T h e N e w O l y m p i a n December 2013The Monthly Newsletter of the Olympic View Community Church of the Brethren

tel. 206.525.8900 • olympicchurch.org • email: ovsecretary@gmail.com

The New OlympianOlympic View Community Church of the Brethren425 NE 95th StreetSeattle WA 98115

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage PaidSeattle, WAPermit #01259

On these pages:3. Giving Tree

4. MLK Day of Service

5. Tornado relief efforts in Illinois

6. Fresh from the Word: Up and Down

Some talent is found, some must be cultivatedBy Ken Miller Rieman

On the face of it Seattle has little in common with the flat land of my birth. But like the Chicago Cubs’ fans in the midwest, Seattle-ites are used to rooting for teams that never make it all the way and too often fall far short.

That could be changing this year. The Se-attle Seahawks have not only captured the spotlight of the NFL. They lead the confer-ence and their 11 and 1 record is the best in the whole league, positioning them in front contention for the Super–well, let’s not jinx it. Beyond ALL of this, they’ve gained the attention of folks like me who rarely give football the time of day.

Why are the Hawks doing so well? In an interview with ESPN, coach Pete Carroll said that some talent is neither found nor ac-quired but must be cultivated. Sure, the first round draft picks help, but so does knowing how to recognize potential in those who don’t make the first round. Cultivating talent means giving people a chance and standing beside team members when they’ve made mistakes. That’s what great teams do.

In a Facebook post this week, Ron Sims reflected on Coach Carroll’s remarks and his own experience in public service. “When

I became the King County Executive, Governor Gardener told me not to become enamored with hiring just the ‘best and the bright-est.’ He said ‘Go out and find the talent.’ In football terms it means some will be first round selec-tions and others will be found talent. Governor Gardner called it his ‘deep reach’ program. He told me to visit as many offices in the government as pos-sible. ‘You’ll find the talent. Watch for those individuals who others listen to and follow…those people others will walk through a wall for.’”

Sims went on to applaud the King County teams “which secured national and interna-tional acclaim for their cutting edge work on Climate Adaptation, Health Care Policy, Forest Retention and Farmland Preservation, the Integration of Health Impacts with Trans-portation and Land Use Initiative, Reduction of Juvenile and Adult Detention measures, Drug Court and Mental Health Courts, Sus-tainability Initiative, and [their] approach to recovering endangered species. Every one of those ‘teams’ was a mix of the customary best and brightest with newly found talent.”

Page 2 • The New Olympian • December 2013

(‘Some talent is found...’; ct’d from page 1)

In Advent, anticipating the celebration of Jesus’ birth bids us to reflect on what Jesus’ life means for us today. Surely, we live in a world of great need. We struggle personally with grief, broken relationships, depression, anxiety and stress. We struggle together with cultural conflicts, a growing gulf be-tween rich and poor, a changing climate and diminishing natural resources. We don’t just need a new coach or executive. We need a savior!

But what a revolutionary kind of savior Jesus turned out to be! He didn’t go after his world’s ‘best and brightest.’ He chose common fisher-folk. He surrounded himself with lepers, tax-collectors, and outcasts of all kinds. He sought not worldly success, but repentance. He didn’t buddy up to the powerful. He empowered broken people to be whole. He taught his disciples to seek the kind of greatness that comes through humble service of those most in need. In cultivating compassion and justice, he pre-pared a harvest of righteousness and peace.

Friends, the resurrected Christ placed his God-given mission in the hands and hearts

of his followers. He promised that those who continued his service would be blessed with the power of the Holy Spirit. To cel-ebrate the birth of Jesus is to celebrate the radically transforming love of our God, incar-nate in Christ, alive today in his Church. To welcome our savior is to prepare ourselves and equip each other for his work.

At our fall Spiritual Growth Retreat last month, attendees brainstormed on the many assets we are blessed with!

MLK Day of Service with CWS in Fremont On January 20, 2014, from 10 am to 3 pm, there will be a MLK Day of Service hosted by the Fremont Baptist Church, Church World Service, and other organizations in the Fremont area of Seattle. The event will include opportunities to serve at the Volun-teer Forum; to learn more about Emergency Preparedness; to watch a video presentation by CWS on Disaster Relief; and to hear the Keynote speaker Ralph Frank Weathers, Lake Union District Council member.

In addition to all of these activities, they are planning to assemble 300 CWS Hygiene Kits! If you would like to donate hygiene kit sup-plies, there will be the “little slips of paper” in the Fellowship Hall starting on Sunday, Janu-ary 5th, and the items will be due at church on Sunday, January 19th. If you would like to purchase items earlier than January, I will leave “To assemble a Hygiene Kit you will need” papers on a table in the Fellowship Hall during December. You can purchase 1 of each item, or several of one kind of item. You can also make donations for shipping and processing costs (please note “CWS Kits” on the memo line on your check, or put cash in a giving envelope with “CWS Kits” on the outside, so Nancy will know how to credit the donation).

If anyone is interested in going to the event on January 20th, please contact me at 425-649-9595, and I will be happy to carpool from church that morning. I will be taking any donated items with me for the hygiene kits that are assembled that day. We will continue to have our own Hygiene Kits project and assembly line later in the spring, as usual. If you have any questions, please contact me. Thanks!

–Stephanie Herkelrath

December 2013 • The New Olympian • Page 3

Toy ‘n Joy is here!Once again, our congregation will be participating in the Salvation Army’s Giving Tree Program. As our Giving tree in the Fellowship Hall is decorated on De-cember 1st, 30 tags will be hung along with the ornaments.

You can choose one or more tags and pur-chase gifts. The items listed on the tags are only suggestions, but please purchase a gift that would be appropriate for the child’s age and sex as listed on the tag.

Please return your unwrapped gifts to church by Sunday, December 15th and they will be delivered to the Salvation Army in time for parents to choose items for their children. Have fun shopping, and know that the child who receives the toy you donated will have a happy Christmas. Thanks for your help in making this project successful!

–Stephanie Herkelrath

Christmas EveCandlelight Service

7:00 pm

All are invited to bring memory candles to light in remembrance of loved

ones we’ve lost.

Page 4 • The New Olympian • December 2013

Snow Camp is coming soon! 2014 PNW District’s Snow Camp at KoinoniaFriday, Jan. 24 to Sunday, Jan. 26

All ages are welcome to our retreat in the Cascade foothills outside sunny Cle Elum, WA.

To register, contact the office of the Olym-pic View Community Church of the Brethren. Please include your full contact information so we can send you confirmation.

ovsecretary@gmail.com or 206.525.8900

Registrations are due January 15.Pricing information will be available soon!

The Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. of Manhattan’s Riverside Church speaks at a workshop for Seattle area clergy entitled

‘Preaching on Hunger’, which Pastor Ken attended at St. Mark’s Cathedral on October 16.

Inside the chapel at St. Mark’s during the October 16 workshop, ‘Preaching on Hunger’.

Sharing the Feast 2013Thanksgiving Basket ReportSo many of you gave so much this year for our annual Thanksgiving Basket outreach project. We raised almost $1,400 again this year, which provided full Thanksgiving meals for 70 families from our Olympic View com-munity and the Broadview Women’s Shelter.

We also donated extra food items to the Lake City / North Helpline Food Bank, and while I was there, I gave an unclaimed box of holiday meal items to a woman who had missed the window for pick up at the food bank that day.

Special thanks to all of the support we re-ceived from the community this year, includ-ing donations of time and money from OV Elementary, OV Girl Scouts, the Youth Night program participants, and our numerous volunteers who made this project possible! We are also grateful for donations received from Grocery Outlet, Lenny’s Produce and Fred Meyer!

This outreach project clearly means so much to our community and the families we served, and it was powerful to see it in action -- meeting the families we helped, hearing their stories, and often sharing a hug. Our ef-forts not only filled the tables of so many this Thanksgiving, but gave them much more.

December 2013 • The New Olympian • Page 5

Brethren Disaster Ministries responds to Illinois tornado outbreak

By Jane Yount

Following an intense outbreak of thunder-storms and tornadoes that heavily impacted parts of Illinois and Indiana on Sunday, Nov. 17, Brethren Disaster Ministries (BDM) is preparing to be involved as needed in those states.

Illinois and Wisconsin District disaster coordinator, Rick Koch is representing BDM on daily Illinois VOAD (Voluntary Organiza-tions Active in Disaster) conference calls. He reported that VOAD member organizations are assessing where to send early respond-ers now and said, “While Washington, IL was first in the news, many communities other than Washington have been hard hit. Coal City, IL also had deaths, and a trailer park was destroyed.” Clean-up volunteers are on hold until it is safe to go in. Rick shared with the VOAD that BDM stands ready to do long-term recovery work as the affected commu-nities become ready.

In an e-mail message to IL & WI District churches, Rick implored, “First and foremost, please pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those injured and for those who have been displaced…Some of our Brethren families have been affected directly as well.” Zach Wolgemuth, BDM associate director, has spoken with the pastor of the Peoria Church of the Brethren, Dana McNeil, who said the church is planning to get in-volved in clean-up work and other recovery efforts.

Cliff Kindy, South/Central Indiana District di-saster coordinator, has reached out to sever-al congregations in the disaster area, includ-ing Kokomo, Lafayette and Logansport. They reported fallen trees and loose shingles but were spared major damage. “I’m not sensing any urgency in this state,” Cliff said. “I think the warning systems were effective.” He too plans to be in touch with his state VOAD.

Preliminary reports indicate some 91 torna-does resulted in six fatalities and approxi-

mately 150-200 injuries. In Illinois, over 1,000 residences sustained moderate to severe damage, with the heaviest damage in the towns of Washington and Minden. Indiana fared better with 26 counties reporting dam-age to about 56 dwellings and two schools.

Brethren Disaster Ministries is also support-ing Church World Service efforts such as material aid shipments and disaster recovery training. CWS material goods include Emer-gency Cleanup Buckets, Hygiene Kits, Baby Care Kits, School Kits and CWS Blankets. CWS has just responded to its first request, shipping 200 CWS Cleanup Buckets to the American Red Cross Chicago Region for distribution in the Coal City area.

Giving to the Illinois tornado response may be done online at www.brethren.org/edf or by check written to Emergency Disaster Fund and mailed to Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.

Between family and friends, the joy never ends!

Page 6 • The New Olympian • December 2013

Sharing Together in PrayerIn Our Community:• Thanks to all of the community support we

received for our Thanksgiving Basket project, with special recognition for Olympic View El-ementary School, our Youth Night program participants, OV Elementary Girl Scouts, families of Robin’s Nest PreK, food donations from Lenny’s Produce, Fred Meyer & Grocery Outlet, and for our volunteers who went shopping, packed boxes, delivered baskets, and welcomed our guests!

• For Drew & Emily Hadley and family, mourn-ing the death of their son Max on Nov. 14.

• For Dan Smith-Derksen and family, mourn-ing the recent death of Dan’s father.

• For the family of Zola Myers, also mourning her recent death.

• For Kristi Morris, who will soon undergo a surgical procedure to remove cancerous cells from her nose.

• Thanks to the Tulalip Tribe for the generous grant they recently awarded to our Youth Ministry program!

• Congratulations to Patti Berg on her upcom-ing retirement!

Fresh from the WordLooking Up and Looking Downby J.D. Glick

Reading: Acts 1.6-14

They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as [Jesus] went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, “Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?” (Acts 1.10-11a)

Meditation: The biblical account of Je-sus’ ascension has both an “upward” and a “downward” focus. The first is an upward focus. Jesus is taken from earth to heaven, rising through the air and disappearing into the clouds. It was never intended that Jesus would rule from a specific geographical loca-tion, such as Jerusalem. Jesus’ kingdom is a spiritual one, and the ascension affirms that Jesus returned to the place from which he came. It is from that heavenly throne, not an earthly one, that Jesus reigns.

The ascension also has a downward focus. After Jesus ascends and disappears from sight behind a cloud, his followers stand there gazing into the sky. Perhaps they wanted to watch until there was nothing more to see, or maybe they were wonder-ing if Jesus would turn around and return. Then two men dressed in white - suggesting an angelic presence - were suddenly beside

them asking, “Why are you standing there looking up at the sky?” Jesus’ followers are then prodded to focus on the everyday activities of life.

A life of faith involves focusing on both worlds:

• Raising our prayers to God and speaking words of comfort and encouragement to the hurting beside us,

• Lifting our hands in praise and extend-ing our hands to help the needy,

• Gazing heavenward toward God and looking into the eyes of the least and the lost.

For the day: Are you still here, looking up at the sky? Go on now, get going!

Prayer: Dear God, during this Advent sea-son when we anticipate your coming among us in the Christ child, may we find you in our worship times and when we move out of the sanctuary to serve others. Amen.