The Clarendon Connection

News of Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church May 2008

Sunday Schedule

Choir rehearsal 9:45 a.m.

Worship 10:30 a.m.

Children’s Education 10:45 a.m.

Refreshments and fellowship 11:30 a.m.

Communion will be celebrated on May 4th.

May Calendar

Horizons Bible Study will meet at 4:00 p.m. (note time change!) on Friday, May 2nd (for more info, see page 3)

Friday, May 2^nd – Sunday, May 25^th “Turn on a Dime” exhibit at the Nave Gallery, with a opening reception on May 2^nd from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 4)

Friday, May 2nd, 8:00 p.m., an evening of vocal jazz at The Nave Gallery celebrating Jazzboston jazz week.(for more info, see page 6)

Somerville Open Studios, May 3^rd and 4^th (for more info, see page 7)

Saturday, May 3rd, 8:00 p.m., an evening of vocal jazz at The Nave Gallery celebrating Jazzboston jazz week. (for more info, see page 7)

Orders for Equal Exchange items will be taken at church on May 4th (for more info, see page 8)

Sunday, May 4^th, Adult Education on embodied spirituality, featuring The Stations of the Cross, right after coffee hour (for more info, see page 9)

Sunday, May 4th, 7:30 p.m., an evening of jazz and circus at The Nave Gallery celebrating JazzBoston Jazz Week. (for more info, see page 8)

Joint Session and Deacon’s meeting on Wednesday, May 7th

Friday, May 9^th- Saturday, May 10th Young Adults overnight in N.H. (for more info, see page 9)

Sunday, May 11^th – Pentecost Sunday; the Pentecost Offering will be collected during the service (for more info, see page 10)

Yoga class on Sunday, May 11^th, right after the service at 12:15 p.m. (for more info, see page 11)

Peace, Justice and Mission will meet on Thursday, May 15th at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 17th, 7:00 p.m., The Somerville Community Chorus Spring Concert Honoring Armed Forces Day (for more info, see page 8)

Yoga class on Sunday, May 18^th, right after the service at 12:15 p.m. (for more info, see page 11)

Sunday, May 18th,7:00 p.m., Astro Al, Harts Horn and Wisteriax; A night of psychedelic, gothic and electronic space rock (for more info, see page 8)

Writing Group meets on Wednesday, May 21st at 7:30 p.m. (for more info, see page 12)

Book Group/Bible Study on Wednesday, May 28th at 7:00 p.m. (for more info, see page 12)

COMING IN JUNE: Gusti’s graduation celebration! (for more info, see page 12)

A program on sustainable agriculture and a trip to Gaining Ground Farm in Concord, MA

Clean Your Desk Campaign

Parish News

Please pray for quick healing and patience for Salam Lebbos, who recently broke her wrist.

Branden Brooks will graduate on May 28th with a J.D. degree from Boston College In early May, he, Tisha and Alex will move to Wilmington, DE. where Branden will be working as a prosecutor in the Family Division for the Attorney General's Office. We congratulate him on all his hard work, and may God's richest blessings follow for the Brooks family as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

Alex Weisiger is graduating from Columbia University with a Ph.D. in Political Science in May. (He technically finished in February, and has been in Boston on fellowships.) Beginning in July, he will be on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as an assistant professor. We wish God’s richest blessings for Alex!

Gusti Newquist is graduating from Harvard Divinity School with a Masters in Divinity in early June. May God’s richest blessings follow her.

Salome Otami is graduating from Tufts University with a Masters in Education on May 18^th. We wish God’s richest blessings for Salome!

Please keep Ching Ling Kung and her family in your prayers as she continues to recover from the effects of a stroke.

Thank you to our seminarian (and she thanks us too!)

Many thanks to our seminarian, Sarah Glass, for all that she has brought to us during this past year. We had wonderful Adult Education discussions on a great variety of topics. Sarah was a strong champion of our revitalized Worship Committee, and a founding member of the Young Adults group. Her thoughtful and thought provoking sermons, and her graceful sense of liturgy energized our worship services. And she also pushed for forming our Horizons Bible study. Her voice was a lovely addition to our choir. (Have I forgotten anything?)

During the summer, Sarah will be working with a mission/church plant called "Broad Street Ministry", in Philadelphia. Sarah says “They are starting a youth mission opportunity in the city. They provide several days of service learning and opportunities for authentic relationship building with the people of Philadelphia. An effort will be made to take groups to different neighborhoods in the city and discuss poverty, homelessness, hunger, and health care all grounded within a theological framework. A particular goal will be to engage youth with the poor and disadvantaged who are trying to make a difference in their community through social action. Stereotypes will be broken not re-enforced. The week will end in a service of commissioning to send students back to their own communities where faithful transformation may continue. The BSM Youth Initiative is born out of a local congregation that values worship, hospitality, community, diversity, social justice, risk, creativity and the arts.

My particular job will mostly focus on the explicitly theological framework, in particular working on developing opportunities to integrate the learning experiences with worship activities in the evening. It will be strenuous but awesome.”

We wish her much good luck, and know that her warmth, optimism and sense of humor will add much to the ministry.

In addition, Sarah says, “It has been an awesome experience to work at CHPC and to get to know everybody. When I first came I was welcomed as a lay person, and then I was welcomed into worship as an intern, and I feel like I have really come to know the heart and soul of CHPC. I have learned so much about ministry and feel as though I have been blessed and changed by the experience.”

And lucky for us, next year Sarah will be back and she plans on being around!

Clarendon Hill's new facebook account

Missing your fellow Clarendon Hillers halfway through the week? Want to make church friends digital friends? Clarendon Hill has a new facebook account at http://groups.to/clarendonhill/ Come join us!

Friday afternoon Horizons Bible Study

On Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. (note time change), May 2nd, all interested in a once a month Bible Study are invited to come to Salam Lebbos' house in Arlington. This is also a special invitation to those of you who have not attended previously. We will be using the 2007-2008 Horizons Bible Study: Above and Beyond - Hearing God's Call in Jonah and Ruth, published by Presbyterian Women. We are now studying Ruth. If you are interested in participating, please contact Gusti Newquist, Katherine Gustafson, or Salam Lebbos. Get in touch with Katherine if you need a ride or directions.

The Nave Gallery

“Turn on a Dime” exhibit runs from Friday, May 2^nd, through Sunday, May 25^th, with an opening reception on Friday, May 2^nd from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Extended hours on May 3^rd and 4^th from noon – 6:00 p.m.

Turn On A Dime

A dime can be in your pocket today and in California tomorrow. Who can imagine where else it has been?

Artist statements

Susan Berstler

This sculpture is made up of hundreds of thousands of strips of plastic bags, each one generated by a purchase. Although I would guess that the vast majority were part of credit card transactions rather than payments in cash, this piece stands as a monument to the convoluted (yet widely promoted) concept that shopping is patriotic! Personal debt, national debt, and the forgotten notion of a savings account are the inspiration behind this work.

Teresa Dovidio

I have always been facinated with elements of luck. The break of a wishbone or a flip of a coin are just two of the many ways one can make a choice when faced with indecision. In this piece I wanted to restrict the options of change. Wishbones trying to rise from a pile of coins waiting to be tossed, within a fence of chicken wire encased in resin. Change resistant. I produced this piece while taking a class to reinvigorate my feelings concerning artmaking. In the end I did indeed change my whys, whats and hows about art in my life.

Todd Fairchild

Penny Ladder is a nostalgic tribute to the penny.

Imagine facing the reality that it costs more to produce you than you are worth; knowing that you are filled with sub-standard materials, where your predecessors were made of pure and glorious copper; or knowing that, long long ago, nurturing adults taught their children 'a penny saved is a penny earned' and 'save your pennies for a rainy day', whereas now, children have their sights set on $400 phones and million-dollar salaries.

As an adult who is seriously challenged in money management, I have meditated on the value of the single penny and see that it is the fundamental element for all currency - and only through proper respect and appreciation, can I prevent the larger coins and bills from running amok and ruining my chances of ever having a savings account.

Katie Hargrave

I am interested in the notions of public memorial and place making. The production of place, I have found, depends on the private memory of residents and the public marketing of the place's past into a digestible narrative for the outside world. My research focuses on history as a venue for memorial. Certain histories are privileged and marketed, while others are inexplicably evaded. This push and pull is presented in public institutions such as the museum and the archive and works to produce place. For "Turn on a Dime," I look to the narrative of the American cent as discarded yet sacred, and I look to the personage of Lincoln.

Greer Muldowney

The work that I have decided to display reflects my fears about choosing a career path, and how much money may inevitably change or conform me. Being a young idealist, I felt the need to run with the idea that illustrates how money may change or constrict the burgeoning spirit into a claustrophobic, anonymous drone. In this pursuit I over dramatized the world of Corporate America into a sterilized hell. Though there are many grey areas between working at your local family friendly co-op to say....big a oil conglomerate, the world I have created knows nothing of these middle grounds. It has taken on these absolute values of black and white, though I have left the hint of color to reflect the tiny bit of humanity that is still in these anonymous figures. I hope the viewer can appreciate the life being sucked out of the newly appointed corporate underlings and their respective environment, and equally realize this is the future (but not really).

Just a note, I work in a cube. For the record, I enjoy my job.

V Van Sant

"the grass has grown over it" is an altar created in a post apocalyptic future. In this world, coins continue to travel, but their use has evolved as has the world. Over time these altars form as all types of items are left by people, then taken by others. Like a giant"take a penny, leave a penny" bowl, one man's trash becomes another one's treasure. Money has no worth because there is nothing to buy. Coins gather because people who pass by drop them here. It might be a leftover tradition of a "wishing well" of sorts.

The penny now costs over 3¢ to manufacture. How long will it be before it has no value as a coin? Here, now, at this altar, some survivors exist. Their role might be a weight for a fishing line, a tool for scraping, or even a token of the old-fashioned notion of "good luck", but they are not for spending. Yet they come and they go...

Erika Sidor

Curiosity about the world around me has taken me to many places in the last few years. A recent trip to India awakened in me an awareness that only a third world country can. The abject poverty that surrounded me every day was a startling contrast to the cities here in the USA that I have visited, and it left me shocked and confused. I can only look back at India in awe, and wonder how it is possible that people can survive in such adversity. Money plays such a huge role in the quality of life for everyone in the world, and there is a striking contrast between the images I have chosen: Las Vegas, USA (city of money) and Varanasi, India (city of despair). The travelling I have done will always include some element of photography, not only to help me remember what I have seen but to share with others the way people live in the far corners of the world.

Martin Ulman

My experience with money all stems from my parents who's "Lived thru the Depression" mentality greatly influenced how I was brought up. An allowance was out of the question, so creative means were needed to have spending money. One of the best methods was to look under the sofa pillows after my parents friends had visited. It was like mining, you never knew what was to be found. Another way was to always walk with your eyes down

in the event that lost coins were on the ground. I especially was fond of the pennies that had been lying on the street and had been run over by cars and trucks. These coins were barely recognizable because of the damage. I sometimes wondered what the banks did with them when they eventually found their way back to the vaults.

The Generation Gap, which was assembled with the remembrances of those times, was a collaborative made video using both my family and neighbors as actors, and the MBTA Commuter Train as the central connecting player. It revolves around an Architect whose life is surrounded by individuals who do not appreciate... the need or the value of the penny... both monetarily and historically.

Hannah Verlin

We believe that pocket-change can make changes. We throw coins into water-wells making wishes and hoping for change. The act transforms the value of our coins from a few cents into our priceless hopes and dreams. 'Wishing-Well' investigates wishing and want, as well as the value of money: how money transforms from metal and paper into hopes.

Viewers are invited to select one of the wishes labeled on the shelves and drop a coin into the jar on the shelf to make that wish. Coins can be collected from the nearby pile. The water level in the jars will rise with the addition of coins, palpably depicting the accumulating wishes.

Randy Winchester

Despite its modest trash-picked origins, Randy Winchester's "Conveyor Belt for Change" references a tool that helped speed the Industrial Revolution and remains in wide spread use today. Conveyor technology is used to transport everything from people on moving sidewalks to products on manufacturing assembly lines. While the treadmill conveys ideas of monotonousness sameness, the conveyor belt is also a device to manipulate objects by moving them through space and time, thus producing change. "Conveyor Belt for Change" asks the viewer to look within his/her pockets and deposit coins on the moving belt. These coins may then travel throughout the gallery to interact with other pieces. Deposit your change to help institute change!

Friday, May 2nd, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Celia Slattery, Allyssa Jones and Sandi Hammond - an evening of vocal jazz at The Nave Gallery celebrating Jazzboston jazz week. $10.00 suggested donation.

Both classic and a little off-beat, Celia Slattery's music blends pop, jazz, and folk-rock, with a dash of theatrical flair. Her expressive voice is framed by Mark Shilansky's sophisticated arrangements of both originals and covers by artists like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. In live performance, Celia weaves her music with stories and humor to share perspectives on love, hope, and the state of the world. http://celiaslattery.com

Allyssa Jones was named one of Boston Magazine's "40 Bostonians to Watch" in 2002. Her belief in the movement to add new material to the Great American Songbook is the driving force behind her band's innovation and energy. Popular at both jazz and original music venues, Allyssa Jones is available for shows and promotional events wherever audiences are craving something new. http://www.allyssajones.com

Singer/songwriter Sandi Hammond first started writing pop songs at age 11. In her late teens she graced the stages of Tanglewood, Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall while performing with several professional choral groups. Now a gifted classically trained singer/songwriter, and a fine musician on keyboards and guitar, she touches audiences with her prolific and impressive repertoire of unique melodic songs. http://www.sandihammond.com

Somerville Open Studios at The Nave Gallery, Saturday, May 3rd and Sunday, May 4^th from noon – 6:00 p.m.

Participating artists:

Susanne Bartz;Seth Berkowitz; Sara Bettencourt; Sarah Dobkin; Richard Gilson;

David Kelleher; Caleb King; Les Trois Artistes Sarah Dornin; Jeff Martin;

Suzanne Piubeni and Susan Rice.

MAKE ART, NOT TRASH

Also over SOS weekend check out the FishCar parked outside the Nave by sculptor William Turville. Fully drivable, yet exotically beautiful, the FishCar reminds us to protect our fish and our water in the face of encroaching development and technological change, preserving the environment while growth continues.

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, noon - 6 p.m., Somerville Open Studios Music Festival

This is ARTSomerville's third Music Festival for Somerville Open Studios!

Noon: The Tony the Bookie Orchestra, gospel/blues/rock

1:00 p.m.: Jake Hill, singer/songwriter

2:00 p.m.: Eileen Feldman, pianist, plays Hayden and Beethoven

3:00 p.m.: Jennifer Greer, singer/songwriter

4:00 p.m.: Rob Byrd, ambient electonic guitarist:

5:00 p.m.: Choose to Find, cinematic jazz/rock

Saturday, May 3, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Steve Thomas & the Co-Conspirators - an evening of vocal jazz at The Nave Gallery celebrating Jazzboston jazz week. $10.00 suggested donation.

Steve Thomas (vocals, songs), Rich Greenblatt (vibraphone), David Vermette (electric bass), Gary Fieldman (drums)

Steve and the Co-Conspirators play Steve’s original jazz songs from their CD, SPIRITS PASSING THROUGH—songs inflected by Brazilian music, New Orleans second line, reggae, funk, and old blues guys—plus arrangements of tunes by Miles, Steve Lacy, and Wayne Shorter. The Co-Cons are a jazz band—so improvising, group interaction, swing, and building up a head of steam are all important.

Sunday, May 4^th, 2008, 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., Somerville Open Studios Music Festival

Day 2 of ARTSomerville's third Music Festival coinciding with Somerville Open Studios!

1:00 p.m.: Tim Mungenast & His Preexisting Conditions with Michael Bloom and Jon Proudman, guitar rock

2:00 p.m.: Amber Spyglass, electroacoustic, gothic/post punk

3:00 p.m.: Yael Bat-Shimon, experimental, free style violin

4:00 p.m.: The Altschuler-Caplan Duo, classical violin and guitar

5:00 p.m.: Bookmobile, improvised electronic rock

Sunday, May 4th, 2008 7:30 p.m., Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band - an evening of jazz and circus at The Nave Gallery celebrating JazzBoston Jazz Week. $5.00 suggested donation.

Formed from the most talented deadbeats and drifters that could be rounded up, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band is a group of raucous and rambunctious musicians that will honk, wail, blow, beat, bounce, scream and serenade their way into your hearts. This 11-piece ensemble plays an eclectic repertoire that combines the rich musical history of the circus and the vagabond peoples of Europe with the raw energy of avant-garde jazz and the irreverence and fun of today's Vaudeville for a sound that is somehow familiar yet like no other.

Saturday, May 17th, 2008, 7:00 p.m., The Somerville Community Chorus Spring Concert Honoring Armed Forces Day, the SCC will perform Mass in Time of War (1796) "Paukenmesse" by Franz Joseph Haydn, performed with a full orchestra. Suggested contributions are: $15.00 for adults, $10.00 for active service people, veterans, seniors and students, and $5.00 for children under 12. Tickets available at the door or see www.somervillechorus.com.

Sunday, May 18th, 2008, 7:00 p.m., Astro Al, Harts Horn and Wisteriax

A night of Psychedelic, gothic and electronic space rock meyhem with guitars, cello, and more! $5.00 admission.

The Nave Gallery is an important partner in Somerville’s vibrant arts community. It is a project of ARTSomerville, a volunteer organization that draws upon the talents of local creativity, strengthening communication among artists and the public by presenting exhibits, performances, and educational activities, in collaboration with the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church. The gallery is a noncommercial art space featuring work of both emerging and established artists. Run and staffed completely by volunteers, the Nave provides an important exhibition space for both local and regional artists.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Friday 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

To see a schedule of events, which is updated often, please look at the website: www.artsomerville.org/upcoming.html

We Need Your Help!

Calling all bakers! Once again the church will run an Art Café at Somerville Open Studios on May 3rd and 4th.

-Please bring baked goods on Saturday, May 3rd by 11:30 am or on Sunday morning. It would be helpful if you would email Katherine (kath.gustafson@gmail.com) to let her know if and when you will be bringing something.

-Can you volunteer an hour or two on Saturday or Sunday? We will be there from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. and sure could use some help.

-All proceeds go toward the handicap accessible bathroom project. Donations

accepted!

The Presbyterian Coffee Project

Orders will be taken for Equal Exchange COFFEE (drip or whole bean) and TEA (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Green, Rooibos),hot cocoa mix, baking cocoa and chocolate bars ($3.00 per bar, or $30.00 for a box of 12), at church on Sunday, May 4th. You can send orders to Katherine no later than the evening of May 4th by phone (617-628-6716) or email (kath.gustafson@gmail.com)

Due to higher organic cocoas prices, Equal Exchange has had to increase their chocolate bar and cocoa prices. The 12 oz cans of organic hot cocoa mix and the 8 oz cans of organic unsweetened baking cocoa will now be $5.00 per can.

For every pound of fairly traded products that Presbyterians purchase, Equal Exchange donates $0.15 to the Presbyterian Church USA. For 2006, that amount totaled $21,012. The funds were used to support a reforestation and environmental sustainability project with a coffee cooperative in Nicaragua. (To read more about this project, see the article Small Farmers. Big Change in this newsletter.)

What is EQUAL EXCHANGE? In 1991, Equal Exchange became the first U.S. company to adopt international fair trade standards as guiding principles on 100% of their products. By working with democratic farmer cooperatives around the world and paying a fair price, Equal Exchange supports efforts to improve local communities, putting more control and greater income in the hands of impoverished, small-scale farmers in developing nations. We also serve freshly made Equal Exchange coffee at Clarendon Hill’s coffee hours!

Adult Education

We will do one final embodied spiritual practice led by Sarah Glass on Sunday, May 4^th after the service. We will be doing a stations of the cross.

A little information on the Stations of the Cross:

"The Stations of the Cross trace Jesus’s path from Pilate's house to Golgotha to his tomb, mixing some events that we find in Scripture with some that come to us via the tradition of the church. It is a tradition extending back to the earliest days of the church, when Christians would journey to Jerusalem to retrace the path Jesus took as he carried his cross. It is traditionally walked during Lent and Holy Week, but the theology and the disposition of the practice is communicable to any time during the liturgical year--that of putting your mind and your heart and your very body into the disposition of thinking of Jesus and the life, death and resurrection which he walked, both in life and in the last moments before his death.”

If anyone is interested in leading a spiritual practice, or if you have any questions, please contact Sarah Glass.

Young Adults Group!

After our super awesome first meeting on Leap Day, and a great time bowling in March, the Young Adults Group has decided to continue meeting once a month (more or less) for fun, relaxing, social adventures together. It is our hope that this group will continue to help Young Adults to get to know one another and form a strong community within the Clarendon Hill Community.

This month, we are planning on going to a member’s home in New Hampshire on Friday, May 9th through Saturday May 10th. We should be able to provide transportation for everyone. We will be leaving in the afternoon on Friday. The goal is to get out of Boston and explore the outdoors and get to know one another a little better. What would be helpful is if interested folks could email Sarah Glass (glass.sarah@gmail.com) or Sarah Donovan (ferggie4@aol.com) if you are interested in going.

Do YOU qualify as a Young Adult?

The CHPC Young Adults group is open to anyone, particularly those within the age group of 20-40, but we certainly aren't limited to this age bracket. If you think you would enjoy the activities we plan, please come! We would love any opportunity to hang out with fellow CHPCers. Also, if you have friends that you think would enjoy coming, they are always welcome. You don't have to go to Clarendon to have fun with us!

Pentecost Offering

On Sunday, May 11^th, we will collect the Pentecost offering, which provides a direct way to meet the needs of children at risk, youth, and young adults. Congregations are encouraged to keep 40 percent of the offering to support ministry with children at risk in their communities.

The General Assembly’s portion (60 percent) provides leadership development opportunities for Presbyterian youth and young adults and supports children-at-risk programs at the national level. Since 1998, Presbyterians of all ages have raised over $7 million for these ministries that benefit younger members of God’s family.

You will hear more about the ways in which the offering has been utilized during our focus on mission in church services. Below are a few more examples. Please give as generously as you can on May 11^th, in celebration of the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and the theme of this year’s offering “When you send forth your spirit”. (Psalm 104:30)

“¡Presente!”

“¡Presente!” Here I am in my first hours in Douglas, Arizona, standing on the Pan-American Highway, which leads directly to the port of entry at Douglas and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

“Jesús González,” the person next to me shouts from the sidewalk to everybody and nobody at the same time. “¡Presente!” we respond in unison.

It’s my turn. I grab a splintery white cross from the shopping cart and carry it to the next spot on the sidewalk. I read out what is written on the cross in faded black marker: Agustina Lopez, born 08-09-75, died 12-7-02.

In response, all cry, “¡Presente!” And then, a moment of silence, as I consider the life of this young woman, only four years older than me at the time of her death, crossing the desert in Cochise County, Arizona. Her story is far from my personal reality, yet is in line with the stories of so many others. An economic crisis and the need for jobs; the separation of families; the construction of a physical border, a fence, a wall between “them” and “us.” Hope found and hope lost as the number of deaths in the desert continues to rise.

So we gather on the Pan-American Highway to pray. All human beings deserve a face. All deserve a name. With this belief, my year as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began.

I now work as the U.S.-side coordinator at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta. A quick tour of this binational life: crossing items over the border both ways (all legal, I promise); feeling like an aunt, a big sister, or a parent at times; being interrogated by customs and immigrations officers; learning to cook; finding joy in little things like riding a bike on a chilly, sunny afternoon; discovering the depths of sadness; confronting injustice; being denied hospitality; extending my own hospitality; failure and success.

My YAV experience isn’t about placing Band-Aids on weighty and complex issues. It is about creating relationships binationally. If you ask me about my experience, I can almost promise you I’ll talk about relationships. What gives me life? Relationships give me life.

Leisha Jo Reynolds is serving as a Young Adult Volunteer with Frontera de Cristo, a Presbyterian Border Ministry.

Listen to the Radio

La Oroya, Peru, an Andean mountain town, is one of the ten most polluted cities in the world according to the Blacksmith Institute, an international environmental group.

A Saint Louis University study found that 97 percent of children under the age of six in La Oroya have lead poisoning, some with levels so high they cannot be measured. Lead exposure can cause brain damage, hyperactivity, kidney and liver problems, seizures, and severe pain in children.

Funds from the Pentecost Offering have helped to recruit and train forty young “community journalists” (aged 16–25) in La Oroya to write and broadcast stories about care of the environment, health, peace education, and human rights. These are the areas identified by youth focus groups as needing community-based discussion.

Radio broadcasts by these young periodistas comunitarios are helping the local population and authorities get access to accurate, impartial scientific data so they can make the best choices for their families and community.

Allen Park Presbyterian Church in Allen Park, Michigan, has committed to forming a lasting relationship with the people of La Oroya in their continuing fight against environmental contamination by a U.S.-owned smelter company.

In April 2007, Kirk Miller, then the youth pastor at Allen Park, traveled to La Oroya with 35 teenagers from his youth group. The purpose of the trip was to engage the young people of La Oroya in dialogue, to experience their culture, and to better understand their environmental suffering.

Partnered with Peruvian youth, the Allen Park youth painted a mural, gave interviews on the radio, met with the mayor in the town hall, composed a song, and presented a play and photography exposition in the coliseum.

To learn more about the children of La Oroya and the ongoing ecumenical effort to alleviate their suffering, search online using the key words “La Oroya” and “environmental contamination.”

Introduction to Yoga

Come join our small, half-hour class during coffee hour (12:15 p.m., on Sundays, May 11^th and 18th) to practice mindful breathing and gentle yoga postures. Great for stress release, improved flexibility and strength. If interested, please email Liz at cavatorta1@hotmail.com for more info.

Writing Group at Clarendon Hill--all are welcome!!

After exciting and productive meetings throughout the year, the writing group will meet on Wednesday, May 21st at 7:30 p.m. in the Green Room. Please join us!! We will begin with a group check-in, move through 1-2 writing exercises, share as we feel moved, and finish with a group check-out. We are open to everyone, regardless of previous writing experience and will tailor each session to the needs and interests of those who show up. Contact Gusti or Liz for more information: gusti_newquist@yahoo.com or Cavatorta1@hotmail.com

Book Group/Bible Study

The bible study group will continue to be a book group this month, as they explore Mark Allen Powell’s book Loving Jesus. All are welcome to join us on Wednesday evening May 28th at 7:00 p.m.

Thank You from RESPOND

Hello Friends!

On behalf of Jessica and I— and everyone at RESPOND, especially the women and children we serve—thank you all for putting together such a wonderful event last night. The beauty of the music was equaled only by the incredible spirit of community in the room… We were truly honored to be part of it.

Great news: the concert raised over $1,400 which, combined with Clarendon Hill’s generous $500 donation, comes to over $1,900 all of which will support RESPOND’s programs for women and families. The timing could not be better. Tomorrow (yes, tomorrow!) we are moving into a new, expanded shelter—a warm, welcoming home that will accommodate up to 8 families (22 individuals) at one time, double our current capacity. Proceeds from the concert will help ensure that we are able to provide the highest quality services round the clock to the women and kids who need us. I can’t tell you how important this is, or how much your support means to us.

Many thanks to the Al-Nour Ensemble and A Besere Velt for lending their gorgeous voices and music; to Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church, B’nai Brith, First Congregational Church of Somerville and the Muslim American Society for coming together in such an inspiring way; and to each of you for your hard work and dedication. You should all be very proud.

We are lucky to have such an amazing community of friends!

Warmly,

Daniele

Daniele Levine

Director of Development

RESPOND, Inc. working to end domestic violence since 1974

Graduation Party for Gusti!

Please join Gusti's out-of-town friends and family in "Celebrating the Mastery of Divinity" on Saturday, June 7th, 4:30pm at the Nave Gallery. It will be a light reception to toast and roast those graduating from Harvard Divinity School and to say a special thank you to a wonderful network of support and encouragement. RSVP to Emily Redington Modak at eeredington@hotmail.com.

Thank you from Nathan Williams

Dear Clarendon Hill friends,

Thank you for the generous gift of $100.00 and the cards from the congregation and Sunday School in honor of my ordination. Your gift and warm wishes will continue to support me as I transition into ministry. The Spirit is keeping us all well connected!

Thank you,

Nathan Williams

315 8th St. S

Virginia, MN 55792

Donations for Somerville Early Head Start

We are still accepting donations for Somerville Early Head Start. Those items most needed include:

crackers

cereal

macaroni

canned black beans

rice in boxes ( rather than plastic bags)

Baby Formula

diapers

peanut butter

Thank you in advance for your donations!

Rental Space Available!

Teen Empowerment has recently left their rental space at the church, so there is room available! If you know of a group or organization that is in need of office space, please have them get in touch with the church right away.

1. A Call to Knit and Pray our Way to the GA in San Jose!

A group of us have begun knitting and crocheting scarves to be sent to the General Assembly in San Jose, CA in June. These scarves will be worn by commissioners in support of the many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals who are still excluded from serving as deacons, elders and ministers in our denomination. If you are interested in knitting or crocheting a scarf, please get in touch with Ellen.

Small Farmers. Big Change.

A green and more just food system starts with small farmers.

Planting Trees for Life By Phyllis Robinson

“Look how green it is here. It’s hard to believe, but it actually rains more here than in other areas of Boaco. Wherever you look and see green, lush farms – those belong to members of the co-operative. –Maria Theresa Mendoza Martinez

In April 2007, one of Equal Exchange’s Interfaith partner organizations, the Presbyterian Church (USA) – PC(USA)- used their Equal Exchange Small Farmer Fund to support a reforestation project on one of our Nicaraguan farmer partner co-operatives, Tierra Nueva. The project, “Planting Trees for Life,” proposed to benefit 70 coffee farming families in three communities in the Department of Boaco by planting 200,000 trees: 180,000 coffee seedlings, 7,000 citrus trees, and another 15,000 trees to be used for timber and firewood. The project also contemplated the construction of 20 fuel-efficient stoves which would require the use of less firewood.

According to a handout given to co-op members at a recent General Assembly meeting: “The project provides us with an opportunity to improve the natural resources in our farms, increase our incomes, and thereby improve conditions for our families and our community. Our resources: water, soil and forests, are our principal wealth, since it’s from these resources that we get everything we need for our lives. Because we depend on these resources for life itself, reforestation and conservation of our natural resources are vital for our families and communities. We can contribute to the environment and the wellbeing of our families by expanding the forested area of our coffee farms and by planting high quality varieties of fruit trees. From the forest to our coffee farms we can harvest firewood and construction wood, which can also be sold locally. Coffee, in addition to providing income, is a crop which protects the forest, the soil, and our water; elements without which life in the countryside would be so much more difficult.”

Tierra Nueva members “go crazy” and convert to organic

In 1007, 23 farmers formed the Tierra Neuva coffee co-operative. According to one of their founders and current president, Pedro Rojas: “At that time, our neighbors were all watching us. We were terracing, using natural insecticides, and organic fertilizers. They said we had ‘gone crazy’, that the coffee crisis (when world prices dropped below the costs of production) had made us crazy. Well, we didn’t care. In 2000, we obtained our organic and Fair Trade certifications. By 2004, we had grown to 600 crazy people.” The decision to switch to organic farming changed their lives. “When we started growing organically, we did it to get a better price,” Rojas said. “But organic sustainable agriculture has now become a way of life. It sets us apart from other farmers. Our soil is more fertile, our water cleaner, our forests protected. Families are living better. The more benefits we see, the more enthusiastic we’ve become. We’re excited to keep experimenting with new ways to farm. Who are the crazy ones today?”

The Boaca region, where most of the members of Tierra Neuva have their farms, is cattle country and one of the first things people notice as they’re driving to the area is that the hills are dry and deforested. Most of the trees have been cut down to grow pasture and make room for the cattle. And then one arrives in the communities of San Juan, Las Mercedes, and Filas Verdes, suddenly something is different. Just as Maria Theresa boasted, the countryside in fact green and lush – and the contrast is dramatic.

On a recent trip we organized for food co-operative general managers to meet the coffee farmers, Maria Theresa invited us to lunch at her modest home in Filas Verdes. The food was delicious and fresh and almost everything she prepared for us came directly from her farm. “It’s all organic!” she said proudly. “Eat as much as you like, it’s good for you!”

Iierra Nueva grows stronger, as does its commitment to the environment

Each year we visit our trading partners in the Tierra Neuva Co-operative Union. Once in the pickup truck driving back from San Juan, a few of the Board members got to talking with us about their plans to meet with the major of Boaca. Rojas told us: “We want the primary schools to include a mandatory environmental curriculum to teach our children about the importance of our resources.: that our lives depend upon the soil, the water and the trees. We need to take care of them so the earth can continue to give back to us as well. When the earth does well, we do well.”

We were impressed with their level of enthusiasm and commitment to preserve and protect the environment and we wanted to do more to support their efforts. Equal Exchange has partnered with these farmers for eight years. We purchase four containers of organic, Fair Trade coffee per year, paying them some of the highest prices in the market. These prices have enabled Tierra Neuva to purchase its own dry mill and to build a cupping lab to ensure high quality. We have invited cuppers to come to Boston and participate in “Cupping Camp,” a peer training in quality control, and have led youth trainings in Boaca. Today, Tierra Neuva has grown to 600 members legally organized into eight co-operatives and Ierra Neuva has become an umbrella union of these co-operatives. But what could we do to support their efforts to care for their land?

At our 20^th anniversary celebration in West Bridgewater in 2006, we facilitated a meeting between Melanie Hardison of PC(USA) and Ariel Escobar of Tierra Neuva. Equal Exchange has created a Small Farmer Fund for our Interfaith partners in which we donate a portion of every case of coffee sold to churches into a fund to support small farmer projects. After hearing about the co-operative’s vision to plant 200,000 coffee, citrus, and other trees form timber an firewood, Melanie decided to recommend that PC(USA) donate $10,000.00 in Small Farmer Funds to support the project.

In January 2008, Equal Exchange led a staff trip and together with PC(USA), co-led an Interfaith trip to visit Nicaragua. Altogether 20 people went to Tierra Neuva to learn firsthand about the co-operative, participate in the coffee harvest, and see the progress being made through the “Planting Trees for Life” project. To date, !00,000 coffee trees have been planted, nurseries have been established to grow the seedlings, 5,000 citrus trees have been planted, and 16 fuel efficient stoves have been constructed and are in use.

Aaron Dawson, and Equal Exchange Interfaith Program representative, recalled one of his most inspiring moments of the trip. The farmer that he and Adam Fischer, of PC(USA), stayed with showed then first a coffee seed, then a tiny seed sprout, and then a seedling wrapped in black plastic. He too them to his coffee farm and ceremoniously unwrapped the plastic wrapping. Then together, they planted the seedling in the ground. As the farmer said, “Equal Exchange and the Presbyterians helped us with this project. These trees represent life to us. Now by planting this seedling together, we have all joined to continue this circle of life.”

The Clarendon Connection is edited by Ellen D. Schemerhorn. After ten years, she is turning over the job to Ann Melton Crews, who will begin her tenure in June.

Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church

155 Powder House Boulevard

West Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-1613

Telephone: 617-625-4823

www.clarendonhillchurch.org

The Rev. Karl Gustafson, Minister…………………………..John Adams, Music Director

Augustus Kwaa, Parish Associate/Evangelist……………………….. Arnie James, Sexton

Sarah Glass, Seminarian

LECTIONARY TEXTS

May 4: Acts 1: 6-14; Ps. 68: 1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4: 12-14, 5: 6-11; John 17: 1-11

May 11: Acts 2: 1-21 OR Num. 11: 24-30; Ps. 104: 24-34. 35b; 1 Cor. 12: 3b-13 OR Acts 2: 1-21; John 20: 19-23 OR John 7: 27-39

May 18: Gen. 1: 1-2:4a; Ps. 8; 2 Cor. 13: 11-13; Matt. 28: 16-20

May 25: Isa. 49: 8-16a; Ps. 131; 1 Cor. 4: 1-5; Matt. 6: 24-34

June 1:Gen. 6: 9-22, 7:24, 8:14-19; Ps. 46; Rom. 1:16-17, 3: 22b-28 (29-31); Matt. 7: 21-29

June 8: Gen. 12: 1-9; Ps. 33: 1-12; Rom. 4: 13-25; Matt. 9: 9-13, 18-26

June 15: Gen. 18: 1-15 (21:1-7); Ps. 116: 1-2, 12-19; Rom. 5: 1-8; Matt. 9: 35-10:8 (9-23)

June 22: Gen. 21: 8-21; Ps. 86: 1-10, 16-17; Rom. 6: 1b-11; Matt. 10: 24-39

June 29: Gen. 22: 1-14; Ps. 13; Rom. 6: 12-23; Matt. 10: 40-42

Church Assignments