The Williston-West Navigator

Dear Church Friends:

Fall is a season where change is very much a part of our lives. Our daily routines shift from summertime, and if we are lucky vacation mode, to fall programs and events. Children and adults go back to school. The days grow shorter, the temperature cools, the leaves begin to grace us with vibrant color. All signals that life moves on whether we are prepared or not.

In September of 2006 you were welcoming Bonnie as the new interim pastor and still coping with the changes resulting from Eric’s retirement. Now as this season begins, Bonnie has moved on and the deacons have called me to be the three-quarter time bridge pastor until you call a new settled pastor. A bridge pastor is someone who generally fills in during short periods such as between an interim and the new settled pastor. I am here to do all the things that any pastor would do. So I hope to meet many of you as the fall meeting schedule begins to fill up and as the pews welcome back many of you who have been enjoying your summer activities. Please feel free to introduce yourself in the office or at worship. My contact information is elsewhere in The Navigator.

My primary task is to provide pastoral care, lead the congregation in worship, and be available to leadership in the church. However, the other important work I will do in this bridge time is to prepare this congregation to receive and welcome your new pastor. I will be doing some housekeeping and preparing materials that will assist in the welcome and settling-in process. I may be asking questions of many of you as I clean out cupboards and cabinets. I may be asking leadership for permission to do some small projects that will help to strengthen the fellowship in this church and to allow the new pastor to get to know you more quickly.

In my first Sunday at Williston-West, I chose a hymn that Roxanna mentioned later as being the words that described this church in its present season. At her suggestion, I share these words with you.

"Oh yes, I know about Williston West United Church of Christ. In fact I have been to your church for a recital or wedding or funeral (you fill in the blank)." "But what is it really like, what makes Williston West so special"? I have heard statements like these on several occasions from acquaintances so I often ask myself "Who are we, and what does make us so special"?

I feel blessed every time I walk through the doors of our physical church. It is, however, what is on the inside of the doors that makes us who we are. It is the people of Williston West United Church of Christ who are causing the buzz! I am so proud to wear my Williston West is Alive button because people will often touch it and ask "What’s Williston West?" It gives me that chance to say "Oh, it’s my church!" Of course some people just look away and hope I don’t want to get into a discussion about it. Others might ask "what is alive about it?" "The people," I say. "The people are alive!" Most often that is all I really say, it is all most people want to hear.

When I think about who we are and why we are indeed ALIVE, I am reminded of a Sunday morning about a year ago. Morning worship had just finished and the tidying up of the sanctuary was taking place. Most people we downstairs in Fellowship Hall chatting over coffee and goodies. I happened to still be up in the sanctuary and walking toward the back of the church as I watched and heard the following encounter. A lady whom I had never seen before walked up the front stairs; she was dressed in her "Sunday best" and was wondering out loud if this was the right place. Ellie Brown and Ann Worster were standing near the table in the back of the church and as they greeted the lady I heard her say, "Is this the Presbyterian Church?" "No," said Ellie "this is Williston West United Church of Christ". "Oh" said the lady as she slowly began backing away, "you mean you are one of those churches that have gotten all political? You let GAYS come here!" "Yes," said Ann proudly and with confidence as Ellie watched and listened, "all God’s Children come to church here!" As the three of us watched, the lady seemed quickly to vanish down the sidewalk while we heard her sputtering something to the effect of "well there’s more to it than that blah, blah blahhhhhhh!"

That is who we are and that is why Williston West is Alive! We are all God’s Children, and we are loved and cherished because of it. When we walk through the front doors of our church I believe we are touched by God, by the Son of God and by the Holy Spirit. And to add even more life to Williston West United Church of Christ, we are touched by each other.

Thank you to all who enter through our doors!

In Peace,

Roxanna

Once again, the Christian Education program is in transition. Gracie Johnston has accepted the position of program director for the new school year. The position now runs September through June, with no paid director for the summer months. We will continue to have four groups each Sunday during the worship service. Babies and toddlers will continue to go to the nursery with Victoria Chicon, pre-school – 1^st grade are in one group, and 2^nd grade – 3rd grade are in a third group. The "older kids" 4^th grade and up are in the youth group. Tom Riddell will continue to head up that group for the fall months.

There are many ways that parents and the congregation as a whole can help out. First, there are teaching opportunities every week. To make it easy, there is an established curriculum for each group with a variety of activities to choose from. For example, the curriculum includes the same Bible passage that is read during the service, but at an age appropriate level, prayers, craft ideas, and other activities. The teacher decides what to do for the class using those suggestions. This year we’re asking parents of children in the program to teach at least three Sundays between now and Christmas. We always welcome any member of the congregation to teach a class or two. If you’d like to teach, but haven’t in the past, talk to Gracie and she can help you out. Some of the older kids can also jump in and help out if needed. Don’t be afraid to ask.

We’ll also need a variety of different arts and crafts supplies and snacks. Look for more details on that in September.

We would like to include the children in as many activities as possible. We’re open to your suggestions. It takes a village, or in our case, a church community, to raise a child. Be involved, you’ll be glad you did.

I have such mixed feelings about the end of a wonderful summer. The kids will go back to school, and I will be without my playmates -- which in itself is such a mixed blessing! Around Williston West UCC summer tends to be the season to slow down and maybe relax a little, but the Pastoral Search Committee has in fact been operating at a strong pace.

We are at an interesting and exciting place in our search. After administering and reviewing the church-wide questionnaire, giving and receiving feedback from members of the congregation, writing (and re-writing) our Local Church Profile, reviewing over 70 candidate profiles, conducting phone interviews and reference checks, and meeting faithfully every Tuesday evening…..we have NOW finally met some of those candidates in person!

Over the next couple weeks, we are bringing in our top candidates to preach in a neutral pulpit. This is part of the UCC search process and is arranged for us by the conference minister. It allows the search committee to listen to these candidates preach in another local UCC church. While they are here, we will be able to spend time with them, conduct further interviews and perhaps show them the greater Portland area. As a committee we are very excited about how far we have come with our search and more importantly about the candidates themselves! The future of Williston West United Church of Christ is bright and hopeful and about to explode!

Our hope at this time is that one of our finalists is "the one". We will keep our hearts and minds open to God and what the Spirit has in store for us – as we continue to discern what is best for our church community. Thank you so much to all who have waited with patience and prayers during this process.

The Churches and Members of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ will gather September 28-30 at the Grand Summit Hotel, Sunday River, Bethel for the 76th Annual Meeting of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ (successor to the Congregational Christian Conference of Maine); it being the 96th Anniversary of the Congregational Conference and Missionary Society of Maine; the 182nd Anniversary of the State Conference, the 200th Anniversary of the Maine Missionary Society, the 178th Anniversary of the Maine Congregational Ministerial Relief Society, and the 40th Anniversary of the Maine Conference as a Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Items to be voted at this year’s meeting will be Proposed 2008 Conference Budget, 2008 Compensation Guidelines for Clergy, Slate of Officers/Commissions Elect , and a Resolution to Call for an End to the American War in Iraq.

The pre-meeting retreat for lay and clergy will be led by Mike Downs, President of the UCC Pension Boards on the theme of "Wellness Today for Health Tomorrow." Keynote speakers for the meeting will be David Schoen, Coordinator of the National Congregational Vitality Initiative, and Edith Guffey, Associate General Minister of the United Church of Christ. We will also welcome and install Susan Craig as the new Associate Conference Minister.

Pastor June will be going with available delegates from Williston-West Church. Visitors are welcome. All materials to be voted or reported are available on the Maine Conference website at maineucc.org. If you are not able to attend, please read the following scripture texts which are the daily themes and pray for those gathered as they worship, converse, and vote about important parts of the life of the members and church of the Maine Conference.

Phil 2: 14 – 18 Do things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.

Isaiah 49: 5–6 – "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth …"

Matt 5: 14–16 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

While at General Synod in Hartford this summer, I visited the Justice and Witness Ministries table of the UCC and picked up a "free resource manual for congregations" called Imagine, Another World Is Possible. It was subtitled Building a Peace with Justice Movement in the United Church of Christ.

What I found inside was not a cookie cutter list of workshop ideas but a set of inspiring writings about the need for churches to thoughtfully explore injustice in the world, and get involved in creating change, however intractable things may seem.

I believe that most of us, though we gladly participate in the "apple tree" project, the soup kitchen, the migrant farm workers’ food drive and church activity in support of Seeds of Peace, feel that there might be something more we should be about, that something would be missing from our ministry if all we did was serve people who have fallen through the safety net. At the same time, the world’s misery seems so intractable it’s sometimes easier to accept it as an inevitable fact of life.

The manual states that "the things that will make for peace with justice are in us (italics mine) – our faith in God, our discipleship as followers of Jesus, our church communities of caring and committed people, and our desire for healing the breaches among us." To me, this sounds like we have all we need to work at becoming a church which not only does charitable work to alleviate suffering, but which also tries to take a steady look at the root causes of injustice and then tries to change things for the better through some form of action.

Looking at the by-laws of Williston-West Church, I read that among other things, the job of the Missions Committee is to encourage the members of our church to grow in Christian social concern and action by calling attention to current social issues and to seek practical ways in which members of the church may cooperate effectively with other churches and existing agencies in their approach to social issues.

Gun violence, nuclear weapons, the prison system, torture, health care, economic development, public education, religious liberty, conscientious objection and environmental racism, (all of which are briefly discussed in the manual) present an imposing list. Some of these are of concern to each one of us. And while it is overwhelming to think about so many problem areas listed in one sentence, there is surely an area on the list (or off of it) that together we as a church could do something about if we put our collective minds to it.

A popular UCC bumper sticker reads, ‘To believe is to care, to care is to do.’ Our faith moves us to respond to God’s vision of justice, wholeness, and peace for humanity through action – individual action, congregational action, and denominational action to right the wrongs of society. These words from the manual remind us that as members of the UCC we can take individual political action at our denominational website, ucc.org, and of course count on the leadership of our national church to speak for us on many issues.

But what about "congregational action" right here on Thomas Street? Should we as a group of church members work to become more of a "peace with justice" church? What particular issue or issues would you as a church member like to see us work to address? And how would you build action into our corporate ministry alongside the charitable efforts we already undertake and value? The Mission Committee invites your thoughts and guidance. Feel free to speak with any one of us listed below:

Judy Malette, Melissa Knoll, Bob Campbell, Marie Ahearn, Judy Reidt-Parker, Dave Mullen, Stephanie Clifford, Barbara Ginley, Jeff Armstrong, Madeleine Bates, and Sam Saltonstall

George Crockett will be taking a Rotary Mission to Ethiopia this fall and will be bringing head scarves to distribute to local women. If you have a scarf you’d like to donate, please place it in the bag in the cloister.

This has been a laid-back summer season for the G&F group, which is one reason it’s nice to have a beautiful, established perennial garden on our grounds. Some of you may shut your eyes in denial when you read this, but fall is around the corner, and for this group, that means fall clean-up of the gardens.

I am planning the event for a Saturday in late October or early November, so in the meantime, please make a point of enjoying all the great plantings that grace our church yard before we put them all to bed for the winter. As usual, we will ask those able and interested to bring rakes, gloves, pruning shears and leaf-blowers, and I’ll make sure coffee and treats will be there on your arrival. We can use all the help we can get – it’s quick work when we have a few teams spread out on the grounds.

Also as a reminder, please sign up to bring in flowers for the altar downstairs in Fellowship Hall; birthdays, anniversaries, and commemorations are just a few of the reasons you might want to have flowers to announce your occasion to our church community. Of course, no reason is necessary, and we greatly appreciate your participation in this program to bring beauty and color to the altar.

The committee is open to anyone in the church who is interested in the gardening and seasonal decoration of our church, and our meetings are few and to-the-point. We will lose Jennie Crane when she joins Phil in Florida this fall, which leaves another opening on the committee. Please consider becoming part our team if you have a green (or any other color) thumb – no experience or skill is necessary!

I hope you enjoy the rest of this wonderful season; there is no better place than Maine in the late summer and fall!

On August 26^th church comers to Williston-West were invited to decorate a paper plate during the coffee hour. Crafts for grown-ups? Not exactly - the plates were decorated with words urging our Senators and Representatives to support the 2007 Jubilee Act (HR 2634). This act would provide expanded debt cancellation for countries that were not included in the original G8 debt cancellation agreement back in 2005, but still need debt cancellation to address extreme poverty.

Millions of men, women, and children around the world are literally starving for debt cancellation. For every $1 received in grant aid, low income countries pay back $2.30 in debt service. Pouring more aid into impoverished countries without debt cancellation is like trying to fill a bathtub with the drain open.

The Missions Committee will mail all the plates we make at church to Washington following the Sunday service on Sept. 2^nd. A UCC pastor, Reverend David Duncombe, will begin an open-ended fast for debt cancellation on September 6^th. As he fasts through October 15^th, he will be visiting members of Congress and urging them to support the Jubilee Act. Rev. John Thomas, President of the United Church of Christ, will join Rev. Duncombe on the kick-off day of his fast and Congressional visits. They’ll be carrying with them the paper plates made all across UCC land in order to make the point that

many of us care about economic justice and debt relief for struggling nations.

"I’m hungry for justice and support debt cancellation. Support the Jubilee Act (HR2634)" or similar wording would be appropriate if you decide to do this at home. The plates can be mailed directly to Jubilee USA Network, Cancel Debt Fast, 212 E Capitol St. NE, Washington, DC 20003. If you would like to join in the fast, even for a short time, visit the website http://www.canceldebtfast.org/ for more information.

At the 26^th General Synod in Hartford this past June, the Collegium of Officers issued a Pastoral Letter on the Iraq War endorsed by all of the Conference Ministers and the Presidents of the Seminaries of the United Church of Christ. The Pastoral Letter calls on the church to "join protest to prayer" in an effort to end the war.

Since Synod, several thousand members have added their signatures to the Pastoral Letter as

an expression of our shared commitment to seek a new path toward a just and secure world.

The UCC is asking that the letter be circulated in its churches on Sunday, September 16^th, preceding the International Day of Peace as designated by the United Nations. By World Communion Sunday, October 6^th, the goal is to have collected 100,000 signatures of UCC members.

In the weeks following World Communion Sunday, leaders of the UCC will present the letter and signatures to the leadership of Congress and members of the Administration in Washington.

The Pastoral Letter is included below. Please read it, and if you agree with its contents, sign on. You may do this at church in the fellowship hall during the coffee hour, where the Missions Committee will have a paper version of the petition on display later in September. Or you may visit the UCC website, www.ucc.org and click on the box that asks "Will you be among the 100,000?"

The first stained glass window made for Williston-West Church was the Mizpah Window, located on the east front above the main entrance. It was the sanctuary’s only memorial window when the newly completed church building opened for services in 1878. Like several other windows now in the sanctuary, it has close associations with the young people of the church.

The Mizpah window is made up of five stained glass panels. The two tall rectangular panels illustrate an episode from the Bible known as Jesus and the Woman of Samaria (John 4:5-29). In the story, Jesus requests a drink of water from the Samaritan woman and then converses with her. Even though she lives a sinful life and is from a tribe shunned by the Jews, Jesus opens himself up to her, reveals the grace of God, and converts her.

The left panel of the window shows a woman dressed in blue robes standing beside a well. In the right panel, Jesus turns toward the woman while resting on the side of the well. Deeply colored landscape elements surround each figure, and the scenes are framed in gothic tracery. At the lower edge of the panels are inscribed "Mizpah" and "Nov. 29 1876." The top section of the window has two small triangular panels featuring winged angels and a rosette panel showing a lamb carrying a banner, a traditional symbol of Christ.

The Mizpah Window was donated to Williston by the Mizpah Circle, a group made up of young girls and boys of the church. Mrs. Harriet Clark, wife of Williston’s pastor, Rev. Francis E. Clark, started the Mizpah Circle in 1876. Funds for the window were raised by the children themselves through fairs and other activities. The Mizpah Circle was a forerunner of the Society of Christian Endeavor, the interdenominational, international youth group founded by Rev. Clark at Williston Church in 1881.

The word Mizpah comes from the Bible but had special significance to people around the time the Mizpah Circle was launched. Mizpah was the name of a stone monument built by Jacob and Laban to commemorate the resolution of a conflict and the creation of a lasting bond between the two men (Genesis 31:49). By the 1870s, the word Mizpah had become a sort of lucky charm symbolizing meaningful ties between people, whether they be together or apart. The word was often inscribed on tombstones and articles of jewelry. The Mizpah Circle at Williston celebrated the new church building as a sacred monument and reinforced the everlasting connections among the children of the church.

The Mizpah Window was severely damaged in the fire that engulfed the sanctuary of Williston Church in 1931. The window was restored that same year by the firm of C. H. Farley, a provider of memorial glass panels in Portland.

The important role of young people in the church is a topic honored in many of the stained glass decorations at Williston-West. In the window above the altar, young Jesus visits the teachers at the Temple, impressing them with his precocious questions and deep understanding of Jewish Law. Both the Christian Endeavor Windows and the Faithful Window commemorate the famous youth movement that had its origins at Williston Church. And the Mizpah Window, with its themes of unconditional love, grace, and enduring fellowship, is an especially touching tribute from some of the first children of Williston-West.

Call for an End to the Bloodshed: Sign the Petition to End the Iraq War:

Go to : http://www.ucc.org/100kforpeace

"God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry."
(Isaiah 5.7)

The war in Iraq is now in its fifth year.  Justified as a means to end oppression, this war has imposed the new oppression of terror on the people of Iraq.  Justified as the only way to protect the world from weapons of mass destruction, this war has led to the massive destruction of communal life in Iraq.  Justified as a means to end the rule of terror, this war has bred more terror.  Every day we look for justice, but all we see is bloodshed.  Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry.

Thousands of precious American lives have been lost; thousands more have been altered forever by profound injuries.  We grieve each loss and embrace bereaved families with our prayers and compassion.  Tens of thousands more innocent Iraqi lives are daily being offered on the altar of preemptive war and sectarian violence.  They, too, are precious, and we weep for them.  In our name human rights have been violated, abuse and torture sanctioned, civil liberties dismantled, Iraqi infrastructure and lives destroyed..  Billions of dollars have been diverted from education, health care, and the needs of the poor in this land and around the world.  Efforts to restrain the real sources of global terrorism have been ignored or subverted.  Trust and respect for the United States throughout the world has been traded for self-serving political gain.  Every day we look for justice, but all we see is bloodshed.  Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry.

We confess that too often the church has been little more than a silent witness to evil deeds.  We have prayed without protest.  We have recoiled from the horror this war has unleashed without resisting the arrogance and folly at its heart.  We have been more afraid of conflict in our churches than outraged over the deceptions that have killed thousands.  We have confused patriotism with self-interest. As citizens of this land we have been made complicit in the bloodshed and the cries. Lord, have mercy upon us.

In the midst of our lament we give thanks - for pastors and laity who have raised courageous voices against the violence and the deceit, for military personnel who have served with honor and integrity, for chaplains who have cared for soldiers and their families with compassion and courage, for veterans whose experience has led them to say, "no more," for humanitarian groups, including the Middle East Council of Churches, who have cared for the victims of violence and the growing tide of refugees, for the fragile Christian community in Iraq that continues to bear witness to the Gospel under intense pressure and fear, for public officials who have challenged this war risking reputation and career.  The Gospel witness has not been completely silenced, and for this we are grateful.

Today we call for an end to this war, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war.  Today we call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and we cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing.  Today we call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war, thereby, we pray, beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world. Today we call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others. 

To this end may we join protest to prayer, support ministries of compassion for victims here and in the Middle East, cast off the fear that has made us accept the way of violence and return again to the way of Jesus.  Thus may bloodshed end and cries be transformed to the harmonies of justice and the melodies of peace.  For this we yearn, for this we pray, and toward this end we rededicate ourselves as children of a loving God who gives "light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Signed,
John H. Thomas, Linda Jaramillo, Edith A. Guffey, José A. Malayang, Cally Rogers-Witte