Region 3 News

You Are Invited To Retreat

Bread for the Journey: A Day Apart will be facilitated by Kairos Institute for Spiritual Formation (a special work of MCCDC). "Bread for the Journey" is designed to give us all time apart, time for reflection, time for holy interaction with our intimate God. We will slow down and pace our lives to come apart from our hectic worlds to allow God to show us those illusions we need to release and to truly see visions of who we are to become as children of God.

Bread for the Journey: A Day Apart is a pre-Lenten Retreat hosted by Imago Dei Metropolitan Community Church located at 145 West Rose Tree Road, Media, PA 19063. Come and taste the true meaning of the last forty days of our Savior's life and ministry! Come prepare, through various avenues of prayer and play, for the journey through Lent, the time of preparation for the annual Easter celebration of our Risen Christ!

Bread for the Journey is scheduled for March 1, 2003 and will begin at 9:00 AM and will last until 9:00 PM. The cost is $40 (meals not included). Special hotel accommodations and rates have been made available for those wishing to attend this incredible Retreat. If you would like a brochure, visit www.imagodeimcc.org to print. If you have any questions, please contact Rev. Karla Fleshman at (610) 724-2146 or RevKarla@imagodeimcc.org.

Our facilitators come from four corners of our Region: The Rev. Maria Luna-Wolfe, associate pastor of New Life MCC in Norfolk, VA; and The Rev. Reg C. Richburg, staff clergy at MCCDC in Washington, DC; and Susie Chin, member of MCCNY, New York, NY; and J.T. Joyen, member of Imago Dei MCC, Media, PA. [please see brochure for their professional profiles].

They plan to equip us all, through a process of releasing and gathering together, the necessary tools for an experiential and holy journey with God toward the culmination of the meaning of the Cross and beyond. The schedule opens with a time of gathering, registration, and fellowship before moving to opening prayer and overview for the day. There will be small group sharing, a time to unpack our bags through ritual, community silence and mediation, as well as time to create sacred symbols and explore movement as prayer. Our evening worship will involve communion and Labyrinth Walk.

Imago Dei MCC and Chairs Institute for Spiritual Formation are looking forward to your prayerful decision to attend this life changing Retreat in which we will share Bread for the Journey!

Prayer Request - New Life MCC, Norfolk, VA

Please be in prayer for our metro area of Hampton Roads, Virginia. We have eight military bases in the area and we are starting to look like a ghost town because many, many of our military people have been or are being shipped overseas. Please add our area, our families, our church and our military to your church prayers.

MCC Washington unveils new web site!

If you haven't gone to MCC-DC's web site lately, you are in for a treat! It has been redesigned and has a great new look! AND...you can listen in to hear the spiritual instruction and music from the latest Sunday service! So...come on back and check it out at www.mccdc.com

Note To: MCC Clergy Candidates

This year's MCC Intensive program, open to MCC clergy candidates, will be held from July 7-15, in Dallas, Texas, USA, immediately following the MCC World Jubilee and General Conference. We have a great faculty who are looking forward to spending this time with our future leaders. The Intensive in the Practice of MCC Ministry is held every year and is an important part of the experience of clergy candidates. It is an experience of community, collegiality, and learning where the social and theological issues of race, sexuality and gender are contextualized within MCC ministry and where students dream together about their own future and the future and purpose of the church. For registration information, contact Carlos Chavez at 310.360.8640 x210 and at carloschavez@mccchurch.org. Include a résumé with your application.

Drumming Workshop At MCC NOVA

MCC of Northern Virginia is sponsoring a Drumming Workshop on February 22 from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm (with an hour lunch break) called "Joyful Noise" that is being presented by Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn of Drumming for Peace. He will begin with a discussion about all of the percussive instruments used in the Bible, talk about "redeeming" the drum as an instrument for worship and prayer and community, talk a little about the Peace connections to drumming, teach some cultural specific rhythms, and finally talk about how to establish ongoing drumming circles in churches that can be used as community outreach.

MCC-CTL - Empowerment through the Arts

We have identified sharing hope and offering empowerment through the creative and lively arts as its primary outreach ministry. Our choirs sing three Sundays each month and frequently tour. Our musicians have been featured at gay pride events, religious conferences (including MCC's Region 3's first ever Regional Conference), and churches in NJ, PA and MD. Our choir participates annually in a "Joy Night" event with MCC-Baltimore and MCC-Philadelphia. And the Liberation Gospel Choir is producing its first ever CD. Be sure to pre-order your CD today.

In addition to our music ministries, we now have a theatre group, "The Liberation Players". TLP has recently debuted an original Readers' Theatre piece and plans to perform a one-act play later in the year. The theatre division also has sponsored an exciting Cabaret Night which will become an annual event. The next Cabaret night is tentatively planned for April. Also in April, our pastor will be performing in a Cabaret show at another church in the region.

Music and Theatre are just two of our artistic offerings. We also have dance. We have seen the moves and heard the rhymes of CTL's teen rap duo, "Lyrically Liberated."

CTL also has members who are professional musicians. Two of our classically trained singers will be taking the positive energy of CTL on the road to benefit others next month. Lucy Strauli (Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music) and Rochelle Ellis (Master of Music Education, Westminster Choir College) both teach music and perform on stages throughout the country. Ms. Ellis has also performed with the National Opera of China. Lucy and Rochelle will be giving a concert at New Light MCC in Hagerstown, MD for NLMCC's 7th anniversary. Tickets for dinner and the concert are $100 each and can be purchased by contacting New Light MCC, 40 West Church St., Hagerstown, MD 21740
(E-mail: NewLightMCC@aol.com).

And finally, CTL offers ministry through creative writing. CTL sends out a weekly email reflection to our email subscribers, and our pastor (who is also a playwright and budding director) is working on a book that may be available as early as this year. A writing scholar and former film maker (and CTL member) will be offering a writing class at CTL in the summer. For more information: ChristLiberator@aol.com

FORGET JOBS! CHOOSE MINISTRIES!

If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you are doing it to serve God, it's a ministry.
If you are doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you are doing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry.
If you will do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it, even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry.
If you quite because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job. If you stay with it even when no one seems to notice, it's a ministry.
If you do it because someone else said it needs to be done, it's a job. If
you do it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it's a ministry.
It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry.
People may not say "well done" when you do your job. God will say "well done" when you complete your ministry.
An average church is filled with people doing jobs.
A magnificent church is filled with people involved with ministry.

Forget Jobs, Choose Ministries! If God calls you to do ministry, please don't turn it into a job. If you have a job in the church, give it up and find a ministry! God doesn't want us feeling stuck with a job, but excited, fulfilled, and faithful to our ministry.
Borrowed from 1/2003 Seascapes & Open Door MCC E-Newletter

Peace and blessings,

Arlene Ackerman


	REGION 3 UPDATE January 21, 2003 You Are Invited To Retreat Bread for the Journey: A Day Apart will be facilitated by Kairos Institute for Spiritual Formation (a special work of MCCDC). "Bread for the Journey" is designed to give us all time apart, time for reflection, time for holy interaction with our intimate God. We will slow down and pace our lives to come apart from our hectic worlds to allow God to show us those illusions we need to release and to truly see visions of who we are to become as children of God. Bread for the Journey: A Day Apart is a pre-Lenten Retreat hosted by Imago Dei Metropolitan Community Church located at 145 West Rose Tree Road, Media, PA 19063. Come and taste the true meaning of the last forty days of our Savior's life and ministry! Come prepare, through various avenues of prayer and play, for the journey through Lent, the time of preparation for the annual Easter celebration of our Risen Christ! Bread for the Journey is scheduled for March 1, 2003 and will begin at 9:00 AM and will last until 9:00 PM. The cost is $40 (meals not included). Special hotel accommodations and rates have been made available for those wishing to attend this incredible Retreat. If you would like a brochure, visit www.imagodeimcc.org to print. If you have any questions, please contact Rev. Karla Fleshman at (610) 724-2146 or RevKarla@imagodeimcc.org. Our facilitators come from four corners of our Region: The Rev. Maria Luna-Wolfe, associate pastor of New Life MCC in Norfolk, VA; and The Rev. Reg C. Richburg, staff clergy at MCCDC in Washington, DC; and Susie Chin, member of MCCNY, New York, NY; and J.T. Joyen, member of Imago Dei MCC, Media, PA. [please see brochure for their professional profiles]. They plan to equip us all, through a process of releasing and gathering together, the necessary tools for an experiential and holy journey with God toward the culmination of the meaning of the Cross and beyond. The schedule opens with a time of gathering, registration, and fellowship before moving to opening prayer and overview for the day. There will be small group sharing, a time to unpack our bags through ritual, community silence and mediation, as well as time to create sacred symbols and explore movement as prayer. Our evening worship will involve communion and Labyrinth Walk. Imago Dei MCC and Chairs Institute for Spiritual Formation are looking forward to your prayerful decision to attend this life changing Retreat in which we will share Bread for the Journey! Prayer Request - New Life MCC, Norfolk, VA Please be in prayer for our metro area of Hampton Roads, Virginia. We have eight military bases in the area and we are starting to look like a ghost town because many, many of our military people have been or are being shipped overseas. Please add our area, our families, our church and our military to your church prayers. MCC Washington unveils new web site! If you haven't gone to MCC-DC's web site lately, you are in for a treat! It has been redesigned and has a great new look! AND...you can listen in to hear the spiritual instruction and music from the latest Sunday service! So...come on back and check it out at www.mccdc.com Note To: MCC Clergy Candidates This year's MCC Intensive program, open to MCC clergy candidates, will be held from July 7-15, in Dallas, Texas, USA, immediately following the MCC World Jubilee and General Conference. We have a great faculty who are looking forward to spending this time with our future leaders. The Intensive in the Practice of MCC Ministry is held every year and is an important part of the experience of clergy candidates. It is an experience of community, collegiality, and learning where the social and theological issues of race, sexuality and gender are contextualized within MCC ministry and where students dream together about their own future and the future and purpose of the church. For registration information, contact Carlos Chavez at 310.360.8640 x210 and at carloschavez@mccchurch.org. Include a résumé with your application. Drumming Workshop At MCC NOVA MCC of Northern Virginia is sponsoring a Drumming Workshop on February 22 from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm (with an hour lunch break) called "Joyful Noise" that is being presented by Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn of Drumming for Peace. He will begin with a discussion about all of the percussive instruments used in the Bible, talk about "redeeming" the drum as an instrument for worship and prayer and community, talk a little about the Peace connections to drumming, teach some cultural specific rhythms, and finally talk about how to establish ongoing drumming circles in churches that can be used as community outreach. MCC-CTL - Empowerment through the Arts We have identified sharing hope and offering empowerment through the creative and lively arts as its primary outreach ministry. Our choirs sing three Sundays each month and frequently tour. Our musicians have been featured at gay pride events, religious conferences (including MCC's Region 3's first ever Regional Conference), and churches in NJ, PA and MD. Our choir participates annually in a "Joy Night" event with MCC-Baltimore and MCC-Philadelphia. And the Liberation Gospel Choir is producing its first ever CD. Be sure to pre-order your CD today. In addition to our music ministries, we now have a theatre group, "The Liberation Players". TLP has recently debuted an original Readers' Theatre piece and plans to perform a one-act play later in the year. The theatre division also has sponsored an exciting Cabaret Night which will become an annual event. The next Cabaret night is tentatively planned for April. Also in April, our pastor will be performing in a Cabaret show at another church in the region. Music and Theatre are just two of our artistic offerings. We also have dance. We have seen the moves and heard the rhymes of CTL's teen rap duo, "Lyrically Liberated." CTL also has members who are professional musicians. Two of our classically trained singers will be taking the positive energy of CTL on the road to benefit others next month. Lucy Strauli (Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music) and Rochelle Ellis (Master of Music Education, Westminster Choir College) both teach music and perform on stages throughout the country. Ms. Ellis has also performed with the National Opera of China. Lucy and Rochelle will be giving a concert at New Light MCC in Hagerstown, MD for NLMCC's 7th anniversary. Tickets for dinner and the concert are $100 each and can be purchased by contacting New Light MCC, 40 West Church St., Hagerstown, MD 21740 (E-mail: NewLightMCC@aol.com). And finally, CTL offers ministry through creative writing. CTL sends out a weekly email reflection to our email subscribers, and our pastor (who is also a playwright and budding director) is working on a book that may be available as early as this year. A writing scholar and former film maker (and CTL member) will be offering a writing class at CTL in the summer. For more information: ChristLiberator@aol.com FORGET JOBS! CHOOSE MINISTRIES! If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you are doing it to serve God, it's a ministry. If you are doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you are doing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry. If you will do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it, even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry. If you quite because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job. If you stay with it even when no one seems to notice, it's a ministry. If you do it because someone else said it needs to be done, it's a job. If you do it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it's a ministry. It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry. People may not say "well done" when you do your job. God will say "well done" when you complete your ministry. An average church is filled with people doing jobs. A magnificent church is filled with people involved with ministry. Forget Jobs, Choose Ministries! If God calls you to do ministry, please don't turn it into a job. If you have a job in the church, give it up and find a ministry! God doesn't want us feeling stuck with a job, but excited, fulfilled, and faithful to our ministry. Borrowed from 1/2003 Seascapes & Open Door MCC E-Newletter Peace and blessings, Arlene Ackerman Rev. Elder Arlene J. Ackerman UFMCC Regional Elder Region 3 PO Box 276 Landisville, PA 17538 Phone: 717 898-3713 Fax: 717 898-3714 E-mail: arleneackerman@MCCchurch.org