Let It Shine

During the Sunday mornings of Advent we will be decorating a Christmas tree which will be displayed on the face of the pulpit in our sanctuary. The tree will be made with hand prints cut from green construction paper--the hands being those of the members of our church. On Sunday, Dec. 3, when you come to worship you will be asked to trace a print of one of your hands to be used for this purpose. Those tracings will be cut out and fit together to create a tree that represents the lives of the members of our church family.

And the decorations? During the week following December 3 we will ask you and your family to discuss and plan to do one or two things in the weeks before Christmas to shine the love of Jesus in our community. Every time you complete that "thing," whatever it may be, you can "trim the tree" with a gold circle that will be provided for that purpose.

How might you shine the love of Jesus in our community? I think the possibilities are endless. It has to do with the gifts you have been given and the opportunities around you. You could make a special visit to a friend who is lonely or confined to his or her home. You could bake cookies for a neighbor and invite a friend to church. You could buy a Heifer project gift card and support the Church School's duck project. Or think about volunteering to baby sit for a busy mother and father so they can do their Christmas shopping. We have a growing list of college students who are away from home who might appreciate a note from a friend. (Debby Kirk can provide names and addresses.) We have a partnership with the Miral Church in South Korea. You could send them a Christmas greeting. (Addresses are available from Debby Pallatto-Fontaine and Diane Peterson.) Join the Senior Youth Group when they go caroling on December 17. Ask a friend to lunch. Make a promise to pray for world peace each day of Advent. There are all kinds of ways we can shine the love of Jesus in our community.

I would encourage you to have fun and be creative with this project. You don't have to identify what you did when you place the gold circle on the tree. That will be between you and God. But if you want to tell us about it that would be good too.

Let it shine!

Jamie

THE UCC AT 50!

• 

All of UCC's members to gather this Sunday -- online

Written by J. Bennett Guess

Wednesday, 01 November 2006

In an experimental, interactive, online teleconferencing event, UCC members will kick off the denomination’s 50th anniversary celebration by gathering en masse at 6 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Nov. 5. From its national website -- www.ucc.org -- the webstreaming event is the denomination’s first attempt to create an online, interactive, multiple-site experience. "The notion is that the whole church — from Maine to Hawaii — will be participating in the same event at the same time, no matter where they live," says the Rev. Robert Chase, the UCC's communication director. It's also a sign of how the church is embracing emerging technology, he says. In a broadcast that will originate from the UCC’s Amistad Chapel in Cleveland, Ohio, the real-time event will include teleconferencing feeds from Redeemer UCC in Sussex, Wis.; Heritage UCC in Baltimore, Md.; and Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas, Texas. From any computer, participants will be able to view the event, submit questions for discussion, respond to online polls, upload photos to create an online mosaic, watch celebratory ‘You Tube’ videos submitted by UCC churches, and send text messages of individual or group names that will scroll across computer screens. Described as a time for "worship, work and play," it's a contemporary way for the church to gather nationally — and interactively — to celebrate the launch of its golden anniversary year, and to do so relatively inexpensively. Some are participating as groups, in gatherings hosted at churches or in regional church settings that include dinner and worship. Many will likely watch from home. "They'll be able to see themselves, as well as others across the nation, as the event unfolds," Chase says. "It will be a fun, exciting opportunity for us to get a sense of our national ministry, even as we gather in our local settings." The 30-40 minute gathering will begin at 6 p.m. (ET), 5 p.m. (CT), 4 p.m. (MT), 3 p.m. (CT) and 1 p.m. in Hawaii. Before the event begins, would-be participants can visit www.ucc.org to test to see if their computers are equipped with the necessary technological capacity. The UCC’s other 50th anniversary year highlights will include the publication of “UCC@50,” a commemorative publication and historical DVD; a variety of local and regional events; a national TV worship broadcast on Easter Sunday 2007; the 50th anniversary General Synod, June22-26, in Hartford, Conn.; and a closing All Saints celebration in Nov. 2007. The UCC was created in 1957 with the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Although it is one of the nation’s youngest mainline denominations, the UCC includes some of the nation’s oldest churches, with more than 10 percent of current UCC congregations being founded before 1776