  “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman Welcome back to Plymouth after a summer of travel and fun. Welcome back, even in the midst of the uncertainty of Delta variant viruses and continued social distancing and masks! Welcome back, whether you can meet with us in person to worship, or whether you are joining us through livestream! As our bridge pastor, Rev. Ron Patterson, challenged us on August 22nd: we are the church, God’s gathered and beloved community, whether we are in the meeting house and sanctuary building or not. We are the church of Jesus, the liberator and redeemer, our model for inclusion and justice, wherever we find ourselves in the world. We meet in worship for sustenance and inspiration to be the church in the world. Our faith awakens and enlivens us in good times and tough times. As Christian theologian and minister, educator and mystic, Howard Thurman, wrote, “the world needs … people who have come alive!” Christian Formation is alive and well at Plymouth as we begin fall programming. There will be outside, intergenerational Sunday School activities for children, teens and families starting at 10 am on September 12 on the Plymouth lawn. (And running into October as the weather allows.) We will explore together through activities and crafts Bible stories that prompt us to ask “Who Are Our Neighbors?” At 10 am adults can join the Adult Forum sessions that will be in the Forum Room. We are hoping to live stream the Forums in some way (maybe on Zoom), and possibly link them to the Fireside Room for overflow seating, so we can remain socially distanced. To join in being alive in the world with God’s justice and love, I hope you will consider joining one of our two adult book studies that begin in September.
 AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series.  Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. – Psalm 90.13-14 (NRSV) Yesterday, wonderful clergy colleague Ron Patterson mentioned several times that congregations are experiencing PTSD — Post-traumatic Stress Disorder — affected by the pandemic, insurrection, systemic racism, and not knowing whether the Delta variant will knock us out of in-person worship again. (We are certainly better prepared this year!) Thomas Hübl refers to “collective trauma” as a harrowing event that a large group experiences together. Currently, he says, “there are two phenomena: a very stressful current situation, like COVID-19, or the climate crisis, which is already intensifying. But these events meet in all of our shared history, which I refer to as the unintegrated parts of our shared past” [interview with the Harvard Gazette, Dec. 2020]. I don’t know that many white Americans have fully integrated our shared history of white privilege or that many of us expected vituperative American politics to lead to the January 6 insurrection. Those unintegrated pieces of our collective experience intensify our current trauma that play out in our own lives and the life of our community and culture. He says that this collision results in a perfect storm of sorts. “When we look at a trauma there are two major sets of symptoms: One is hyperactivity, which comes with a tremendous amount of stress and reactivity, and the other one is numbness and indifference.” I don’t know about you, but I have had both reactions: stress and withdrawal into numbness. I find that my mind will perseverate if left alone without human contact: it will spin in some less-healthy ways and distort reality. I’ve asked myself what can ameliorate the situation. Even though I am an introvert, I have found that getting out our narrow family orbit helps. Being together helps. When I see you at church on a Sunday, it helps me to have hope that there is a world with great people in it and that I am not alone. How about you? Have you had an experience lately when you’ve found stress and reactivity causing you to respond in ways that are not helpful? Maybe overreacting to an annoyance? Maybe eating or drinking more than is normal? Perhaps you tend to go the other direction and withdraw from difficult situations and give up making a difference. (And sometimes a retreat from the barrage of broadcast news is a healthy shift!) One of the items in our spiritual toolkit as a way to respond to collective trauma is lament. Psalm 90 is a collective plea to God to hear our trauma and the grief that derives from it. It is okay to use the imperative voice with God and ask the Deity to turn around and listen to us! Haven’t we been through enough, God? Are you listening to our cries of loneliness, exhaustion, frustration, stress, and despair? Give us a break and have some compassion on us! Enough plague and pestilence already! Give us a break! Our tradition allows us to have a good, solid rant with God. What do you need to say right now? Are you ready to ask Yahweh to lighten the burden? This psalm doesn’t leave the lament as the final word. Being angry with God can be a helpful stop along the way of faith, but it’s a lousy and unhealthy final destination. We get to move on and into envisioning what is next for us as Beloved Community. We come together to sing, pray, praise God for her steadfast love, which always is there for us after a time of trial, or even a time of collective trauma. One of the reasons we have Jubilee Sunday every year is to come back together after the separation of summertime travels and recreation and to offer God thanks and praise as a community. Community can lift at least a bit of the fog of trauma and grief as we come together (either in person or on livestream) and be in worship together. It won’t fix everything, but it might leave you with just enough light, hope, and peace to see you through. Enough of those positive experiences snowball into new ways of thinking, believing, behaving, and being. Positive shifts in our outlook are possible, and with God all things are possible. Join us this Jubilee Sunday at 9:00 and 11:00 for your spiritual booster shot. Together, we will heal and move toward wholeness as Beloved Community. Wishing you deep peace,  AuthorThe Rev. Hal Chorpenning has been Plymouth's senior minister since 2002. Before that, he was associate conference minister with the Connecticut Conference of the UCC. A grant from the Lilly Endowment enabled him to study Celtic Christianity in the UK and Ireland. Prior to ordained ministry, Hal had a business in corporate communications. Read more about Hal. Dear Plymouth Family, I have LOVED seeing you in worship these past six weeks! Baptism, live singing, outdoor fellowship, reuniting with friends, worshipping God outdoors and in our sanctuary...it has been a blessing! I hope that it has given you the spiritual lift it has given me. (And the timing of our new livestream couldn't have been better!) And it is dispiriting to have the Delta variant intrude and cause some of us to feel anxious, fearful, and unsafe when we venture beyond our homes. I share your feelings..."Didn't we just come out of a pandemic nosedive?" ... "Will we ever reach a new normal?" ... "We've been vaccinated, faithful, and safe, why are we paying the price now?" Our emotions may on a bit of a rollercoaster, and there is a heightened sense of anxiety in our society and community again, even if we aren't aware of them. (Our conference staff yesterday confirmed this is popping up in churches all over the Rocky Mountain Conference.) What can we do about it? One thing is to be intentional about dealing with our emotions. If you feel upset with someone or sense despair with a situation, practice the pause: Close your eyes, take a couple of slow, deep breaths, clench and release your hands several times. Ask yourself what you are really, truly upset about; ask whether it's something you have control over, and if not, ask God to handle it. I'm finding this helpful because there is so very much that is beyond our control right now. It takes faith and courage to live positively in this moment, and Christians across the millennia have done just that during times of plague and pestilence, and we can, too. Knowing that our congregation's emotional and spiritual health is delicate right now, on Monday evening our Pandemic Team decided to stay the course in terms of worship and meetings for the time being. So, our services this Sunday will be at summer hours: 10:00 & 6:00 and then on August 29 (Jubilee Sunday), we will begin our new fall worship hours at 9:00 & 11:00. The Pandemic Team is introducing a few tweaks so that we can continue to meet with the greatest safety possible:
I am grateful to Mel Huibregtse and the members of the Pandemic Team for seeing the big picture and for keeping our safety as a congregation at the forefront. They continue to use the best information available from the CDC, Larimer County Health, and their own experience to make the tough calls to keep us as safe as possible. We all know that there are no guarantees in life and that our tradition is replete with stories of acting on faith and not relying on the illusion of security that things like wealth, health, material comfort, and even family can provide. God is with us through all of it and will continue to be. May you sense God's presence this and every day and continue to live in faith and courage. Shalom,   Image by Pexels from Pixabay The diversity of music at Plymouth is an especially joyous facet of my tenure with you. I see musical diversity as a strength which allows for greater connection among a diverse people whose life experiences can be so varied. Beginning on Jubilee Sunday, August 29, the "eclectic" style of worship familiar to those who attended the 6:00 p.m. service moves to the 9:00 a.m. worship time. The 11:00 a.m. service will continue to offer the familiar "traditional" style of worship with organ and choir. Truthfully, musical diversity exists across the entire spectrum of our services with cross pollination freely engaged in. In the end, it is the spiritual essence and intention of the music that can lead us deeper into the divine. And this mode of spiritual transportation appears in varied guises, to be sure! A piece of music that is viscerally transcendent to one can be received by another as an outright snoozefest. It is fascinating! A composer's vision—and message— is simply not going to reach everyone universally. It is like trying to plug an HDMI cable into a USB port. It will not work. That is, unless one is willing to invest in an adapter... It is a healthy venture to be exposed to the musical creations of composers and songwriters both living and past. Just as one can experience the imagination and perspective of a brilliant author (or even just an interesting one!) from the pages of a book, music can broaden one's spiritual, emotional, and intellectual landscape, even if the music is upon first listen off-putting (I find.) We may not possess the compatible receptors for everything we hear initially—but it is possible that they can grow into being if we're open to it. A book I think about now and then which relates to this topic is A Song to Sing, A Life to Live by Don and Emily Saliers. I led a Zoom forum on this inspirational and poetic read about a year ago. The father and daughter co-authors come from two very different musical worlds: Don from the liturgical church tradition as an organist, composer, and choral conductor and Emily as one half of the successful folk rock duo Indigo Girls. Together, they explore the spiritual commonality between their respective musical turfs and their joint experiences with cultures worldwide. It is a compelling study and delights in the diversity of musical traditions. We crave transcendence and music is one of the most effective conduits into this spiritual realm. One person may feel exhilaration at a high decibel heavy metal show while another is uplifted by the sweet melancholy of a band like The Cure. The ancient melodies of Gregorian Chant can bring the faithful to tears while the roar of a pipe organ leading a congregation in an old Germanic hymn could be seen as glorious. A touch of heaven is only within listening distance when we have willing ears attuned to listen—to really listen. Our souls just have a way to seek out and let in those sounds that create that stir deep within. Mark Heiskanen Dir. of Music AuthorMark Heiskanen has been Plymouth's Director of Music since September 2017. Originally from Northeast Ohio, Mark has experience and great interest in a diverse range of musical styles including jazz, rock, musical theatre, and gospel. He is thrilled to serve a congregation and staff that values diversity and inclusion in all facets of life. Read his mostly-weekly Music Minute here. “I can do all things through the power of the One who strengthens me.” Philippians 4.13*  Bag tag for Aug. 29 "Blessing of the Backpacks" Going back to school is an exciting time and a bittersweet time. Students may be eager to see friends, to be in the next grade, to be in new after school or extracurricular activities. They may also be daunted by meeting new people and being in new classes with new teachers. Teachers are gearing up to meet their students, to prepare engaging lesson plans, to offer a welcoming classroom experience. And all this is A LOT of work! Parents may be anticipating an easier work schedule with children occupied in school all day five days a week, yet it is also sometimes hard to let go of the more relaxed summer schedule. It’s inspiring to see our children, teens and young adults take on the challenges a new grade, a new school. It is a reminder that they are growing up and becoming their own people with all the beauty and risk this involves. This year the beginning of school feels extra risky and bittersweet as our country continues to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. We had hoped to be free of masks and to be celebrating vaccines for ALL ages by now. Instead, we continue to be thankful for the protection of masks and the vaccines that we do have that are effective for those who take advantage of them – even as we acknowledge that our youngest folks do not yet have vaccines and there are some among us with compromised immune systems who cannot yet take advantage of their protection. Going back to school this year takes an extra measure of courage to along with the usual excitement and concerns. On Sunday at our 10 am worship in Roland Moore Park we will celebrate going back to school and its implications for all ages and all school roles….students, parents who support students, teachers, administrators, food service workers, office workers, school nurses and counselors, custodians….the list goes on. Join us on Sunday to bless those going back to school! Plymouth’s Christian Formation program is preparing to welcome all ages “back to school” with the most creative, challenging, and safest fall programming possible beginning after Jubilee Sunday (8/29).
  
Sign up for both book studies on the Plymouth website at plymouthucc.org/adults. The apostle, Paul, wrote to the church at Philippi, “Don't be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”* This is my prayer for us all in these uncertain times! Happy Back-to-School! And with you on the journey,  *Bible, Common English. CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub] (Kindle Locations 45179-45181). AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series.  Dear Plymouth Family, Are you ready for another pivot? Neither am I, but it seems as though that is in the cards…though not such a hard pivot as we’ve taken in the past. Our Pandemic Team met yesterday afternoon to chart the course for our congregation as we navigate the Delta variant together. The CDC continues to provide new counsel about how we can best keep one another as safe as possible, and we are using that as guidance. First, here are some changes in Sunday worship:
More pivots:
Thank you not only for your patience and cooperation, but for your encouragement and participation as we move through this together. Working to prevent the spread of the virus is not so much about “me and mine” as it is about “us and ours.” Thanks for caring for your neighbor and for yourself! Be well,   Our service last Sunday will be much like our 9:00 service, which begins on Jubilee Sunday, August 29. For the past eight years, Plymouth has offered an evening service that we called an “alternative to alternative worship,” and it has had some real successes: introducing to Plymouth contemporary chant and shorter songs for worship from composers like John Bell, a responsive Lord’s Prayer by John Philip Newell, weekly communion, and flexibility in the order of worship. Working together, our plan is to keep all those things that really coalesced, even as we discontinue our regular 6:00 p.m. service. And we plan to continue special evening services during the year, including Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Longest Night, and when the pandemic recedes, monthly Dinner Church.
There were some notable challenges at 6:00 p.m. as well, including waning attendance, not having greeters, finding volunteers for post-service hospitality, the lack of Sunday School, and the time and expense of providing musicians, childcare, deacons, sound engineers, and clergy for a comparatively small group of worshippers. It seems as if the style of worship and theological congruence of our services are appealing, but for many people, the 6:00 hour is less so. One of the reasons we initiated a third service was the lack of seating in our early services. (Before the pandemic, we had an average of 330 people in worship each week.) And one of the benefits of our new livestreaming system is that it takes a bit of pressure off our seating capacity by allowing our folks to attend remotely, especially less-mobile elders, those who are out-of-town, and people who simply prefer to worship in their bathrobes with a cup of coffee. At our Deacons meeting in July, we discussed ways we could improve our worship offerings as we head into the program year later this month. What could we keep from our experiences with our innovative evening service while offering it to a larger gathering of worshippers? Many at Plymouth have enjoyed our outdoor services (another is coming on August 15!) and jazz and Celtic services, so why not bring those experiences, along with our evening worship style to our 9:00 service? So, we’re giving it a try: having our more eclectic style of worship at 9:00, including a wide array of musical styles, weekly communion, chanted Lord’s Prayer, brief Prayers of the People, and scripture, sermon, and children’s time…all in 50 minutes! And at 11:00 our worship will continue to feature our chancel choir, traditional hymnody, monthly communion, and the warmth of traditional worship at Plymouth. The new schedule starts on Jubilee Sunday, August 29! Whichever service you choose to attend, we hope that it is a service that helps you to connect with the sacred, worship God with authenticity, enjoy the company of your fellow members, and extend an extravagant welcome to folks who are just discovering Plymouth. Thank you for allowing us to serve you and to serve God together! Grace and peace, Judy Lane (co-chair of Deacons), Nancy Sturtevant (co-chair of Deacons) Rev. Hal Chorpenning, Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson Rev. Ron Patterson, Mark Heiskanen |
|
RSS Feed