11-16-2008

Reviewed proposed vision statement
-developing relationships, what is expected?
-one idea is to relate to others who are different
-what is the false dichotomy between evangelism and peace and justice
-are we doing this through our daily lives or do we intentionally evangelize?
-The third vision statement seems focused on joining in the diversity of our community
-Yoga mantra: Discipline is remembering what you desire
-Be who you say you're going to be
-The document may not have words that precisely descibe our intentions for our vision, however there may be enough room to interpret how we carry it out
-Is there a difference between being and doing
-There isn't a consistent definition of the God experience

11-9-2008 Celebrate What's Right with the Wolrld

Video by Dewitt Jones, National Geographic photographer.

Distributed by www.starthrower.com
Online support materials - www.celebratetraining.com (Login: Celebrate Password: cel2007)

8/24/08

Ideas for Sunday School

Living the Questions video

Western Theology : Wes Seeliger
Humorous paradoy on faith
Focus thought on what we think Church should be
To stimulate contrast thinking

A New Spiritual Home : Hal Taussig

Say No to War: John D. Roth

Dissident Discipleship: David Augsburger

The Heart of Christianity: Marcus Borg
Discusses a new paradigm of living faithfully

Saving Jesus: CMC binder

9/14/08
Conflict and communication

Peace class & conflict situation
-Military veteran in class, was the lesson worth it? Became physically ill/impacted
-The voice of peace is so radical, it will create hot spots in relationships
-How does attitude impact the transformation in this situation
-It seems one key to conflict is to acknowledge the feelings of yourself and of the other
-Armstrong indicates that throughout history when fundamentalists take a stand, the is polarization and usually violence
-Frank Luntz Words that Work -using words to get what you want

11-02-08

8/10/08
Once Around

-Travels to Paraguay
Saw death the first 3 days
Visited congregation

-discussed how faith was passed down, noticed difference between own family with strong faith background, yet seem less tolerant. Other families who were less outwardly religious who were very open

-Simon Bolivar great leader dreamed of uniting the Hispanic countries but very expensive.

-Very nice to have sister/sister-in-law

-New job, principal, working at Keeping the door open to the office, enjoying building team and getting the school year started

-Working with Merit and seeing students working for the family
There are strong feelings about immigration and impact on employment

-irritated with Bush's comments at the olympics

-reconcile desire to be apart of Church service yet working with scripture as literal

-sermon had a good ending about not needing to be perfect

-dream where speaker at a church was offensive and 1/3 of the congregation left

-Conversation about voting, person taking part of socialized medicine in one state, but not connecting with the democratic push to socialize medicine

-wondered about baptism- actually a custom for Jews to baptize Gentiles but it Was new to baptize Jews. John essentially excommunicated the whole Jewish community with this act.

-taking son to Riley, could be allergies. But has been going on so long.
-how do we share thoughts about our faith, without shutting the doors to each other, many feel that their faith is right, not recognizing that faith is formed
-feel that an academic pastor could bridge gaps

07-27-08

Bob Mortimer & Sermon response

Hope & courage

We are capable of so much
Bob struggled to survive, but he is now thriving

Travel albums- thrive on travel, get and give energy from the people we meet.
-wanted a photo of a huge wood pile happened upon a man who used wood to pay for children's college, learned of the man and his wife's story
-impressed by and noticed sychronistic events
-sometimes these events seem much less positive, but definitely an adventure and always seems to work

Sermon Response
-Can cmc work towards breaking down barriers
-Freedom Writers is a great example of how a teacher helped students break down barriers.
-What happens when we sit with others who are so different?

7-20-08

Response to Bob Mortimer's message

Questions & thoughts
-Strong religious experience
-Message of hope
-What is the difference between Coaches and the motivational themes in Scripture
-Synthesized Bob's message of hope and courage with previous experiences of revivals but felt that the root message of hope and courage is desireable
-Self help speakers also bring in huge crowds, but religious speakers tend to also have community

7-13-08
Open Discussion/Announcements
Jail Sisters, is there a Jail Brothers?

Once Around
Scholarship to go to Ireland in two weeks, poetry

July 4 whole family was home, very enjoyable

Camping in woods in Northern Michigan, refreshing and nice

Reconcilliation with son, feels like a clean slate

Being home is not always easy

Three children in college, feels good

Little Eden good week, worked in Nashville

Traveled to Chicago-Ohare

Group formation - Sidewalk commission is coming up
Interest is critical as a reason to join
Reunited with others- learned more about others by discussing by discussing by discussing hobbies

Family vacation - family dynamics

Carolina- Friends and family, amusement parks, nice to be away

Family- Child-Parent
Mom-Dad versus first names

May 18 - Change of plans

There is a congregational meeting in the sanctuary on Sunday, May 18 during the Sunday School hour. The conversation about "Looking for the Divine Spark" will be postponed to a later date.

Response to Heriberto and Araceli's story

Sunday I was outraged by what happened to Heriberto and his family. Here is a letter/email I wrote to Governor Daniels.

Letter to Mitch Daniels

UPDATE: I received a response back from the Governors office. I attached it to the end of the letter.

Here is a separate link to the response.

Heriberto and Araceli's story

(I hope these notes are accurate as I was caught up in the story and may have missed a few details.)

Here is the news article.

Heriberto came to US in 1992. He qualified for citizenship in 2001.
Lived in Goshen for almost 13 years and has been working in Goshen most of that time.

In January, while running errands before driving home from work, a State trooper followed him for a while. When he got out of his car to go into the bank, the trooper ordered him back into his car. The trooper stated that Heriberto was going 40 in a 35 mph speed limit zone. Heriberto gave him his license and registration, but was then asked for his Social Security card. He had left his card at home and couldn't remember all of the digits, but he could remember the last 4 digits. The officer believed that Heriberto had purchased his SSN.
The trooper then arrested, handcuffed and took him to jail. Then the trooper went to his work place to get get his employment records. The president, secretary others tried to convince the trooper that the arrest was a mistake and tried to show him Heriberto's documents. The officer indicated that he was trained in how to handle this and that he did not need those documents.
Their daughter called Araceli and said that Dad had not arrived to take her to practice. Araceli began to worry as Heriberto was almost always on time. Heriberto called from the jail. Distraught, Araceli gathered his legal papers and went with a friend to the jail. The jail staff indicated they could do nothing to help. Since it was now after supper on Friday, attorney's offices were closed. Fortunately, Araceli was able to post bond the following afternoon, but the ordeal was not and still is not quite over.

Heriberto had been through the extensive screening back in 1992 and now that ordeal and all of his documentation and freedom as a citizen seemed for naught. It took a week until they learned that the case had been disposed. During that time, his drivers license was not returned to him. No apology or explanation were given and feel a little helpless. If they pursue, will things become tougher for them?

They have concerns about how this may impact his future involvement in the community and the schools. They also fear that there is potential for further legal action against Heriberto.

As a result of recent crackdowns on both illegal immigrants and those who look hispanic, some high school students are shortening their class schedules so they can work to save money in case they or their family members are deported. There is increasing fear, especially with legal citizens who look hispanic, that they may become caught up in the abuse of power.

It can take years to gain citizenship, and it can take even a year or two if you marry a citizen.

As a class, we asked questions and shared slightly similar experiences as we tried to comprehend and process this amazing story. We discussed possible courses of action that we could take.

We were grateful for Heriberto and Araceli's willingness to share this story with us.

Sharing & Once Around

C. W.
(Mennonite Mission Network) Currently living with youth, 10 month youth service terms, living on what the student's earn through stipends they get, they have social justice jobs, dealing with life together
Connected to Albany Mennonite Church, but most financial support is from student's stipends.
Every week they post something new that they would like to learn, i.e. how asparagus grows, green technologies...
These types of youth service units exist in different parts of the US.

Once Around
Genealogy Search - intrigued by the bits of information found thus far, searching for information on Great Aunt, left Sweden when she was 18, stayed in New York when the rest of the family went to Michigan, had 3 children, all died when they were 18 to mid-twenties.

Torn by strong desire to see new grandchild and yet unsure how welcome they are.

Met with parenting group, saw video "For the Bible Tells Me So" and discussed a good article. Brought to mind the intentionality of life.

Trying to process emails from friends & family about political and military stances. At work (Hospital) many come in with troubles and "baggage". Then come home to troubling emails.

Struggling how to deal with heartbreak of daughter.
Enjoyed a movie, chilean poet, The Postman (Il Postino)

Read some books recently If the Buddha Dated", letting go of attachments of this world, and "Vagina Monologues"

Feeling very compressed this week, sharing today helps to raise spirits, reading "A Heart As Wide as the World."

Economics

(I missed some of the beginning of class)

Consumerism
Take first steps with assessing what we are doing and why we want what we want.
How do you responsibly de-clutter?
Shopping responsibly- taking own bags, in Wales shoppers are charged for each plastic bag
Organic/green products and life style seems to come with a high price. Make it tough for tight budgets.

Where is the balance between lower costs and lower expense for those who cannot afford products?

Easy to create anxiety, but is that hype so "organic/green" products are more easily marketed?

Genetic modification costs are high and creates tough choices for farmers (saving seed)

Consider where your meal came from.

TO DO
What resources have we found to help with ethical economic decision making? Post them.

once around

(Rules for Once Around: Take a minute or so to share what you experienced this week or have been thinking about recently, related to your spirituality. Refrain from comments or discussion until the end of the Once Around.)

• South Bend Tribune - starting website about parenting, keeping in mind gender expectations, "MomsMichiana.com"
• Pastoral transition - From the outside, it seems that gender is playing a big role in pastoral selection.
• NPR - Bart Erman - going from Moody to where he is now, "if there is a God."
• Sunday School class - Appreciate the idea of constructing and figuring out theological discussions.
• Kent and Michelle Oyer are going to Nicaragua over spring break. Vacation, but also to join/visit with future SST leaders
• Committee for pastoral search - what are we, as a class, expecting of a pastor? What is our foundation?
• Youth pastoral change - very worried that there will be a delay for a quality replacement
• Dealing with non-peace issues, sexist issues, pro American/anti-other culture comments from family and friends. How do we respond?
• Have friends with diverse beliefs. Trying to respond without judgment.
• Presidential election - now considering different views/political stances, perhaps previously held views are not as critical to our "national health"
• Experienced a stretch with "public speaking" refereeing.
• Really looking forward to new season.
• Plug for upcoming class - Read about it on the blog - Experiencing immigration & racism
• Concerned about politics
• Experiencing spirituality - Starting in Tibet to a recent Goshen News request for photos linked to scripture. Have a good photo of "in the world, but not of the world." However, found there was no actual scripture stating that. Found that his Tibetan photo of a sunset was taken within a few hours of the Goshen News photo (below) recently published with this request.

• 
• Political involvement - concern about what candidates really believe and what they will pull from for making decisions, concern about a call for Mennonites to pull out of the political discussion because it quickly becomes divisive rather than unifying - is unity really key, don't we need to have voices of peace and hope?

2.17.08 class discussion

View blog, short tutorial
Topic review
Join together with a few others, choose some topics, facilitate discussions
Additional Topics:
Hispanic-American culture
Armstrong: Mohammed A Prophet for our Times

Other ideas
We could take some time outside of Sunday School to get together to share, learn more about topics

Check out the Borderlands Calendar for upcoming topics as well as the Possible Future Topics list.

message from pastors

To: Adult Sunday School Class Conveners/Coordinators:
From: Pastoral Team
Re: Combining Adult SS Classes April 6, 13, 20

Gary will include in his report tomorrow (February 10) that one of one of the needs emerging from the December member visits
and questionnaire, the January 19 "Re-membering College Mennonite Church" experience, and his observations, is for teaching
about a biblical framework for understanding the church. While that sounds generic, it will likely be new for a (vast?) majority of the congregation. It is based onCongregational Discipling (Herald Press, 1997), which emerged out of a three year study by a joint MC/GCMC task force. It has been embraced by 150+ MCUSA congregations of various stripes and sizes.

At the Tuesday meeting, the Church Board supported this direction for a series of post-Easter sermons (March 30-April 20), with at least an elective S.S. class for in depth teaching. The Pastoral Team, after further processing, encourages all Adult S.S. classes to combine on three of those Sundays, April 6, 13, 20, for in depth teaching that cannot be conveyed in sermons. The Pastoral Team believes that it is important for this material to have maximum exposure in the congregation, since future transitional processes will build on it.

Note: The March 30 (a fifth Sunday) S.S. hour has already been set aside for congregational singing.

So, we are encouraging all adult classes to combine on April 6, 13, & 20. We appreciate your gracious response to this request and the extra work entailed in adjusting your curricular schedules. As noted in the beginning of the transitional period, flexibility in making room for transitional work will shorten the overall length of the transitional period.

We wanted Gary's Sunday report to be as specific as possible with next steps, so this e-mail message is our attempt to give conveners/coordinators a 23 hour heads up.

If you have the opportunity Sunday morning, please encourage your class to attend the congregational meeting at 1PM. The entire report will provide context for the importance of the above series.

If you have questions, please contact Gary, or any member of the Pastoral Team.

2.10.08 Class Discussion

March 30 Hymn Sing
April 6,13, 20 Combined classes with Gary Martin

Facilitator: Humberto will begin as facilitator and liason with office

Pastoral Search update: Krista needs to bow out as the committee schedule has changed and will now conflict with her Masters classes

Sunday School Ideas
+
-Sharing times, personal
-life applications
-might have come from book study
-Book study- Spong alternative Scholarship
-age variety

-time to read books a
-what do you do w/theological discussions practical app

Possibilities
-Once around
-blog ideas from book study
-maybe hare 2 week commitment to lead class
-SS class parties and social times may be more conducive to building relationships than only class time
-Facilitor responsibility

Questions
-How do we feel connected to this group?
-In illness, are we a class who care for each other?
-What does this class want to?
-How do we relate to each other?

Topics
politics
environmental
illegals
community participation
weak or growing points/strengths of class

Feb 17 Revisit charts brainstorm, maybe a tutorial on blogging

plan for sunday february 10

1. Sunday we will be spending some time dividing into groups and determining what topics we'd like to discuss and who will lead those topics. Each "group" (and I have no idea how we'll form those groups) will be responsible for sharing leadership for the parts of the next months. Please come with some topics in mind.

2. I am going to email the church office and ask for some supplies to help those of us who are teachers work (chart paper, markers, easel, etc.) Hopefully this will help us organize.

3. We would like to update the email list on Sunday. If you know someone that isn't on this list and should be, either bring their email address or send it to me.

4. I am going to be letting the church office know that the topic they should print in the bulletin is: Exploring the Integration of Faith and Life (instead of Hitchins' book).

2.3.08 sunday school brainstorming

• Immigration

• Peace Position
• personal tradegy
• Iraq
  

• Current events- take turns

• Small group leadership
• decide in small groups what your group will do

• Make a Month or 6 month topic decision

• Keep chart paper of ideas (Blog)
• Keep track of ideas and stories
  

• Perhaps keep have Stan facilitate stories

• Everyone bring 2 ideas

• 100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World by John Tirman - Myron could share

blog launch

Welcome to the CMC - Borderlands blog.

Check out our calendar to see upcoming events and topics. Click the Google calendar link on the right side of this page.