CUCC Weekly eNews

Come and join the activities on Community UCC’S Welcoming Sunday.  Along with delicious food at our potluck there will be games, art fun, and various tables for you to visit to support the mission of our church.  After the brief 10:30 AM worship service, the fun and games will begin.  Come and join us on Sunday, September 13th for Community UCC’s welcoming Sunday activities! Please bring a side dish to share - fried and grilled chicken and drinks will be provided. Call the church office for additional information.

Claim your shift - the online sign up is now available for the St. Paul's NC State Fair restaurant!  St. Paul's Christian Church has invited us to join them in this annual fundraiser - a welcome source of income for our congregation in light of exciting new ministries and staff changes. If you have not been able to increase your pledge, working a shift at the fair is a way to help CUCC have the funds we need.  We are honored to be invited by our friends to be part of this historic ministry of hospitality. Volunteer flyer         Restaurant webpage with info on jobs, youth policy, rules and hints You have to sign up yourself (I can't do it for you) because you need to give your contact info to Peggy (the St. Paul's coordinator), sign up for their ride service (be sure to check the to and from boxes if you want this), and provide comments if you have a strong opinion about the job you are willing to do. Important:  Since this is our first year, here ...

Congregations for Social Justice (CSJ) is "Faith communities and non-profits advocating for a better Raleigh/Wake County for all people!"  Adrienne Little represents CUCC's Social Justice Ministry at Congregations for Social Justice meetings.  She invites you to join her at the next CSJ meeting or to attend any of these events and report back to Social Justice Ministry if there is something you'd like to help CUCC do on any of these initiatives. Next Congregations for Social Justice Meeting - from Al Reberg Wednesday, Sept 9, 2015 - 8:30 AM at Edenton Street United Methodist Church               Speaker: Yvonne Holley on Food Deserts PEACE WEEK SEPTEMBER 19-26TH -  BUILDING A CULTURE OF NONVIOLENCE  - from Sue Woodling Peace Week Event Schedule  events all week at locations throughout the area Sept. 19 Peace Festival , 10-2, includes events for children               Two Big Events on Monda...

Inspired by the NC Pride celebration (Sept. 26), CUCC’s Open and Affirming Task Force invites you to a September Forum series of education and suggestions for action.  Forum meets in the Fellowship Hall every Sunday 9:15-10:15AM and is open to anyone in the community. September 6  Have you wondered about how you can help transgender people feel more welcome at CUCC, in the workplace, or elsewhere? Rebecca Chapin of the LGBT Center of Raleigh will be presenting a workshop, “Specific Ideas for Allies of Transgender People.”  Rebecca is an expert in this field and will be glad to answer your questions. September 13 (Welcoming Sunday)   No Forum because folks will be setting up for Welcoming Sunday September 20  Decorate signs and posters for NC Pride 2015 including a free-for-all discussion about LGBT issues and some of the struggles our members have faced in other church experiences. Worship September 20 will affirm our commitment to be an Open and Affirmi...

August 30, 2015 Weekly News (PDF) . (The print size of Weekly News online can be adjusted to whatever size you prefer. Check out this one-minute video if you don't know how to do that.) The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Newsletters from 2013 and 2014 may be found on the News blog.  Older newsletters  are found in the archive.

Congregations for Social Justice (CSJ) is "Faith communities and non-profits advocating for a better Raleigh/Wake County for all people!"  Adrienne Little represents CUCC's Social Justice Ministry at Congregations for Social Justice meetings.  She invites you to join her at the next CSJ meeting or to attend any of these events and report back to Social Justice Ministry if there is something you'd like to help CUCC do on any of these initiatives. Next Congregations for Social Justice Meeting - from Al Reberg Wednesday, Sept 9, 2015 - 8:30 AM at Edenton Street United Methodist Church               Speaker: Yvonne Holley on Food Deserts JustBeer - Last Thursdays of each month  Join like-minded folks for a beer, and the chance to connect & share challenges and insights on local social justice issues.  "Just Beer" is convened by Congregations for Social Justice; all people of goodwill with hearts for the common good are welcome! ...

August 20, 2015 Weekly News (PDF) The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Newsletters from 2013 and 2014 may be found on the News blog.  Older newsletters  are found in the archive.

Thomas Friedman's most recent column in the NY Times is on implications of global climate change in the Middle East. The link is posted here at the request of Gary Smith on behalf of the Justice in a Changing Climate Task Force. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-worlds-hot-spot.html

Recently John Little sent me a link to an article in The Atlantic  entitled "The Coddling of the American Mind" which merits thoughtful reflection by those of us at CUCC. While the article is directed primarily at trends in higher education, some of the trends cited in the article have also been observed within our own church. Articles on this topic have been appearing with increasing frequency. (Recently I publicized a similar article from The New Yorker .) Such articles tend to be long, in part because there are so many examples that can be brought to bear, as well as so many questionable aspects of this trend. I hope you will take time to read this piece and to reflect on it.  -- Lavon Page http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

From your Intentional Interim Pastor August 6, 2015 Friends, I don’t know about you but I’m trying to figure out where summer went.   Sure it is still here, but one minute it was June 1 and now school will be starting soon.   Time is absolutely flying by! I hope you have marked your calendars for Saturday, August 15 at 6:30 in Vaughn Fellowship Hall for Heritage Fun Night!   Your Transition Team has been working hard on this Heritage Part of the Intentional Interim Journey (IIJ) by offering weekly Heritage moments to tell you about the church and this will be a fun way to share your knowledge and learn more!   And if that isn’t enough enticement to come, there will be ICE CREAM!!!!   Please join us. You may ask why it is important to look the church’s heritage because you’ve looked at it before.   This is helping those of us who just arrived to know about the church we’ve chosen to attend.   And we are hearing good things about who we ar...

Several components of the worship service of August 9 are preserved as video. A couple of these are in the CUCC Archive for permanent archival. The others are available at Vimeo. Sermon - Community Under Construction based on Acts 9:1-2 (Peg Williams) Heritage Moment (Geraldine Bryan) - Healing Service Children's Sermon (Betsy Towler) Offertory (Ruth Pardue on flute) Anthem (CUCC Choir) Consolidation of newsletter and weekly email (Jane Smith)

Community UCC: My Spiritual and Artistic Journey To my CUCC family -- Good morning, day, afternoon or evening! My name is Carson Roach-Howell and I am a member of CUCC from birth until my current age of 20. If you’re a new member you may not know me, as I have been away at college for the past two years at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington studying film. I have loved to draw, take pictures and otherwise express myself creatively as long as I can remember, but when I got my first video camera for my 14th birthday a new passion awoke within me. I started small, making silly stop-motion animation videos and suspense movies with my family and life-long friend (and fellow CUCC youth) Jackson Kiel, but the support I felt from the members of my church even then when we showed my videos on the TV in the Vaughan-Wing all those years ago was overwhelming. One of my first videos, made in Fall 2009 and shown (to much amusement) at CUCC in Spring 2010. Another (more eerie) video made i...

On August 2 following worship the congregation gathered in the fellowship hall to celebrate the 80th birthday of Ann McLaughlin. Ann is a long time member and friend of CUCC and has substituted as pastor on many occasions when the regular pastor was away.   Click any photo to view large versions of all photos  

HERITAGE FUN NIGHT – AUGUST 15 @ 6:30-8:00 PM All-church, all-ages event!  (Please let Cathy Marshall in the church office know if you will need child care for the little ones.) We heard some of you say that you didn’t know enough to play games and we listened!  Think about Saturday night being about fun and learning activities instead of games.  And ice cream, of course! The focus will be on gathering and sharing information about our history and traditions (not teaching about history).  And ice cream, of course. We hope you will join us to meet new people or get together others better.  This is a great opportunity for a casual gathering of friends and soon-to-be friends. Won’t you join us and be part of the FUN??????? Your Transition Team – Frank Gailor, Tim Jensen, Joan McAllister, Suzette Roach and Peg Williams

August 2015 Newsletter (PDF) The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Newsletters from 2013 and 2014 may be found on the News blog.  Older newsletters  are found in the archive.