The Pastoral Search Committee Needs Your Help!
When the Pastoral Search Committee (PSC) was created at this year's annual meeting on January 23, it was thought that our pastor would be continuing with us until April of next year. More recently, however, Rev. Kaneda has announced his intention to retire in early January 2001. That has prompted the PSC to get on with its business, and it is currently meeting each week.
The committee's first major task is to create a "church profile," a document that presents a written, statistical, and pictorial description of our church -- who we are, what we are about, how we want to be, and the sort of pastoral leadership we're looking for. Later this year the completed profile will be sent to prospective pastoral candidates who indicate an interest in learning more about the Congregational Church of Austin. Some candidates will undoubtedly decide not to proceed with their applications, and others will -- but the decisions of both will be influenced by the profile. That's why getting the profile right is so important.
And that's why the committee is saying, "Help!" Your help -- the help of every member of our church family -- is needed to ensure that the profile is both complete and accurate. More specifically, the PSC needs you to:
o Complete the checklist of pastoral strengths/qualities that is included in this issue of The Visitor,and drop it in the collection box in the Fellowship Hall at church no later than April 16. This checklist survey will help the committee determine the sort of pastoral leadership we all want.(If you've already filled out a copy at church, great! -- but has everyone in your family filled one out? Please make sure they do: everyone's opinion is important.
o Participate in the Saturday afternoon session at the Spring Retreat (April 29 at Slumber Falls Camp). At that time the PSC will report the results of the checklist survey and conduct a group Discussion designed to turn up some answers to the questions of who we are as a church, what We are about, and how we want to be in the future. Don't miss it! -- your opinion is important!
As time goes on, the PSC will be asking for your help with other aspects of its work. But any time you have a suggestion or recommendation -- be it something about the profile, the search process, or even a potential candidate -- please pass it along to one of the members of the committee: Susan Ashton, Sharon Brown, John Burlinson, Paul Deisler, Lynne Lemley, Dennis Murphy, Tommie Pinkard, or Suzanne VanderPoel. We're committed to working for our whole church family; please work with and through us. See you on the 29th!
SIXTH ANNUAL EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE ON MT. BONNELL
An offering of The Congregational Church of Austin to the Austin Community
Every year it seems to get bigger and better.
Just before sunrise (Daylight Saving Time (15 minutes before dawn or 6:30 am), on April 23, we will gather to celebrate Easter on Mt. Bonnell. Last year's event was attended by over 300 people, and we anticipate a large group at this years celebration of the glory of the Resurrection.
The Service will be led by the Pastor, Yoshi Kaneda, Rev. Bill Royster, Interim Conference Minister, SCC, will deliver the message. Special music will be given by Melanie Wilkinson, soprano. The service will also contain some of our favorite hymns, with Mr. Conrad Deisler, accompanist.
The beautiful vistas afforded by this unique site, deepens and enhances worship. Come, join us, as we begin our Easter Day Celebrations.on As has been our custom, refreshments will be served following the service.The Board of Deacons invite you to share the joy by assisting with the activities that support the service. To Help, Please Call:
Brenda Tingle (301-7769) to contribute food or to help with arranging and serving.
Vic Appel (343-1174) to assist with publicity.
Sharon Brown (459-1984) to offer suggestions about the service.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH GOES PUBLIC
The Publicity Committee is happy to announce that it has arranged with Richard Thompson, Host, Austin Faith Dialogue, to appear on a program focusing on our Easter Sunrise Service held on Mt. Bonnell. Easter We will share the program with Central Presbyterian Church, which holds their Easter Sunrise Service at Zilker Park Clubhouse. This is invaluable publicity -- at no cost. Vic Appel will represent the committee. As a special treat, Melanie Wilkinson, soprano, will sing two Easter Hymns.
The program will be taped on April 5, but will be aired on Palm Sunday, April 16. Please note: Austin Faith Dialogue program is aired one-half hour later (at 8 a.m.), Cable Channel 12, KXAN, and also on Public Access Channel 11, at 7 pm.
The Brazos Association is seeking candidates for the post of Association Minister, to support and enhance the work of ministers in this association, replacing the Rev. John Towery, who is retiring in June.
The position will start July 1, if a suitable candidate can be confirmed by that date. A part-time position, based on 8 hours per week, the Association Minister will be expected to work from his home and travel to all the churches in the Association and to South Central Conference meetings.
Qualifications: Preferably an ordained minister chosen from:
1. Brazos Association church members;
2. Retired ministers in this area;
3. Or, Lay church members with knowledge of theology and the UCC as well as training and experience in counseling.
Deadline:
Application must be received by April 25. Letter should include a resume, statement of qualifications,
Phone number, e-mail address (if any), telephone numbers and references (3), for
Conferring in confidence about the applicant.
Please contact your minister for details, or contact Tommie Pinkard 512-327-0607 or
e-mail: todopink@earthlink.net
A HUGE THANKS TO:
Nodie & Dennis Murphy for the donation of a fax machine to the church office.
Vic Appel for agreeing to chair the newly instigated Bldg. & Grounds committee. (Let's accept by re-sponding with overwhelming enthusiasm of at least 50% to his generous offer!)
Rev. James Tomasek (March 12, Amistad Sunday) and Mr. Dennis Murphy (March 19, Lay Preacher's Sunday), gave of their "excellence" in delivery of the sermons, on those dates, respectively.
Dale Montayne and Vic Appel were seen working around the church several times during the month,Accomplishing needed jobs.
Our Church Centennial Committee (listed in last month's newsletter) has been working hard, planning the year's celebratory activities. Watch for further info on the year-long celebration, for many pleasant surprises are in store.
Our Ash Wednesday Service, conducted by Rev. James Tomasek, on March 8, was a time of Holy Communion and the imposition of ashes on the forehead. Our heartfelt thanks, Jim.
Did you know? Dr. Steve Heller, friend of the church, who has been assisting Louise in the church office computer programming, has recently created a program for printing our church directory, Our present computer does not have a booklet format program. When you receive your new directory, please know that much credit goes to Dr. Heller.
NEWS, News, news . . .
Our Pastor, Yoshikuni Kaneda, has made an official announcement on his retirement status:
Rev. Kaneda will work until January 9, 2001, and plans to give a Farewell sermon on Sunday, Jan. 7,2001. The Board of Trustees has agreed to give him pro-rated sabbatical leave until March 31, 2001. He and Setsuko plan to attend the church's Centennial Celebration on March 31, and April 1, 2001. He intends to spend several days with a new Interim Pastor for orientation in January 2001.
_____
Thanks, again, to our supporters of C R O P WALK.
When all the data is in, our church's total giving will be acknowledged.
APRIL CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1 Saturday 8:30 am -- 4:30 pm ALL CHURCH WORKDAY
2 Sunday CENTENNIAL KICK-OFF SUNDAY with OGS Offerings -- HOLY COMMUNION
Scripture: John 3:14-21 Sermon: "John 3:16" -Rev. Kaneda
12:20 pm Boards of Trustees and Christian Education meetings
3:00 pm Brazos Assn. Ecclesiastical Council, St. John, Burton
3 Monday 7:30 pm Centennial Celebration Committee meeting
5 Wednesday 6:15 pm Mid Week Program
6 Thursday Noon Maundy Thursday Joint Service Planning Committee at UPC
8 Saturday 7:00 pm Celebration of Racial Unity with Ebony Choir and Revs. James A. Forbes, Jr.,
Joe R. Engle, Speakers, University Baptist Church. JOIN IN! ! !
9 Sunday FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 12:20-33
Sermon: "If I Am Lifted Up" -Rev. Kaneda
12:20 pm Board of Deacons meeting
3 -- 5 pm Austin Interfaith at First United Methodist Church, 12th & Lava Lavaca.
Open meeting to hear candidates: Mayor, City Council, County Commissioners, School Board.
10 Monday 7:30 pm Okinawa Partnership Committee, Telephone Conference
12 Wednesday 6:15 pm Mid Week Program
13 Thursday 10:00 am ACCRR, Austin Clergy Committed to Racial Reconciliation meeting, UBC
14 Friday 4:00 pm Wedding Rehearsal in the sanctuary
15 Saturday 4:30 pm Wedding Bells will ring for Dr. Debbie Appel and Robert J. Knowton.
16 Sunday PALM/PASSION SUNDAY
Scripture: Mark 15:1-39
Sermon: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani" -Rev. Kaneda
18 Tuesday 7:30 pm Men's Book Club (TBA)
19 Wednesday 6:15 pm Mid-Week Program
20 Thursday Joint Maundy Thursday Service with UPC (TBA)
21 Friday Noon Good Friday Vigil (TBA)
23 Sunday EASTER SUNDAY
6:30 am EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE, Mt. Bonnell, with Rev. Bill Royster
9:30 am Choir Rehearsal, Church School Egg Hunt
10:00 am Church School for all ages
11:00 am EASTER WORSHIP SERVICE with Special Music
Scripture: John 20:1-18 Sermon: "Rabboni" -Rev. Kaneda
Noon EASTER BRUNCH, Fellowship Room
24 Monday 7:30 pm Women's Book Club (TBA)
25 Tuesday Noon University Area Clergy meeting at UPC
2:00 pm UAP, University Area Partners, meeting, Newman Hall
28-30 Friday-Sunday SPRING RETREAT, Slumber Falls
Theme: "Facing the Transition" JOIN US ! ! !
P E R S O N A L S by Catherine Hubbs
In meditating on the life of our church as we approach Easter this year, we are amazed at the variety of leadership and involvement: from a quiet Ash Wednesday service to Sunday worship, from midweek family explorations of faith in home and daily lives to a Tuesday daytime prayer group, from piano, string, organ, and choral music and liturgy to planning for an Easter sunrise service. We give thanks, O Lord, for the love and work of all those who help us draw closer to you in worship.
At the same time we give thanks for new developments in the lives of the Karasi (Bukasa) family. Martin now has a job with Selectron Gowned and masked, he helps assemble computers in a Clean Room, working twelve hours a night (three nights one week, four nights the next). Eric has a job with La Madeleine French Bakery and Café. (One staff member there speaks French.) He leaves home at seven o'clock in the morning and returns at six o'clock at night. Gedeon has now started kindergarten and Kyria pre-kindergarten at Cook Elementary. We give thanks, O Lord, for the love and work of all those who help us draw closer to you as we draw closer to each other.
And we welcome back Yoshi and the three who accompanied him to Okinawa from March 13-21. From Brazos Association went Charlotte Albert, Carol Kolsti from United Christian Church, and John Wickey from First Congregational Church, Houston. Yoshi preached at a joint service of Okinawan and American Christians held in the chapel of the Okinawan Christian Junior College. They renewed friendship with those who had visited here and affirmed the tie between the two groups. They make plans for a return visit to Austin from Oct. 16-23. But first, from July 21-23 world leaders of eight nations will hold their conference at the G-8 summit in Okinawa. Church members, members of the peace movement, and other Okinawans opposed to the U.S. military presence will make a statement by creating a human link surrounding the Kadena Airbase, the largest in the Pacific area. It will take 25,000 participants to link hands around the entire airbase. Yoshi proposed John Towery's name as a representative, but unfortunately the summit coincides with the ate set for the marriage of John's and Eleanor's grandson, Rick Masters. An official report of Yoshi's group will appear in the next South Central Conference newsletter. Meantime we give thanks, O Lord, for the love and dedication of Yoshi and those who bridge oceans and continents to help us draw closer to you as we draw closer to fellow Christians and sufferers in Okinawa.
And we give thanks for your presence in the committee work of members entrusted with the future direction of our church. We feel torn by the amount to do and lack of time to do it. But it is just here that there is a solution to the impasse. On April 28-30 we have the opportunity to retreat to Slumber Falls for renewal, rest, and input into our ministerial search. If members have only one day to participate, come on Saturday, April 29 and help determine what the future may hold for us all.
Fortunately the health of our congregation is generally quite good-with one important exception. Kristin's mother, Zona, was bitten by a rattlesnake on Thursday, March 16 and is still recovering at Kristin's apartment in Austin, where she can have easier access to medical help than in the country. The attack occurred when she was out walking along the San Gabriel River with a friend and her three children. They were looking for fossils and dinosaur tracks. One of the children climbed up on a ledge to look at fossilized seashells and evidently went right past the snake. When Zona followed, it attacked and bit her without even rattling until afterward. Thanks to the oldest son, who ran to the car and called 911 on the cell phone, a Star Flight helicopter landed, picked her up, and took her to Brackenridge, where they treated her with antivenin and a lot of medication for the extreme pain. She was in ICU for one day, in intermediate care for another, and two more days in a hospital room before they allowed her to go home on Monday. They anticipate a month or two of dressings, and she continues to take antibiotics. What a shock! We are so sorry, Zona, and are glad you can stay with Kristin and the children here in Austin until you're well.
After her two leg operations and rehabilitation at the Specialty Hospital in Austin, Mary Halladay is very glad to be back in her own room at the Summit in Lakeway and reunited with her own therapist again. Congratulations, Mary!
Ava Jean Deisler chipped her knee cap and had to wear a leg immobilizer. We're sorry, Ava!
Mark Tomasek is driving Mary and Jim down to Houston on Monday, April 3 to the Baylor School of Medicine at the Texas Medical Center, where Jim will have an assessment of the status of his Parkinson's disease. But on the preceding Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he will act as convener of a colloquium at Slumber Falls on "Genetics Manipulation: Promise or Threat?" On hand will be a geneticist, an ethicist, and seven lawyers, seven doctors, and seven theologians. We must ask you, Jim, is this any way to prepare for a physical?
Sharon and Don Brown are getting ready to move Sharon's ninety-year-old mother to Austin the first week in April. They are looking forward to having her here in her own home in the Crestview area, north of Justin lane.
She is not the only one moving. Marilyn Gaddis and George have just come back from Tyler, where they were helping George's oldest sister getting ready to move to a home near Sandpoint, Idaho. They say it's on the Amtrak route, so we can look forward, we're sure, to another Marilyn and George train trip in the future.
Closer to home, Lynne and George Lemley, Jeffrey, and Katelyn, are at last in their new house. They are still in the topsy-turvy world of half here and half there, but now it's official. The new telephone number is 336-1720, and their address is 10510 Tweedsmuir Dr. 78750. It's off Spicewood Springs Rd.
Jean & Vic Appel are seeing quick glimpses of daughter Debbie, coming into Austin for pre-wedding appointments and saying goodbye again before she's finished saying hello, but she is obviously a hands-on bride and is getting everything arranged. Last time Bob came with her. Our best wishes are with you all!
Anniversaries are in order in the Julia and Conrad Deisler household. They had their thirteenth wedding anniversary on March 21. Julia said she celebrated it with a Campfire Girls meeting. But on March 4 they had a big twentieth anniversary show for the Austin Lounge Lizards. Antone's was packed. They counted almost two hundred guests: among them, John and Suzanne, Don and Sharon, Nodie and Dennis, and Ellen and paul. Now they are in the process of planning a fiftieth anniversary for Ellen and Paul. It should be a big bash. Ellen's baby brother was married the same week as Paul and Ellen, and her middle brother graduated at the same time.
In the meantime the Deislers have been enjoying a visit from their daughter from Santa Fe, another Julia (Julie). And did you see Eric Kaneda in church on March 26 with his grandmother, Setsuko? He had flown all by himself to Austin for a visit with his grandparents. He attends a year-round school and is now having a short vacation.
The Briggs are planning an all-family reunion at the family farm south of New Braunfels. Rambie expects about thirty-mostly his father's family and his.
Lisa Kirch says her talk to the Fine Arts Advisory Council at U.T. went well, and she hopes her talk at the Graduate Symposium will go equally well. She is slated to attend a luncheon with President Faullkner and influential guests the same week next month as her candidacy exams. Keep your fingers crossed for her.
The Rosses say that their son Andy and his wife have sorted out their medical futures. For the next year Andy will be in Galveston and Leslie in New Orleans, but thereafter they will both be together in New orleans.
Marilyn Pickens tells us that daughter larissa, still out on the West Coast, is working as production and design assistant for Ten Speed Press. The first bood for which she did cover, page layout, and typography is Kids and Clay by Tricycle Press.
Weldon Scheel is still playing music with the Silver Strings Band and his trio, Old Tiunes Connection. They play for nursing homes, and when Catherine phoned, he had already played four mornings this last week.
Jonathan Ashton has been in All City Band and is now in All City Jazz Band. On Friday, march 31, at 7 pm, he is playing in an All City Jazz Band performance at the Paramount Theater. He is also playing baseball, and all three girls are playing softball. Susan Ashton is completing her first year as President of the lLamar PTA. We sort of think all the Ashtons will be ready for summer.
Louise Froelich would like to know how many of our congregation have had to complete the long form of the census. She is struggling with it. Supposedly one in six is receiving it.
Louise Whitworth made a quick trip for a March 3-4 meeting in Oklahoma City of the Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony Governing Board. They were making plans for the fiftieth anniversary this summer of the Opera Center at Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Sarah Bentley and her husband, Bob Breihan, took a spring break in Arizona. In Tucson they saw her niece, who is about to move with her three children to Berkeley, California, and in Flagstaff they visited Bob's daughter. They had beautiful weather and especially enjoyed visiting the Tucson Botanical Garden.
Eleanor Towery's sister Betty arrived from Phoenix and joined her and John on a trip to Tampa, Florida to see their remaining brother and sister. It was a good family reunion. The years slipped away.
Pat Oakes writes that she and Mel had a wonderful visit with their daughter Beth and son-in-law Eugene Buck in Iowa City, IA over spring break. The weather cooperated, and they did not get stranded by a blizzard. They had a grand tour of the University of Iowa campus (where Pat's dad was a graduate student in 1938), attended the church Beth and Eugene have joined-the Congregational Church of Iowa City, which is adjacent to the campus-and checked out the offices of both Eugene and the Maia Quartet. They had a fabulous tour of the furniture factory of the Amana Colonies, visited the boyhood home of a dear friend in Marshalltown, and spent a very interesting morning at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. Beth and Eugene cooked and served amazing meals as both are gourmet cooks. While Pat and mel were in Iowa, Mardie was checking out Boston and harvard and found them quite to her liking. The plan seems to be that she will start her MBA program there in January 2001. Sarah is enjoying her two-week spring break right now. Her husband John took a day off work, and they played tourist at the museums.
_______________
REFUGEE FUND CONTRIBUTORS FROM THE CCA and OTHERS
Report by Mary Sinclair
Marjorie Low Austin Metro. Ministries
Frances Holliday
Suzanne L. Bradford
David & Susan Ashton
Tommie & Doyal Pinkard
J. Henry Wilkinson
Margaret A. Taylor
Chester C. Rosson, Jr.
John Modine & Sarah Oakes
Marilyn M. Jordan Florilla Chiles
Clark & Catherine Hubbs
Nancy C. Brown
Marie & Weldon Scheel
Marilyn Gaddis
Richard Jackson & Mary Sinclair
Louise Froelich
Paul & Ellen Deisler
Karl & Andrea Putz
Mary & Matt Blackstock
David & Sara Ross
Pat Oakes
Yoshi & Setsuko Kaneda
Jean & Vic Appel
A Note from John Gage
Dear Friends in Christ,
Well, I've been here in New Haven for just about a month, so I thought I would send you an update. I've started my job as Associate Minister at United Church on the Green and already I've been thrown into the thick of things. Louise, my senior minister, has been sick for nearly 2 weeks with bronchitis, so I've preached 3 out of the last 4 Sundays. So much for easing into things! I love the work, though -- I love learning about these people, learning to love them, and, of course, no two days are ever the same. I do miss Mexican food, however.
I want to thank you for being a big part of my church family here in Austin. I know it must have felt awkward at times, since I did not grow up in the church and was there for such a short time, but please know that I will never forget your kindness to me, your courage on my behalf, and, most of all, the warmth of your welcome. You will always be the church that brought me to ordination. And what an ordination it was! I was so proud to have so many of you there with me and Yoshi and Jim standing beside me. Thank you for supporting me at this most important point in my life, for helping fit me with wings to pursue my call to ministry. Thank you also for the beautiful new robe. I wear it every Sunday and think of you, my church home in Austin, my partners in the work of Christ. I look forward to being with you again when I visit Texas. 'Til then...
Grace and Peace
A Letter from Rev. Dr. Mark H. Miller
Dear Pastors and Churches:
I've never been fed through my stomach...every day of my life. Joanna cannot say that.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
As I boarded my flight from Chicago to Copenhagen, a vacation time to visit my son Andrew, a little child, no more than 3, was sitting in my assigned seat. "Ma'am," I said to the woman sitting next to the child, "I believe this is my seat, but I can sit in the other." I pointed to the empty seat on the other side of the woman. "No, that's fine," she said, as she lifted the child across to the vacant seat, "It's no problem."
Shortly into the flight, I noticed the child twitched a lot, and when she looked at me, the eyes would never focus. My hunch was the child was actually blind, but then the woman explained, "This is Joanna and my name is Lynn. I am her guardian and we are going to Denmansk, Poland so she can receive a month's therapy. She has floppsy."
I had not heard of this condition, but soon learned floppsy is a condition of a loss of muscular control. Joanna was born with it. Lynn, her guardian, was taking her to a therapy clinic in Poland that specializes in helping children in this condition. When Joanna was diagnosed at birth she was registered for t his therapy center. The wait was three years.
Joanna will be there for one month with 6 hour sessions of physical therapy each day. Lynn explained the clinic has an 80% success rate, that the muscles can be trained to function. At this point, age 3, Joanna can do nothing for herself. She cannot swallow so her meals come through a catheter in her stomach. She cannot walk or talk. There is no brain damage; she is responsive with her eyes and smile,
During the course of an 8-hour flight one learns a lot. Lynn shared how she had almost died when a man assaulted her in her apartment, beat her so badly her liver, kidneys and pancreas were all seriously damaged. She had recovered and was now taking Joanna for a month, during which time Lynn will stay in a guest room in the hospital and be a caring presence with Joanna. Joanna's parents could not make the trip because of the responsibilities of other children and employment.
During the flight Joanna needed to be fed twice. I offered to help, even though I had no clue what I was doing. Still, as I sat there holding the feeding bottle at an elevation so the flow would be steady, I couldn't help think:
How much we take for granted. Eating a meal, walking, talking, responding, connecting. How much we take for granted.
And then, as we landed in Copenhagen, with both Lynn and Joanna sleeping soundly, I nudged them, "We're in Copenhagen. Time to get off the plane." I then offered a quiet prayer, "Dear God, may I never take any blessing for granted again. Ever. Amen.
I got Joanna's stroller down, set it up, lifted her into it. As we left the plane the flight attendant directed us to a side area, and then I saw five other children, all with floppsy, all heading to the Poland clinic. They would soon get on the plane together. As I left Joanna and Lynn, giving each of them a hug, I thought that most likely I would never see them again. And yet I knew. I would always see them in the eyes of my heart, for I have been touched uncommonly by the caring of a wounded healer, one caring for a child, a child who may someday walk and talk and no longer have all her meals through a tube.
Dear God, may I never ever take life for granted...or your many blessings. Amen a second time. ___
Women's April Book Club
Monday, April 24, 7:30 pm
Book: "Memoirs of a Geisha"
By Arthur S. Golden
Hostess: Betsy Tylka
5701 Westslope Dr., #8 (459-4090)
Thoughts. . .
O love, how deep, how broad, how high, how
passing thought and fantasy, that God, the Son of God, should take our mortal form for mortals' sake.
For us baptized, for us he bore His holy fast, and hungered sore; for us temptations sharp he knew; for us the tempter overthrew. For us he prayed, for us he taught, for us his daily works he wrought, by words and signs and actions, thus still seeking not himself, but us.
For us he rose from death again, For us he went on high to reign; For us he sent his Spirit here to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.
All glory to our Lord and God for love so deep, so high, so broad; the Trinity whom we adore for ever and for evermore.
15th C. DEUS TUORUM MILITUM L.M.
Grenoble Church Melody
