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When the leaders of the Protestant Reformation began to suggest changes in the way religion should be, there were three things that they made abundantly clear.

First, people should be able to practice their religion in their own languages. This led to the translation of the bible into German and then into several other languages almost immediately. The coincidental invention of moveable type and printing presses certainly helped this reform.

Second, they held that all members of the church formed a priesthood that was equally responsible for the conduct of the matters of the church and for the souls of the congregants.

The third change they suggested was that the congregations should take an active part in the celebration of the religion by taking roles in the services and by congregational singing. They felt that singing was an acceptable way of praising God. Luther was an avid hymn writer as was several of the other early reformers. Congregational singing remains one of his most enduring legacies.

“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise,” wrote Luther. “I am not of the opinion that all arts are to be cast down and destroyed on account of the Gospel, as some fanatics suggest. On the other hand, I would gladly see all arts, especially music, in the service of Him Who has given and created them.”

He urged his followers to write German hymns based on the Psalms. Luther recommended that they “use the simplest and most common words, preserve the pure teaching of God’s Word, and keep the meaning as close to the Psalm as possible.”

So, the next time you sing Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God” or any other hymn for that matter, remember that this is your opportunity to practice your religion and to praise God in your own personal way.

Bob Simington is an active member of CCOV and regularly sings in the choir.

Next week at CCOV, we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day by donating raised funds to Church World Service in honor of our moms! Donations to this organization help provide blankets and other necessary items to communities in need around the world. We’ll also be beginning the membership survey that will help inform our mission study process. Please support this work and join us!

The Growing Place Preschool students and their families will be presenting quilts made by the children to donate to Haiti this Sunday, May 2 at 10 a.m. CCOV gladly accepts them as part of our annual blanket Sunday efforts, culminating on Mother’s Day, during which we’ll donate funds raised to Church World Services to provide blankets and other necessary item to communities in need around the world. Please join us!

Karen Harrington and several other volunteers attended the UCC’s Southwest Conference Annual Meeting as CCOV delegates last weekend.

Where do I begin? I arrived at the Conference meeting in Sedona on Friday morning. It was cold, damp, dark and windy. I thought I was in Cleveland.

Much of Friday afternoon was spent on introductions: staff, committee members, resolutions, guests, and an introduction of two new churches joining the UCC. Our keynote speaker was Cameron Trimble, director of the Center for Progressive Renewal. Cameron spoke about her vision of the church’s future.

Rev. John Dorhauer led worship Friday evening, which included two Marshallese choirs. We were all feeling the Holy Spirit’s presence, but it took everyone by surprise when during the moments before worship, the dark clouds slightly parted and the Red Rocks were drenched in the deep yellow light of the evening’s sun. At first notice, it was believed by many that it was a light display, strategically placed lights illuminating the top of the rocks. After that brief moment passed, it was quite obvious that no one on earth could create such beauty. God was with us. Everyone ran to the window to take pictures, but not one camera was able to capture the awe that we felt in our hearts. Praise Be to God!

Day 2 – We began Saturday morning with business reports, including a “State of the Conference” address by Rev. John Dorhauer. The morning concluded when Rev. Geoffrey Black, newly-elected President of the United Church of Christ, spoke. What a special opportunity it was to hear him speak.

Saturday afternoon was spent in workshops that we chose to attend. Sandi, Clint, Pam, Joe and myself split up so we could gather as much info for the church as we could. The first workshop I went to was “Connecting Women through Women’s Ministries.” This workshop was led by Rachel Chapman, a Women’s Ministry Consultant for the UCC’s Western Region. We explored some of the resources and ideas available to help nurture the lives of women in our churches and communities. I have ideas I would love to share with Women’s Fellowship.

The second workshop I attended was “8 Leadership Laws for Healthy Church Growth,” led by Cameron Trimble. What steps can we take that will affect the health and growth of our congregation in a positive way? What procedures do we have in place now that affect the health and growth of CCOV in a negative way? We discussed many interesting ideas. Two that really stood out in my mind are:

1) Communicate 7 times in 7 different ways. If we have a program coming up, for instance, it should be advertised on our website, in our newsletter and bulletin. It should be announced in church. Emails should be sent out. Flyers posted. Phone calls made. Any creative way we can think of to get the word out.

2) Cameron also talked about keeping all meetings short. She said no meeting should be more than an hour long. Hour and a half, tops. Cameron suggested that if you want to shorten your meetings, remove all of the chairs (the kind you sit on!). That would do it for me! Also, present everyone with detailed information which will be covered in the meeting – to be read ahead of time. In order for this to work, it is mandatory that all info be read.

I came away from this workshop with a list of 16 reference books that I want to read. Guess what I’ll be doing all summer?

Worship Saturday evening was sensational. There were many guitar players and very lively music. I felt that anyone passing by the church during that time could probably have heard, seen and felt our energy. The walls of the church weren’t able to contain us! Two new churches became members of the UCC Conference. A dialogue was held with the youth and young adults to reveal their perspective of the church.

Sunday morning worship service was wonderful. The choir consisted of anyone from the SWC who wanted to sing. There must have been nearly 50 people raising their voices in song. The newly elected representatives were installed and Rev. Geoffrey Black gave the sermon. Communion was served at two areas in the front of the church and one area in the back.

What a morning! What a weekend!

Karen Harrington is CCOV’s Director of Christian Education.

The Growing Place Preschool students and their families will be presenting quilts made by the children to donate to Haiti this Sunday, May 2 at 10 a.m. CCOV gladly accepts them as part of our annual blanket Sunday efforts, culminating on Mother’s Day, during which we’ll donate funds raised to Church World Services to provide blankets and other necessary item to communities in need around the world. Please join us!

The Mission Study Committee is pleased to announce that we will begin administering a comprehensive member survey over the next several weeks that will help us identify and define the future needs and goals of the church, leading up to and including the appointment of a new, permanent pastor. Please support us in this effort and join us at worship Sundays at 10 a.m.

For the last several weeks, Pastor Phil has been focusing on “The Lord’s Prayer” (LP) in his sermons. The first week, he asked, “What is the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer for you? How do you use it? DO you use it?”

Apparently the LP was introduced by Jesus as a sort of example of how to pray, i.e., “You don’t know what to say? Okay, try this.” LP, there you go. I had a similar introduction to the LP, when I was a little girl and my mother constantly admonished me to pray. I, full of spunk even then, would roll my eyes and say, “But I don’t even know HOW to pray!!” So she taught me the LP. But I still didn’t think much of it, and I only said it when I was worried, or in trouble, or couldn’t sleep.

At around 9 or 10 years old, mom made me join the youth choir at our local Lutheran church. This, I could buy into, but mostly because of an older boy on the choir on whom I had an enormous crush. John Pinner, if I recall, was his name, and he was blond-haired and blue-eyed and OLDER!! In choir, we learned what we called “The Benediction,” the LP sung a cappella. Nearly all of my childhood memories of the LP are set to music as a result. But still, usage was limited to problems and needs and apologies to God for bad behavior.

The next prayer I learned was the “Hail Mary,” 10 or 15 years later. I learned it in one day, at my husband’s grandmother’s funeral. This grandmother, “Dida,” we called her, was full of no-nonsense love for both me and my husband. You could feel it in the way she laid her gnarled, angry-looking hands against your cheek, hear it in the way she’d say, “I’m talking to you! Stop being an idiot!” and taste it in the food she made whenever we came to visit. Losing this lady was a loss in the most miserable sense, and my husband sat and wept at the funeral home. As he grieved as though his heart was falling out through the bottom of his feet, I thought he needed his original family more than me. But then a Jesuit monk came in to perform the service, and all I remember was standing, holding hands with my heartbroken husband, and repeating the “Hail Mary,” over and over and over again, until mouth memory took over and crying wasn’t an option, because the prayer had to go on. So as of that day, I had a new prayer in my repertoire. Different words than the LP, but for me, same usage: problems, needs, apologies.

Years later, we got pregnant with our first baby, Ava. I definitely felt like I should be praying; after all, it couldn’t hurt, right? But I had no idea what to say. I felt stupid, so I went back to what I knew. Every night, before bed, I’d start with the LP, then the Hail Mary, then, “Dear God, please keep this baby healthy and safe and well.” That was it, and with that, I was hopeful my bases were covered. She turned out just fine.

Now, another child, several life crises and a renewed sense of faith later, I pray frequently, sometimes every day, sometimes just when I need. And by “need,” I don’t mean when I need something; I can’t express the comfort it brings me. I always feel better after I pray. Always. Sometimes I pray to God, sometimes to the world in general, sometimes to no one in particular. I always pray for others; somehow it feels like my prayers for myself have a better chance of being answered if I’m generous. Sometimes I just pray for guidance, for the ability to let go, for patience, for all the things I want to be and all the ways I want to be better than I am and all the gratefulness I have that this life is pretty darned good, even on the bad days.

But some days, I don’t feel like praying at all. I feel like I don’t have the emotional energy to plumb my thoughts, to offer my faith space to anyone else, to spend time just being quiet and reflective and aware of the absolute grace and goodness of life. And surprisingly, despite my disdain of the Lord’s Prayer, THIS is when I use it. It’s like my gateway; when I really don’t feel like praying, odds are, after I get through a run of the LP, I’ll be able to go on and say whatever else needs saying.

Recently someone told me they don’t pray because they’re not sure prayers are answered. I’m not one to advocate prayer; I think everyone satisfies their own needs in their own way and their own time. But I can tell you that for me, prayer is a soothing, comforting exercise that helps remind me what I’m working for, and helps reassure me that there’s a reason I’m on this path.

Brittany Abbate and her family are members of CCOV.

CCOV Interim Minister Phil Reller is delivering a series of sermons focusing on “The Lord’s Prayer.” He has at times referred to “The Lord’s Prayer” as “The Prayer of Our Savior.”

Even after two sermons trying to persuade me that “The Lord’s Prayer” is not technically the appropriate name, I am not quite convinced. I know now that The Lord’s Prayer was not spoken by Jesus, but was a prayer taught by Jesus, but it doesn’t change my view. In my mind, the term “The Lord’s Prayer” is a prayer said to God, but the term “Prayer of Our Savior” sounds like a prayer said to Jesus, or a prayer said by Jesus (which we know is incorrect.)

Months ago, when the name of the prayer was changed in the bulletin to “Prayer of Our Savior,” I immediately went to Pastor Phil and questioned the decision (this was actually my first conversation with Phil). He called me later that day to discuss my concern and told me that he planned to do a sermon about this at some point. He told me that the UCC refers to the Prayer as “Prayer of Our Savior” and suggested that I look in our Hymnal where there are sample orders of service. The following Sunday I read through the Hymnal, and I did find that in some cases it is referred to as “Prayer of Our Savior,” but in many instances it is still referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer.” As I left church that Sunday I told Pastor Phil that I had done my homework, and that I still thought that I was right (ask my husband, this is a common theme for me.)

I am not a fan of change, so the name change really threw me. “The Lord’s Prayer” invokes many memories, and it is a big part of church for me. I grew up in the UCC church, and I remember learning “The Lord’s Prayer” (we used “Trespasses”) and saying it every week in church. As a child, if we were sitting up in the front of the church I would say the Prayer softly. If we were sitting in the balcony, I would yell the Prayer, much to the chagrin of my older brother. I thought that the further away you were from the front, the louder you should be so that it would reach the alter.

When I married a Catholic, we spent time “church shopping” to find a church that would work for both of us. A few churches that we checked out did not say “The Lord’s Prayer.” Whether it was an oversight for that week, or regularly not a part of the service, I will never know. We never went back to those churches. After we found CCOV, there would be times when we would accidentally skip over “The Lord’s Prayer” during a service. I was the one who would take an usher aside and request that they remind Pastor David to say the Prayer.

So, when the name change came about I told Pastor Phil that I was “shocked.” I’m sure he thought I was being dramatic, but it really did hit me hard. I have been waiting for these sermons, and I have been listening closely, waiting for Phil to change my mind. I appreciate the history of the Prayer, and I am learning a lot, but, Pastor Phil, I’m still holding out for a name change.

Susan Matura has been a member of CCOV for 10 years. She and her husband have three beautiful children.

All are welcome at Church this Sunday, April 11 at 10 a.m. Then please join us for some  family fun at the Scottsdale Civic Center. Bring your lunch and a blanket or chairs, and relax with some live music. There will be a DJ playing from 12:00 – 1:15, and “Powerdrive” will start their music at 1:30. Come when you like, and stay as long as you want.  As you look at the stage, we will be sitting on the grass toward the front on the left side. This will be a fun, casual afternoon for all ages. Hope to see you there!

We are pleased to announce the formation of a mission study group tasked with generating a blueprint for the future of CCOV. Members are: Sandi Anthony, Brent Jensen, Janet Fotheringham, Elizabeth Pickens and Brittany Abbate, with special input from Jamie Buchanan and Jim Hawn. Stay tuned for more updates from this group!