Tuesday, February 16, was Interfaith Advocacy Day in Olympia; a day for people of all faith to advocate for the common good at our state’s capital. With Linda Strandberg’s leadership eleven adults joined the twelve-strong and song-ready Plymouth Children’s Choir to have lunch at Robin Appleford's and…wait…sing in the Capitol Building? And why are we going to do that? What possible effect could that have? What does singing have to do with running a government? I don’t think there were any song bills on the agenda to advocate for.

Aside from bodies and brains, God gave us voices — song voices! Our song voices have the power to calm and heal, to assemble and bond, and to prepare and rally us together in common causes. Song voices are not just powerful soothers, assemblers and preparers but also magical instruments; invisible flowing wands. Who can explain getting from Seattle to Olympia in 15 minutes? It felt like that — because we were singing! Who can explain the transformation of a few hundred noisy advocators into attentive quiet listeners, then becoming singers themselves, bound together in “We Are Marching in the Light of God.” Twelve singing kids commanded a group of 300! And when Gov. Gregoire arrived, the serenade (from less ten feet away) was both grounding and a call for particular and unified action.

After singing to the Governor and listening to her words about money, programs and a budget that any grown-up and kid knows doesn’t pencil out, we sang some more  for Kelli Linville (D, Bellingham, Chair of House Ways and Means) and Sen. Debbie Regala (D, Tacoma).

Then we were off to the Republican wing of the Senate and into the Republican caucus room (a place few groups get to go!) to offer our thanks for their hard work. We sang for Sen. Mike Hewitt (R, Walla Walla Senate Minority Leader), Sen. Linda Parlette (R, Wenatchee, Caucus Chair), Sen. Janea Holmquist (R, Moses Lake, Senate Whip) and Republican Caucus staff as well.  We also picked up Sen. Jim Hargrove (D, 24th District, Olympic Peninsula).   He was in the Republican Caucus room talking to one of his colleagues at the time.  He just joined in on the fun and really appreciated it. 

We then went to the Senate Gallery where we watched the floor action for a while. The choir fist bumped, high fived and thanked the security folks. After that we went down to the Governor’s office where the choir got to look at portraits of the previous Governors and the Governor’s conference room. Everybody got Governor-signed pens from Becky at the reception desk. They thanked the state trooper assigned to the office and thanked the Governor’s staff. 

The little “amoeba” (AKA “My Plymouth Kids,” as Robin endearingly called them) kept moving up and down from one corner of the Capitol to the other. They sang to folks and lobbyists in the Rotunda. People passed by remarking they could hear singing from everywhere and how wonderful it sounded. We talked about the size of the chandelier (as big as a VW bus!) and how it kept swaying for days after the Nisqually earthquake. And let’s not forget our parking attendant buddies for whom we sang on the way in; high fives and fist bumps on the way out. 

Did we learn about policy making and government? I don’t know. Did we learn about advocacy and cause? I don’t know. Did we see and feel first-hand the powers and joys of our gifted voices? Yes, indeedy! A tearful and grateful Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D, Camano) said it best, “Thank you. Thank you. I was having a really rough day and you all turned it around. You made my day!” And after hugs for each and every singer, she went back to her hard day’s work…humming. I’m sure of it!

—Tom Maul for the Plymouth Children’s Choir

This Sunday, at the 11:00 a.m. service, we welcome to the Plymouth pulpit Harold W. Attridge, the Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean of Yale Divinity School and Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament.

Dean Attridge has made scholarly contributions to New Testament exegesis and to the study of Hellenistic Judaism and the   history of the early Church. His publications include Hebrews: A Commentary on the   Epistle to the Hebrews, First-Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus, The Interpretation of Biblical History in the Antiquitates Judaicae of Flavius Josephus, and Nag Hammadi Codex I: The Jung Codex, as well as numerous book chapters and articles in scholarly journals.

He has edited eleven books, most recently, with Margot Fassler, Psalms in Community. He has been an editorial board member of Catholic Biblical Quarterly, the Harvard Theological Review, the Journal of Biblical Literature, and the Hermeneia Commentary Series. He has been active in the Society of Biblical Literature and served as president of the society in 2001.

Add your name to our petition for Nuclear Weapons Abolition to be sent to President Obama as well as be presented in New York at the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010.  This petition to President Obama says (in part):
 
We wholeheartedly applaud you for declaring in Prague(April 5, 2009), “I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”   We commend you for your courageous and historic recognition that “as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act.”   We call on you to make good on that commitment and fulfill that responsibility by announcing at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference your initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes! 

 
Be part of the growing international campaign as you sign this petition to abolish nuclear weapons!   Members of the Peace Action Group will have petitions available for your signature in the Lounge & at coffee hour on March 21 and 28. 

—Peace Action Group

This Sunday, March 7, the 6th and 7th grade Sunday School classes will create signs and offer assistance during Fellowship Hour to help you understand our  composting program. 

Many of us recycle and compost at home, and now    Plymouth is participating in Seattle’s commercial      composting program.  Since 2006, Seattle’s commercial compost program has tripled, with over 800 businesses participating (see September 19, 2008, P-I article, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/379713_organics19.html ).  Plymouth’s goal is to increase what we compost and   recycle so that we can switch from 2 garbage pick-ups a week to one!  Our efforts are supporting Seattle’s goal of recycling 60% of all waste by the year 2012 — significantly reducing the garbage that must be shipped to landfills. 

You may have noticed the compostable hot and cold cups with green bands around the bottom - these can go in the green compost bins instead of the garbage.  When you finish your tea, coffee, or juice, toss the cups with the green bands into the bin with the green liner. We can also toss table scraps and napkins in the compost bins.  However, disposable soup bowls, foil tea bags, and  plastic utensils must go in the garbage bin – the one with the black plastic liner – until we get compostable bowls and utensils.  

We can all help out by tossing only compostable waste into the bins with the green liners.  If garbage (soup bowls, plastic, foil) ends up in the compost bins, it     contaminates the compost so we have to put the compost bags into the garbage dumpster. 

Thanks for your efforts to recycle and compost at Plymouth!

— Cindy Lantry

Please share our joy that the following insightful team has agreed to serve as your Committee to hire for our next chapter of ministry with our families, children, and youth. We currently have one position vacant (Coordinator of Ministries with Children and Youth) and one coming open (Youth Minister), and are at work in strategic visioning, for within our existing approved budget. Please extend thanks for their devoted, caring, and enthusiastic work. They welcome your input. Watch upcoming announcements for a forthcoming opportunity after church for conversation with us at an info session. In the next weeks, they will deliver a recommendation to the Children and Youth Board and to Lauren Cannon and Tom Stiers as to the best scope and configuration for the open positions, and in the future to the Congregational Council. They will help develop the job position and recommend candidates to Tom Stiers. Thank you to this team for their far reaching service: Tom Maul, Barbara Staley, Joan Griswold, Eliza Fox.

—Mary Stevens, Children and Youth Board, Chair, with Lauren Cannon, Interim Minister for Faith Formation