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It is a terrible, an inexorable law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own. --James Baldwin
Love your enemies. --Jesus of Nazareth
During the month of November, we will once again hang our TORTURE IS WRONG banner upon our church building on Sunday mornings. We'll be doing this in support of the National Religious Coalition Against Torture's efforts to secure the signature of our next President on a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment, Torture and Cruelty.
The proposed Executive Order establishes six core principles to guide our nation's treatment of prisoners. They include:
The Golden Rule. We will not authorize or use any methods of interrogation that we would not find acceptable if used against Americans.
One National Standard. We will have one national standard for all US personnel and agencies for the interrogation and treatment of prisoners.
The Rule of Law. We will acknowledge all prisoners to our courts or the International Red Cross. We will in no circumstances hold prisoners in secret prisons or engage in disappearances. In all cases, prisoners will have the opportunity to prove their innocence in ways that fully conform to American principles of fairness.
Duty to Protect. We acknowledge our historical commitment to end the use of torture and cruelty in the world. The US will not transfer any person to countries that use torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.
Checks and Balances. Congress and the courts play an invaluable role in protecting the values and institutions of our nation and must have and will have the information they need to be fully informed about our detention and interrogation policies.
Clarity and Accountability. All US personnel--whether soldiers or intelligence staff--deserve the certainty that they are implementing policy that complies fully with the law. Henceforth all US officials who authorize, implement, or fail in their duty to prevent the use of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners will be held accountable, regardless of rank or position.
If you would like to sign on in support of this proposed Executive Order, you may do so at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture website at www.nrcat.org
If you would like to read more about how the US has treated its prisoners in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, I would highly recommend the investigative series published by the McClatchy Newspapers that details how the US detained prisoners that US personnel knew were innocent of any crime, subjected prisoners to a variety of physical and psychological abuses, denied prisoners their legal rights, and fostered a deep hatred toward the United States among prisoners and families that previously had a rather benign attitude toward our country. This series can be found at www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees.
For a review of the McClatchy articles and several other publications on torture, I refer you to Anthony Lewis' piece entitled "America's Official Sadism" in the September 25 volume of the New York Review of Books. Try looking on-line at www.nybooks.com/articles/21794.
Finally, if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend viewing the documentary movie entitled "Taxi to the Dark Side" by Alex Gibney.
Tom
REPORT FROM THE BOARD OF CHRISTIAN OUTREACH
Members Ben White, Don Miles, Sharon Brown, and Dan Jeffery met at Sharon's house on 10/9/08. Pastor Tom VandeStadt was out of town serving on the Board of Back Bay Mission in Mississippi. He had provided several things for the Board to consider in his absence. We discussed the Mt Bonnell cleanup scheduled for 10/25. We discussed the 10/27 visit of Fr. Gallego to tell us about a variety of problems surrounding the gold mine industry in Columbia. We discussed the need to request congregational approval for an Outreach budget item change. We noted that Jack Bonham-Harris has resigned from this board to pursue career interests. We briefly discussed Micah 6, the Stewardship Campaign, and that on our website is a wonderful webpage dedicated to Outreach Activiities. (Sara Ross has done a great job for us all in that website!) The Safety Officer for Micah 6, Charles Locklin, will provide a training on 11/1 that will focus on safety in worship situations when a troubled person creates a safety issues for others attending worship. Three members of our congregation are invited to attend the training at University United Methodist Church. Our next meeting will be held 11/13 at Sharon's house. Please let any of us know if you have any questions or concerns for the Outreach Board.
FROM THE DEACONS
One of the steps toward ordination in the UCC is a year spent in the care of the candidate's home or sponsoring church. During this time the church is represented chiefly by its deacons, who pursue and hopefully deepen the "in-care" relationship with the candidate.
This year several seminary students or graduates have had "in-care" standing with us. For a variety of reasons, all but one have withdrawn. But we celebrate that one -- Will Heimbach -- and look forward, with him, to a deepening relationship in the months ahead. Will is anticipating seminary graduation next year, so the clock is ticking. If you haven't yet got to know Will, introduce yourself and get acquainted before any more time gets away. Will, we are so glad you're with us!
Speaking of time, it will soon be the season of Advent. Mark your calendar now for our church's annual Advent Luncheon, scheduled for December 12. All are invited, but our board gives special attention to church members who have difficulty getting to regular services. We will provide transportation to and from the luncheon for anyone who needs it. If you would like to attend on the 12th and could use some help with transportation, call the church office (472-2370) and let Trish know.
Chairs of our Boards
Trustees: Reuel Nash
Deacons: Betty Bodman
Christian Education:
Christian Outreach: Dan Jeffery
Moderator: John Goff
GRACEPOINT INAUGURATION
The Board of Trustees has recently created an ad hoc committee to be our church's liaison with our partners, Gracepoint Fellowship Church -- Austin. Rhys Ulerich, Barbara Burnham, Linda Berard, Jaime Hadley and Pastor Tom will be meeting occasionally with folks from Gracepoint; getting to know them better, and broadening our relationship with them. This group will also be Gracepoint's first point of contact if they have questions or problems related to their use of our building. Likewise, if any issues come up from our congregation, these folks will be happy to take your comments and pass them along. The first task of the new committee is to report to you the wonderful inauguration ceremonies that Gracepoint had in October.
Fifteen folks (plus 4 kids) from their home churches in the California Bay Area relocated to Austin to minister and witness to UT students with a special focus on the Asian-American community, and Gracepoint Fellowship Church -- Austin had their first official service in our Sanctuary on August 3rd, 2008. In the first two months they have had 22 members join their congregation.
In the first week of October Gracepoint had 50 members of their home church visiting from California for several days of inaugural events. The culmination of the visit was a special inaugural service held in our sanctuary on Sunday evening, 10/5/08. They filled our sanctuary with 115 people, including 37 UT students. Five musicians played for the Praise Service, and the message, based on Romans 16:1-16, was delivered by Pastor Ed Kang, Gracepoint Fellowship Church -- Berkeley, CA. Special guests included 4 pastors from their home churches in California, the pastor of Acts Fellowship Church in Austin, and David Smith, Dir of Missions for the Austin Baptist Assn. After the service everyone went down the street to the Baptist Student Ministry building for dinner and fellowship.
We congratulate Gracepoint Fellowship Church -- Austin on these first fruits of their hard labor, and we thank them for the care they are taking when using our historic building. All are welcome to join our partners at their worship services at 5pm Sundays in our Sanctuary, and Prayer Meetings Tuesday evenings. They also have special bible study and fellowship meetings for students each week at the Episcopal Student Center on 27th St. You can find more information about our friends' mission at gracepointaustin.org and koinoniatexas.org.
PERSONALS
by Pat Oakes
Former interim pastor Rich Thompson and his wife Jane attended their third Literary Sojourn last month in Steamboat Spring (four hours over the mountains from Fort Collins where they now live). Among the luminaries there this year was National Book Award-Winner Nathaniel Philbrick whose newly published MAYFLOWER is a must-read for Congregationalists. As always, the MC for the occasion was the world-famous dictionary authority Erin McKean, from whose TOTALLY WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORDS include "ratomorphic," meaning "someone who refused to believe that people have any mental processes that can't be shown to exist in lower animals." Since Rich and Jan were instrumental in starting the Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee, they suggest the book for more advance practice for "The Church Ladies."
Pam Tucker reports that Harrison Tucker is really having a great time with Tai Kwan Do lessons twice a week while Savanna practices gymnastics and soccer. Amma (short for Grandma--Pam's mom Norma who has just moved here and is getting settled in) enjoys being spectator for both.
Heather Cole is back in town and is working on a Ph.D in special education. Her plan is to combine that with her law degree and work to help eligible minority children get the special education services they need. Her new address is 2001 S. MoPac, Apt. #1321, Austin, TX. 78746. Her phone 512-514-0803, and her cell is 512-750-6621. Heather's mom Judy Cole's father died in Toronto on Aug. 20. He had been ill for a while. Judy was able to be there before he died and stayed several weeks helping her mom. Judy's mom is doing OK and learning to be on her own.
Beth Placek had a great time in D.C. the weekend of Oct. 3-6. She enjoyed visiting her favorite art at the National Gallery, contra-dancing at Glen Echo (a grand old ball-room which has been recently renovated to its former splendor), and running on the Mall in beautiful weather.
Steven and Jeanine Neuse visited with their two San Antonio families in October. What fun they had seeing grandson Bryce play football two times, Nathanael flag football once, and Jayce enjoying his gymnastics. Jayce celebrated his 6th b-day and Steven his XX (67th) birthday. They visited an 86-year-old friend from their YMCA days, enjoyed lunch at Mi Tierra and saw the new Smithsonion Museum, visited Steven's cousin in Kerrville, had lunch with Jeanine's aunt and cousin in New Braunfels They also watched the Longhorn game. Bryce is a number one fan. He and Micah attended a UT Saturday practice earlier this fall. (Mack Brown recruited son Micah to Tulane some years ago; Greg Davis was Micah's coach after Mack left for North Carolina.)
Marguerite and Ben White's two sons, Carl from Denver, and Cappy from Davis, California, were in Austin over the Columbus Day weekend to join in the celebration of her 85th birthday. Marguerite continues to be stable, still using her walker but able to make the necessary trips about town by car. Carl was able to pass along a few tennis tips to his brother and father.
In September, Marilyn Vaché made an inspiring and enlightening visit to Jubilee Partners, an intentional Christian community in Georgia. It began about 30 years ago as an outgrowth of Koinonia, a similar place, which started Habitat for Humanity. Jubilee Partners was founded to continue work on affordable housing, but the three couples who started it instead created a haven for refugees from war and persecution. From their first guests, Cubans to Vietnamese and Cambodians, to El Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, to Bosnians and Burmese, children and adults have spent 2 months there learning English and how to use money and shop before being sent to settle in big cities. The "partners" are 12 adults, some single, others married, some with kids, who live permanently on the 260 acres of red clay and pines. They and volunteers, who come for 3 to 5 month commitments, share equally in the work of teaching, gardening, cleaning, cooking and maintenance -- and everyone makes $15 a week. This is a relatively old community, comparable to the Catholic Worker Houses, Bruderhof, Sojourners (San Francisco), and Reba Place Fellowship (Illinois). But they are also associated with The New Monasticism, a group of much younger communities in which people live simply, share equally, care for the poor, and act for peace and justice.
Kaitlyn Newell, daughter of Kristin Galle, seems to be having a great time at Yale. Kristin talks to her fairly often by cell phone, but they are always very short calls ending with "...gotta go, Mom. I'm off to [class, study, eat, some event with friends, etc.]..." Her suite of six girls has bonded well. She's taking a literature class, Italian, fractal geometry, and a freshman seminar on "Gods, Demons and Shiva." Also, she auditioned for and won a spot in a women's a cappella singing group called "Something Extra." Kaitlyn has also attended the New Haven United Church on the Green where our own John Gage is the pastor and introduced herself. Younger sister Mariah went up for a weekend with her Kaitlyn. They had a great time. Mariah said on Friday evening, about 50 kids gathered to watch the 1st presidential debate (with cheers and hisses). On Saturday they made a shopping trip to New York City, and generally Mariah had a great time hanging out with Kaitlyn's friends who made her feel at home--"I almost felt like a college student--without the homework!" This fall, on a whim, Mariah tried out for Regional Jazz band and got placed 5th chair trumpet. This is her first venture into jazz and she's looking forward to the concert in January. Friday nights find Kristin and her husband Brent Hampton and Mariah all at the football games to cheer on the marching band or on occasion, Brent and Kristin work the concession stand for the benefit of the Band Club! It's amazing how many frito pies, Skittles and pickles one can sell!!! (And, yes, sometimes that's all to the same person!). Kristin continues to be the interim pastor at Marbach Christian Church in San Antonio and Brent is pastor at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Marble Falls. With all the miles they put on their cars, they are glad to see the (temporary?) drop in gas prices.
Eunice Paul's Baltic cruise was as good as she had hoped. The ship sailed from Dover across the North Sea and through the Kiel Canal into the Baltic Sea. Then there were stops in Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Warnemuende, Copenhagen, and Oslo. There was a tour of part of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg after it was closed to regular visitors which made it a very relaxed experience. The tour was followed by a champagne reception and a concert. -- very civilized! Copenhagen was the only place Eunice had visited before (more than forty years ago), so there was a lot to see. Some of you may remember the Kon Tiki expedition across the Pacific years ago. Eunice remembers being fascinated by that adventure at the time and was intrigued to see the original raft and many artifacts in the museum in Oslo. St. Petersburg was impressive in many ways but Eunice wouldn't want to live there! Tallinn was an interesting small city - but Eunice admits Estonia was not a country she had known much about before this trip. The latest Paul/Tapley family news is that Dean and Lydia now have another grand-daughter, so Eunice now has three great-grandchildren. Victoria Rachel joined Joshua, Martina, and Jessica in Graz in Austria on September 22. Dean's birthday is September 21st but Victoria claimed a day for herself by waiting until 1:20 in the morning of the 22nd.
Mel and Pat Oakes were supposed to go to Washington, D.C., to visit their daughter Sarah over the long Columbus Day weekend. Instead, Mel got a terrible cold and Pat went to D.C. on her own. While Sarah was teaching for two of the days she was there, Pat visited the National Archives, the National Gallery of Art, and for the first time, the National Portrait Gallery (which was just amazing). She also had a great visit with a cousin of her dad's and did some genealogical catching up there. Sarah and Pat enjoyed an overnight trip to Pennsylvania to see Fallingwater, the famous and stunningly beautiful home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1936. The weather was gorgeous and the fall colors were astounding. Poor Mel sneezed and coughed in Austin and felt miserable the whole time--sigh.
Mary Blackstock continues to recover from a back injury that occurred some weeks ago at the Y, and fortunately was able to go on the trip she and Matt planned to Fayetteville, AR, in late October. They were attending a program on the Mid-East and while there hoped to socialize with the Steven and Jeanine Neuse.
Doyal and Tommie Pinkard took a fall trip to the Smoky Mountains in September, staying in Hiawassee, Georgia, for an Elderhostel focusing on Appalachian culture and lots of folk music. Fall color was just peeping out, but the scenery was glorious. They went first to Milledgeville, Ga., to visit Tommie's sister, Jackie, and then took her to Hiawassee with them. There they connected with Doyal's sister, Carol, and her husband, Wes. Finally, they drove on up to North Carolina, where Carol and Wes live atop a mountain outside Brevard. Wes's apple tree picked this year to produce mightily, so they came home with lots of apples, six of which found their way into a cake served at church during an October coffee hour. Every last crumb quickly disappeared.
NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS
1 Tommie Pinkard
2 Wilmer Brown
Celia Ross
4 Nannette Strickland
5 Mary Blackstock
7 Ann Hubbs
Tom VandeStadt
8 Setsuko Kaneda
Maggie Taylor
9 Craig Barrett
Bree Hawes-Domingue
12 Michael Adams
Gabriel Pinkard
Harrison Tucker
14 Hulen Brown
16 Brian Prioleau
Norma Hawes
17 Dennis Murphy
18 Jennifer Bratton
Jacob Bardati
22 Mariah Newell
23 Kathleen Strong
Terri Ocean
24 Jim Howicz
27 Tess Howicz
30 Betty Bodman
NEWS FROM THE BRAZOS ASSOCIATION
I had the privilege of attending two uplifting celebrations of ministry in our Association churches in the month of September. The first was with St. John's Evangelical Lutheran UCC in Richland as they said goodbye to Michael and Laura Vaughn. After worship, the church had a tasty catered lunch and a program with children singing, a band with Michael and friends playing, more outstanding music from a member who plays and sings professionally, lots of tributes, and a roast! It was good fun, with gratitude for a long and meaningful ministry. The second was with Faith UCC in Bryan as they held their final worship in their sanctuary (now former sanctuary) on College Dr. The church building was sold to neighboring St. Michael's Academy about 2 years ago, and the congregation has had an extended arrangement with the school to continue worshipping there. Faith has bought land in the Austin's Colony subdivision on Austin's Colony Parkway next to the new Rudder High School, and they will begin building a multipurpose building there as soon as possible. In the meantime, they are reaching out to their new neighborhood and are worshiping for the next nine months at the Brazos Center on Briarcrest off of the Highway 6 bypass, about a mile from Austin's Colony. As they said goodbye in worship to their longtime church home, many members shared cherished memories of their life together. The service was led in an inspired way by Pastor Karl Tewold, and several former pastors spoke in the service or sent words of greeting that were read. There were several present who were married there, who were confirmed there, who had children baptized there, or who were baptized there themselves. At the end, members came up and collected candles, crosses, Bibles, flowers, the church flag -- all parts of the church that would move to the new sanctuary, and processed out in a loving "letting go" of the building to a new and honorable use. Afterward, we shared a good catered meal together.
It is an honor and a privilege to be part of such celebrations of our church's lives. Both St. John's Richland and Faith UCC are going forward with hope for new and faithful ministry while giving thanks for their past. I hope to be able to share in such a holy and joyful way with all of our Brazos Association churches.
Blessings in Christ, Liz Nash, Brazos Association Minister
THE FRIENDSHIP SUPPERS
Everyone wants to get to know you better! The Friendship Suppers give us all a chance to talk with each other in smaller groups over great food. We meet for dinner at someone's house (the host) who provides a main course and the others who are assigned to go to that home bring another part of the meal. There may be three or four dinners at different houses on any given date, depending on how many want to participate. The dates we've set for this year are November 8th, January 17th and March 21st. The sign-up sheets are in the Fellowship Hall in the BLUE FOLDER. As usual, the dinners begin around 6pm; if you need a ride we can arrange that. Even if you don't know your schedule too far in advance, go ahead and sign up for all the dates if you'd like. Last minute cancellations are easier to handle than last minute additions. If you've got any questions, speak to Betty Bodman or Barbara Burnham.
Daylight Saving Time Ends!!!!
Sunday, November 2
COFFEE HOUR
Please sign up in the Fellowship Room to be coffee hour hosts on an upcoming Sunday. The coffee hour time is such a good opportunity to visit old friends and meet visitors. We keep coffee and ginger ale and some punch fixings in the pantry in the kitchen. There are usually paper napkins, and we use coffee mugs and punch cups to avoid wasting natural resources. Your menu can be as simple or complicated as you want. Cookies and/or chips and salsa are just fine! If you have questions, talk to Pat Oakes, Tommie Pinkard, or Lynne Lemley.
Deadline for DECEMBER VISITOR -- November 15
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