Carl O. Bickel, Ph.D.
Pastor
Office phone & fax (301)249-6411
Home phone (301)249-5885
Patty Keys, Editor
email: pattyk@gwu.edu
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 Patty Keys, Editor email: pattyk@gwu.edu |
| 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 bot th Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Church of Christ |
Carl Bickel's Sermon Opposition, is listed on the Sermon page.
We're long-time residents of Bowie having moved here from Champaign, Illinois where the prolific farms stretch far and wide from the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. As a way of connecting with our Midwestern background, when we made our first trip here we were told how potatoes used to be grown in Bowie. How strange that seemed because we saw no signs of potatoes or farming of any sort. The nearest suggestions of farming through the years have been those who've raised hay for animals or the truck type farming where vegetables are raised for selling at roadside stores or any markets the farmers can solicit. However, those roadside stands are scarce, and we seem farther removed from the sights and sounds of a bountiful harvest. Now when we think of harvest time, we're apt to visualize luscious pumpkin patches (where pumpkins are sometimes imported and placed appropriately in the fields for children's delight) or potted mums we can buy at the grocery. We may decorate our homes with artificial pumpkins, fake leaves and silk chrysanthemums or sunflowers. We may center on our table a lovely bowl of plastic apples and imitation nuts or perhaps some perfect-looking manufactured gourds. I, myself, use both the imitation and the real to add autumn flavor to our home. However, I feel a sense of sadness when I contemplate how far away we may be from sensing and thanking for God for the authentic bounty of harvest which God provides for us year after year.
We do take it for granted that the grocery stores will sell us almost any fruit or vegetable we can imagine for baking pies or satisfying the palettes of ourselves and those we love. We do not experience the joy of going to the woods and picking walnuts from a tree and then running them through a grinder to tear up the dark green husks that stain your hands. We can buy nuts from Brazil or pistachio nuts from the Mediterranean. It seems I need to be jolted occasionally to remember how very blessed by God we are to live in a place where (those of us not affected by hurricanes and flooding) can enjoy wonderful vegetables, tasty grains, and yummy fruits grown in our country as well as in distant agricultural regions.
Yesterday my husband and I took a day trip to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area; and we were reminded again how pleasing to the eye is the sight of growing corn ripe for harvest. The sky was rich with blue and a few clouds roamed the sky. Thank you God for abundantly providing for us. Even the freshly baked pumpkin bread reminds us of You.
So wonderful God , our Creator and Provider, let me not just be thankful on Thanksgiving Day for your bounty to us. Help me not to rush through the words of "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" at church thinking what an outdated hymn that is alluding to harvesting of crops before the "winter storms begin". Let me live each day with a thankful spirit and articulate each day some appreciation to You for Your gifts in abundance. Amen.
Shirley Klotz Bickel -- © 2005
On September 28th, Laura Collins preached at United Parish. Following that service Carl Bickel and the Parish Board talked with her about joining our staff as a Parish Associate. The Board then decided to offer Laura a position as a contractual employee (no benefits) to work about 10 hours a week. She will focus mainly on outreach to young adults, working in the community recruiting young adults to participate in various groups she will establish. Laura will join us on December 4, preach the sermon on December 11th and will assist at the Christmas Eve Service. Laura will continue to preach once a month and assist in one service per month.
Laura Collins graduated from Guilford College with a B.A. in English in 1983. She was awarded a Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in 1990, and was later ordained. She served as Associate Pastor at the Third Presbyterian Church of Rochester, New York from 1990 through 1994. In 1994 and 1995 she was Manager of Roger's House Ministry, a transitional housing program for ex-offenders. In 1995 she became Pastor of Laurelton Presbyterian Church, where she remained until 2000. Following a period of service as interim Associate Presbyter of the Newton Presbytery in New Jersey, she became Pastor of Takoma Park Presbyterian Church where she remained until last year. In her first year at Takoma Park, the church received 40 new members. Laura is married and is the mother of an elementary school aged child.
We are enthused about having Laura on our staff, and we ask for your support of her, your welcome to her, and your prayers that the United Parish have a strong ministry in this community and beyond.
| We will have a special "Chat and Chew" following the worship service on December 4th to welcome Laura. Please bring some finger foods to share as we offer Laura our enthusiastic support and welcome. |
"The piece is: a structure, a specimen, and organization of tones cannily wrought to self-sufficiency. All these, but something else; its shadow, its radiance, its aura, its meaning. The piece is, but inevitably, the piece says. What? What does it say, what does it mean? What seeds of doubt, or dream, or desire does it sow? For it is helpless to avoid these intimations, these confessions. ... It was not an idle dispensation of God that made it happen; it was to find a bridge to that God, to lament and to celebrate this bewildering message."
From: Piano Pieces By Russell Sherman
United Parish is now connected! With the assistance of the Technology Committee and a generous donor, we have been able to establish a high-speed Internet connection at the church. While it is only available to the staff currently, there will be classes offered and a network set up for use in the library and classrooms as we go forward in our outreach endeavors.
Please let us know of any opportunities to 'connect' with other churches and the community you may find. More to follow in January!
Patty Keys
Parishioners have been busy buying clothes and toys for children at Central Union Mission in D.C. This year we decided to provide a jumbo size bag of Christmas surprises for 10 children and youth.
We're planning to take Thanksgiving dinners to two families and Christmas dinners to five. From now through December 18, we will use most of the items in the Bowie Pantry basket to go into these baskets, where appropriate. Please remember to bring in the occasional can of vegetables, box of cereal, jar of peanut butter, etc. when you come to church. The Christmas food baskets contain a variety of staples as well as the actual holiday dinner. Thanks!
A joint Thanksgiving Eve Service will be held at the United Parish on Wednesday, November 23, at 7:30 p.m. Christian Community Presbyterian Church will join us for worship and fellowship following the service of communion. A joint choir will enhance our worship.
followed by
On Sunday, December 11, following the worship service and Chat and Chew, children and youth will tell about Jesus Christ's birth. All ages of children will sing Christmas songs and form a manger scene tableau. High school youth will take us back two thousand years through their on-the-scene reporting of events in and around Bethlehem.
Following the brief (approximately 20 minutes) program, everyone is invited to drive over to Larkin Chase where we'll sing Christmas carols for the residents there.
NOTE: There will be one rehearsal of preschoolers, elementary, and middle schoolers, apart from Sunday morning when older ones may rehearse during church school. That rehearsal will be held after church on Dec. 4. If you are a parent and you have not yet let us know if your child(ren) can participate, please call Charlotte Melichar.
Please join us to enjoy the performances of
Mitchellville Community School of the Arts Handbell Choir
MCSA String Quartet
Village Baptist Worship Dance Team
and
YOU
in a holiday sing-a-long!
After over a year of research and discussion, the Piano Committee made the recommendation that the church piano was in serious need of "retirement" after serving United Parish for over 20 years. She just couldn't keep up with us so she began to refuse to keep both her pitch and her strings intact; so Lady Sohmer has been moved to the church library to serve her remaining years as a practice piano. The Piano Committee also spent the past year researching pianos, their structure and durability as well as their appearance and sound. They have selected a piano that makes a beautiful statement in our sanctuary. Both a beautiful piece of furniture and a complicated instrument, the Boston Grand Piano will give us many years of worship music as well as more opportunities for outreach to the community with music.
Now that the piano has been selected and loaned to us to enjoy; we would like to ask your help in supporting our newest addition to United Parish. Our goal is to provide everyone the opportunity to share in this "adoption". We have set up several ways to contribute and are asking everyone to consider at least one of the options. Of course you are welcome to give in more than one way if you can. Since this campaign will take at least a year to complete, we are asking that you let us know how you can help during the year and encourage you to give what you can now to get us started.
A keyboard will be posted in the Narthex every Sunday to show the progress of our campaign. As the keys are covered by donations, they will appear on the chart. Each key (white or black) is worth $240 toward the cost of the piano. If you think of that over the expected life of a piano (approximately 30 years) that is only $8.00 a key per year!
Monthly Donations (Mail to church or drop special envelope into collection plate), Check (Make payable to United Parish of Bowie — MEMO: PIANO), Cash Donation (You can be "invoiced" when a piano is purchased or you can place the cash in a "Piano Campaign Envelope"), a portion from Uncle Sam's refund (Invoicing or reminders available upon request), Weekly Donations (place special envelope in offering plate), or you decide! If you have an idea not listed, please let us know!
For those who have voiced an interest in giving a donation in memory of a loved one; please complete a dedication form and include it with your donation. Dedications will be included in the Donor Book in the Church Library.
There will also be a jar in the Narthex every Sunday for anyone wishing to lighten their change purses and pockets — and to give an opportunity to our young people so they can also contribute. While we really need some larger donations when possible, there is no amount too small! All will add up to a much larger goal! Thank you!
| UNITED PARISH OF
BOWIE GRAND PIANO CAMPAIGN DEDICATION FORM | |
| FROM | _____________________________________________ |
| IN HONOR OF | _____________________________________________ |
| IN MEMORY OF | _____________________________________________ |
| BY: | _____________________________________(optional) |
| UNITED PARISH OF BOWIE | |
| GRAND PIANO CAMPAIGN | |
| YES! I want to help make a joyful noise to the Lord! | |
| Name: | ____________________________________________________ |
| Address: | ____________________________________________________ |
| Email/Phone: | ____________________________________________________ |
| Signature/Date: | ____________________________________________________ |
| There are many Ways to Give: | |
| $ _________ | Check (Make payable to United Parish of Bowie — MEMO: Grand Piano) |
| $ _________ | Future Cash Donation (You will be "invoiced" when piano is purchased) |
| $ _________ | From Uncle Sam's refund for 2005 tax return (Invoicing or reminders available) |
| $ ________ | Weekly/Monthly in 2006 (Mail or drop special envelope into collection plate) |
| $ _________ | Other (_____________________________________ ) |
| ___________ | Spare change in "Pennies for the Piano" (Jar in narthex) |
All money or checks collected will be set aside for the purchase of a grand piano. When we purchase the piano, reminders, invoices, or envelopes will be sent out.
Please make sure that all donations are clearly labeled Grand Piano. All donations are confidential, and collected funds will be returned if the purchase is not made for any reason.
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