Synagogue Wrap-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed the trip to the synagogue! If you have any questions that come up about it in your meetings in the next several weeks, let me know (through the blog if possible, so we can all look at them together!)

One person asked me about the story of the man who went into the Red Sea up to his nose, causing the sea to part. Didn't Moses part the sea? this person asked. Well, according to the Bible, yes (although it was really God who did the thing anyway!) The story the Rabbi told was from a collection of ancient writings called the "Mishnah." Mishnah tells stories about what isn't in the Bible. Like, with the story of the Red Sea, the Bible tells us that the waters parted, but now how they parted. The story in the Mishnah is that no one had faith enough to trust that God would part the waters and let them walk through on dry ground. It wasn't until one man walked into the sea up to his nose--trusting that God would protect him--that God knew the people had enough faith to trust him. It may or may not have happened that way (most scholars agree probably not), but it makes for a good story about faith! The Jewish people have a different approach to the Bible than we Christians do--for them, the Bible is a starting point for great stories about faith. Sometimes we Christians take the Bible too much at its word, and we're afraid to imagine "What if?" What if we were standing at the Red Sea, and God told us to walk into the water? What would you do?

Discuss.

--Pastor D.

p.s.--Keep your eyes on this space for details about our next field trip!

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

Don't Forget!

I am eagerly anticipating our first field trip!

If you have not already met with your confirmand/mentor, please plan to do so before this trip.

Remember, we will be meeting at the church on May 17th at 9:45 a.m., leaving at 10:00 a.m., and plan on having lunch following the service at Congregation Rodef Sholom.

It's good to be home after General Conference!

--Pastor D

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

Updates

Definite date for the field trip to Congregation Rodef Sholom: May 17th. Meet at the church at 9:45. The service starts at 10:30 a.m. Bring a little money with you for lunch afterwards. It is important that all confirmands attend this field trip! Mentors are also strongly encouraged to attend--you will get something out of this, too.

Also, if you know of someone who is supposed to be in confirmation, but who wasn't at the kick-off on Saturday, please let them know that they need to see me, ASAP! The process of joining the church is part of your journey into adulthood, so everyone needs to take responsibility to be a part of this process. A significant amount of missed events or meetings will result in no confirmation for that individual in September.

I'm looking forward to working with all of you in the next several months. Let me know if you have any questions--make sure you meet with your confirmand/mentor before the first field trip, if at all possible.

Confirmand/Mentor Matchups so far:

Jessica: Kelly MacDonald
Sam: Pastor David
Amber: Colleen Aliberti
Shawn: Becky and Richard Hanks
Josephine: Lolly Symcheck
Stephanie: Rhonda Harris

God Bless,

Pastor David

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

Correction-- Field Trip

The original date for our first field trip (to the Jewish Synagogue) did not work out well for Rabbi Muller, so we are going to have to move that field trip to May, probably the 17th at 10:30 a.m. We will meet at the church at 9:45, leave for the synagogue at 10:00, and then go out for lunch afterwards. Please make plans to attend this event!

Looking forward to seeing you all at our kick-off dinner on April 5th!

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

Kick Off Dinner and First Field Trip

April 5th will be our kick-off dinner for confirmation 2008! Parents, Mentors and Confirmands will all join together for a night of fellowship, information sharing, and worship. Mentors are invited to bring enough food to share for themselves, their confirmands, and parents. After dinner, we will attend Contemporary Worship at 6 p.m. in the Chapel.

Our first field trip is tentatively scheduled for April 11. We will travel to Congregation Rodef Sholom in Youngstown to observe a Jewish Shabbat (Sabbath) service. The service starts at 8 p.m., but we will meet at the church at 5:30, so we can go to dinner beforehand. At that time, we will discuss the Jewish heritage of the Christian faith.

I look forward to working with all of you this spring and summer! God bless you as you prepare for the important step of becoming members of this congregation and The United Methodist Church!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor David

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

P.S.-- When I get back from vacation, we should have the mentor/confirmand lists finalized, so I will be publishing who is mentoring who in my next post!

Welcome!

We are just beginning to get some information about who's who in our confirmation group!

So far, we have eleven youth and five mentors signed up. I'm going to be signing up some more mentors in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, be prepared for our Kick-Off Dinner, April 5 @ 5:00 p.m. at the Church, followed by Contemporary Worship at 6 p.m. Please plan to stay for worship, as we will be having a "commissioning prayer" for the confirmands and their mentors at that time.

Here's how the process will work:

After April 5, confirmands and mentors will meet for five sessions (you plan these individually).
The sessions cover: Getting to Know You, Prayer, Presence, Gifts and Service.

We will also meet about once a month (April, May, and June or July) for a field trip to a Jewish Synagogue, Roman Catholic Church, and African-American Church. These field trips will include a meal and an opportunity for some large-group discussion.

The process will end with a retreat (August 8-10), during which we will cover some more topics relating to becoming members of the Church.

I'm really looking forward to this process! I know that all the confirmands we have will make great members of this congregation!

Call the office at (330) 652-1439, or e-mail me at: davidmacdonald@mtsoalum.org if you have any questions.

--Pastor D.