Posts by Communications

District News & Announcements – October 2020

District News & Announcements

October 2020

Holiness in our Midst: Session 97

SESSION XCVII: ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Story Circle Prompt: Reflect on one of the Ten Commandments and its meaning in your life.

One Sunday morning several years ago, my pastor, Rev. Mary Jane Button-Harrison of First Christian Church in Ames, engaged the congregation in a spirited dialogue about our “favorite” and “least favorite” of the Ten Commandments. The answers were wide-ranging and revealing, sometimes humorous. In one exchange, I silent agreed with several persons that my favorite was the Sixth Commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” because, as they said, they could keep this one. At least, they hadn’t shot any one…

Just then, Don Withers, a fellow parishioner, spoke up from his seat in the choir and said that he used to think this way too, until he realized the impact of the “little murders” we commit each day. It was a sermon in a sentence. He named some of the ways we “kill off” the spirits and self-confidence of each other. It was an eye-opening moment.

In researching the origin of phrase “little murders,” I found this exchange, illustrating how the concept can be lived out. It references the movie “Little Murders,” a 1971 black comedy film by Jules Feiffer. The interview, “Oprah Talks to Maya Angelou,” was in the December 2000 issue of The Oprah Magazine:

Oprah: Earlier you were telling me that your life is defined by principles. And one principle you have taught me is that we can’t allow ourselves to be “pecked to death by ducks.”

Maya: That’s true. Some people don’t have the nerve to just reach up and grab your throat, so they just take….

Oprah: Little pieces of you—with their rude comments…They try to demean you.

Maya: Reduce your humanity through what Jules Feiffer called little murders. The minute I hear [someone trying to demean me], I know that that person means to have my life. And I will not give it to them.

Oprah: It’s an assassination attempt by a coward.

Maya: Yes. Some people don’t have the courage to just walk up to you and pull the trigger. If somebody just walked up and said “Boom!”—well, there you go. Bye. But when a person commits these little murders, and then you catch him or her at it, he or she might say, “Oh, I didn’t mean it.” But make no mistake: It is an assassination attempt.

Oprah: What about when a person makes a mistake and says, “I need a second chance?” Do you give them a second chance?

Maya: Well, I have to say yes.

Oprah: But when people show you who they are, believe them!… Because you see rudeness as a little murder.

Maya: Yes.

Oprah: And you also don’t allow anybody to say anything negative about anybody while in your home.

Maya: That’s right.

Oprah: I’ve seen you put people out of your house for telling a racist joke! And you are not the least bit embarrassed about disrupting the whole room.

Maya: I believe that a negative statement is poison…I’m convinced that the negative has power. It lives. And if you allow it to perch in your house, in your mind, in your life, it can take you over. So when the rude or cruel thing is said—the lambasting, the gay bashing, the hate—I say, “Take it all out of my house!” Those negative words climb into the woodwork and into the furniture, and the next thing you know they’ll be on my skin.

Oprah: The same is true with the positive spirit.

Maya: I believe so.

Since I was introduced to the idea of “little murders,” whenever I am tempted to talk down to, gossip about, raise my voice at, blatantly ignore, demean, exclude, put down, or otherwise dismiss another as “the other,” I am conscious of my actions having potential to do grave harm. There are laws with penalties against the killing of physical bodies, but there are also spiritual consequences we do not see for the “little murders” we commit in our daily life. Thanks to Don, the Sixth Commandment now has the most meaning of all the Ten Commandments; it is a useful guide in these Days of Great Divides. 

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1. Read the above reflection. In your journal, write a reflection on one of the Ten Commandments. Which one would you choose? Why? 

FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session XCVII.
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 – September 2020

District News & Announcements

September 2020

Holiness in our Midst: Session 96

SESSION XCVI: ON WALKING PATHS

Story Circle Prompt: Share about your most memorable daily walking path? Is it your current one or one from the past? What makes it come to mind?

In this Time of Covid, I walk. More than I have in recent months and years. My daily walking path is a pretty, tree-lined residential street. It serves its purpose well. Its seasonal flowers, blooming bushes and old growth trees soften the impact of things on my mind: politics, the pandemic and racial unrest. (I must mention that this street, Shagbark Drive by name, has somewhat fewer trees than a month ago. The tree-trimming derecho swept through my town of Nevada.) 

But, in thinking about my most memorable daily walking path, I travel back in time to my 14 years in downtown Chicago. I would begin my trek at my apartment building at State and Elm Street in the Near North area, a block from Lake Michigan. I headed east toward the lake to Michigan Avenue. On Sundays, I would go south a few blocks to the Magnificent Mile, destination Fourth Presbyterian Church, directly across from the John Hancock Tower (now known as 875 Michigan Avenue). On weekdays, I would go north, past the palatial residences with stunning lake views. Traversing this stretch, I would often feel underdressed by humans, yes, but also by poodles in little sailor suits and babies who appeared to have their own couturiers.

Twelve blocks later, I would reach lovely-in-every-season Lincoln Park. Meandering through this spacious landscaped public treasure, my cares would disappear. I walked, taking care for bicyclists, until I was ready to cross the lagoon and head for the shore. Sometimes I would detour and walk the length of Navy Pier (pre- Ferris wheel) before I strolled along the lakefront to Oak Street beach, where I took the tunnel that connected to the street that took me back home.

I have never listened to real music while I walk, now or then. But most every walk in Chicago was accompanied by what I call the “music of the moment,” the current words in my head: song lyrics, lines of poetry or quotations. 

Examples: 

After I heard Don McLean sing “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie” one summer night on Navy Pier, I often sang it out loud it when I revisited the scene:

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while…

The year that I turned 30, several times during October, I walked in rhythm to “Poem in October” by Dylan Thomas:

It was my thirtieth year to heaven 

Woke my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
   And the mussel pooled and the heron
           Priested shore
       The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
       Myself to set foot
           That second
In the still sleeping town and set forth…

One quotation I would ponder on my walks was the inscription on a plaque near the entrance to Fourth Presbyterian Church: “The Master is here and calleth for Thee.” I would wonder on my initial walks: Could that be true? Is God real? Over time, my experiences at my church were as advertised. Come to think about it, as I grew in faith, I would find that same Master calling for me, accompanying me, on my walks in my latter years in Chicago. Since then, too.

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

1. Read the above reflection. In your journal, answer the question: Remember in words your favorite daily walking path. If it your present one, describe what you experienced on a recent walk. Did you encounter God on your walk? How did God speak to you?

1. FOR GROUP STUDY:

1.   Read aloud Session XCVI.
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 – August 2020

District News & Announcements

August 2020

Holiness in our Midst: Session 95

SESSION XCV: ON MIRACLES

Story Circle Prompt: When did God resolve an issue or make “a way” in the wilderness for you? Remember the circumstances of that miracle…
This question about miracles has origins in a story…

One morning in early April of 2002, I was awakened suddenly in a guest house on the outskirts of Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria. The day before, our traveling group had experienced one of the city’s famous “worst traffic jams in the world.” Yes, I was glad to be alive, but also dead tired when I went to bed that night. I was accompanying then Church of the Brethren Annual Conference Moderator Paul Grout and his wife Dorothy as they bore witness to denominational mission sites. I remember three things about that morning: 1) I woke up to giggling children peeking around the curtains in my open-air windows, a whole neighborhood of them greeting me warmly. Quite a surprise! 2) The shower was very, very makeshift. 3) Most memorable, though, was a plaque on the wall that read, simply: He will make a way where there is no way.

The sign recalled Isaiah 43:18-20:

18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen… (New International Version)

Every day on that trip, we witnessed our way being smoothed through small miracles. Since then, whenever I have encountered seemingly dead end situations, I have asked God to make a way.

To the question of a personal miracle:

As many around me are losing their jobs, I remember back to September of 2009. My position as coordinator of mission connections for the denomination in Elgin, IL had been eliminated in February of that year. Even with the aid of a headhunter, neither local positions nor similar ones with other denominations or agencies were available to me. Other denominational and ecumenical colleagues were in similar circumstances in the Great Recession. My online search for jobs back in Iowa came up empty. (I had expected to stay in Illinois.) That month I had exhausted my financial resources. My weekly Centering Prayer group surrounded me with love, prayers, and song— even providing food and essentials when I did not know where to turn. They kept hope alive and prayed for God’s will, even laying hands on me, as I sought my next place in the world. Together we trusted through tears (theirs and mine) that God would make a way.

My miracle came on the morning of Sept. 10 with an audible insistent voice saying, “Call Martha…now!” Martha Kash and her husband Norb owned a bed-and-breakfast in Colo, IA; I had over-wintered at their place during a previous season of transition. Martha answered immediately when I called. I explained my desperate plight. She said: “Oh, we’re getting ready to go Arizona for the winter. Why don’t you move back to Iowa and house sit till April? That would solve a lot of problems for us!” She said she had to go and get ready for Garden Club that morning. “Just call back this afternoon and let us know when you will be here.” The rest is history.

Caring for their home came with so much that I needed for a clean transition:

A showcase farmstead, a photographer’s dream, with plenty of time to heal and space to entertain.
A sunroom, which they designed after a visit to a Frank Lloyd Wright home, that overlooked perennial gardens in the distance and bird feeders placed mere feet from the windows.
No rent or utility payments for five months.
Phone and internet access.
A garage and access to their car.
Free food: A full refrigerator, freezer, kitchen cupboard, snack drawer and basement pantry (including home-canned jams, jellies, pickles, garden vegetables and fruits).
Free storage space, in their barn and spare rooms.
Access to this fine couple’s neighbors and community connections.
Birthday flowers and frequent calls and notes of encouragement.

Folks from my church community in Illinois moved my belongings to Colo. “We have a “ministry of moving,” they said. Within days of arriving in Colo, I got my previous job back working in a residential care facility with profoundly disabled adults. In short, loving friends helped me leave my old place well. New ones invited me to join their church and re-establish district connections that continue to this day. Through a single phone call, miraculous in its timing, He provided a way where there was no way.

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:
Read the above reflection. In your journal, answer the question: When did you experience a miracle? Describe the events surrounding it.

FOR GROUP STUDY:
1. Read aloud Session XCV.
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 Conference Updates – Meeting Links and Videos

DISTRICT CONFERENCE 2020
July 31,  August 1 and 2, 2020
Moderator, Lucinda Douglas

One body together, helping each other!
Galatians 6:2     |     1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

District Conference Videos

New videos for district conference are now available using the links below and by going to our website – nplains.org/dc2020

Insight Session:
Frank Ramirez – Brethren in the Age of Pandemic: A century ago and today
If the video doesn’t play right away, click “open in browser”

Children’s Message – from the Haren family

Using Zoom to Participate in District Conference

The 2020 District Conference will use the interactive Zoom platform which allows a group of individuals to see and hear each other online much like Skype.  District Conference will also include pre-recorded videos posted on nplains.org/dc2020 and available to view by clicking their links.  There will be two worship services, an insight session, a play, and a children’s moment.

Download & Install Zoom: Zoom can be downloaded and installed easily and is available for Windows PC, MAC, iOS (Apple), Android, and Blackberry devices. Click the appropriate link below to download Zoom onto your device.

• Windows & Mac: http://zoom.us/download/  (download the Zoom Client for Meetings)
• iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id546505307
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.zoom.videomeetings
• Blackberry: https://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/59949934

Practice Sessions: There are three practice sessions before District Conference for you to practice signing into a Zoom meeting and using this platform.  Everyone is strongly encouraged to participate in one or more of the following practice sessions:
July 28, 10:00 a.m. – Click here to join meeting
July 29, 1:00 p.m. – Click here to join meeting
July 30, 7:00 p.m. – Click here to join meeting

Main Sessions: 
July 31, 7:00 p.m., Worship – Find pre-recorded video at nplains.org/dc2020
July 31, 7:45 p.m., Fellowship after Friday Evening Worship  –  Click here to join meeting
August 1, 7:45 a.m., Business Session – Click here to join meeting
August 1, 12:45 p.m., Fellowship & Fun Time – Click here to join meeting
August 2, 8:45 a.m., Insight Session Discussion, – Click here to join meeting
August 2, 10:00 a.m., Worship – Find pre-recorded video at nplains.org/dc2020
August 2, 10:45 a.m., Fellowship after Sunday Morning Worship – Click here to join meeting

To join meetings with a cell phone or landline:
Phone In: +1 312 626 6799
Meeting ID: 870 2614 2909
Passcode: 807119

To join meetings with one tap mobile (for Smartphones):
+13126266799,,87026142909#,,,,,,0#,,807119#

If you need help, contact one of these tech support persons:
Tim Button-Harrison, de@nplains.org, 641-485-5604
Paul Shaver, revpaul.ivestercob@gmail.com, 319-423-9034
Hannah Button-Harrison, communications@nplains.org, 515-460-5365

If your connection to the meeting is lost, for whatever reason, just try connecting again.

Tips for Using Zoom

• If you are using an external camera and/or microphone be sure to plug them in before opening the Zoom application.
• Use a headset if possible.
• Only 1 microphone and speaker system should be active per physical location to avoid feedback.
• Mute yourself when you are not speaking. Once you are muted, press and hold the spacebar to speak (unless we are in a business session), release when finished.
• Use the “Chat” feature to ask questions without interrupting the speaker. Or raise your hand in the “Participants” bar.
• To view everyone in the video section (limited to 24 at one time on computer, less on tablets and iPads) press the “Gallery View” located in the upper right on a MAC or PC. (iPad swipe left to view other participants)
• To change the view to “Speaker” (whoever is speaking) click in the same area to switch between Speaker and Gallery views.

Reminders Ahead of District Conference 2020

1. The digital version of the District Conference Booklet is now available.  You can access it here.
2. Please REGISTER for our VIRTUAL DISTRICT CONFERENCE at www.nplains.org/dc2020  or mail your registration form to District Conference Support, Ida Van Westen, 21284 Knauf Ave, Reading MN  56165.  Your registration ensures that we can provide info how to log-on to our YouTube worship services on Friday evening and Sunday morning and to join in our ZOOM business session and fellowship, fun/social gathering times.Online Registration – You can register here instead of using the packet

   District Payment Website – For donating and ordering printed DC booklets

3. Registrations are due July 22.
4. There is no charge to register for District Conference
5. We will accept your offering/donation on the District website www.nplains.org/dc2020  or mailed to Financial Secretary, Rhonda Bingman, 820 Raven Lane, Madrid IA 50156
6. WATCH THE WEBSITE AND YOUR EMAILS FOR ANY UPDATES AND FOR LOGIN INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED.
7. Login practice times are listed in the schedule.  This is for you to learn how to use our YouTube and ZOOM platforms for our conference.
8. For problems when logging on for conference, please contact:

    Hannah Button-Harrison: ph/text 515-460-5365 or communications@nplains.org

    Paul Shaver: ph/text 319-423-9034 or revpaul.ivestercob@gmail.com

    Tim Button-Harrison: ph/text 641-485-5604 or email de@nplains.org

***Stay tuned for an update next week with links to the Friday evening and Sunday morning worship services.***

Reminders Ahead of District Conference

Reminders Ahead of District Conference 2020

1. The digital version of the District Conference Booklet is now available.  You can access it here.
2. Please REGISTER for our VIRTUAL DISTRICT CONFERENCE at www.nplains.org/dc2020  or mail your registration form to District Conference Support, Ida Van Westen, 21284 Knauf Ave, Reading MN  56165.  Your registration ensures that we can provide info how to log-on to our YouTube worship services on Friday evening and Sunday morning and to join in our ZOOM business session and fellowship, fun/social gathering times.Full Registration Packet – To be printed, filled out, and sent by mail
   – Cover Letter
   – Registration Form
   – Schedule
   – Service Projects

   Online Registration – You can register here instead of using the packet

   District Payment Website – For donating and ordering printed DC booklets

3. Registrations are due July 22.
4. There is no charge to register for District Conference
5. We will accept your offering/donation on the District website www.nplains.org/dc2020  or mailed to Financial Secretary, Rhonda Bingman, 820 Raven Lane, Madrid IA 50156
6. WATCH THE WEBSITE AND YOUR EMAILS FOR ANY UPDATES AND FOR LOGIN INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED.
7. Login practice times are listed in the schedule.  This is for you to learn how to use our YouTube and ZOOM platforms for our conference.
8. For problems when logging on for conference, please contact:

    Hannah Button-Harrison: ph/text 515-460-5365 or communications@nplains.org

    Paul Shaver: ph/text 319-423-9034 or revpaul.ivestercob@gmail.com

    Tim Button-Harrison: ph/text 641-485-5604 or email de@npllains.org

DISTRICT CONFERENCE 2020
July 31,  August 1 and 2, 2020
Moderator, Lucinda Douglas
2020 THEME

One body together, helping each other!
Galatians 6:2     |     1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

** Watch the District web site www.nplains.org/dc2020  for some Children’s messages that you can share with your youngsters!

MODERATOR SERMON

Since she is unable to visit in person, our 2020 District Conference moderator, Lucinda Douglas, has recorded a sermon to share with all congregations in the district.  Please click the image above to view and share Lucinda’s message!

District News & Announcements – July 2020

District News & Announcements

July 2020

Quick info

Online Worship and Resources

Church of the Brethren, Covid-19 Pandemic Response, listing financial resources and grants: https://covid19.brethren.org/

Bethany Theological Seminary, Ministering through Covid-19: https://bethanyseminary.edu/covid-19-resource-list/

Northern Plains District pastors and congregations, online worship and devotions.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/NorthernPlainsCoB/ and “like” the District’s page and check it periodically for updates.  Do the same with Facebook pages of our congregations:

COB@Ankeny

The Church on Northland (Cedar Rapids)

Dallas Center

Fairview

Hammond Avenue (Waterloo)

Hilcrest Baptist/Brethren (Fredericksburg)

Ivester

Iowa River

Lewiston

Libertyville

Living Peace (Sioux City)

Open Circle  (Burnsville)

Panora

Panther Creek

Peace  (Council Bluffs)

Pickwick  (Ottumwa)

Prairie City

South Waterloo

Denominational listing of congregations posting worship online:

http://www.brethren.org/news/2020/church-of-the-brethren-congregations-worship-online.html