A message from our Pastor and Teacher

April 28, 2024 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ "The Glorious Tale of Lazarus the Plant"

My friend Paul Swensen was a plant killer. It wasn't something he wanted to be. He loved plants. But the fact of the matter was that any type of plant he was given, was doomed to end up first sad and shriveled, and then dead as a doornail.   

One day he had a flash of insight – a God Moment – suddenly he realized that just maybe he wasn't destined to be a plant killer – maybe that fact was all in his head! 

Sunday's Scripture:

John 11: 30-44

Creation Celebration 2024: The RUCC Family Nature Fair - April 27

It’s time to get ready for the 3rd Annual RUCC Family Nature Fair! Fun and games on the patio as we celebrate our natural world.

Date: Saturday April 27 Time: 10 a.m. to noon

Kids go from station to station, adding stickers to their Nature Passports. Here is just a partial list of fun stations we have planned for this year’s Fair:

• Tumbling in the Garden with Joette and Foundations Gymnastics.
• Sierra Club: Clean Transportation For All.
• Go on a guided Nature Walk with Gretchen Andrews in our gardens.
• Decorate your own small plant pots and then plant some seeds and seedlings. Take them home to watch them grow!
• ...and More!

Please follow this link to RSVP and to learn all the fun details:

eventbrite.com

Pilgrim Pines Camperships available

RUCC has a generous Campership policy: all RUCC members automatically receive 50% off their tuition at Pilgrim Pines! 

The first session of the summer begins June 30, so use the button below to learn about all the programs scheduled at Pilgrim Pines this summer. Do it NOW. Don’t miss the chance to enjoy summer camp at Pilgrim Pines this summer!

Also: it is very important that you contact admorics@redlandsucc.org before registering your child on the Pilgrim Pines website: we need to complete the campership paperwork here before you register with Pilgrim Pines.

Caring for Kin -

Just ONE MORE WEEK (April 28) to bring in your donations for dogs and cats while they are waiting to find loving homes.

Thank you for your generosity. The Yucaipa Animal Placement Society (YAPS), the Benevolent Animal Rescue Committee (BARC), and the Redlands Animal Shelter have asked for the following donations:....

Munch and Muse, Tuesday, April 30

The RUCC “Munch & Muse” (M&M) Group will meet this coming Tuesday, April 30, at 11 a.m. at the church, in or around Covenant Hall.

Everyone is invited to bring a sack lunch and join in with munching and musing!

Quarterly Gathering - Sunday, May 5

We will gather in Covenant Hall following the 10:30 service for the quarterly report from each of the Areas and Officers. Here's your chance to be well-informed about what our church is doing!

Getting comfortable with the tech at church - continues on Monday, May 6

Reminder: this class will be on hiatus April 29, and will resume on May 6.

This class is for everyone who would like help with all the technology here at RUCC. Led by Dan Abushanab, this course will help us all become more familiar with Teams, Forms, QR Codes, Screen sharing and more!

• Week 3 (May 6): Scheduling and hosting meetings in Teams and using the room systems available at the church.
• Week 4 (May 13): More advanced tools. Gathering content in Forms, making a QR code, adding new tabs to channels

Classes meet in the Founders Room starting at 6 p.m. (Note the earlier start time)

Wider Ministries seeks your input about donations by May 19

If you know a worthwhile charitable organization to which the church should consider giving a donation, RUCC Wider Ministries wants to hear from you! There were many outstanding groups represented at last month’s Caring Fair. Wider Ministries donations must go outside of RUCC to other deserving groups. Donation criteria are 1) Designation as a 501 (c ) (3) charitable organization 2) Support for the mission and values of RUCC and 3) A relationship with RUCC in some way, such as participating in our recent Caring Fair, or being a group that a RUCC member is involved with. 

You can find donation suggestion forms by clicking HERE, or on the Wider Ministries Bulletin Board, where you can also find Thank You letters to RUCC from many of the organizations we help. Donation forms may be turned into Kathie Blakley (blakley13@gmail.com), Wider Ministries area leader, or to any member of the Wider Ministries group.



The deadline is May 19, which is the next Wider Ministries Quarterly Meeting.

Book Group Update - next meeting is June 2

Due to the Congregational Gathering on May 5, the Book Group willl not meet that day. The next group meeting is June 2. The revised schedule may be seen below.

REVISED RUCC Book Group Schedule 2024:

Representative needed for SCNCUCC Annual Gathering, June 7-8.

The Southen California Nevada Conference of the UCC's Annual Gathering is on June 7-8 this year at Chapman University in Orange. We are entitled to 2 reps . We have one, John Walsh, but would like to send a second person. (If you can’t go both days, you could just do one) and the church pays registration fees, etc. it’s always a very good event.

Racial justice reflection of the week

Studies of the death penalty have long shown racial inequality in its application, but a new report has found the disparity extends inside the death chamber itself. In an analysis of the more than 1,400 lethal injection executions conducted in the U.S. since 1982, researchers for the nonprofit Reprieve reported that states made significantly more mistakes during the executions of Black people than they did with prisoners of other races.

Reprieve, which advocates against the death penalty, found that nationwide, half of the botched lethal injection executions were of Black people, though only a third of the prisoners executed were Black. The pattern was starkest in some Southern states. In Arkansas, Oklahoma and Georgia, three quarters or more of the botched lethal injection executions were of Black people, though they accounted only for a third or less of executions in those states.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245290751/botched-exections-black-race-death-penalty

From the Environmental Justice Team

Genesis 1:11-12: Then God said, “Let the earth produce fresh growth, let there be on the earth plants bearing seed, fruit-trees bearing fruit each with seed according to its kind.” So it was; the earth yielded fresh growth, plants bearing seed according to their kind and trees bearing fruit each with seed according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

When we garden thoughtfully, we do God’s work.

Water is precious; we can conserve it by choosing plants wisely. Water-wise gardening information:

https://mgsb.ucanr.edu/Water-Wise_Gardening/

https://www.emwd.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/inlandempirelandscapeguide.pdf

Native plants not only conserve water, but they also require less maintenance and provide support for wildlife, such as native pollinators. Information about gardening with native plants: https://www.cnps.org/gardening

https://calscape.org/

You don’t have to have a big yard to exercise your green thumb. Try growing native plants on your balcony or patio:

https://www.cnps.org/gardening/patio-and-container-gardens-5423

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• April 27 - 3rd Annual RUCC Family Nature Fair
• May 2 - Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at U of R - (See article above)
• May 4 - Sacred Saturday
• May 5 - Quarterly Gathering in Covenant Hall
• May 6, 13 - Getting comfortable with technology series of classes
• May 7 - Y-Circus
• May 15 - Blood Drive 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at RUCC. To make an appointment, call 1-800-879-4484, or visit lstream.org/Redlands
• May 19 - Wider Ministries Quarterly Meeting to approve donations (see article above)
• June 7-8 - Southern California Nevada Conference of the UCC Annual Gathering at Chapman University and on line - (See article above)
• June 23 - 27 - Western Regional Youth Event



The church calendar is found at redlandsucc.org

Click on "calendar" in the red banner near the top of the page