draft - Growing through TPCSTL - 20191001 - collecting the collectibles

2019/10/05

One of latest thinking that leads to a new practice is to compile the quotable quotes that we encounter at the church. Everybody is encouraged to capture them and send to this newsletter for sharing with others. We can share whatever you consider quotable whether they are copied from other sources, from the speaker's mind, or from the above on-the-fly.

One of the common sources of the quotes is the sermon. The others are the Sunday School classrooms,  the fellowship gathering, the meal table, etc.

We will join the whole world in sharing the Holy Communion on the first Sunday of October. 

Davitt S. Bell (the late Clerk of Session and church historian at Shadyside) recalled that Dr. Kerr first conceived the notion of World Communion Sunday during his year as moderator of the General Assembly (1930).  https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/special-days-and-emphases/world-communion-sunday/

F:\0TPCSTL\0 sermon\2019\201910

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2019/10/03
We are in an interim period. Because we have an interim pastor leading us. This means that we are trying new thinking and new practices continuously. We have to. This is the blessed period for growing. 我們正處在過渡期。因為有一位中繼牧師在領導我們。這表示我們正在不斷地嘗試新思考與新措施。我們必須這麼作。因為這是一個蒙恩的（受祝福的）成長時期

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Pastor Aline started the previous sermon with a quotable quote, "There are two streams of thought about Christianity in this country." This turns out to be an effective template for thinking and dealing with congregational life and congregational management. There are actually many types of the "two-stream" phenomena. While she pointed out the two opposite streams of "everything has to be right" versus "everything is acceptable", we can easily extend to find other "two-stream" issues such as "singing familiar songs" vs. "singing new song"; "chatting with good old buddies" vs. "chatting with new acquaintances"; "sitting at the seats of my favorite choice" vs. "sitting any place to meeting new faces", etc.
阿鄰牧師上週的講道一開就講出一句值得繼續傳講的「語錄級」的話：「在這個國家裡有兩股有關基督教的思考潮流。」這句話幾乎可以成為思考與處理「教會生活/事務」的有效範本。實際上，到處有很多「兩股潮流的現象」。她舉出「樣樣都需要正確」的律法主義思考與「 凡事想到都可接受」的包容主義思考。 我們可以很輕易地「唱老歌與唱新歌」、「找老友聊天跟找新人聊天」、「選坐在習慣的好座位與為了陪伴新人而找座位」，等等兩股逆流。
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We have many unique, one of a kind, practices of a congregation that make the participation a rare opportunity of growing. Translating the sermons is one that most of the congregations around the world could not provide. We have started a new group trying to share the opportunity and advance the processes.我們教會有許多獨特（沒人有）的措施，使的參加我們教會成唯一個特殊的成長機會。翻譯講道就是其中的一項在其他教會不見得會遇到的機會。我們剛啟動一個新的群組，想要一邊分擔負荷，一邊分享改進技術與步驟。
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Going through an interim period we are privileged to take risks. This is essential for us to prepare our minds for the next pastor-in-residence who is most likely to be beyond our imagination and expectation.


One of the special attributes and benefits of the interim period, having an interim pastor, is the continuous trying of new thinking and new practices. This is important because the interim pastor, by definition, is not open to serve as the next pastor in residence. In other words, he or she would not have the burden of worrying about how to continue the service by increasing the voting in favor of is or her term. This is important because the congregation would have the legitimate reasons to pick up new visions and try new practices without worrying about disturbing the vested interest.
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Pastor Aline started the previous sermon with a quotable quote, "There are two streams of thought about Christianity in this country." This turns out to be an effective template for thinking and dealing with congregational life and congregational management. There are actually many types of the "two-stream" phenomena. While she pointed out the two opposite streams of "everything has to be right" versus "everything is acceptable", we can easily extend to find other "two-stream" issues such as "singing familiar songs" vs. "singing new song"; "chatting with good old buddies" vs. "chatting with new acquaintances"; "sitting at the seats of my favorite choice" vs. "sitting any place to meeting new faces", etc.
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One of latest finding that leads to a new practice is to compile the quotable quotes that we receive at the church. Everybody is encouraged to capture them and send to this newsletter for sharing with others. We can share whatever you consider quotable whether they are copied from other sources, from the speaker's mind, or from the above on-the-fly.
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One of the functions or effects of an interim pastor is the opportunity to learn by practice the methods of assimilation, which is essential to a congregation that commits to embrace varieties that come along with new members and visitors.  Whenever a new face shows up at the church the congregation faces a challenge of "bringing him/her in" or not and "how could we make the new person feel at home and becomes one of us". The ability actually affects the success of receiving a new pastor, which is the mid-term anticipation of a congregation under the leadership of an interim pastor. The appearance of the interim pastor gives us the opportunity to try and develop new skills of breaking-in a new pastor. Remember the demanding days in the first three months on a new job? What do you hope and expect the existing co-workers to do to us might be what we need to try to help the interim pastor to break-in and function normally. What would you feel when nobody comes to greet you and introduce the new environment to you? I had that kind of experience and left the job that the company kept increasing the offer to entice me to give up another promised job,  after 6 months.
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We have many unique, one of a kind, practices of a congregation that make the participation a rare opportunity of growing. Translating the sermons is one that most of the congregations around the world could not provide.

Because we embrace people with different stages of Christian growth, background, including age, for interpreting the faith and the theology, cultural background,  languages in sharing the worship services we need to translate the sermons. By translating we gain extra layers of learning and extending what the preachers deliver to use. One of the exercises in translation is  to think about "how do I say it in my own words?" which is the foundation of "spreading the gospel". We have been changing the ways we translate over the years. We continue to explore and change the ways we handle translation. Everyone would have the opportunity to take a little piece of this particular ministry, which is also a rare opportunity to advance our career skills as well as Christian faith. Talk to Peggy Lin who volunteers to start a new system and coordinate the tasks and the volunteers. This means we will have the opportunity to observe how a professional manager works to make things happen, including how we "humbly follow Jesus".