Posts by Communications

District News & Announcements – April 2018

District News & Announcements

April 2019

Correction:

Holiness in our Midst: Session 79

SESSION LXXIX: ON EARTH DAY

How will you celebrate Earth Day, Monday, April 22, this year? What will you do during the coming year to honor creation?

My answer: The leaders of the movement are suggesting the theme, Protect Our Species, as a focus for 2019 Earth Day events. Because championing bees and butterflies is beyond my scope of influence, I will celebrate Earth Day this year by simply beginning to recycle my trash. It seems reasonable that I would have been doing this for years, but neither the waste hauler for my apartment building nor my city provide containers (or incentives) for separating paper, plastics, aluminum, glass or food waste. On my schedule, changing habits and finding receptacles will require intentionality of Herculean proportion. While I focus on implementation, I will also work on my year-long Earth Day goal: encouraging the city of Nevada, IA to consider curbside recycling and more community drop-off centers.

Story Circle Prompt: How will you celebrate Earth Day this year?

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1.  Read the above reflection. In your journal, write a personal one-sentence mission statement about how you intend to care for creation during the coming year.

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session LXXXIX.
2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.

District News & Announcements – March 2019

District News & Announcements

March 2019

Holiness in our Midst: Session 78

SESSION LXXVIII: ON EVERYDAY ANGELS

Name some persons who have been “angels on earth” to you recently, offering help, spreading hope, or bringing sweet surprises to your daily life. Share details about the persons and/or details of gifts given.

My answer: It is noon on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. I am thinking: There is such a thing as a free lunch! I am savoring my favorite potato soup in the world and catching up on daily newspapers from the past week. I am remembering all the community angels I encountered the day before. The Bible verse from Hebrews 13:2 (KJV) flashes through my mind: Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Yesterday, when my usual morning restaurant was closed for repairs, I decided to go to Snack Time on main street in Nevada (IA). I hadn’t been there in a year. One of the waiters welcomed me and asked me if I wanted my “usual.”  I said yes and felt right at home. In short order, my vegetarian skillet (scrambled eggs on the side), white toast (toasted light), and coffee with cream appeared.

As I was leaving, I was greeted by Eddy, the owner who faithfully mans the kitchen and cash register day in and day out. “When will you serve your famous potato soup again? I asked. “It’s the best!”

“Oh, my, I just had it on the menu yesterday,” he said. He added, “Wait a minute!” He went downstairs to the big cooler and brought up two quarts for me. To take home. On the house.

On my way home, I stopped by a convenience store, where the clerks had held back newspapers each day for the past week when I was snowed in. “Anytime,” they said.

If there has been a benefit to Iowa’s record-breaking weather this past month, it has been time to pause to appreciate the everyday angels along my path. I vow—as I wonder how Eddy gets the perfect blend of potatoes, onions, butter, and milk—to do better at recognizing and thanking them daily.

Story Circle Prompt: Who were your “everyday angels” this week?

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1.  Read the above reflection. Write in your journal about your recent experiences of “everyday angels.” How have you been an “angel” lately?

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session LXXVIII.
2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.

District News & Announcements – February 2019

District News & Announcements

February 2019

Holiness in our Midst: Session 77

SESSION LXXVII: ON LOVE STORIES

Share a love story. (It’s okay if you’re a part of it!)

February, the month in which we celebrate love, invites the telling of love stories. Miles and Gwen Albright, both gone now from this life, come to mind as an example of a quiet one. (Miles was a nephew to my grandfather, Joe Albright of State Center, IA.) They were a fun-loving couple devoted to their church, First United Methodist Church in Ames; their daughter Vicki’s family in Houston; and their sizeable social circle. What set them apart was their kindness to one another and an extraordinary awareness of each other’s needs, sensitivities and moods. They exuded “togetherness” when they related to each other.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what elevated them among the many very close couples I’ve been privileged to know. I got a clue one day when I was with them in their car on the way to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Miles told a story about being approached by several couples at church. They were planning a ceremony to renew their wedding vows. Would they, Miles and Gwen, like to do the same? Miles replied: “No thank you, we don’t need to. We renew ours every morning.” That was it! The intentionality to keep their promises to one another each day was their secret.

Story Circle Prompt: Share a love story.

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1.  Read the above reflection. Write in your journal about your own love story or one you have witnessed. What keeps/kept the relationship together over time?

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session LXXVII.
2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.

District News & Announcements – January 2019

District News & Announcements

January 2019

Holiness in our Midst: Session 76

SESSION LXXVI: ON PICURING PEACE

If you drew a picture of peace, what would you draw?

This was a question that the late Roger Emmert, longtime Northern Plains District leader, asked during devotions at a board-development workshop, “Weaving Our Stories Together,” for district board members in October of 2010 at the Greene (IA) Church of the Brethren. My role was to model intentional story-telling to help them get better acquainted and to suggest ways to create story-sharing platforms in meetings they would lead. (We passed out small notebooks called story catchers, not only for notetaking during the workshop, but also for capturing the small but significant moments that happen each day.)

As 2019 begins, Roger’s question keeps coming my mind. Perhaps this is because his recent death and his example/legacy as a person of peace is on my heart. But his question also seems particularly relevant in this time of great national political turmoil. Words sometimes fail us these days. My drawing of a peaceful world is a round table with President Trump and Republican and Democratic legislators, all sitting quietly with Jesus. In a grand gallery surrounding them are a sea of faces representing all nations of the world. The drawing is labeled 2019: The Year They Came to The Table.

Story Circle Prompt: What does peace look like to you (in words or artwork)?

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1.  Read the above reflection. Write a word description of what peace would look like to you. Or, if you prefer, do a pen and ink drawing depicting peace in a sketchbook.  

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session LXXVI.
2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.

District News & Announcements – December 2018

District News & Announcements

December 2018

Holiness in our Midst: Session 75

SESSION LXXV: ON PREPARING YOUR HEART

How are you preparing your heart to receive the Christ Child during Advent this year?

Dr. John Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago from 1985 to 2012, shared this story from a nursery school teacher in the Chicago suburbs. She asked her class if they knew what the season before Christmas was called. One child raised his hand and answered “Advil!”

The season of holy hub-hub, which begins with Black Friday and ends with Christmas services (and/or bargain-hunting), begs us to pause long enough to experience the wonder of Jesus’ birth. For myself, I am adding an exercise this year to my morning devotions from December 1 to December 25, that of writing a thank you note to God each day. No other rules or format, whatever come to mind that day. I hope by doing so I can slow down, so that I may experience the Miracle of Advent rather than the Season of Advil.

Story Circle Question: How will you welcome the Christ Child into your heart this year?

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1.  Read the above reflection. Begin each day from Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 writing a thank you note to God. The content can be from that day or the past month or year. On Christmas Day, review what you have written.

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session LXXV.
2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt.

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.