CUCC Weekly eNews

This is the colored sand the children made in Sunday School. We used it last week to make "Thankful" sculptures in glass jars. Each layer of sand represented something the children said they were thankful for. We didn't get any pictures of the finished projects. The children were so excited that they couldn't wait to show their families. Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Posted for "Miss Anne Bailey" Zschau

By acclamation, the congregation supports the renovation of the RICH Park Housing apartments and thanks Frank Gailor. The congregation is directed to prayerfully consider the proposed Resolution on Being an Open and Affirming Congregation 2011 and to ask questions of any member of the ONA Task Force.  A vote on adopting the resolution will be held at the January 9 congregational meeting. The congregation adoped a Resolution from the Community United Church of Christ addressed to the Wake County Board of Education .  The resolution will be sent to each member of the Wake County School Board, to local press, and posted prominently on our website. In addition, proposals for the 2011 budget and nominations for officers and ministry members were presented.  The congregation is urged to submit their pledges and to contact a member of the Nominating Committee to offer their service.

Congregational Meeting this Sunday, November 21, after 10:30 worship Agenda Resolution on being an open and affirming congregation - 2011 update being introduced at the meeting Resolution to the Wake County Board of Education - being voted on at the meeting

Look at an interview of the Milandu family discussing the need to be educated about sickle cell trait.  Our friend, Andre Milandu, died this past summer as a result of exercising strenuously on a hot day; Andre had undiagnosed sickle cell trait and didn't know he needed to take precautions.  Thank you, Ferline, Isaac, and Ellen, for helping all of us learn more.

HOLD THE DATE! Martin Luther King Holiday, January 17, 2011 You are invited to participate in an exciting upcoming event to be held at CUCC! CUCC is one of two co-sponsoring organizations for a special event on the Martin Luther King Holiday on January 17, 2011. The event, entitled, “YWCA King Day-On” will be led by the YWCA of the Greater Triangle and is also co-sponsored by the North Carolina Social Justice Project (NCSJP). The event will commemorate Dr. King’s life by highlighting lesser-known aspects of his political and theological philosophies and will also mark the kick-off of three YWCA Study Circles in the community. Study Circles are multi-racial groups of eight to 10 people who gather weekly for six weeks to learn about present-day racial disparities in our nation and the region. The event will begin with a program at 3:00 pm followed by a reception, and from 4:00 to 6:00pm, the first session for the three Study Circles will be held in rooms at the church. More informat

Mary Pruneau reminds us that you need to submit your receipts to her NO LATER THAN December 31 in order to be reimbursed for purchases you have made on behalf of CUCC.

We begin our 2011 online lectionary study at Epiphany, January 6, and will continue until Ash Wednesday, March 9. Things to do to get ready: 1) Decide whether you want to just read what others write or to have the option to contribute to the conversation. If the latter, you need to ask Jane to give you "permission" to write - an easy process. Not sure if you signed up last year? Contact Jane. 2) Decide whether you want to go to the UCC website each week to read the lectionary reflection, or you would prefer to have an email sent to you automatically each week. If the latter, sign up. 3) Practice. Whatever level of participation you choose, practice. Make sure you know how to find the lectionary reading (or are succesfully receiving it by email). Type a message for the group to be sure you know how to "post." If you run into any trouble, call Jane. Abby will be home mid-December, so I'll have more time to help you in late November, early December.

Every Epiphany Sunday CUCC celebrates "our" babies born the previous year. While CUCC welcomed no one in the one-and-under-set, we know that many of you became grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc. So, this year we are expanding the circle of welcome. If a "baby you love" was born in 2010, tell Jane Smith BY JANUARY 3 . Provide the baby's name and relationship to you, the parents' names, the birthdate, and send a photo if you have one. On Epiphany Sunday (January 9), we'll celebrate with a Babies of 2010 display. Bring a finger food to share - we'll snack during the congregational meeting.

Everyone at CUCC is duly proud of the rich activist tradition within CUCC and the predecessor United Church of Raleigh. Those who attended the Novemberfest celebration Saturday evening reveled in stories and memories from a tiny bit of that past which includes the renowned Institute of Religion that ran from 1940 to the late 1950s. And we have a growing archive of memorabilia from that era at the historical archive on our website. (Just yesterday Mary Pruneau passed along to me a substantial stack of old yellow newspapers that contain articles about Institute of Religion events in the 1950s.) In light of that history, some of us refer to CUCC as a "liberal church." Occasionally I have found myself correcting such a statement by saying, "Wouldn't it be better to characterize us as a church with lots of liberal members?" Am I splitting hairs here? I don't think so. There are lots of folks, myself included, who are not as enamored with the "liberal"

Thanks to the lasagne and pasta chefs, to the biscotti bakers, to the setup crew, the wine stewards, and the dish washers.  Thanks to the artists, the fiddler, the filming crew, the actors, the dancers, the singers, the magic technician, the interpreter, the guitarist, the pianist and flutist, the violinist, the game show MC, the director, and the roadies. Novemberfest! photos See you next year!

Tomorrow, Nov. 13, 10-2 pm , Shops of Seaboard, 802 Semart Drive, America Recycles Day event Recycling:   Answering machines, camcorders, cameras and other electronics;  Rigid plastic items that have the #2 (HDPE) recycling symbol, plastic bags with recycling symbol #2 or #4, plastic film, and ink jet and toner cartridges.  Household hazardous waste at the . These include acids, automotive fluids and antifreeze, batteries, fuels, paints, polishes and pesticides. Donating:   Got household items that are in good condition but you don’t want to throw them away? Organizers will be accepting furniture, cookware, utensils, drinking glasses, linen, small appliances, bookcases, small televisions, and floor lamps, to name a few. The Green Chair Project, a non-profit group, will oversee distribution of the items to needy residents in the area. Through Nov. 30 Paperboard political signs:   Raleigh Recycling has placed a large recycling container out at the City’s Mini-City Drop Off Recycling Cent

Seek God in quiet places.  Join us for two evenings of centering prayer tailored to Advent themes.  Tuesdays at 7pm, December 7 and 14.

On November 4, our congregation was honored to receive the 2010 Wake County ACLU Civil Liberties Award for our history of and continued work toward civil liberties for all.  We thank the Wake ACLU and hope we will live up to your charge to us.  Our acceptance speech was given by Gary Smith, who described how our work for justice is grounded in scripture.  You can see the award in the Fellowship Hall.  Those of us able to attend were humbled by the company we join.  Recipients of the other award given last night, the W.W. Finlator Award, were Stephen Dear, Executive Director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty , and Mark Kleinschmidt, Executive Director of the Fair Trial Initiative and current mayor of Chapel Hill. Their moving speehes on the legacy of Rev. Finlator and on their work for civil liberties in the N.C. legal system were strong encouragement to keep on with the work of justice.  Katherine L. Parker, Legal Director of the ACLU N.C. Legal Foundation , spoke of the

On November 4, Cy King joined other veterans of World War II on a Flight of Honor to visit the memorial in Washington, DC.  They returned to a heros' welcome of family and friends at RDU airport.  You can see photos and a video of the return celebration; be sure to check photo #47.   [I noticed duplications among the photos; if #47 doesn't make you smile, they might have eliminated the duplicates, thereby changing the ordering.]

Join women friends from Community UCC for a montly evening of exploration, friendship, and fun.  For more information about specific events, talk with Marty Lamb.  More details for each event will be in the monthly Community UCC newsletter.   SIS Schedule for 2011

Drop by the long classroom to see the creation bulletin board or visit the children's garden and enjoy the pansies.  Our children - preschool through fourth grade -  have been exploring the early Genesis stories: creation, the building of the tower in Babel, and the adventures of Noah-the-arkbuilder.  The youth joined them in planting the pansies.