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The Eastern Ohio Association of the
United Church
of Christ
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November 10, 2011
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New Items
- Akron Urban Ministries Working Group of the Department of
Church in the World thanks the many churches and individuals who
supported the dinner and musical, Found and Forgiven, which benefited East Market Street,
Miller Avenue,
Trinity, and Williard
United Churches of Christ.
What a wonderful expression of Jesus'
prayer, "That they may all be one." What a great
celebration of our UCC Mission 1! Thank you!
·
The Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign invites you to
a special screening of Coal Country
on Friday, November 11 at 7:30PM at First Unitarian
Universalist Church of Cleveland,
21600 Shaker
Blvd. in Shaker Heights. This film tells the
story of a rural Appalachian community and its struggle to deal with
the promises of Big Coal. Long-time neighbors and friends struggle with
each other whether to sell their land for mountaintop removal and
needed cash or keep their community intact. It highlights the human and
theological struggle to "do the right thing" for yourself
without harming your neighbor.
- The Suffield United Church of Christ (1115 State Route 43, Suffield, OH) annual Country
Christmas Bazaar will be held on Saturday, November 19th from 10AM
-3PM. We have crafters, luncheon of homemade soups and
sandwiches and homemade apple dumplings and a book sale.
There is no cost. Any questions contact 330-628-4038.
- Conversation on Church and the Justice System. A member of
your congregation serves as a police officer. Last year your
brother's co-worker was
the victim of a crime. Your daughter's
best friend at school lives with her grandmother because her
mother is incarcerated. At some point, in some way, we all
encounter the U.S.
criminal justice system. Churches, in small towns and big cities
alike, are sensing the nudging of the Spirit and discovering the
need to share ministry with those whose lives are most affected by
our troubled system of criminal justice. In response, the
Department of Church and the World will hold an open conversation
on the Church and the Justice System to bring together our
experiences, questions, creativity, and sense of the Spirit's call. Please join us in this
conversation on Tuesday November 29th at 7PM at the EOA offices at
2560 Clearview Ave.
NW in Canton. Questions? Contact
Mariah Marlin-Warfield at youthpastor@uccmedina.org or (330) 725-4559
ex.33. If this is of interest to you, but you cannot be present on
the 29th, please let Mariah know.
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Around EOA
- Starting October 7, and
continuing each Friday through November 18, Reiki will be offered
at the EOA/WRA support center in Canton between 1 and 4PM.
Rich Plant, our Associate Association Minister, is a Reiki
practitioner, and has recently been attuned in a Celtic form of
Reiki. Call or email Rich if you have questions at
330-453-8178 x 103 or richp@eoaucc.org.
- Area E pastors are
invited to meet at Zoar UCC, 142 E. Fifth St. Zoar,
OH 44697,
at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.
- Churches of the Eastern
Ohio Association and the Western Reserve Association are cordially
invited to celebrate our shared ministry of Extravagant
Hospitality, Continuing Testament, and Changing Lives in the
Service of Installation of our new Officers called by the
Twenty-Eighth General Synod: W. Mark Clark, J. Bennett Guess, and
James Moos Executive Ministers of Office of General Ministries,
Local Church Ministries, and Wider Church & Global Ministries
of the United Church of Christ at the Pilgrim United Church of
Christ, 2592 W. 14th Street, Cleveland on Sunday, November 13,
2011 at 2PM in the afternoon. Reception immediately follows at Pilgrim Church. Those who wish to
robe are invited to wear multi-colored or red stoles.
- Free
Webinar: Church Tenants - Sharing Your Church and Managing Risk.
Wednesday, Nov 16 at 11AM and at 3PM. Sharing your space and
developing sources of income requires understanding methods of
risk transfer. The session will review how to lend and lease
your property while minimizing risk to your church. Here's how to manage common tenants:
Daycare; Weight Watches; non-profits; wedding parties. Register
online at https://insuranceboard.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/event.pl.
- CUE
Seminaries Survey. In order to better communicate with
congregations in the region, CUE Seminaries (Chicago,
United, and Eden) is
collecting information about how and why congregations support
theological education. Please take a few minutes to participate in
a congregational survey for CUE Seminaries. Here is a direct link
to the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7GDKQHQ.
You can also connect to the survey directly on the CUE website: www.cueseminaries.org.
If you have questions, please contact Kiely Todd Roska, CUE
Director, 651-255-6121 or kiely@cueseminaries.org.
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Youth & Education
- The Fall Youth Event is scheduled for November 18-21 at
Pilgrim Hills Camp in Brinkhaven,
OH. The theme is Let
Justice Roll based on Amos 5:24 But let justice roll down
like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. For
more information or questions regarding the event please feel free
to email Bree at blee001@defiance.edu or Margaret at
mmills@wraucc.org.
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Local Church
- Medina
United Church of Christ, on the square at Liberty and Broadway in
Medina, invites you to attend A Casual Evening of Dinner and Music
on Saturday, November 12th. Dinner begins at 6:00PM in the
Fellowship Hall and the music program Miki and Friends at 7:00PM
in the Sanctuary. Miki will be singing operatic arias, African
American Spirituals, music from the 30-40's
and authentic Japanese music arranged by Miki, who was born and
raised in Japan. The dinner menu is lasagna, salad, Italian bread,
and pumpkin rolls. A free will offering will be received to
benefit the Medina UCC Costa Rica Mission Trip Scholarship Fund.
Since 2009 representatives from Medina UCC have been building
simple homes for the poor in Costa Rica. Please call the Church
Office (330-725-4559) for dinner reservations.
- Welton
G. Stein will celebrate his 90th birthday on Nov. 12th. His
family is celebrating with an Open House on Nov. 13th from
2-5PM at the First United Church of Christ in Sugarcreek (526 W.
Main St.) Family, friends, former students, church and club
members are welcome to celebrate the occasion with Welton. He has
been a member of the Sugarcreek First United Church of Christ for
55 years, served as a Lay Minister for 26 years at New Bedford
Zion United Church of Christ, then served as the Minister of
Visitation at Sugarcreek First United Church of Christ. He has
served as a supply minister and continues to do so.
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In This Issue
New Items
- Thank
You!
- Coal
Country
- Christmas
Bazaar
- Church
& the Justice System
Around EOA
- Reiki
- Area E Pastors
- Installation of New Officers
- Free Webinar
- CUE Survey
Youth & Education
Local Church
- Evening
of Dinner & Music
- Birthday
Celebration
Workshops &
Events
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Food for Thought
Consider Breaking a Rule
"He heard a voice saying, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By
no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or
unclean.' The voice said to
him again, a second time, 'What
God has made clean, you must not call profane.'
This happened three times . . . Peter was greatly puzzled about what to
make of the vision that he had seen . . . While Peter was still
thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Look, three men are searching for
you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation,
for I have sent them.'"
Excerpt from Acts 10: 9-23a
Reflection by Christina Villa
(Stillspeaking Devotional)
Peter is hungry and has a vision in which God tells him what to do:
"Get up, Peter; kill and eat." Wait a minute, Peter
says, I'm not going to just
kill any old thing and eat it! There are rules against that, and
even having God tell him it's
OK-not once, not twice, but three times-isn't
enough for Peter. He's
still greatly puzzled. What could it mean? What should he do? He's still sitting there thinking about it
when the Spirit, sounding exasperated, taps him on the shoulder:
"Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation."
Sometimes we get so used to following "rules" that our
obedience to them gets in the way of our obedience to God. Sometimes
rules protect us from challenge or risk. In the process of staying
safe, and perhaps congratulating ourselves for being good
rule-followers, we never do anything that might be considered divinely
inspired-or even very important to us.
What rules are you busy following while the Spirit is repeatedly trying
to make you get up and do something else, something you were meant to
do, something God has in mind for you?
Prayer
Thank you for never giving up on trying to get my attention.
Amen.
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Quick
Links
The United Church
of Christ
Western Reserve
Association
Parish Paper: Should We Unleash the Power of
Congregational Planning?Attached to this email is
The
Parish Paper, a wonderful resource to which the Ohio Conference has
subscribed on behalf of all Ohio UCC churches. With the
Conference subscription, we in local churches and the association have
permission from the copyright holder to use the material per copyright
restrictions. Each issue stands alone as a topic of interest and
importance to being a living and growing congregation Please distribute
only in its unaltered entirety.
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Upcoming Educational Opportunities, Workshops & Events
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- Four
Doorways coming to Westlake! Adam Kukuk will be leading a Four
Doorways worship workshops this fall Saturday, November 12th at
Westlake Christian Church (25800 Hilliard Blvd, Westlake) from
9:30AM - 12:30PM. It's an
affordable, jam-packed morning: learning new music, praying
creatively, asking questions, deepening your congregation's worship of God. $35 for the first
registration from your church and $10 for everyone after. Bring the
whole team! Find it online. Go to www.adamkukuk.com/four_doorways.html.
Search for Four Doorways on Facebook. Go beyond traditional -vs-
contemporary...
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