March 2000

ARE YOU, LIKE, TOTALLY WIRED?

The Old First Church Computer Center, located in Room A, will start a free series of adult classes introducing church members and friends to the new, digital world of the 21^st century.  The first class, Introduction to the Internet, is suitable for novices and intermediate computer users.  Look for these classes to begin Wednesdays in late April - more details will be announced soon!

CAN YOU GIVE A LIFT?

If you have a car and a little extra time, you can join in a wonderful act of community by providing much needed transportation to and from worship for fellow Old First members.  The Board of Deacons is seeking additional help with this important need.  If you are someone who wants to help, please contact Jonathan Lee or David Lo, or leave a note in their deacons’ folders in the narthex.

Mission Vision Study Due Soon

 Old First’s Session of Elders has set dates for the first few steps in the pastor search process.  The Mission Vision Team expects to have a draft of their statement by March 21 so that it can be voted on at Session’s  April 25 meeting. 

The Nominating Committee will work toward having a proposed Pastor Nominating Committee by the end of June. A Congregational Meeting will be held on July 16 to to act on their recommendation.

Holy Week and Easter

Old First’s Holy Week and Easter events:

            April 16 - Palm Sunday

            April 20 - Maundy Thursday “Last Supper” potluck/service

            April 21 - Good Friday - Tenebrae service

            April 23 - Easter Sunday

Lenten Study:  The Seven Deadly Sins

Pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, lust, and gluttony — ever practiced any of those?  They are traditionally known as the seven deadly sins, and we all struggle with most of them. In fact, some of them might even be considered virtues these days. 

During Lent this year, we will look at our tendency to sin, examining these ancient trans-gressions and how we might be tempted by them today.  This Lent, we invite you to step back and look at your life through the lenses of the seven deadly sins, committing yourself again to live as Christ's loved and forgiven child.

Susan Ashton and Erwin Barron will lead weekly discussion groups beginning Sunday, March 12.  The same topic will be repeated each week on Wednesday evenings for those who cannot attend on Sunday mornings. 

Sunday morning discussions will be in the Munro Room at 9:30.  On Wednesday eve-nings, the study and discussion at 6:30 will be in the education office, followed by a meditative worship service at 7:30 in the children's chapel. 

                           March 12 and 15 - "What is Sin?"

                           (March 19 - Church retreat - no classes)

                           March 29 and April 2 - "Anger"

                          April 5 and 9 - "Avarice and Sloth"

                          April 12 and 16 - "Lust and Gluttony"

Spring Retreat: Yes 2 Keeping  the Faith

The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow will lead our all congregational Retreat March 17, 18, and 19 at Westminster Woods in Sonoma County.  About the theme, “Y2K -- Yes to Keeping the Faith”, Rev. Reyes-Chow says,“Often in today's world it is difficult to develop consistent practices that allow us to mature in our individual  faith lives and spiritual journeys....

In our time together we will explore many aspects of our faith life and how we may become better disciples in the world.  Using the parables of Christ, we will explore such faith issues as: Community, Risk, Success, Prayer, Social Action, Change, and Confession. Most importantly, we will look at practical, relevant and life-giving ways to continue growth in our day-to-day lives.”

Study and Contemplation Sessions will include "Keep Believing" (Matthew 13:10-17), "Keep Learning" (Mark 4:1-9, 13-20), "Keep Praying" (Luke 18:1-14), "Keep Moving" (Luke 14:7-14), "Keep Dreaming" (Luke 12: 13-21 & Luke 5:36-39), and "Keep Together" (Matthew 20:1-16).

Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow is a graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary. He has served the Presbyterian Church in a variety of roles, most recently on the General Assembly Church Growth Strategy Team and Keynoter for Montreat Youth Conferences.  He is currently working on developing a project for a new church plant in the Mission Bay/China Basin area of San Francisco. 

The Retreat will not only provide time for study and reflection, but also the usual fun, frolic, food, fellowship, and free time, including the favorite biblical skits. The Rev. Erwin Barron is in charge of the children’s program.

Cost is $110 per adult for the weekend, $55 for those age 13-18, free for those 12 and under.  The committee will do their best to assign rooms to meet individual needs.  Registration for Retreat 2000 is at Coffee hour in the Fellowship Hall each Sunday through March 12.  Or click here to sign up online.

Session of Elders -  Notes from the Jan. 25, 2000 meeting

The Personnel Committee was charged to form a subcommittee to develop several different possible configurations of the church staff, along with cost estimates. This report is to be presented to Session at the March meeting, along with the Mission Vision report.

Three persons were removed from the roll of active members. Total active members: 305.

A balanced budget for 2000 was approved. After considerable discussion, no agreement was reached on priorities for additional expenditures if more pledges should be received after January 20.

Presbyterian Women Want Your Books

Our Presbyterian Women group is now accepting used books for their Second Not-Quite-Annual Book Sale which will be held in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday, April 16 (Palm Sunday).

They welcome contributions of used books in good condition, both paperback and hard-cover, for both children and adults. PW spokesperson Carol Carter offers this clarification: “If you wonder if a book is in good enough condition for the sale, just ask yourself if you’d give it to someone you know. If not, please find some other place for it. And, as we learned at our first sale, we can’t use textbooks -- no old textbooks, no new textbooks -- or magazines.”

Bring your books to the church (Classroom A) by Sunday, April 9, or call the church to arrange to have them picked up.

There are several ways you can support this effort: donating books, helping to pick up books, buying books, and spreading the word about the sale to your friends. Sale hours will be 10:00 to 11:00 am on April 16th, then after worship (noonish) until at least 1:30 pm, or whenever they run out of either books or customers: Carol says, “At this point, closing time is still negotiable.”

In Recital

Britt La Gatta, soprano; Kenneth Matthews, piano & organ

Sat, March 4, 4:00 pm - Old First Sanctuary

Music of R. Strauss, Faure, J.S. Bach, Mozart, R. Thompson, S. Romberg and more

"A Classical Romance" - A concert by soprano Pamela Sebastian and keyboard player Katie Clare Mazzeo

Saturday, March 25, 8:00 pm

 Ms. Mazzeo will play a fortepiano, an early, wooden piano, about the size of a harpsichord, witha shorter keyboard than modern pianos. The fortepiano has a smaller, more delicate sound and is the ideal instrument for songs and other pieces written to be performed in a setting more intimate than a large concert hall. 

The program will offer (mostly!) songs of love and romance in four languages by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, and Donizetti. Most of these were written to be performed with the fortepiano, so you will hear them as they were originally conceived.  Robert

Schumann's powerful song cycle, "Die Frauenliebe und -leben" ("The Life and Loves of a Woman") will be the lynch pin of the program.

Pam Sebastian is a long-time member of Old First.  She is seldom seen at worship, however, because she has been the soprano soloist at Calvary for some time.  She is a professional member of both the Symphony Chorus and the Chorale of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, in addition to presenting recitals and chamber music concerts.  Ms. Mazzeo is a well-known performer and teacher in the Carmel area and has performed worldwide as both a solo and a collaborative artist.

Admission fee will be $15.00; Old First members are welcome for $10.00.  This is not an Old First Concerts event, so Old First Concerts vouchers will not be valid, but no one will be turned away for inability to pay.

FERNANDO’S ICE CREAM SUNDAY!

We are celebrating the 15^th anniversary of Fernando Gonzalez’ dedicated service to the congregation of Old First.  Join the deacons for ice cream in the Fellowship Hall after the service on April 30.  The cost is only $2.50 for adults and $1.00 for children 12 and under.  We will have flavors and toppings to suit every taste.  Limited quantities of sorbet also will be available as an ice cream substitute.  All proceeds benefit the Deacons’ Fund.  Don’t miss our ice cream Sunday.

Lectionary

Mar 5    Transfiguration of the Lord 

               2 Kings 2:1-12; Ps.50:1-6; 2 Cor. 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9

Mar 12  1st Sunday in Lent

                Gen. 9:8-17; Ps. 25:1-10; 1 Pet. 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15

Mar 19   2nd Sunday in Lent

                Gen. 17:1-17; Ps. 22:23-31; Rom. 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38

Mar 26   3rd Sunday in Lent

                Exod. 20:1-17; Ps. 19; 1 Cor. 1:18-25; John 2:13-22

Apr 2     4th Sunday in Lent

                Num. 21:4-9; Ps. 107:1-3, 17-22;  Eph. 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

Pastor's Letter

The author of Ecclesiastes writes: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” The end of the year 1999 and the beginning of 2000 brought many changes to the congregation of Old First Presbyterian Church. Collectively, we could call this time a period of transition. In the nomenclature of the denomination, we call it an interim period. It is in fact, for this congregation, a time when some things are to be born while others die; a time for planting and a time for plucking what has been planted, a time for mourning, a time for dancing, a time to seek, a time to lose. It is the church’s time. And in the continuing rhythm of events that we know constitute the life cycle of a congregation, this interim period represents an opportunity to assess the past and visualize the future. This is a rich and wonderful time!

Experts who study congregations and their life cycles point out that transitional periods are wonderful opportunities to examine the dynamics that most influence growth and energy or lack thereof. “Congregations in each phase of the life cycle contain certain similarities which produce common dangers and opportunities. (Martin Saarinen, “Life Cycles of a Congregation,” Alban Institute, 1986, p. 16). It is ironic, for example, that the energy and vision which motivated the congregation during one period of its life can become a kind of stultifying self-satisfaction. “Venerating its structures, the congregation generates a kind of canonical mentality in which the pursuit of what should be displaces the pursuit of what could be.” (Saarinen, ibid, p. 17)

Saarinen and others point to various indicators that serve organizations as signals. Some of these are: decline in membership, an obvious sign that something is going on; conflict, akin to voting with one’s feet, people tend to show their feelings by acting out; bureaucratization, the “arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic syndrome.” My list is not exhaustive. But it does support my point that transitions are “numinous” moments that provide courageous congregations many opportunities to examine and assess and evaluate. To paraphrase the Teacher, there is a time for everything, and now is the time to fearlessly inventory, i.e., to build up what works and to discard what is no longer relevant.

Clearly Old First is living through a transitional period. William Bridges tells us that painful though it often is, transition is the organization’s best chance for creativity, renewal, and development. Transition “is thus both a dangerous and an opportune place. It’s the place and time when the old habits that are no longer adaptive to the situation are extinguished and new, better-adapted patterns of habit begin to take shape. It is the winter in which the old growth returns to the soil as decayed matter, while the next year’s growth begins to stir in the root underground. It is the night during which we are disengaged from yesterday’s concerns and prepared for tomorrow’s. It is the chaos in which the old form of things dissolves and from which the new form emerges. It is the seedbed of the new beginning that you seek.” (William Bridges, “Managing Transitions,” Addison-Wesley, 1991, p. 6)

As your Interim Pastor, I am honored to walk this sacred road with you. Throughout the coming year, I will call us to remember the time and our task.

Grace and Peace be with you all,

Harrell Davis