The Council of Churches

invites you to come play at

 The Downtown Cabaret!

263 Golden Hill Street, Bridgeport

 Thursday, May 15, 6:00 to 10 pm

TICKETS:

 (tickets will be held at the box office and include reception, show and picnic dinner

Platinum Angels:  $150 per person

Gold Angels: $100 per person

Silver Angels: $75 per person

6:00 – 7:15 pm  Reception Honoring John Cottrell

 for his leadership and life-long dedications to Youth in Crisis

Consider being one of “Johnny’s Angels”

Tickets for Reception only: $50.00 per person

Invite Friends!

 Tables of 4, 6 and 8

Show begins promptly at 7:30 pm (runs 2 hours)

 BYOB for dinner/show – setups provided

This event will sell out quickly –

only 290 seats available!

RSVP ASAP – NLT May 8, 2008! Questions?  Call 334.1121 x 233

Council of Churches Annual Meeting

Tuesday June 3, 6:45 p.m.

Covenant Church of Easton

Keynote Speaker

Cindi Bigelow

President & CEO

Bigelow Tea Company

Award presentations to:

 Bonnie McWain (Salem Lutheran)

 Bob Lindquist ( Covenant Church )

Sr. Margaret Palliser (Dominican Order)

 Larri Mazon ( Fairfield University )

Kathleen Gorelick (President, ICI )

Greenfield Hill Congregational Church.

“Reflections”

  May, 2008  

For May 3 publication in the Connecticut Post 

 A cartoon pictures a pastor and a friend observing a fan at a sporting event.  The fan is into the game, waving pennants, wearing the home team’s colors and shouting “Go, go, go!” After the victory the fan, index finger raised, trumpets “We’re number one!”   The pastor remarks dryly: “That’s the person who says our service is ‘too emotional.’”

 Would that people of faith could get a little spring in their step and a little of the cheerleader in their hearts and voices!  Would that “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” might become a way of life and not just a Biblical exhortation.

“There’s power in the preaching when there’s praying in the pews.”   So declared the worship leader at a recent church conference I attended.  When was the last time you prayed for your pastor and for others in your congregation?  Do you encourage others as you might cheer on your favorite sports team?  Especially in tough times?

 Some people think of encouragement as “just cheerleading”, bubbly but mindless and not of particular value nor requiring particular skill.  But take a close look at what cheerleader and pep squads are doing these days.  They are acrobats!  They are gymnasts!  They are dancers!  The choreography, discipline, commitment and passion of these young women and men embody the best of those athletic disciplines.  Part of living the Godly life and showing God’s love to others is the discipline of encouragement.

 When Jesus declares to his followers that he is “the way, and the truth, and the life” he is not only declaring his identity but coaching his cheerleaders!  His love, his forgiveness, his acceptance, his reconciliation, his humility, his conviction are ways we live out the convictions we express.  Encouragement is contagious when we know the Source of our hope. 

Runners call this contagion “the Bislett Effect.”  More track and field records have been broken at Bislett Stadium in Oslo , Norway , than any other place in the world.  Not once, or twice or 20 times, but 62 times!  62!  Why? 

 The secret is the crowd.  The track is narrow, only six lanes, and the grandstand so steep that the fans are practically on top of you.  Ken Moore [Runner’s World, Nov., 2003,] writes “The sound of 21,000 [fans forces] you to keep your rhythm, the crowd’s rhythm, for one more stretch, one more turn.  The frenzied fans keep you going.”  Runners catch the contagion of an inspired community.  So do people of faith.  Moore concludes: “Our deepest nature is that we are at our most majestic when we do for others.” 

You’ll see a few runners, and a lot of walkers, at tomorrow’s CROP Walk for hunger beginning at 1:30 at United Congregational Church in Bridgeport .  You won’t see many others who encouraged with pledges and prayers.  Yet all are “doing for others.”

 Some scoff.  Who are we, imperfect people, to encourage others?  Yet God uses our imperfections for holy purpose.  Next time you are in downtown Bridgeport , take a look at Golden Hill United Methodist Church .  When the church was built in the late 1920’s, the parish house was built intentionally with “clinkers,” bricks burned too much in the kiln.  Factory seconds.  Rejects.  A cost-saving measure by the trustees. But stand back and look at the parish house in contrast to the stone church.  The parish house does not look at all second-rate, but Tudor-esque.  Church and parish house beautifully compliment one another!  So our spiritual beauty—flawed, imperfect and “clinkered” it may be—is made visible because of the beauty of Christ, who is our head; the way the truth and the life.  He turns “clinkers” like us into inspired and inspiring messengers of good news.  

And that is certainly something to cheer about!

The Rev. Dr. Brian Schofield-Bodt, President and CEO ofThe Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, Inc.

 continued >>>