Montclair Presbyterian Church

The Children of Uganda 2012 Tour of Light performed at MPC on Jan 15th at 7 PM. Children of Uganda is an organization that cares for hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda, and the performers were their ambassadors, a select group of talented dancers, singers, and drummers from 10 years old through college students. They performed traditional music and dance, and sang Ugandan songs with our choir. A reception and party in the Family Room will followed the performance.
The performance was free to all thanks to MPC’s External Giving Grant which has supported Children of Uganda in the preparations for this tour.

Two videos from the performance have been posted to YouTube; the first is included here:

Photos of the event have been posted to the MPC Family Flickr page.

On Sunday, December 4, at 10AM, the Montclair Presbyterian Church Choir will present Christmas music from the English choral tradition. Featured works include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” and Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day.” Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams were members of the Royal College of Music and were quite prolific at the turn of the 20th century. They were close friends despite having very different musical styles. This year, MPC’s adult and children’s choirs will be joined by a string ensemble and pipe organ. Come celebrate the season with majestic music written for Gothic cathedrals!

For visitors: on other Sundays we have children leave partway through the service to go to classes. On this day, however, we will encourage all children to stay in and hear the choir. The “wiggle room” in the nursery is available for children up to age 6 who don’t want to stay in the service. For more about what to expect click here.

On Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, we join with Fruitvale Presbyterian Church and College Avenue Presbyterian Church to cook and serve a thanksgiving meal, offered to the homeless and hungry of the neighborhood as well as our friends, family, and neighbors – a true community meal!
Fruitvale Presbyterian will be hosting a day-long program for kids, during which the children will prepare some of the dishes and set up for the dinner. Our families are encouraged to send their children to take part in this fun program. Then the turkey dinner will be served at 6 PM.

Recreation is back for a day! Our fun-filled and meaningful week (“Re-creation”) during the summer will reappear for a day over the Thanksgiving holiday. The morning will begin with story and song, as the kids learn together about the important of sharing what we have, feeding those who need it, and be thankful for what we have. Jesus’ mandate to feed the hungry will frame the day. Then, the kids will rotate through art and cooking classes, where they will prepare a thanksgiving dinner for the neighborhood. Our art will decorate the event. Fun will fill the day, as the kids play games, learn a lot, and serve their community. As a grand finale celebration of their efforts, families, friends and the entire neighborhood will be invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at 6 pm at Fruitvale Presbyterian Church.

Kids can change the world. They have enough love and energy to make a difference to people who need those very things — people who are hungry. We will gather the energy of the kids of Oakland to feed people.

Email FVPC to register for the kids’ program ($10 registration fee): recreationvbs@gmail.com
Talk to Betsy King at MPC if you would like to cook a turkey, help set up, serve, or clean up.

Photo by sandrasalaskaphotographs

The congregation will gather next Sunday, 11/13, right after celebration, to take another step in engaging the Mission Study Process. The purpose is to ask, answer, and share about some questions regarding Montclair Presbyterian Church and our vision of the future. Everyone’s voice is important, whether you are an “old timer” or have just started attending MPC. These conversations will continue to inform decisions and direction for the church.
At the same time, and even if you cannot attend the meeting, we are asking all church members & friends to take a survey! The Mission Study Team mailed and emailed the 2011 Mission Study Survey. If you get Contact by mail or email, you should have already received your invitation to complete a survey. If not, you can go to http://www.mpcfamily.org/survey and get started. The team put together a thorough survey which will enable MPC to better articulate to a prospective pastor who we are and where we want to go. The survey is not short–it’ll take you about an hour. But, it’s a great way to let your MPC community know where you stand and what’s important to you.

As Beth reminded us earlier: “This is an exciting time for the Montclair Church Family as the reflecting and dreaming and planning for the future gets underway. Regardless of whether you have been a member for more than 50 years or you are just beginning here, your voice and experience and wisdom are so important in this process. Part of what it means to be Presbyterian is that we believe in the ‘priesthood of all believers.’ In other words, the Pastor (or Priest) is not the one who issues directions or commands from on high. The congregation, working with the pastor, embodies the wisdom, knowledge, faith and discernment that was once attributed only to the clergy. So, come on out and embody this Presbyterian value!”

The Harvest Dinner is an annual event celebrated by the Faith Trio partners (Montclair Presbyterian Church, Kehilla Community Synagogue & the ICCNC) in turn at each congregation’s locale. MPC is the host this year for the seventh anniversary of this lively occasion, Saturday Nov. 5th. The season and nutrition guide our menu choices. The host provides the main dish and the other two groups come with salad and dessert. We’ll begin at 5:30 in order to have plenty of time to gather and greet each other before the dinner. There will be music as well as great company and intriguing conversation topics. All church members and friends are welcome.

Faith Trio design from Wikimedia Commons and photo by Misscheivous

The time has come for MPC women to retreat to the hills of the East Bay! This year our retreat falls on Halloween Weekend, and so our focus will be (aptly) The Masks Women Wear, led by Rev. Beth Buckingham-Brown. Our gathering begins Friday evening, October 28th for dinner and continues through breakfast and celebration Sunday, October 30th. This is a time out from the hurry of our lives, a time for reflection, singing, sharing, laughing and community. The art muses will encourage us to get our hand dirty with clay and design meditation beads, and our resident scribe will tickle our imaginations. Retreating from the activities of “normal” life is a time-honored spiritual practice that can nourish, inspire, and rejuvenate your soul. Retreating into the beloved community of church friends is a favorite way to do so!

Photo by Xeni Jardin

On Sunday, October 9th, the MPC community and friends far and wide will gather for a celebration of the life of Virginia Hadsell, who died September 17th. She was an integral part of MPC, known for leading years of annual study tours, and a prominent leader in our Global Concerns committee. Please join us Sunday 10/9 at 2 PM.

OBITUARY
Virginia T. Hadsell…born: November 22, 1921 – died: September 17, 2011

Born in Oakland to William and Ruth Thompson, Virginia was the first of three sisters; following her were Isabel and MaryJune. Raised in Berkeley, Virginia attended Willard Junior High and Berkeley High, graduating in 1939, and went to the University of California in Berkeley, class of 1943. Her family belonged to First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, where Virginia met – in Sunday School – the boy who became her husband on November 30, 1943, John S. Hadsell, whose parents were also church members.

The marriage of Virginia and John was held at that church; John had finished Naval Officer Training and, following the wedding, served as an officer on the battleship USS Washington. After WWII John rejoined Virginia in Berkeley, where they lived briefly until they moved in 1947 to Vallejo and then to Napa, where John was a Boy Scout Executive.

Virginia and John had two daughters – Sydney (1947) and Heidi (1949) – born at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo. Sydney became a Professor of Education and, married to Mehrdad Farivar, bore two sons: Cyrus, a journalist living with his wife Rebecca in Bonn, Germany; and Alexander, an MA student. Sydney died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2010.
Heidi is a Professor of Social Ethics and, in 2000, became President of Hartford Theological Seminary. With her then-husband, Afonso do Nascimento, she had two children: Nena, now an MA student, and Martin, in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua.

In 1954-55 the family lived in New York City so John could enter a doctoral program in education at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

The family lived next in San Francisco and then Berkeley, with Virginia earning an M.A. degree in education at California State University in Hayward. She then taught in the Berkeley Public Schools as a reading specialist. She co-authored two books about and for children: “On the Go” (1966), and “Equal Start” (1968).

In 1970 John joined the Faculty of San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo and Virginia commuted to Berkeley; in 1984 she quit teaching and organized the Center of Responsible Tourism, a program to help travelers act responsibly while visiting other nations. Belonging to Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, she helped organize a Global Concerns Committee and led, each summer, a study tour to other nations around the globe – a total of 19 tours. She also participated in shaping a code of ethics for tourists that was circulated internationally.

In her later years, Virginia and John moved to Berkeley and finally, in 2006, to Piedmont Gardens retirement community in Oakland where John still lives.

Listen to Excerpts From The Celebration of Virginia’s Life:

Joewoen Gregory Speaks Concerning Virginia’s Support of the Berkeley Presbyterian Mission Home

Ben Ng Speaks Concerning Virginia’s Years teaching at Emerson Elementary School, Berkeley Unified School District

Jean Norris Speaks Concerning Virginia’s activities in the Global Concerns Committee

Bonnie Hamlin Speaks Concerning Virginia’s leadership in at least 19 study tours

Richard Larsen, violinist,  plays “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar

Celebration on October 2nd is going to be one you won’t want to miss. A lot of fun things are happening, all at the same time!
First: in tune with the global church, we celebrate World Communion Sunday with breads of the world. If you want to bring traditional bread from your culture, contact Marilee Bailey. Or, dress in the traditional clothes of your country of origin (or a country near to your heart).
Second: in tune with the national church, we collect the PC(USA) peacemaking offering. It will be divided into portions, from the national and international ministries of our church to the very local. Our portion will support Destiny Arts Center, which promotes nonviolence through the arts.
Third: in tune with the needs of the hungry, we will hear from the youth group who went to Portland on their mission trip last summer. Rev. Beth will interview them, talk-show-style, and they will present their new project proposal: a community garden for MPC. After celebration you can see the youth’s slideshow in the Family Room, or sign up to help with their project!
Fourth: we will tune to one another in a congregational meeting after church in the Family Room. First, there are a few brief votes to take, and then time for discussion on the questions posed by our mission study team. This is an important part of the mission study process which we as a church are engaging. Expect thought-provoking questions and small group discussion. We encourage all who are members or friends of the church to come and share your thoughts. Meanwhile, the children have a clay project during arts & crafts time with Dot Cudaback – always a favorite!

See you there!

George Somers has generously offered to donate his artwork to raise money for MPC! The church will receive 100% of the proceeds to help meet our budget shortfall. The art will be displayed in the Family Room on September 18 and 25. It will be sold by silent auction with the last bids taken at 11:45 a.m. on September 25. Bids start at $100 and can be increased in increments of $20. You don’t have to be present on September 25 to win the bid, but you do have to be the highest bidder. This is a wonderful opportunity to own a George Somers original and help MPC. (Sponsored by Stewardship Committee)

Get ready for the Fall Kickoff Sunday – celebrating the start of a new school and church program year. The full choir is back, Godly Play classes will resume, the new Beacon program will be rolled out, and everyone gets a chance to enjoy food and fellowship with one another. This is a great time to visit, or to bring a friend who hasn’t been to church before. We’ll be in Hawaiian shirts, so no worries about formal dress!
On Sunday, Sept. 18th, after the 10 AM celebration, we will move to the family room for a potluck. Church members are invited to bring Hawaiian-themed salads or lunch dishes, and visitors are invited to just bring themselves. We will sit in “villages” by zipcode.

When was the last time you invited a friend to church? We need to let people know that this is a safe, fun, non-judgmental place where you can be yourself. Please consider bringing a friend along on Sunday. And if you’re thinking about coming, take a look at this video… not made by us, but we’re on board with the message: doubts welcome, dress code flexible, imperfections welcome, and socks optional. We hope to see you on Sunday!