CUCC Weekly eNews

This edition of Friday Email is distributed as a PDF file. Friday Email for January 30, 2015

As we enter the interim period getting ready to call a new pastor, Forum is also entering an interim period. For the first two weeks of February, in preparation for the HKonJ march on February 14, we will show (via youtube) the October 5. 2014 sermon of Rev. William Barber II at Judson Memorial Church:  February 1, Rev. Barber’s sermon, Part I; February 8, Rev. Barber’s sermon, Part II . After each showing there will be time for discussion of what he says and of the issues which this year’s HK on J march will address.  Please come and discuss! Beginning on February 15, there is nothing currently planned for Forum.  Any individual or group with ideas of Forums that they would like to organize or  see scheduled should contact Todd Lipman, chair of the Religious Education Ministry, with their ideas or suggestions. That ministry will be discussing future plans for adult education in the early Sunday morning time period or at other times. Forum can continue as i...

At Monday Lunch Group on January 26, the group felt inspired to offer brief prayers as a prayer from the Monday Lunch Group for our new interim pastor Rev. Peg Nowling Williams and the congregation. Below is the result as compiled by Geraldine Bryan. Beloved Father God, Divine Mother, we place our congregation and the Rev. Peg Williams in your loving Light. Thank you for this church family as we start this new adventure together with our new pastor.  We give thanks for the many gifts and talents the people in our church bring.  Dear Spirit, help us come together as one body with our new leader.  All are necessary in the One Body of Christ.  All contribute to the wholeness and potential we wish to live out. We ask your blessings on Rev. Williams as she leads us  on this journey.  We pray that we come to know her and that she gets to know us in kind and helpful ways.  Give her wisdom for effective ministry to us and to the surrounding community. Giv...

Congratulations to Jeanne and Dave Ledbetter January Congregational Meeting – January 25th Joy Alford to Preach this Sunday Let’s Go See the Movie “Selma” 2014 Giving Statements Forum, Sunday, January 25 – “Affordable Housing in North Carolina” Loaves and Fishes Chili Sale Florescent bulbs and batteries - by January 25 Welcoming Luncheon for Reverend Peg Nowling Williams CSJ Annual Dinner Meeting – Monday, February 2, 2015 Housing Request for HKonJ Out-of-Town Participants Copies of Sermons from Guest Preachers No February Newsletter Nursery Childcare for Sunday Worship Service Congratulations to Jeanne and Dave Ledbetter Congratulations to Jeanne and Dave Ledbetter on the birth of their grandson, Jerred Daniel Ledbetter, born Thursday, January 22, 2015, 7 lbs., 1 oz.  A New Year blessing! January Congregational Meeting – January 25th Church Council has scheduled the January congregational meeting to be held on January 25, 2015. This meeting is required by the CUCC bylaws. Primary ...

The Youth Group has invited us to join them when they go to see Selma this Sunday.   Here are details from Santi: We will meet at Regal North Hills Cinema to see the movie Selma . The movie starts at 3:30. I will get there early, go on into the theater and save as many seats as possible. BRING YOUR STUDENT ID OR YOUR REPORT CARD AND YOU WILL GET IN FREE! Otherwise, bring your own money for the movie please. Please REPLY and let me know if you will be coming with us to this movie. Parents, please especially let me know if you are dropping off your youth.

Congratulations to Brad and Utsanee Ammartek Congratulations to Roger Manus and Beverly Miller No February Newsletter Joy Alford to Preach this Sunday, January 18th 2014 Giving Statements Forum, Sunday, January 11 – “Affordable Housing in North Carolina” Loaves and Fishes Chili Sale Garner’s 2015 Marin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Remembrance January Congregational Meeting – January 25th Florescent bulbs and batteries - by January 25 Welcoming Luncheon for Reverend Peg Nowling Williams CSJ Annual Dinner Meeting – Monday, February 2, 2015 Dinner for HK on J Out-of-Town Participants Ad Hoc Religious Education Committee on Youth & Education Staffing Congratulations to Brad and Utsanee Ammartek Congratulations to Brad and Utsanee on the birth of the daughter, Anyada Ammartek, on Friday, January 9, 2015.  Mom and baby are doing great and Brad is a happy daddy. Congratulations to Roger Manus and Beverly Miller Roger Manus and Beverly Miller joyfully announce that they were married in a ...

Tonight PBS is airing an episode of American Experience entitled "Klansville USA". It's about Salisbury, North Carolina in the 1960s. More specifically, it's about Granite Quarry NC, and Bob Jones who was Grand Dragon of the Klan in NC during that era. Granite Quarry was a community of a few hundred people about 3 miles outside the Salisbury city limits. From birth until I left home for UNC, my home was halfway in between Salisbury and Granite Quarry. I went to church in Salisbury, and I went to school in Granite Quarry. Once there was a KKK rally on the Stokes Ferry Road just across the field behind my house. The rally could be seen and heard from my bedroom. Yet it's not as if the Klan was a "presence". During my entire childhood I rarely heard the Klan mentioned, including during the many years in school in Granite Quarry. If mentioned, it was mostly as a curiosity. And I did develop a curiosity about the Klan. Years later (around 1964) while very act...

Nancy Keppler was a long time member of Community UCC. The photo shown here was taken in the fellowship hall probably in the mid 1990s. The following is the obituary for Nancy Keppler as found at the News and Observer website. Nancy Keppel (left) and Nancy Keppler (right) Nancy Spangler Keppler died on December 31, 2014 of natural causes. The youngest of the four children of James Barr Spangler and Janet Watt Spangler, Nancy was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1924. She was a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, where she met her husband-to-be, William Eugene Keppler, Jr. They married in 1944, and moved to North Carolina in 1948. After living in Asheville, NC for 11 years, Nancy and Bill moved with their two daughters to Raleigh in 1959. Widowed in 1970, Nancy continued to live in Raleigh until her move to Glenaire Retirement Community in 1997. Nancy worked for the Division of School Food Service of the N. C. State Department of Public Instruction from 1960 until...

Guest Preachers for January We Welcome Mark Zaineddin to our Pulpit Sunday Morning Forum, Sunday, January 11 – “Affordable Housing in North Carolina” ONA Task Force Meeting, Sunday, January 11th Life & Faith in Downtown Raleigh SIS – Sisters in Spirit “At the Gate:  Palestinian Non-Violence” – Film and Discussion Loaves and Fishes Chili Sale Garner’s 2015 Marin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Remembrance January Congregational Meeting – January 25th Florescent bulbs and batteries - by January 25 CSJ Annual Dinner Meeting – Monday, February 2, 2015 Dinner for HK on J Out-of-Town Participants CUCC Recognized by UCC.org Art Wall – Francisco Joseph – The Happy Artist! Nancy Jane Keppler Guest Preachers for January Thanks to Betsy Towler, David Sigmon and Bill Lamb, we have the pulpit filled every Sunday in January through February 1… January 11:   Mark Zaineddin, a regular at our Sunday morning Taizé Services January 18:  Joy Alford (newly returned from Cuba!) January 25: ...

Annette Bingham has forwarded information from the Raleigh Friends Meeting ... “At the Gate: Stories of Palestinian Non Violence,” a documentary that shows the largely unreported Palestinian tradition of non-violent resistance to the Occupation.  Film producers,  Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul Pierce,  worked for many years with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron, Palestine and served as American Friends Service representatives in Jerusalem, will facilitate discussion following the film. Experienced trainers of nonviolence, conflict transformation, and human rights observers, they worked regularly with Palestinian and Israeli peace builders   Free and open to the public. Donations appreciated.  Thursday, January 15th @ 7pm,  (6:30 coffee/snacks) Raleigh Friends Meeting house, 625 Tower Street, Raleigh 27607. Near Cameron Village.  Street parking. sponsor: Raleigh Friends Meeting co sponsor: The Coalition for Peace with Justice

Photos from HKonJ 2014 Rob Stephens , who is the Union Theological Seminary liaison for the Moral Monday movement, has asked if CUCC would again provide a dinner for 40-60 folks who will be traveling here for HKonJ the evening of  Friday, February 13th .   Last year we provided a baked spaghetti dinner with salad, which they appreciated so much.  Community UCC is a member of the HKonJ movement by vote of the congregation. If you would be willing to help set up the room, prepare, serve, and/or clean up afterwards, please let Joan McAllister know .   We will do a better job of planning amounts this year, as we had a lot left over last year - though it was well used! Here are the jobs that need to be done.   Please specify what you are willing to do! Set up - tables and chairs for 60 (2-3 people) Food preparation Spaghetti (Make ahead, will provide recipes for meat and vegetarian, or make at church depending on number of volunteers) Green Salad Bread- heat at chur...

In his sermon during 10:30 worship on January 4, the Rev. Jim Luck spoke about being an Epiphany Christian instead of a Christmas Christian.  If you'd like to chew over what an Epiphany way of thinking/being might mean for you in 2015 and for CUCC at this interim time, why not join the conversation at Life and Faith in Downtown Raleigh ? We'll meet at 7pm at Tyler's Tap Room ; look for the Life and Faith comma (and for Jane and Gary Smith).  Some folks order dinner; others order beverages only.  We try to tip our server generously since we monopolize the table until about 8:15 and have so many separate checks.  Here is my map showing where you can find parking . We thank Rev. Luck for giving us permission to post his sermon:  " You don't get there overnight ."

Women of the church are invited on Thursday night January 15th at 6 PM to the home of Mary Matthews for potluck and play time. If you are interested in carpooling together from Raleigh, contact Marty Lamb to coordinate a 5:30 PM departure. -submitted by Marty Lamb

(information provided by Frank Gailor) Sunday, January 11th: Satana Deberry , Executive Director of the NC Housing Coalition, will give a presentation on “Affordable Housing in North Carolina.” The NC Housing Coalition is a private, non-profit membership organization working for decent, affordable housing that promotes self-determination and stable communities for low and moderate income North Carolinians. Its mission is to lead a movement to ensure that every North Carolinian has a home in which to live with dignity and opportunity. We work to accomplish our mission by supporting our members and building partnerships to improve affordable housing. Satana is a native of Hamlet, North Carolina, a graduate of Princeton (B.A.) and Duke Universities (J.D. and M.B.A.), and brings nearly two decades of experience in policy, regulatory, governmental, administrative, human resource and contractual/legal matters. She worked for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Sunday – January 18:   there wil...

Bulletin Information Deadline Guest Preachers for January Forum this Sunday Beer and Hymns, Sunday, January 4th, 7:00pm Annual Reports Help Needed with Fellowships on Sundays “Reconciling Faith and Science” Epiphany Sunday/Babies We Love – January 11, 2015 SIS – Sisters in Spirit Loaves and Fishes Chili Sale January Congregational Meeting – January 25th Florescent bulbs and batteries - by January 25 CSJ Annual Dinner Meeting – Monday, February 2, 2015 Dinner for HK on J Out-of-Town Participants CUCC Recognized by UCC.org Art Wall – Francisco Joseph – The Happy Artist! Bulletin Information Deadline Any announcements to be put in the Sunday bulletin must be submitted to the church office no later than the Wednesday morning prior to the Sunday the announcement is to be placed.  For example, if you want an announcement to go into the Sunday, January 11th bulletin, the announcement must be sent by 9:00am, Wednesday morning, January 7th.  Thank you for your understanding. Guest Prea...