change is being made at this time. Pastor’s
Report - Rev. Barnett suggested several areas for future attention by
Session: Adoption and
purchase of the New Revised Standard Version for pew bibles; relationship
between worship in Jazz Vespers and Old First Concerts; our excellent
website, which might benefit from the addition of an interactive feature;
ventilation in the Munro Room. Finance
- Committee moderators were reminded to review
the budget calendar and to submit budget proposals. From
the November 27 regular meeting SF
Presbytery - At the January
meeting, proposed amendments to the constitution will be voted on and
commissioners to the 214th General Assembly will be elected. Old First’s
delegates to the Presbytery meeting will be Michael Berg, Pam Byers, Betsy
Chiao, Jean Olson and John Sebastian. Planning
- The Officers’ Retreat will be January 18-19 at the Ralston White
Center in Mill Valley. Operations
- $1,850 will be drawn from the Building Reserve Fund to install new
heaters in the offices. Mission
- We anticipate hosting an emergency shelter for men in March. Stewardship
- Only about half the anticipated pledges have been received to date. Homelessness
Task Force - A gift of $10,000 has been received from the estate of Lorna
Logan. REV.
BARNETT’S NEW INTERIM POSITION IS IN SAUSALITO The
Rev. Cornel Barnett began a new Interim
Pastorate at First Presbyterian Church of Sausalito on December 1. Cornel’s
last Sunday at Old First was October 28. He was given a rousing sendoff at
Coffee Hour with a surfing-theme reception and a gift certificate from a
surf shop. PEACE
AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE The
Peace and Justice Committee will hold a meeting on January 6, 2002, at
12:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Look for the Peace and Justice table at
Coffee Hour. This committee is now formulating goals and objectives for
the future, hoping to take on some interesting projects. If
peace and justice issues interest you, please come by and sign up for this
very important committee and help us carry out our commitment as a
Peacemaking Congregation. For more information, contact Pat Devine at
(925) 945-6726. DEACONS
ELECT OFFICERS The
Board of Deacons has elected Bryan Nichols and Jeanne Kirkwood as
Co-Moderators for 2002. Rebecca Smith has been chosen Treasurer and
Heather Losee, Recording Secretary. Mary Culp will represent Deacons on
the next Nominating Committee.
JIM
FAGLER HONORED FOR 555 ELLIS STREET BUILDING The
City Design Center of the University of Illinois has created an online
sourcebook called “Design Matters: Best Practices in Affordable
Housing”. Network Ministries’ 555 Ellis Street Family Apartments was
one of the 70 projects chosen from 426 submissions. Old
First member Jim
Fagler, principal architect for the apartments, recently flew to Chicago
for the recognition of his work. Network Ministries’ director Glenda
Hope says, “This is an important honor.” You
can view the sourcebook through Network Ministries’ website: www.sfnetworkministries.org.
Go to November Highlight and find the link. IN
MEMORY Frances
Gray died on December 15, 2001. A
memorial service was held at Old First on December 22. FRANCES
M. GRAY, LL. D, H.H. D. Born
in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1910, Frances M. Gray was graduated in 1930
from Rhodes (now Southwestern) College in Memphis, Tennessee. She earned
master's degrees from New York Theological Seminary, the Divinity School
of the University of Chicago,
and Columbia University's School of Social Work, and was awarded honorary
doctorates by Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, and her alma mater. After
a career in social work that included two years in Europe with the army
hospital services of the American Red Cross, Dr. Gray's service with the
Presbyterian church began in
1946 when she became the Western Area Secretary for Women's Work of the
United Presbyterian Church. In 1950 she became the first woman to serve as
a Portfolio Secretary for the Board of Foreign Missions, responsible for
oversight of missions in Africa and the Middle East. In
1956 she was appointed
to the Beirut College for Women, serving first as Professor of Biblical
Literature, then becoming president of the college in 1959. She
significantly raised the quality of education in one of the few schools in
the Middle East devoted to the education of women, then helped the college
make the transition to full Lebanese leadership. Dr.
Gray moved to Iran in 1965 to a post at the Iran Bethel School for girls
in Tehran, guiding the school
through its upgrading to Damavand College in 1968. She saw its new campus
become a reality, but retired before the occupancy of the new site.
Damavand College now has a student body of over 600. Among
the honors bestowed on
Dr. Gray for her work in the Middle East upon
retiring in 1975, she moved to San Francisco and devoted herself Dr.
Gray was a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Council on Discipleship
and Worship from 1978 to 1984. . She was an elder at Old First
Presbyterian Church, where she taught a large adult Bible class
and collaborated in the design of the exonarthex ceiling decoration
by artist Larry Boyce. She
became a resident of The Sequoias in 1988 and served on the Residents'
Council and several committees. SAYING
GOODBY TO FRANCES by
Rosemary Bledsoe On
Saturday, December 15, a little before noon on a cool, bright day, a long
and beautiful life ended quietly. Frances Gray died in Room 231 of the
Health Center at The Sequoias. I
first visited her there several weeks before; Sam had told me that Frances
wanted me to write her obituary. She knew she didn’t have much time
left, and she was setting her affairs in order; she had already given him
explicit instructions about her memorial service. I
found her sitting bolt upright in bed — not propped on pillows,
but just sitting straight up — reading.
She took off her glasses, greeted me with her wonderful, radiant
smile, and got right down to business. She had all the relevant
information assembled in a folder. “I don’t want any kudos,” she
said firmly, “just the facts of my life.” When
I started working on those facts, I wondered how
many people would be able to put them in context, if they could
start with “born in Little Rock in 1910” and comprehend how very, very
far the events of her life had taken her from that beginning. I
wondered about newer members who knew her only as the well-dressed lady
who usually sat near the south wall of the sanctuary and seemed to know
everybody in the congregation. Could they have any idea how
much she has contributed to Old First? To me, Frances embodies and
defines an era in the history of this church: the years when she and Emma
Lee and Doris Krauss motivated, instructed, inspired and organized us all.
Of the many studies and
statements about Old First that various committees have crafted in the
last twenty years or so, nothing has matched the simple truth of her own
definition, “This is a church of waifs and strays”. She
taught us about mosaics and altarpieces and Byzantine house-churches. She
taught us about the Psalms and the journeys
of Paul and the Gospel of John. She taught us how to live and she showed
us how to die. The
next time I went to see
Frances, she was asleep. I talked to the nurse who took care of her.
“This lady loves the Lord,” the nurse said. “She isn’t afraid. I
sing to her, ‘I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,’
and she sings with me. It’s a privilege to do things for her.” Some
of us were privileged to sit with her in a vigil in her last few days. We
prayed for her, read to her from her own Bible (so marked up with notes in
pencil, black ink, red ink, blue ink, green ink that some passages were
hardly legible), looked at the photographs of friends and family by her
bed and the favorite books on her shelf. There was so little we could do
for her; we even wondered at times if we were annoying her, distracting
her from the great work she was doing. For
myself, I needed just a little more of her presence, a little more time to
say goodby. I was having a hard time reconciling her leaving with the
joyous, hope-filled season of Advent, but she had provided an answer for
that, too. As I left her for the last time, I noticed another possession
she had brought with her to this room: a plaque on the wall near the foot
of her bed. It says, “Already — and not yet.” |
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