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Dear Friends of the NA,
While on a week's vacation I attended a noonday concert by my friend, concert pianist John Buttrick. Buttrick
was head of the Music Department at M.I.T. for years and retired to Zurich to teach and perform, maintaining
his seasonal home on Nantucket.
During that hour-long concert he played several of Beethoven's "Bagatelles," and
described them as unfinished musical thoughts. Given the majesty of some of those "thoughts," I
couldn't help but relate this description to what happens at our Association's leadership meetings
and what might be happening in our local Churches. Whether Beethoven saw these short pieces
as throw-aways or not, since they were published these pieces have been amplified and
repeated by countless pianists since, and made a great impact on the classical music world.
Good ideas are the seeds of great ideas which have the potential of being the seeds of systemic change.
Congregational Christianity is on the cusp of a new significance and renewed relevancy for this generation of faithful
Christians and seekers. I sensed it at the recent Annual Meeting in Providence. Small ideas seemed to gel and
coalesce into bigger ones and an excitement about what this might mean for the work we do with each other and on behalf
of our member churches was apparent.
Way back in 1937, Thomas Carney in a little-known book entitled,
The Lost Radiance of The Religion of Jesus, wrote, "A person must put their mind into their religion, if they will keep their heart in it." I have a
renewed appreciation for "bagatelles," and how little ideas are made into greater ones in an Association like ours.
Grace and Peace STEPPING INTO THE PRESENT
Changes are coming concerning how you will receive
the NANews in the future. Since September, 2000, the
News has been available at www.NACCC.org, long before
you receive it in the mail. Currently the News is printed
and mailed by bulk mail, eight times a year. In order to
fulfill the Executive Committee goal, "Increase Information Services to/with churches and associations," by the end of 2004,
the NANews will be mailed only to churches and to individuals who request a
printed copy. One way to receive a printed copy is simply to call us or send a
note with your request. Another way is to access your membership data
through our website, and edit your mailing list information.
THANKS TO CHRIS
For the third year in a row,
Chris Fleischmann has collated the Annual Meeting evaluations submitted by
attendees. Thanks so much, Chris! These evaluations will be sent to
the committee recently appointed by Chairperson Rev. Alice Murphy
to review the annual meeting - Dr. Dewey Gierke, Ann Butman,
Rev. Stu Merkel, Claudia Kniefel, and Rev. Wendy Van Tassel
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