North St. News: January 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Happy Wednesday, North Street Community! In this North St. News, you'll read about:

Final call for supply donations for Haiti
Prayer for Missions
Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University
Men's Breakfast this Saturday
Volunteer time needed at the shelter
Community Connectedness - "North Street Quick Updates"
Community Retreat
No Hingham Worship Gathering on 2/14
Lent - 24 Hours That Changed the World

I'm excited about a number of things that are happening and will happen in our community. Jump in when and where you can! Your next opportunity is tonight at Wednesday evening dinner and corporate scripture study. Hope to see you soon

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Jeremy
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1. We have a good amount of medical supplies and other various needs to for our Donations for Haiti through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. If you need to see the list again, click here. We'll box them up tomorrow for shipment, so tonight is it! Thanks for your help.

2. Your NMI Missions President, Ed DiSante sends this along: How to Pray for a Missionary Family. It was written by Bud Reedy, pastor of York Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene:
My mother taught me, by example, to pray for Nazarene missionaries...every day! One way to pray for Nazarene missionaries more frequently and speciﬁcally is to devote each day of the week to a different aspect of their lives.
Sunday—Their Spiritual Life...that the Lord will grace them with the ability and desire to grow in Christ-likeness through daily devotions and family altar time.
Monday—Their Health...that the Lord, our Healer, will keep them strong in body, mind, and spirit.
Tuesday—Their Culture...that the Lord will help them master the language and make adjustments necessary to the cultural changes they face.
Wednesday—Their Relationships...that the Lord will empower them to love each other, their neighbors, their classmates and friends...other missionaries too! We pray for love and unity!
Thursday—Their Ministry...that the Lord will equip them for speciﬁc ministry assignments...for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them.
Friday—Spiritual Warfare...for victory over the enemy...for the whole armor of God...for the weapons of warfare.
Saturday—National Revival...that revival will come to the nation. What would happen if every Nazarene pastor/family partnered with a missionary family in this way? I challenge you to ﬁnd out.

3. For a couple of weeks now in our worship gathering, you've heard about Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University @ Duxbury St. Paul's CotN. This is a great program through which singles, couples, and families are challenged to re-consider their position in debt. If you are looking for a "way out," this is another good one. There is a preview session tomorrow night, Thursday, January 28 at 7:00 PM. The class will meet on Thursdays. If you have any questions, e-mail Pastor Karen Troxler or visit the website.

4. This Saturday (1/30) will bring the return of our Men's Breakfast Fellowship. Join us at 8:00 AM for breakfast in the Newell Gathering Room. Please bring a couple dollars to help share the cost.

5. Do you have time this Saturday (1/30) to volunteer at the Rehoboth Shelter for Friends of the Homeless? The good news is that six families are moving out! But with so many families waiting for shelter, it also means extra work for FHSS to get the units ready for the next families. Tasks would include general cleaning (including stove tops, ovens, floors, refrigerators, bathrooms, etc.). If you think you can help, please e-mail Dorothy Newell.

6. I mentioned in our worship gathering a couple of weeks ago about a desire to be even more connected as a community throughout the week, particularly "aware in prayer" together. I am setting up a North Street Quick Updates "information network" (for lack of a better name). These updates will be much different than this North St. News (which will continue as they have been and reserved for longer updates with information about what's going on...just like what you're reading). But the Quick Updates will be concerning prayer requests, exciting happenings in the life of our community, and other basic information and updates about North Street. There are multiple ways to follow these updates: follow our Twitter page, our Facebook page, an RSS feed, or a page on the North Street website. I have been working for a couple of weeks to find a decent way to send these on e-mail, but haven't found anything that's workable yet. I'll let you know when I've found something (if anyone out there has any ideas, let me know).

7. We're quickly headed towards our 2010 Community Retreat! Are you excited yet?! If you haven't let me know that you'd like to go yet, please do so ASAP. All the details are here.

8. Due to our retreat, our community will be worshiping together in New Hampshire on Sunday, February 14th, and hence, will not be worshiping at our church building in Hingham that day. Even if you are not going for the whole time at the retreat, everyone is invited to come and join us in worship at 10:30 AM that Sunday morning. Directions are here.

9. Did you know that the season of Lent is quickly approaching as well? It begins the Wednesday after we return from our retreat (2/17). We will observe a couple of our regular practices (Ash Wednesday Gathering, special times of prayer, Holy Week gatherings, etc.). But this year we will also have another emphasis. I'm inviting everyone to participate in a Lenten study called "24 Hours That Changed the World." There are multiple ways to participate including our Wednesday evening studies (with video discussion), a book with short readings for the 40 days of Lent ($10/each), and our Sunday morning worship gatherings. I'm looking forward to this time and hope you will too. Stay tuned for more information.

See you soon! (Tonight?)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hello, North Street Community! A couple of things to update you about or introduce to you. In this update you'll read about:
1. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Relief Efforts in Haiti
2. Dinner & Study this evening (Wednesday)
3. Sunday's Soup & Salad Mid-Winter Potluck
4. The Remembrance
5. 2010 North Street Retreat

I trust that your week is going well. Hopefully we'll see many of you in a little bit tonight.

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Jeremy
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1. Haiti Earthquake - First off, you've likely heard about the major earthquake that shook the country of Haiti early last evening. There are somewhere around 120,000 Nazarenes in Haiti, making it (I believe) the country with the most Nazarenes per capita in the world. It is also one of, if not the poorest countries in our hemisphere. One of our General Superintendents, J.K. Warrick, just flew into Haiti yesterday. He is safe and so are other Nazarene leaders there. Click here for more information from NCN and click here to donate online right now.

2. Wednesday Evening Gathering - Tonight we'll gather for community dinner (6:00) and corporate study (7:00).

3. Mid-Winter Sunday Soup & Salad Potluck - This coming Sunday is the third one of the month and we will indeed have a potluck: Mid-Winter Soup & Salad! Everyone's invited to bring a salad topping or two as various lettuces will be provided (so toppings would include cut tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers as well as croutons, sunflower seeds, etc.). And people are invited to bring their favorite soup as well. Grilled cheese sandwiches and soup breads will be provided as well. Nothing like warm soup to warm us up in these days!

4. The Remembrance - Just a reminder that The Remembrance is happening every Sunday evening. Join us this Sunday as we worship around the table reflecting on "incarnational compassion," particularly in light of what is happening in Haiti.

Finally...

5. Second Annual Community Retreat - Many of us have been waiting for it and others of you have been asking. It's time to sign up and pay for our North Street Community Retreat. All of the details can be found on the website. We're really looking forward to this time of community, learning more about one another, and rest together. It's the weekend of President's Day (February 12-15). We really hope that you prayerfully consider coming!

Parking

I meant to send this out earlier. I apologize. Hopefully, some of you will see it tonight or early in the morning nonetheless.

The parking lot behind the Hersey House has not been cleared and the sun never really got its chance this week to do a number on the snow. Much of it is packed down, but smaller vehicles, especially with rear-wheel drive only would do best not to try parking back there. We'd ask that if you have four-wheel or AWD to park back there so that smaller vehicles can park on the street in front of the church building and behind the church building in front of or beside the garage.

A general word on our parking situation as a whole: It would be most helpful if the spots by the garage are reserved for those who have difficulty with the stairs coming from the back parking lot (by the Hersey House). It tends to get overloaded back there sometimes, causing some to park over and into the street. We've had requests both from neighbors and the Hingham Police to avoid blocking the sidewalk (many of our elderly and handicapped neighbors absolutely need to be able to use it safely).

I understand that some park closer to the street to be able to leave first, but perhaps the best way to make sure that you're not blocked in is to park in the lot next to the Hersey House. Thanks!

It feels like forever since our whole community has truly been together on a Sunday. With two snowstorms and Christmas I Sunday, we've been fragmented! I can't wait to be back together again tomorrow.

See you soon,
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Jeremy

Epiphany

So Christmas is concluding as I type this, and tomorrow, January 6th is Epiphany. We'll look together at what this day and theme means tomorrow night as we re-commence a regular schedule of community dinner (6:00 PM) and corporate study (7:00 PM).

I hope to see you soon!

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Jeremy

Sunday, January 3, 2010, Worship Gathering, Second Sunday of Christmas

I'm not sure what it is about snow on Sundays over the last couple of years, but we have about 7-8 inches of snow on the ground here in Hingham with some more "planned" for this evening and night. They say the worst of it for us has come and gone, so for now we'll plan on worshiping tomorrow. As always, if you are uncomfortable driving on the roads in the morning, then please do not.

We've got the small parking lot between the parsonage and church building cleared as of now, but with the wind and extra snow through the night, we could have some more built up by morning. Please be careful when driving in.

If you are willing to come early and grab a shovel to help clear the walkways around the church building, that would be much appreciated. I'll be sure to have hot water for hot chocolate, tea, etc. ready.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Jeremy