10:00 a.m. ~ Meeting for Worship live streaming via the church Facebook page or our website at: www.wichitaquakers.org
· Flowers: Mary Heibert
· Music: Rosemary Nettrouer
· Technology: Michael Barrett & Michelle Barrett
· Pastor: Catherine Griffith
· Prelude:
· Announcements
· Music: Moses Hogan Singers performing his arrangement of “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”
· Prayer Concerns
· Pastoral Prayer
· Message – God on Wheels
Scripture: Ezekiel 1:15-21
· Open Worship
· Benediction
Please feel free to share worship time on your Facebook page for others to enjoy also!
3:00 pm ~ 205 Sunday Class via Zoom.
University Friends will continue streaming live worship until the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 start trending down in our area.
During the live streaming, we have room for a few people to come and serve as a kind of facing bench. If you would like to be among a handful of people who worship with us in person, please be sure and let the office know.
As long as we need to, we’ll do what we can to stay safe: wear masks, practice sanitizing, and limit our gatherings as an expression of love for one another.
(Sedgwick County, Kan.) – Sedgwick County’s Local Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns has signed a new emergency public health order which will take effect Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. This order will remain in place until at least midnight, Wednesday, October 21, 2020.
(https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19/local-orders/emergency-public-health-order-august-18-2020/).
Listening Groups: Preparing for an All-Church Retreat
As you know, University Friends Meeting is in a time of transition. As part of that effort we are seeking to answer these questions: Who are we? Who are our neighbors? To what is God calling us? As part of discovering God’s call for University Friends Meeting, Ministry and Counsel plus the Transition Team are putting into action a series of Listening Group conversations.
These Listening Group conversations are crucial as we consider questions related to the future of University Friends Meeting. Currently, two groups have scheduled their first sessions, and others are in the works. Please keep them in your payers.
What would it mean for us to join God’s work in our community, in our time?
How can we be better stewards of our assets, in terms of people, facilities, and money?
What is God calling us to be and do?
Message from the Clerk
When we began our search for new leadership at University Friends, we decided that an interim period was needed between our pastor of 25 years leaving and hiring a new “permanent” pastor. This decision was made based on research and experience of a broad range of Christian churches throughout our country. An interim period of 1 month for every year a pastor had served a congregation was the benchmark that we were aiming at.
We were blessed to find Catherine Griffith, a Quaker Minister who trained in and remains in training, as an Intentional Interim Minister. We established a letter of agreement with Catherine for a period of 18 months beginning January 1, 2020. Within our letter of agreement we established a nine month review to ensure we are making progress towards the goal of hiring a called pastor. That nine month review was done last night and the search committee finds that we are making progress towards that goal.
Specific steps we have made include assessing our history. You may remember the timeline that occupied the fellowship hall for a few weeks. We have taken stock of our congregation and are in the process of streamlining our committee structure to fit our needs and abilities. Catherine has worked with each of our committees to understand what they each do and to move all of our business toward sustainability. We are currently evaluating the cost of operating our building and exploring our options in building use.
These things have been accomplished even with the disadvantages that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented us. All of the search committee members participating in the evaluation feel, and we are expressing to Catherine our sense that she is doing an excellent job.
A key question for us to answer is when will we know it is time to hire a permanent pastor. The answer to that in the collective mind of the search committee is this:
When we can answer these three questions,
1. Who is University Friends today?
2. Who is our neighbor?
3. Who is God calling us to be?
We are making proves on all these. We are in the process of creating listening groups that we hope will help answer these foundational questions.
As we talked last night we realized that our original timeline may be inadequate to fully be ready to hire a new pastor and the end of Catherine’s ministry here may be later than June 30, 2020. When we do bring in a new minister, we want to give them the greatest opportunity for success for them and the meeting.
Sincerely,
Doug Chambers,
Clerk
Book Club meets at 6:30 p.m., the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. Join us in the church library or on Zoom. Tuesday, September 22nd the discussion will be chapter 1, “The Light Within,” of Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion. This book is considered a spiritual classic of inspirational essays for Quakers and non-Quakers.
If you would like to attend via Zoom, please email Catherine at orcagriffith@yahoo.com, and she will send you an email invitation.
I hope you will consider joining us. Not being able to see each other on Sunday mornings is one of the things I miss most during these months of the pandemic. There is certainly room for many more to join us. We take social distancing seriously, and technology expands our options! Thank you, Sue Wine
Great Plains Yearly Meeting, Sept 11 & 12, 2020.
A Spiritual Gathering for Fellowship and Nurture – Sept. 11th & 12th 2020
Also, some University Friends people are planning to Zoom together for the virtual sessions of Great Plains Yearly Meeting, at 6:30 p.m. Friday as well as 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturday. We can gather in the library and host at least one group of 15 or less, distanced and masked. Please let the church know so we can make suitable seating arrangements.
Family Promise host week is Sept 6th through the 13th.
Family Promise of Greater Wichita has been joining West Heights UMC at their church location to host the family this rotation. Thank you!
– Erin & Dan DeGroot
Volunteer Coordinators, University Friends
Watch this space for updates on a new event:
Community Talent Evening on the Steps! Oct. 4th at 4:30 pm.
PRAYER REQUESTS AND CONCERNS:
· Linda Mallonee fell Wednesday and is in Wesley Hospital under observation and testing.No visitors allowed.
§ Students, teachers, administrators and staff, as well as their families as school starts, in person or virtually, especially special needs students and families.
· Our church during this time of transition – May we find clarity and energy for the tasks at hand and the decisions we will need to make as we find our way forward. May we find ways to use our assets wisely and well. May we discover ways we are to be a beacon of love in our world. May we be looking for the doors God is opening, and may we have the courage to walk through them.
Greg and Rhonda Newby are helping their neighbor who is mentally challenged who lost his mother six years ago and was left on his own with no direction or help. When they realized he was down to skin and bones and looked near death, they and another neighbor stepped in and began feeding him. Since then they have helped him to get food aid from the state of Kansas, and they pay all of his utilities and buy him clothes and other items. They found out that the county is auctioning off his house on September 17th due to delinquent taxes. If they can raise enough to cover the taxes and fees, they can stop the auction and keep him housed until they can navigate social services to get him more help. Once the back taxes are paid, they believe they can cover his annual property tax bill. His name is Jeff and he is 51 years old. They are facilitating a Go Fund me so visit with Greg or check the University Friends Church Private Page on Facebook for more details.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
— Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
