Bible Literacy Opportunity

JOIN US FOR A LIVELY DISCUSSION
MAY 6, 2013 at 7:00 PM
 

 

Michael Sheridan - Classical Guitar Performance

Thanks - Tim is Home

Happy to report that Tim Oakley is home.  We are all grateful.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Tim Oakley - Silver Alert

PLEASE HELP FIND TIM

NORTH STONINGTON, CT (WFSB) -
The Connecticut State Police are asking for the public's help trying to locate a 32-year-old man missing from North Stonington.
A Silver Alert was issued for Timothy Oakley, who was last seen in town earlier Tuesday.
State police said they believe Oakley to be suicidal and he has a history of mental illness.
Oakley is being described as a white male who is 6'2" and weighs 155 pounds with blue eyes and red hair.
He was last seen wearing a black winter jacket, blue jeans and white Nike shoes.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call state police at 860-848-6500.

Where do "orphaned" books go?

Handle With Care
By Andrew D. Scrimgeour

Illustration by Jon Krause

Here are the first  paragraphs of a brilliantly written essay on the "liturgical" role of a librarian as he handles the library of a deceased scholar.  It demonstrates the way the smallest details to attention are important in preserving the qualities of an individual as found in the way their books are stacked or placed on shelves; markings of the readers in those books; and the insertions so often left in the pages of a well used book.  

You will not want to miss this essay in its entirety!

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I have been here many times before. Not to this particular library but to others like it. Some have been on college campuses, others in private homes. Some have sprawled through many rooms, including the bathroom; others were confined to a single space. One had no windows; another overlooked a lake. Most were crowded. All were dusty. 

Each was the domain of a scholar. Each was the accumulation of a lifetime of intellectual achievement. Each reflected a well-defined precinct of specialization. But what they also had in common was that each of their owners had died. And by declaration of their wills, or by the discernment of their families, I had been called to claim or consider the bereft books for my university library. 

One of the little-known roles of the academic librarian is bereavement counseling: assisting families with the disposition of books when the deceased have not specified a plan for them. Most relatives know these books were the lifeblood of their owners and so of intellectual value if not great monetary worth. But they remain clueless about how to handle them responsibly. Some call used-book shops. Some call the Salvation Army. Others call a university library. Many allow friends and relatives to pick over the shelves before bringing in a professional.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/books/review/handled-with-care.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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Christmas Eve 2012

The Gospel of Luke "does not simply say, 'Christ is born, but to you he is born.'  Neither does Jesus say, 'I bring glad tidings, but to you I bring glad tidings of great joy.'  Furthermore, this joy was not to remain in Christ, but it shall be to all the people....Christ must above all things become our own and we become his."

     Martin Luther (1483-1546) Sermon on Luke 2:1-14 Christmas Day 1521       

Reflections-Coincidence: Bible, Film, and Sandy Hook

A biblical text; the reminder of the classic Sophia Loren film, and the terrible tragedy of all of those children and adults being senselessly slaughtered in Sandy Hook (Newtown, CT) have stimulated these thoughts.

First, I was working on the biblical readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent (Luke 1:39-56).  I had decided to preach on this text.  I was well on the way to developing a sermon with the title, "Put Mary back into Christmas."  Obviously a play on the popular song putting Christ back into Christmas.

The biblical story focuses on the meeting of two women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Mary, the teenager who is pregnant and from the "does anything good come out of Nazareth" hick town meets the older Elizabeth, the wife of a priest probably from a more upscale, well-to-do, sophisticated and educated background.  Luke's account focuses more on Mary than on Elizabeth.  But the story is built around the relationships of two women from dissimilar and similar circumstances.

Second, comes the Sophia Loren Italian film, "Two Women, English title." Loren won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Actress.  The story depicts a mother and teen age daughter's relationship during World War II.  The terror, rape, loss of home, and all of the atrocities of war bring ever more problems to these two women.  I do not think the film glorifies violence to women as a few have indicated.  It does depict how women are the victims of the powerful and ruthless but the focus is on the complexities of the relationships of two women who are related, certainly differently than Elizabeth and Mary.

Third, we have all been assaulted by the images--and suggestions of even more disturbing pictures--of violence perpetrated on the children and women teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.  The special bond between teacher and child, in more than half the cases little girls (in no way do I wish to diminish the little boys and the many male police and first responders) presents vivid pictures.  The relationships of teacher, predominantly women, and student in the face of the powerful aggressor with a bundle of guns and ammunition calls to mind the relationships of "two women."  Then there are the mother's of those children caught up in the aftermath of the violence.  Again there were the fathers with the same looks of horror as their wives.

Each of these sets of images calls to mind the beauty and fragility of human relationships.  Of course explicitly in the biblical account God has played a role.  That role is on the one hand miraculous but not without its own complications given a teenager who was probably ostracized by her community after becoming pregnant.  Playing behind the film and the current events at Newtown are the inevitable questions of where God is and why do these things happen. In the coincidental meeting for me of these three stories many questions are raised beyond the where and why.  The presence and absence, whether of God or another human being, the relationships in these stories call us forth to not just seek some singular meaning but to discover the web of meanings that are intertwined in our own self's presence and absence.  This Advent Season punctuated by the tragedies of war and especially by the elementary classroom deaths reminds us of the need to never let the other in these stories go unattended.         

Newtown and Christmas Bells

From a friend I was reminded of Longfellow's "Christmas Bells."  The second of the three stanzas below contains what many of us must feel this day after the terrible violence in Newtown, CT.  And we await for our neighbors and ourselves the feelings of the third stanza.  Our waiting must be active and not passive.  We have much to do to with regard to finding new ways to deal with the violence in our culture that interrupts like an earthquake even those places that seem so tranquil.

It was as if an earthquake rent 
The hearth-stones of a continent, 
    And made forlorn 
    The households born 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

And in despair I bowed my head; 
"There is no peace on earth," I said; 
    "For hate is strong, 
    And mocks the song 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; 
    The Wrong shall fail, 
    The Right prevail, 
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

"Christmas Bells," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Newtown, CT Tragedy

VIGIL FOR OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEWTOWN

DECEMBER 14, 2012  7:00 PM 

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

23 WILLOW STREET  MYSTIC, CT 06355 

All are invited to share the loss of so many in a senseless act of violence and to offer hope for the future.  

Elisabeth Von Trapp

 

For Elisabeth von Trapp, “the sounds of music “ are part of her earliest memories. Born and raised in Vermont, Elisabeth is the granddaughter of the legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp, whose story inspired The Sound of Music. Singing professionally since childhood, Elisabeth has enthralled audiences from European cathedrals to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.

 

Inspired by her father Werner von Trapp’s guitar playing and singing, Elisabeth began taking piano lessons when she was eight and by the age of sixteen she was playing guitar and traveling the back roads of New England performing.

 

Building on her famed family’s passion for music, Elisabeth has created her own artistic style, at once ethereal and earthy, delicate and powerful. Listeners have likened her to Judy Collins and Loreena McKennitt. Critics have called her voice ...“ hauntingly clear “ “ joyfully expressive “ and “ simply beautiful.”

 

Elisabeth’s concert repertoire ranges from Bach to Broadway ... Schubert to Sting. With equal ease and eloquence she sings timeless wonders like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Favorite Things and Edelweiss, Lieder by Mozart, Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro, soaring gospel tunes, pop classics like A Whiter Shade of Pale and her own stunning compositions.

 

Elisabeth’s music has been featured on National Public Radio, BBC-Radio, Japanese National Radio and CNN Spanish Radio. She has appeared on CBS’s Eye on People, ABC’s Good Morning America and BBC-TV.

 

No one leaves an Elisabeth von Trapp performance unchanged ... audiences of all ages are drawn by the promise of her famous name ... awed by the beauty of her voice and musical arrangements ... their hearts touched forever by the astonishing sound of her unique new music.

 

Come and join us for an enthralling concert.  A freewill offering of $10 per person is suggested.  Her cds will also be available for purchase.  Ten percent of all proceeds will go toward the mission of the First United Methodist Church to serve others in Mystic and around the world.

TAG AND BAKE SALE FRIDAY, OCT 12, 6-8 pm SATURDAY, OCT 13, 9 am - 1 pm First United Methodist Church 23 Willow Street Mystic, CT 06355                               SUPPORT CHURCH MISSIONS Delicious home baked goods Hand made items and those hard to find tag sale items Donations accepted now. Call the office 860 536 3394 or email office@firstumcmystic.org

Jesus and .......... :Small Fragment Evokes Big Story!

The small piece of papyrus above has come bounding into the news, even in small regional newspapers like The Day newspaper. On Sunday September 22, 2012, The Day ran an Associated Press piece from Jay Lindsay under the title, "Harvard not yet publishing finding that Jesus had wife."  I call these kinds of headlines and articles titillating.  The papyrus contains the incomplete line "Jesus said, my wife......"    This fragment could be followed by a host of verbs and objects that in no way complete a sentence or thought that even implies Jesus had a wife.  It is provocative and worth studying.

Karen King, an excellent scholar, read a paper at a conference in Rome that included the initial discussion of this new found piece of papyrus.  The fragment from an anonymous collector seems to be from the fourth century CE (AD).  So far no one has questioned the fragment's authenticity.  In no way was King's paper suggesting that this small piece of papyrus proved Jesus was married.  In fact it may not even suggest that point at all.

Certainly we all want to learn more about the fragment but there is much to be done before even initial observations beyond King's paper can be presented.  It is too bad that it is the "titillating" news that draws attention to itself.  We need more substantive discussions central to understanding Jesus message or any important religious figure's words.  Some of the other more complex life and death issues across the globe need to be in our purview.  Fortunately this story in the media is less likely to provoke battles on the streets.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 7:00 – 8:30 PM
“JERUSALEM AS DAVID AND SOLOMON KNEW IT” – DR. ANDY VAUGHN

Be sure to keep open this date on your calendars because you are going to find out about all of the latest perspectives on the remarkable city of Jerusalem. It is one of the most extensively excavated cities in the entire world. Do you know the city’s altitude? Do you know how big it was and is? Before it was the central city of ancient Israel do you know what it was? Do you know what the name means? Do you know what latitude it is on as compared to major America East Coast cities? Come and get your questions answered by one of the world’s leading experts.

Food and Classical Guitar

HAM AND BEAN SUPPER and
CLASSICAL GUITAR

SUPPER 5:00 PM
GUITAR SOLOIST 7:30 pm

Ham and Bean Supper $11 or $10 with a can good donated. You won't beat Mary's famous recipe.

Michael Sheridan plays solo guitar --‐ Classical, Bossa, Tango, Gypsy Jazz. He resides in Brooklyn, NY, and his wife’s family lives on Willow Street here in Mystic. There will be a freewill offering accepted with the suggested amount of $5. Bring your friends for an evening of great food and music.

 



Creativity and Aging

We need an effort like EngAGE in the Mystic area.  See this excellent article on a creative approach for building a better life among the 55+ group.  You know this demographic is growing in Mystic.  Are you interested in bringing this type of innovative approach to our citizens?  Let's get started with a conversation.

Live Music at Mystic Art Festival

First United Methodist Church
23 Willow Street
Mystic, CT

August 11  2:30-5:00

"Summer Classics" - by Pianist Dayne Rugh
An Afternoon of classic piano music, vintage and contemporary for our friends and neighbors in Mystic for their listening pleasure while enjoying the sites of the annual Mystic Art Festival.  Freewill offerings accepted.

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August 12 10:30-3:00

"When the Saints Go Marching In" and all your favorite Dixieland songs.
Members of the band are also private music teachers, who wish to pass on their musical knowledge and experiences to the next generation, and entrepreneurs seeking new ways to preserve and perpetuate this uniquely American art form.
Children of all ages are welcome.  Freewill offerings accepted.

Encountering Survivors Exhibit

August 11 and 12
First United Methodist Church
23 Willow Street
Mystic, CT

Encountering Survivors Exhibit

This exhibit located in the community room at the First United Methodist Church will be on display. It is timely and can illuminate the contemporary focus on survivors of tragedies in our daily news. Encountering Survivors focuses on the understandings of each holocaust survivor, and how he or she learned to take their experience and live a vibrant and productive life. Students from 7 area schools interviewed survivors. Seeing and hearing eyewitnesses made history come alive. Come see their work and reflect on their understandings.

Encountering Survivors program 2011-12 sponsored by the Rose and Sigmund Strochlitz Holocaust Resource Center of the Jewish Federation of Eastern CT

In order to draw lessons from the unique horror of the Nazi genocide, the Holocaust Resource Center used a grant from the Bodenwein Foundation for a program entitled “Encountering Survivors.”  This is our fourth year working with local high schools and this year, a middle school.  This year’s Encountering Survivor program includes seven schools that are represented by the following teachers and their students:   David Williams (Bacon Academy); Pam Neidig (Fitch Senior High School); Marceline Macrino (Ledyard High School); Joel Farrior (Leonard J. Tyl Middle School, Montville); Chris Marot and Bridget Joyce (New London High School); Henry Laudone (Norwich Free Academy); and Lynn Frazier (Windham High School).  Through the “Encountering Survivor” program, students interact with survivors/children of survivors individually through a socialization and interview process in the interviewee’s home.  This year’s participants included Henny Simon, Rae Gawendo, Lola Fox, Oleg Elperin, Edie Kil-Freeman, Dr. Stephen Powell, and Romana Strochlitz Primus.   During these intimate meetings, the students learned of the survivor’s childhood, war time experiences, and liberation.  The students also begin to comprehend the survivors’ attitudes and feelings toward these events, and ultimately gain an understanding of precisely what the survivor experienced.  Seeing and hearing an eyewitness to the Shoah makes the history come alive.  These students are now able to represent the survivors and tell their stories with accuracy and feeling to any audience for at least another 50 years.  In a way, the lives of the survivors have become immortalized. 

Students also attended a talk given by Mr. Ben Cooper, a WWII veteran and liberator of Dachau.   For a concluding project, students wrote articles documenting the life of each survivor and these articles were presented in newspaper format at our final meeting held at Ledyard High School.     These posters represent their hard work.

Resources for 55+ Citizens in Mystic

Seeing a couple of Letters to The Day recently has reminded me that the demographics of Mystic show that we need to take more care that the 55+ group of citizens will require new and creative thinking and action.  Many of these people have contributed to our community for a lifetime.  We owe them special care.

The First United Methodist Church Mystic would like to identify the greatest concerns among the 55+ community.  Please go to this page on the church's website to contact us with your feedback.  You will see that you can call or email http://firstumcmystic.org/contact-us.html  Pass this on to a friend.

Let's create some effective, creative programs to use one of our most important resources.

Helping Veterans - Soul Repair Center

Brite Divinity School, Ft. Worth, TX is opening a new center to provide public education and research to better understand moral injury, expecially as it relates to veterans.  A book, Soul Repair, is forthcoming.

Read more and get in touch with the Center.

http://www.brite.edu/programs.asp?BriteProgram=soulrepair