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Gratitude expressed for Advent generosity by Karen Kandik, for the Mission and Outreach Team

Because of your GREAT generosity at Advent, First Christian was able to send: 7 HUGE boxes of clothes, toys, shoes, winter jackets, hygiene items and much more to a very grateful Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries; $900 to support Plaster House in Tanzania and send $1000 to Week of Compassion. If you think of all of the lives that are influenced by the generosity of our congregation, it is quite humbling. Here is part of the letter of thanks from F. Feliberto Pereia, Director of SGSM: We are grateful for this latest offering through your church’s Advent generosity. In all my years of working with refugees, I’ve never experienced such heartache. After decades of witnessing wonders through our ministry’s cooperation with federal and other government officials, we and our partners face new challenges in efforts to keep refugees alive as they await decisions about their asylum requests. Yet, love and hope are the heart of the Gospel. Every donation made to the SWGSM is put under God’s hand as we continuously pray for guidance in employing the best use of your gifts. You can be assured that your donations are refreshing, clothing, and sheltering refugees and others in need. We appreciate you more than words can say.

What’s INSIDE:

Message from Pastor Laurie Feille,

page 2

Game Night set for January 24, page 3

FCC Pastors featured in

publications, page 3

February 2020 calendar,

page 4

Pastors attend Poor People’s Campaign event,

page 5

UPCOMING Events

Joint SpringHouse Worship and Annual

Meeting, Sunday, January 26

Grief Support Group

Meetings, Saturdays, 9:30 – ll:30 am at

SpringHouse through April

Diaconate Meeting after

worship, Feb. 2, 2020

The Courier January 25, 2020

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Minneapolis

On the powerful impact of gratitude Thank you so much for the cards of appreciation for all of the staff! Your words of thanks, encouragement and grace made a difference for every single one of us. As is true in many jobs and careers we don’t always know if what we are doing is appreciated. Every member of the staff works hard and to know that we are all appreciated gives us the boost we need to keep serving! Gratitude is a positive emotion that has a powerful impact on those on the giving and the receiving end. It doesn’t take much time to say “thank you” or to let people know how much you appreciate them or something they have done. And yet, as humans we fly through our days meaning to tell people “thank you” but then we forget to pause, take a breath and take the time to let the people around us (or even total strangers) know how grateful we are that they are present in our lives. I find myself at night reflecting on the day and saying to God: I’m so grateful for ________, will you please let them know because I forgot to tell them? While it is great that I spend time in prayer I’m pretty sure that God would rather me tell the person myself. In response to your gift of gratitude to all of us I am going to be more intentional about offering my thanks and gratitude. I don’t send many hand written notes because my handwriting is not easy to read (I made C’s in handwriting even in elementary school). I will try to find ways to tell you individually that I appreciate you as well as collectively as a congregation. I hope that throughout this year when you hear me say or see me write “Thank You” that you will know that it comes from the depths of my heart. To start this year of gratitude off though, I need to follow the example of the congregation and offer my gratitude for the staff. While the congregation is blessed to have Pastor Dan, Deb, Mike, Adam, Caroline, Tanner, Deanna, Jack, Lara, Rick and our Child Care staff: Maria and Rhianna, serving First Christian and SpringHouse, I am beyond thankful that I get to do ministry with such gifted, faithful and fun-loving people. I cannot imagine a better team of people with whom to do ministry. I give thanks every day for all that they do and the ways that we serve together. I hope that you will find a way this week to express gratitude to someone that has touched your life. I know that you have touched mine! Thank you and Thanks Be To God! Much love and peace, Pastor Laurie

In Our Prayers Prayers of Sympathy For Lu Griffin, whose friend

Julie passed away recently, leaving a husband and daughter

Prayers of Concern For Melinda Nickerson’s

student whose father is having health problems

For Hopewell Music Cooperative that they can continue serving music students in North Minneapolis

For Caroline Povolny For Mary Patterson of

Salem who fell and broke her pelvis

For all homebound members including Phyllis Dunlap and Donald Ulm

Prayers for the World For refugees around the

world seeking a safe place to live and for all the people and ministries that work to provide them with food, shelter, and hope

A message from Pastor Laurie Feille

Page 2 January 25, 2020

Everyone welcome to Game Night! The Youth of Springhouse will be hosting a Game Night on Friday, January 24 from 7 to 10 pm! Parents, Youth, and Friends are all welcome! Bring an appetizer and your favorite boardgame to share. Throughout the night, there will be mini and site-wide tournaments. We hope to see you there!

New board members for 2020 New board members were elected at FCC’s annual congregational meeting on Sunday, January 12: Trustees: Lu Griffin (2 year term); Anna Bliss and Tom Curry (4 year

terms) Elders: Karen Kandik, Susan Morgan, Steve Rusinak ( 4 year terms) Deacons/Diaconate: Nancy Curry, Darren Armstrong, Ann Antus, Belinda

Flanagan, Arlan Nickerson (three year terms). Michael Cackoski and Steve Rusinak will be FCC’s representatives on the

Spring House Board (appointed by the board, not elected by congregation)

FCC News Notes: Cleanup, Outreach, Quotes • FCC folks have been asked to help with serving and clean-up

(especially clean-up!) following the SpringHouse lunch this Sunday, January 26; the other two churches will be having their individual annual meetings following the lunch.

• February and March are FCC’s designated months to collect non-

perishable food items that will be donated to Groveland Food Shelf. Begin bringing your donations February 2!

• Next opportunity for Feed My Starving Children packing: May 7, 6-

7:30 pm at the Eagan location • Date saver: Mission at Our Doorstep: June 22-25, 2020. • Pastor Dan Adolphson was quoted in an article in the January issue

of Mpls/St.Paul Magazine titled “The Fight to End Conversion Therapy in Minnesota.” Pastor Dan has been active in trying to get legislation passed to end conversion therapy, testifying at both the Minnesota capitol and the city of Minneapolis city council. The article cites Pastor Dan as one of the local clergy engaged in this campaign.

Disciples News Network features

Pastor Laurie’s work

Page 3 The Courier

The Disciples News Network, the main publicity outlet nationwide for the Disciples of Christ denomination, ran an extensive article in January about the Standing Rock Camp that Pastor Laurie Feille was instrumental in creating.

The article details how Pastor Laurie became acquainted with Standing Rock in 2016, and her subsequent work with other pastors and with the Upper Midwest Region to do more. She stated, “The only way we’re going to change things is for people to come here and learn. The media wasn’t accurate, and there’s a long history of land being taken from Indigenous peoples that we don’t talk about enough.”

The article explains how she and others developed the idea for a youth camp to teach groups the real history of Standing Rock and the tribes living there. The activities of the week-long camp are explained, and Pastor Feille offers suggestions to other regions: “Look in your own region for a similar opportunity to offer a camp of listening. Build relationship with indigenous siblings there. Learn whose land you’re on. Research what happened on that land.”

Read the full article on https://tinyurl.com/vns7pza

February 2020 First Christian Church

Sunday Morning Schedule

9:15 Spiritual Formation Classes 10:30 Worship 11:45 Fellowship Time in Gathering Space

1 9:30 am Grief

Support Group

2 North Sanctuary Young Adult

Sunday Boy Scout

Sunday Noon: Elders Mtg; Diaconate Mtg

3 6:45 SHMC

Building Committee

7 pm FCC Women’s Ministry at Cackoski’s

4 8:15 am

Lectionary Bible Study

5 6:30 Handbells 7:45 FCC Choir

6

7

8 9:30 am Grief

Support Group

9 North Sanctuary Noon: Youth & Parent meeting

10 7 pm SHMC

Finance

11 8:15 am

Lectionary Bible Study

7 pm Pastor Dan PRC

12 5:30 FCC

Finance Committee

6:30 Handbells 7:45 FCC Choir

13 6:30 Pastor Laurie PRC

14 15 9:30 am Grief

Support Group

16 North Sanctuary

17 Presidents’ Day Holiday

18 8:15 am

Lectionary Bible Study

6 pm Worship Team

7 pm FCC Board

19 2 pm Mission &

Outreach 6:30 Handbells 7:45 FCC Choir

20

21 22 9:30 am Grief

Support Group

23 North Sanctuary 9:15 Inter-

generational Sunday School

24 10 am

Sanctuary Switch

7 pm FCC Book Club

25 815 am

Lectionary Bible Study

26 Ash Wednesday 7 pm Ash

Wednesday Service

7:45 FCC Choir

27 28

29 9:30 am Grief

Support Group 6 pm Youth Movie

Outing

To schedule room use at SpringHouse, please send an email to shcoordinator@fccmpls.org

Elders (Offering elder listed first)

Worship Leader Children’s Moment

Diaconate Bus Drivers

Feb. 2 Kirsten Cackoski Tom Curry

Laity Sunday Leadership Diaconate schedule will be announced in early February.

Mike Morgan 612.926-9834

Feb. 9

Lu Griffin Mike Hesano

Steve Rusinak Dan Adolphson Mike Hesano 651-645-6758

Feb. 16 Pat Dunlop Wendy Manuel

Melinda Nickerson Laurie Feille Mike Morgan 612.926-9834

Feb. 23 Arlene Hillestad Jay Hillestad

TBA Steve Rusinak Mike Hesano 651-645-6758

Note: Please call drivers by Saturday for Sunday bus ride

Note: The full calendar for FCC and SpringHouse is available online at https://calendar.churchart.com/calendar/73956030

Building Coordinator asks for your help

from Deb Murphy, SpringHouse Building Coordinator The building is staying busy and the “outside/community” groups are extremely grateful that we allow others to use our spaces. We have theater and dance/movement groups, ethnic groups, a Latinx congregation, a catering business, business groups, workshops, music rehearsals (both instrumental and vocal), recitals and concerts, funerals and weddings (non-SpringHouse and SpringHouse), support groups, overnight groups on servant trips, town hall forums, elections…even a Girl Scout Troop once in awhile. The full calendar is available online at https://calendar.churchart.com/calendar/73956030 It can also be accessed through the SpringHouse website (www.springhousemc.org) Use it to check to see if your meeting is scheduled, look at what else might be happening before scheduling your event, or find out which day Peeps Intergenerational Sunday School is! The calendar is interactive and searchable, but you can’t change anything on it, so go ahead and explore without worrying about messing something up. Watch for an announcement for a ‘Class’ in February or March to learn the ins and outs. Because the number of requests kept increasing – both from the community and SpringHouse –I began to have difficulty tracking it all. To help that situation, there is a specific email address to send your building use request. Please send any room requests to shcoordinator@fccmpls.org. Please include the name of the group or event, day/date(s), number of people expected to attend, room preference and any room needs (extra tables, LED projector, sound system, etc.). If you need a monthly or weekly standing reservation, I’m happy to do that. If you have a list of various days and dates, send me that list and I’ll work with that. An on-line request form should be available sometime in February.

Pastors participate in Poor People’s Campaign organizing Pastors Laurie Feille and Dan Adolphson traveled recently with four other Minneapolis people (with Dan driving the bus) to Des Moines, Iowa, to take part in an organizing event for the Poor People’s Campaign. First Christian Church Des Moines hosted the gathering, and Dr. William Barber spoke. Dr. Barber is, among other positions, pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in North Carolina. Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Dr. Barber are the co-leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign. The Poor People’s Campaign is in the midst of a nine-month, 20-state tour of the U.S. More than 200 people attended the Iowa mass meeting on January 15; on the previous evening, participants marched to Drake University

where the Democratic candidates were debating, to call attention to the issues the Poor People’s Campaign is focused on: systemic racism, poverty and inequality, mass incarceration, ecological devastation, and militarism. A culminating march in Washington, D.C. is being planned for June, 2020. More information about the current tour and the goals of the Poor People’s Campaign can be found at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/

Page 5 The Courier

Narrative Lectionary Text for Sunday, January 26

Mark 5: 1-20 Jesus and the Demoniac

Sundays at First Christian Church Worship at 10:30

Before Worship After Worship Children’s Classes, 9:15 am Fellowship Time 11:45 Joint Adult class 9:30 am

Reflections on the Word Mark 5: 15a: They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind. ..” A current popular TV show called “Evil” suggests that an X-factor of ravaging evil is not easily dismissed or explained by science or reason. In Mark’s challenging story, Jesus is the calm center in a cyclone of evil caused by a demoniac who horrifies his neighbors by howling among tombs. Jesus displays God’s merciful healing amid chaos. Jesus healer of mind and body, we sometimes suffer at the hands of physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. Quiet our minds, still our hearts, and empower our bodies so that we may be whole and healed Amen. Adapted from commentary by C. Clifton Black, Working Preacher

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF MINNEAPOLIS

(DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) 610 W. 28th Street

Minneapolis, MN 55408

A Welcoming Community of Faith in the Heart of the City

Ministry Team Dan Adolphson, Associate Pastor dan.adolphson@fccmpls.org Rick Bowman, SHMC Building Manager Adam Conrad, Co-Music Director &

Composer-in-Residence Laurie Pound Feille, Senior Minister

pastor@fccmpls.org Martha Harris, Courier Editor,

harrismartha@mac.com Laura Moll, Youth Minister,

springhouseyouth@fccmpls.org Deb Murphy, Office Manager & Director of

Spiritual Formation of Children and Youth, deb.murphy@fccmpls.org & SHMC Building Coordinator, events_SHMC@fccmpls.org

Rhianna Peterson, SHMC Maria Thieling, SHMC Child Care Tanner Vanderkrabben, bell choir director Mike Vasich – Co-Music Director & Pianist Office Telephone: 612.870.1868 www.fccminneapolis.org

E-Mail: office@fccminneapolis.org Next issue deadline is Sunday, February 3

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Minneapolis, is a partner church at SpringHouse Ministry Center

January 25, 2020 Page 6