606 TAMALES! Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale

Ah! The last weekend in September is the Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale, to raise money for development work around the world.

Last Sunday after church we made 606 tamales, and sang "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow."



On Friday and Saturday of this weekend we quickly sold out! Lots of hard work, and lots of fun.



Thanks to ALL who helped!

Journey Learning Weekend at Amigo

Nora, Jane and I spent another full weekend at Amigo Centre this September for the Journey Program. This is our third and final years of leadership training together. As a mentor I walk alongside Nora and Jane as they are active in ministry and as we read and reflect together on their experiences.



As part of their learning Jane and Nora will be leading a Family Night at Florence during the first Thursday evenings of October, November and December. There families will have a chance to enjoy one another around a simple meal, time for homework and time to play games together.

We are grateful to Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Central District Conference and Indiana Michigan Conference for offering this training and making us part of the Journey community.

Instructor on the spiritual discipline of prayer: Eleanor Kreider --



Conference Ministers: Lois Kauffman (CDC) and Dan Miller (IN-MI)--



Amigo classroom --

Vibrant Rural Camp-In at Amigo

Due to the generousity of our "Well Endowed Aunt Lilly" (Lilly Clergy Renewal Grant), over fifty of the Florence flock spent Friday through Sunday of Labor Day weekend at Amigo Centre. This Mennonite camp offered us comfortable rooms with private baths, generous meals, the beauty of woods and lake, and many places to sit, talk, walk, canoe and play.

Our typical fall weekend away is tent camping across the lake at Amigo Park. So this more simple retreat felt like a true breather.

Saturday night entertainment was Karaoke, led by Dallie and Gary Nichols.


Sunday morning worship included the lakeside baptism of Nora followed by communion.


I enjoyed my "Lucy Booth." Under my beach umbrella I invited folks to come and tell me their passions for life. And I gave THEM five cents! For four hours on Saturday afternoon there was one person after another. I heard passions for family, fabric, teaching, local food, mending old wounds, and opening opportunities for Native Americans. One person asked me, "And Nina, what is your passion?" That was a gift.



My passion for conversations such as these hopefully gives me the chance to listen deeply for God's invitations in and through the Florence Friends. Despite protest -- ENOUGH PASSION, ALREADY -- I consider the Passion Booth and the weekend a fabulous success.

There are already new projects bubbling up out of these passions. Then we meet Frederick Buechner's vision for our part in God's mission:

THE PLACE GOD CALLS YOU
IS WHERE YOUR DEEP GLADNESS
(or passion)
AND THE WORLD'S HUNGER
MEET.

Blessings of Home

Sunday, August 8, we WARMLY blessed the new home of Maria Montoya and her family. It was a hot day, but the back deck and grassy yard made the perfect place for talking, eating, and singing blessings.

For Barb Welty there was another layer of blessing. This home had belonged to her mother, Betty Jean. Now the carefully tended perenniel beds were also the home for Maria's thriving tomato, pepper, cilantro and basil plants.

To see the joy of Kathia and Vanessa with their new room and new kittens, to taste Carlos'chicken and Maria's homemade salsa, to enjoy the fun and fellowship and singing of a Florence House Blessing, made me realize how these moments mark our long journey together with joy. There has been a death. And a new birth.

Maria settles into this new home in Three Rivers at the same time as launching two daughters. Jheny, recent Goshen College graduate, will soon move to Indianapolis to find work. Brenda, recent high school graduate, heads off to Hesston College in Kansas.

Kate and James Lind of Sustainable Greens joined the Florence Family for the feast. They are the "work family" for Maria and the girls and have been like loving grandparents at many times. Now we can all rejoice together as new memories are made, common work celebrated, and young women become anchored in this place of beauty, space, and growth.

Simply Beautiful!

On Sunday, August 1, the creative beauty of Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite filled the sanctuary and beyond. I was away, but seeing the photos was awe-inspiring to me. God, our creator, indeed has blessed us with creativity and beauty beyond our awareness of each other -- even in this little congregation!

Thanks to Kathy and Willard Fenton-Miller and Judy Broadworth and Suzanne Lind for weaving a wonderful worship around these gifts.

Enjoy!


Quilt by Christine Nofsinger


Shell piece by David Wenger


Stone carving by David Wenger



Paper art by Emma Fenton-Miller


Wooden toys by Henry Braun


Handwork by Jan Warstler


Flowers by Jo Beachy


Potter by Josh Ewert


Paintings by Judy Broadworth


Photos by Kathy Fenton-Miller


Pottery by Riana Beachy Hasenick


Quilt by Roxie Ewert


Photos by Sara Braun


Water color by Sylvie Gudin


Woodwork by Willard Fenton-Miller

As we went down to the river to pray....and play...

Morning has broken like the first morning.
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

Today was a beauty. We met at 10 am at the Hoshel Canoe Park by the river, about five miles from church. This is oru traditional baptism site.

Today Judy Broadworth, Brenda Nieto and Ben Nofsinger make their public statement of intent to follow Jesus. We sang, shared the news of our lives, and shared the Good News of Jesus who began a Way of Life that was worth persecuting in its earliest days and which shapes our lives centuries later.

As we remember the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us in following Jesus, we are both humbled and encouraged. Judy, Brenda and Ben and those gathered promised once more to keep these promises central to our life together.

BAPTISMAL VOWS

Will you make Jesus the center of your faith – loving God, as seen in Christ, and alive in the Spirit?

Will you make community the center of your life – loving your neighbor and your self in the church and in the world?

Will you make reconciliation the center of your work– loving both friends and enemies with grace, and seeking shalom for all people, living creatures, and for the planet?

Will you turn away from sin, temptation, violence and evil -- all that prevents you from living in love –and follow The Way of Jesus with us?

Will you turn toward giving and receiving time, talent and treasures, counsel and forgiveness -- through worship, learning, fellowship and service -- as we continue our journey in Jesus together?

I baptize you in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
One God who Mothers us all.
Arise to new life in Christ!

VIBRANT RURAL WORLD CUP PARTY!
Following the baptism we share communion from the hands of Judy, Brenda and Ben. Then we headed for Bair Lane in Marcellus for one more of our Vibrant Rural Celebrations – funded by the Lilly Clergy Renewal Grant. After tacos, fruit and decadent brownies, the final World Cup Match on the big screen was our entertainment.









CANOEING THE FAWN RIVER

The day before, on Saturday, July 10, Charlie and Jane Bowers had organized a Vibrant Canoe Trip on the Fawn River. Twenty seven of us enjoyed the silent and stunning beauty of this wetland and marsh river ride.







Floating, Faith, Food, Fellowship, Fun, Futbol!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Florence Amigos

About a quarter of Florence Church is living, at least part time, at Amigo Centre (Mennonite camp) this summer. Rose Lind, Emily and Margaret Wenger have been on staff. Jason Lichti is the program director. And Jason and Lori, Joshua, Jesse and John Lichti live in their house on camp grounds. John Mark Wenger and Riana Beachy Hasenick have been campers.

I made a "pastoral call" to camp last Wednesday, including eating "pirate" lunch with Rose, Emily and Jesse and a short visit with Margaret. You can read more at vibrantruralrr.blogspot.com

I have been asked to speak at KNOW JESUS, a junior high event that culminates the summer for Amigo Centre and Camp Friedenswald. Their staff members work together to provide worship and activity leadershp for that event. It takes place the weekend of August 7-9 at Goshen College.

Willard Fenton-Miller was appointed to the Camp Friedenswald board at Central District Conference in June.

And our VIBRANT RURAL CAMP-IN RETREAT will take place at Amigo Centre on Labor Day weekend. Florence has a long history of camping out at Amigo Park in early September, but this year, with the financing of the Lilly Clergy Renewal Grant, we are taking a different kind of retreat, expenses paid, and food provided.

Hmmmm....what do we make of these camp connections?