Sojourning Together!
The Newsletter of Sojourn Mennonite
Worshiping at Westminster Presbyterian
1709 West Elizabeth
Ft. Collins, CO
January, 2015
Loving God, loving people, speaking the voice of peace
January Worship Schedule.
Jan 11
Celebration of Epiphany
5:00 Worship – Susan sharing.
“Return to ‘Normal’ or a New Future?”
Texts: Isaiah 60:1-6, Matt 2:1-13
Interactive Sermon Discussion
Please bring your collection cans from the MCC
Advent Calendar.
6:00 Pot Luck for those wishing to stay. (please bring
food to share and table service for your household)
Jan 25
5:00 Worship -- Steve sharing
“Following Jesus: Racism –a Faith Issue”
6:00 Potluck for those wishing to stay please bring
food to share and table service for your household.)
We will use this potluck time to think together about our
2015 congregational budget and make decisions as a
congregation about the transition time we are entering as
Steve and Susan move toward retirement. See the
additional note on page 3.
Child care is provided for preschoolers during all worship services.
Each meditation is followed by a time of interactive sermon discussion.
Dress is always casual. Come as you are.
As a Christian community, called by Christ to be inclusive, caring and
peace minded, Sojourn Mennonite welcomes all who come our way
regardless of age, gender, marital status, economic or social
circumstances, race or ethnic background, sexual orientation, physical
ability, faith tradition, or life situation.
Inward Journey.
Numbers of folks posted Parker Palmer’s “Five Questions for
Crossing the Threshold” on Facebook. He includes a favorite
quote of mine by Rainer Maria Rilke. At this time of year this quote
is much on my mind and my heart. A copy is taped on my
refrigerator where I see it often.
“I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient
toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the
questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are
written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers,
which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live
them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions
now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live
along some distant day into the answer.”
(From Letters to a Young Poet)
This quote speaks so much Truth to me. So much is unsolved in
my heart. I seek patience. The answers are beyond me, and so,
my task is to live the questions. Now.
Palmer shares five questions for the New Year. My questions are
below:
--Am I to be patient even about seeking patience?
--How do I embrace the uncertainty of the questions when my
being wants the certainty of answers?
--How do I love more, see the world more generously?
--How can I live more in the moment, be more alive to the
present?
--How do I enter the risky world of questions?
As the New Year begins, I invite you to think about, and maybe
make a list, of the questions that burn most brightly for you.
Advent Giving.
Each Advent we work together to make a special donation to
Mennonite Central Committee. This year each household
received an Advent Calendar. Participants were invited to reflect
on their consumption and gift giving. It also offers opportunity for
collecting money on some days, money that will be blessed at
Sojourn and sent to MCC. Please bring your collected money to
our worship service on Jan 11.
Announcement of congregational meeting.
Please mark your calendars for the Sojourn congregational
meeting, to be held after worship on Sunday, January 25th. All are
welcome!! We will present the proposed 2015 budget and discuss
the change in pastoral leadership coming up later this year.
Congregational input on these matters is crucial, so attendance by
all regular Sojourn participants is strongly encouraged. We will
still have our regular potluck following worship that evening, and
will meet as we eat. Childcare during the meeting will be
provided. We will aim to finish the meeting by 7:30. If you have
any questions about the congregational meeting, please contact
Pam at pamduncan1@msn.com.
New Website! Our new website is now up and running and can
be found at sojournmennonite.org. We do recognize a few bugs
and cosmetics still to be ironed out, but for the most part it is ready
to go. We will also begin Google and Facebook ads soon. We
see these as important outreach efforts. We encourage all to visit
this new site and reflect on the resources presented. Our intent is
that those visiting will come away from our site experiencing
welcome and also sensing the vision and spirit of our
congregation.
We still do need pictures, for the website; if you have any
pictures from church events, please send them to us. Please help
us take additional pictures in the next weeks. Finally, please
note that a full up to date calendar of all Sojourn events is
also presented on the website calendar, including time, place,
expected focus.
An Invitation to Ministry Teams! Consider! 
An important focus of recent Leadership Group discussions has
been how to invite Sojourn participants to live out their passions
via Ministry Teams. Ministry Teams will be at the core of life in
Sojourn and will include Teams related to Worship, Shepherding
and Community, Finance, and Outreach. We are anticipating up
to 2-3 persons will comprise each team as a way of living their
passion and also contributing to Sojourn. For example, Bob
Shelley and Rick Coen have agreed to shape the Finance Ministry
Team. Teams will meet only as needed and will collaboratively
relate to our Leadership Group. The Worship Team will meet with
Pastor Susan to plan and shape worship in the coming months.
Shepherding Ministry Team will ensure the spiritual and physical
well-being (including compassionate care and needed financial
assistance) of our congregants and those of our community. If
you might wish to celebrate life here at Sojourn in this way, please
contact our Chair, Pam Duncan, for additional info.
Sojourn Small Groups
Spiritual Direction Group.
Spiritual direction involves seeking and learning to notice God’s
presence in our lives. A trained facilitator meets regularly with a
directee and encourages him/her to slow down, and acknowledge
the Holy. Often this is done individually. A spiritual direction
group brings together up to three people who meet monthly for
this purpose. The group members also form deep bonds and
learn from each other as they share. Pastor Susan leads this
group of three people. We will meet monthly for a year. Each
meeting is two hours. See her if you have questions or are
interested. If enough people are interested, a second group will
also form. Meeting dates will be determined by the group(s).
Meditation Group.
The Meditation Group meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each
month. On 5th Thursdays there is a potluck; partners are
welcome to join potlucks. The group is ecumenical...sometimes
even interfaith. Participants take turns facilitating the meditation
time: a reading, a poem, thought or prayer; then we meditate for
20 minutes and process our time together after the meditation
period. All are welcome. Call Connie at 970/391-1315 or e-mail
to: Connie@walkingwithyou.us if you have questions.
Immigration Group
The Sojourn Immigration Small Group meets first and third
Wednesdays at 7:00. The next meeting is at the Goerings. We
just finished reading Christians at the Border by M. Daniel
Carroll, and are searching for ways to be informed and active on
this issue in our community. Contact Steve if you are interested.
Men's Breakfast Group
The men’s group meets at the Rise restaurant, 2601 S Lemay
(Please note location change) every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the
month from 6:30-7:30. This tends to be social group – usually no
heavy agendas, though we do have conversations about
important issues in our lives and in men’s lives. This is an open,
drop-in group; everyone is welcome.
Call Steve or Susan (970-568-8724) if you are interested
in a Small Group.
We expect to form another new group soon which will meet on the
Sundays alternating with our regular worship. Please note that we
try to keep Sojourn website updated with any changes about
group meeting dates and times. Let Steve know if you look there
and do not find the information you need.
Martin Luther King Day March.
The annual Martin Luther King Day March will begin at 11:00 on
January 19. Come to Old Town Square with a sign and meet our
group so we can walk together. We’ll have a tall sign so you can
find us, or we can coordinate by cell phone. The march ends at
the Lory Student Center on campus.
Sermons, Blogs, and Website
Each week following worship, the pastors’ sermons are posted on
the website. Our most recent sermons can be found on the front
home page of our new website: www.sojournmennonite.org.
Susan’s blog is also on the website on the front home page.
Archives of previous sermons and blogs are accessed via the
communicating drop down page.
Pastors’ Reading List.
Scattering Seeds. Cultivating Church Vitality. Stephen Chapin
Garner
The Tangible Kingdom. Creating Incarnational Community. Halter
and Smay.
A Dog Named Leaf. The Hero from Heaven Who Saved My Life.
10% Happier. Dan Harris
The New Jim Crow. Michelle Alexander
Racism Explained to My Daughter. Tahar Ben Jelloun
The Devil’s Highway. Luis Urrea
Benediction. Kent Haruf
Small Victories. Anne Lamott
Help, Thanks, Wow. Anne Lamott
Leadership Group Gathering & Decisions. All are welcome
to join us at our monthly LG gatherings where we focus on both
vision and the necessary day to day decisions of our
congregation.
We met last on Jan 6 at the Goerings. Our Group focus included:
***Affirming organizational practices for Sojourn, including
organizational structure and communication, our covenanting
vision, ministry teams, and leadership transparency and trust.
*** Initial conversations for our 2015 financial plans.
***Planning for the Sojourn annual meeting on January 25.
Service Opportunities at Sojourn. (Also look at our Small
Group Ministries.)
Catholic Charities-The Mission Homeless Shelter. We
serve the 4th Wednesday of each month. Sherri, Sherri’s son
Tyler, Sarah W, Steve, and Susan spent Christmas Eve cooking
up a storm. The menu was ham, mashed potatoes, corn
casserole, baked apples, and dessert parfait. Everyone was busy,
and there was little time for chit chatting! Sherri, Sarah, and Steve
carved 8 hams!! It was a delicious meal; many of the 35 or so
residents said it was the best they ever had at Catholic Charities.
(There was LOTS of ham left over!)
Catholic Charities had asked us to take an extra shift on Dec 31,
as well. A willing crew showed up to cook, but somehow they had
double booked, so we were not needed.
Our next night there to cook and serve is January 28. We need 34 folks from 5:30-7:30. Please see Susan if you are interested.
Who are we? Sojourn Mennonite is a new Anabaptist faith
community supported and initiated by Mountain States Mennonite
Conference. We are an unabashedly Anabaptist, inclusive and
progressive Christian community. We encourage each other to
follow Jesus as we live an inward-outward journey
About the pastors: We, Steve and Susan, are un-retired pastors
who moved to Ft. Collins from Columbus, OH in July 2012. We
love Colorado, having lived here most of our adult lives.
We are really interested in getting to know you. What do you long
for in your life? What is satisfying to you? What is important to
you in a faith community? What do you have to offer us? What
do you need from us? How can we serve Fort Collins and you?
Worship always includes an interactive time or response time to
the message. What you think is important to us. We’d love to
learn to know you over coffee or dinner. Call or write us!
Sojourn Mennonite (sojournmennonite@gmail.com)
Steve Goering (goering.sw@gmail.com)
Susan Ortman Goering (sogoering8@gmail.com)
970-568-8724
www.sojournmennonite.org
Be sure to like us on Facebook!