The Englewood Christian News & Worship

    Sunday, September 12th is the day we move to our fall schedule of activities.  Please make a note of the time changes: Morning worship will be at 10:45a.m. and Adult Education classes will resume at the 9:30 hour.

    The choir resumes rehearsals on Thursday, September 2 at 7:00 pm, in the choir room on the lower level of the church building.  Rehearsals last for one hour.  The first worship service at which the choir will sing will be September 12.

    Any and all interested in singing in the choir are invited to attend.  Roger and Jane Finch have picked out some new music for the coming year. 

      The First Event Potluck Dinner takes place on September 12 at  noon following the morning worship service.  This will be a potato feed; the church will provide the potatoes and you are asked to bring toppings, salads, vegetables and desserts.    

   As is the custom at Englewood, we bring our own plates and silverware.  If you forget, don’t worry, there are plenty of plates and silverware in the kitchen.

   Hope to see you there!

      Beginning September 12 there will be two adult education opportunities during the 9:30 hour.  First, Rev. Helseth will lead a class that will focus on some of the basic beliefs of being a Christian.  The core of the class will be conversation around the “What We Believe” piece that he wrote a few years back.   

   The second education opportunity will be a book study.  The book is: The First Paul by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  Both Borg and Crossan were speakers on the Living the Question DVD study series that was held last year.  If you are interested in attending this class please order a copy of this book and begin reading it in preparation for the class.  You can order through Inklings Book Store or online.  It will be an interesting discussion.

                        We are fortunate to have two of the winners of the Seattle Ladies Musical Club as our guest artists on Sunday, September 12 at 2:00 pm. They will kick off the 2010- 2011 season of the Second Sunday Series. One of them, Jeffrey Brooks, plays principal clarinet for the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.  The other artist, David Brooks,  is a pianist with equally fine credentials.           Plan to join us!            

   ·  Julie Gray was admitted to Virginia Mason Hospital last Friday in critical condition due to her advancing lung cancer.  It is such that nothing more can be done to help her.  Please keep her and husband, Ron, in your prayers.  

·  Roy Lewis is home after a few days in the hospital.  He fell and hurt his head; they were concerned about bleeding.  He is doing better.  

      Have you signed up to help at the book room at Gilbert Elementary School?  You can make a difference in the lives of young people in our community by helping in such a simple, yet profound way.  You commit to spending the noon hour at the book room helping children pick a book they can take home to read.  There is a sign-up sheet on the Welcome Center in the narthex.  

   If you want, you can also arrange to help a teacher in a classroom work with some students in their reading.  It doesn’t take any special training, just someone to listen and encourage them.  

   All this begins Monday, September 13.  Loretta Krieger is helping coordinate this ministry.  

      There is power in prayer; and there is power in getting together with a couple of other people and praying together on a regular basis.  

   Is this something that you would like to develop in your life?  Groups of three are being formed right now to begin gathering in September to pray for one another, for Englewood and for those who need our strength and support at that time.  

   Check the Ministry Board on the wall in the north hallway.

   Disciples Home Mission is sponsoring a Mission Week at the Yakama Christian Mission September 4 – 11.  Come for one day or for the whole week, you are welcome for what time best fits your life.  The Yakama Christian Mission is a ministry on the Yakama Reservation working to better bring justice to those who hurt in the landscape of the Yakama Valley.  During this workweek the goal is to tear the roof off the parsonage and re-shingle it.  If time is left over then other projects, like re-chinking the Log Church, will take place.

   Everyone, of all ages, is encouraged to participate.  Contact Rev. Helseth, 966-6550, if you are interested in participating.

      You are present in Pakistan helping with the relief efforts for those affected by the devastating flooding.  You are present there because of the gifts to Week of Compassion you gave last February, and at other times during the year.  Working with organizations like Church World Service, members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are coordinating efforts with other agencies and denominations to make a difference.

Thank you for your support of Week of Compassion.

    I just returned from attending the annual luncheon of the YWCA here in Yakima.  One of the reasons I attended is because Ester Huey was the guest speaker and the other was that I really appreciate the mission statement of the YWCA.  

   First, Ester Huey is an amazing woman who has been a strength to Yakima for many years.  She said today that when she first came to Yakima in 1945 there was a store across from the train depot that had a sign in the window, “No Negros Allowed.”  When she returned to Yakima in 1982 to take care of her mother she applied for an executive position in local banks; she had a very powerful position in a bank in Seattle.  But she did not get one interview in Yakima – she was a woman and she was black.  How times have changed - and for the better.  Yet, we must realize that racism and sexism are still alive in subtle ways in our culture.  Let’s not go back to those “good old days;” let us move forward.  

   Ester was speaking to the mission statement of the YWCA.  “The YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.”  Now, that is a mission statement that comes right off the pages of the Bible, including the prophets of the Old Testament and the life of Jesus.  

   Locally the YWCA provides emergency housing for battered women who must leave a violent home; they provide advocacy support for such women and work at defusing the anger that leads to violence and gang activity in youth – and much more.  

   The reason I bring this up is that it is one thing to talk about peace and justice but it is something else to start living it.  Gathering in worship on Sunday morning is a wonderful thing, but it means little if it doesn’t translate into being missional during the week as we live out the life and ministry of Jesus.  Let’s move outside the walls of our church building and begin to realize that we are the church as we speak to issues of justice, equality, compassion and dignity.  We embody the life and Spirit of Christ. 

           Peace,

          Rev. David Helseth

  If you are interested in learning more about our faith community, please call the church office.  

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