{"id":6984,"date":"2013-09-06T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=6984"},"modified":"2018-11-13T03:00:09","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T03:00:09","slug":"friday-at-noac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2013\/friday-at-noac\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday at NOAC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Quotes of the day:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not anti ice cream, I am not anti potluck…but recently, it seems to me that having something like that once in a while is enough. What about letting ourselves feel the real pangs of hunger? … What about feeding the hungry and loosing the chains of injustice, what about sharing our bread with the hungry?\u201d –Kurt Borgmann, pastor of Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., preaching at the closing worship service of NOAC 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you eager to do? That\u2019s the question. In the name of God, what are you eager to do? …You have to be eager and encouraging because youth need mentors, and churches need prophets, and the world needs you. You don\u2019t need refreshment, you are the refreshment.\u201d –Kurt Borgmann, issuing a challenge to NOAC participants as they prepared to leave beautiful Lake Junaluska and journey back home<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a blessing to be together this week, to celebrate this Sabbath period…and soon to return to our ordinary lives hallowed and consecrated and refreshed in hope…each of us fountainheads where healing springs forth.\u201d —Jonathan Shively, executive director of Congregational Life Ministries, summing up the conference<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Closing message calls NOACers to ‘be the refreshment’ of the world, not just seek their own refreshment in the church<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Although he drew quite a few laughs by imagining the answers the question \u201cWhen two or three Brethren gather together what do you think they do?\u201d on the game show Family Feud–singing hymns, serving others, and the number one answer (ding, ding, ding) eating ice cream!)–Kurt Borgmann wasn\u2019t content to let NOAC conclude\u00a0simply by celebrating\u00a0the sharing of good things.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kurt Borgmann preaches for the closing service at NOAC 2013.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Borgmann, who pastors\u00a0Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Ind., unpacked his text (Isaiah 58:1-14) and his sermon title (\u201cI Thought There Would Be Refreshments\u201d) and turned things upside down. Noting that many Christians think that \u201cthe primary purpose of the church is to provide refreshments primarily for ourselves,\u201d he reminded NOAC worshippers on the last morning of the conference that Brethren can do better and often do better than that.<\/p>\n

Many modern Christians look to church for what they get out of it. \u201cHas waiting for our refreshment become our pattern?\u201d Borgmann wondered. \u201cMaybe church should look less like an ice cream social and more like a sandwich for the homeless.\u201d Citing Isaiah\u2019s call to faithfulness\u00a0and discipleship he said, \u201cYou want refreshment? Stop waiting in line with your bowl and pick up a ladle to serve!\u201d<\/p>\n

Asking, \u201cIn the name of God, what are you eager to do?\u201d he told a story about the\u00a0Manchester youth group\u00a0who came back from a Christian Citizenship\u00a0Seminar in New York and Washington, D.C., determined to cut down on their church’s\u00a0carbon footprint. First they unplugged the rarely used refrigerator in the youth classroom. Then they\u00a0suggested that the church plant prairie grass in an area of lawn around the church building.<\/p>\n

Seniors in the church supported the youth, first of all with good\u00a0questions to help them think through the project,\u00a0feedback, and\u00a0financial support. The older adults did not obstruct the initiative of the youth, but \u201cwere curious, positive, affirming, instead of obstructionist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borgmann challenged the NOAC attendees, who were packed and ready to depart at the end of the worship service, \u201cYou don’t have to go home from here and do everything…. You don’t need refreshment. You are refreshment. Trust the spirit and tell the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally he asked, \u201cWhat refreshment are you prepared to offer the world? Do you want renewal? Then what are you waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n

–Frank Ramirez is pastor of Everett (Pa.) Church of the Brethren and a volunteer on the NOAC communication team.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jonathan Shively sums up the experiences of NOAC 2013.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

NOAC by the Numbers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Registration:<\/strong>
\nAbout 800 people<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kim Ebersole, NOAC coordinator<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Church World Service kits collected for disaster relief:<\/strong>
\n444 School Kits
\n217 Hygiene Kits<\/p>\n

Offerings on Monday and Wednesday<\/strong> (total including Friday\u2019s offering yet to be announced):
\n$11,071<\/p>\n

Trekkin\u2019 for Peace,<\/strong> a walk\/run around Lake Junaluska to benefit the Youth Peace Travel Team:
\n93 walkers and runners
\n$1,110 raised<\/p>\n

NOAC Communication Team: Frank Ramirez, reporter; Eddie Edmonds, tech guru and photographer; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, editor and photographer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words and pictures from the concluding day of National Older Adult Conference 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1259],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-6984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-noac"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13297,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984\/revisions\/13297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6984"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}