FPCB Families

Ubuntu--Living like we belong to each other

2008-01-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we deepened our community experience on the all church retreat. The theme was "ubuntu," an African philosophy, which inspired the founding of Touching Tiny Lives, the safehouse we support. It is also a theme that runs through the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. whose life we celebrated this week. King encourages us to be a "beloved community" and to see ourselves as part of "an inescapable web of mutuality." This weekend, each of us had a chance to find our place in this web at the retreat and hopefully with renewed interest in Sunday worship.
We found it by making meals together and taking turns cleaning up.
We found it by planning board games with all ages.
Our teenagers found it by playing hide and seek with our toddlers.
Our preteens found it by sledding with the younger kids.
We found it by reflecting on ubuntu, the situation in Lesotho, the words of Bonhoeffer and King, Oh, and Jesus.
We found it in multiple trips to the train station and shared cars.
We found it in nature walks with people we've only said "Peace Be with you" too.

I hope we find it each Sunday when we pass the peace to one another, age 1 to age 100. I hope as we say those familiar words, we desire not just for each other to have "peace" but also "to be" with each other.

Children Singing in Worship

2007-11-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

2007-11-18 Kids Choir

Click on the photo to view entire album.

A New Vision for the Sunday School

2007-11-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents and Friends of FPCB Families,

We have been experiencing new growth for the past three years in our Sunday school and youth programs. November and December is an exciting time of year as all the children that have been blessed by our program come together (in record numbers) to practice and perform our original Christmas pageants. We've had so much interest, that each year, we've had to make more costumes to fit the growing numbers, ages, and creativity of the kids participating. (This year, over twenty kids volunteered for solo speaking or singing parts!).

With so much growth and excitement, it's a good time to look ahead to our future. Advent is when the church celebrates the season of anticipation and prepares for the new life to come. In other words, it's a great time to hold a meeting! On Sunday, December 2, 2007, at 10:00am, you, the parents, get to join in all the preparations. While your kids are rehearsing in the sanctuary with Amy, you will be visioning and planning the next five years with me in the gym.

Before you attend (and its' important that everyone does), please fill out the polls in the left column. If your feelings and opinions are more complex than multiple choice (as most of ours are), please feel free to post a comment below or email me at bethfpc@aol.com and please bring your thoughts to the meeting so we can work on strategy and support with each other.

Shalom, Rev. Beth

Welcome to the First Families Blog

2007-11-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone,

Welcome to the FPCB Families Blog. This is a medium for us to stay connected in a busy world. Our hour and a half on Sundays is just too short to get the kind of spiritual shot and communal support that we need to make it through the week. We started one of these blogs last year for our youth and it's been a good way to check in with each other and to share ideas about the world and how to respond to it from a spiritual perspective.

My hope is to regularly post ideas and reflections on how to make a spiritual home for your children. If you chose to subscribe, an email will notify you when there is new material on this site. You may access it when you are able. You will only receive one email notification a week. Although I will be managing the material for this blog, I invite you to post comments to any thoughts I post, by clicking on the "post a comment" cue below each section. Longer thoughts can be shared with me by email.

Start our "post-Sunday" interactions now, and fill out the polls to the left.

Peace be with you,
Rev. Beth