The following volunteer positions are still open, for Tuesday, October 31st:
1.) Dave Parsons will be setting up the event from 11am-3pm. If you have some time to come by Grace to help set up on Tuesday, send him an email for more information at bwdparsons@earthlink.net.
2.) The first shift begins at 5:45-7:15. See Emma Course at the volunteer booth for more information, if you are able to help out.
3.) The second shift is from 7:15-9:15. Any extra assistance is welcome.
4.) For those who are available to help tear down the event, see Paul Rosa. See Emma Course or Laurie Huesmann for more information at the carnival.
And to those who were at the volunteer rally after today's service - on behalf of Pastor Lou, thank you for taking the initiative to make this a great connection with the community around us.
The Grace Long Beach Community Carnival needs 100 more volunteers to make this year's carnival a smashing success. As a reminder, the Gathering will not be meeting on Sunday, October 29th. Instead, we encourage you to attend the all-church meeting following this Sunday's service, to find out how you can be a part of this great event. There are many different ways to volunteer and shift times are flexible, starting at 5pm on Tuesday, 10/31, and ending around 10pm. If you aren't able to attend the meeting, just come to the volunteer station behind the church on Tuesday night, to find out how you can participate. Do join us! And if you don't, Buster would like a word with you...
The Gathering will not be meeting on 10/29. Instead, please join us for an informational meeting regarding the Community Carnival, following the plaza time after the church service.
Any questions? email me at gatheringgracelb@gmail.com.
We are so proud of New Hope Grief Support Community, one of the charity partners of the 2006 Long Beach Marathon. This event raised over $25,000 for New Hope grief support programs and camps for kids.
Here is a note from Sue Beeney, Executive Director of New Hope Grief Support:
"We were featured in an article on Saturday in the Long Beach Press Telegram about one of our volunteers and former grief group members, Donni Knepper. Very nice article. Over $25,000 was raised from the event so far as well as great exposure at the event. ((echo)) long beach created a dynamite expo booth for us with their creation of the 'Tree of Remembrance'."
A big thank you to all of the participants, supporters and volunteers who helped to make the 2006 Long Beach Marathon a great success for New Hope Grief Support Community.
Here are some notes and reflections on Eric's discussion on the four Echoes, last Sunday:
Shalom is reflected in the Four Echoes: Justice, Relationship, Beauty, Spirituality.
Who are we? Where are we? What’s wrong? All of this is reflected in the first three chapters of Genesis. The brokenness of Shalom was not God’s original intention.
Within the broken Shalom, through Christ, God brings his future into our present, restoring all the ramifications of sin and death, revealing a universal flourishing, integrating the harmony, and unveiling Shalom, which was present at the start of the World, and was then broken. Like an echo, a reflection of an original sound, it becomes a signpost to our external reality.
What is Spirituality? Originally designed as an intertwined relationship with God, our contemporary definition is blurred, distracted.
In identifying within the four components of: 1.) God 2.) Humans 3.) Self and 4.) World – and the relationships/interactions of those four components, what we see in the Creation and Fall of Man through the first three chapters of Genesis are these symptoms of brokenness, through the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden:
1.) God: severing relationship, they hid from God, then were exiled from the Garden. 2.) Humans: responding through lying, blameshifting, distrust, murder. 3.) Self: experiencing shame, fear, pain. 4.) World: revealing physical death, toil, enmity, and the curse of work without rest.
Modern symptoms of brokenness: depression, guilt, self-centeredness, anxiety, loneliness, lack of/struggle for identity, disintegration of self, isolation from God, divorce, racism, war, murder, lack of justice.
How does this brokenness reveal itself in our contemporary relationships: marriage, parenthood, family, work, government, community, church, national institutions?
All are part of the failures that we suffer as relational beings in the midst of broken Shalom. Yet, all these failures can be reintegrated, marking wholeness through beauty, harmony, delight.
Pastor Lou provided a good example of how these four echoes can reveal Shalom:
when marriage is viewed and cultivated as a partnership for the Kingdom, it is reflected to the world, in the world, through Shalom. (Ephesians 5). As this covenant is greater than the two people involved in the marriage, if the marriage does not anchor within this component, it is rather a “selling short” of God’s design, which is wholeness in all these areas (justice, beauty, spirituality, relationship). This is the echo that we reflect back to world as Shalom. As Christ reveals a restored Shalom through his birth/death/resurrection - to reveal and to restore the world to Shalom - our response is defined by Christ, as we work with Christ to reorient the world to the four echoes (justice, beauty, spirituality, relationship). As a married person, it is a necessity to fully examine, within oneself and with one's spouse, what it means to reveal Shalom to the world through marriage - and to take to heart the covenantal vows that were made. How could this marriage reveal the beauty of Shalom to the world?
The implication is that while a couple may have a “good” marriage without knowing or serving Christ, this greater act of covenant and restoration through Shalom cannot be carried out, without Christ as the centering point...
Please join us as we celebrate our city at the 11th Annual Grace Brethren Community Carnival. This is a great way to connect to the neighbors around us, and is a really fun time, with lots of booths, music, food and a TON of candy to give away. The carnival will be held in the back lot of Grace Brethren Church on Tuesday, October 31st, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM.
There will be a variety of ways to participate, but one easy way is to bring $20 or 20 pounds of candy to the Gathering, over the next few Sundays - 10/15, 10/22, 10/29. For more information about volunteering for this event, contact Eric Marsh at (562) 595-6881 or emarsh@gracelb.org.
We'll also keep you posted on specific ways you can help with the Carnival over the next few weeks.
New Hope needs volunteers for the LB Marathon next weekend!
Hi Gathering Family,
This is one more final plea for volunteers for New Hope and our involvement in the Long Beach International City Bank Marathon. One of our requirements as a chosen charity in this year's marathon is to provide the marathon management crew with 20 volunteers. As of now we only have 10. So, if you can help, it would be more than greatly appreciated. We need you!
Here are the details:
The marathon team needs volunteers for Saturday, October 14th from 1- 7pm, at the Health & Fitness Expo at the LB Convention Center. Tasks and responsibilities will vary, but are guaranteed to be interesting, busy, and fun. We strongly encourage gathering friends and serving together.
If you are interested in helping, please e-mail or call us (Sue or Erin).
Thank you so much!
Susan K. Beeney, Executive Director Erin Wilson, Administrative Assistant
New Hope Grief Support Community P.O. Box 8057 Long Beach, CA 90808 (562) 429-0075 www.newhopegrief.org info@newhopegrief.org
Beth and Gil are celebrating the birth of Natasha Mulenga Kalombo, born Wednesday, September 27th - 8 lbs, 14 oz @ 19 inches. The Lord's blessing to the Kalombos and Family!
