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The Weekly + Thursday, February 19, 2015
We are an Open and Affirming & Just Peace congregation welcoming
all of God’s children into our community of faith.
Cresskill Congregational Church, UCC
85 Union Avenue
Cresskill, NJ 07626
201.568.0608
bo@cresskillucc.org
www.cresskillucc.org
www.facebook.com/cresskillucc
Dear Members and Friends —
I remember growing up in Oklahoma at just
the right time in history when all the cool gadgets
were being invented. As a child of 60s and growing
up in the 70s and early 80s, I had what I thought
were very fun toys like a walkie-talkie, a radio
watch, a Pong game console, and by the early 80s,
we had a BetaMax VCR and cable T.V.
As fortunate as I was, several of my friends
were not. They didn’t have the latest doo-dads. My
dad had a boat with an electronic fish finder graph,
which allowed us to catch even more fish. We had stuff and it wasn’t unusual for one of
my brothers or my dad and I to brag about it. Of course, we were polite when we did it.
“Would you like to see our VCR? I tell you, it’s more trouble than it’s worth but we’re
learning to live with it.” Our false humility was shameful.
Turnabout is fair play, though. I keenly remember turning 16 years old and some
of my poorer friends had revealed what they were saving their money for—they bought
old cars to fix up and turn into hotrods. I discovered what envy was all about when my
friend Errin bought and fixed up a 1959 GM Pickup or when Jeff got a 1965 Ford Falcon
or Brad, whose sister was a good friend of mine, fixed up a 1967 Impala Supersport. The
thing is though, while I was envious, I was also glad for them. Being truly envious
doesn’t just mean you want what someone else has, you also don’t think they either
deserve it or should have it to begin with. I was happy they had such great cars and few
years later, I had my own hotrod (an Impala Supersport of my own).
Today, while I still have fun gadgets, I don’t show them off. Everyone once in
awhile I am proud of something, so hopefully showing it to a friend is different than
showing it off. What makes showing off something cool is that we need to be careful not
to offend a person who cannot afford to have the same thing. Everyone has their own
priorities and not having children has afforded myself more than a few luxuries. I know
that.
On Sunday, I’ll begin a new sermon series on The 7 Deadly Sins. These sins
aren’t necessarily more evil than other since (although killing is more serious than lying
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to someone). Instead, the Deadly Sins are so named that because their tentacles can bury
into a person’s soul and infect them in deep and psychological ways. Each Sunday, we’ll
pick one or two and reveal how they can affect us, if we’re not careful to not let them
master us or our emotions. This Sunday, I’ll be introducing the series and talking about
anger and envy together. One of the best illustrative stories in the Bible about both of
these sins occur when Cain kills Abel in Genesis 4. I invite you to read up on that and
come to church with that story in mind as we tackle how anger and motivate us to do
horrible things to others and ourselves. I hope you can join us for this fun and
introspective service.
We’ll also be carrying the study of the 7 Deadly Sins in our Wednesday evening
Bible study. Beginning on Wednesday, February 25 at 6:00 PM, we will have tasty soups
and a lively discussion of the 7 Deadly Sins. We’ll watch a short DVD conversation and
then have our own discussion. Be sure to bring your Bibles as we study ways to rekindle
our faith and bring joy to our living.
I read somewhere that it might snow again on Sunday. If that’s the case and it’s
dangerous for you to get out, please stay home. As with any storm, your safety is very
important to me and our church. As far as I know, God doesn’t give merit badges for
perfect church attendance. God is glad whenever you can attend and so are we—but
that’s only if it’s safe to do so.
We have a saying back home that I am reminded of now, “I’ll see you Sunday, the
Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.”
Yours in Christ,
the Rev. Dr. David C. Bocock
Community News + Events
On Sunday after church, we'll have our Annual Meeting at a new time during the year.
Please plan to attend so we can conduct the business of your church. To help you be
prepared, we have uploaded particular documents for you to review prior to the
meeting: The Budget for 2015 and the proposed amendments to the Constitution
explaining the new day for the annual meeting. Printed copies are also available in the
church office and will be available on Sunday. Please visit our website today for those
documents.
The church office hours are Monday through Thursday, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. If you
would like to speak with the pastor at a different time, he is available by appointment.
Facebook Church is an online faith study and liturgy. Every Wednesday by 12:00
Noon, a new liturgy is uploaded for your faith journey. It is a time of spiritual
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refreshment. You are encouraged to participate at your leisure.
Our Wednesday evening Soup Supper and Advent Bible Study will begin on
Wednesday, February 25 at 6:00 PM and end before 8:00 PM. We'll eat soup, watch a
DVD, and discuss the 7 Deadly Sins and their corresponding virtues. It'll be fun! The
cost is $5 for the soups and refreshments. Look for the signup sheet in the Social Hall or
just show up!
Small Groups are here. This year's lineup includes a women's group, Wednesday night
Bible study, Sophie's Porch philosophy club, and a new Hiking Group. If you're
interested in any of these, please contact the church office or the following small group
leaders with your interest. Women's Group: Elaine Hargrove; Bible Study: Pastor Bo;
Sophie's Porch: Jack Rickly; Hiking Group: Jack Flynn. Please note, due to Carolyn’s
mom’s serious illness, the Caregivers Group will be postponed until next time.
Sophie’s Porch will have their first meeting on Thursday, February 26 at 8:00 PM. This
semester, we are meeting in a new place: Ranchero Cantina, 214 Kinderkamack Road,
Emerson, NJ. Jack Rickly will be moderating the conversations. Come for the great food
and beer and stay for the awesome conversations.
Join us on Saturday, March 7 at 7:00 PM for a FREE
program for the entire community here at our church
called, "Understanding Social Media and How Kids
are Using It." Our guest speaker, Jack Flynn, Jr., is the
Director of Student Conduct for St. John's University in
Queens, NY. He'll lead a conversation about how high
school and college students are using social media and
learn tips for promoting responsible use. We ask for
Adults only; reservations are appreciated by calling the
church office.
Join us on Sunday, February 22 immediately after church for our Annual Meeting. We
will meet to approve our budget, elect officers, receive reports, and add an amendment to
the church’s constitution.
One ministry we provide is to offer you the opportunity to bring one can of food per
person every Sunday to be donated to the Cresskill Food Pantry, which benefits nearly
50 families in our borough of Cresskill who are in need of assistance. You can bring in
your donations to the church during the week or on Sunday. John and Dot Pontician take
the donations to the pantry at the beginning of every week.
If you are interested in promoting your Church event or project to the community
through local newspapers, feel free to contact Carole Lotito, using our new online PR
Request Form. The link is also posted on our website. http://bit.ly/CresskillUCCPR.
Carole will create a flyer (and send you the file), register your event on MyBergen.com
and NorthJersey.com (and other sites where appropriate), and/or create and distribute a
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press release based on your request.
Please continue to submit your internal promotion requests (CUCC website,
newsletter, bulletin, Facebook) to Theresa Muti. More comfortable with a pen and paper?
Hard copies of the PR Request Form are available in the church office. Please complete
and mail to Carole Lotito, 67 Pierce Avenue, Cresskill, NJ, 07626. To speak with Carole
directly, please call (201) 294-7309.
THIS COMING SUNDAY
You are invited to join us for worship on February 22, 2015 at 10:00 AM. The Scripture
lesson is Genesis 4:1-8. The title of the sermon is, "When Anger Kills." The Lay Leader
for the service is Carolyn Soine.
COFFEE HOUR
Following our morning service, you are invited to get acquainted and catch up with new
and old friends alike during our Coffee Hour. If you would like to help serve and provide
light refreshments during our time of fellowship, please locate the signup sheet in the
Social Hall.
Joys + Concerns of the Congregation
Starting your day with a prayerful devotion can provide added
spiritual strength for what lies ahead. We recommend
the daily devotions found online at the UCC's Daily devotional
webpage.
Every Sunday morning, we collect prayer requests and lift
them up during the service. We also post those requests here
including their name, for you to pray for them.
If you would like to submit a prayer request now, you may send an email to Pastor Bo at
bo@cresskillucc.org and it will be posted shortly.
These prayers are posted as of February 16, 2015.
Please pray for:
General prayers of faith and well-being
David and Chrissie for healing, peace, and wise choices
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The Pontician Family
Vicki and Clifton Lewis as they mourn their mom's passing
The family and friends of Michael & Denice Tabacchi and their orphaned baby
Elsie Schinkel who is recovering from shingles and chicken pox
Prayers of thanks for my cousin Charles Maurer. His neck is completely healed.
Alice Hilliard as she adjusts to life in a nursing facility
The soul of Larry Sachs who just passed away of brain cancer
Larry as he gets used to a new and different life, working part time
Healing for the Alpine Community Church community
The Burgess family on the birth of their baby girl, Jane Catherine
Prayers for Maggie and Tim as they start a new life together
Dottie Fischer for the loss of her partner Bob
Margaret Brenneiser as she acclimates to assisted living
The family and friends of Raymond Worsham who passed away
Hattie Parks
Henry Hecht
Brendan for direction & God's light
God bless our country
John Russell
Don Crabtree for strength in setting boundaries
Philip McLendon
Bless our country and our leaders.
Health & Healing
Harriett Schwarz who is having eye surgery Wednesday
Pat O'Brien who is recuperating in rehab after his hernia operation
Lisa Pontician for healing and making good health decisions
Tony and Valerie facing major surgery
Jeffrey Hargrove and healing from vertigo
Clifford to start getting well from health issues
Scott Fleming as he continues his battle with ALS
Axa Duran for medical issues
Bernice D'Ippolito during her recuperation
William Roettger who is recovering from back surgery
Cory Bartlett
Margaret Brenneiser
Families struggling with addiction and mental health issues
Larry who is returning to work after cancer treatments
Bernice D'Ippolito as she recuperates at Brentwood
George Zimmerman
Samantha Sestok
Luke, a 3-year old fighting cancer
Bob Hashway who is having surgery on his hand
Barbara Laidlaw
Baby Gregory who is having surgery this week
Gloria and her nephew who are both diagnosed with cancer
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Gloria Hermo for healing from a herniated disc
Devotion + News + Tidbits
UCC Daily Devotion
from http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/
Perfect Pastors
February 19, 2015
Written by Vince Amlin
"A bishop, as God's steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quicktempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; but he must be hospitable, a
lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled." - Titus 1:7-8
Since I am a minister, people are always apologizing to me. When they drink or curse.
When they talk about sex or anger. Suddenly they'll notice me standing there, disguised
as a human being, and gasp red-faced, "I'm sorry! I forgot you were a pastor!"
These are usually people who don't know me very well. I try to set them at ease by taking
a swig of whatever they're having and swearing back at them, but it rarely has the desired
effect.
I am suspicious of these instructions in Titus, that the Church needs blameless leaders.
On one hand, I recognize that I, like every clergyperson, wear an invisible sign that says
something like "God is watching" (but less creepy). And I take seriously the call to be an
example of how a person of faith behaves (as best I can).
On the other hand, I fear that the pretense of the perfect pastor gets us all into trouble.
When we require our leaders to be blameless, we wind up with clergy who get good at
keeping secrets, and we wind up with church members who believe that faith is only for
perfect people.
Perhaps what we need is just what we have: angry, sexy, swearing clergy who often
disappoint us, but who, on their best days, point us imperfectly toward Perfect Love.
Prayer
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Blameless One, save us from the pain of seeking perfection outside you. Send your
Church leaders who are authentically good. Send those leaders congregations who will
share their brokenness. Amen.
About the Author
Vince Amlin is Associate Minister at the United Church of Gainesville, Gainesville,
Florida.
UCC, Disciples executives share solidarity, sympathy with
Egyptian partners after ISIS executions
February 19, 2015
Written by Anthony Moujaes
Executives of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
joined world leaders in mourning the murders of 21 Egyptian Christians, kidnapped by
militant Islamists in Libya and executed earlier this week. Amid the anxiety of the most
recent killings, those executives reaffirmed their solidarity and expressed condolences to
leaders of Egypt’s Christian community.
"We were alarmed and saddened, looking with you and surely with their families for
answers after this senseless act. We join you in mourning and in prayer for their souls,”
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said the Rev. James A. Moos and the Rev. Julia Brown Karimu, co-executives of Global
Ministries, the shared ministry between the UCC and DoC, in a letter to Egyptian
Christian communities on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
The letter was addressed to Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church
in Egypt, and the Rev. Safwat al-Biady and the Rev. Andrea Zaki, president and
vice president of the Protestant Churches of Egypt. The 21 victims, who were Coptic
Orthodox Christians, were shown in a video of a mass execution by militants of the
"Islamic State" (ISIS). The militant group has gained control of large areas in Syria and
Iraq, but this latest video of the brutal beheadings of almost a dozen Christians
could indicate ISIS, or an ISIS affiliate, has emerged in Northern Africa.
The letter was just made public, since it is a policy of Global Ministries to carefully
consider the implications of public witness regarding international concerns, so as to be
sensitive to the implications they may have on partners.
Moos and Brown Karimu condemned religiously-motivated killings, telling the Egyptian
partners "no faith justifies such violence." "We are keenly aware, too, that throughout
history, religion has been manipulated to justify such heinous acts, with innocent people
falling victim," they added.
"Our ties of partnership in the Middle East, and certainly around the world, are strong and
enduring in times of crisis and of joy,” said Peter Makari, Global Ministries area
executive for the Middle East and Europe. "We trust our partners know of our solidarity,
whether it expressed publicly or by other means. The relationships are constant."
Global Ministries has long time partnerships with Coptic Christian organizations in
Egypt. The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), which began
as a literacy project in 1950 is one of them. CEOSS, one of Egypt's largest development
organizations, provides integrated approaches to poor communities in areas of economic,
agricultural and environmental development, health care, and education.
"We know that the history of Egypt is replete with examples of Christian and Muslim
solidarity, a bond that has not been broken,” the letter concludes. "Al-Azhar has stated
that these murders are 'barbaric,' that no religion would accept such acts. We trust that
Egypt’s Muslims and Christians will find common cause against such violence, just as we
work with American Muslims to respond to acts of religiously-motivated bigotry and
hatred."
Read the full letter from Global Ministries on its website.
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Why Lent Still Matters
You can't have Easter Sunday without a season of Lent.
By Michael Hidalgo
February 18, 2015
Michael is the lead pastor of Denver Community Church, and is the author of UnLost:
Being Found by the One We Are Looking For. He blogs regularly at michaelhidalgo.com. He lives with his wife and children in downtown Denver, Colo. Follow him
on Twitter @michaelhidalgo.
There is a Sunday every spring different from all others. Everyone dresses a little nicer
than usual. Women wear floral dresses and men squeeze into the discomfort of a suit
accented nicely by a pastel tie. People flock to church buildings early to beat the largerthan-normal crowds, and the energy in church buildings is at an all-time high.
The worship services are decidedly upbeat, and everyone is in a good mood. Often
someone stands up front and says, “He is risen.” The congregation replies in unison, “He
is risen indeed!” As soon as the worship service ends, the church buildings empty quickly
as faithful worshippers go to devour a celebration feast.
I am speaking, of course, of Easter Sunday.
While this Sunday was the height of excitement for so many, it honestly meant very little
to me for most of my life. I know that may sound like a terrible thing to say, but it is true.
Every year the story was the same: some women gathered spices for Jesus’ body, went to
a garden, saw the stone was rolled away from the tomb and an angel said Jesus had risen.
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As exciting as the pastor tried to make it, I knew the end of the story, and the punchline
had less power year after year. Beyond that there was the Monday after Easter. What was
celebrated just 24 hours earlier seemed to matter little. Everyone had gone back to work,
and life was, well, completely normal. The resurrection all seemed quite shallow.
You may know exactly what I am talking about. The hype, the excitement, the candy, the
eggs and even the resurrection can seem to fall flat. Like any other holiday, it is here and
gone before we know it. In this we have a choice: we can accept this is just how it is or
we can move toward Easter differently.
Which brings us to Lent.
The word Lent comes from the Latin root meaning “to lengthen.” It reminds us that
during the season of spring, the sun takes a little longer each evening to settle beyond the
horizon. With this, the weather grows warmer, and life emerges once more. Lent is our
connecting point to the season of life.
But this is a messy season. As the snows of winter lie on the ground, things get covered,
trampled and windblown. Winter brings with it chilling winds that push things over, mess
things up and even break things. As the snow melts we are left to discover the trash, the
litter, the mud and the branches beneath the snow.
It’s much like our lives. Over time, our hearts and souls, when left unattended, get messy.
Lent invites us to deal with the mess. This is not about quickly cleaning things up and
pretending they were never there, nor is it about ignoring the mess. Lent invites to roll up
our sleeves and sort through the debris of our lives.
We are confronted with our mess, and so on our foreheads we rub a little dirt reminding
ourselves that just as Eden has gone to ashes, so, one day, we will too.
The first time I observed Lent over 10 years ago, I attended an Ash Wednesday service.
Ashes were applied to my head and words were spoken over me, “Remember you are
dust and to dust you shall return.” I learned in a new way that I am a mere mortal, and at
same time created in the image of God. In that moment, something new in my soul began
to grow. At the same time, it was, for me, a difficult time of coming to grips with my
brokenness, staring at my sin and searching my heart.
This is what Lent does. It allows us to see the parts of ourselves we’d rather leave
covered up. It asks us to drag our full self into the light of day no matter how dark it may
be. As we near the end of Lent, we encounter Good Friday. For centuries, the people of
God mark this day by participating in the Stations of the Cross remembering the trial and
crucifixion of Jesus.
One station remembers the words Jesus cried while being crucified, “My God, My God,
why have you forsaken me?” That one phrase sums up the darkness of Lent. At the point
of Jesus’ death, He experienced the abandonment of God. He was naked, beaten,
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bleeding, dying, nailed to an instrument of torture and death, crying for a father only to
realize His dad was nowhere.
Lent and Good Friday invite us to brush up against the death of Jesus as we sort through
the death in our hearts. Good Friday is the moment when Jesus’ death and our sin crash
into one another. And in that moment we ache for Easter.
The difference between Easter feeling shallow and Easter meaning something is simple
and painful: death. The reason the resurrection felt so shallow to me for so long was
because there was never any death. And you cannot have a resurrection without a death.
This is why Lent is so important. It brings us face to face with our mortality and the death
of Jesus.
A few years ago, I, along with several pastors from Denver, joined together for a sunrise
service. There was the common story once again: some women gathered spices for Jesus’
body, went to a garden, saw the stone was rolled away from the tomb and an angel said
Jesus had risen.
But this time when we read the words, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, he is risen!” Almost on cue, the first rays of sunlight broke over the
skyline of Denver, and tears of joy welled up in my eyes.
The tomb was empty. And it meant something.
Easter reminds us that in the in the Kingdom of God, death doesn’t have the last word;
life does. Ash Wednesday, Lent and Good Friday teach us the resurrection is something
we desperately need—for our broken selves and our broken world.
And so, as we enter into this Lenten Season, may we remember we are dust and to dust
we shall return. May we examine our frail, flawed soul and, with Jesus, enter the
darkness of our sin and death and journey with Him to the Cross. May we be crucified
with Christ, and buried in the likeness of His death, so that when we hear the words “He
is risen!” perhaps for the first time, we might truly celebrate the resurrection—because
we have chosen to die so that we may have life.