CUCC Weekly eNews

Lenten Reading Group, Community United Church of Christ 814 Dixie Trial, Raleigh NC 27607    Bradow Room Three Wednesdays:  February 24, March 2 and March 9, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. If this is your lunch hour, bring a bag lunch. Drinks will be provided. We plan to read  The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement  by The Rev. William J. Barber, II (with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove). Many of us plan to go ( CUCC plans ) to the HKon J Moral March on Saturday, February 13, 2016. We expect to be encouraged to believe that things can change for the better! The book presents Rev. Barber’s view that it is time for the pendulum of history to swing back to a more just society in the United States.  Let’s read the book together, discuss his ideas, and plan to act! If you sign up for the group by February 15, we at CUCC will make a group book  order at Quail Ridge Books. Please sign up at edsylla@gmail.com.  Or y...

January 27, 2016 Weekly News The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Old newsletters and recent weekly news can be found in these two archives: Newsletters and Weekly Email from 2016 Newsletters from 1970-2015 Deadlines to submit articles to the church office (office.cucc@gmail.com): Weekly News email  -  TUESDAY by NOON. Sunday bulletin  - TUESDAY by NOON. N ewsletter  - WEDNESDAY  following the Church Council meeting  by 2:00 PM.  (The Church Council meets the 3rd Monday of the month, so the deadline is the Wednesday following the third Monday of the month.  Check the  calendar .)

HKonJ PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY  MASS MORAL MARCH ON RALEIGH Get Out the Vote Gathering and Mobilization  Saturday, February 13, 2016  9:30 a.m . Meet ready to march at McDonald's,105 E.South St. (near Shaw University). There are parking decks available on Wilmington Street. OR 9:30 a.m. Meet in the church parking lot to carpool directly to the assembly (let Joan McAllister know if you plan to carpool.) 10:00 a.m. Those meeting at McDonald’s will march to the State Capitol. 10:30 a.m. Assembly will be held near the State Capitol on Fayetteville Street (There will be chairs in front of the stage for those who need to sit.) 12-2 p.m. Lunch at Jersey Mike’s on Hillsborough St. Across from NCSU library Whether you are taking place in the march, or gathering at the Capitol Building, look for the Community UCC signs and banners, and let's stand together! Wear your red hat and we’ll find each other more easily! Set your minds on justice and don’t miss the 10th anniversary of this i...

Tuesday, January 26, 6:30PM Home of Mary Matthews in Garner (call the office for Mary's address) Pot luck is at 6:30PM with board games following. Last year we had a good turnout and a lot of fun with the game playing! Come join us this year! All women of the church are welcomed.

Adrienne Little of CUCC's Social Justice Ministry shares these opportunities from the community as compiled by Congregations for Social Justice (CSJ). 1 - You are invited CSJ JustBeer - from Al Reberg Join like-minded folks, connect & share challenges and insights on local social justice issues.     ...and perhaps to enjoy an adult beverage!   ☺     ...all people of goodwill with hearts for the common good are welcome! JustBeer - Last Thursdays of each month         Thursday, January 28 - 5:00 PM         New Location: Lynnwood Brewing Concern - 1053 E Whitaker Mill Rd, Raleigh 27604            Tyler's Taproom has gone out of business. This is not the Lynnwood Grill & Brewing Concern off Glenwood Ave. 2 - Reflections on Charleston: A Conversation on Faith and Race - from John Parker       John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute for its 2016 Distinguished Lecture,   ...

January 22, 2016 Weekly News   (PDF) The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Old newsletters and recent weekly news can be found in these two archives: Newsletters and Weekly Email from 2016 Newsletters from 1970-2015 Deadlines to submit articles to the church office (office.cucc@gmail.com): Weekly News email  -  TUESDAY by NOON. Sunday bulletin  - TUESDAY by NOON. N ewsletter  - WEDNESDAY  following the Church Council meeting  by 2:00 PM.  (The Church Council meets the 3rd Monday of the month, so the deadline is the Wednesday following the third Monday of the month.  Check the  calendar .)

NOTICE:  Gospel of Mark study concluded a week early, ending Tuesday, March 22. During Lent, I [Joy Alford] will be leading a study on Mark.  We will join together on a Lenten journey.  Mark's Gospel is a journey narrative, but not primarily a geographical journey.  Mark invites the reader to journey with Jesus---to become one of the disciples whom Jesus instructs on the way to Jerusalem. Mark's gospel is a brief but important one. It is a character sketch of Jesus Christ.  We will learn about Jesus, who is revealed to us here as the Servant who suffered. This is not a DVD series. I will prepare each lesson weekly and bring what the Spirit has revealed to me.   Come - join the spirit-led discussion and journey with us, just like the disciples in Mark's gospel journeyed with him.  This study will be held for 6 weeks on Wednesday evenings from Feb 24 to March 30 (yes, the week after Easter).   Time will be spent in our Bibles, in discussion and in p...

Nancy and Mike Callaham have tried to be regular participants in the Tuesday night Taizé services at CUCC. To make it easier for Nancy, the January third Tuesday Taizé service traveled to their home. The Taizé service was held in Nancy's living room. photo by Joanne Richiutti who also participated in the service

Today's daily devotional from the UCC office includes some challenging thoughts on unity vs. branding. Here's an excerpt from today's piece which is written by Richard L. Floyd, Pastor Emeritus of First Church of Christ (UCC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. When I was growing up in the 1950's and 60's there was real passion for Christian unity. It was out of this ecumenical passion that our United Church of Christ was created in 1957 as a "united and uniting church" with its motto coming from Jesus' prayer "That they may all be one." That kind of passion for unity seems hard to find these days. Local congregations compete for members. Denominations stress their unique "brand" that marks them as different (and better) than other churches. For the last 30 years we've covered ourselves with brands and labels such as "progressive, ONA, multicultural, multiracial, peace and justice, accessible", etc. In today's devotional...

January 13, 2016 Weekly News   (PDF) The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Old newsletters and recent weekly news can be found in these two archives: Newsletters and Weekly Email from 2016 Newsletters from 1970-2015 Deadlines to submit articles to the church office (office.cucc@gmail.com): Weekly News email  -  TUESDAY by NOON. Sunday bulletin  - TUESDAY by NOON. N ewsletter  - WEDNESDAY  following the Church Council meeting  by 2:00 PM.  (The Church Council meets the 3rd Monday of the month, so the deadline is the Wednesday following the third Monday of the month.  Check the  calendar .)

Economic Justice Task Force Meeting Wednesday, January 13, 11:00am, Bradow Room You are welcome to come and see what the EJTF is all about and find out what you can do to help. The following is an excerpt about the EJTF from the CUCC website.   More on EJTF Economic systems determine how wealth and resources are distributed within a society and are literally a matter of life and death. Recognizing that we live in a world where systems allow for an unsustainable gap between the wealthy and the  poor, CUCC adopted an Economic Justice Covenant in June of 2012 stating that we would strive to work for a world where love, justice and mercy prevail and God's abundance is shared.  We agreed to: Examine our collective and individual life styles and our stewardship of creation. Educate ourselves as to the causes of economic injustice and the forces that perpetuate it. Engage in economic and political actions that are consistent with our moral values. The Economic Justice Task Force...

Here Comes Another Awesome Poetry Slam! Friday, February 5 6:00 PM   Potluck 6:30-8:00 PM   Poetry Slam Fellowship Hall Have you had cabin fever this week? Do you love to listen to or recite good poetry? Could you use a fun mid-winter church-wide potluck? Join us in the fellowship hall, from 6-8PM on Friday, February 5 for our third exciting Poetry Slam!  All ages are welcome; we'll look after each other rather than having separate child care. Please bring a potluck dish to share, and a poem to read! Original Poetry is especially encouraged. We will eat from 6-6:30PM and share poems until 8PM. As is our custom, we will also have a mid-evening poetry writing experience. We’ve written haikus and couplets together, this year we’ll tackle the limerick! (A love offering will be collected for our ASP Summer Mission Trip and Church Camp.)   For more information or to volunteer to share a poem, contact  Śānti Matthews  ASAP at forsanti@aol.com.

Fossil Fuel Divestment A special adult Forum sponsored by the Justice  in a Changing Climate Task Force January 31, 9:30AM, Fellowship Hall Churches around the country and around the world are doing what they can to decrease fossil fuel use and decrease climate change.  As you know, CUCC is actively involved, our latest action being the installation of 9.2 kW of solar power on our fellowship hall last year. You may also know that the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal denomination has now decided to entirely divest from fossil fuel companies.  This is a bold step that will impact fossil fuel companies. An important next question is whether individual churches (CUCC) and people (us) can and should follow this lead.  This is the discussion we hope to initiate with the visit by Peter Krull to the CUCC adult forum at 9:15 on January 31. Pete is the president and founder of Krull and Co , a company that specializes in socially responsible investment.  He is wo...

Third Tuesday Taizé Service  January 19, 2016, 2:30pm You are invited to join us at the home of Mike and Rev. Nancy Callaham on January 19, 2016, 2:30pm, for a Taizé worship and prayer service consisting of meditative singing, readings, chanting, and periods of silence.  For address and/or directions, please contact the church office at office.cucc@gmail.com or call 919-809-8850.

The congregational meeting has been re-scheduled for Sunday, February 7 after 10:30AM worship. One of the three annual congregational meetings required by the CUCC bylaws, the January meeting includes election of officers and committee and ministry members for 2016, passage of a church budget for 2016, and discussion of annual ministry and committee reports of activities in 2015.   Read the annual reports before you come. The Transition Team, in response to comments by the congregation in the fall survey, will be moving that the congregation adopt the following as a mission statement: Community United Church of Christ: a caring community that nurtures spiritual growth while working toward social justice. Read the cover letter from the Transition Team and the full Transition Team report from the November 22, 2015 congregational meeting. Anyone wishing to have other items on the agenda for the meeting, please email Moderator Geri Bowen (gerikhb@gmail.com).

A memorial service for Paul Klemmer, son of Ed and Ruth Klemmer, was held at the church on January 9, 2016. The video below shows the entire service (46 min.). This video may also be viewed at YouTube .

January 5, 2016 Weekly News   (PDF) - email The  online calendar  is always available and is always up-to-date. Old newsletters and recent weekly news can be found in these two archives: Newsletters and Weekly Email from 2016 Newsletters from 1970-2015 Deadlines to submit articles to the church office (office.cucc@gmail.com): Weekly News email  -  TUESDAY by NOON. Sunday bulletin  - TUESDAY by NOON. N ewsletter  - WEDNESDAY  following the Church Council meeting  by 2:00 PM.  (The Church Council meets the 3rd Monday of the month, so the deadline is the Wednesday following the third Monday of the month.  Check the  calendar .)

A service remembering the life of Paul Klemmer, son of Ed and Ruth, will be at Community United Church of Christ on Saturday, January 9 at 11 a.m.  A reception will follow in the Vaughan Fellowship Hall. You are all invited to join the family in this time of remembrance.  Thank you for your prayers for Ed, Ruth, and their daughter Karen.

January 10, 2016 Forum - 9:30 AM, Fellowship Hall Sermon - 10:30 AM worship, Sanctuary What are the most compelling issues our own church is facing today?  How can the Southern Conference support and inspire us?  How can our mighty little church celebrate, and maximize our broader impact? Join us before worship at 9:30 AM on January 10, in the Fellowship Hall for a unique opportunity to explore these topics with our Southern Conference minister, Rev. Dr. Edward Davis.  We also look forward to hearing Rev. Dr. Davis preach in our worship service following our conversation. Rev. Davis is the Conference Minister for the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, serving the state of North Carolina. He previously served as Interim Associate Conference Minister of the Illinois Conference of the UCC, providing oversight and pastoral care to 102 congregations and 350 ordained clergy. He was Senior Pastor of St. Mark United Church of Christ in Chicago Heights, Ill., wher...

I saw the article about this in the paper and signed it as a member of CUCC.  I thought you both [Jane and Peg] would be interested and that Jane you might put the link on our website.  An Appeal to Christians in the United States Blessings,  Jim Smith [Note from Jane:  Read the Appeal and, if you wish, follow the simple directions at the bottom to sign it as yourself.]

Sometimes when hyping renewable energy in developed societies such as our own we neglect the importance of renewable energy in parts of the world which don't yet have energy resources of any sort. Here's a teaser from an article in today's N. Y. Times ... A few years ago, the hundred or so residents of Paradeshappanamatha, a secluded hamlet in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, gathered along the central pathway between their 22 densely clustered homes, and watched as government workers hoisted a solar-powered streetlamp. As the first display of electricity in the town, it was an object of mild interest, but, being outside, the light didn’t help anyone cook or study, and only attracted moths. Still, when B. Prasad arrived two years later to encourage people here to abandon kerosene lighting for solar-powered home systems, people had some idea what he was talking about. What sounded preposterous to the village residents was the price. Mr. Prasad, an agent for Solar Ele...

Deadlines to submit articles to the church office (office.cucc@gmail.com): Weekly News email  -  TUESDAY by NOON. Sunday bulletin  - TUESDAY by NOON. N ewsletter  - WEDNESDAY  following the Church Council meeting  by 2:00 PM.  (The Church Council meets the 3rd Monday of the month, so the deadline is the Wednesday following the third Monday of the month.  Check the  calendar .)