WEEKLY ENOTE |
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Nov. 13, 2020
Good Friday Village Family,
I hope that you are well. So I'm going to be away from the office next Friday and won't be able to send an eNote to you next week. So I'm going to squeeze a couple of weeks into this one, if that's all right with you.
First, I have some sad news to share. You may have already read in prior eNews that the Session has received a letter of resignation from Rev. Brandon Frick, our site pastor at Village on Antioch. Brandon has been with us almost three years and has done good work and is beloved by his staff team and the congregation, particularly at Antioch, but those of us at Mission as well. He will be deeply missed.
The Session has called a Congregational Meeting. It's in our polity, it's the congregation's responsibility to officially close the pastoral relationship. So we're going to have that meeting by Zoom at 1 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 29. It'll be short meeting, but details of how to participate in that will be in next week's eNews, both at Village on Antioch and at Village on Mission. So you can learn how to participate in the meeting then. But I'm just sharing with you that it'll be Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.
Like many of you, I am saddened by this as Brandon is a talented and charismatic pastor. We send him with prayers and blessings and well-wishes for him and for his family in their next chapter of life together.
For now, Rodger Nishioka is spending some time down at our VOA campus to ensure that the good work that is begun there continues on in fine fashion. And I'm grateful to Rodger for sharing his talents in this way.
This Sunday we welcome to our worship, we welcome back an old friend. Rev. Meg Peery McLaughlin will be our preacher this Sunday. Meg and her amazing husband Jarrett were on our staff from 2006 I think it was to 2013. Both of them are deeply loved here. They are now co-pastors at the University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Meg will be preaching to us from the sanctuary there at UPC. So you don't want to miss this week.
Hey, and the next week, Nov. 22, Rev. Zach Walker, our stellar pastor for youth and their families will be preaching. He'll be joined by Rev. Hallie Hottle, our pastor for young adult ministry. She'll be liturgist that day. So it'll be a great day on the 22nd as well.
And then after that it's Thanksgiving. You know that. Probably this year for your family like for ours, Thanksgiving will be a little bit different. It's a challenging year. It's been a hard year. And 2020 has required some spiritual resources of all of us that we probably didn't even know that we had.
I'm thinking today of my friend, Carla. Carla was the youth representative on a Pastor Nominating Committee that called me to my first call in ministry. When I graduated from seminary in Charleston, South Carolina. It's almost 35 years ago now. Carla now is a wife and a mother and a pastor of her own congregation in Richmond, Virginia. And Carla shared with me once that there was a routine for her family that as they came to the dinner table, as they offered their prayers for the meal, each of them would in that prayer share something for which they were grateful that day.
She confided that often when they got to that part of the prayer, she wasn't always feeling particularly grateful. She was stressed or distracted or had the pressures of everybody's schedule and getting meals prepared and trying to get everybody to sit down at the same time. It was stressful. But she said what she learned is the very practice of expressing thanks in time made her more grateful. I think that's true. I think giving thanks is not always something that we feel, but the practice of giving thanks can make us more grateful. It's been a demanding year. And so in some ways, Thanksgiving is important in a completely different way this year. So figure out how it is you are going to do that. And then give thanks. Express gratitude. And even if you're not feeling particularly grateful, the very practice of it may bring those feelings to the surface. It's been hard year. And because of that, Thanksgiving is important in a whole new way. So I hope it is a good day for you.
I'll see you Sunday as I'll be liturgist with Meg in worship this week. I look forward to seeing you then.
Shalom,
Tom
Good Friday Village Family,
I hope that you are well. So I'm going to be away from the office next Friday and won't be able to send an eNote to you next week. So I'm going to squeeze a couple of weeks into this one, if that's all right with you.
First, I have some sad news to share. You may have already read in prior eNews that the Session has received a letter of resignation from Rev. Brandon Frick, our site pastor at Village on Antioch. Brandon has been with us almost three years and has done good work and is beloved by his staff team and the congregation, particularly at Antioch, but those of us at Mission as well. He will be deeply missed.
The Session has called a Congregational Meeting. It's in our polity, it's the congregation's responsibility to officially close the pastoral relationship. So we're going to have that meeting by Zoom at 1 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 29. It'll be short meeting, but details of how to participate in that will be in next week's eNews, both at Village on Antioch and at Village on Mission. So you can learn how to participate in the meeting then. But I'm just sharing with you that it'll be Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.
Like many of you, I am saddened by this as Brandon is a talented and charismatic pastor. We send him with prayers and blessings and well-wishes for him and for his family in their next chapter of life together.
For now, Rodger Nishioka is spending some time down at our VOA campus to ensure that the good work that is begun there continues on in fine fashion. And I'm grateful to Rodger for sharing his talents in this way.
This Sunday we welcome to our worship, we welcome back an old friend. Rev. Meg Peery McLaughlin will be our preacher this Sunday. Meg and her amazing husband Jarrett were on our staff from 2006 I think it was to 2013. Both of them are deeply loved here. They are now co-pastors at the University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Meg will be preaching to us from the sanctuary there at UPC. So you don't want to miss this week.
Hey, and the next week, Nov. 22, Rev. Zach Walker, our stellar pastor for youth and their families will be preaching. He'll be joined by Rev. Hallie Hottle, our pastor for young adult ministry. She'll be liturgist that day. So it'll be a great day on the 22nd as well.
And then after that it's Thanksgiving. You know that. Probably this year for your family like for ours, Thanksgiving will be a little bit different. It's a challenging year. It's been a hard year. And 2020 has required some spiritual resources of all of us that we probably didn't even know that we had.
I'm thinking today of my friend, Carla. Carla was the youth representative on a Pastor Nominating Committee that called me to my first call in ministry. When I graduated from seminary in Charleston, South Carolina. It's almost 35 years ago now. Carla now is a wife and a mother and a pastor of her own congregation in Richmond, Virginia. And Carla shared with me once that there was a routine for her family that as they came to the dinner table, as they offered their prayers for the meal, each of them would in that prayer share something for which they were grateful that day.
She confided that often when they got to that part of the prayer, she wasn't always feeling particularly grateful. She was stressed or distracted or had the pressures of everybody's schedule and getting meals prepared and trying to get everybody to sit down at the same time. It was stressful. But she said what she learned is the very practice of expressing thanks in time made her more grateful. I think that's true. I think giving thanks is not always something that we feel, but the practice of giving thanks can make us more grateful. It's been a demanding year. And so in some ways, Thanksgiving is important in a completely different way this year. So figure out how it is you are going to do that. And then give thanks. Express gratitude. And even if you're not feeling particularly grateful, the very practice of it may bring those feelings to the surface. It's been hard year. And because of that, Thanksgiving is important in a whole new way. So I hope it is a good day for you.
I'll see you Sunday as I'll be liturgist with Meg in worship this week. I look forward to seeing you then.
Shalom,
Tom
- Find the live stream web page at www.villagepres.org/online. There you can also give online, send a prayer request, and find last week’s full service and previous sermons.
- Find the latest coronavirus updates and many good and helpful resources at www.villagepres.org/covid19
