The Link
The Weekly E-Newsletter of Disciples Christian Church
November 5, 2009
In This Issue
- Updated Prayer Requests
- Trunk or Treat
- Thank you!
- Open Invitation from Northeast
Area Minister
- Men’s Bible Study
- Disciples Women’s Reading
Group
- November Young at Heart
- Salvation Army Angel Tree
- Gospel Gang
- Music Notes
- Mike’s Kids
- DCC is Committed to Keeping
you Healthy …
- Communion at DCC
Updated
Prayer Requests
- Linda Gulick’s mother began chemotherapy for
melanoma on November 3.
The prayer requests in The
Link each week are recent updates. A list of ongoing prayer requests
appears in our worship bulletin each Sunday.
Trunk or Treat
For the first time, Disciples Christian
Church hosted Trunk or Treat on Halloween day. The day started early for
several of us and as the morning became afternoon, both the members of the
church and the crowd of visitors grew. We had the usual bounce houses, cake
walks, trunks, candy and games. We also had live music for church members and a
booth setup to tell those that were interested in DCC what our church is all
about. The outstanding thing that I observed was how the members of the DCC
church family not only did what they were supposed to do to make the people
feel welcome but they did it effortlessly. It did not matter the task. From
hauling the bales of hay to their designated spots to calling a cake walk or selling
tickets or manning a bounce house or running the ring toss, we did it in a
manner that should make every member of DCC proud. I know that this day was
long for many of us and there was some concern over things like “will the lawn
be dry enough?” or “will anybody show up?” but in the end all was well. I do
not know the words that would express my sincere gratitude to everyone that
helped make this day a success. I simply offer my heartfelt thanks to anyone
that helped make this year’s Trunk or Treat a success from those that worked
all day to those that offered a prayer for good weather. Thank God for all of
you.
Mike Bell, Evangelism Chair
Thank you!
DCC,
Thank
you so much for the yummy dinner. It was
wonderful to come home from work and know the dinner angels were coming!
Thanks
also to Young at Heart group for the beautiful flowers. Your prayers and love have been felt throughout
this time. Thanks for everything,
Jan
Mueller
Open Invitation from the Northeast Area
Is your church facing building issues that are consuming
your time and budget?
What would happen if someone were hurt on your church
property or if your building were damaged by a fire, flood or tornado?
Rev. Coretha Loughridge,
Area Minister, Northeast Area of
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Southwest,
invites you to attend a small group
workshop for clergy and lay leaders.
“Our
Is it Housing or
Hurting God’s Ministry?”
Thursday, November 12, 2009
1:00-4:00 p.m. or 6:00-9:00 p.m. (you may attend either session)
First Christian Church
4202 S. Broadway,
Presenters:
Maribeth Westerfield
Church Extension
Carl Kotheimer,
The Insurance Board
Facilitator:
Ellen Mitchell
Church Extension
Presentations will
focus on Hospitality, Stewardship of the Building and Accessibility. Prior to the workshop, you are encouraged to
send two to three of your most pressing building issues to Ellen at emitchell@churchextension.org.
Please R.S.V.P. by November 9th to the Area
Men’s
Bible Study
Calling
all men! Come join us at IHOP (
Disciples Women’s Reading Group
The DCC Women’s Reading Group will be discussing Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom during the November
meeting. The discussion will take place
on Tuesday, November 10.
November Young at Heart
This month the Young at Heart dinner group will be meeting at Aparicio's
Restaurante Mexicano,
Salvation Army Angel Tree
Bobby Overstreet, DCC contact in charge of this year’s Angel Tree, is planning on the Christmas tree being up and “ready
for business” on Sunday, November 22.
There will be 35 Angel Tree angels on
the tree to choose from. All of the
angels and gift bags need to be delivered by Bobby to Collin Creek Mall by
Tuesday, December 8, so everyone has two weeks to get their shopping done for
their “Angels.” Please
bring your bags to the Atrium by Sunday, December 6
Gospel
Gang
Fred
Hall
Now that
you’ve checked us out, how about it?
Did you find it easy to be in our group?
Were there times … maybe only once … when that easiness was
challenged? Were you able to enter in? Did you have any core beliefs affirmed? Some of them challenged? Did you leave our study time wanting to come
back? Do you still have a question that
no one answered? There’s always the next
time: the GOSPEL GANG 9:30 AM, SUNDAY.
Music
Notes
Laura Young
Merry Christmas!
Well, not quite yet, but in order to have a Merry Christmas, the Chancel
and Handbell Choirs have already begun rehearsing for a special musical
presentation in Advent.
Please mark your calendars and plan to join to us “Joyful,
Joyful!” during worship on Sunday, December 13th!
Chancel Choir is rehearsing from
6:30 – 7:30 pm on Wednesday nights and 9 – 9:25 am on Sunday mornings.
Handbell Choir is rehearsing
immediately after worship on Sunday afternoons.
Members of the musical groups AND
members of the congregation are invited to let Laura Young know if you would
like to present a solo or volunteer for a narrator part on December 13th. Thank you!
Mike’s Kids
Mike’s Kids is an annual program
that is supported by the North Texas Area of Disciples Christian Churches, the
Christian Men’s Fellowship, and the Southwest Good Samaritans Ministries. This program supports children who have been
abandoned or forced out of their homeland to a new country. As Christmas season fast approaches, it is
time to begin filling banana boxes with clothing (appropriate for South Texas)
and child-sized underwear (new), toys (new or gently used), food, etc. for
Mike’s Kids in
Many local church groups, youth
and other have supported Rev. Feliberto Pereira in this mission to help the poorest
of the poor. In 2008, a total of 1,263
banana boxes, full of new or gently used clothes and toys were delivered to the
Valley.
The boxes should be delivered to
DCC around November 9. We are a
collection point for this program. The
filled boxes will be picked up on Monday, December 14, so you have 4-5 weeks to
bring in your donations.
All Disciples Men are invited to
the 2009 Mikes’ Kids Kickoff taking place on Saturday, November 7 at First Christian
church in
DCC is
committed to keeping you healthy …
With the onset of H1N1 in addition to other seasonal
illnesses, DCC along with a denominational directive has committed to helping
to keep our members and friends healthy.
Thanks to Chuck and Nancy Bertschi several wall mounted hand sanitizers
have been installed around the church including the atrium wall as you enter
the building, the fellowship hall near the double doors, the copy/work room
near Jan’s office, and in the entryway to Bright Beginnings Preschool. We will also be installing a hand sanitizer
in the Narthex.
Hand sanitizers are
a great way to help in preventing the spread of germs, but to be most effective
people need to use them. Simply press
the dispenser once or twice and rub your hands thoroughly. The foam sanitizer will absorb into your skin
or simply evaporate. So please USE these
sanitizers when entering the building and of course before handling food and
drinks and after coughing or sneezing.
Note however that these sanitizers are not meant to replace good ole
hand washing (20 seconds with warm soapy water) but are meant to be used in
conjunction with it. Remember, as health
care workers have said, use some common sense and be mindful of those around
you. And remember if you’re sick, stay
home, I’m pretty sure God won’t mindJ
Communion at DCC
As you may have noticed there have been some recent changes to the worship
service, particularly in regards to communion.
We consider it a privilege, honor and responsibility to worship together
each Sunday, offering prayer and praise, studying God’s Word and sharing a common
meal just to name a few things. Communion
has been and continues to be a central tenant to Disciples worship and DCC
strives to recognize this in our worship practices. The Worship Team spent many hours this summer
and fall reviewing our order of worship and after careful consideration made
the decision to move the Lord’s Supper to the central position of our worship
service.
Additionally the way in which
communion is served and taken is slightly different.
In the past the minister would break the loaf of bread and then separate
it onto the trays along with the small wafers and gluten free wafers. Communion by intinction was also offered on
the 1st and 3rd Sundays and consisted of the minister
breaking the loaf of bread and pouring the cup and inviting congregants to
participate by tearing off a piece of bread and dipping it in a common
cup.
However after moving back to the sanctuary for worship
there were several comments about some people having difficulty picking up the
small square wafers on the communion plate and a greater sense of concern for
sharing a common loaf and cup with the onset of H1N1. With that in mind we thought of purchasing
larger wafers but they were round and we thought they would be easily confused
with the round gluten free wafers. And
eliminating bread from the trays was a concern for some congregants.
That said here’s what we came up with. I will symbolically break a loaf (a round flat bread) at the communion table and symbolically
pour the cup as we’ve always done.
However I will not put pieces of this loaf on the communion plates. Instead the deacons will place pre-cubed
pieces of a regular loaf of bread on the communion plates and I will add the
dish of gluten free wafers in their dish to the plates. Communion will be served as usual. As for intinction we will do this the last
Sunday of the month and refer to this as “coming forward” to receive communion
as we’re not really dipping into a common cup.
Congregants will be asked to come forward. However instead of tearing off and dipping
from a common loaf and cup, you will be asked to choose between a piece of
pre-cubed bread or the gluten free wafers and then picking up a cup of juice
which can then be placed in an empty tray held by one of the deacons.
I hope this helps to eliminate any confusion regarding the
practice of communion at DCC, further we hope that these changes will help to
stop the spread of germs among participants.
Consistency is important so we will do communion this way at least
through December of 2009 and may reevaluate after that. Remember that the way in which communion is
offered and received isn’t nearly as important as the meaning behind it and the
meaning it takes on in our lives as recipients of it. Like much of what we do in “church” communion
is symbolic and is representative of the body and blood of Jesus Christ given
for us and, within the Disciples tradition, is open to a wide diversity of
believers who would come to the table.
Communion reminds us of our humanity but more so the eternal love and
grace of God.
The
In order to follow Jesus and worship God, we will serve our neighbors. We will minister to our fellow Christians. We will live and tell the good news of Jesus
Christ in all we do.
Disciples Christian Church Staff
Rev. David Nordyke, Senior Pastor
Laura Young, Music Director
Linda Gulick, Preschool Director
Julie Chen, Pianist
Jan Carter, Administrative Assistant
Dave Gillen, Webmaster
Email: theoffice@dccplano.com
Phone: 972-398-2240