Planning Center Launch

I am so excited to move both our directory and scheduling over to Planning Center. At this point, you may have received an email inviting you to join the directory. This invitation was sent to all members and regular attenders. If you did not get the email, it’s either in spam or I don’t have your email address. Check your spam folder or search for no-reply@planningcenteronline.com, since that is the email address it came from.  Hit the “join directory” button to be taken to access our directory. Try logging in with either your email or phone number—the information already uploaded may have one but not the other, so if one doesn’t work try the other. Once you are in, there will be a blue bar. If you click “share it now” you will be able to select the information that is currently uploaded that you would like to share. If you click “edit your profile” you can then add additional information that we don’t already have. You can choose to upload/update information but not share it; Incarnation Staff will be able to see anything that is not shared, but no one else will. I highly encourage you to add a photo! This will help others in the church recognize everyone better. Through your profile you will also be able to edit and update any other members of your household.

Scheduling

Starting in September, we will do all volunteer scheduling (music included) through Planning Center. I will send out an email to those who have signed up in a volunteer role asking you to enter in the dates you are unavailable (block out dates). In the email you will have the option to select “Block Out Dates” or “I have No Block Outs”. This will take you to Planning Center to log-in and update your schedule. If you prefer, block out dates can also be entered in on the Church Center app instead of you needing to log into Planning Center. Music will then be scheduled, and the rest of the volunteer roles will follow; once we have done all the scheduling an email will be sent letting you know what Sundays you are scheduled in the next month and giving you the opportunity to confirm the dates and roles. If you want to be proactive and enter block out dates before the email, they can be entered in either the Church Center app or website by going to “My Schedule” and clicking “actions”. In the Planning Center website, you go to “My Schedule” and then block out dates is an option at the top.

App

If you are interested in having the app on your phone, it can be downloaded in the App Store/Play Store; search for “Church Center” and you can log in. Once you are logged in, you can access the directory and your schedule along the bottom of the screen. Having the app on your phone is especially useful because you can search for people in the app and then call or text them from the directory.

Website

The Church Center address is: https://coti.churchcenter.com/home. Save or bookmark this link so that you can find this in the future instead of from your email; there will also be a link in the newsletter and on our website. Once you’ve logged in, the site will remember who you are on your computer, and you will not need to log in each time you access it. For those that share computers in the household, you can log out by going to “My Schedule”. You will be able to give permissions to those in your household to edit your scheduling and then you will not need to switch users to edit scheduling.

The Planning Center address is: https://home.planningcenteronline.com/. The two websites have the same information in regard to scheduling, but Planning Center does not have the directory.

If you have any problems with this, or if you don't have access to the directory and would like access, please reach out to me at katherine@incarnationrichmond.org. 

Katherine

Citizenship Work

If you have ever traveled to a foreign land, you have experienced the very real confusion that accompanies visiting another culture in which many of the rules and norms differ from those you didn’t know you held dear until they were absent. If you did not speak the language, your discomfort was even more acute.
 
For immigrants this disorientation is amplified by knowledge that their move to a new country is permanent.  Many emigrate from countries characterized by dire poverty, crime, war, and oppression.  Most experience the regret of leaving loved ones behind.
 
Leviticus 19:34 says: “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt….” 
 
How should we follow this directive?  The complex process of immigration to the U.S. offers many opportunities to help immigrants.  The command to treat the immigrant “as a native among you” is, however, fulfilled in a direct, legal sense when he or she is naturalized as a U.S. citizen with the requisite rights and responsibilities.  A small team of Incarnation members has been working to help citizenship candidates prepare for the naturalization exam and interview.
 
One of our students, when asked why she wants to become a citizen, teared up as she described how the Taliban has stopped her sister, who aspired to attend college and become a diplomat, from receiving any more education. Her elderly mother is frail. Leaving home for food or medical attention is risky.  She wishes to bring them to the United States and hopes that achieving her citizenship will help.
 
Each of these immigrants, who are beloved by God, has a unique story and reasons for coming to this country. Eligibility for naturalization requires them to hold permanent resident status for at least five years, so candidates have experienced the benefits and challenges of life here—and they all want to stay and participate fully.
 
For most, however, the naturalization interview and exams are intimidating.  Imagine success in this important process depending on your ability to write a sentence dictated to you by an immigration officer when in your first language the characters represent entire words rather than individual sounds!  What if you never learned to read in any language?
 
Incarnation’s program has evolved from a classroom-style approach to a tutoring model that allows each instructor to work with one or two students at a time, focusing on the aspects of the process that are most helpful.  We focus on the interview (which not only requires skill in English, but also defining vocabulary that is rarely used in day-to-day conversation), the reading and writing tests, and the civics exam.  We’re demystifying the process and helping build the confidence candidates need to represent themselves well in this official encounter.
 
Most importantly, we’re showing the immigrants we care. Our commitment of time, investment in their success, and empathy with their struggles say more about the God we obey and His call to active love for our neighbor than words ever could.  The work is rewarding, unpredictable, and, at times, frustrating. 
 
At one point, we considered ending the program and finding a different ministry.  But God surprised us by bringing students even though we did not publicize the program.  So, we ask for your prayers that God will continue to bless and guide this ministry.  If you would like to know more, talk to me after church or email us at outreach@incarnationrichmond.org!
 
Chris Wilson

Scripture Reflections

For the last three Sundays, our Gospel readings have come from Matthew 13, which is the third of five great “discourses” in Matthew. In each of these discourses, Jesus teaches on a particular topic. As an itinerant teacher, Jesus gave way more than five extended sermons (read the Gospel of John for some that Matthew leaves out), but Matthew only records five, because he wants us to see Jesus as the new and greater Moses, and Moses wrote five books.
 
This third discourse, which is made up entirely of parables, is about the kingdom of God. It answers the questions, “Why aren’t more people responding to the kingdom of God, and what will God do about it?” Jesus had been announcing the kingdom of God and demonstrating it by healing and delivering people, and yet, strangely, most people rejected the message. The disciples must have been struggling with a sense of failure, and so Jesus tells them a string of parables to explain what is happening.  The soils, the wheat and tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great value, and the dragnet all answer the questions, “Why is the kingdom so small? Why are people walking away from it? Will it ever grow? What will God do about the people who are working against it?”
 
In a simple sense, all of these parables call for the disciples to have patience—not the patience that comes from resignation or despair, but instead the patience that springs from hope and faith. The kingdom looks small? Have patience; it grows slowly but will become huge! Some people are fighting against the kingdom? Have patience; God will sort things out in the judgment. The kingdom is tiny and overlooked? Have patience; pearls are like that, even though they are worth more than everything you own!
 
We need this sort of patience when we examine our own lives. Each Christian is a microcosm of the kingdom of God. Parts of our lives are like the bad soil, the weeds in a field of wheat, a piece of as-of-yet unleavened bread. We wonder when we will be fully committed, fully transformed, fully cleaned out. Just as he said to his disciples, through these parables Jesus says to us, “Have patience. The yeast of the Gospel will leaven the whole of your life in due time. The seed will grow. The tares will be torn out and thrown away. The good soil will bear fruit.”
 
As you are made aware of the places where your faith is weak, your obedience clumsy and half-hearted, and your heart still impure, have patience! But again, not the sort of patience that springs from resignation, but instead the patience that comes from expecting God to continue working out his kingdom in your life as you submit to him.
 
In Christ,
Steven+