Most of us consider the amount of money we give to our church a private affair. The only member of our church who knows how much we give is our Financial Secretary, and our Financial Secretary is sworn to keeping this highly confidential information a secret.
    Why do we believe we must guard our financial secrets from one another? Why does this practice seem so obviously right that we never question it, or reflect on and challenge its underlying assumptions? Why would suggesting we reveal to one another how much money we possess and how much we give to the church elicit strong automatic derision, as if the suggestion were to replace the choir with a large cage filled with small dogs who bark and howl at us throughout the worship service? Of course we don't want a cage full of dogs going berserk when Andy hits the high notes, and of course we cannot and should not and will not reveal our private financial information to the other members of our church! Are you nuts?
    We profess that God calls us together to love one another, care for one another, and serve one another. We profess that God calls us to follow Jesus together, walk the path of discipleship together, and bear the cross together. We profess that God calls us to eat the bread Jesus breaks for us and to drink from his cup of the new covenant that we may all be one. We profess that God calls us to undergo a death and resurrection, experience re-birth as a new creation, and offer ourselves fully and completely to the new reality Jesus calls the kingdom of God. In other words, we profess that God calls us to create a brand way of life together in a community modeled after Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
    Apparently, this new way of life does not include sharing with another one of our most closely guarded secrets--how much money we possess and how much money we give to the community in which we share our lives. Or could it be that this new reality into which God calls us does include the sharing of this information, but we are stuck in our old way of life with our old deeply ingrained and unquestioned assumptions. Our old habits still prevail. Our transformation remains incomplete. We have not yet taken the raft to the other shore.
    No doubt you can cite reasons we should withhold our financial information from one another. One reason is that it is my money. Then there is all the nastiness we suspect would result from the sharing of this information. Other members of the church would form opinions of me and judge me by the amount I possess and the amount I give. It would foster jealousy, envy, bitterness, and rivalry. Giving to the church would become competitive, and it would become a way for some members to show off, feel important, and puff up their egos. Those who possessed more money would feel pressured to give more, more often, for more things. Those who possessed less money would feel diminished by their meager savings and smaller contributions. Those who gave more would feel entitled to have more power in the church's decision-making. Those who gave less would feel they had less say.
    One unchallenged assumption is that it is nobody's business what I do with my money. Another is that it is easier to keep our secrets in order to avoid the nastiness than it is to honestly face and transform the nastiness. But what if we were to challenge these assumptions? What if we were to seek a fundamental transformation of our attitudes and practices? Or to use the language of the gospel, undergo metanoia, a change of heart?
    What if the decision regarding the amount of money we gave to the church were a decision we made with the advice of people in our church? What if our level of love and trust were so deep, so highly developed, and so mature, we could reveal the closely guarded secret of our financial worth to our brothers and sisters in Christ without any fear of nastiness? What if we could help one another discern how to use our wealth in a Christ-like manner? What if together we could prayerfully reflect on and discern difficult questions like: What kind of lifestyle do I as a contemporary Christian want to maintain? How much money do I need to maintain my basic needs? How much do I need beyond my basic needs? What are my family's needs? What needs do I anticipate in my future? What are we trying to accomplish together as the church and how much of what I now possess can I give toward our shared mission?
    Imagine the level of spiritual maturity this would require, and the depth of our relationships in terms of love and trust. What would we have to give up to be like this? What would we gain? Who would we be and what could we accomplish? It's hard to imagine, but not impossible. Do we want to become people like this or is living with our secrets preferable? Do we even want to talk about it, or is it as appealing as a cage full of dogs in the choir loft?
                                                                                        Tom


The Nominating Committee asks that all who wish to be of service to the church in one of its elective posts starting in 2008 or who know of someone who might wish to serve please contact any of the following:
Paul Deisler (721-3325 or sinprsa@earthlink.net);
Matt Blackstock, (459-8595 or mblackstock@copper.net);
John Burlinson (cell, 254-634-7252, or John.Burlinson@dshs.state.tx.us);
or the church office.

Chairs of our Boards
Trustees: Reuel Nash
Deacons: Betty Bodman
Christian Education: Paula Fracasso
Christian Outreach: Tommie Pinkard
Moderator John Goff

    Many of our newer members do not know John and Eleanor Towery. You see John's name listed in the program every week as pastor emeritus of this church. He served as pastor from 1959-1990. He and Eleanor are looking forward to their grandson Ricky Master's electrician's job getting less intense so that perhaps he can bring them to church as they are not driving much these days. They will be pleased to see our new easy entrance. Since Mel and I were going to be in China for the month of September, when I called John to find out if he had any news, we got to talking about China. I learned that John had graduated from Davies County High School, Owensboro, KY. His dad was an agriculture teacher and his mother substituted in English. He graduated from UNC in 1946 and had been a part of NROTC. When he was a child he had gone with his parents on vacation to the Chesapeake Bay, had been impressed with the sea, and had visited an uncle who was paymaster of the fleet in Newport News. His uncle let John hold the payroll for the fleet--$80,000! He volunteered to go overseas and served as an ensign from 1946-47. He saved his money from his time in service and that money enabled him to go to seminary at Yale Divinity School for three years. John admitted that he had gone through UNC very fast and when he got to Yale he had never written a term paper--that must have been a shock. He was on a tanker, the USS Nantahala which had about 500 people on it. He had planned to be a pilot, but had a bad eye, so could not fly. While in China he saw Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tsingtao. He recalled one incident in Shanghai while on shore patrol that a number of sailors were being rather obstreperous and were thrown into the bottom of the shore boat and were hauled up into the ship with a cargo net. He served as postmaster of the fleet (one ship!). While in China he bought some beautiful ivory and two carved wooden chests. Eleanor still has one and daughter Mary has the other. John was discharged from the Navy in Seattle, made his way to Yale, and while serving an internship at a church in Amelia, Ohio, he met Eleanor at a church dance. He thought she was stuck up since she was surrounded by admirers and didn't dance with him. The church was hosting a party for the seminarians in the area. He still wasn't sure he would be a pastor--had given a great deal of thought to going to Syracuse, NY, to be a journalist. Thankfully, with the encouragement of a teacher at Yale, Kelly Barnette, John decided to go into the ministry--and Eleanor lost interest in all her admirers and focused on John. They were married in 1950. Their 56th anniversary is coming up on December 9. Somehow, I think there will have been some changes in China since John was there nearly 50 years ago.
    Congratulations to Matt Blackstock who is the 2007 recipient of the Physician Emeritus Award given by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Matt earned his medical degree from UT's medical branch in Galveston in 1948. Matt and Mary met in Ganado, TX, in early 1948: she was teaching elementary school and Matt was working for the local physician while waiting for his internship to begin, a 4-month hiatus. (Ganado is between Houston and Victoria, on Hwy 59). They married the following year in August of 1949. He did his residency in general practice at the University of Colorado Medical Center and finished there in 1953. He practiced medicine here in Austin for 38 years and during that time also worked for 25 years as a family practice educator. In 1981 he was named physician of the year at Brackenridge Hospital. Other facets of his medical career include being attending physician and faculty member for the Family Practice Residency Program, the Central Texas Medical Foundation in Austin and he was part of the preceptorship program with UTMB Galveston from 1969-1974. More recently Matt and Mary are celebrating that Mary has been cancer-free for a little over two years. In September they were attending an Elderhostel in Oklahoma on the Choctaw native-American culture.
    Michael Adams reports that this will be remembered as the summer that tax season did not end, the summer that we could not swim, because if the thunderstorms, the summer that the peaches and strawberries were out of this world, and the summer of the pears. Son Jamie and his wife Lauren have a pear tree in their back yard, maybe a Bradford gone native, that made a huge crop this year. They are small, hard, and tart, not good to eat at all. However, if you were buying apples for pies or apple sauce, those would be the characteristics you'd seek. So, the Adams family canned them, sixty pounds, by mid-August. At some points along the way, Michael even dragooned Kerry, Jamie, and Julia into the project, when they couldn't sneak away. Someone, of course, has to keep grandson Philip entertained. That's some one, not all three of them. Now, Michael had a neighbor who's got better, bigger pears, and a sign out saying "Take the damned things!" So, one afternoon, Lauren and Michael were cutting and canning forty more pounds. She has made a couple of pear pies, that would put Mrs. Smith and Marie Callender into a screaming hair-pulling fight, over who gave away the secrets of pie making that they had not even brought to market yet. Michael singed off saying, "I need to get back to my peeler."
    Clark and Cathy Hubbs had a perfectly glorious weekend August 24-25 when they met two couples--former students from the seventies-- out at a ranch near Menard, where they and Clark once saved a fish species by mixing cement and filling a hole in a rancher's dam, thus saving a unique fish species which had been being hybridized by an interloper. The rancher has always been good to Clark, and he has let them come back and camp from time to time. This was one of those times. They even put up tents and were joined by a daddy with three little girls, eight, six, and two years old. Unbelievably a good time was had by all. Clark came back with eighteen pages of data. AND IT DIDN'T RAIN!
    Mary Sinclair (who now lives in Canada) was in Manchester, NH, at the end of August with Martin Bukasa and his kids (see the family picture on display in the Fellowship Room) and was also with them up in the White Mountains for an outing. This was her annual pre-school trip to make sure that they are all set to go. She met with a school counselor that she met last year after Martin's wife Judith's funeral. Martin is doing OK and worrying about his kids who are growing up fast. Martin's brother, sister-in-law and nephew are now in Manchester, speaking good English and providing some sorely needed help. Richard Jackson, Mary's husband says, "Our church really made a huge difference to one family and should be proud of what it has done for them. Best wishes to all in the church." When Mary is not helping out Martin, she stays busy at home in Ontario and visits her mom Joyce Sinclair two or three times a week.
    On August 30, John Moore and Suzanne Bradford celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary quietly with TV dinners and a night of lounging on the couch. Maybe for their twentieth they'll do something more exciting, but for now, they're happy to be able to have a restful evening at home; congratulations, John and Suzanne!
    Steve and Jeanine Neuse in Fayettville, AK, getting back into fall activities...League of Women Voters (Steven is Voter Service chair; Jeanine is Finance Chair. They were working on questions for school board candidates.) Jeanine is a member of Altrusa...is International Committee Chair (meetings, meetings!) Steven is finishing up his last few months as President of Partners of the Americans (Arkansas and East Bolivia.) At their church the Outreach committee is raising money for their share of an Apostle House for Habitat for Humanity. Keep up the good work.
    Lisa Kirch has been having adventures at the Deutches Museum in Munich. This was literally true in late August, when a woman from the building maintenance office took her up into the walls between the walls. Lisa had discovered that there had to be a space between the floor (astronomy) and the ceiling of the room she is working on. They installed a new, lower ceiling in the early 1950s. Lisa was hoping that the 1919 ceiling painting, damaged in the war, was still there. It wasn't, but to find that out they went through another secret door, into a space between walls that's used for storing junk, up a metal ladder like those in submarines, and onto boards laid out over steel girders. Kind of exciting. Also very dirty. But Lisa wishes "her" painting had been left alone. She was also exploring the Krupp Historical Archive. Most of the Hall of Honor was paid for by the Krupps--the family, not their firm. Also, Lisa and her friend Andreas lucked into tickets to a performance at Richard Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. The opera was "Parsifal," decidedly not great, but the production was one that had caused major fighting to break out when it was new. It also, she says, provoked catcalls from the audience they were sitting in. The boos were not deserved but certainly understandable. The Wagners had commissioned the production from a famous artist, Christoph Schlingensief (the name is funny even to Germans), who took the opportunity to create a meditation on 20th-century art. If you didn't know anything about the art, you were absolutely in the dark. It was very funny at times; at others, it was incredibly beautiful; occasionally, it was just embarrassing. It never was boring, and it was thought-provoking. The stage was surprisingly small, and the acoustics are superb. Besides which, it was a treat for Lisa and Andreas to stalk around in fancy clothes, looking at everybody else's even fancier clothes, while drinking really good champagne. Attending an opera at Bayreuth is very friendly. You stroll in the park. You have your champagne--or beer or roll with sausage (really!, Lisa told Andreas you'd never find a hamburger stand at an American opera house)--and they play a fanfare to let you know when it's time to go in. You don't stand in any lines. The doors on the whole lower floor of the theater are open, and no one is standing there to check anything. Your ticket is only checked when you get to the part of the theater where your seat is. No regimentation at all. The very definition of cultured treatment, somehow. Lisa loved everything about it and wants to go back for another performance. Daughter Sarah called her one morning and yelled, "Mama! Guess where I'm calling from! THE MIDDLE OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!", which nearly gave Lisa a heart attack. By now Sarah should be safely ensconced in school in Munich for the fall term.
    Beth Placek went to England for a 9 day trip in September. She spent a day in Lichfield with her friend, Elizabeth and 5 days in Bakewell in Derbyshire, on her own, walking her favorite walks from past trips there, and then a day and night with friends Janet and Richard in Norwich and a day and night in London and then home.
    John and Frances Allford have spent the whole summer in their house in Grafton, Vermont. They expect to return to Austin in mid-October. They have enjoyed the cooler (mostly) weather and the fresh air.

    If Will Heimbach had a mission statement it might read something like, "We can cope with anything when we depend on God and people who love and care for us." He has worked with the medically ill, with trauma victims and their families, and with prisoners. When he describes God's presence in those worlds he uses phrases like, "miraculous compassion and wholeness," and "the tremendous power of the human spirit for healing." He himself experienced these qualities when he was 8. Facing a frightening assault, he felt God's loving, warm spirit wash over him. He felt at peace and knew God as a being who was there for him with love and protection.
    You might say Will grew up with three families: his parents divorced and remarried when he was young, but "with my Nana and Pappy Heimbach [paternal grandparents] I experienced unconditional love and safety and the joy of being a free-spirited boy." He especially enjoyed time spent with them in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and the New Jersey shore. He also grew up in the UCC and imbibed its lessons: the importance of prayer, worship, and offering one's gifts and talents to church and community.
    Will comes from a working class background; his grandparents were factory workers and his father as a draftsman, his mother as an LVN. His father especially encouraged education, and Will is the first in his family to complete college and graduate school. He studied criminal justice and psychology as an undergraduate at Stephen F Austin State University, then received an M.A. in clinical psychology (while working full time!) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake. He has worked as a psychotherapist, at first with brain trauma victims and then with addicts, convicts, and families.
    While working in Houston Will was a member of a Methodist church, and there learned the power of men and women working together, with God's help, as part of a team providing physical, medical and spiritual support for persons affected by HIV/AIDS in the early years of the epidemic.
    He joined our church when he came to Austin in 2005 to attend Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Our chapel, with its old-fashioned look, reminds him of the church in Whitehall, Pennsylvania where he grew up. At the same time he likes our forward-looking actions in the areas of peace and justice, such as naming ourselves an Open and Affirming congregation.
    Will hopes for ordination and then a call to a small to medium-sized church where he can lead worship, preach, teach, provide pastoral care and engage in mission work for social justice. He believes strongly in the church's mission to change the plight of the suffering and to struggle with systems of "domination, starvation, torture, tyranny, all of the world's ugliness."