The Messenger
August 11, 2014 Volume XXIV, No. 8 Nationalchurch.org
The Caring Pillar Begins Ministries for Life Transitions
Fall Picnic Sunday, September 7 After the 11:15am Worship Come one; come all! It’s fall picnic time!
On Sunday, September 7, after the 11:15am worship service, we will celebrate the kick-off of a new Sunday School Season and Charlie Parker’s return from sabbatical. It will be an afternoon of food, moon bounces, and fun! So mark your calendars now and invite neighbors and friends to join us. The church will provide the main course and beverages, and we’re asking you all to bring a salad and/or dessert for 10-12 people to share. Please keep in mind we’ll need dairy and gluten-free options as well. Thanks for helping to make this a spectacular event! For more information and to volunteer with set-up and teardown, please contact Rev. Kate Murphey Payton, kmurphey@ nationalchurch.org or 202-3634900, ext. 110.
“According to Mark Twain, ‘No one likes change, except a wet baby,’” says Drema McAllister-Wilson, Minister of Pastoral Care. “When we are experiencing life transitions, we may find ourselves not only disliking the change but not knowing how to move through it to the other side.” The Caring Pillar is organizing a new initiative to provide peer emotional and spiritual support for members of the Metropolitan Church’s faith community who are going through major life transitions. Ministries for Life Transitions will provide support in a number of ways: on-line resources on the church’s website, one-on-one mentoring from other members who have been through similar experiences, support groups, and educational events and speakers. Life transitions are inevitable; everyone goes through them. They can function as an equalizer across races, classes, nationalities and other divisions. People can be at their most vulnerable and confused when they go through transitions. Loneliness and a sense of isolation are common. Yet when support is offered, people bond strongly at those times of vulnerability. A Design Team has been working for several months to develop the purpose and structure for Ministries for Life Transitions. They have chosen five transitions to focus on for the first year of this ministry. They are: birth/adoption; career (finding a job, losing a job, changing a job); divorce; retirement; and end of life/bereavement. The Design Team planned a committee to coordinate this ministry and small teams each to work specifically on one transition. William Bridges wrote the book Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, after a forty year career in transition management. According to Bridges, every transition has three stages: an ending, a “between time” of gathering information and sorting things out, and acceptance and implementation of the new reality. Each of these stages brings its own needs, including needing support and fellowship from other church members, need for information and need for ritual. We are looking for people who would like to participate in this ministry, either on the committee or one of the transition teams. For more information or to join us, please contact Barbara Green, bgreen@nationalchurch.org or 202-363-4900, ext. 105 or Drema McAllister-Wilson, dwilson@nationalchurch.org or 202-363-4900, ext. 104. Blessings,
Rev. Barbara Green
Met-Flix: “The Lego Movie” Friday, August 22, 8pm, Metropolitan Parking Lot
Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for this free, fun family evening. Invite your friends and neighbors! Popcorn, candy, and drinks available. Movie begins at dusk.