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. |
Hurrying through a bookstore, my eyes caught a glimpse of a title, Ordinary Resurrections. I didn't have time to check it out. I didn't even take note of the author. But I like that title!
It is of monumental significance that Jesus was resurrected by God. But we need also to ask, "What about us? Have we experienced resurrection?" We sometimes live in the death of fear, anger, hopelessness, or simply indifference. Do we experience the resurrection of confidence, love, and hope? Do we, you and I, experience resurrection in our everyday lives?
The message of Easter is that Christ's resurrection occurred to make possible our new life – beginning now and continuing through eternity. Such resurrection is ordinary in that it happens to all kinds of people. Actually, however, resurrection is a miracle. Yet, make no mistake about it. Resurrections to ordinary people happen!
- Carl Bickel, Pastor, United Parish of Bowie
"Easter's here. Big deal!" a young person may comment. "Who cares about the Easter bunny, butterflies, and baby chicks? In fact, the bunny didn't even bother to hide the baskets and fill them with eggs at our house last year. I couldn't care less if they have an Easter Egg Hunt at Allen Pond or on the White House Lawn. If you ask me, Easter means it's spring vacation when you get to sleep in and don't have to go to school."
A nursery school teacher might say, "Easter is the time when we thank God for all the beautiful spring flowers and the new life we see all around us."
"Well, my life is okay, especially if it's Friday, and I can leave my work at the office. So I'm not looking for any new life," a co-worker might respond to questions regarding the meaning of Easter.
What can we say to these persons? Some of us regard Easter as more than a "big deal." Because God triumphed over the power of death and the seductiveness of sin when Christ was raised from the tomb, we have a hopeful and joyful perspective on life. Easter is pivotal for the decisions we make each day, the values we hold, the jobs we take or don't take, the friends we choose, what we do with our money, and how we spend each twenty-four hour period God gives us. The living Christ is with us in this life and the next. His power is with us enabling us to do what is good and loving. When we fail to live in compliance with His direction, we can find peace by asking His forgiveness and beginning again.
Like a little child, I want to please my loving and merciful parent, God. So Easter means my past is forgiven, and if I let the risen Christ live in me, I can live with our loving Creator today, tomorrow, and forever. For me, Easter is the "biggest deal" I can fathom.
- Shirley Klotz Bickel
The Committee donated its allocated funds for 2000 to FISH and the Pat Brown Sharing Fund (a program in Community Ministry to prevent evictions), as well as to prevent an eviction of a Christmas basket recipient. More recently, the congregation donated $252 to the Blanket Sunday program of Church World Service. On April 28th, twenty plus volunteers will be engaged in the local Christmas in April program. We also plan to participate in Cropwalk in late May. More about Blanket Sunday and Christmas in April below.
- Nancy Snyder
The Community Service Committee would like to remind everyone about the collection baskets under the table in the narthex for the Bowie Pantry. Items particularly needed are: peanut butter, cereals, and one-dish meal items (such as boxed macaroni and cheese). Other non-perishables are also welcome. The baskets have been hard to see for the last two months, but we will try to make them more visible. Please remember the Bowie Pantry every Sunday.
The Blanket Sunday collection was a big success! We bought 50 blankets for cold, homeless, or displaced people. We earned a certificate because of our congregation's high level of participation in this once-a-year project. Look for it soon.
Christmas in April will be held on Saturday, April 28th. Those interested in donating a day to help the less fortunate of P.G. County with repairs, yard work, cleaning, painting, etc., should sign up in the narthex or speak to Herb Sheppard who is the coordinator of this annual event.
Youth Group, for grades 7-9, meets each Sunday evening from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. All youth are invited. Bring a friend.
Members of the confirmation class will, tentatively, be confirmed during the worship service on June 10. The young people will have completed a study of the New Testament, the Old Testament, Christian ethics, and the role of religion in corporate life. They have also written a paper on their beliefs.
The United Parish is searching for a part-time Youth Director. Anyone interested is asked to visit our web site for more information about the Church and contact Donna Hanner.
Women's Bible Study will meet Thursday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. Please read John 14-17. Shirley Bickel will lead the study. All women are invited for discussion and fellowship.
A Men's Fellowship group meets the first and third Wednesday of every month for breakfast and fellowship at the Dough Roller in Crofton on Route 301. All men are invited.
You are invited to a discussion of Mike Parker's book on Sudan, Children of the Sun. The group meets Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary.
Copies of Mike's book are in the narthex. The cost of the book is $10. This book has true stories about people in Sudan. Mike was a member of this Church before being ordained and spending five years as a Presbyterian missionary in Sudan. He is now living in California and writing a book on John Winthrop, an American Puritan.
The following is based on the research of Dr. John Gottman, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. It is excerpted from literature from the Gottman Institute.
Seek help early. The average couple waits six years before seeking help, Gottman says (and half of all marriages that end do so in the first seven years). This means the average couple lives with un-happiness for far too long.
Edit yourself. Gottman's studies show that couples who avoid saying every angry thought when discussing touchy topics are consistently the happiest.
Be careful how you "start up" a discussion. Wives have a crucial role in keeping arguments from getting out of hand, Gottman emphasizes. He has found that arguments first "start up" because the wife escalates the conflict from the get-go by making a dramatic, angry, or upsetting remark in a confrontational tone.
A marriage succeeds to the extent that a husband can accept influence from his wife. If a woman says, "Do you have to work Thursday night? My mother is coming that weekend and I need you help getting ready," a husband who replies "My plans are set, and I am not changing them" is a guy in a shaky marriage. A husbands ability to be persuaded by his wife is so critical because (research shows) women are already well practiced at accepting influence from men, and a true partnership only occurs when a husband is able to do so as well.
Happy couples had high standards for each other even as newlyweds. The most successful couples, it turns out are those who even as newlyweds, refused to accept hurtful behavior from one another. The lower the level of tolerance for bad behavior in the beginning of a relationship, the happier the couple is down the line.
Successful couples know how to exit an argument. Happy couples know how to repair the situation before an argument gets completely out of control. Successful repair attempts include gossiping about other people together (very useful); changing the topic to something completely unrelated; throwing in some humor; stroking your partner with a caring remark ("I understand that this is hard for you"); making it clear you're on common ground ("This is our problem"); backing down (in marriage, as in martial art aikido, Gottman says, "You have to yield to win"); and, in general, offering signs of appreciation for your partner and his or her feelings along the way ("I really appreciate and want to thank you for ...").
Focus on the bright side. In a happy marriage, couples make five times as many positive statements to and about each other and their relationship ("We laugh a lot" as opposed to "We never have fun") than negative ones. A good marriage, Gottman says, must have a rich climate of positivity.
Make deposits to your emotional bank account. In the final analysis, however, it's not how you fight that makes the difference in whether you'll be happily married, says Gottman, it's how the two of you move through time together—in the most subtle of ways—when you're not fighting that determines the mood of your marriage (and what your fights will be like). Gottman calls this the art of "turning towards one another." For instance, if a couple is at dinner and she's talking about the baby doing something cute and her husband ignores her and comments, instead, "Look at that boat going by the window," (and then she, in turn, ignores his comment as well) they are turning away—and apart. Gottman has found that when these types of couples go on to talk about a troubling issue between them, their repair attempts simply don't work very well. The climate of their marriage is already too cold. Says Gottman, "If you can get people to practice turning towards each other in the little ways day in and day out—reading things out loud from the paper to each other, acknowledging whatever the other person has to say—the terrible arguments just don't happen."
The United Parish of Bowie is related to both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ. We have a strong emphasis on Christian education for children and adults. We seek to appeal to both the mind and the heart. Also, we believe Christian faith should find expression in concrete acts of service by individual persons and the Church. We affirm there is no single verbal expression of Christian faith which is equally valid for everyone. We hold that all life for the Christian is to be an elaboration in word and deed of the affirmation, "Jesus is Lord".
ABOUT THE PASTOR: Carl Bickel is a graduate of Lake Forest College in Illinois. He holds graduate theological degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York City (M.Div., S.T.M.) and the University of Chicago (M.A.), and an M.S. and Ph.D. in pastoral counseling from Loyola College in Maryland. Carl served churches in the New York City and Chicago areas and was a campus minister at the University of Illinois before coming to Bowie. He is the husband of Christian educator Shirley Bickel. The Bickels are the parents of three sons and a daughter.
On Palm Sunday, April 8, the children of the church will process. Also, Prism Brass will accompany the worship service, and both the Children's and Adult Choirs will sing. The Maundy Thursday service will feature readings by various people playing parts of Biblical characters. The service will start at 7:30 p.m. on the Thursday evening before Easter and will conclude with Communion. The resurrection of Christ will be celebrated in a special worship service at 11 a.m. on Easter, April 15.
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