News

Dear Siblings, 

I’m sure you know that we are blessed to have a truly remarkable church campus. There are not many places that so carefully and intentionally engage the built environment with the goodness of God’s creation. One of my deepest prayers with our congregation is that we don’t ever take this space for granted. 

Recently, I’ve followed Rev. Liz’s lead and now sit in the pews during the sermon. It changes things for me. Listening to a meditation on our sacred texts, while looking at the world that God made, offers a different way of engaging with my faith. I’m sure many of you know this well. 

Recognizing the value of our place in the world, I’m glad for all the chances we have to care for creation. This Sunday, we’ll welcome Hannah Schultz, MDiv., the Program Director at Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. Hannah has a deep interest in the intersections of justice, theology, and the environment. After earning her MDiv at the Candler School of Theology, Hannah worked in college chaplaincy, before joining the team at GIPL. At GIPL, she leads an array of programs including Solar Wise, Power Wise, Water Wise, Zero-Waste, and Rewilding programs. 

Rev. Liz and I are so excited that she’ll bring us the Good News on Sunday, and lead a workshop after worship in the Fellowship Hall. 

See you Sunday,

Thomas

First and foremost, Deacons play an integral role in supporting the worship life of our church, including the celebration of the sacraments, greeting members and guests, and ushering. Deacons may also work to sustain the music and arts programs at the church.

Deacons strive to support and care for members of the congregation.

Deacons recommend “in care” status for members of Central pursuing ordination in the United Church of Christ including the examination of those candidates as part of the process.

Deacons facilitate receptions for special events.

Meetings are typically held via Zoom on the 4th Thursday of the month, 7 p.m.

Contact Fred Childers ([email protected]) or Karen Torghele ([email protected]) with questions about the Deacon Board or any of the other opportunities to love, to grow, and to serve at Central.

Called To Do This Work

Mary Ellen Myers, now in her 65th year as a member at Central, will offer reflections this Sunday as we consider the ways we – the Central community – are called to use our time, our talents and our treasure in service to and support of one another, the local community and the world.  She has served Central in many capacities, and we honored her at the 2023 annual meeting by naming her a Life Deacon. 

Dear Siblings, 

Every now and then, I don’t quite know what to write for the week. And that’s mostly because so much has happened over the past few days. I won’t recall all of those things in this note. But I will say that I am in a sort of mourning. Mourning for the world as it is, because I know how different it could all be. I am thinking most urgent about the rapid changes in the political representation of Black Americans. Yesterday afternoon, Tennessee split the city of Memphis, where I lived for college, into three separate congressional districts. Regardless of partisan positions, the result is a diluted voice for Black Tennesseans.

Unfortunately, this same scene is being played out in South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana too. Yes, I am mourning the reality that it seems this reconstructed country is turning away from the fulfillment of one its most grand ideas and still incomplete experiments: that in this new world, out of the ashes of the peculiar institution that was race-based slavery and civil war, a multi-racial democracy could rise and thrive. Yes, I am in mourning over our shrinking away from the possibility of such a vision. 

These words, shared by Dr. Terrence Johnson, the new Dean of Candler School of Theology, have sat in my head:

Mighty causes are calling us– the freeing of women, the training of children, the putting down of hate and murder and poverty– all these and more. But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifices and death. Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that we say: I will go unt0 the King and I perish, I perish. Amen. – Prayers for Dark People (1980)

In a rather abrupt turn from the above, this Sunday is also Mother’s Day. This is a day that is filled with joy and for many people also sadness. And so, my prayer for you this weekend is that you receive what you need for this occasion. If you need the joy and celebration, the breakfast in bed, and handmade cards or phone calls, I pray you get all of that and more. But if what you need is a moment to visit a graveside, or to look at an old picture, or play an old voicemail, then I hope that you can make time for that too. If you’re someone who doesn’t quite know how to define your relationship to the person who birthed you, and would like for this day to simply not exist, then I hope that Sunday is simply Sunday. I pray that you receive what you need to receive on Mother’s Day. 

On Sunday, we’ll be open to an encounter with the Holy Spirit and sit with John’s Gospel. I hope to see you in worship, on-site or online! 

Thomas

The Green Team is seeking volunteers to help with these events: 

1) Set-up and clean-up for the GIPL clean energy workshop at Central following service on Sunday, May 17;

and 

2) Get-Out-The-Vote virtual phone-banks with GIPL and Fair Count on 5/12, 5/18, or 5/19. 

For more information about either opportunity, please contact Mary White at [email protected].  

Central will welcome Hannah Shultz, M.Div., Program Director at Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL), as our guest preacher for worship. 

She will also offer a workshop after worship, beginning at 12:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall, on Advancing Clean Energy in Georgia. The workshop will describe practical and affordable actions we can take, as individuals and as a congregation, to mitigate climate change, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and save money, including current options for energy efficiency and solar energy. Bring your questions and ideas! 

The Green Team will host Coffee Hour after worship and provide lunch for workshop participants. 

Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,

Last week, a friend asked, “What’s the first thing you will do when you are no longer at Central?” Oh. Well. “Um, I will take piano lessons,” was my reply. This morning, however, it became clear piano lessons will more likely be the second, third or even fourth thing I do when I am no longer at Central.

The very first thing I will do is miss you. I will miss the people I work with every day. Miss gathering for worship and fellowship, even zoomies. Miss the conversations by (endless) email and the shared interest and purpose of this congregation. Miss the children. Miss the belonging to this living body of followers of Jesus. Sigh.

And, oh, yes, I will grieve. I must grieve.

Of course, I am anticipating the grief in the same way I anticipate other and all anxieties. Getting ready for it? Perhaps. But mostly not looking forward to it or, more precisely, practicing what I know so well how to do.

Don’t you think the Disciples might have been in a similar emotional soup in our Gospel reading for Sunday is John 14:1-14? Jesus is preparing them for the time when he is no longer present with them in the body. (Not comparing my own, humble self to Jesus, to be sure.) Their “congregation” would be without him and he without them. There had to be some grief there. That’s probably why I have so often preached funerals from this passage, a moment when sadness and fear of what is not known are ambient. That’s also why the resurrection accounts so often include, “Fear not.”

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…” (14:2) There is an invitation here that has not occurred to me before:

In that future place where there is so much mystery, there are oh, so many possibilities. Just use your imaginations and all that we’ve practiced together.

Ok, I will try my best. You mean, like improv?

On Sunday—can this be May already?—we will come together for a Service of Word and Table, as is our custom on first Sundays. Streamers, be prepared with your bread and cup in whatever form that takes chez vous. (Milk and s’mores has been suggested by a young friend.) Those of us who can get to the face-to-face will gather around the table of welcome and belonging with grape juice and gluten free bread. We will all be doing what Jesus did. Practicing. Again.

Here’s hoping to see or be seen in your company, one more time.

Love and hugs,

Rev. Liz

This past Sunday, in the called Congregational Meeting, we said “YES!” to being a part of a “radically collaborative” ministry and called Rev. Thomas to serve as Co-Senior Minister beginning July 1st. 

Our Pastoral Search Team is wrapping up the last round of edits for our church profile, and we’ll begin the search for the other Co-Senior Minister soon!

Because this group didn’t reach the minimum number of participants, the hosts decided to cancel the class for now. We’ll keep you posted if the class is going to be rescheduled. 

Dear Siblings, 

I spent much of the past week in Philadelphia with the UCC’s Next Generation Leadership Initiative, as part of our Congregational Vitality trek. We visited three unique congregations. One is a multiracial Reconstructionist synagogue, Kol Tezdek, in West Philly, operating out of a commercial space in a mixed-use residential building. We also visited Old First UCC, a historic Congregationalist church in the Old City, which has adapted a significant portion of its property to support a new housing-first initiative. On Sunday, we worshipped with Salt & Light, a nearly 1000 member UCC/PCUSA church merger that has two campuses, a thriving ministry for children and teens, and is celebrating exponential growth in membership.

All three of these faith communities turn the current narrative about organized religion upside down. People are seeking these places out, in large part because they see these communities putting their hearts, minds, mouths, and money where they know their faith calls them to be— with each other in the struggle for a world made new. 

Aside from those campus visits, it was a wonderful time spent with the other folks in my cohort + the two other cohorts on this trip! A lot of idea cross-pollination happens on coffee runs, at lunch, or in between learning sessions. 

Our own congregation was the recipient of similar cross-pollination last week with Rev. Andrew Warner of the Wisconsin Conference. We’ll sit with the same text from last week, Acts 2:42-47. We’ll focus less on stewardship and more on our common lot and life together, as we discern our journey in ministry. 

Please be sure to stay after worship this Sunday for our Called Congregational Meeting. 

See you Sunday, 

Thomas