Carl O. Bickel, Ph.D.
Pastor
Office phone & fax (301)249-6411
Home phone (301)249-5885
Church School 10:00 a.m.
Worship 11:00 a.m.
web page http://www.unitedparishbowie.org
| United Church of Christ | Presbyterian |
|---|---|
|
Carl O. Bickel, Ph.D. Pastor Office phone & fax (301)249-6411 Home phone (301)249-5885 |
| MITCHELLVILLE AND MT.
OAK ROADS Church School 10:00 a.m. Worship 11:00 a.m. |
email pastor@unitedparishbowie.org web page http://www.unitedparishbowie.org |
| If you are new to the Bowie area, we invite you to worship with us at 11:00 a.m. on Sundays. A nursery is provided. Christian education for children, youth and adults is Sunday at 10 a.m. We are affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ. |
On September 9 at 9:45, there will be a breakfast for children, youth, and adults, after which the children and youth will go to their classes. The adults will remain to talk about the upcoming adult education classes, some to begin immediately, others to commence later in the church year. The Fall is a great time to begin attending the United Parish. The worship service on September 2 and 9 will be at 11 a.m. On September 2 there will be no Christian education classes.
Brenda Clyde will be teaching a course based on the book, Where is God When It Hurts? by Phillip Yancy. During the 8-week course, we will look at the ways God is active in our lives when we most need help. We will discuss where God is when our friends and loved ones suffer and why this suffering happens. Finally, we will look at ways we can use our faith to ease the pain and suffering we all encounter at some point in our lives. The series will start on September 16th, with a 10:00 a.m. starting time for each meeting. There will be a sign up sheet in the narthex or you may call to enroll, phone (301)249-6411.
A major part of the New Testament is attributed to the Apostle Paul. Who was he? He has been called practically everything in the book, from advocate of the subordination of women to the freedom of the Christian. Some Christians refuse to take Paul seriously, others read little in the Bible but Paul. In the series of about eight Sunday morning meetings, beginning September 16, at 10 a.m., we will focus on the life of Paul, his basic ideas, and his influence on the course of Christianity. The course will be led by Pastor Carl Bickel. Please sign up in the narthex or phone 301.249.6411.
JOHN HANNER graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Row of Distinction. He was a National Merit semifinalist and a Maryland Distinguished Scholar finalist. He will be in the Honors Program at the University of Maryland at College Park this fall.
CHRIS SHEPPARD graduated from South River High School. He actively participated in the Student Government Association and Youth Rise while at South River. He also was a starter on the varsity football, basketball, and tennis teams. He was elected Homecoming King by the student body and "Most Friendly" and "Best Personality" by the senior class. Chris will attend Salisbury University this fall.
CYNTHIA HUNT graduated in June with a B.A. from Gallaudet University and is in the process of earning a master's degree from Gallaudet.
CHARISSA BICKEL graduated from Annapolis Area Christian School. She sang in the Madrigals, which at the end of the school year went on tour in Europe. She will be attending Anne Arundel Community College.
CHAD BICKEL received his master's degree from Loyola College and is now a School Counselor at South River High School.
KATHY BUSCH received a master's degree in forensic science from George Washington University and is now pursuing work in this field.
BEN BUS graduated from Chesapeake High School, and this summer is employed at Precision Lube Express in Bowie. In the fall he will begin training to be a mechanic on Lexus automobiles.
We pray God's blessing upon these recent graduates in all their future pursuits.
The sermon Faith While Not Knowing appears on the Sermon Page.
For some time I have been, as some of my Baptist friends might say, "under conviction". This condition of mine has been caused by the high percentage of marriages that end in divorce. I have been thinking I should offer the high school people in our church (and to any interested high school persons in the community) an opportunity to plant some seeds about relationships. I do not think high school is too early to do this. I will also have a focus on friendships and work and school relationships. I will deal with such issues as how to respond when you are verbally attacked by someone. The approach will use some insights from psychology, but primarily resources from the Bible and the Christian tradition.
I propose a series of six meetings beginning October 3, from 7:30 to 8:20 p.m., to explore these issues in experiential and didactic format. I ask that parents be supportive of this series but not force or pressure their sons or daughters to attend. I will do this series if there are at least five young people interested. There is a sign-up in the narthex or please phone (301)249-6411 to indicate your desire to participate.
-- Carl O. Bickel, Pastor
Youth Group will resume on Sunday, September 9, from 7 to 8:30. We meet each Sunday evening at the church or in homes. In addition, we plan other outings about once a month which have included hiking, skating, biking, skiing, rafting, boating, swimming etc. Young people in 7th through 12th grades are invited for lively discussions, fellowship, and fun. Our leaders are Brian Hunt (brianehunt@aol.com) and Gene and Jan Barbato (barbato@erols.com).
The Adult Education Committee will show this fall the first five episodes of The Decalogue, a highly regarded series of films by Krzysztof Kieslowski, a director who many believe was among the greatest of European filmmakers. While the series was originally produced for Polish television in 1988 and 1989, it was later seen throughout the world in film festivals and was only recently made available to the public in video format. The series follows a community of people who live in an apartment complex. Each hour- long drama is based on one of the ten commandments.
The five episodes are as follows: (1) I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have other gods before me, about the relationship between a university professor and his young son; (2) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, features a pregnant woman, her dying husband and his doctor; (3) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, tells how a woman interrupts a married man's Christmas eve celebrations to search for her lost lover; (4) Honor thy father and thy mother, stars a woman who opens a sealed envelope in her father's room that is marked "not to be opened until my death;" and (5) Thou shalt not kill, in which a psychotic youth is punished for a brutal murder.
The series will be presented on Sundays starting on September 23, and each session will be from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served, and a short discussion period will follow each episode. We believe that this showing will provide an exciting introduction to the provocative work of Kryzysztov, whose artistry is reminiscent of the Swedish film-maker, Ingmar Bergman and the Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevski. Reviewers have called the Decalogue an "awesome masterpiece" which is "ultimately a personal spiritual investigation into the soul, a work of quiet attention and deep emotion marked by astounding images and vivid characters." The discussion format offers an opportunity to explore together the questions that our modern lives, in their triumph and tragedy, ask about the Ten Commandments. We hope you will join us.
After thirty six years with the National Weather Service , Bill Collins has retired. His first twenty four years were spent growing up in Chicago, before moving to Washington and beginning employment with the (then) U.S. Weather Bureau. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. His work with the National Weather Service included design of numerical weather prediction models, improvement of precipitation forecasting, and the quality control of data input to the models. The family spent a year in Sweden (1975-1976) at the Weather Institute. Soon after returning he resumed a boyhood interest in hiking and backpacking, which he will continue in retirement, along with photography, boating and other interests. We wish Bill God's blessing as he begins this new chapter in his life.
For over thirty years Bill Collins and his wife Alice and their family have been a vital part of the United Parish. The Collins', for the last few years have lived on the eastern shore, in Queenstown, Maryland. They almost always are in their places at the United Parish, along with Alice's father, who now lives with them. Alice's father, also called "Bill" helps clean the church or do the other tasks on Thursdays. The drive from Queenstown to the United Parish is about eighty miles round trip.
September 16 our worship service will again be accompanied by the festive sounds of Prism Brass. This quintet will play the third Sunday of each month through December and also play at the 7:30 Christmas Eve service. Prism Brass is composed of five young men who are pursuing master's degrees at the University of Maryland.
Thursday, September 13, will be the first gathering of this monthly study and fellowship group. We'll gather at Jaspers in Crofton at 6 p.m. for dinner and return to the church at 8 p.m. for our study. This year's Old Testament study, Esther's Feast, will show us a woman of strong Godly commitment and courage. If you'd like to carpool to Jaspers, please meet at the church at 5:40 p.m. All women of the church are invited. You may purchase a book anytime from Becky DeMeo for $4.00 or at the first meeting. For information, call Becky DeMeo or Shirley Bickel.
Christian Education classes for children will begin on September 9. This year, children who are 2 or 3 years old will go to the nursery during worship, rather than to a formal class. The rest of the age groups will have their classes during the 10:00 am Sunday School hour. Teaching the 4 and 5 year olds will be Becky DeMeo. Barb Lazur and Bri Cianelli will be the teachers for the 1st and 2nd graders. Frieda McKay will be teaching the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and Brian Hunt will work with the 6th and 7th graders. The High School class will be led by Roy Eades and Nikki Hillary, among others. We are so fortunate to have these dedicated teachers working with our youth year after year. I am so thankful for their service.
This year, all of the children in Christian Education will be using the same curriculum. Several members of the Christian Education Committee looked at a variety of materials and decided on "Bible Quest", which was developed through an ecumenical partnership which included both the Presbyterian and U.C.C. Churches. We hope that your children will enjoy using this material and will come away with a greater understanding of and love for the Scriptures.
With such dedicated teachers and a new and comprehensive curriculum, I know that the Christian Education program will continue to be a vital part of United Parish. I look forward to seeing you and your children on September 9.
Marva Connally, Christian Education Coordinator
The Community Service Committee completed a number of annual projects in the past year, and we have the ongoing third Sunday of the month dinner for the Family Crisis Center residents. The Center provides refuge for domestic violence victims and their children.
We collect food every Sunday morning for the Bowie Pantry. At the end of the year, some of the food collected ends up in Christmas baskets, but about 48 bags of food has gone annually to the Pantry from our church. Judy Farrell has overseen this activity for a number of years.
We provided clothes-and-toy baskets for Central Union Mission. Donations of purchased items usually cover this completely, but this year the Committee purchased a number of items from its budget to complete the baskets. Judy also coordinates this activity every year.
We made up Christmas "baskets" (actually, multiple bags) for ten families. Food shopping was particularly frugal, and each family received a large assortment of staples, including canned ham, as well as the usual holiday dinner, including a frozen turkey. This year we included toys for children in the families. Generous congregational donations completely covered these additional costs. We encountered a few particularly needy families in making deliveries of these baskets. We later provided a small rent subsidy for a family receiving a Christmas basket. Their circumstances were unusually dire temporarily, and we wanted to help them get on their feet, if possible. They also lacked furniture, and Karla Roskos donated a dining room table and chairs from her attic, which was delivered by committee members.
Thinking that preventing eviction was more cost effective than taking steps later, the Church gave $400 to the Pat Brown fund. This is a fund of Community Ministry of Prince George's County. It has historically had no administrative expenses.
The United Parish members donated enough money during a church World Service blanket drive to be awarded a certificate. These utilitarian blankets go to disaster victims and others in need. We gave $100 to Fish of Bowie to help them survive in their coordination of volunteers and those in need of rides, etc., in this area. Although we did not walk for Crop Walk this year, we made a donation, and we will probably participate in a future walk.
Our largest activity of community service, in terms of involved volunteers, is Christmas in April. Herb Sheppard coordinates this effort. Our house was in District Heights this year.
We meet on the third Thursday of the month, and we welcome new members. Call email Nancy Snyder at Nosnyder@aol.com for directions.
Major Dennis Burian, the first director of the UPB choir, recently concluded his thirty-one year career with the United States Marine Band as Assistant Conductor and Executive Officer. His final program, performed first at the Capitol and then at the Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument grounds, featured a trumpet solo by his son and UPB member, Staff Sgt. Douglas Burian. After the final performance, the large crowd gave Burian a standing ovation. The Washington Parish salutes Dennis on his distinguished musical career and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
Dear God,
I didn't think orange went with
purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was
cool!
Eugene
Dear God,
I went to this wedding and they
kissed right in church. Is that okay?
Neil
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