Nonprofit Organization US POSTAGE PAID Stillwater, OK Permit No.

280

Facts & Figures for February 26, 2012 Attendance (122 and 128)...........................250 Sunday School........106 General Fund Receipts..............$4,073.00 Capital Fund Receipts..........................$375.00 Loose Offering/Sunday School.....$197.01 Non-Budget Funds Receipts......$4,782.95 Preliminary Facts & Figures as of Jan. 31, 2012 YTD Budget Receipts...........$34,279.33 YTD Budget Expenses......$41,778.92 Net Receipts over Expenses.......($7,499.59) Presented by Kay Smith, Treasurer, dkwsmith@suddenlink.net

The Stillwater Christian

Volume 2012 In This Issue
Announcements Care and Keeping of a Candle Birthdays & Anniversaries Children & Youth Facts & Figures 1 2 2 3 4

February 28 Outreach Volunteers And Donations Needed! Sunday Van Drivers are still needed (special licensing not required)! We are also accepting donations of coupons (place in the plastic tub in Narthex), toilet paper, and adult diapers for our Helping Hands Neighbors. CWF Rummage Sale, This Week! Plan to bring your items to the church Feb. 26-29th during our Prep Days. Volunteers are also needed and appreciated during this busy week. The sale is Thursday from 8-5 and Friday 8-noon. Come on down!

Central Area Churches Praying for Churches This week we are praying for: New Hope in OKC

Moved recently? Changed Phone numbers or email? Be sure and the let the office know so that we can keep you up to date on everything happening at FCC! WNF Session 4 Begins Wednesday Night! To accommodate the Rummage sale, the menu will include an assortment of sandwiches, fruit, and a cookie. And of course, its always fun to go digging for treasures in Williams Hall before heading to a class of your choice. Class Choices for this Wednesday night are: Weaving with Marie Hesser Gospel Music Sing Along with Ival Photography with Christy Luper Mah Jongg Lenten Scripture & Prayer with elders Choir New Week is First Sunday Food Drive! Please bring your canned goods, box dinners, pasta and sauce, PB&J and other goods. Oklahoma Regional Church Assembly to be Held April 26-28 Make plans now to register and attend the Assembly which will be held at FCC in Duncan. You may call the church office for more information, or visit the Oklahoma Disciples website at www.okdisciples.org for registration and information.

There will not be a newsletter during Spring Break, March 20th. Please consider submitting any time sensitive articles early. Thanks! Tracy
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Of Stillwater, OK, Inc. 411 W. Mathews Ave. Stillwater, OK 74075-7517 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

The Stillwater Christian is a weekly publication of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The deadline for articles each week is 1pm Monday. Tracy Freeman, Editor editor@fcc-stillwater.org Church Office Phone: 405.372.7722 Fax: 405.372.7726 Find The Stillwater Christian and more information at www.fcc-stillwater.org

Apple Pies For Sale This Sunday! DELICIOUS APPLE PIES will be sold on a first come first serve basis (pre orders are being accepted). Pies will be ready to pick up between 12:30 and 4:00. Pies are $12 each and all proceeds benefit summer camps and missions. You may preorder your pies with Sondra, Sheri Gumm, or in the office.

Send prayer requests and general email to office@fcc-stillwater.org

Join us this Sunday for Owen Caytons Message, Your Kingdom Come! based on Mark 8:31-38 Traditional 9:00am Sunday School 10:10 Contemporary 11:10

Owen Cayton, Senior Minister

The Care and Feeding of A Candle

pastor@fcc-stillwater.org

CHILDREN & YOUTH MINISTRY NEWS

Sondra Ladd, Children/Youth Ministry Director youth@fcc-stillwater.org

As I mentioned at the end of my article last week, it is around discourses and practices that I believe religion and spirituality can come together. I once saw a bumper sticker that read "religion is for people afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for people who have already been there." I, of course, had to chuckle to myself as this is not my experience or understanding of religion. However, I did find it to be a humorous dig at religion, for certainly it is the case that we often do things without a sense as to why we do them or even with mixed motives. Sometimes the reasons are long gone even after the practices continue ad infinitum. As far as Christianity goes, we proclaim a God who is gracious. Grace by its very definition, means that we cannot earn favor with God, nor can we do anything outside of God's ability to redeem. So, we don't do things out of fear or out of a desire to impress. Instead, we do things because they shape our lives. Recently there have been three ad campaigns by three different religious organizations with which I have been very impressed: Catholics Catholics Come Home, the United Church of Christ God is Still Speaking, the Mormon Church I Am Mormon (I wish the Disciples would get in on some of this). Each of them has expressed in very dramatic terms the positives of their faith and practices that they embody and use to live out that faith. See, I believe that feeding the hungry, caring for the neighbor and loving the enemy are all a part of practicing our religion. I don't think that one has to be necessarily religious to do those things; however, as a Christian I believe that these are a part of our religion. In the same way, I also think that worship, prayer, silence, Bible study, and giving and sharing of our resources are also practices of our religion. They are also things we engage in that enhance us as spiritual beings; that connect us to God and the world around us. In this sense, religion and spirituality hold hands. In the end, I think that religion is about finding ways for communities to practice spirituality together. I also think that when people get together, sometimes we get along and other times we argue and get frustrated with each other. However, I don't think that we can simply dismiss one another. Religion needs spirituality or it potentially falls into rule and regulation holding people captive rather than freeing people from those things in life that hold them captive. Spirituality needs religion or it can become self-centered and narcissistic and whatever we want to make of it. Human beings need both individual care and communal connection and responsibility. I challenge you this season of Lent to grow in your own connection with God in the world around you by pondering the ways you practice your faith. I challenge you to build on the work we have done as a church during our Be the Church event by finding ways that you can serve your brothers and sisters in the world well at the same time finding ways to be in communion with God and with the community of faith. Shalom, Pastor Owen

Happily Forever After Rehearsals Continue Children will continue rehearsals for Happily Forever After during WNF. T-Shirt orders are due with $10 payments by March 7th. This Sunday is our semi annual pie sale. EVERYONE who will be attending a summer camp, conference or mission trip is asked to LEND A HAND. Please join us for worship at 9:00am followed by adult training in Williams Hall and youth training in the youth room. (youth under 8th grade must be accompanied by an adult). Pie assembly will begin at 10:30. Bring a sack lunch and be prepared to work until all pies are assembled. No Youth Connect Sunday Night Thank You Note from Be The Church Organizers To our superb team leaders, Linda and Sonny Apman, Steve Armbruster, Craig and Leila Beeby, Ron Beer, Bill and Sharon Brown, Judith and Ron Elliott, Carolyn Hert, Diana and Wade Watkins: We would like to thank each of you with all our hearts for your unstinting efforts in producing a sterling outcome for our very first Be the Church mission project for the Week of Compassion. As you may already know, First Christian Church Action Teams donated 410.5 personhours of service work benefitting 8 nonprofit organizations during the course of this project! Tasks completed included stocking shelves, organizing supplies, linen closets, and donated items, laying a brick pathway, cleaning many, many windows, raking leaves, filling dumpsters, brushing cats, walking dogs, moving furniture, and painting, painting, and more painting. Did I say we completed lots of painting? What a resounding contribution this church, with its generosity of spirit, has made to our community! We would also like to thank Tracy and Leola for getting the word out via Sunday School announcements and the Newsletter, and Dupree's for designing a killer t-shirt that ensured folks wouldn't mind wearing it to promote FCC throughout the year! Finally, we must say a very special thank-you to Owen for initiating such a fresh, all-church project idea that brought so much direct, personal satisfaction to the more than 100 individuals who contributed their time and skills and truly benefitted a broad swath of our community, for creating our Be the Church! motto, for composing such a moving Devotional to lead and support us throughout the entire, inspirational week; and for allowing the two of us to coordinate this project--what a treat to watch such rewarding event take life and come to fruition through the efforts of so many first-rate individuals! Thanks again for everything! --Sharon and Jessica Happy Birthday to: 3/2 Polly Taylor; 3/3 Jay Croft, Mark Johnson, Jack Stout; 3/4 Chuck Willoughby; 3/6 Melanie Armstrong, Sharon Gunkel, Patt Randell, Donna Stritzke Happy Anniversary to: Don and Judy Mitchell

Youth Pie Sale Day - March 4th