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!

A message from our Pastor and Teacher

May 5, 2024 ~~ Sixth Sunday of Easter & Quarterly Gathering ~~ "Jesus, Iconoclast" 

What kind of relationship do you have with God? How do you envision that relationship? In Sunday’s scripture passage, Jesus makes some statements that sound both familiar and comfortable to our modern and postmodern ears but must have been shocking to his contemporaries. Jesus calls God his Father. He gives them a new commandment. He calls them his friends.

The first two statements would be considered blasphemous by the Jewish follower of his day. The third, though not blasphemous, would have been both challenging and life-changing to those who heard him. 

How can we, in our 21st century context, understand the impact of Jesus' teachings on the people of his day?

Sunday's Scripture:

John 15: 9 -17

Racial Justice reflection of the week

While the civil war is associated with the end of slavery in the US, it survived throughout much of the Confederacy right to the end of the conflict.

“Many Confederates saw slavery as indelibly bound up with their bid for independence and used the slave trade to try to build a world around an independent slaveholding republic,” Professor Robert Colby says.

In “An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South,” Colby cites a shocking statistic. Between 80% and 85% of people enslaved in the Confederacy on the eve of war in 1861 were still enslaved when Gen Robert E. Lee surrendered in Virginia four years later. The number of Black people who were bought and sold over that span is estimated in the thousands.

And the Confederacy didn’t merely defend slavery within its borders.

“Essentially, anytime the Confederacy invaded a place where slavery was either more tenuous or people had fled from slavery, it absolutely took people back into slavery … many times, people who had not been enslaved at all,” Colby says.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/28/robert-colby-unholy-traffic-slave-trade-civil-war

From the Envrironmental Justice Team

Ten years after the discovery of lead contamination in the water supply for Flint, Michigan, we have a lot of work left to do:

A 2023 report from the EPA revealed that in 2021, lead made up 9% of the nation's service line infrastructure, representing an estimated 9.2 million pipes. Half of those pipes are concentrated in six states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and New York.

In Chicago alone, 400,000 homes still get their tap water through lead service lines. A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that nearly 70% of young children in the city are exposed to lead through their home tap water. The study also found that Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are more likely to have lead exposure, but less likely to be tested for lead.

Source: “Ten years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across the U.S. continues,” E. Kwong, P. Huang, R. Carlson, and R. Ramirez, National Public Radio, 4/26/24: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1198909905/flint-water-lead-poisoning-anniversary-chicago?ft=nprml&f=1007

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!

Youth Group Fundraiser: Cool Labyrinth Stickers $1 Each

Please consider supporting our new fundraiser: these awesome Labyrinth Stickers are just $1 each! (Or more if you’re feeling generous!)

These Labyrinth Stickers are very high quality—you can place them on just about any surface and trace the labyrinth path with your finger.

Reply to admorics@redlandsucc.org and let us know how many stickers you would like to purchase. Also: we will have Youth Group members on hand this Sunday to sell the stickers.

Thank you!

Getting comfortable with the tech at church - resumes on Monday, 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. and ending at 8 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.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• May 4 - Sacred Saturday
• May 5 - Quarterly Gathering in Covenant Hall
• May 6, 13 - Getting comfortable with technology 3rd in a series of classes
• May 14 - Munch and Muse
• May 14 - Stewards Meeting
• 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)
• May 21 - Board Meeting
• 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