A Note From Pastor Ben
Dear Friends,
Over the last week the short-term direction of my life has taken a bit of a detour. As of about a week before this writing, I was preparing to take a long-awaited three-month sabbatical starting in May. Planning the sabbatical had been a bit of a saga. For a long time I dreamed of going with my family to some foreign locale--Italy, perhaps--and I applied for a couple of grants to help pay for my time away, but nothing came through for me, so I started making plans to have the sabbatical version of a "staycation," one of those vacations where you stay at home. I was lining up writing projects and making a stack of books to read.
But then I did, what I thought was a simple bit of communication. I contacted the Presbytery, letting them know of my plans, and the response was this: I was supposed to talk to the Presbytery six months ahead of my planned sabbatical. Oops.
Now, the people with whom I spoke were very nice about it. They offered to consider waiving the time constraints, but when I talked with Anne, she suggested that I listen to see if the Spirit was leading me though the voice of the Presbytery. Maybe taking more time to plan my sabbatical--even if I only end up doing a stay-at home-sabbatical--would make for a better sabbatical, and maybe next year would be better for me and the church. Who knows? What I can say is that by the time Anne and I finished our conversation it seemed clear to me that I should wait.
So I've put off my sabbatical till 2013. It's been a bit of an adjustment, but it has also been good--freeing even--to live my life according to what the Spirit seems to be saying rather than making plans based upon the whimsy of my imagination. The experience has been good enough that I now have a new goal: I'm going to try to be more open to the Spirit's direction. I'm going to try to be less resistant when things aren't going my way and when I don't get what I want. My prayer is that following the Spirit will add a bit of serenity to my life, which is what I was hoping to gain from my sabbatical anyway.
I’d like to invite you to join me in this work of listening for the Spirit. I believe that God speaks to us in every day events and that it is our job to listen. I also know that such listening is hard to to. It requires spiritual work. I hope you will listen for God’s Spirit and that you will let me know how God has led you. And ask me what direction I have gained from listening. Together, perhaps we can be more attentive to God’s call.
God’s Blessings for Lent,
Ben
April 1, Palm Sunday
Worship service at 10:30AM
April 5, Maundy Thursday
There will be a Simple Supper at 6PM in our Fellowship Hall
Worship service follows at 7:30
April 6, Good Friday
“Way of the Cross” worship service in Alum Rock Park at Noon
Worship service will be held in our sanctuary at 3PM
April 7, Great Vigil of Easter
Easter Vigil Service will be held at 8 pm in our sanctuary
April 8, Easter Sunday
Join us in the celebration of the Risen Lord
Worship service at 10:30AM
Landscape Upgrade
Many plants in the entrance and other gardens need to be replaced. Buildings and grounds would appreciate your help in donating funds to purchase new plants to refresh our gardens. Please see Marilyn Kromrey for details.
*Bible Lesson*
Chapel Day with Pastor Ben
Wednesday, March 7
*Spiritual Message is Honesty*
Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If Christ is Truth, then it follows that lying is moving away from Christ. Being
honest is about following in God's footsteps, for He cannot lie. If the
Christian teen's goal is to become more God-like and God-centered, then
honesty needs to be a focus.
Hebrews 6:18
"So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie."
*Special Days in March*
3/2 We are celebrating Dr Seuss’ Birthday
3/23 Bounce-A-Rama Field-trip
See's Candies Fundraiser
This fundraiser will benefit are summer field-trips and activities. Order forms & money are due March 19th
Jay Jordana and Anne Daniel both teach music to children through Vivace
Youth Chorus (a non-profit partially supported by the City of San Jose).
Vivace is getting ready to celebrate its 10th season and has recently
expanded its offerings to East San Jose, meeting once a week at our
church!
Classes at FPC are on Tuesday afternoons and evenings throughout
the school year. Children sing, play song games, receive music theory
instruction through the Kodaly method, and ages 6 and up perform at
least two times a year. There are classes for ages 4-5, 6-8, and 8+.
Financial aid is available.
Contact Arlene at
info@vivaceyouthchorus.org or talk to Jay or Anne.
The Semibreve
Jay Jordana, Director of Music Ministries
MANY THANKS…
to Dawn Imada, Herb Miller and crew, Darlene Ristrim, Carol Tillman, and Shana Zajdel for help with the Ragtime and the South Bay Philharmonic concerts. Many thanks to Kraig Williams for the successful concert production of the Monteverdi Brass Quintet concert. We also thank Kraig for for bringing a variety of semi-pro and professional early music musicians to Foothill and to the South Bay.
CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MARCH 2012
Flauti Dolci & Amici I
Saturday, March 17th, 3 PM
Featuring early music to be played by recorder consorts and mixed ensembles from the Bay Area including Camerata California, SDQ, Ensemble Sonoma, and the Peralta Consort.
Flauti Dolci & Amici II
Saturday, March 24th, 3 PM
Featuring early music to be played by recorder consorts and mixed ensembles from the Bay Area including The Belmont Consort, Quintessence, Bona Speranza, Concerto Celestini, and Quartetto Paradiso.
Junko Aono and Sylvia Loebach
Sunday, March 25th, 3 PM
Chinese Dulcimer (*Yang quin) player Junko Aono and clarinettist Sylvia Loebach will feature American folk songs as well as songs from Peru, China, Azerbijian, Italy.
*The Yang quin has a 4-octave range of 135 strings that are struck by thin bamboo sticks with rubber tips.
Suggested Donation: $10 person per concert
DEATH AND TAXES? DEFINITELY NOT!
"'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
-Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789
I would have to disagree with Mr. Franklin because although tax day is on April 15th, we will not be celebrating death here at Foothill. Instead, we will be celebrating the renewal of life. As part of Eastertide, we will be offering special music during the April 15th worship service. Alongside semi-professional and professional musicians, our chancel choir and soloists Anne Daniel and Ronn Ealy will present the Resurrection part of Handel’s Messiah.
We are very grateful for the generosity of members of the congregation who are making this possible. Through very generous donations, we were able to create a fund called Psalm 150, which allows us to present special worship service music. With this fund, we were able to present Vivaldi’s Gloria for last year’s World Communion Sunday, for which we are truly grateful.
We welcome donations to the Psalm 150 fund for the longevity of this endeavor.
WHAT’S UP IN THE HOOD?
*Something exciting and positive is brewing in the guitar department of Foothill Church. Keep your eyes and ears open.
*Something new and exciting is upcoming with Vivace Youth Chorus (East) here at Foothill Church. Keep your eyes and ears open for announcements.
LAST MONTH’S TIDBIT
What was used by Joshua’s army that successfully collapsed the walls of Jericho? Be specific. Who used them and for how many days?
Answer: Seven priests in Joshua’s army blew seven trumpets made of ram horns for seven days to collapse the walls of Jericho (Joshua, 6:2-5):
The Lord said to Joshua, “See I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers. You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.
Congratulations to Martha Belz for answering this question correctly.
MARCH TIDBIT
The Yang quin is a type of ________, that has evolved into many different versions in many parts of the world.
Please email me your complete response. If yours is correct, you get to choose the closing hymn of the final worship service this month. First one to let me know the correct answer gets the prize! Hurry!
A Family....That's All
The following is an excerpt from the Holt International Blog. To view the entire article click
here.
Help us find a family for these beautiful siblings from Africa.
*Alex, Keith, Mark and Sadie don’t need fancy clothes. They don’t want iPods, iPads or a new computer. They have no desire to eat at the finest restaurants, vacation to tropical destinations, or play the latest and greatest video game.
There is something they do want, though. It’s not something that can be found in stores or bought online. This gift doesn’t come in a package, or through the mail. But it’s a priceless, precious gift. Something they want more than anything else:
“All they want is a family,” says Pat McConnell, Holt’s director of services for Africa, who met the sibling group of four in 2011. “They are so used to having so little. They want to be able to eat. They want to go school. And they want a family. That’s all.”
Dinner and Book Discussion
6:30PM Thursday, March 29
Join Pastor Ben for dinner and to discuss
Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jana Riess.
From Amazon.com, “This wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Riess begins with great plans for success ("Really, how hard could that be?" she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing--not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself.”
Please sign up in the narthex– or RSVP to the church office.
Dabbler's Delight Classes Spring/ Summer 2012
Tuesdays: 12PM to 3PM in the Fellowship Hall
Oil with Jeanne Wardrip: March 13
Watercolor with Clyde Stout: March 27, April 3 and 10
Collage with Julie Cline: May 15, 22 and 29
Charcoal with Robert Johnson: July 10 and 17
Silk Painting with Carolina Mueller (no drop-ins): TBA
Pastel with Julie Cline: TBA
Call Jeanne Wardrip for details or to sign up, 408-259-5894
For more information about individual classes and material fees, please contact the instructor. Tuition is $10 per Tuesday for pre-registered students and $15 for drop-ins. Material fees will vary from class to class. Tuition for pre-registered classes is due on the first day of class.
Purchase a CSA* Share for The Lord’s Pantry
$30 per week/ $120-$150 per month** /$1560 per year
Participating in CSA for the Lord’s Pantry supports Foothill’s ministry in 4 ways.
- Outreach– CSA brings people from the neighborhood and introduces them to all that Foothill has to offer.
- Earth Stewardship– By purchasing produce from Farmer Pete, we are supporting local, sustainable, pesticide free farming.
- Mission– Each week we donate the leftovers to the Lord’s Pantry.
- General Fund- $2 of each share goes into the general fund.
Imagine having only processed canned and dried food to eat. Now imagine what a blessing it would be to have fresh produce. Consider asking your friends, family, or club members to go in on a share with you for a week, a month, or a year. If you already regularly donate to the Lord’s Pantry, consider this option instead. The fresh produce is much needed and appreciated.
*Community Supported Agriculture, **$150 for months with 5 weeks
Supporting the Lord’s Pantry
The Lord's Pantry's director, Martha Perez asks that we please help provide the following food items on a regular basis to help feed the Pantry's client families. In addition to providing nutrition, some of these familiar food items* give comfort to people in need and are not always available through Second Harvest.
Martha and everyone at the Lord's Pantry send their thanks to Foothill for our support. Martha wants everyone to know that the donations of fresh produce and non-perishables from Foothill have been a great help to their ministry.
Please take this list and keep it handy when you do to the grocery store. Make a commitment to buy 1 item for the Lord’s Pantry each shopping trip you take.
Fresh items can be donated directly to the Lord’s Pantry (Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 121 S White Road) or brought to church on Tuesday to be delivered on Wednesday morning.
Grocery List
Mac & Cheese
Whole Chicken*
Peanut Butter
Soup Dry / Canned
Turkey Rolls*
Powdered Milk
Canned Fruit
Hot Dogs*
Canned Tomatoes
Tomato Sauce
Tuna Fish
Spam & Corned Beef
Canned Tomatoes
Eggs*
Canned Vegetables
Flour & Corn Tortillas
Asian Chili Sauce*
Rice Noodles*
Fish Sauce*
Jasmine Rice*
Pasta/ Spaghetti
Soy Sauce*
Rice
Winter Scene
Joanne Katherine Reinecker
Night descends
Crystalline cold
Night drops down
like a fishnet
over the land
The silver of moon
filters through the trees
craggy mountain peaks
embraced with snow
Moon glow and the
twinkle of stars
light up the heavens.
The Life of a Chaplain
Maxine Millender
God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others-Hess
During the month of February I worked a total of 13 nights. I had many calls which consisted of gunshot (1), strokes (7), code blue/death (12), baby death (1), rapid response (3), heart (1), crisis (2), falls (3), full arrest (1), and regular visits (11). This has been a short month with many visits. From the different calls ranging from gunshots to death, it is still a crisis for a patient and sometimes very traumatic. A visit for a medical power of attorney can also be a crisis for some patient. This is because they have to make a decision to name a person to make medical decisions for them, if they are unable. Sometimes this causes anxiety for a person because they have to choose and this makes them feel uncomfortable.
What I want to share with you this month is the amount of death I had, including the fetal demise. The baby deaths are still very emotional. I thank God for the strength when I am in the room to offer comfort, prayer, and have a service to bless or baptize the baby. I ask if I can hold their baby and then I will present the baby to the parents.
On the night of 2/18, I had a total of four deaths and a crisis call. I had to wake the resident in the sleep room because of a code blue, which resulted in death. So, on this night, there were a total of five deaths.
The crisis call was a 17 yo male who came in highly intoxicated. He had been to a party with friends and drank too much. When his parents arrived, they were in shock! Their son became combative which prompted a decision to intubate him. When they tried to extubate him, he turned blue and the parents started to cry. When I arrived, it scared them because I was the Chaplain and all they could think of was their son and me telling them he was going to die. They explained that he had not done anything like this before and they wanted him to be ok but were so scared. This gave me the opportunity to spend time with them and explain what would happen, {I had received information from the charge RN and given the ok to share it}. They allowed him to sleep it off and then admitted him to a room for the night. His parents felt much better but were still visibly shaken.
The four deaths were men and women with ages of 53, 74, 85, and 94. The 53 yo was a female who was drinking with her boyfriend. She went into the bathroom and fell in the bathtub. He called 911 but she refused them when they arrived. He called the next morning and she allowed them to take her to the hospital. The catscan results showed a very large bleed and one she would not recover from. Her daughter (lived in Colorado) was called. She arrived and was faced with making a very difficult decision, which was to withdraw her Mom from life support. After making the decision, she informed me that she wanted her Mom’s body to be donated to science. I contacted the medical examiner and several donation places to see who would take her. Her Mom died within 5 minutes of the withdrawal.
The deaths of the 77 and 94 yo were both female. When reviewing their charts, they had many health related problems during their life and death was expected by their families. The death of the 85 yo male was expected but his spouse said she would be lonely again. Her first husband died a few years ago and she married again. She said she was glad her children lived close by to provide comfort to her during her grief.
On the night of 2/25, I had several crisis calls. There were two deaths, a baby death, person with a stroke, a 22 yo female who fell while dancing, and a man who drove him and his spouse to the hospital because he had difficulty breathing. When I received the page for the fetal demise, The mother and father of the baby (23 wks) were crying when I entered the room. The baby had many problems and would not have survived. The mom’s first child was a Down syndrome baby and they wanted another child.
The baby was wrapped in a blanket, she had a lot of hair on her head and the baby’s mom asked if I could bless her. I said of course I can and would love to. After reciting some Scripture and offering prayer, I held the baby and recited her name. After presenting the baby to her mom, she cried and said thank you. We shared about the love of God and God’s presence. I thank God for the strength it takes to comfort parents who have lost their babies.
The young lady of 22 yrs was at a party with her husband and some friends. She had too much to drink, started to dance, and fell. She hit her head on the cement of the garage and was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately the catscan did not reveal any head bleed so they let her sleep until she was sober enough to be released. Her husband was upset with her. He shared that she had done something similar to this in the past and has not learned about drinking.
The two deaths were female and both 90 yrs old. The families shared that their deaths were expected and they were grieving appropriately when I left them. The person with the stroke was given an assessment and admitted.
When the 30 yo man drove himself and his spouse to the hospital, he arrived and could hardly breathe. She told me he did not want an ambulance called and she would be ok. She did not want to speak with a Chaplain because she had been through this before and knew what to expect. I did give her a prayer book and let her know I was available all night, if she changed her mind and wanted to speak with the Chaplain.
Ordination Status: I will be ordained on Sunday April 29th at 3 pm. I am very happy and excited. I am working on the ordination ceremony and trying to complete the ordination bulletin. Putting all of the details together is like planning a wedding. I thank God for the time and help I am receiving from others. I am praising God for my happy moments and thanking God for every moment.
~ to be continued~ Worry is pulling tomorrow’s CLOUDS over today’s SUNSHINE-Adrian Rogers
