There's a story in which we find Jesus walking through Sidon one day. Some folks catch up to him with a man in tow who can neither hear nor speak. Having heard that Jesus has the power to heal, they ask him to place his hands upon the man. Jesus takes the man aside, sticks his finger into the man's ears and pokes around a bit. He spits and touches his tongue. Then he looks up to heaven, sighs, and says to the man, "ephphatha." The man's ears open up and his tongue is set free. He can hear and speak plainly. Everyone is astonished.
There's another story in which we find Jesus buried in a tomb. He's dead. His followers are scattered. Their ears no longer hear his words. Their mouths, shut tight, are afraid to speak of him. From the source of all that exists comes a word, perhaps ephphatha. The tomb is opened and Jesus is released from death. His followers' mouths are opened and their tongues set free to proclaim the Good news. Everyone is astonished.
Ephphatha. In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, it means, "be opened."
If someone were to ask me to sum up the message of Jesus' life, death and resurrection in two words, it would be a tough call. Would I choose...love God? Love others? Be saved? Turn around? Accept God? Be healed? Be whole? You're forgiven? Forgive others? Be reconciled? Follow me? Be reborn? Be thankful? See again? Hear again? Have faith? Fear not? Do likewise? Rise up? Take, eat? Take, drink? Remember me? Live again? They're all good candidates, but I think I would go with "be opened."
I think Jesus was trying to help folks "be opened" to the Spirit of God he felt and knew intimately within himself. The Spirit in which he lived and moved and had his being. The Spirit that flowed into and through him. The Spirit that radiated from him as light. The Spirit people felt loved by through his unconditional love. The Spirit that drew people to God through his acceptance of them. The Spirit that reconciled people to God and their neighbors through his friendship. The Spirit that forgave people through his assurance of forgiveness. The Spirit that enlightened people's minds with his wisdom. The Spirit that healed people through his physical presence. The Spirit that animates new risen Body of Christ.
Ephphatha. Be opened. To God.
Ephphatha. God seeks to flow into and through you.
Ephphatha. God seeks to radiate through you as light.
Ephphatha. God seeks to love others through your unconditional love.
Ephphatha. God seeks to draw other people close by your acceptance of them.
Ephphatha. God seeks to reconcile people through your friendship.
Ephphatha. God seeks to forgive people through your assurance of forgiveness.
Ephphatha. God seeks to enlighten others through your enlightened wisdom.
Ephphatha. God seeks to heal others through your presence with them.
Ephphatha. God seeks your continued living presence after your body dies.
May the Spirit that flowed and flows through Jesus open our ears to Truth, our eyes to Light, our hearts to Love, our minds to Wisdom, and our lives and deaths to Life. May we be astonished. May our mouths be opened and our tongues set free to proclaim: Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed!
Ephphatha! Be opened! And live!
Tom
CONFIRMATION SUNDAY
MAY 4
On May 4th , we will celebrate Confirmation Sunday at church. Four confirmands, Ava Deisler, Jeff Lemley, Sarah Moore, and Annie Nash, have been meeting with Tom over the past several months to discuss Christianity and Christian faith. On May 4th, they will share statements about their Christian faith with the congregation, and confirm their faith with a special liturgy during worship. Please be sure to offer Ava, Jeff, Sarah, and Annie your support and encouragement.
IT'S TIME TO SIGN UP FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LIGHT
Please choose a Sunday, beginning in June, to spend with the elementary age kids. No experience is necessary. No Bible lesson is necessary. Just pick a project of your choosing that you'll enjoy and that you think the kids will enjoy and share some time with the kids, get to know them, and let them get to know you. The broader their community of support within the Church, the stronger their connection to the Church will become. IT TAKES A WHOLE CHURCH TO RAISE A CHILD.....so sign up in Fellowship Hall! Thanks!
--The Board of Christian Education
PERSONALS
by Pat Oakes
The Bradford-Moore family spent Spring Break in west Texas and had a great time. They started off by visiting Suzanne's folks in El Paso for a few days. While there, they did some mountain climbing and John and the kids crossed the border into Mexico. Since this was the kids' first Mexico trip that they were old enough to remember, they had a great time. Suzanne was feeling ambitious, and decided to run up and down Trans-Mountain Road. It's a highway that cuts through the mountain so drivers don't have to go around it. It's really beautiful up there, with gorgeous views of the city from each side. The summit of the highway is exactly one mile high. Suzanne wasn't as adventurous as the other runners who started at the bottom, but she ran up 2 1/2 miles and then back down. She reports that it was fun while she was doing it, but she sure had sore knees the next few days. They then went on to Ft. Davis where they did some more hiking and mountain climbing at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. They also visited the McDonald Observatory and a winery.
Suzanne has been traveling quite a bit for her job, and last month was in D.C. What an interesting (she's not sure that's the right word) time to be there. She was there when the tractor guy was tying up traffic, the U.S. started a war, and while she was in Virginia they had a flood. On her way to the airport to catch her flight back home, she found myself desperately needing gas. She had exited several times to find a gas station, only to find herself in the middle of the country with nothing in sight. Finally, in Bethesda, her only choice was to stop at a naval air station and ask for help. And she surely got help!! The minute she drove in, she had several guards surrounding her car. They were all very nice and without their assistance, Suzanne never would have found that gas station!!
Lisa Kirch reports that her dissertation went to the committee on the Friday before Holy Week. Daughter Sarah is jealous of the time Lisa has spent on the computer and announced recently, "I'm past mad. I'm past irritated. I'm past TENSE!" Lisa liked that better than hearing Sarah's voice (doom-filled) intoning, "You have three more days...You have two more days ..." to finish up. And of course Lisa is not quite finished. Sarah also said the kids at her school liked Lisa's Geography Day talk on Spanish art. Lisa's department nominated her for an excellence in teaching award. One of her students said he'd spent a weekend in DC and had "dragged" friends into the National Gallery, where he was thrilled to recognize and to be able to explain paintings. Another said that when he saw the footage from Baghdad of the statues being pulled down, the first thing he thought of was her opening lecture back in January (entitled "Why you're in this class"). The topic was iconoclasm. And Lisa's friend in Munich, the Copernicus man who knows Karl Galle, has received a fellowship to research the Herschel papers at the HRC. He'll be here this summer.
Speaking of the Galles, here is an update on Kristin Galle and Brent Hampton. Brent is the pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marble Falls and Kristin is the associate minister of the Disciples of Christ Christian Church in Round Rock. They are living in Kingsland. Their home is just one block away from Lake LBJ and they can see Packsaddle Mountain. Kristin has just been appointed as liaison between the UCC (Brazos Association) and the Disciples of Christ (Bluebonnet Area). She will be attending both sets of board meetings and reporting to each entity. Kristin has about an hour commute to and from work each way, but reports that it is a lovely ride--and that the wild flowers have been wonderful to gaze at. Kaitlyn (7th grade) and Mariah (4th grade) are thriving at school in Llano. Kaitlyn is playing the French horn in the honors band and Mariah is enjoying Girl Scouting. Grandparents Omer and Zona Galle get to see everyone on Wednesday evenings when Brent picks up the girls from school, drives them to the senior Galles in Liberty Hill, Kristin comes in from Round Rock, Zona fixes dinner, they enjoy one another's company, Kristin goes back to Round Rock for choir practice and Brent takes the girls home. Brent's 9th grade daughter Rachel Hampton visits frequently from her home in Dallas.
Karl Galle is finishing up an internship in Washington, D.C. with the National Academy of Science. He earned his Ph.D in the history of science recently from the University of London Imperial College. He is working on international policy and the sciences and recently helped to organize a 2 week conference in D.C. with representatives from many African countries.
Rizer Everett reports that on 2 April he took his annual treadmill stress test, and on the 11th he was examined by his neurologist. When the reports were favorable and the doctors requested that he return in one year for his next appointments, Rizer now has the comfortable feeling that they expect he will probably live one year longer! On the 7th he attended the noon meeting of the Austin Geological Society at the County Line Restaurant on the Lake. The speaker, Dr. George Veni, gave an excellent talk, illustrated with good slides, about the nine invertebrate species that are known only from caves in Bexar County, Texas. All the species are federally listed as endangered. (Editor's note: at this time of year I always think of Hildegard Everertt who taught me how to make Easter eggs like the early Texas pioneers did--using bluebonnets and onion skins to create gorgeous eggs. If you'd like to know how for next Easter season, ask me and I will pass on the tradition.).
Newly retired Dave and Sara Ross sent in this report on their inaugural retirement trip. True to what our retired friends have told us, we are as busy as ever. Our February trip to visit Andy and Leslie in New Orleans and Mike in Florida was our first post-retirement camping venture. Andy and Leslie live next to Audubon park, so it was very convenient to take the Audubon river boat trip to the French Quarter. We had a good time walking around with Andy and doing all the things tourists do. Our plans to take the street car home quickly changed when weather turned very bad. We took the first bus to come along instead. Leslie came in later than expected due to a combination of an emergency in the hospital in Layfayette that kept her up until 2:30am previous night and the very bad weather. We visited Wil and Hulen Brown's church on Sunday, and got the warmest welcome I've ever had, then went out for the most expensive brunch we've ever had (please don't ask). Leaving New Orleans, we went around the Gulf coast, stopping overnight in Pensacola, then inland staying at the Ochlockonee River State Park, Manatee Springs State Park, and finally Salt Springs recreation area where we stayed two days and visited an aunt who has a winter cottage in the area. We went on to Palm Bay, where we waited in a public RV park for Mike to return from a business trip to Los Angles, then moved into his apartment. We visited his church on its last Sunday in a storefront location, then watched them move into the church they had built on a very large attractive lot. We had a good visit with Mike, then returned home through much rain, staying at Swanee River State Park in Florida and Fountainbleau State Park in Louisiana. We were home two days then I (Sara) was off to Houston (Conroe actually) to help sister Caroline rehab from a hip replacement operation. This was spiced up a bit with the additional chores feed and caring for four dogs and two birds, one a baby that needed to be fed by hand. Oh well, never a dull moment. We were joined by sister Susan from Maine and besides working on rehab we have also been working very hard on the Bach concerto for two violins and piano. It is definitely not ready for prime time. The rehab was very successful, and Caroline is already back at work in Pasadena teaching a class of special education teenagers.
Suzanne Vanderpoel spent Holy Week getting moved and by the time this is printed should be settled in her new apartment. Her new address is:
The Falls # 1093
8547 Capital of Texas Highway North
Austin, TX 78759
During Holy Week, Rich Thompson was in Chicago waiting for a grandbaby to be born and Jane was flying up on Maundy Thursday - hoping that this little person would arrive in time for Easter. We'll let you know the outcome in June
MAY BIRTHDAYS
2 Louise Froelich
3 Joyce Sinclair
4 Stephen Luna
6 Fran Briggs
11 Mel Oakes
13 Florence Castle
15 Jim Tomasek
16 Mary Charles Williams
Craig Headley
22 Julia Kato Kaneda
23 Heather Cole Fernandez
Ben White
26 Matthew Wilding
28 Gregg Appel
29 Matthew Tomasek
30 Kathleen Hawes-Domingue
31 Louise Whitworth
IMPORTANT !! IMPORTANT !! IMPORTANT !!
The 2003-2004 Directory is in the works. Please see the preliminary pages on the clipboard (in the fellowship room by the worship sign-up sheets) and make any and all corrections to your/your family's entry. Feel free to e-mail your corrections / additions / deletions to: ucausti@SWBell.net
Women's Book Club News
Upcoming selection and venue:
Anita Diamant The Red Tent. May 10 at Betsy Tylka's
May Calendar
4 Confirmation Sunday
6 LifeWorks Oversight 11:00
7 Trustees Meeting 7:00 pm
8 Lecto Divinas
Deacons Meeting 7:30 pm
11 Christian Education Meeting after church
12 Women's Book Club
19 June Visitor Deadline
21 Men's Book Club
22 Lecto Divinas
26 Memorial Day - Church Office Closed
Austin Area Interreligious Ministries
Dear Congregational Church of Austin,
On April 5 and 6, the hot sun was shining friendlier than ever and the few breezes were as satisfying as a pat on the back. Twenty-nine teams of over 700 volunteers from 24 congregations and organizations shared their expertise, their talents, and their muscle with perfect strangers. They divided their efforts to repair 26 substandard houses in the Chestnut Street neighborhood.
Twenty-six houses will now be sturdy enough to withstand the pouring rain next winter season. Twenty-six families will not be in danger of leaving their homes, of braving the elements, of worrying about evictions or pneumonia. Twenty-six families are now resting easier. The residents were mostly elderly women, many with children living with them who on average had an income of $6,352 a year. That is barely enough to live on, much less to get a leaky roof fixed or repair a rotting floor. But dedicated individuals spent hours with no thought of heat or exhaustion, or of a weekend dissolving with their hard earned sweat.
It is only due to its members that AAIM is able to make such events possible. It is through your strength that we are strong, through your support that we can support others. So thank you for being a part of AAIM. Thank you for your part in bringing healing and hope in rebuilding the dilapidating parts of our community.
For those who missed participating in this event, you have another chance coming up on Oct. 17-19. Call Hugh Sparks (386-5145 ext. 14) to sign up your team today.
Thank you and God bless you,
Susan Wills and Hugh Sparks
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