CUCC Weekly eNews

Prayer Request Food Bags Economic Justice Task Force Forum ONA Task Force Youth Sunday School Request Tuesday Evening Taizé You are invited to the 2014 Triangle Interfaith Alliance Annual Dinner Carolyn and Cy King Peace and Justice Award 2014 HKonJ February 8 Housing for HKonJ Participants After HKonJ, Lunch is an ASP Fundraiser Parents' Night Out! Youth-Led Love Party for Young CUCC Couples!   Prayer Request Lee and K.J. Covington-Jones have asked us for prayers.  Lee is in a hospital in Birmingham due to complications with the pregnancy.  K.J. has flown down to be with her.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. FOOD BAGS Food Bags are due this Sunday, February 2.  Thank you for your continued support of this vital mission. Please include the following items in your food bags: 1 lb. grits                      2 cans tomatoes 1 lb. rice                       2 cans applesauce 1 lb. dried beans        2 1-qt pkgs. dry milk 1 can carrots              2 macaroni/cheese 1 ja

Youth-Led Love Party for Young CUCC Couples! Sunday, February 23 6:00-8:00 p.m. CUCC Fellowship Hall All young couples (couples with elementary aged kids... young couples with no kids... young couples married and those not married) are invited to a party! We want a chance to celebrate and honor young couples in our midst. Fun and fresh Neomonde food and beverages provided. Please RSVP by February 9 to the church office and/or direct questions to Śānti Matthews.

Parents' Night Out! Saturday, February 15 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM Youth will provide childcare, pizza, games, and crafts for CUCC children while parents enjoy a night out. Please RSVP by February 9 to the church office and/or direct questions to Śānti Matthews.

Please consider bringing travel size toiletries to church with you on Sunday this week and/or next. The Faith at Work youth church school class is collecting them for Project Homeless Connect . Please place donations in the collection basket in the narthex.  - submitted by Śānti Matthews for the Faith at Work class

We're switching SIS to Saturday night February 22nd, bringing potluck to Marty Lamb's at 6:30 PM and our all carpooling together to RLT at 7:30 for 8 PM production of following play: Raleigh Little Theater production 301 Pogue Street  Caroline, or Change "This Tony-nominated musical centers on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the eight-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works. Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam War, blues, gospel, and traditional Jewish melodies blend together to create a breathtaking medium for Kushner’s provocative and personal story of political change, social change, and pocket change." If you have RLT season tickets, PLEASE CALL RLT AND SWITCH YOUR NIGHT TO SATURDAY FEB. 22nd to seats near G 10 and 11 (if available) or seats number C12 or 13 and join us. If you do not have tickets, you can reserve them for that night b

Victory and Peace OR Justice and Peace? This is a DVD-based study featuring John Dominic Crossan.  It "explores the juxtaposition of Roman Imperial Theology and the Kingdom of God." Joy Alford will be hosting this six week Lenten group at her home in Rolesville - 5 miles north of Raleigh's I-540.  The short DVDs will spark theological discussion which will help us journey together in preparation for Easter.  The group will be held on Wednesday nights beginning with Lent on Ash Wednesday March 5th and going through April 16 (not holding group on March 26).  The first session will be held at 5pm on March 5th at the Church.  This will be done in hopes of all members attending the 7pm Ash Wednesday worship service. Thereafter, the group will be held north of Raleigh at Joy's home.  Contents for the study include: Justice & the World: What is the Character of Your God? History & Jesus: What is the Content of Your Faith? Worship & Violence: What is the Purpose o

In our presently polarized country, heated rhetoric flies in both directions and the charges and counter charges become indistinguishable. Here’s today’s riddle.  Who is the author of the paragraph below which appeared in a major newspaper yesterday? And what group is being described? But every group … ends up on the losing side of policy disputes, somewhere along the way; that’s democracy. The question is what happens next. Normal people take it in stride; even if they’re angry and bitter over political setbacks, they don’t cry persecution, compare their critics to Nazis and insist that the world revolves around their hurt feelings. But the _____ are different from you and me. Try filling in the blank with “Moral Monday protesters”, “the rich”, “Obamacare critics”, or other possibilities you might think of. Is there anything to be learned from this exercise?

Economic Justice Task Force Forum Earth Sabbath 2014 HKonJ February 8 Housing for HKonJ Participants After HKonJ, Lunch is an ASP Fundraiser Food Bags Economic Justice Task Force Check out the following upcoming events.  If you would like additional information or have any questions, please contact Shirley or Don Birt or any member of the EJTF: A Place at the Table - Documentary on hunger in America.  Sunday, January 26, 1:30pm, Rialto Theater, 1620 Glenwood Ave.  Coordinated by Bread for the World at Catholic Campus Ministry, NC State.  Free Admission. Documentary viewing - Inequality for All - with discussion to follow. Tuesday, January 28, 6:00pm and 9:00pm.  Free Admission but registration required.  William Peace University's Browne-McPherson Music Bldg.  RSVP by January 24 to: http://bit.ly/KvWTfx. Organizing the South: How a Southern Workers' Movement Can Change the Nation - Wednesday, January 29 at 7:00pm, Duke University Center for Documentary Studies, 1317 W. Pettigre

Every year thousands of books are written to address self-help or that have titles beginning with—"How to . . .."  By reading these books you can learn how to paint like a pro, how to get a job, how to get a mortgage or even a nightclub gig. You can read about how to buy a car, real estate or how to start a small business or fix a personal computer. You can learn how to be a better athlete, a better golfer, a fashion designer, a good dancer etc etc. Experts out there will attempt to make you an expert at all sorts of things from picking lottery numbers, to losing five pounds fast or even bearing children. All these books are really attempting to do is to offer us wisdom — in one area or another. Books like these proliferate because we all need wisdom to live successfully. Wisdom brings success and prosperity in our work, in dealings with family and friends, and in our relationship with God. There are books in the Bible known as Wisdom books - and you may find these much more

Listen to Rev. Gatewood's sermon from his visit with us in 2013. We welcome Reverend Curtis Gatewood to CUCC on Sunday, January 19 . Reverend Gatewood will lead forum and discuss The Priorities of Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) 2014. He also will be our guest preacher during the 10:30am worship service. Please join us on Sunday, January 19, to hear this dynamic speaker and activist. Reverend Curtis Everette Gatewood first became a card-carrying member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at ten years old and has since served the organization in several capacities. From 1995 to 2003, he served as President of the Durham Branch of the NAACP. Before leaving Durham and moving to Oxford in 2003, Gatewood and the Durham Branch of the NAACP won a victory (one of many) against the City of Durham as the city was forced to install public restrooms at its main Durham Area Transit Authority (city bus terminal). From 2005 to 2011, Gatewood serve

Epiphany/Babies We Love of 2013 Finger-foods Potluck Forum Schedule for January Loaves and Fishes Chili Sale After Christmas Wish List Pledges Special Documentary Showing CONGREGATIONAL MEETING Taizé Tai Chi Retirees’ Group Sam and Jack Alcorn Bicycling Across the US for Bike and Build “Epiphany/Babies We Love of 2013” Finger-foods Potluck Bring a finger food this Sunday for our after-worship Epiphany/Babies We Love potluck.  We’ll eat your appetizer during our usual fellowship time.  You’ll be able to congratulate the proud parents, siblings, grandparents, and great aunts/uncles as we welcome babies born in 2013.  (Remember: finger foods only.  No eating utensils provided.  Whether homemade or store-bought, your item is appreciated.) Forum Schedule for January - 9:15am, Vaughan Fellowship Hall January   5:  No Forum. January 12:  Issues Around Overhauling and Expanding Medicaid in North Carolina, Speaker to be announced. January 19:  The Priorities of Historic Thousands on Jones Stree

Friends, Especially at Christmas but also at any time in our day and age, we have an unprecedented fast pace and saturation of media. We are challenged more than ever to maintain a sense of peace even during Christmas holidays; to remain centered on who and whose we are; and to “be still and know that God is God.” Our spiritual needs cannot be met by a noisy, fast-paced, materialistic society. But the thirst of our souls can be quenched with meditative prayer, through which we connect with God. We, at Community United Church of Christ, on Wade Ave in Raleigh hold Taizé services each Sunday morning but also in the evenings once a month, on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Taizé worship is marked by a spirit of contemplation, prayer and extended periods of silence. One aspect of Taizé worship is the repetitive singing of short and simple chants, which enable us to let go of the clutter of our minds and to listen and pray to God with our hearts. If you long for peace and quiet…