July 16, 2024

Following Jesus together,

Nourishing one another in the Living Water of the Spirit,

Blossoming boldly with God's abundant love, healing, and justice, and 

Transforming lives. 

To submit an article for Tidings, email Anne here by Mondays at 12:00 noon.

Prayers for Pastor Michael

Please pray for successful cancer surgery on Monday, July 22nd for Pastor Michael. Pray for guidance for the surgeon and medical team working with him, and healing, strength, and patience during his multi-week recovery period.

If you would like to mail him a card, please send it to the church at 6801 N. Oracle Rd., Tucson, 85704. If you prefer, you can bring a card (or food and/or a gift), to the office during the work week (Mon-Thurs, 9am to 3pm) or leave them on the table in the church entrance on Sundays. Items will be delivered to him during the week.

Summer Choir

This Coming Sunday, July 21st

The Summer Choir is open for everyone to participate. You can simply come at 9:00 am and practice an easier anthem, and then sing during the 9:30 am service. All are invited to participate and bring a friend.  

August Choir date: August 18th. 

Celebration of Life for Rita B

A Celebration of Life service will be held here on Thursday, July 25th at 10:00 am, followed by a reception in McNear Hall.

We also be livestreaming the service.

Use this link.

Cards can be sent to her daughter-in-law and son:

Rosy Saldivar and Josh Gerkin 

5472 W. Bandtail Ct.

Marana, AZ 85658

Rita's wishes were that in lieu of flowers,

donations can be sent to

Respond Inc., PO Box 555, Somerville, MA, 02143 (Women’s Shelter) or

Our Family Services, 2590 N Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712.

The Needs Don’t Take a Break

Summer traditionally brings a slower pace of living. But for those who provide care for asylum seekers at Casa Alitas, there is no let-up. Urgent needs for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and help with transportation are on-going. Compassion on the Border (CoB) responds by purchasing and delivering approximately $500 of needed food items to Casa Alitas the first week of every month throughout the year. Casa Alitas staff members help us know what items are most urgently needed for any given month. Frequently the need is for baby food and formula. More recently, the identified need is for easy-to-prepare soup cups. The photo below shows CoB’s July donation ready to be delivered. In addition to providing food for hungry stomachs, CoB members seek to bring moments of joy to the children at the shelter by making and donating dozens of soft, cuddly toy chicks.

In order to provide the financial resources that allow us to make monthly donations, Compassion on the Border relies on the sale of items hand-crafted by CoB members. Items are sold in Tohono Chul’s gift shop, at Art Centro, and to Casas Adobes members and friends. A new item recently offered for sale is a Doggie Bandana. Watch for an upcoming Tidings article that will highlight the variety of items crafted by CoB members.

We invite you to join with us in the humanitarian mission of CoB. Please contact Mona Udstuen, email, or Michelle Perrin, email, for more information. 

Keeling School Supply Drive

The deadline for collection of school supply donations for Keeling Elementary is quickly approaching. Purchased items may be dropped in the collection baskets at in-person worship services on July 21st and July 28th. All donations are greatly appreciated and likely to be used. 

Items most needed: crayons, markers composition notebooks, Post-It notes, Scotch tape refills, Kleenex, sanitizing wipes and Ziplock bags. 

Because of the memorial service for Rita Bourgeois on July 25th, the drop-off drive for donations previously set for that morning is canceled.  

Volunteers are still needed to help with the delivery of donations to the school on Friday morning, August 2nd. Contact Jane Spande here, to volunteer, with questions or for more info.  

Donate online here. Write in "School Supplies".

or

Donate by dropping a check in the offering or mailing to the church.

Be sure to add a memo that it is for School Supplies.

Keeling Elementary School staff and students greatly appreciate this congregation’s support over the years. Please help as you are able again this year!

With Pastor John,

weekly on Wednesdays, 10:00 am on Zoom

Check the calendar at the end of the e-newsletter

for Zoom links.

July 17th Subject: The “Not-Christian Nationalism” of the Founders: Deists, Unitarians and other religious thinkers

Are you aware that Pastor John has his own

YouTube Channel?

Did you know he does a two minute (approximately) Quick Take on the upcoming Sunday Gospel lesson on his channel?

Well - here is last week's Quick Take:

Click Here

And his grateful acknowledgement of 42 subscribers!

You will enjoy them and surely want to subscribe!

Submitted by Susan Sommerfeld

Prayer and Meditation Retreat 2025

Save the Date

The Prayer and Meditation Retreat of 2025 will occur on Friday and Saturday, January 31 and February 1, 2025. We will return to the beautiful Redemptorist Center for our time together. Please mark your calendars now and plan to join us for this event. More details will be available in the fall so watch for information in the Tidings.  

Prayer Retreat Support Team: If you would like to be part of the team planning and supporting the Prayer and Meditation Retreat, please contact Jean-Marie Huisjen through her email. Thank you! 

A Path to Advocacy

As CAUCC continues its commitment to the democratic process, our Ministry of Justice Advocacy and Mission (MJAM) is developing plans to move forward on Advocacy through the development of a Justice Advocacy Team.

MJAM believes this congregation’s mission outreach is strong and that now we want to increase our activity to address systemic change. To do so we want to intentionally explore justice issues in our society and to address these through education, advocacy, and other justice-related activities.

From the Oxford University Press dictionary, a simple definition of Advocacy is “…to recommend, to be in favor of”. An advocate is “a person who advocates”. Advocacy may, however, include not only the expression of support but also assuring technical assistance needed for that support.

From that same dictionary, a simple definition of Justice is, “just behavior or treatment.” As an ethical, philosophical idea, Justice has been said to be a standard whereby people are treated impartially, fairly, properly by the law.

Justice Advocacy is nothing drastic but is rather the conscious decision to stand up for policies and practices that reflect our values and are a clear expression of our faith.

To begin this process, we will be holding discussion groups after church in July.

The purpose of these groups is to identify social concerns held by people within our congregation. Members of the Justice Advocacy planning group will be facilitating the groups. Facilitators are there to listen, give all a chance to participate, and provide a record of the concerns identified. These identified concerns will help to provide direction for the Justice Advocacy Team’s next steps.

Meeting Schedule / Gather in Room 3

July 21st at 10:45, July 28th at 11:00 (Coffee hour first)

You are welcome to attend one or both of these meetings. The hope is that your attendance will inspire you to become part of the CAUCC Justice Advocacy Team.

Come,

Share Your Thoughts

Join In the Decision-Making Process

(Any questions feel free to call Gypsy Lyle, Planning Team member, at 520-887-4933)  

Have you heard of the Philadelphia Eleven?

Well, I hadn’t either until last month. The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974. This was two years BEFORE the General Convention affirmed and authorized the ordination of women to Episcopal priesthood!



You can google Philadelphia Eleven and find a lot more information.

Anyway, a film has been made with the same title (Philadelphia Eleven) and there have been screenings across the nation since the fall of 2023. And there are screenings all over if you snoop around.

That said, I learned of a way to watch the film at home! During the weekend of the 50th Anniversary of these eleven women being ordained, you can watch this film on your own device for only ELEVEN dollars – get it? Yes, for only $11.00 you can watch the documentary on your time schedule from July 26th through July 30th. Just click on this link to set up your private viewing. You need to create an account and pay $11.00. Enjoy!

Sincerely, Susan Sommerfeld

2023 Annual Report

Click here to see our accomplishments last year.

Wednesday, July 17

• 10:00 am Purposeful Ponderings with Pastor John, Zoom Ponderings Link or Meeting ID: 622 421 179 and Passcode: 118704 
• 12:00 Noon Centering Prayer (Zoom only) Click on Centering Link or use Meeting ID: 890 1364 9732 and Passcode: 769422
• 2:00 pm Worship Arts Team Zoom

Thursday, July 18

• 8:30 Men's Breakfast (Beyond Bread on Ina)
• 9:00 am Stitch Witches Rooms 5/6

Friday, July 19

• 10:00 am AA Meeting Rooms 7/8

Saturday, July 20

• 9:00 am AA Meeting Rooms 5/6

Sunday, July 21

• 9:30 am Worship Sanctuary Online Worship; click on the Livestream and Recorded Services box on that page. (If you try the link early, it will redirect you to the wrong page).
• 10:45 am MJAM Justice Advocacy Conversation Room 3
• 11:00 am Funday School Zoom Funday Link

Monday, July 22

• 3:30 pm Campus Cleaning Entire Campus

Tuesday, July 23

• 12:00 Noon Centering Prayer, In Person Room 1

Wednesday, July 24

• 10:00 am Purposeful Ponderings with Pastor John, Zoom Ponderings Link or Meeting ID: 622 421 179 and Passcode: 118704 
• 12:00 Noon Centering Prayer (Zoom only) Click on Centering Link or use Meeting ID: 890 1364 9732 and Passcode: 769422

Other room rentals may be on campus, but not on this calendar

Pastor Michael is undergoing surgery for his cancer. 

He hopes to be back with us by mid-August.  



Through July,

Anne's, Jay's and Janet's hours:

9:00 am to 12:00 noon Monday and Wednesdays;

open by appointment in the afternoons (Noon to 3:00 pm)

Tuesday/Thursday: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

and

Barry, Building Maintenance Manager's hours:

till 2:00 pm, Tue, Wed, Thur.

The easiest way to contact anyone on staff is to email them directly.

For intentional conversations, appointments work best.

Michael: michael@caucc.org

John: john@caucc.org

Anne: anne@caucc.org

Jay: jay@caucc.org

Darryl: dalking@email.arizona.edu

Ida: imhgnp@msn.com

Member-at-Large, Amy Lincoln: mal.caucc@gmail.com

Council Meetings and Minutes

Council meetings are open to any member of the CAUCC community. Next meeting, July 16th, on Zoom. Approved May meeting minutes are available, click here. Email Anne Bailey for the upcoming meeting Zoom link.  

To support the ministry and mission of CAUCC, please donate online here: