CUCC Weekly eNews

Thank you to Geri Bowen and her friend, Lisa Finaldi, for serving the Wright Center Meal on Sept. 17. Thanks also to Grady McCallie, Jeannie Ledbetter, Doug Barrick and Deb Lipman for preparing the food.   If you would like to be a part of this wonderful outreach to homeless women, please contact Laura Upchurch at  919-616-8285  or email at  laura.lewis3@twc.com .   Thanks, Laura.

Under the leadership of Gary Smith, the Property Ministry has teamed up with the Justice in a Changing Climate Task Force to make our lighting more eco-friendly.   We are in the process of replacing our four-foot fluorescent tubes with LED tubes. These LEDs use 16 watts per tube while most of our fluorescent tubes use 40 watts of electricity. This is a 60% reduction in energy use!!   With this reduction, the LEDs will pay for themselves in four to five years, and they are rated to last nearly 50 years. So we should realize many years of money and energy savings! There are other advantages to the LEDs. They turn on instantly, so there will be none of the annoying flickering we sometimes get with the fluorescents. Also, they do not require ballast like fluorescents. Another additional immediate benefit of the changeover is that the LEDs are dimmable!   We have already taken advantage of this in the fellowship hall; the two rows of lights nearest the flat-screen monitor can...

Volunteer interest form Interested in volunteering? Please fill out this Sanctuary Survey from Umstead Park UCC. Here's a first step at assisting our own immigrant neighbors:  Umstead Park UCC is making plans to offer public sanctuary in the near future. Please email or call Jenny if you would like to help, or click on the link below to respond to a brief survey. Thank you! A survey will also be in this week's (September 24) bulletin, which you can fill out and turn in to the offering plate, drop it by the church office, or give it to Pastor Jenny.

I am pleased to announce that $700 was collected last Sunday for hurricane relief. The Community Outreach Ministry has requested that these funds be sent to UCC Hurricane Relief. So a check will be sent next week in the amount of $700 plus any additional funds that trickle in on Sunday, Sept. 24. If you wish to add to this amount, please write "hurricane relief" on the memo line of your check. Lavon Page, CUCC Treasurer

Hello all-- Thanks for a wonderful start to our Allyship Series!  Below is a recap, a reminder about your "homework" and some discussion questions to think about for next week. Summary of Sunday discussion 9/17 For the first week, we played a game to explore the assumptions we make about one another.  We learn that as a group we may have "invisible diversity," due to aspects of identities such as class background that may not be immediately visible.  We talked about some guidelines for conversation that we will revisit during future discussions. I also introduced the Allyship Project's definition of allyship , which is: An ally is a person who seeks to end poverty (or work for justice more broadly) and who partners with people from all (class) backgrounds to work toward that goal.  An ally develops personal, responsible, respectful and mutually beneficial relationships with people from different (class) backgrounds than him/herself.  These relationships are not ...

   Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Green  Exodus 14:19-31; Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 or Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

Dear Community UCC members and friends, I received the following letter (below) from my colleague and dear friend, Rev. David Mateo, on behalf of La Mesa in Chapel Hill. He shares it with an appeal for neighborly support as well as to draw attention to the deportation crisis across our nation. A Letter from “La Mesa"      I greet you on behalf of your Hispanic brothers and sisters, members of the United Church of Chapel Hill who are suffering the injustices, racism, and anti-immigrant climate of this country.      Since 1993, "Tent City" has been a  Nazi style concentration camp for undocumented people. It was built by Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona. This “outdoor tent” jail, in the heart of the Arizona desert, was denounced by Amnesty International for the possible violation of human rights. From there, according to CNN, "He (Arpaio) was ordered to stop targeting Latinos for traffic stops and detention. He flouted the Constit...

Sunday  9/17            9:00am Taizé Worship – Sanctuary   9:30am  Animate Faith - Hoffmann Room   9:30am  Seven Steps to Becoming a Better Ally - Fellowship Hall   9:30am Youth Confirmation Class - Youth Room 10:30am Worship Service  - Sanctuary 10:45am Children’s Sunday School - Sunday School Rooms 10:45am Youth Sunday School - Youth Room 12:00pm Caring Committee - Library 12:00pm Economic Justice Task Force Meeting - Bradow Room 12:00pm Religious Education Ministry Meeting - Hoffmann Room    2:00pm Sanctuary Matters - Vaughan Fellowship Hall   4:00pm Covenant Community - Bradow Room   Monday  9/18  12:15pm Monday Lunch Group - Hoffmann Room Tuesday  9/19  10:30am Office Staff Meeting - Pilgrim House   5:00pm Peace Picnic - Youth at Loaves & Fishes   Wednesday  9/20      9:30am Tai Chi – Vaughan Fellowship Hall   6:00...

Hi church family!  Thank you SO much for your responses to all the various collections I have been doing. Blue bags from Food Lion:  I gave what I had collected to  my friend from Atlanta, and she was thrilled to get so many!  I'm not collecting them any more, though, since it is outrageously expensive to mail them. Eyeglasses:  the eye clinic at Pullen which is sponsored by the Hindu community will be  September 16 .  They have to calibrate all the glasses that are donated prior to the clinic so have stopped taking in glasses for this event.  It is an annual event though, so if you have some you want to donate for next year's clinic, I will hang on to them for Prabhakar.

Registration has begun! The CUCC Youth are going on a Mission Trip to Nicaragua: June 14-23, 2018. We'll be taking 24 youth and adults to Ciudad Sandino, one of the most densely populated and underprivileged cities in Nicaragua. We’ll be hosted by the CDCA (Center for Development in Central America). We hope to make new friends and to help the CDCA in their efforts to support health and alleviate poverty for the people of Nicaragua. Keep your eyes and hearts open for many opportunities to support our trip - spiritually, financially, and logistically. Registration information can be found on the flier in this bulletin, and also on our website at   http://cuccinfo.blogspot.com/2017/09/cucc-youth-mission-trip-to-nicaragua.html . Please direct questions to Santi Matthews, Paul Kiel, Maria Mayorga, or Fawn Pattison. Esperamos que un viaje significativo para todos nosotros. 

At a small meeting this week I thought to invite those gathered to come to our house to watch episode one of the Burns/Novick PBS series The Vietnam War .  What surprised me was the stories that poured out of our little group instantly.  Vivid, intimate, no two alike.  As the movie trailer is titled, there was "no single truth. "There is no single truth in war" And that is why I invite any of you who would like to watch episode 1 with other folks to come to our home Sunday night, Sep. 17.  Arrive anytime after 7:30; the 90 minute episode starts at 8.  If the mood strikes (before and after, but not during), we'll share memories and ask questions.  No agenda, no debates, just people hearing stories together.  All ages welcome (parents, you discern whether it is appropriate to bring your children with you). Need our address?  Ask Jane Smith.

What do candidates for Raleigh mayor and city council have to say about climate change and our neighbors with the fewest financial resources to adapt?  The City of Raleigh will hold elections for mayor and city council on Tuesday, October 10.  CUCC's  Justice in a Changing Climate Task Force asked  Raleigh  candidates the following question: "As you help Raleigh adapt to climate change, what do you plan to do to make sure our residents with the fewest financial resources aren’t left behind?   Some of the expected effects of climate change are extremes of heat, asthma and heart issues, and storm intensity throughout the year." We contacted all candidates for Mayor, City Council At-Large, and City Council District E.* Candidate responses are copied in their entirety from their email to us.** This is a non-partisan, citizen education project.  Community United Church of Christ is a 501c3 organization and does not endorse candidates. Candidate responses R...

Dear Friends,        As the topsy turvy of empire creates an echo chamber where cries for justice are like a kite whose string is loosed and eventually soars ever so slowly into the unseen distance, we are called to repent. Perhaps the churchy word, all too familiar with a blood-stained brow, brings a distaste among us; repent, not because a hefty price was paid, but because the death toll is ringing even now. Jesus said, "Repent, for the Kindom of God has come near."              The most devastating news about climate change is that we will continue to see catastrophic storm systems developing across the globe which will take and destroy life in the blink of an eye--all of which are due to our enduring sins of greed and our insatiable appetite for more, more, more. My prayer for those in the wake of this storm includes a long confession, coupled with a commitment to do even more to combat climate...

We invite you to join us for an abbreviated worship service at 10:30am and to continue our Fall kick-off celebration in the courtyard following the service for food* and fellowship and fun. Each year as the seasons change, we are invited into a rhythm which helps us set the pace for the upcoming foreseen period of time whereby we can orchestrate our lives in both the macro and micro; from planning school drop-off and pick-up to extended family vacations, to stopping by the grocery store or setting the table for house guests. We depend upon this rhythm as we do the sun to rise and set, the clock to tell time, the car or bus to start, the bell to ring. Just as the sun and moon have calculated patterns of movement that allow for a rare, but expected alignment, so do our lives. It is these convergent points which we depend upon within our communal life, these intersections, which help bring shape and meaning to daily life. At Community UCC we have our own rituals and rites of passage that ...

Workday Thank You A hearty thanks to all who pitched in to make our recent workday a big success!  We got a lot accomplished, inside and out, and had fun while doing it.  If you missed it, don't despair - look for the next workday in November!