May 21, 2023 Ministry Moment and Bulletin Announcement

 

Good morning to all. I’m here to provide the RIC Core Team’s latest updates and news.

The RIC Core Team has been presenting twice a month, usually with a Ministry Moment on the 2^nd Sunday and a “Your Questions Asked” on the 4^th Sunday. Beginning this month, we are changing this to a once-per-month frequency. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t receiving questions, or don’t have sufficient topics to address. The RIC Core team has decided to take this “Less is more” approach, to give the team more time to focus on the content presented.

Other items the RIC team is working on include:

• Development of a blog

• Placing a binder in the library with copies of previous ministry moments and discussion materials

• Identifying congregational activities based on RIC toolkit

• Securing guest speakers

• Putting together a bulletin board for informational purposes.

Since we normally have a “Your Questions Asked” segment, we have three submissions to the virtual and physical inboxes. The submissions include a question on terminology (asexual vs. celibate), a question regarding how we will address political influence, and a concern that RIC remain appropriate for all ages. These questions/comments and the RIC team’s responses are included in today’s bulletin, and a hard copy will be included in the physical binder I mentioned a few minutes ago.

Please keep your questions and comments coming, and if you are interested in participating in this committee, please see one of the RIC committee members or Pastor T. We are also having our regularly scheduled meeting after church today in the library, so feel free to drop in and join us.

 

Bulletin Announcement:

Hello from the Reconciling In Christ (RIC) Core Team! Here are the latest updates:

The RIC Core Team has been presenting twice a month, usually with a Ministry Moment on the 2^nd Sunday and a “Your Questions Asked” on the 4^th Sunday. Beginning this month, we are changing this to a once-per-month frequency. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t receiving questions, or don’t have sufficient topics to address. The RIC Core team has decided to take this “Less is more” approach, to give the team more time to focus on the content presented.

Other items the RIC team is working on include:

• Development of a blog

• Placing a binder in the library with copies of previous ministry moments and discussion materials

• Identifying congregational activities based on RIC toolkit

• Securing guest speakers

• Putting together a bulletin board for informational purposes.

Questions and comments the team has received lately:

1. Concerns that RIC is teaching children about sexuality (from the comment box)

   1. This is a misrepresentation of our RIC mission. Our mission is not to present explicit content that could be confused with classroom “Sex Ed”. The Core Team’s mission is to address equality and equity for all God’s children. Addressing specific terminology levels the playing field on understanding specific terms to reduce misunderstanding, judgment, divisiveness, in the hope that it will instead drive kindness, inclusiveness, and connection within our community.

2. How do we address political influence on and in the church? Conservative vs. Liberal? Democrat vs. Republican? (virtual inbox)

   1. It’s difficult to not think about political influence on various aspects of our lives. Addressing political influence on and in the church in the context of RIC takes away from both our church’s and the RIC team’s overall message of inclusiveness.

3. Terminology question “Celibate vs. Asexual”.

   1. Asexuality describes an orientation, not a behavior, while celibacy specifically addresses a behavior only. On the RIC website, there is a “Resources” section for the “Asexual and Aromantic Spectrum”.

Please keep your questions coming, either in the comment dropbox, or to the email address we have provided, or directly to a committee member. All congregation members are welcome to join the committee, or just drop in to sit in on our meetings.

Thank you – Sarah, Sue, Wendy, Sue, Phil, Tricia, Kathy