Strengthen the Church special offering this Sunday, May 19

Through the Strengthen the Church Offering, people around our country can help support new congregations. These emerging churches receive "CASA Grants" or Congregational Assessment, Support, and Advancement Grants. Pastor Ali Lopez Valcarcel received a CASA Grant and coaching for her effort to start the United Church of Christ Rio Grande Valley, also known as Proyecto RGV. Funds helped provide tools for the ministry, such as a place to gather, support for a pastor, and sound equipment. It also supports outreach to migrants on both sides of the Rio Grande.

"The CASA Grant gave us our start," explains Pastor Ali Lopez Valcarcel. The grant represents support coming into the Rio Grande Valley from congregations and people across the United Church of Christ. "It means so much that the wider United Church of Christ believes in us. It encourages me as a pastor and person committed to this work. People believe in us! And it creates a level of accountability. People count on us!"

An Open and Affirming, Immigrant-Welcoming Congregation is forming in Texas because generous people support the Strengthen the Church Offering. Think what more we can do together!

John Walsh is our preacher this Pentecost Sunday

May 19, 2024 ~ Pentecost Sunday ~ ‘…Fire In the Bones’

This Sunday is Pentecost. Wearing bright colors signifies that we bring life to all that we touch. Let this ancient prayer speak our hope for all that we touch.

A Celtic Prayer

May the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,

so that stranger and friend may come and warm themselves at it.

And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,

like a candle set in the window of a house,

bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.

Sunday's Scriptures:

Acts 2:1-6

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Thank You!

Thanks to all who purchased Labyrinth stickers for our Youth Group fundraiser—we sold all of them!

If you didn’t get a chance to purchase stickers and you would like to: please contact admorics@redlandsucc.org and we will get you in on our second order.

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 - Peppermint Ridge

For the month of May, Caring for Kin will be partnering with Peppermint Ridge! Erin Beardemphl let us know that PR could use new or gently used kitchen utensils and appliances as well as new linens such as sheets for twin or double beds and kitchen and bath towels. The cart will be out and ready to accept donations!

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.

Start reading now! Next Book Club meeting is June 2

The current book selection for the RUCC Book Group is Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan.

The book discussion will be after church at noon on Sunday, June 2, in the Founders Room, and the discussion leader will be Toni Momberger. Everyone is welcome to join.

Click here for the book Club schedule for the rest of 2024

Racial Justice reflection of the week

In 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government rounded up and incarcerated Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. While World War II raged overseas, four American citizens individually challenged the constitutionality of the Japanese American incarceration. But the only person to win her Supreme Court case is the lone member without a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi is the only woman of the four challengers to be excluded from the nation’s highest civilian honor. Her posthumous nomination for the Presidential Medal of Freedom received a swell of support from community leaders who formed a nomination committee, wrote letters of support, and circulated a petition calling for Endo Tsutsumi to be honored.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/mitsuye-endo-tsutsumi-medal-of-freedom-rcna151515

From the Environmental Justice Team

Birds as indicators of environmental trends:

Since its discovery as a bird migration hotspot in 2016, researchers have flocked (c’mon, who could resist that one) to Bear Divide in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles to gather information about the numbers, species, and physical condition of the thousands of birds flying through this gap in the mountains on their way north for the summer. And what these scientists learn won’t just add to our understanding of birds; it will give us data that addresses broader environmental issues. As Ian Davies of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says, "You know the canary in the coal mine saying? If we understand what's happening to birds, we might be able to understand broader changes in the environment, in climate and things like that."

Source: “On this unassuming trail near LA, bird watchers see something spectacular,” Kai McNamee, National Public Radio, 5/13/24: https://www.npr.org/2024/05/13/1250248970/birds-migration-la-bear-divide-california-science-environment

Southern California Nevada Conference Annual Gathering, June 7&8

Use this link to register for Annual Gathering.

This will be the first opportunity to welcome in person Rev. Rachael Pryor, the newly elected Conference Minister. Rev. Traci Blackmon will be the keynote speaker on Friday afternoon and will preach the closing worship service on Saturday. Rev. Blackmon served in the national UCC as the Associate General Minister for Justice and Local Church Ministries.

Please note there is no walk-in registration the day of the meeting.

The cost for this two-day gathering is $175 which includes lunch and dinner on Friday, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. 

All Annual Gathering information (schedules, workshops, speakers, etc.) is posted on the website. Click here for more information.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• May 19 - Pentecost
• May 19 - Strengthen The Church Special Offering
• May 19 - Wider Ministries Quarterly Meeting to approve donations (see article above)
• May 21 - Board Meeting
• May 26 - Kick off the Summer with Rhymes with Orange. (see article above)
• June 1 - Sacred Saturday
• June 2 - Music Sunday! Book Club after church. (see article above)
• June 7-8 - Southern California Nevada Conference of the UCC Annual Gathering at Chapman University and online
• 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