Thursday's Thoughts 04/24/2008

Hiya Fairview and Friends! Wow!  What a party we had last Sunday!   We had so many people in church this week –what a beautiful blessing!  Wayne reports that there were 3 visitors to every Fairview regular!  Can you believe it?  Isn’t it amazing that when we welcome people into our sanctuary, they actually come?  One of the things I love most about Fairview is your ability to throw a party!   I always think about something Mary Ellen Kilsby said about Jesus throwing parties.  In typical Mary Ellen fashion she threw up her arms and said, “Jesus loved to party!”  And she went on to say that churches need to remember to party together!  So, what a party we threw.  In the vein of Jesus, we invited everyone, and the Spirit moved among us, because our church was filled! 

What a pleasure it was to welcome so many guests, that is- friends, into our community!   Marge gave away dozens of Fairview tote bags and I’ve been writing visitor letters all week long!   Joan and the nurture committee fed us well and weren’t those balloons festive?  Thanks so much to Libby and Myrna for getting up at the crack of dawn so that a rainbow might shine upon our church!   I most enjoyed the greetings from our denominations and our guests.  AIDS Services Foundation, P-FLAG and CA Faith for Equality all brought me to tears!   The day was so moving that I felt so proud to be a part of this community with you.  Congratulations Fairview!  You’ve really made an impact in our community.  If you heard the words of congratulations you know how meaningful this is for so many people.  Who knows how many people will be affected by your decision to be Open, Welcoming and Affirming, but if the full house this last Sunday was any indicator, I know that our church is already the shining beacon of light we profess our selves to be.    You all deserve a pat on your back!   Let us fling the doors open and keep inviting people in!

This Sunday we will be celebrating EARTH DAY!   Fairview has been taking lots of steps to become more conscientious of how we can care for creation.  Our Women’s Group started 2008 off with a Green discussion, we spent the forty days before Easter in the Green Lenten Project focusing on little ways of changing our habits, and this Sunday at our Earth Day celebration we will honor the earth and consider how we might continue to care for it!    Be sure to stop by Karen Davis’ table where she’ll have green products on display as she did last week.   We want to challenge you to think and really look around the church to investigate other ways we might be more environmentally conscious! 

Did You Know?

North Americans comprise only about 5% of the world's population, but according to the Consumer's guide to Effective Environmental Choices published by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) we consume about: 33% of the world's paper, 25% of the world's oil, 23% of the coal, 27% of the aluminum, and 19% of copper. Compared to the average citizen of Bangladesh, Americans on average consume 106 times as much commercial energy. Even compared to other industrialized countries, Americans consume more. We consume twice as much fossil fuel as the average resident of Great Britain, and 2.5 times as much as the average Japanese. We consume over 3.25 pounds of meat each week - 1.5 times as much as the average Briton or Italian and more than 2.5 times as much as the average Japanese. We produce a corresponding amount of waste. The typical American discards nearly a ton of trash per person per year, two or three times as much as the typical Western European throws away.

For fun—take this energy efficiency quiz brought to you from the Sierra Club:  http://www.sierraclub.org/quiz/energyefficiency/    Or calculate your own ecological footprint by going on this site:  http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp#

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The Wide, Wide World of Theology!

“EARTH is what we all have in common, it is what we are made of and what we live from,

and we cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it.

There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward Earth.

By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other…

it is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for Earth.”

                                                                                                 --Wendell Berry The Gift of Good Land

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The seas are weeping and the land is in grief. But we are called to be signs of hope in this world,

to be co-creators with God of a global community where the earth is respected and cherished.

We ask our Creator to give us discernment and to guide us as we become active members of the

human family, working with our sisters and brothers to change the destructive trends that are

causing global warming. We have been given a great gift, the richness of Creation, and as we

celebrate the earth on this day, we pledge to protect this gift of God. Hear us Creator,

and be with us every day as we seek to restore and preserve your Creation.

Amen.

-- Prayer adapted from Education for Justice

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Announcements

Missed a Sunday? Catch up on your sermons by listening at home!  Just click here to listen now:

 http://www.ocfairviewchurch.org/podcast/sermons  or http://fairviewcc.mypodcast.com/  

So… think you can sing?   Afraid you can’t?

If you answered yes to either of these questions… Sean wants to meet you!

He’ll take the singers and help them shine, and he’ll take the non-singers and teach them to sing!

Come out to the sanctuary tonight and every Thursday at 7:30pm and sing!

Divine on the Vine: Word and Wine on Wednesdays!

Wednesday, April 30th at 7:00pm

Join us for Wine, Juice, Cheese and Goodies! 

We love to study, question, discuss and grow.

Join our AIDS WALK team!  Walk with us on May 10^th or Sponsor us by clicking online: http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=58903&LangPref=en-CA

Or  sponsor me: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1788901

It’s that easy!  Hope you’ll help Fairview meet our goal of $500 to raise for this important cause!

Next Month’s Book Club will be reading  Out of Cana by Anne Rice

Get your copy now, and start reading for May!

In Celebration,

Sarah