THIS YEAR FOR LENT, DON'T GIVE SOMETHING UP,
TAKE SOMETHING ON

A man coming home one dark night drops his keys while approaching his front door. He gets down on his hands and knees to look for them, but because it is dark, he can't see much. Instinctively, he begins moving back toward a streetlight that he passed a few moments earlier.

A friend passes by and asks what he is doing.
"I have lost my keys," the man answers.
His friend gets down on his hands and knees and begins looking. They look and look, but find no keys. "Where exactly did you lose them?" the friend finally asks.
"Over there by my front door," the man responds.
"Then why are we looking way over here?" his friend asks.
"Because the light is much better here."

     We have entered the season of Lent, a time the church marks off so Christians--or people experiencing a call to be baptized Christian--can engage in deep and prayerful introspection. Lent is a time for folks to look closely at and deeply into their lives: their relationship with God, their relationship with God's creation, and their relationships with other people within God's creation.
     Those of us who take the time for introspection soon discover that there are many different aspects to our identities. Not only do we play a variety of roles in different situations, we are a complicated bundle of psychological and emotional traits that have developed throughout the course of our life journeys to form the "I" of our identity or the plural "Is" of our various identities.
     In our day-to-day lives, we like to present our best traits to the world. We like to project those traits that we believe are most acceptable, valued, or admired by other people. Perhaps we want to appear highly competent, intelligent, physically fit, successful, prestigious, caring, generous, or active in certain causes. We bring these traits to the light. We identify ourselves with them. We like to think these traits are "me."
     But we have other traits as well, traits that we know are far less acceptable, valued, or admired. They may include resentment, jealousy, pride, a sense of entitlement, compulsions, prejudices, fears, fantasies, and unhealed wounds. We like to detach these traits from our self-image. We try to lose these parts of ourselves in the dark, preferring to look for the keys to our identity in the light.
     Christianity is about spiritual transformation, and spiritual transformation is about discovering and accepting our complete identity--the parts in the light and the parts in the dark. Spiritual transformation is about offering who we really are to the God who loves us just as we are, and the God who loves us too much to let us stay that way. It includes discovering and accepting those unwelcome parts of our selves that are lost in the dark places of our lives. It means seeing ourselves as honestly as possible, even seeing ourselves as God sees us, for nothing within us or about us is hidden from God.
     Many people give something up for Lent. But how about taking something on for Lent this year? Why not invite a part of yourself that has languished in the dark--a part of yourself that you have avoided, are ashamed of, or even hate--why not invite this part of yourself into the light of day. Accept it as part of who you are. Embrace it. Pray for it. Even love it. And offer it up to God's healing love for transformation.
     Try it and see what happens.
     May God bless your Lenten journey, and may you experience a transformation in your life.
                                                                                                                             Tom

FROM THE DEACONS

The Congregational Church of Austin will be holding Easter Sunrise Service again this year atop Mt Bonnell. We would love to have volunteers, especially young, healthy, energetic newcomers who are excited by the prospect of placing and removing signs or hauling donuts, juice, sound equipment, and our beloved "old rugged cross" up and down the hill the morning of Sunday, April 8. This is our church's annual offering to the community, and the opportunity to worship and fellowship on a special day in a special place. Contact Rev. Tom, Vic Appel, or one of the deacons for more information about the service and how you can help.
Deacons: Betty Bodman, Dennis Murphy, Steve Domingue, Jim Horowicz, Barbara Burnham, Marilyn Vache

Chairs of our Boards

Trustees:                  Reuel Nash
Deacons:                  Betty Bodman
Christian Education:     Nancy Edison & Doyal Pinkard
Christian Outreach:     Tommie Pinkard

THE PROPHETIC IMAGINATION
SERIES BEGINS APRIL 15

     Our Spring Adult Discussion Series will begin on Sunday, April 15, following worship. We will also meet on April 22, May 13, and May 20 after worship. Our primary text for the series will be Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination, but shorter pieces written by Richard Rohr, William Countryman, and others will be distributed as well. The Brueggemann book can be purchased used or new through major on-line book sellers. Please order a copy of the book and begin reading it. You do not have to finish it before April 15.
     Board Chairs, if at all possible, please try not to schedule meetings or other events on April 15 and 22, and on May 13 and 20, so as not to conflict with this series. Thank you!

PERSONALS
by Pat Oakes

     Nancy Edison has sold her much loved home at 1708 East 40th street. It sold instantly with back up bids that were higher than the original. Hmm, perhaps underpriced. But the new owner loves it as much as she did. She will be leaving this home over the weekend of February 24 and 25th to stay with her son, Daniel, while her new home is being finished. Nancy is purchasing a brand new home built by Standard Pacific. It's in Mayfield Ranch, off 1431, and is about 5 blocks from her daughter, Dana, and her two grandbabies, Aedan Michael (2) and Logan Daniel (1). Some time in mid-April, Nancy will be able to move into her new home at 3730 Gentle Winds. Ahh! Just another good reason to celebrate life! I see a housewarming party some time in the future.
     Mary Sinclair wrote in early February that her husband Richard "is off to his nuclear waste site on Lake Huron today so I get to use the computer for a change. Sharing an office is getting pretty old. We're hoping to start construction by the middle of this month and the first thing on the agenda is his office in the basement. We've spent more time together in the past two months than we have in several years of marriage, in fact, my sisters joke that our nearly 20 years of marriage could really be compressed into only 7 years of living together because of all our travel time apart. Things are going well here and we're settling in to a quiet life in our small community. The snows have begun and we're about 10 in. deep right now with a little bit more falling most days. I'm not sorry I missed the pounding Boulder has suffered this winter though. My neighbors in Longmont report shoveling more than four feet so far! Got out of there just in time. My mother is doing well now that she's getting more regular physical therapy. We had quite a fight with that department because they were not showing up for therapy when scheduled (and not offering any good reasons for their absence) but after my sister lodged a formal complaint, they've been much more attentive to Mum. No earth-shattering developments, but I think with steady movement and exercise there is good hope for some recovery."
     Whit Bodman has good news to report. Harvard University Press has agreed to publish his dissertation (thrilling reading as it is, he says!) Whit, who is on the faculty at the Presbyterian seminary and a specialist on Islam, will also be visiting Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria as he is working on an introduction to the Qur'an for Christians. He has sent off a proposal to a publisher and is waiting for a positive response.
     Gary and Marilyn Pickens think that the church family might like to know that their daughter Larissa is moving to Zurich, Switzerland, on March 2. She'll be studying German and visiting a friend for about 6 months. If you want to catch up on what Larissa has been doing, you can see her portfolio at http://www.larissapickens.com. She is really doing some great work! We haven't seen much of Gary and Marilyn at church in recent months. Gary's mom stayed with them until the beginning of the summer. She doesn't like Texas summers and went north to stay with her son in Omaha. Then there was a long family discussion, and she is now living in a retirement center in Denver, near her youngest son and his family--including a child still in elementary school, which is definitely more exciting for Grandma than hanging out with Gary and Marilyn's cat! Marilyn promises that as soon as she gets caught up--and the weather improves, that they will be back with us.
     Former member and still church friend Joe Nordstrom (88) fell recently and broke his hip. The damage was such that the doctors decided hip replacement was in order, so Joe has a new hip. On February 3 he reported all was going well, but he would probably be in the Clear Lake Rehabilitation Hospital for another week or two. He sends greeting to all his old friends in Austin and says he'll be up and going dancing again soon.
     Another former member, David Pinkard of New York City, also spent some time in the hospital recently. Cause: kidney stones. Very painful, but taken care of, and David is out and about, feeling fine.
     Doyal and Tommie Pinkard enjoyed their two weeks in Spain after Christmas, and then celebrated the holidays again with David and his Suzanne in New York. The Spain trip was an Elderhostel foray to Malaga, Barcelona, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Tommie admits she didn't even know where the Canary Islands were before this trip (off the east coast of Africa). Their tour leader was a beautiful young lady from Seville, who has a very classic Spanish look about her until she opens her mouth -- and then her upbringing in Australia is revealed. She is a professional flamenco dancer, and on New Year's Eve in Barcelona the Elderhostelers were treated to a bit of her dancing. They marked the occasion in the Spanish way -- with grapes. At midnight, each person has to eat one grape with each strike of the clock. If you get all twelve down, you'll have good luck in the new year. Doyal says it would have been easier with seedless grapes. He's expecting good luck for about eight months. Tommie says she's going back to celebrating the new year with black-eyed peas. In New York they managed to get in visits to four museums and see a Broadway play. Tommie got her hot pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie Deli, which she looks forward to on every NYC trip.
     It has been 21 years since Ruth Case, a nurse and much loved church member, was murdered on her way to classes at ACC's east side campus. Her widower, Allan Case, still stays in touch with the cold case detective to see if any new information has surfaced. There has been none. Allan remarried some years later and he and his wife Janet Poehl live in Austin. He was diagnosed in 1995 with spinal cerebellar degeneration, a neuromuscular disease that is similar to MS, Lou Gehrig's disease, and Friedreich's ataxia. He says that he still gets around all right as long as he does not get overtired. He worked at Target over Christmas, overdid it, and was wheelchair-bound for several weeks, but as of mid-February was up and walking again. It is hard to believe that Ruth and Allan's daughter Julie is now 28 and has a degree in religious studies from Mary Hardin Baylor. She is currently working as a full-time aide for emotionally disturbed children and planning on going back to school for an advanced degree. Emily, their second daughter, is 25, married, and is the mother of Allan's 6-year-old grandson. Janet has retired as a 6th grade teacher and is currently a sub in the Leander School District in special education. Allan enjoys receiving the church newsletter and has been keeping up with all of us through the years. Allan and Janet, come see us some time!
     By the time this newsletter comes out we hope that Suzanne Vanderpoel will back to her usual cheerful self. She has been ailing off and on--mostly on--with various infections since October Get well--and stay well--Suzanne!
     Ninety-year-old Rizer Everett had another round of favorable comments on his health from his doctors. Sadly, several of his widow friends are now no longer able to accompany him to museums, restaurants, or points of interest in Texas. Their ailments of Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, and arthritis have advanced to points that keep them confined to their living quarters. However, they are very grateful for the visits he has with them at their domiciles. Recently Rizer's son John and John's wife were here in Austin, and they had great games of cribbage and good meals at restaurants.
     Mel and Pat Oakes had a wonderful, if chilly, visit to Iowa in mid-February (the temperatures were mostly below zero or single digits just above zero). While most folks would think it was crazy to head north at this time of year, they were delighted to be able to do so. The occasion was the month-long Scandinavian/Nordic Fest organized by their daughter Beth and the Maia Quartet (Mel and Pat were there for 8 days). Beth was able to get funding which brought Pat's brother Robert Winter, musicologist from UCLA, to work with the quartet. It was a terrific experience to see and hear them all on stage in a performance lecture. Later that week the quartet premiered a new string quartet by Pierre Jalbert, a classmate of Beth's from Oberlin, a Rome Prize winner, and a composer on the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice. The theme of the quartet was Hans Christian Andersen's story of Thumbelina from which the Maia Quartet gets its name. Additional bonuses for the visit were seeing their youngest daughter Mardie who came out from San Francisco for a slightly belated birthday celebration--and of course, playing with and baby-sitting for Emily, 6, and Ethan, almost 4. Pat and Mel ran into Heather Cole at the DFW airport on their way home. She was on her way back to Austin from Boston, had gotten snagged in bad weather, had had several flights cancelled out from under her, had changed airlines, and finally got home 18 hours after starting out. She was eager to get back as she needed to be at the Round Rock high school early the next morning where she is doing a special education practicum with an emphasis on teaching fluency and reading skills to low achieving high school students.
     Rich and Jane Thompson want to let us know that they have survived the two blizzards in the one week between Christmas and New Year's (the first of such a winter since 1905!). It was beginning to warm up otherwise, just as they were heading south. They were catching a plane in Dallas for a two-week Elder Hostel in Costa Rica. Then - from Feb.25- March 8, they were to be in Austin. They were hoping to drop by after the service on the 25th, at least to greet folks there. If not, Jane and Rich were house-sitting for a friend at her home in Northwest Hills and were hoping to have friends over for tea and crumpets or for a get-together otherwise while in Austin. Life has been good to them in Fort Collins. They are enjoying their condo--especially the hot tub, and Rich is already doing a radio series - Interfaith Dialogue.
     It was a joy to see Lynn Lemley at church on the 18th. She has been so busy working on writing a college level Spanish textbook and workbook with several colleagues for McGraw-Hill that we haven't seen much of her in the past several months. Her deadline in March 1, so we hope she will be back in the ranks again. She decided she had to take a break and come to church when she heard that our fabulous Melanie Wilkinson would be singing at the wonderful jazz service that Nodie Murphy and Aaron Carter-Cohn put together. Lynn allowed that it was well worth coming. Melanie, who raised her voice and everyone's spirits at church, is busy working as a communication specialist for the emergency services (911 and 311) for the city of Austin. She works four days a week and is able to maintain her singing schedule as well. Melanie had a huge choir to back her up--20 folks that day. Aaron on piano and Andy on violin played a beautiful prelude that Aaron wrote.

Great Grown-up Spelling Bee

It's time for the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas Great Grown-up Spelling Bee again--Thursday, April 12, 11:30-1:30 at La Zona Rosa. Check out their Web page, www.willread.org to see all of the good things they do for literacy in this area. The Church Ladies (Pat Oakes from Congregational Church of Austin and Susan Richter and Kathy Blackburn from Central Presbyterian) will be competing for the 4th time. Since they have won the previous three bees, they are understandably nervous this time. Each competing team must raise $1000 in order to field a team. Tommie and Doyal Pinkard have graciously accepted the job of team co-captains and would greatly appreciate any donation you can make to the cause. Please make out your check to the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas and give it to Doyal or Tommie or Pat as soon as possible.

News from the Brazos Association

I am continuing to find out what wonderful people and churches are part of this Association. It is a joy to be among you. This month, there are three items of interest for our Association churches I want to share with you.

A reminder and renewed invitation: Our spring Brazos Association meeting is coming on Sunday, April 29th at Church of the Savior in Austin (just off of 620 near the intersection of 620 and US 183). The meeting starts at 3 pm. We will vote on the acceptance of the Church of the Savior into the Brazos Association, commission Rev. Douglas Anders as our South Central Conference Minister, install Rev. Tim Tutt as our new Association Moderator, host one or more ecclesiastical councils, share dinner, and more. All churches are allowed 5 voting delegates to Association meetings, but we don't limit your attendance to voting delegates. Let's give Church of the Savior a generous welcome!
     St. John's/Richland Women's Guild is inviting our Association churches to consider donating books (particularly children's books) to Libraries of Love, a ministry that sends books to Uganda. In many African countries including Uganda, books are expensive and often difficult to buy. English is widely spoken in Uganda, meaning that books we send can be read by many without the need for translation. St. John's will be presenting this ministry more formally to our Association as a whole to see if we can adopt this as an Association-wide giving effort. In the meantime, churches and individuals are invited to donate. For more information, check the website www.librariesoflove.org or contact Rev. Michael Vaughn at rmv102256@eccwireles.com.
     In honor of the 50th birthday of the United Church of Christ, celebrated at General Synod in Hartford, CT this coming summer, all UCC Conferences are encouraged to send 50 (or more) youth to General Synod. The invitation is being called the 50 4 50 Campaign. The South Central Conference will be bringing as many youth as we can up to Hartford this summer. Our conference plans are not finalized at this point, but if your church youth are interested in making the trip, contact me (Liz Nash, 512-231-0045, liznash@austin.rr.com) and I will connect you with the right people to answer questions and set you up to go.

Blessings in Christ,
Liz Nash, Associate Conference Minister, Brazos Association

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

  4 Jillian Tomasek
  9 Debbie Herst
11 Alex VandeStadt
12 Jennifer Howicz
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

PREPARING TO BE SURPRISED BY GOD
Spring Retreat, Slumber Falls Camp, New Braunfels
April 27-29, 2007

     We try to follow Jesus Christ in our daily lives and through our actions in the wider world, but we feel something is lacking. We long for a stronger sense of connection...with ourselves, with our community, with the Divine. We know we cannot command it, but perhaps we can be more open to it. We will explore the questions of Spirit, transcendence, and enlightenment at our retreat two weeks after Easter.
     An approach to the possibility of transcendent experience is the practice of a discipline. Members of the congregation are invited to undertake a discipline during Lent. This may be a traditional Christian path such as observing fast days, daily scripture study, prayer or contemplation (for example, the Prayer of the Heart from the Orthodox church, the Jesuits' Daily Examen). It could be a discipline from another faith or culture, such as yoga or T'ai Chi. Perhaps the development of a new skill such as wood carving, weaving, or drumming would be a path toward attention and inner quiet. You may wish to try something as an individual, or find one or two others who would join you. At the retreat we will share our experiences and the questions they raise.

FRIENDSHIP SUPPERS

     Friendship Suppers will give you a chance to talk to other members of the congregation while sharing good food and fellowship in a setting other than the church since they will be hosted in people's homes.
     The primary purpose is to build community and friendship
     All adults are welcome to participate -- members, non-members, young, old, single, married
We ask you to commit to attending as many as four dinners over the course of the year, one of which you could host in your home if you wish
     If you don't think you can manage to host a dinner alone, we'll help you find a co-host
     Hosts would provide (besides their home) a main course and would assign others to bring appetizers, salads, etc.
     The groups of 6-10 people will change for each dinner
     You don't need a "house beautiful" to participate -- or even an "apartment beautiful"; informal works for many of us
     If you don't drive, we'll help you find a ride
     The date for the final dinner will be: March 10 There are sign-up sheets on a clip-board in the Fellowship Hall.

Deadline for April VISITOR -- March 16