OSC > Consecration Sunday

JANUARY - beginnings and transitions!

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The ancient Roman meaning of the name of this wintry month is all about thresholds. For Old South, the beginning of the year is a season of commitment: our STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN. It began with Epiphany - the revealing of God's loving plan for the world in the ministry of Jesus; and it ends with Consecration, this week, as we dedicate our financial pledges for another year of ministry in this city and beyond. Bring your pledge card (and/or other offerings) forward during the Offertory at any of our three services - Jazz, First, and Festival Worship - and we'll bless and dedicate them to the work of Justice, Mercy and Beauty - a gesture of Faithful Belonging - to God and to Each Other.

After the Festival Service on Sunday (at about Noon), join us for a (free!) festive CONSECRATION SUNDAY LUNCHEON in Mary Norton Hall to celebrate our Faithful Belonging through the generosity and the vision of this congregation - with music, some fun with the numbers, and a sense of what Old South can do when we all pull together to keep the passion flowing in our ministry.

OLD SOUTH BY THE NUMBERS

As we approach our annual Stewardship Campaign, it is helpful to learn a bit about our budget and the congregational ANNUAL GIVING upon which it depends. This year we are trying a whimsical way of passing along some information about our "ways and means." Each week through to the end of the Stewardship campaign in January we will give you a number (see below) that represents something special about Old South Church and how congregational support is used. See if you can figure out what the number is!

3 is this week's number.

What do you think it represents?

Click here for the answer.

THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 29^th, 2023 - Consecration Sunday

9AM

FIRST Worship

Informal & Vibrant in the Gordon Chapel

Coffee Hour following

10AM Community Hour

Festival Choir Rehearsal

Old South Forum

Church School

Sunday Bible Study

11AM

FESTIVAL Worship

Grand & Expressive in the Sanctuary

Coffee Hour following

12:30PM

Consecration Sunday Luncheon

For links to bulletins

and the worship livestream

go to oldsouth.org/Sundays.

OLD SOUTH FORUM

Sundays, 10 a.m., 2^nd Floor Mary Norton Hall,

and on Zoom, password: Community

This casual, no-commitment, come-when-you-can forum hosts series on a variety of topics. Clergy, congregation members, and special guests share in leading sessions.

“Religion and the War in Ukraine”

January 29^th

The war that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost one year ago has shocked the world with its brutality. The role of religion as a factor in the war has received little attention in the media but is an important element in the conflict. This week, Tim Longman leads Forum attendees in an exploration of both the religious ideologies at play in the conflict and ways that we as a church community can effectively respond.

WORSHIP ON YOUTUBE LIVE

Not a fan of Vimeo? We have a way for you to tune in to worship! Simply go to youtube.com/OldSouthChurch to visit our YouTube page once we go live and the service will be the first video on your screen. You can also subscribe to us to receive notifications of when we're live.

JAZZ WORSHIP

Thursdays, 6pm, in the Gordon Chapel or at oldsouth.org/jazz

Join us on in Gordon Chapel on Thursday evening for Jazz Worship! You don’t have to be a jazz aficionado to feel at home - just someone who wants to immerse yourself in soulful music, inspiring words, and creative liturgy. It’s intimate and it’s welcoming. We start preludes shortly before 6:00 pm. Click here for a hard copy of the song titles, credits, and hymns to print in advance.

TRANSITION NEWS

SENIOR MINISTER SEARCH COMMITTEE UPDATE

Click here to read the full update

This month, the Old South Church Senior Minister Search Committee has started interviewing candidates in discernment about our Senior Minister position. As you know, we spent the fall reviewing profiles and letters of interest and selected a small group of ministers that we felt might be a good fit for our congregation. By the end of February, we anticipate that we will be ready to choose a smaller set of candidates with whom we would like to engage more deeply. We will be extending invitations to that smaller group to join us in Boston this spring for longer in-person meetings. We are working together as a committee now to craft a collection of experiences for the in-person visits that will permit the kind of mutual discernment this process requires. We hope to be ready to introduce a final candidate to the congregation before summer!

SENIOR CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR TRANSITION

Click here to read the full announcement

Our colleague, friend, and fellow church member Helen McCrady - Senior Administrator Extraordinaire and, in so many ways, weaver of the many-stranded, richly complex, ingeniously patterned tapestry that is the life of our church - has announced that she will step into a richly-deserved retirement at the threshold of this summer. Helen's last day in the office of which she has been such a superlative steward will be May 31^st.

The Council has appointed Candace Kosturko to chair a Helen McCrady Celebration Committee - from whom you can expect to hear soon about plans for our joyful, grateful acknowledgement of all that Helen's service and company have meant to us. Meanwhile, the Staff and the Council are already at work on a process that will lead, we hope by Eastertide, to identifying a new Church Administrator; please pray for us!

Old South has weathered many changes across our storied history. Here's another - and, with your help, and the help of the still-speaking God, we'll rise to it. But we couldn't be the church we are now without Helen's faithful stewardship - and so on your behalf we say, not for the first time and not for the last: Thank you and God bless you, Helen!

WELCOME REV. ASHLEY J. POPPERSON

Rev. Ashley J. Popperson was the enthusiastic choice of the Search Group and unanimously approved by Council to be an Associate Minister at Old South. A seasoned pastor, a great organizer, a strong voice for justice and gifted and creative liturgist - a native of Colorado, now our neighbor in Jamaica Plain - Ashley will begin her ministry at Old South the week of February 8^th. Read more about Ashley, and our call to her to join our staff and ministry by clicking here.

GROWING AND LIVING IN COMMUNITY

YOUNG ADULT AFTER-JAZZ DINNER

Next Dinner February 2^nd

Email [email protected] with any questions

Join us for a casual hangout with other 20s and 30s Old Southers. We meet in the chapel after Jazz service at 6:45pm on the first Thursday of every month. We grab take out food in the area or bring food from home and gather in the Tower room to catch up, meet new folks, and enjoy a meal together.

WE MAKE THE ROAD...

to a compassionate, just society

... BY WALKING!

Sunday, February 12^th, 8:30am, register here

Old South is one of the proud sponsors of WinterWalk '23 - a chance to show our unhoused neighbors that this city cares about their lives, and express our commitment to do what we can do to ease their struggles. Join the Old South delegation! Register on-line (your fee/donation is covered by our sponsorship!)...arrive between 8:30 and 9 on Sunday morning...walk whatever part of the route works for you...enjoy some breakfast...and be back at Old South in plenty of time for Festival Worship at 11am. Sometimes we pray by walking. And sometimes, because we show up, things change. Please let Rick Spalding know if you're going to be there so Old Southers can walk together.

COMPOSER DAVID HURD JOINS US FOR WORSHIP

Sunday, February 12^th

At Festival Worship Old South’s music ministry will present a hymn festival led by, and featuring the works of, Dr. David Hurd — widely recognized as among the foremost church musicians and concert organists in the United States. Dr. Hurd is the composer of dozens of hymns, choral works, settings of the liturgy, and organ works — many of which we’re sure to sample during the service! Following 39 years as Director of Chapel Music, Organist, and Professor of Church Music at General Theological Seminary in New York City, Dr. Hurd now serves as Organist-Choirmaster of the famed Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square. His Hymn Festival at Old South, which will see our Festival Choir joined by the Old South Brass, will be a glorious celebration of Dr. Hurd’s groundbreaking career and creative artistry.

CONNECTIONS LUNCHEON

Sunday, February 12^th, following Festival Worship, 4^th Floor Guild Room

Contact Rev. Katherine Schofield for more information, in-person only

To be a member of Old South Church is to enter the company of Revolutionary Era heroes, abolitionists, suffragettes, anti-poverty crusaders, and poets. Our saints include Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Phillis Wheatley... and maybe you! Want to learn more about the life of this community of faith and break bread with other newcomers and church members? Join our Connections Info Session!

MARTHA SCHICK'S ORDINATION!

Wednesday, February 15^th, 7pm, in the Gordon Chapel

All are welcome to take part in joyful worship as our own Martha Schick is ordained to the ministry. She has been called to the Pastoral Residency Program at the Wellesley Village Church.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to our members and friends with January birthdays. We will be having cake for dessert at the Stewardship Consecration Luncheon after Festival Worship to celebrate. Don’t forget to RSVP!

HEARD IT AT COUNCIL

Click here to read Church Historian Kate Silfen's article about the discussion and decisions made at the January Council meeting.

SUNDAY BIBLE STUDY

Sundays, 10am, 4^th Floor Phillis Wheatley Room,

click here to join via Zoom, password: BibleStudy

Delve into the day’s scripture passage heard in worship. This no-homework Bible study delights in taking a scholarly look at ancient texts. Don’t leave your questions at the door; we need them. For more information contact Katherine Schofield.

THROUGH THE BIBLE

Thursdays, 7pm, 4^th Floor Phillis Wheatley Room and on Zoom

Join us as we journey at a reflective and thorough pace through the Hebrew Bible. We are excited to welcome a new Bible Study Instructor to lead this group. Andrew Vosburgh, a student at Harvard Divinity School, has a deep appreciation of biblical hermeneutics and is well versed in ancient languages so will bring many gifts to the group.

GREEN TIP:

Are you a kid — or do you know a kid — who is learning about climate change? It can be hard to know where to start. So NPR made a guide (including a cool comic) about how it's changing the planet and how to deal with the big feelings kids might have when they hear about it. Click here to learn more.