Posts from the ‘News’ Category

Sanctuary in the City: Fall Into Christ; Sept & Oct 2018 News

CROP Hunger Walk: Ending Hunger One Step at a Time

As you consider walking in the October 7 CROP Walk & Concert, you are invited to read this letter sent to Clint McCann, Walk Director for our area.

Dear Clint,

As Hurricane Florence bears down, I’m so thankful for you. I’m about to evacuate my own family to a more inland location in North Carolina and am catching a glimpse of the real fear and uncertainty that so many experience when things get in the way of survival. And for nearly five decades, that’s why CROP Hunger Walkers like you have walked.

I want to let you know that funds from the CROP Hunger Walk can be used, if needed, to help in recovery efforts…because when people can’t recover quickly from disaster, they become vulnerable to hunger and poverty. That means that, like you, tens of thousands of walkers across the nation are poised to support families in the
path. Please keep up your good work fundraising for the Saint Louis Metro CROP Hunger Walk so that we can strengthen our safety net for people who need help.

In addition to having funds at the ready, CWS (the parent organization of the Walk) is actively planning to make sure people have extra support when the storm passes. We are working to preposition CWS Hygiene Kits, Emergency Cleanup Buckets and
Blankets along the coast so that supplies can be quickly distributed as needed. This is what it means to be a neighbor. I’m so thankful our lives can be linked, bettered and saved by compassion.

Grateful to you,
Mary Catherine Hinds
CWS staff member, Raleigh, North Carolina

Just another reminder that the 2018 St. Louis Hunger Walk and Concert is Sunday, October 7 at Eden Seminary in Webster Groves – check-in at 4:30 pm, Walk at 5:00, and
Concert at 7:00. The Holy Crepe Food Truck will be onsite from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. (This) link will take you to the local Walk page, where you can register, create a team,
solicit donations, and /or donate. If the link doesn’t work, go to www.crophungerwalk.org/saintlouismo

Will you be a part of a Compton Heights CC Team!

Labor in the Pulpits Sunday, Sept 16

God calls us to value the labor of God’s people. Preaching this week: Cecilia Belser-Patton, Organizer, Missouri Jobs With Justice

Oooohhhh the HATS!
First a hat or two, ‘Okay’. Then more, and people I’d never expect to see in a hat! Even the men had on hats. Then came Morgan-at-the-organ-in-a-jester’s-hat and David at the piano in a wide brimmed red doozie! The choir in hats! It was all crazy and fun!

What an absolute joy to be back home at Compton Heights CC! You have welcomed me back  with love!

As we catch up with each other in these days, I am enjoying hearing the stories of how the congregation spent this sabbatical time and sharing my own experiences. It was noted in Board meeting tonight that there is a clear connection between my Ignatian focus on Spiritual Freedom and the study the Elders began on Prayer and Lamentations. The congregation clearly responded to a call to nurture and care for the whole person – expressed in a variety of ways: pastoral care for each other, the Elders’ study, a new Book Club (see separate article), a nurturing exercise group, and the Six Weeks of Compassion Mission project, a wonderful variety of  ‘voices proclaiming the Word’ and voices sharing music.

In the coming months, we will build on our sabbatical discoveries in prayer, worship, music, and mission! We invite you to note, in these pages, the many opportunities to live God’s love as we move into the fall together!

My hat is off to you all and, in particular to those who shared their many gifts of worship leadership, preaching, pastoral care, organization, and planning to make this a wonderful summer! For now, let’s just enjoy a reprise of the hats!!!

Pray for Victims of Hurricane Florence

In our ministry, we strive to work in ways that anticipate and respond to meet needs rather than always reacting after the
fact.

As Hurricane Florence approaches the southeast coast of the U.S., we have already responded in physical ways. Over the
last 6 weeks, we have anticipated needs through what we have called “Six Weeks of Compassion.”

We have created Disaster Relief Clean-up Buckets which will be distributed through Church World Service in the immediate aftermath of the storms. We help CWS keep these on hand!

We have created School Kits which CWS distributes in areas of disaster and in areas of poverty, when children need the basics to start school or to resume school in the aftermath of a tragedy.

We have given a monetary offering for our denomination’s “Week of Compassion.” WOC works in coordination with Church World Service, Regions, congregations, and other partners “on the ground” in disaster relief and development. We have given over $3,000 thus far in these months so that WOC can respond directly to the needs of our neighbors in wake of disaster.

If you wish to give further for Disaster Relief in this hurricane season or for any other crisis, you may give to Week of Compassion at any time and we will forward your gift. When you give through WOC for a particular crisis, 100% of your gift goes to the designated need.

Thank you to our Outreach and Stewardship Ministry Group, under the leadership of Judi Linville, for coordinating this vital part of our ministry!

Mental Health

Opportunity to be a part of Ministry at St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center
Rev. Karen Pitt, Chaplain at St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center is recruiting volunteers for ministries at the Center (on Arsenal). Possible Opportunities include providing special music on an occasional or regular basis at the facility Christian worship service, preaching occasionally or regularly, leading groups. Please contact Chaplain Karen Pitt
Autism Support Information
At the end of August DebE Martin met with several CHCC folks to share information from her recent trainings to help us respond to and support children with Autism. A special thanks to those in the congregation who participated! Several of us wanted to be there but could not. DebE is willing to put together information to share with those who would like to receive it, or to talk with others. Please let DebE know if you are interested!
Plans for General Mental Health and Faith Educational Opportunity!
Everyone of us faces our own mental health challenges, just as we face physical health challenges. We all want to support each other in ways that are helpful. Five members of our congregation who work in different aspects of mental health care are helping us to prepare a series to speak to a variety of challenges, questions, and needs in our lives as we seek wellness and support. Watch for this event upcoming

A Fun Evening with Friends to Fund Mission! Saturday, September 29; First Round begins at 6pm!

★ A “shorter, kinder” evening of Trivia; ALL the fun and finished by about 8:30!
★ 6 Rounds rather than the customary 10!
★ Door Prizes! ★ 50/50 Raffle!

Invite friends, neighbors, and family to put together a table of 8 at $20 per person! This evening is a fundraiser to boost our Mission and Outreach Giving! Please let Kathy Mead know if you are planning a table or are just planning on coming as an individual (in which case you will share a table with others)!

Worship from the Heart: A Study and Preparation Group

Do you love to lead worship? Would you like to lead worship, are not presently doing so?
Do you enjoy the opportunity to serve as liturgist, reading scripture and leading prayer? Does your leadership at the Table as a deacon or elder bring you joy?
Do you feel a sense of God’s Spirit on your lips and in your heart when you lead?
AND/OR
Do you want to have a deeper experience of worship leadership?
Do you sometimes feel unsure about ‘what to do with yourself’ while leading
worship?
Do you sometimes wish the worship leader seemed more prepared and connected
to the word being spoken?
Do you long for worship leaders to truly lead you in a way that deepens your worship?
Would you like to be a part of deepening this congregation’s sense of worship?

Pastor Jacque would like to gather worship leaders and those who are interested in leading worship in a group for study, planning, and preparation. If you are compelled by any of the questions above, we hope you will engage with this new group. We have not yet set a date to begin. This could be a group that meets on Sunday mornings for a series or an evening group.

Please speak with Jacque if you think you are interested. We will choose the best meeting time for those interested.

Compton Heights CC Book Club

Next meeting: Saturday, October 13, 1:00pm
at the church
This Month’s book: Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin, a powerful autobiographical novel written by Baldwin in 1953.

CONGRATULATIONS ON A CALL to a New Ministry

The Rev. Susan Miller has accepted the call as pastor of Celebration Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in St. Peters. Susan has been worshiping with our congregation since she and her husband Patrick moved to St. Louis this past year. Susan had completed a ministry in a congregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. Let us hold Susan and Celebration
Christian Church in prayer in these days of new beginning. Susan and Patrick continue to live here in our neighborhood. Patrick is serving as a Deacon at St. Pius on S. Grand. Let us hold them in our prayer. We will miss Susan in our midst on Sundays!

Rev. Katherine Kinnamon, of our congregation served as the Interim Minister at Celebration CC, and it is good to have Katherine back in our midst!

In these days we hold each other and our wider Community, nation, and world in prayer. It is more than a turn of phrase to say that we “pray without ceasing.”

This is a community grounded and centered in prayer in such a way that we hold each other and those we do not know in God’s presence day and night.

Sunday Morning Nurture and Needs
As we begin our Fall –Winter -Spring schedule, we want to share in this ministry together so that no one person carries too much and that we all share our gifts!

A number of people in the congregation have trained in the past to serve as “Children, Worship and Wonder Storytellers and/ or Greeters.” If YOU have trained as a Storyteller or Greeter, we hope you will share in the rotation of those worshiping with our children!
Those who have been serving as regular Storyteller and Greeters LOVE doing it, but also LOVE being in Sanctuary Worship. If we have our full group of trained folks sharing equally, then everyone will be able to enjoy both. Our children will grow by building relationship with different adults! We also need more adults to serve in the rotation of
‘extra Nursery helpers’ to assist our childcare giver, Lillian Molitor, on Sunday mornings!

Please see Kathy Mead to help with either!

We have a “Safe Church Policy” which requires a background check and Safe-Sanctuary
Boundary Training for all who work with children or youth. If you have not had these
previously, we will help you get them.

Anti-Racism / Pro-Reconciliation

Greetings,

I hope this message finds you well! I would like to first introduce myself as the Racial Justice Conference Organizing Specialist of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Mid-America. On behalf of an ongoing effort to connect and empower congregations across the MidAmerica Region, clergy, members of your congregation, and who are interested are invited to participate in our Racial Justice Summit on
October 6, 2018, at Webster Groves Christian Church beginning at 9:00 AM and ending at 3:00 PM. ( See the “Disciples Only” part of the program after 1:00 pm).

This conference will open with a message from Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, who currently serves on the National Council of Churches as director of its truth and racial justice initiative. After her message, the conference will then offer panelists specializing in building urban and rural power, as well as economic power in Missouri. The panelist format is intended to empower individuals and congregations from both urban and
rural areas of Missouri. Additionally, clergy participation qualifies for continuing education credit.

Peace in Christ,

Matthew Capestro

Check the Calendar for events!