If anyone would like to help the Drubers with meals, here is the meal registry that our friend Tiffany Miller set up for us.

Thanks much!
Becca Swartzendruber

The following comes to us from Becca Swartzendruber. She and her husband, Nathan, are expecting the arrival of their first child in about two weeks!  

Nathan and I are asking for help with house projects such as scraping, painting and moving furniture in the next few weeks as our due date approaches. Any help you could offer would be much appreciated. Email us at beccajayne1@gmail.com or fishpatrol@gmail.com.

Congratulations, Matt and Renee! Clare was born Thursday morning around 5:15a.  She came into the world weighing 6lb 8oz.  Renee and Clare are doing well.  Let’s provide meals for them until the end of July!  Go claim your date on the meal registry.

The VC Women’s Retreat is soon to happen!

Sustainable Faith (the retreat ministry of the Convent) will be hosting the VC Women’s Retreat again this year. Cost will be $25 per person, which will include use of the whole building for Friday night through Saturday afternoon, and breakfast and lunch. Dinner on Friday night will be potluck.

Jody Nixon will be collecting the money, which can be paid through their website or directly to her: checks written to sustainable faith.

Please RSVP to  Mary Ellen Mitchell (maryellenmitchell@gmail.com) or through the Facebook event (preferred)before April 20, but as soon as you are able, so we can get an idea of how to move forward.

If you are interested in spending the night, please post that on the wall below and we will reserve space for you. Rooms will be shared, but over night accommodation is included in the $25, on a first come first served basis.

Please pay Jody Nixon ASAP.

The following announcement is from Angie Ferrell:

For the second year, VC will include a dedication and baptism service in our Easter worship gathering on Sunday, April 24th.  These celebrations of new life in the church Body and new life in Christ are a natural extension of our celebration of Christ’s resurrection.  This is open to families with new family members they wish to dedicate or baptize into the VC faith community, as well as to older kids and adults who are interested in being baptized as a step in their personal faith journey.

For parents who wish to dedicate or baptize their new family member/s:  The VC family is representative of many different faith traditions, and within those traditions there are different rites or ceremonies by which parents express their desire to raise their children in the knowledge of Christ.  Both dedication and baptism are symbolic ways of committing our children to the Lord and of invoking our faith community’s support to that end.

For children and adults with a desire to be baptized:  We follow the 1st century church tradition of baptism by submersion and will have our “baptismal pool” available.

A special liturgy has been authored for this VC service, and will include time for each family to share briefly about those being dedicated and baptized.

If you are interested in participating, please e-mail Angie Ferrell at aaferrell@yahoo.com no later than Friday, April 8. Include whether dedication or baptism is desired and the person’s name.  Those desiring baptism will be connected to some of the leaders from within VC, who will provide spiritual guidance and support toward this milestone in your faith journey.

The following was sent in by Laura Menze:

In honor of warming weather and a desire for easy-access community prayer during this season of discernment, morning prayer is transitioning again to meeting in St. E’s following a winter of meeting in the warmer apartments. We gather Monday through Fridays at 7am for morning prayers. (As no Springtime Phyllis Tickle prayer books have been found and we will not have internet access, we will likely be using the Common Prayer book. Bring your copy should you have one.) Following prayers we usually eat breakfast together prior to departing for work by 7:45. Contact VC communications for more info or to connect with Laura.

Hello Church!

I wanted to send out a reminder that Jill and Josh Stoxen are very close to meeting their son! He’s due in less that two weeks, so be keeping their family in mind and in prayer these last exciting days before his arrival.

Also, I’ll be coordinating a meal share for their family with a fabulous new web organizational tool that Jill told me about. It will take our community meal share superpowers to the next level. Get a preview here. After baby boy arrives I will make a calendar and folks can mark when they can make food and what they plan on making so everyone can see. Gone are the days when lasagna comes 5 days in a row !  Woot!

I will send out another email when baby boy Stoxen arrives, but in the mean time, please let me know if you want to be on the list of people who get to bless this family with food during such a holy time in their lives.

You can reach me via email: elizabeth@bettyhatchettdesign.com or phone: 513.293.1549

gracias,
Elizabeth Hatchett

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to let die and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
… God has made everything beautiful for its own time. (Ecclesiastes 3.1-9)

An author I admire says that a disciplined person “does what needs to be done when it needs to be done.” Very true. Yet determining exactly what needs to be done often requires wisdom, and wisdom, although freely given by God, comes with its own price-tag. It’s acquisition requires self-abnegation, the deconstruction of pride, a turning away from all expressions of selfishness and inordinate ambition. That’s the first step of the dance. The second step is (re)turning in humility to both God and people as the only viable resource for the kind of wisdom we so desperately need: wisdom that’s marked by purity, peace-making, gentleness, mercy, good deeds and yielding to one another. This kind of wisdom produces what we secretly or openly desire: “a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3.17)

So wisdom is acquired by orienting ourselves in a particular way toward God and the community, and by our community then orienting itself in a particular way to the wider world. Wisdom is, therefore, deeply relational in God’s economy. It is kneaded into us over time by holding fiercely to a specific way of living with each other in full view of God.

Because wisdom is relational, every person holds a piece of it, and only by contributing our various pieces do we gain a larger understanding of what God is doing among us. We offer our various scraps of wisdom when we come together humbly, share truthfully, listen carefully, pray fervently, and reflect deeply on all that emerges. If our scraps are given in this atmosphere of humility, mercy, and deep respect, we slowly begin to see. We discern a larger tapestry, something that transcends the smallness of our individual scraps. We find the Opus Dei, the “work of God,” work that draws us into a richness of life we could never experience singly.

What time is it for Vineyard Central? In what season do we find ourselves? If in fact “God has made everything beautiful for its own time,” then let’s ask God together to show us what this season is all about so that we can participate in the beauty of it. Let’s come together with open hands in a posture of humility. Let’s listen. And let’s take as much time as we need to gain this discernment rather than expect or demand the Spirit of God to be subject to our anxiousness and impatience. (Trying to force God’s hand is an exercise in futility, anyway, so why bother?)

For the welfare of the church, the pastoral council would like to initiate a season of discernment starting with the next festival — February 6. We have no idea how long this season will last, but it will be carried forward by a weekly rhythm of worship together on Sundays. (The exact time of that meeting is still being worked out and will be announced this Sunday, Feb 6. Feel free to contribute your thoughts on this between now and then.)

Furthermore, we’ve asked Tom and Karen Wuest to oversee this time of discernment. The Wuest family is dear to many of us who have been around from the beginning. They played a pivotal role in the earliest years of Vineyard Central’s founding before moving first to Colorado and then to Vancouver, B.C. to pursue God’s calling on their lives. During their time away they held us in their hearts and prayers, and recently they felt called to return, bringing two children (Isaiah and Arbutis) and a wealth of experience in tow. They love us deeply and have experience in guiding churches through the discernment process. We think they’re a great fit and would like to recommend them to the community. We’ve also asked them to draw in others from our community to help with the discernment, so this won’t be a solo effort.

The pastoral council is hopeful for this time. We believe it will be a turning point in this long, beautiful and sometimes confusing and bittersweet journey we’ve had together. I personally hope that someday, years from now, many of us will look back on this time not only with affection but with a sense of awe and gratitude toward the great and beautiful God who is always desirous to give us our daily bread.

Peace to you,
Dave Nixon
(on behalf of the pastoral council)

Whiz Kids is looking for tutors (especially male) for their rebooted Norwood site at Williams Elementary School.

Contact person: Sandra Kelley, illinikelley@yahoo.com
Start date: Feb 10 training, Feb 17 launch
Commitment: 4:00-5:30 every Thursday until May.
More info: Go to http://www.citygospelmission.com/whizkids.html and click the volunteer button on the right-hand side of the page

The following is from the Norwood City Schools After School Programs (via Joshua Hanauer):

The 21st Century After School Program is asking the community to participate in our fund raiser! As required by the Ohio Department of Education we are required to raise sustainability funding for our after school programs. All of Norwood City School After School Programs are grant funded.  As we face a $100,000.00 dollar decrease in funding for our Middle School Program next year it is critical we raise funds to keep our program vital and effective.

The Kroger Fund raiser will be ongoing as long as the 21st Century After School Program exists. It is easy, and has the potential to raise substantial money for our program. Buy a $5.00 dollar gift card from us, load it before you shop at Kroger or buy gas and we will receive 4% of every purchase! Cards can be purchased from us&nand used at any Kroger in the United States.

Download the form found on the side and return to the Middle School to the attention of the 21st Century After School Program.

The form can be downloaded from this link.

The following announcement is from Dave Nixon:

Happy New Year! Let’s come together this first Sunday of 2011 to signal our desire to live and work as a worshiping community in Norwood and beyond!

PLACE ::
The back of St. E’s, where we celebrated Advent

BREAKFAST ::
9-10 a.m. Bagels and coffee provided. You bring the rest: fruits, cheeses, etc.

WORSHIP ::
• singing
• liturgy & response
• teaching (Matt Dawson & Dave Nixon
• communion

Following our time together there won’t be a potluck lunch. (Put that excess cooking energy into breakfast.) Practice hospitality afterward by inviting someone into your home.

Check out THIS new page, which will link to short articles written by our pastors.  This is intended to be something pastoral, encouraging and envisioning.  The first post, “The Saint is a Medicine” is already up!

Hearth House Church Ready to Birth
By the end of November Hearth will become 2 distinct house churches. One group will realign itself with Hearth’s original focus on hospitality. The second group will continue to meet as a worshiping community to explore its mission. Start-ups and re-starts are an great time to roll up your sleeves and get involved. Likely meeting times for both churches will continue to be Tuesday evening from 6:30-8:30. (We’ll solidify that soon and get the word out.) If you’re looking to join a house church, please know that our doors are open.

New: Spencer Avenue House Church
Starting Thursday evening, Nov. 11, Joshua & Maurie Hanauer will serve as hosts for the new Spencer Avenue HC. Newcomers and oldcomers are welcome. Start time will be 8:00 p.m. (They need to get their kids settled first.) Directions and contact info will follow in the “comment section” for this announcement on the VC website. If you have questions you can post them there as well.

New: Courtland Avenue House Church
Starting Thursday evening, Nov. 11, Ben and Mary Ellen Eilerman will serve as hosts for the new Courtland Avenue HC, led by Daniel & Laura (Tucker) Tegge. Start time will be 6:30 p.m. If you’re interested in joining this group, please contact Dave Nixon directly or leave a comment for this announcement on the VC website.

Join us Monday, October 25th from 7:30-8:30 pm at The Speckled Bird for an informational meeting about the next CTM Street Psalms Community Intensive: Image is Everything; Finding God’s Breath in Man’s Dust. This is an incredible opportunity to learn how we can best serve our neighbors and folks in hard places, and join a theological conversation with a community of servants all over the world from Guatemala to India. The actual intensive will be Nov 18-20 at the Speckled Bird. Contact Jeremiah with questions at jeremiahgriswold@mac.com. Or to go to the Intensive Resource page.