Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5. We'll begin our journey through Lent by gathering at church at 7:00 pm for an Ash Wednesday Service. The Service will include an imposition of ashes and the sharing of Christ's bread and cup. Ashes are symbolic of the dust from which God raises us up and to which our bodies return after death, our complete dependence on God's breath of life, and our desire to repent and seek a right relationship with God. Please join with us for this moving service.

     In March, our Bible Reflection group will meet on Thursdays, March 13 and 27, at 7:30 pm in our church's sanctuary. During these gatherings, we read a passage of scripture several times and reflect on it by responding to several questions. The main goal of our listing and reflecting is to allow the text from scripture to open our own lives as texts from which we can discern God's presence. Most often, we read and reflect on the following Sunday's gospel lesson, which allows the participants prior refection on the gospel lesson before Sunday worship.

March 2, Holy Communion, Last Sunday of Epiphany
2 Kings 2: 1-14
Mark 9: 2-9

March 9, First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 9: 8-17
Mark 1: 9-15

March 16, Second Sunday in lent
Genesis 17: 1-5; 15-16
Mark 8: 31-38

March 23, Third Sunday in Lent
1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
John 2: 13-22

March 30, Fourth Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21: 4-9
John 3: 14-21

     Throughout the month of March, Whit Bodman will continue teaching his Christian Education series entitled, Encountering Jesus And His Interpreters. Gather with us in Fellowship Hall from 6 pm to 8 pm on Sunday evenings for informative and stimulating discussion.

The topics are:

March 2 The Teacher--Being Parabolic
March 9 The Healer
March 16 The Kingdom of God
March 23 Dinner, Betrayal and a Trial--What a Night!
March 30 The Betrayal and the Crucifixion--What Got Jesus Crucified?
April 6 The Resurrection...and then?

4 Jillian Tomasek
9 Debbie Herst
11 Alex VandeStadt
14 Lisa Leaf
Margit Frances Briggs
15 Clark Hubbs
Mary Sinclair
17 Lori Gooding
22 Kristin Galle Hampton
John Drachenberg
23 John Herst
26 John Towery
27 Mary Herst
28 David Rossiter

Upcoming selections and venues:
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera. March 10 at Cathy Hubbs
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. April 14 at Robin Chapman's
Anita Diamant. The Red Tent. May 10 at Betsy Tylka's

     The Board of Trustees wishes to advise the congregation that we have terminated our arrangement with the owners of the parking lot at 24th and Nueces. This was done because we found that we were not fully utilizing the spaces we had reserved, and hence this was not a prudent use of our limited finances.
     We have decided, however, to try out, thru May of this year, reimbursing anyone who must pay to park during Sunday worship. Simply advise the treasurer, David Ross, of your expenditure and he will reimburse you from petty cash funds.

John Moore, Chair

Since this column was being compiled over Presidents' Day weekend, I asked for Presidential stories folks had to share and got some interesting responses.
     Lisa Kirch said, "We have met no presidents in this family, unless you count ones in South America, although a Booth cousin of my great-great-grandfather shot one once. I'm not sure that's the kind of information you're looking for ..." Not quite what I had in mind, Lisa!
     John Goff said, "About 3-4 years ago I attended a special celebration for the Office of Naval Research's 50th anniversary at the Bush Library in College Station. I attended a dinner of about 50 people and the elder George Bush stopped by to give us some of his personal remembrances about the important role of the Navy during World War II - including the fact that they pulled him out of the water after his plane crashed. He was very charming."
     Rizer Everett shared the following." An interesting item of folklore in the Everett family occurred in 1949 when our daughter, Dot, was in the first grade in Oklahoma City. She had viewed the movie with us on television about Abraham Lincoln. Hildegard and I had been high school classmates with the movie actor, Zachary Scott, who played the part of Lincoln. You can imagine the surprise Dot's teacher had at school the day after the television show when Dot announced to the class that her daddy and mother had gone to school with Abraham Lincoln!" Rizer also reports, "Valentine's Day is important at the Englewood Estates. Fried shrimp was served at supper after the elected king and queen were given beautiful crowns to wear. Many of the residents enjoyed the songs and poetry reading in the main building lobby after supper.
     Suzanne Bradford replied," The only "presidential" story that I have to tell is that John's birthday this year was on President's Day...and he had to spend it alone since I am in Florida on business this week." Further Bradford/Moore news was that on Valentine's weekend, John and Suzanne traveled to Colorado for his sister's wedding. They had a fabulous time, the wedding was beautiful, and it was great to see all John's family again. John's mom is doing great after her knee replacement surgery in January. She was even able to wear her high heels for the wedding, without the use of her cane. She couldn't stand still for long periods of time, but her progress is amazing and she was in good spirits. John and Suzanne also got to see their beautiful new niece, Zoe Love Hopkins, who is 10 months old. She's also doing well after being born very premature last Easter.
     Matt Blackstock had a Presidential story . He wrote "It comes to mind that Greg and I were at the Driskill the evening of Johnson's election (1964). He was upstairs for a long time waiting for Goldwater's concession, which didn't come. Late in the evening Johnson left to go somewhere, I assume to make a statement; as he left through the lobby with his entourage, he was clearly not in a good mood; he ran the gamut of people in the lobby Greg, then ten, anxious to shake his hand, was only able to reach out and brush his arm -- Johnson was in a big hurry. That's the extent of the story." Matt, Mel and I were out on Congress Avenue at the capitol to hear the speech Johnson made that night. It seemed like there were thousands of people, so we were not very close.
     Mary Sinclair has just come back from a long weekend in LA with her husband Richard Jackson (he's been working there for the past month or so on a court case). She hit all the fabric stores in the garment district (hundreds of them!) and bought so much fabric that she had to get some of it shipped home! She felt like she was in heaven. They spent the weekend together driving around the area and went out to Redlands to see if they could find some trace of Richard's father, whose family moved there from Michigan at the turn of the last century. No luck - his family is extremely elusive and they can't trace them anywhere. Very mysterious! On Sunday they went to the new Getty Museum which was breathtaking and overwhelming. It will require several trips to see it all. Then they went to Long Beach and had dinner on the Queen Mary. Richard first arrived in America in 1963 on the Queen Mary (it was decommissioned in 1967) so it was fun exploring all the areas he didn't get to see as a somewhat less than 1st class passenger! Richard is back in Austin by now and things are back to normal. Mary will be in her sewing room if anyone needs her!
     Vic Appel was definitely working against doctor's orders when he decided to do some seasonal pruning of his crape myrtle bush. He was working on level ground on a ladder which he thought was well set. Unfortunately, one leg of the ladder was on wet ground and it started to sink. Vic had time to think of which knee to land on, so he chose the better of his two lame knees. It is now the lesser of his two lame knees. He was two whacks from finishing the job and says wryly, "It is a little like getting shot the week before the armistice." He is now getting around on crutches and is hoping for a quick recovery. He was sorely (no pun intended) missed at church on the 16th as he was to read to scripture lesson. The ever-helpful Matt Blackstock filled in for him.
     Stella Morrison is feeling much better now after a bout with pancreatitis in June. At 85, she is the senior member of the Dancing Grandmas. She was a founding member of the group 22 years ago. There were 4 of them then, one of the founders has died, but now there are 9 in all. They are in the process of rehearsing for several competitions which they hope will take them to Las Vegas again. They enjoy occasional appearances at Esther's Pool. The youngest of the group is about 60 and is still doing splits and cartwheels! Even while Stella was sick, she never missed a day of teaching line dancing at Hancock Recreation Center (3 days a week). Now that she is feeling better, she hopes to be back in church on a more regular basis--although the late Saturday nights at Esther's do slow her down a bit. The Dancing Grandmas will be dancing in the first round of competition at "I Love Dance" on Sunday, March 9, at the Hilton hotel near Highland Mall on Middle Fiskville Road. If you would like to see them perform, call Stella and ask for what time they will be on (not available at press time).
     Nancy Brown continues her recuperation at home from open heart surgery with occasional trips out to see the doctor. She has had several friends who have come to stay with her and she is looking forward to her niece arriving from North Carolina to stay until early March. Nancy thanks all the church members who have been active in the casserole brigade. She will be bringing dishes to church for members to collect on her first Sunday back. We don't need our dishes any time soon, Nancy, but you are really missed!

Who should attend?
_Survivors of stroke and/or their caregivers

Why should you attend?
_To gain support from those who have experienced similar circumstances, as well as to enjoy social interaction
_To be educated on stroke-related topics

Meeting Dates: 4th Thursday of every month, Jan.-Oct.
3rd Thursday of Nov. and Dec.

Meeting Times: 6:30 -- 8:00 p.m.

Meeting Location: HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Austin
Cafeteria Annex
1215 Red River St.

Please call Pam Fletcher at (512)479-3564 for further information

Sanctuary Fellowship
February
     10 members of the Sanctuary Fellowship got together on the 15th of February for Dinner at Koreanna Restaurant in north Austin. Everyone enjoyed dinner together, trying new dishes and enjoying lively conversation. Karl and Andrea Putz recommended the restaurant, having eaten there several times. Half the fun was figuring out what some of the side dishes were!
     We spent the evening, following dinner, at Karl and Andrea's apartment. The evening was spent playing a board game and talking about recent events and our plans for the remainder of the semester.
     At the time of this writing, we are planning Dinner for the last weekend in February (the 28th). Dinner will be at one of the members houses, and then we are thinking about possibly going bowling. We'll see what happens!