GOODNEWS
Volume 8, Issue 4
CHURCH: (509) 684-4213 Rev. Jim CastroLang, Pastor
Facebook
Pastor Jim has set up a group in Facebook
where you can find up-to-date information
about what’s going on in our church. We
now have 17 members participating and
had a great discussion a week ago about
“Who Christ Is to Me.” If you are a
Facebook member, just search for Colville
United Church of Christ in the search box
in the upper right corner and join in the
excitement. If you are not a member but
would like to join in the conversation, go
to www.facebook.com and sign up! If you
are unfamiliar with this procedure, ask
someone to demonstrate it on your
computer. It’s a really exciting new
happening for our church!
Sunday
School
Sunday school classes are now being held at
9:30 a.m. in the upstairs classroom. The
children are then invited to participate in
worship with their families.
October-November 2009
E-mail: colvilleucc@plixtel.com
Spirit Space begins
begins
Oct 14th
Every Wednesday from noon
until 12:30 PM beginning
October 14th, join us for Spirit
Space in the worship space of First
Congregational United Church of Christ.
There will be a touch of music, simple
prayers, and sacred word, but mostly it will be
a quiet place. We hope in Spirit Space you
can find some peace or seek some
understanding or take the time to celebrate
God’s presence in your life. No matter our
understanding of God, it has been said that
we are Spiritual Beings having a human
experience. Come to Spirit Space and
connect to your spiritual being.
NUTS!!!
L.N.O will be selling nuts again this
year, so be sure you are using those nuts in
the freezer. Our "New Crop" nuts will not
arrive until November, but the prices will
be the same as last year. 1 lb. Pecans,
Mixed Nuts and Cashews - $7.50; 1 lb.
Almonds - $7.00; 12 oz. Walnuts - $5.50;
and 12 oz. Chocolate Pecans - $6.00.

Moderator’s Report
As I thought about what I wanted to write for this
report, thoughts of many things ran through my
brain. I could write a “report” of what the Council
has been doing. I could write about our new
pastor. I could write about what a wonderful
congregation you are. All of those things would
be good and true things to write about. But
hopefully you already know about those things!
Instead I am choosing to write about a recent
worship experience I had at another UCC church
and what it stirred in my heart. I will not name
the church I attended, but suffice it to say it was a
very large church. There were two Sunday
services (8:30am and 11:00 am). The very large
sanctuary was packed at the 11:00 am service that
I attended. There was a huge choir of
approximately 50 people. There was a trumpeter
and a harpist. The Bell Choir played the hand
bells. Wow. What a production!
Yes, it was quite the performance. The harp
music was beautiful. The Choir filled the room
and I can imagine, had there been no ceiling, their
voices would have filled the skies. The trumpet
playing with the hand bells sounded, oh, so sweet.
But what I missed was the feeling that we were
gathered to worship God. Did I miss something?
Was it because I was a stranger there? Or was it
that, as congregations, we get so caught up in the
“traditions” of a worship service that we forget
why we are there in the first place?
May we always know why we gather every
Sunday morning. May we always come to church
to gather in community to worship God. May we
always feel the Holy Spirit among us.
Love and Peace,
Annie
From the
Trustees
Base trim donated by Dennis and Annie
Bouscal was installed in the kitchen
hallway, and the painting of the south ramp
railing is about a third completed. Betty
Skidmore was gracious enough to have
someone come by and pick up all of the bell
tower caps at no charge to us. The next
projects will include starting up the ramp
heater system, and getting the heat cord
to the bell tower plugged in. All outside
water faucets will be turned off soon and
winterizing will be completed. Thanks to all
who help to maintain our church.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Bischoff
Called to Care
Our in-home visiting group REALLY needs to be
replenished!! At this point I'm the only one left
who visits the oldsters and ill ones and shut-ins
on a regular basis, and they so need visits,
hugs, notes, cards and goodies! Folks have left
the church, gotten so busy with other activities
and just not found the extra hour or so a month
that it would take to make such a huge
difference in the lives of these folks and to let
them know our church hasn't forgotten them!
Maybe with summer coming to an end, things
will slow down a bit so that we can resurrect
this important ministry!
Thank You,
Donna Williamson

Opening Up!
This is Pastor Jim’s “Opening Up!” article that will
appear in each issue of the GoodNews. It is his goal in
the article to open us up to what is hopeful, possible,
new and exciting as well as opening us up to pursuing
the mission of the Gospel as a church. We will express
this by working to be a more “open and accepting”
congregation in all we do and say and how we interact
with each other, newcomers and the community.
This is my first opportunity to write an article for
the “GOODNEWS”. I began as your Acting
Pastor with a four-month contract on September
1st. Normally, I will be in Colville working on
your behalf on Tuesday afternoons and evenings
and Wednesday morning and afternoon. Of
course, I will be here most Sundays. Please
contact me anytime if you would like to chat. I
stay close to my email and my cell phone.
I am happy to be ministering with you. Thank
you for your warm welcome and trust. Have you
heard? I have asked people to consider sitting for
a chat with me (up to 30 minutes) so I can hear
from you! I want to get to know you. I want to
hear of your spiritual journey. I want to learn
about this church including your needs and what
you have to offer. Some are more active than
others, but all have an insight, a tidbit, a word of
wisdom that can help me and this church to
succeed.
I have a basic logic that guides me. It goes
something like this:
• God is Love.
• Love is more about the quality of
relationships and less about right answers
or doctrines.
• We build relationships by opening our
hearts and minds and improving our skills
for communicating.
• Communicating is hard work; we all have
our preferred way of sharing and of
receiving information, knowledge, and
understanding. Our preference is for
others to communicate the way we do.
Our faith calls us to learn to communicate
the way “the other person” prefers.
• The Church is about us becoming one in
the Body of Christ, which requires that we
become more inclusive and less
judgmental; more sharing the gifts and
resources we have for the good of all;
more willing to experiment outside our
comfort zone; and more trained in
communication skills, which include
moving through misunderstanding to
understanding and out of our brokenness
into forgiveness and reconciliation.
• If we do all this one step at a time, then
the First Congregational United Church of
Christ will thrive and grow. If we do all
this one step at a time, this church will
provide critical service to the community,
and the mission of Jesus Christ for our
time will be alive in and through us.
We have only one short-term crisis as I see it –
financial. Reading your history since 1890, this
church has rarely been comfortable financially
and has often been on the edge. Other than the
financial concerns, this church’s other issues are
relational: 1) strained or broken relationships
because of differences in the past, and 2) the
missing relationships – those we don’t even know
yet who could find a spiritual home with us if
they only knew who we are and what we offer.
Are you ready to do this good work and be this
good news? If yes, then next time you see me say,
“I am ready!”
May God help us on our journey,
Pastor Jim
 . BIRTHDAYS &ANNIVERSARIES
October 1 Aurora Janke

. 7
11
14
Linda Way
Jordyn Haynes
Ella Rhodes
14 Steve Kenney
22 Mavis Gibson
. November
23
29
1
Susan Hayes
Ron Harbolt
Gretchen Rumsey
Connecting the Dots begins Oct 18th 1 Maury Barr
3 Helen Garner
Remember when you were a kid, those 6 Kelly James
7 Becky Snook
coloring books that had you connect the dots in 8 Lindsey Mann-King
numerical order to form the image that you 10 Don Butcher
could then color in. Well….we will do a version 12 Rich Brightman
of that at church each Sunday after worship 14 Bob Skidmore
16 Elizabeth Snook
from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. beginning Oct 20 Larry Vining
18th. Each week Pastor Jim will get us rolling on 21 Walt Lindman
an exercise to help us connect the dots of our 25 Marge Van Doren
lives, our faith, our church, and our mission. For 27 Mardee Gates
28 Rich and Kay Brightman
our first gathering, bring your family tree – go 30 Bruce and Janis Pruitt-Hamm
back two or three generations if you can and if
there are a few generations after you, bring
those as well. Come join the experience and
see what we can discover together.
Thank You
Haven’t you enjoyed watching those
flowerbeds grow and bloom. Thank you again,
Mike and Mernie. Thanks, too, to Lois Lawson
L.N.O. – Ladies’ Night Out and Maury Barr for offering their homes for
overnight stays for Pastor Jim. Thanks to Pastor
(It isn’t at night any more…) Jim for his energy and sensitive caring.

L.N.O. will be meeting on Tuesday,

October 13 at noon in Fellowship Hall.
Juanita
Juanita Bronson will be hosting. She’ll be Love Fund
serving cabbage soup. Yum, yum! All ladies are
invited to attend. In November, Connie The Love Fund has been seeing a lot
of use in the last couple of months. Please
Hawkins will host.
host. There will be more
consider contributing to the replenishment of
information about the November meeting in the this fund that is so helpful to our community.
bulletin.
 Sunday Fellowship Time
The kitchen serves coffee, juice and a
selection of goodies after service each and
every Sunday. If you would like to bake or
bring fresh fruit or vegetables, just contact
me at 680-3757. This is a very enjoyable
time for all. We look forward to talking and
visiting with everyone.
Thank you for all the kitchen help.
They are wonderful people who share their
time. Come join us.
Rose Burns
The Bells Are Ringing
The Bell Choir had its first
rehearsal on September 9 after a short rest
in August. We plan on playing a really
peppy piece early in October called Little
David, Come Play Your Harp. Speak to
Kay Brightman at 684-3611
if you are interested in
joining us this fall. We have
lots of fun and welcome
beginners.

From the Search Committee

As part of the Search Committee, I WANTED!!!
want to thank all my co-workers who worked
on the Search Committee and our Moderator Hospice Volunteers
Annie who put in many hours and calls to help
us find and hire Jim CastroLang as our acting Qualifications:
pastor. Thanks, Jim, for being there for us and 1. Big Heart
for extending your time to be our pastor for 2. Available Time
the next few months, with a possibility for a 3. Making a Difference
longer term, we hope. You could be playing an important role
in the life of a hospice patient. HOSPICE
Working with the Search Committee
services let people live their last months
has been a real growing experience and a
at home with comfort, dignity and
learning one in what it takes to look for and
peace of mind. VOLUNTEERS make this
hire a minister. possible by doing anything from just
We thank all the congregation for their being present, to assisting in the home,
patience, input and prayers as we worked on to running errands.
this. We hope that in the future we will have
your support as we work towards a permanent Training in Colville
part-time minister. October 14, 16, 21 & 23
Sandi Mason, Call Sharon Angle today
For the Search Committee for information
509-935-0841 ext. 338 or
877-307-2172
 Come meet our new
pastor,
Rev. Jim CastroLang

First Congregational Church

United Church of Christ
205 North Maple
Colville, WA 99114

FORWARDING SERVICE
REQUESTED
Mailing Address
Street Number and Name
City, State 98765-4321