Whatever things are
think on these things
Vol. 58, No. 23 December 11, 2009
Caroling at
The Redwoods
Put on your Santa hat and bring your jingle bells,
warm up your singing voice, and gather quietly
with carolers in the library at The Redwoods be-
tween 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. on Friday, December
18th. From 6:45 until 7 p.m. we will carol for the
holiday party revelers on their way to the audito-
rium. Promptly at 7 o’clock we will begin carol-
ing in the halls starting with the Health Care Unit.
Once again we will be joined by folks from Com-
munity Congregational Church U.C.C. in Tibu-
ron. If our chorus is too large to negotiate the
halls together we will divide into smaller groups
with singers from both churches in each group.
(If you own a pitch pipe, please bring it along.)
At eight o’clock we will came back to the library
for coffee and hot cocoa. If you live at The Red-
woods, you may receive a call next week to find
out if you plan to be at home between 7 and 8 that
evening. Singers of all ages are welcome. Please
come and join in the fun.
Guest Musician
On Sunday, December 27th, we will be having a
guest musician come share some Christmas spirit
with us: Justin Eagleton, quite a bit taller than
many of you might remember from when he at-
tended CCMV as a child, will bring his guitar
and play both classical and jazz tunes.
Justin has been playing music since the age of 4,
about the same time his grandfather, John Eagle-
ton, started bringing Justin to Sunday morning
services. Justin began his music study on his
grandfather's piano, and then took up the trumpet
“Guest Musician” continued on page 4…
Barbara Strader Editor
Christmas Eve Service
5:30 p.m. Family Service The first crèche--
discovered by archeologists--was made in the
fourth century by an unknown artist. During the
Middle Ages craft guilds often built the Christmas
crib for the village church. It is said the Saint Fran-
cis of Assisi brought home the joyful message of
Christ’s birth when he had a life-sized nativity
scene secretly built in a cave and then invited the
whole town to see it on Christmas Eve.
At 5:30 p.m. on December 24 at the Community
Church, children build the crèche and help the Pam
Shortridge tell the story of the first Christmas.
Each child takes one small figure (a sheep, an an-
gel, one of the magi, a donkey, a shepherd, or the
baby Jesus) and brings it to the stable at just the
right time. For a few minutes on that special night,
each child is there in Bethlehem breathing the air
and hearing the angels’ song of peace. For the lit-
tlest ones it is a bit like playing house; for the older
ones it is a way of entering into a time long ago in a
place far away. For the adults it is a way of sharing
the wondrous mystery and the joy of that holy night
with the children. Together we all sing carols as
we welcome Christ into our hearts once again.
Come a little early for a seat near the front and to
join the carol sing with Esther Archer.
In This Issue
MOC Keeping Strong Presence on Issues 2
December Birthdays 2
Gifts for the Pastor’s Fund 3
In Memoriam Kenneth Herbert Harris 3
Seasonal Events 3
James Christie Reports 4
Interfaith Dialogue Presentation 4
Christmas at Cornell 5
Volunteers Needed for Dinner at Shelter 5

MOC Keeping Strong
Presence on Issues
At the December 3 meeting, MOC leaders summed
up this year’s activities and looked ahead to plans
for next year. A primary goal is to create a perma-
nent open emergency homeless shelter to house up
to 80 people a night. To that end, MOC is facilitat-
ing a meeting with Supervisor Steve Kinsey and
Mayor Al Boro to discuss possible locations for a
permanent shelter in San Rafael.
Meanwhile, this winter’s temporary emergency
shelter program, hosted by 15 churches on a rotat-
ing basis, opened as scheduled on December 1, ex-
cept in San Rafael. The four participating San
Rafael churches still are awaiting approval of their
plans to shelter 20 homeless women one night each
week. Shelter supporters are urged to attend the
San Rafael City Council meeting December 8, 7
p.m., 1400 5th Ave.
The MOC health team has been closely following
the planning for Marin General Hospital’s transi-
tion to a new independent status when Sutter
Health hands over administrative reins in July,
2010. MOC recognizes the importance of having
strong, fair new bylaws to guide the MGH board
and to guarantee its success as a thriving independ-
ent hospital in central Marin. Representatives will
voice MOC’s views at the December 8 meeting of
the hospital district board, 250 Bon Air Rd., Green-
brae.
An MOC committee working on legal issues sur-
rounding the towing and impoundment of cars in
San Rafael’s Canal District plans to confer with the
chief of police to discuss city policy. This commit-
tee’s next meeting is on Monday, January 11, 7 p.m.
at St. Raphael’s Church, 1104 Fifth St., San Rafael.
During February and March, MOC suggests that all
member institutions hold in-house meetings—
perhaps partnering with neighboring congregations,
perhaps as part of Lenten activities—to “digest” the
significance of the huge MOC gathering in October
and to discuss community problems that are loom-
ing in the coming year.
—– Linda Xiques, Jack Bartlett, Betsy Bikle
December Birthdays
Happy Birthday to everyone born in De-
cember! If you missed your date, email us
at the church office:
ccmvucc@comcast.net
December 4 Ronald Cooper
December 13 Betsy Bikle
December 16 Judy Reneau
December 31 JoAnn Haseltine.

The Community Church of Mill Valley

United Church of Christ
An Open & Affirming Congregation
8 Olive Street, Mill Valley , CA 94941
Phone 415/388-5540
Fax 415/388-1678
e-mail CCMVUCC@comcast.net
www.millvalleyucc.org
Pastor: Pam Shortridge Sunday Morning:
Minister Emeritus: Jack Bartlett 9:00 a.m. “The Unexpected Word” Class, Foster Room
Parish Associate of Mission: Dora Ford 10:00 a.m. Worship Service, Sanctuary
Minister in Covenant: Jacquie Hoffman Nursery Care for Infants & Toddlers, Nursery
Seminarian In-Care: Arn Lou Mutia Program for Children in Preschool through Third
Seminarian In-Care: James Christie Grade, Children gather in the Chapel
Director of Music: Esther Archer 11:15 a.m. Coffee Hour in the Tamalpais Hall
Executive Editor: Barbara Strader
Facility Operations Manager: Aaron Young Of Good Report is published on the second and fourth Monday of each
month. Deadline for submissions is the previous Monday at noon.
2
2
 Gifts for the Seasonal Events
Pastor’s Fund Friday, December 18
6:30 p.m. Caroling at The Redwoods
This past year the challenges many people Sunday, December 20
face due to the Recession were made clear by Last Sunday for:
the requests for assistance from the Pastor’s The Holiday Food Drive
Fund. For some their work hours were cut and Donate nonperishable food for the Marin Food
they were short of cash by the end of the Bank
month. For others the little cushion they had The Giving Tree
saved had disappeared. This past year the pas- Give money to provide school supplies for the poor
tor’s discretionary fund was used to give just a children of
few dollars more so folks could make the Masaka, Uganda and of Tarlac in Luzon, Philip-
month’s rent or pay the phone bill or pick up a pines
few groceries to tie them over until the next The Sock Box
pay day. Among those who live on the edge Bring a pair of socks and some wrapped candies as
and receive medical care in San Francisco the gifts
cost of public transportation was a problem for the residents of the Reentry Center
requiring up to $20 they didn’t have for a bus
from Marin to the city and back and a bit for a At the 10 o’clock service:
snack while they waited in a cue to be seen. Hear the Christmas Choir and The Sound Print:
Partial scholarships to the annual adult faith “Light”
retreat meant that this opportunity for fellow- At 11:30 Coffee Hour:
ship was not denied to anyone who wished to Fill gift bags for Reentry center residents
attend. When funding for a special program at
the church was just a little short due to our Thursday, December 24
very tight operating budget, the fund provided 5:30 Christmas Eve Family Service
the extra boost to make it possible.
Sunday, December 27
Most grants to those in need are around fifty At the 10 o’clock service:
dollars, and the need continues to grow. Hear Guest Guitarist Justin Eagleton
Money for the Pastor’s Fund is collected only At 11:30 a.m.:
once each year at Christmas time. If you can Hear James Christie on Interfaith Dialogue &
help in any way, it will be appreciated in ways the Parliament of the World’s Religions
you can not imagine. Please make checks
payable to the Community Church with the Saturday, January 2
notation: Pastor’s Fund. You may mail your Beginning at 9 a.m.:
donation to the church or drop it in the offer- Un-Greening
ing plate on Sunday or the Christmas Eve ser- Enjoy tea & cookies.
vice. Thank you. Carefully pack up the Christmas decorations and
welcome 2010.
- Pam Shortridge
Sunday, January 3
Communion at the 10 o’clock
In Memoriam service
Dora Ford will preach and
lead worship
Kenneth Herbert Harris

February 26, 1925—November 22, 2009

3

James Christie Reports
I finished up my time as a hospital chaplain at
Yale-New Haven Hospital, took a much-needed
vacation visiting Baltimore, Raleigh, and New
York City. Then I began my third and final year at
Yale Divinity School in September. I love all my
classes. I am learning about the history and struc-
ture of the United Church Christ in UCC History &
Polity.
Another class I am taking is Narrative Therapy.
The premise is that people are constantly telling
stories about their lives. Through various tech-
niques one can work with a person to transform the
stories that are not working for someone to one that
can benefit the individual. As a result, substantial
changes can occur in a person’s life.
I am taking a class in the cognitive science pro-
gram. It’s called ‘Mind, Brain, and Society.’ The
class is about how findings in neuroscience are im-
pacting the social sciences and the study of relig-
ion. It’s a fascinating class. I am currently working
on a paper for it about why religion makes sense to
people because of certain cognitive structures in the
human brain.
My most exciting class is Interfaith Dialogue. It is
a travel seminar of ten divinity school students, Dr.
Kirsten Leslie, and Sharon Kugler the chaplain of
Yale. We spent the first two months of the seminar
studying interfaith dialogue, that is the practice of
interacting with people of other faiths, and in De-
cember we will be traveling to Melbourne, Austra-
lia to participate in the Parliament of the World’s
Religions. There, 10,000 members from all of the
world’s faiths will network with one another and
come up with cooperative solutions for global is-
sues. I will be discussing my experience at the par-
liament after church on December 27th. I hope to
see you there!
I have also been in discussions with mentors about
my future ministry. I have decided, as a result of
these discussions, not to pursue traditional congre-
gational ministry. Instead I will start a non-profit
planting house churches (that is churches which
meet in people’s homes and share a meal). I am
very excited about house churches potential for the
future of Christianity, particularly for getting my
4
generation involved in church. As a result, I am
submitting applications to MBA programs with a
non-profit focus in order to get the management
skills needed to run such a non-profit.
- James Christie
Istanbul Blog: http://jameschristie.livejournal.com/
Interfaith Dialogue
Presentation
On December 27th after church I will be sharing
my experience as a participant in the Parliament of
the World's Religions being held in Melbourne,
Australia and teaching a brief lesson on interfaith
engagement.
Interfaith engagement is the art and theology of
dialogue with a practitioner of another faith. In the
class, I will deal with questions of how to begin
interfaith engagement, the importance of this work,
what to do if one commits a faux pas, and how
Muslims, Jews, and Christians approach this work.
I have experience engaging in Muslim-Christian
dialogue in the summer of 2008 while living in Is-
tanbul and as a participant in the Parliament of the
World's Religions in Melbourne, Australia in De-
cember 2009. I hope to see you all at the class!
-James Christie
Loaner Car Sought
James Christie will be in town December 21—
December 29. If you have an extra vehicle avail-
able for him to borrow, please phone him at
415/847-6710 or email james.christie@yale.edu
“Guest Musician on December 27” continued from page 1.
from elementary through high school. Most im-
pressively, Justin also taught himself guitar, and
began studying in earnest as he entered college.
Justin is currently a sophomore at the Thornton
School of Music at the University of Southern Cali-
fornia, where he is pursuing a degree in music (jazz
guitar).
Please come join us on this special day!
- Esther Archer
Christmas at Cornell
Decorations are up at the Reentry Cen-
ter. Many of our men and women are look-
ing forward to spending the holiday with
their families. Many others are coping with
the sad realization that, once again they will
not see those they love and may well spend
Christmas day alone in their room watching
TV.
On Sun, Dec.20th during coffee hour, we
will fill gift bags with socks, candies and
small hygiene items so those unable to wake
up at home on Christmas will find a gift
waiting for them.
As of this writing -- Dec.5th -- there are 73
pairs of men's socks in the box or under the
giving tree. We anticipate at least 110 men
and 10 to 15 women being in need of a
gift. If each one is to receive two pair of
socks we need 20 - 30 pair of women's socks
and 147 pair for men. About half of the
socks already in have come from St. Mark's
Lutheran in San Francisco and it is possible
they will provide more. They have also pro-
vided the gift bags.
It is possible we will only be able to provide
one pair of socks per person -- but two pair
would be 150% more wonderful.
Small, individually wrapped, candies are an
important addition to the gift bags and can
be placed in the basket next to the sock box.
A financial donation can be made in lieu of
going shopping. Please make a notation
"Cornell Christmas". Anyone wishing to do
extra baking can bring goodies on
Dec.20th. It has been a very long time since
some of out residents have tasted a home
make cookie...
Thank you for whatever you are able to do.
- Love, Dora
5
Volunteers Needed for
Dinner at the Shelter
Our church has pledged to provide a hot evening
meal every fourth Tuesday, December through
March, at the First United Methodist Church in San
Rafael. First Methodist is hosting up to 20 home-
less women one night a week during the winter sea-
son as part of this year’s rotating emergency shelter
program.
We need four volunteers to help prepare the dinner
for Tuesday, December 22. Three will cook a cas-
serole, large enough for 8 (using an agreed-upon
recipe for simplicity of service), and one will as-
semble a big salad. Pam Shortridge will arrange for
donated bread and pastries.
The casseroles and salad can be brought to the
CCMV kitchen and will be delivered hot to the First
United Methodist Church at 6pm. If you live in San
Rafael or beyond and prefer to deliver prepared
food directly to First Methodist, that’s fine too.
There will be a sign-up sheet in the Tamalpais
Room this Sunday. Please add your name to the list
of volunteers for December 22 or January 26. Or
call Linda Xiques, 383-1929, or email her at
linda_xiques@yahoo.com. If you have favorite
recipes for tasty, easily prepared casseroles, please
send them along too. We want to plan the menu
soon and circulate the same recipe to all of the vol-
unteer cooks.
The Community Church of Mill Valley Postage
United Church of Christ
8 Olive Street
Mill Valley, CA 94941

Return Service Requested

Upcoming Church Events

Sunday Giving Tree for Children of the Philippines & Uganda
Sock Box for Residents of the Halfway House
Holiday Food Drive for Marin Food Bank, Tamalpais Hall
9:00 a.m. Choir Rehearsal, Sanctuary (Newcomers welcome)
The Bible: Viewed and Re-viewed with Pam Shortridge.
Tamalpais Hall. A conversation open to all.
10:00 a.m. Worship; Child care for children 4 and under, Nursery
10:15 a.m. Children’s Program for children Kindergarten through 3rd Grade, Tamalpais Hall
11:15 a.m. Coffee and Conversation, Tamalpais Hall. All are welcome.
11:30 a.m. Christmas Choir Rehearsal
This Week
Tue., Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m. Christian Life Team meeting
Wed., Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m. Board of Directors meeting
Fri., Dec. 18, 6:30 p.m. Caroling at The Redwoods
Coming
Sun., Dec. 20, 10:00 a.m. Christmas Choir sings
11:30 a.m. Gift wrap, candy and cookies for Halfway House (Dora’s Ministry)
Thu., Dec. 24, 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Family Service
Fri., Dec. 25, Christmas Day. Church office closed.
Sun., Dec. 27, 10:00 a.m. Worship. Guest Guitarist, Justin Eagleton
11:30 a.m. Interfaith Dialogue Presentation, James Christie
Mon., Dec. 28—Thu., Dec. 31 Church office closed. Pam and Barbara on vacation.
Fri., Jan. 1, New Year’s Day. Church office closed.
Sat., Jan. 2, 9:00 a.m. Un-Greening of Church