SPECIAL DATESDecember 1, 2019 First Sunday of AdventDecember 8, 2019 Second Sunday of AdventDecember 15, 2019 Third Sunday of AdventDecember 21, 2019 First Day of WinterDecember 22, 2019 Fourth Sunday of AdventDecember 24, 2019 Christmas EveDecember 25, 2019 Christmas DayDecember 31, 2019 New Year’s EveJanuary 1, 2020 New Year’s DayJanuary 6, 2020 EpiphanyJanuary 20, 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Day

BecomingOscar, the renegade turkey, again managed to evade capture. He now abides alone in the bunkhouse. His 22 roomates were consumed by 326 hungry guests, bringing in about $4,000 to the Women’s Fellowship.

Thanks to the ranch hands who worked to make it a success and to manager, Paula McIntyre, who cracked a mean whip!

TheFirst Congregational United Church of Christ, Fargo December 2019/January 2020

Volume 9, Issue 10

IN THIS ISSUEPastor’s Ponderings, Page 2Prayer Concerns, Page 4Important Dates, Page 7

First CongregationalUnited Church of Christ1101 17th Avenue South

Fargo, ND(701) 232-8985

HARVEST TURKEY DINNER A SUCCESS

ADVENT POTLUCKS & WORSHIPSWe will gather on Wednesday, December 11, for a Potluck Dinner at 6:30 and then share in worship at 7 p.m. featuring music from Gene Rich and Glenn Ackerman as well as a Guided Meditation. On December 18th, we’ll gather to eat at 6 p.m. and then go Christmas Caroling at The Meadows on University (1315 S University).

SUNDAY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAMDuring worship on Sunday, December 15, the Sunday School will be presenting this year’s pageant, “Something About a Baby.” We’re grateful for all our children and youth as well as for those adults who serve as teachers and helpers!

CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT WORSHIPOnce again, we will light candles, sing carols, and cele-brate the birth of Christ as we gather at 5 p.m. Spread the word, and let’s fill the church and the world with light and love!

We can also celebrate Christmas as an event that envelops all time, an event of Kairos. Christmas is not past, but ever present, when-ever we aim to embody the Christ within us. Christmas is a time for celebrating the immanence of God – Emmanuel, God-with-us – the immanence of love, however it may be named in different tradi-tions of faith and in secular tradi-tions, too. Christmas is an event, a process of birthing we can cel-ebrate not just in this time, but in all the times of our lives, allowing ourselves to be transformed by Christ and committing ourselves to work for the transformation of the world into justice and peace for all people and all creation at Christmas and all through the year.

So, let us celebrate Christmas this year in both Chronos time and Kairos time. Let us celebrate the love of God that embraces us all. And let us celebrate the reality of a world that contains a whole lot more light and joy than we might imagine.

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Kevin

is unchanging in its pace. The second word for time, Kairos, is quite different in its meaning. Kairos gets at the significance of time and is used in connec-tions with events that stand out more sharply in time, events that transcend time, events that bring meaning to time.

As we contemplate Christmas 2019, we can do so in terms of Chronos, as we know that the birth of Jesus is an event that happened in history (even if not, most likely, on December 25th). Jesus was born in a par-ticular time and place, to par-ticular parents and heritage, into the particular religion of Judaism and its best traditions of mystics and prophets. About Christmas there is a beautiful particularity, often called incar-nation, as we contemplate the flesh and blood embodiment of the divine, however difficult that is to comprehend. Celebrating Christmas this year, we can dig deeply into the life of the histor-ical Jesus, what he taught, how he lived, whom he welcomed, and the unprecedented extent to which love shone through that life. Anchored in this Chro-nos understanding of Christ-mas, we can dig more deeply into our own lives and relation-ships, too, learning and grow-ing, walking the walk of our Christian faith, welcoming any-one and everyone, and working on being better and better at shining forth love in all that we do and say.

The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020Page 2

As I write this, Christmas is but 19 days hence. Yikes! Where does the time go?

The time goes as it goes, always moving at its same constant un-changing pace. Or does it? Are there not times when waiting for something for even 5 minutes seems utterly interminable? Are there not times when we look back ruefully over the years of a precious marriage or career or some other piece of our lives and wonder how it could be slipping away so with such ridiculous ra-pidity?

The ancient Greeks had two pri-mary words for time. The first, Chronos, is the word from which we get the word chronological, the kind of time marked and mea-sured by clocks and calendars, the time that, at least officially,

Rev. Dr. Kevin Cassiday-Maloney

Help is only a phone call or text away!If you would like a visit from Pastor Kevin, or just want to “bend an ear,” pleasecall (701) 373-5709 or send a Facebook message to Kevin Cassiday-Maloney.

PASTOR’S PONDERINGS

JANUARY SERMON SERIESSome of you have heard Pastor Jo and me share with great enthusiasm about the mystery novels of Cana-dian author, Louise Penny, featuring Inspector Armand Gamache. They’re a pretty good read, as Penny dis-plays an uncanny understanding of human nature and relationships, redemption and transformation. This January, I’ll be doing a four-week sermon series exploring what Inspector Gamache tells his mentees are “four things that lead to wisdom.” They are four brief, simple, and memorable statements that can become mantras for any of us, windows into some deeper exploration of where we are in life and in our journeys of faith and development. Here are the phrases and the preaching schedule:

January 5 – “I don’t know.”January 12 – “I need help.”January 19 – “I’m sorry.January26 – “I was wrong.”

If you are looking for some good books to read, be sure to start with the first one and read them in order. And if you have someone in your acquaintance who might be looking for a progressive and joyful faith community, bring them along for this series. The more, the merrier!

Darin K., of the AA group that meets here, would like us to know that if anyone in the congregation has an addiction problem, they are here to help. Feel free to call him at 701-541-7270 and/or show up at the weekly AA meeting from 9:30-10:30 at our church.

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATIONThe 2019 Annual Meeting of our congregation will be after church on January 26th. This is an important time to take stock of where we are in our church life, to commission new lay leadership, and to venture forth boldly into the future God lays before us.

Our Office Manager has prepared Financial Giving Reports which are now available on the information table outside the Office. Thanks to all for your great financial support as well as for sharing your time and talent, no small gifts either!

Arlyce Widmer is coordinating this year’s sale of Christmas Poinsettias again. Cost is $12, and there will be order forms in the bulletin the next two Sundays, with the deadline on December 15. You may also call the office to place your order.

CHRISTMAS FUND OFFERINGEach year we take a UCC-wide offering to help bring extra support to retired clergy whose pensions are too small to support them and to provide emergency relief to pastors in crisis of one sort or another. We will receive this offering on December 15 – thanks for opening your hearts and wallets and purses! Our goal is $600.

Page 3 The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020

NEWS FROM AROUND THE CHURCH

We pray for Pastor Kevin’s step-siblings as they grieve the death of their mother, Sally Schroed-er-Brackins. Plans are to scatter her ashes in Wisconsin over the 4th of July family gathering, and Pastors Kevin and Jo will be among those sharing words of remembrance as her life is remembered and com-mended into God’s love.

We continue to keep Helen Goodfellow in our prayers as she deals with her health challenges and finds enjoyment and purpose along the way! May God sustain her day by day and may God’s grace manifest in body, mind, and spirit.

We pray for Jerry and Maida Gil-braith as Jerry continues with ar-duous chemotherapy treatments for metastatic cancer. May God bring healing in whatever form is possible, and may both Jerry and Maida and their family be buoyed throughout this challenging time!

We pray for Kathy Carbno as she deals with serious cancer issues. May God’s grace envelop her and

bring abundant healing her way!

We pray for Marrion Walsh, who was hospitalized recently and is now rehabbing at Eventide on 32nd in Room 108. She is making progress and welcomes visitors. May Marrion soon be back home!

We pray for Pete Young who is hospitalized at Sanford West. May God bring healing to Pete and hold him and Anne in love and strength.

We pray for Freeland Pletcher who is hospitalized at the VA. May God’s love embrace Freeland and Lorraine.

Thanksgiving for Mary Dickson being willing to fill in on Novem-ber 9th as Organist! We are hap-py to have her share her talents, and we are grateful for our Regu-lar Organist, Mariann Astrup!

Thanksgiving that Betty Cantler had successful knee replacement surgery this past month. May God bring continued healing and resil-ience Betty’s way!

Thanksgiving for the wonder-ful Adult Education discussions we’ve had this fall on Marcus Borg’s book, Convictions. Special thanks to Rev. Dr. Don McCullagh for his initiative and leadership!

Thanksgiving for Pete Young stepping up and filling the pulpit on two Sundays as Pastors Kevin and Jo were in Omaha around the time of the death of Jo’s mother, Fran Cassiday. The entire

Cassiday family is very grateful for all the prayers sent forth from our congregation!

Page 4 The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020

PRAYER CONCERNS & THANKSGIVINGS

Thanksgiving for 16 people com-ing to this year’s first Advent Pot-luck and Worship last night. We were feted with some great music by Gene Rich and his daughter Christen as Emma Bueng played violin and accompanied our sing-ing.

Thanksgiving for all who have worked so hard in decorating the church for Christmas. We are grateful for the color and splen-dor of this sacred season!

Thanksgiving for those who have stepped up as Salvation Army bell ringers this year. Thanks to Carol Roth for organizing this – and stay tuned for some addi-tional opportunities that may yet come our way.

Jesus used love as his ethic, a love that recognized God in every human he encountered. Jesus saw dig-nity and worth in the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the leper, the prisoner, the poor, the tax collector, the sinner, the gentile, the enemy. Any one of these were seen by the powers of his time as expendable.

Law and mores of any time conspire to place limits on those whom we were required to love.

Into such a world a child would be born of God who knew love as the only thing the law would recognize.

It has been more than 2,000 years since the child born of love came to us. His disciples still recognize him and the incarnation of a God we know as love - and the world still struggles to love each other. Democrats despise Republicans. Muslims are terrorists and Mexicans are murderers. The rich demonize the poor. The prisoner is forgotten. The stranger, alien and immigrant are walled away.

Come Christmas, celebrate not just the coming of baby Jesus – but the incarnation of a child born of the God we know as love. All who love are born of God. We become the Christ-child in the simple act of choosing love.

Merry Christmas.

Page 5 The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020

The Simple Act of Choosing LoveJohn C. Dorhauer, UCC General Minister and President

In his Christmas message, United Church of Christ General Minister and President the Rev. John C. Dorhauer invites the wider church to ground our spirits in God’s love.

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” I John 4.7

As we enter another Christmas season, I invite us to ground our spirits in this love.

Like all early Christians, John wanted to understand what the coming of the Christ-child meant for those who worshiped God through Jesus. He came to see that to be a disciple one must love. He focused his

theological worldview on one core fundament: God is love.

That Jesus was born of God had become, by the time of John, a core belief of the early Church. That being born of God meant essentially that one was born to love was a particular distillation of John’s theology.

The stories of Jesus were being collected and told over and over again. In a world dominated by powers that oppressed and marginalized, Jesus’ power was unique in that it was offered precisely to those whose power the world neglected.

The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020Page 6

DECEMBER HOSPITALITY LISTHere are the names for our December Hospitality list:

Kelly & Patrick Eagle Joanne AndresKathy & Luis Vega Darin & Dawn MogckHeather Karstens Patti PrattAl Ohrt Bob ScheelArdys Olgaard Carolyn Stenseth

Please choose a Sunday that works best for you. Our hospitality hour remains an im-portant part of our Sunday worship service and we look forward to extending a warm welcome to any and all visitors. There is a sign-up sheet located in the Fellowship Hall. Thanks for volunteering!

Birthdays & Anniversaries

BIRTHDAYS12/01 • Deonne Varriano

12/04 • Dave Hanna12/04 • Tim Radloff

12/07 • Tony Christensen12/14 • Tyler Flaagan12/22 • Payton Fogle

12/23 • Carson Buckhouse12/24 • Jacy Rice

12/25 • Noell Reinhiller12/28 • Brian Booth01/05 • Jim Erickson

01/06 • Shelley Widmer01/07 • Annika Mogck01/08 • Ashlin Aaland

01/08 • Nation Redstone01/11 • Gavin Alley

01/15 • Toni Froysland01/17 • Joyce Stende

01/17 • Isla Naseer01/19 • Al Ohrt

01/25 • Brenna Naseer01/26 • Braden Pletcher01/27 • Mathew Dickson01/28 • Carolyn Stenseth01/29 • Freeland Pletcher

ANNIVERSARIES12/03 • Brian & Kimberly Booth

12/21 • Jon & Mary Dickson12/31 • Don & Joyce Stevenson

ALL-AGES ADVENTWORKSHOP A SUCCESS

Thank you to all who joined us for our Sec-ond Annual All-Ages Christmas Workshop

on Sunday, December 8.

Craft tables gave the opportunity for all to make an ornament, designed for age groups from

three to one hundred.

The group dined on a sloppy joe lunch following the morning worship service, and decorated sug-

ar and gingerbread cookies for dessert.

Page 7 The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020

Holy Communion first Sunday each month - ALL are welcome to partake!Worship every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.Women’s Fellowship second Tuesday each month at 10:00 a.m.Bulletins and Bibles every Wednesday from 1:30-3:30 p.m. (Bible Study begins at 2 p.m.)Adult Education every Wednesday from 7:00-8:30 p.m.R ug Ministry second Wednesday each month at 10:00 a.m.Confirmation scheduled as we goUCC Youth Table Fellowship 1st, 3rd, & 5th Sundays at 5 p.m. (our church on the 1st Sunday, Moorhead UCC on the 3rd & 5th Sundays)

Sunday, December 15 – Sunday School Christmas Program, Christmas Fund Offering, Confirmation held at 12:00 p.m.Tuesday, December 24 – 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Candlelight WorshipPastors Kevin and Jo out of town from Christmas Day through January 2.Sunday, December 29 – Rev. Dr. Don McCullagh leading Service of Lessons and CarolsTuesday, January 21 – Deadline for February Becoming (please send your information to our Editor, Brenna Naseer at brenna.pratt.1@gmail.com)Sunday, December 22 – 12:00 p.m. ConfirmationSunday, November 24 – 5:00 p.m. UCC Youth Dinner at Moorhead UCC

For a current calendar, visit our church website at www.FirstUCCFargo organd click the “Events” link in the upper right.

FIRST CHURCH UPCOMING DATES

MONTHLY COMMUNITY HOSPITALITY

Every Monday:6:00-7:30 p.m. Nepali Moms Support GroupEvery Tuesday:4:30 p.m. Codependents Anonymous Women’s Group7:00 p.m. Heather and ThistleEvery Saturday:9:30-10:30 a.m. – Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting3:00-5:00 p.m. - Nepali YouthEvery Sunday:1-3 p.m. Nepali Worship5-7 p.m. FM Gay Men’s Chorus

Bonnie Fischer, Office Manager1stcongregationalucc@gmail.com

Page 8

Welcome to First Church!OUR COVENANTWe covenant here, one with another, in the love of truth and in the spirit of Jesus Christ, for the worship of God and the service of Gods’ creation; and, as the Lords’ free people, we agree to walk together in all of God’s ways, known or to be made known to us.

Kevin Cassiday-Maloney, PastorOffice Phone: 701-232-8985 Cell Phone: 701-373-5709

Email: mrmetta57@gmail.comFacebook: Kevin Cassiday-Maloney

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST1101 17TH AVENUE SOUTHFARGO, ND 58103

The Becoming is a publi-cation of First Congrega-tional Church, Fargo.

This publication is pub-lished monthly and mailed to membters and friends of the Church. Ar-ticles are taken with per-mission from The Aware, UCC News, The Newslet-ter Newsletter and The Fargo Forum.

Becoming Staff:Editor Brenna NaseerAdvisor Kevin Cassiday-MaloneyProduction The Bible Study Group

www.firstuccfargo.orgFirst Church is on the web!

The Becoming • December 2019/January 2020