Friends,

Each year when Co-Pastor Dick, Clint, and I attend the Southwest UCC Annual Conference, we see most congregations being recognized as “5 for 5” churches.  Your council has discussed becoming more intentional about participating in our denomination’s five special offerings each year, not only to be recognized as a “5 for 5” church, but also to be in covenant with the whole denomination doing good together.  These offerings are:

1. One Great Hour of Sharing:  Taken each year on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, One Great Hour of Sharing supports partners worldwide with ministries that provide health, education and agricultural development, emergency relief, refugee ministries, and disaster response. 

2. Strengthen the Church:  Taken each year on Pentecost Sunday,  Strengthen the Church funds initiatives for leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations.

3. Neighbors in Need:  Taken each year on World Communion Sunday (the first Sunday in October), two-thirds of the Neighbors in Need offering provides grants to UCC churches and organizations as well as a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects.  One-third of this offering supports the Council of American Indian Ministry.

4. The Christmas Fund:  Taken each year on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the UCC for over 100 years, providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “Thank You” gift checks to retired clergy in need.

5. Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM): Each year UCC churches contribute from regular church operating budgets funding to sustain the infrastructure, ministries, and operational logistics of the denomination.  This fund keeps the wider denomination running.

To streamline giving, council will decide on a basic amount to give each of the five rather than constantly asking for special donations.  If you feel passionate about one of the particular areas of giving, you can let Ida know if you want a portion of your special or regular offerings/gifts/tithes to further bolster one or more of these funds.  Otherwise, the church will give a set amount as council determines.  Please be especially generous in your regular giving to support not only CCOV and its missions but also our denomination’s most worthy causes.

Many Blessings!

Co-Pastor Sandi

Friends,

Pastor Dick often shares a joke about grandparents and grandchildren. Question: Why do grandparents and grandparents usually get on so well? Answer: They both share a common enemy. Perhaps the answer is overly strong, but suffice it to say that grandparents and grandchildren typically share little relational baggage. Thus, grandparents may be perfectly poised to share their spiritual legacy with their grandchildren.

You all know how much Clint and I have enjoyed our first grandchild, Steven, who is now two years and three months. We found out last week that our second grandchild, due November 23, is to be a baby girl! We are so thrilled that we will have one of each! I prayed I would have also have a granddaughter one day to pass down a beloved tea set, childhood books for girls, and some special pieces of jewelry. And I can’t wait to buy little dresses! 

Now a Christian case for grandparenting is not just for casual spoiling but also to fulfill a spiritual calling. Both Psalm 78 and Deuteronomy 4 indicate that grandparents are uniquely positioned to pass on the faith to the next generation. Psalm 78:4-7 commands older generations to declare the “praises of the Lord” and God’s mighty works to their children and grandchildren, ensuring the next generation sets their hope in God. Deuteronomy 4:9 exhorts parents and grandparents never to forget what God has done and to pass on the great stories of faith to their children and grandchildren. Titus 2 throughout calls older men and women to mentor what is good. Grandparents and elders can indeed bring a seasoned, long-term perspective on God’s faithfulness. My own grandparents and I often engaged in deep conversations about faith, and I learned about love from them.

As grandparents, we often spend time in prayer for our grandchildren—so that they come to faith, grow in that faith, and know God’s love and protection in life. Besides being prayer warriors on their behalf, we are also anchors of unconditional love and family stability as we support their parents, especially in times of hardship or fracture. I’ve also known many who were never parents or grandparents but take seriously the biblical commands to care for and spiritually edify children in their midst. Many of you have told me that your children (and grandchildren) no longer attend church, so it may be up to all of us to tell them about Jesus and his ways. I see that as one of my roles now that I am in this beautiful season of life. May we all attend to the children all around us and show them the ways of faith.

Blessing to You!

Sandi

Friends,

Clint and I saw Steven Spielberg’s long-anticipated Disclosure Day earlier this month.  Interestingly, the movie opened concurrent with our government’s May and June release of three tranches of now-declassified UFO and UAP files.  What used to be a taboo topic has now become the buzz of mainstream news and provokes serious questions for people of faith.

Always fascinated by the intersection of faith and science, I began reading various pastors’ and theologians’ musings on the subject of Non-Human-Intelligence (NHI), which some will claim have long been present on the earth.  One recent snippet of news involved how a group of charismatic, evangelical, megachurch pastors were summoned by a congressman, who went on to warn them that their flocks’ faith could be destroyed by any potential revelation of extraterrestrial beings, who may even claim to be humanity’s creators.  The details of such a meeting have since been disputed, but Disclosure Day develops this very motif.

As a pastor, I have been pondering the potential for spiritual fallout after any direct revelation that we are not the only intelligent species in the universe.  What would happen if someone in authority told us that we were created by beings other than our God?  How could faith remain steady when the world feels larger and stranger than expected? Would the discovery of life beyond weaken or strengthen our faith?

Amid all these questions, I keep coming back to this:  Healthy faith can engage mystery.  Any definitive revelation of NHI has no bearing on my following Jesus and imaging his ways.  I can continue to trust God when answers are incomplete.  Any NHI claiming to be our creator would also have to have a creator, so discernment and being alert to deception would be key.

My faith for one is not threatened by wonder.  Scripture already presents creation as vast, mysterious, and filled with realities beyond human control.  The Apostle Paul even suggests that creation acts as another universal, non-verbal revelation of God.  Indeed, we are living in interesting times.  Let us respond to new revelations coming our way with discernment, humility, and wisdom, all the while keeping our confidence in God’s sovereignty.  Stay tuned: I’ll probably write more on this topic this summer.

Faithfully,

Co-Pastor Sandi 

Friends,

On Mother’s Day Clint and I saw Ever After at the Phoenix Theater.  The musical was yet another rendition of the beloved Cinderella tale, whose roots go back to the 1st Century BC Greek story Rhodopis, written long before French author Charles Perrault wrote the 1697 the version featuring the fairy godmother and glass slippers.  Much later, in 1812, the Brothers Grimm published the darker German version, Aschenputtel, which featured a magic tree instead of the fairy godmother.

In the Ever After version, the evil stepmother also oppresses the always-kind Cinderella with abuse and neglect, although all Cinderella ever wanted was her love.  During the song in which the abuse and neglect come to a head, the stepmother calls Cinderella a “pebble in her shoe,” but in the last line of the number, we get a glimpse of the stepmother’s backstory: She sings that she was a pebble in her own mother’s shoe.  And so she perpetuates the cycle of evil.

Often it is easiest to perpetuate cycles of unkindness inculcated from our youth, yet the Christian Way calls us to a greater awareness of backstories so that we can break such cycles in our own lives.  As I reflected on this musical, I thought about my brother Joe who married a woman with a little boy.  Knowing exactly what it felt like to be neglected and psychologically abused by our stepfather, Joe vowed that his stepson would never experience what he did.  Joe made every effort to raise his stepson the same good way he raised his biological son; consequently, his stepson has grown into a secure young man, and because Joe broke the cycle, my brother enjoys a close relationship with his stepson to this day. 

The Apostle Paul knew all about the cycle of sin and wrote in Romans 7:18-19:  “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”  It’s interesting that Paul locates his struggle inside of himself, which is the first step to self awareness.  Paul also knows that suffering is a result of sin, and the antidote is to turn back to the Ways of God, which are the ways of Jesus.  With awareness and God’s empowerment, we can make better, conscious choices resulting in love and wholeness ever after.

Grace and Peace,

Sandi

Friends,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

—Ephesians 2:10

On the second Sunday of October, we want to formally recognize and honor your volunteer work.  Many of us quietly serve our neighbors in formal and informal capacities both inside and outside of church.  

In order to recognize all the wonderful things our CCOV family does, Paulan Ricketts has devised a short survey, which you can pick up in church over the next few Sundays as well as on the Sundays this summer that we meet in Hayden Hall (see the summer schedule).  Please fill out the survey and put it in the offering plate or get it to Paulan, Ida, or me.  Pastor Dick and I want to recognize you because volunteer work is Christian practice in action!

It will a great October Sunday when we highlight our folks who “walk in them” (good works) per Ephesians 2:10.  Let us continue imaging God in service as a natural part of our daily life—always a fitting response to God’s amazing grace.

See you Sunday!

Co-Pastor Sandi

Friends,

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday after Easter, and at CCOV, you all know what that means!  It’s Holy Humor Sunday!  Early in the service we will pass the microphone around, and you will have an opportunity to share good (clean) jokes with your church family.

Holy Humor Sunday is also known as Bright Sunday, which was a tradition begun by the Greeks in the early centuries of Christianity to continue the joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.  Early church theologians called the resurrection “Risus paschalis” or the Easter laugh, because God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead.  For centuries the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant countries, the week following Easter Sunday, participated with joy and laughter through parties and picnics to celebrate the resurrection.  Church people played practical jokes, drenched each other with water, jested, sang, and danced.  Then, in 1988 a group called The Fellowship of Merry Christians resurrected this ancient celebration, renamed it “Holy Humor Sunday,” and encouraged its now widespread observance around the globe.  

Let us be reminded that because of Easter, we can continue to celebrate the greatest miracle in human history all year long.  Get ready to laugh together this Sunday!

Many Blessings,

Co-Pastor Sandi  

Friends,

We’ve had two great weekends at CCOV recently with our successful March 7 “Marti Gras on the Bayou” fundraiser for Foster Your Future and our March 14 joint potluck with Landmark Pentecostal Church.  It warms my heart to see all the life that has recently been breathed into our church campus!  Not only did we raise thousands of dollars to support our upcoming Foster Your Future cooking classes, but we also made new friends with the good people who share our campus with us.  I was pleased to see so many of you come out for both events.  The food, music, and decorations both evenings were all delightful!

Continuing with the spiritually-enriching offerings of our busy season, please mark Good Friday, April 3 at 4 PM on your calendars for our joint service of worship with members of the Church of the Beatitudes.  After a meaningful and reflective service at CCOV, we will head over to George and Sons Asian Cuisine at Frank Lloyd Wright and Via Linda for a fellowship dinner.  If you haven’t already, please let Ida know if you will be joining us for the meal so that I can give George and Sons an accurate count. 

Also, be on the lookout for our summer schedule, which Ida will publish soon.  For those of you who stay in town, we will have plenty of opportunities for worship and being together during the hot months ahead.

Many Blessings!

Co-Pastor Sandi

Friends,

The second hymn in the Ash Wednesday section of our New Century Hymnal is “Again We Keep This Solemn Fast.”  Its first verse goes like this:

Again we keep this solemn fast, a gift of faith from ages past,

This Lent which binds us lovingly to faith and hope and charity,

We entered the 40-day church liturgical season of Lent yesterday, and it takes all the way through Holy Week and ends on Easter.  Yesterday, many received ashes in the shape of a cross to mark the Lenten journey, mirroring Christ’s wilderness time.  The ashes typically come from last year’s Palm Sunday palm branches, which are a reminder of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem when people are said to have waved palm branches to celebrate his arrival.  Ashes symbolize both death and repentance and recall the words, “Remember the you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  We also know that new life rises from ashes, so we also look forward to renewal and resurrection.  Lent is a fairly somber season that ends with the great feast of Easter and involves the themes of faith, hope, and charity.  

It used to be that folks would give something up for Lent or fast from something like chocolate or meat or watching TV, perhaps to join in some small way in Christ’s suffering.  In recent years it has become more customary for people to add something—like performing some sort of special service to benefit the needy or giving something away.  This brings back a fond memory of how our church relieved thousands of dollars of medical debt during one Lenten season of the COVID era.  Around the same time, my personal Lenten practice was to spring clean on steroids, and I gave away tons of good clothes and household items to charity, much as the good people of our church just cleaned out a space to give me an office.  A hearty thank you to all for that!   However you choose to mark this Lenten season, may it draw you closer to God and neighbor.

Blessings,

Co-Pastor Sandi 

Friends,

A few weeks ago I received what looked like a legitimate email from the music director at the Church of the Beatitudes asking me for a PDF of the church’s directory.  I emailed Ida (who also works at the CoB with us) to see if she had one to send, and she alerted me that it could be a scam, because she gets similar emails at CCOV, purportedly from Larry.  Upon closer examination, the email address was not the CoB music’s director’s although his name appeared in the “from” line.  I reported the phishing email to the FTC.  The bottom line is that scams abound, and churches like individuals are targets, so we have to be wary!  

This recent episode reminded me of a few years ago when my text app blew up with inquiries from many of you because “I” had reportedly asked you all for money.  You know I would never do that!  I was appalled that a scammer hacked into our church member information!  Then I learned recently that a woman at the CoB actually fell for such a scam a few years ago.  Thinking the email was from the former pastor, she went to Walgreens and bought $200 worth of gift cards and mailed them to the place she thought her pastor was directing her to.  Similarly, we just got back from a trip to Cancun and were scammed by (what we thought was) a Mexican police officer who pulled us over for no reason at all and demanded money from us.  He had a gun and looked official.  Maybe he was, maybe not.  Corruption abounds.  We don’t speak Spanish and had no idea what to do.  Additionally, we had some unauthorized charges on our credit card while there and immediately disputed them.  The reality is, we live in a broken world, and incidents like these sharply remind us of that.

Jesus in Matthew 10:15 told his followers to “be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”  He knew that his followers would always have to be alert to the world’s brokenness, but he called them to remain gentle and pure even as they navigated dangerous situations.  The Christian life is admittedly a hard balancing act.  In other words, it’s okay to trust—but always verify first. 

With Care,

Co-Pastor Sandi

Friends,

Merry Christmas!  This time of year mind mind always turns toward my childhood and the awe of Christmases gone by.  Each Christmas morning my siblings and I went downstairs to see how “Santa” had transformed the family room: Presents crowded out the tree, candy canes hung from its branches, the stockings on the fireplace brimmed with gifts, glass-like candy toys (a Pennsylvania thing) filled a bowl on the coffee table, a fire was blazing, and all the tree lights were on.  Each year as we descended the stairs, we experienced such a momentary sense of wonder and awe—at least until we tore into all the goodies and got on with the festivities of the day.

May we also find a few moments in these twelve days of Christmas to renew our sense of awe as we contemplate the mysteries of the Christmas Story—how God descended from on high and became the Son to give us salvation.  Last week Richard Rohr wrote in his Friday meditation, “Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves.  The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe…Awe is a sense for the mystery beyond all things…What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.  Faith is not belief, an assent to a proposition; faith is attachment to transcendence, to the meaning beyond the mystery.”

As I have aged I have become more intentional about experiencing the sense of wonder and awe I previously only felt in moments.  If I don’t, I lose myself in all the things I have to accomplish and in the normal tasks of living.  I invite you all to pause this season as well and contemplate the great Mystery of the Incarnation and all the blessings it bestows. 

Grace and Peace,

Co-Pastor Sandi