CUCC Weekly eNews

Last Year's Outing Camp Lapihio Umstead Park May 9 - 10 Come one! Come all, for some or all of our time. CUCC youth are organizing a camping trip to the Lakes and Pines campsite at Camp Lapihio at Umstead Park: May 9 at 4:00PM to May 10 at 4:00PM! Join us for any of the following: afternoon activities, dinner, games for all ages, a camp fire with songs and stories, cabin camping, morning prayers, and a hike. If you don’t want to camp, come for the evening! Or bring a side dish and come for activities and dinner! Or come for prayers and a hike on Saturday! Signup sheets are in the narthex. You can also ask questions or register by emailing Santi Matthews: forsanti@aol.com. Submitted by and posted for Santi Matthews.

Our annual Spring Congregational Meeting will be Sunday, May 4, following the 10:30am worship service. This annual "spring" meeting is required by our bylaws. At regular meetings, the agenda is unrestricted. This means that any proposal on any topic can be presented to the congregation for consideration.  The agenda will include the following ... Approval of minutes from the November, January, and March congregational meetings.  A summary of recent steps toward purchase of the Lloyd property adjacent to the church (by Lavon Page and Frank Gailor) A report from the Treasurer and Stewardship Ministry on management of the financial matters related to the purchase. Deacons report on pastoral transition - Ellen Beidler, Chair of Deacons A report on the survey regarding installation of solar panels - Gary Smith (for the JCC Task Force). A proposal for authorizing anti-fracking signs on chuch property - Grady McCallie If you plan to present a topic for discussion, it is helpful ...

The article " How politics makes us stupid " was recommended to us by our niece who writes for the NY Times. Very counterintuitive, and excellent food for thought in a culture as highly polarized as our own. Here are some excerpts ... People weren’t reasoning to get the right answer; they were reasoning to get the answer that they wanted to be right ... ... our reasoning becomes rationalizing when we’re dealing with questions where the answers could threaten our tribe — or at least our social standing in our tribe. And in those cases, Kahan says, we’re being perfectly sensible when we fool ourselves ... Presented with this problem a funny thing happened: how good subjects were at math stopped predicting how well they did on the test. Now it was ideology that drove the answers. Liberals were extremely good at solving the problem when doing so proved that gun-control legislation reduced crime. But when presented with the version of the problem that suggested gun control had fai...

Sunday, May 4.      “The State of Public Schools in NC: Legislative Update”.   The last legislative session and its Appropriations Act of 2013 yielded sweeping changes to public education in NC such as implementing a voucher program, eliminating masters pay and career status for educators, and creating a contract system of employment.  Come and learn about the impact of these changes from Patty Williams, Communications Director with Public Schools First NC , and Jessica Holmes, Staff Attorney with NC Association of Educators (NCAE) . Sunday, May 11.       Eric Juth will show his film “ Ghosts of Johnston County ” which explores the links between a rural county in North Carolina and the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. Organized by Mike Soboeiro. Sunday, May 18.       “ The State of Wake County Public Schools”. Patty Williams from Public Schools First NC and Jessica Holmes from NC Association of Educa...

CUCC Family Fun Auction Party – April 26, 6:30pm Proxy Bid Form for CUCC Auction Donations of Laundry Basket Items Forum, Sunday, April 27, 9:15am – VFH Youth Church School, Sunday, April 27 Sisters in Spirit (SIS) – Tuesday, April 29, 6:30pm Pastors for Reform – Tuesday, April 29 Phone Banking for Democracy NC – Wednesday, April 30 OutRaleigh! Volunteers Needed, Saturday, May 3rd Spring Congregational Meeting - May 4 Dedication of Bricks – Loaves and Fishes Gratitude Garden Church-Wide Outdoor Event! – May 9 – May 10 Property Purchase Funds Wake Federation of the Blind Yard Sale Top Ten Reasons to come to the Auction CUCC Family Fun Auction Party The CUCC Family Fun Auction Party is tomorrow, Saturday, April 26. Social time and silent auction begin at 6:30 pm; bidding for the live auction starts at 7:00pm. $5.00 buys a bidding paddle.  Our very own Tim Jensen will be auctioneer, with the lovely Laura Upchurch as “Vanna White.”  The auction is an annual fundraiser for CUCC and...

Today is designated "Administrative Professionals Day", and on this occasion the Church Council extends a hearty "Thank You" to Cathy Marshall, our trusty manager of the church office. This morning Cathy was presented with a bouquet from the Council and a note thanking her for her reliable service to the Council and to the church. Cathy, of course, is also a very active member of CUCC. And she does so many things that sometimes it's hard to ascertain where her "professional" church work ends and her volunteer church work begins. But in any case, it's hard to imagine where we would be without her. Thank You, Cathy!

The church bylaws specify that a "spring congregational meeting" be held annually. In recent years this meeting has generally taken place in May. The January meeting centers around passage of the final budget and election of officers and committees. The November meeting is always focused on formulation of the budget for the coming year. But the spring meeting has no special focus. The May 4 meeting agenda will include a report from the Ad Hoc Property Committee on the final details of the purchase of the Lloyd property, which is scheduled to take place during the week following May 4. There will be a brief report on the financing of the purchase. Gary Smith will report for the JCC Task Force on the results of the survey on solar panels and the status of that dialog. And Ellen Beidler will make a brief report on behalf of the Deacons. If you have other items you would like to bring to the attention of the congregation, it would be a good idea to inform the moderator (Lavon Pag...

Kudos to those at CUCC who have been investigating poverty, economic injustice, and the roots of these maladies. (This includes our Social Justice Ministry, our Economic Justice Task Force, and our Sunday Forum.) Recommended reading for all of the above (as well as anybody else troubled by the persistence of poverty) is found in Sunday's NY Times in an article entitled "50 Years into the War on Poverty" . Here's an excerpt ... McDowell County, the poorest in West Virginia, has been emblematic of entrenched American poverty for more than a half-century. John F. Kennedy campaigned here in 1960 and was so appalled that he promised to send help if elected president. His first executive order created the modern food stamp program, whose first recipients were McDowell County residents. When President Lyndon B. Johnson declared “unconditional war on poverty” in 1964, it was the squalor of Appalachia he had in mind. The federal programs that followed — Medicare, Medicaid, fre...

Easter Sunrise Service Flowers for the Resurrection Cross No Forum on Easter Sunday, April 20 Property Purchase Funds Earth Sabbath – Tuesday, April 22, Yates Mill Park, 7:00pm CUCC Family Fun Auction Party – April 26, 6:30pm Proxy Bids for CUCC Auction Donations of Laundry Basket Items Wright Center Meal “Climate Change and the Old Testament” – Sunday, April 27 Sisters in Spirit (SIS) – Tuesday, April 29, 6:30pm Say it with Flamingos! Spring Congregational Meeting - May 4 Church-Wide Outdoor Event! – May 9 – May 10 PLM Families Together Pray at the Legislature – Tuesdays, 12:30pm – 1:00pm Pastors for Reform – Tuesday, April 29 Newsletter Deadline – Wednesday, April 23 Top Ten Reasons to come to the Auction & Donation Form   Easter Sunrise Service The Annual Easter Ecumenical Sunrise Service will be held Easter Sunday, April 20, 6:30am, on the lawn at Fairmont UMC, 2501 Clark Avenue, Raleigh, NC. Flowers for the Resurrection Cross At our 10:30am Easter Service, Sunday, April 20...

The following email discussion occurred spontaneously from April 7 to 8, 2014, among some members of CUCC’s Justice in a Changing Climate Task Force (JCC).  A member of the JCC forwarded to the task force an email exchange he had with a member of the NC General Assembly.  The JCC member urged others to write to their representatives to ask them to not support fracking as a way forward to meet North Carolina’s energy needs.  A question posed by one JCC member (member C) led to a forwarded email exchange and sparked an important and ongoing discussion about natural gas, recorded here with the writers’ permission. Emails between CUCC member B and Legislator A Dear Legislator A, Drilling for shale gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have contaminated drinking water sources and wells, and have caused air pollution and fractured communities in the states where they are occurring. A variety of health impacts to people and animals have been reported near shale gas develo...

All Church Workday Tomorrow Morning, Saturday, April 12th April 11-12 Youth Spring Lock-in! Joy Alford to lead 10:30am Worship Service with Palm Processional this Sunday Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Egg Dying this Sunday, April 13 Forum for Sunday, April 13 A Theological Conference, Saturday, April 12, 2014 Property Purchase Funds Caring Committee Retirees’ Group PFLAG Potluck and Special Guest Speaker  Maundy Thursday Service Good Friday Devotion Easter Sunrise Service Flowers for the Resurrection Cross CUCC Family Fun Auction Party  “Climate Change and the Old Testament” Say it with Flamingos! Spring Congregational Meeting - May 4 All Church Workday Tomorrow Morning, Saturday, April 12th TOMORROW MORNING from 9:00am -12:00pm!!  It's going to be a beautiful day for work day TOMORROW so we can get work done outside as well as inside the church.  Feel free to work on any areas that you've noticed, or work with committee members on projects we have identified.  Many...

Dream People of the Amazon:   The documentary, "Dream People of the Amazon", tells the story of an indigenous people in the Amazon who are faced with the dilemma of protecting their environment and their way of life from the encroachment of multinational oil companies.   Their dreams collide with the dreams of outside companies.  The Amazon community is seeking solidarity with the outside world and this story is part of our global conversation about the health of our planet. Join us at Forum, 9:15-10:15am, in the Vaughan Fellowship Hall. - Submitted by Shirley Birt for the Forum planning committee

The Communications Committee is proud to announce that on Tuesday, April 8, the Community Outreach Ministry set a new church record for attendance at a virtual meeting. While the COM has been holding occasional virtual meetings for some time, on April 8 the COM had 6 participants in its monthly meeting. Furthermore, two of the participants had simultaneous child care duties, so their participation would have been impossible if the meeting had been a traditional meeting at the church. According to COM co-chair Jo Perry, the choice was either a face-to-face meeting with perhaps 3 people, or the virtual meeting which set the new attendance record this month. So "going virtual" not only enlarged participation, but also eliminated 50-100 miles of unnecessary driving and a couple of person-hours spent behind the wheel. Chalk this up as a step in the right direction toward CUCC's goal of finding actions we can take in support of our climate initiative. For more information about...

CUCC youth are organizing our 2nd annual church-wide camping trip to Umstead Park on May 9! Join us for any of the following: dinner, games for all ages, a camp fire, and/or cabin camping. Sign up sheet will be in the narthex beginning April 13, or you can email your response to Santi.

Learn from experts and prepare yourself for faithful action.  The Adult Forum meets each Sunday at 9:15am in the Vaughan Fellowship Hall. Sunday, April 6 : Preventing Gun Violence Gun Violence is a national epidemic. In North Carolina there are annually over 1,000 lives lost to gun violence and an estimated 3,000 more injured by firearms. Gail Neely, Executive Director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, will be speaking about what we can do to help prevent this ongoing problem. Sunday, April 13:   Southern Workers' Assembly .   Our economy is keeping wages down and making it harder for many people to make a liveable income, but workers are coming together to speak out about job issues.  There is an upsurge of new energy in the South.  The Southern Workers' Assembly is helping people to organize, unite and transform labor power and to seek fairness and dignity in the workplace.  Dante Strobino, Field Organizer, from the Assembly will join us to...

 Tuesday, April 29th, 6:30pm, Hoffmann Room All women of the church are invited to a potluck, followed by discussion of our favorite books, considering options coming up for summertime reads and learning a little more about each other. - submitted by Marty Lamb

We are hosting our friends from St. Paul’s Christian Church for a special dinner of delicious soups and breads at 6:30pm in the Vaughan Fellowship Hall, followed by Tenebrae worship at 7:15pm.  This quiet service is designed for people of all ages.

Kerma Hazel Food Bags Due This Sunday We Welcome Ruth Pardue as Our Guest Musician this Sunday­ UCC Conference For LGBTQI Concerns Forum, Sunday, April 6th “One Great Hour of Sharing” ONA Task Force Meeting Sunday, April 6th “Groundswell Rising, Protecting Our Children's Air & Water” Souls to the Polls – April 6, 2014 Life & Faith in Downtown Raleigh – April 8th April 11-12 Youth Spring Lock-in!  All Church Workday – Saturday, April 12th Say it with Flamingos! Congregations for Social Justice Conference Property Purchase Funds Save the Date! Annual Spring Auction “Climate Change and the Old Testament” Kerma Hazel Kerma was born to Landis and Sarah Greninger November 24, 1924 in Tylersville, PA. She spent an active childhood in the farm country of the mountains of central Pennsylvania. She was involved in the life of her school, played softball and served as Drum Major. Following high school graduation and the outbreak of WWII, she answered the call and like "Rosie the ...

More volunteers are welcome to help with a final push for Voter Registration this Sunday, April 6.  Contact Gray Woodard if you are able to help.  Here is a note on logistics from Gray.   "Thanks for signing up to do voter registration Sunday afternoon.  CUCC is partnering with Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh just down Wade Avenue from our church ( directions ).  They are going to serve us a light lunch of sandwiches, fruit, chips and cookies between 12:15 and 12:45. If you can be there in time for lunch, please do attend. If you want to bring something simple to add to the lunch table, you are welcome to do that. After lunch (so, about  12:45-1 p.m. ) Nancy Moxley will be doing a short training session for canvassers and providing maps and materials from Democracy-NC. Even if you cannot make it to lunch, you should plan to be at UUFR by  12:45  for training and canvass assignments. We will meet it the upper level at their Pe...