What you can Do After Hurricane Sanday -2-

Now for the information about what you can do in New Jersey.  I found Senator Menendez's website and he has a page devoted to information about Sandy Disaster. 

Here is the information about what YOU can do as a volunteer:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Volunteer:
Those New Jerseyans who can safely and effectively help their neighbors and communities are encouraged to do so. Call this hotline for volunteer opportunities: 1-800-JERSEY-7 or visit www.fema.gov/howtohelp

Donate through a trusted organization:
At the national level, many voluntary-, faith- and community-based organizations are active in disasters, and are trusted ways to donate to disaster survivors. In addition to the national members, each state has its own list of voluntary organizations active in disasters. If you’d like to donate or volunteer to assist those affected by Sandy, these organizations are the best place to start.

Cash is the most efficient method of donating:
Cash offers voluntary agencies the most flexibility in obtaining the most-needed resources and pumps money into the local economy to help businesses recover. Remember, unsolicited donated goods such as used clothing, miscellaneous household items, and mixed or perishable foodstuffs require helping agencies to redirect valuable resources away from providing services to sort, package, transport, warehouse, and distribute items that may not meet the needs of disaster survivors.
Be wary of scams and fraud.


To be policially correct her is the link to Senator Lautenber's web page.  He also has disaster links.  Here is the link to Congressman Lance's web site.

OK. By using these links you can go to other links in the State of New Jersey so that you have all the information that can help you decided what to do.

Take care.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

 

Hurricane Sandy- How you can Help

If you have not been adversely affected by Sandy and you are watching the TV to see all the problems that people in the state are having you may wonder how you can help.  I have been watching the people of Little Falls being evacuated from their homes and the people on the New Jersey shore who have lost business and homes I have been wondering what can be done.  Fortunately the web has a lot of information about things that can be done. 

Since I blog primarily about UCC events I have copied the UCC page to this blog.

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UCC Responds to Superstorm SandyOctober 31, 2012 Having done significant damage last week in the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy has now crossed over Eastern North America causing major power outages, flooding and damage to infrastructure and personal property. At least 65 deaths are attributed to Hurricane Sandy. Effects of the storm include: tidal storm surge from Virginia to Maine; tropical storm winds from the coast to as far west as Illinois; heavy rains from North Carolina to Maine and up into Nova Scotia, Canada; and heavy snow fall (as much as 24 inches) in the northern Appalachian Mountains, in West Virginia in particular; and serious flooding in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Early predicted damage estimates are in the tens of millions. One Great Hour of Sharing and UCC National Disaster Ministries is actively responding. We are in touch with Conference Ministers and UCC Disaster Response Coordinators in affected areas, all of whom are busy collecting information from congregations concerning the effects of Sandy on their members or communities.  . Our partners at Church World Service are providing material resources in affected areas, including blankets, hygiene kits and clean-up buckets, as needed. CWS also will assist communities in developing long-term recovery plans and provide technical and financial support, as possible. We are also coordinating with our partners, including the Latin American Caribbean Area Office of Global Ministries, Church World Service, and the ACT Alliance, all of whom are currently assessing needs. Tropical storm conditions and severe rain and wind affected Haiti from October 23 to October 27, covering all departments of the country. Here is information about our world neighbors: In Haiti, severe flooding damaged and blocked infrastructure/roads, damaged/destroyed houses, caused loss of livestock and severe damage to agricultural fields. Evacuations have taken place in risk-prone zones and certain Internally Displaced Persons camps. New outbreaks of cholera have been reported and more are expected in the coming days. The Cuban Council of Churches, a long-time CWS partner, is conducting damage assessments in affected areas. A shipment of material goods from CWS to Cuba departed on Oct. 27. HOW YOU CAN HELP 1. Pray for the people and communities across the Caribbean and United States impacted by the Hurricane Sandy.  Our Board of World Fellowship can do the following: Make a secure online donation to the Hurricane Sandy Response fund. Our Children and adults can do the following: Prepare Church World Service Clean Up and Hygiene Kits. They are urgently needed now and following all disasters. Thank you for your compassion and support. Jeannette Brown UCC Representative

nonprofit software

The UCC can have fun on Halloween

I received this post from a member of Grace United Church in Flemmington.  I think it is cute!
I hope you enjoy it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/99155578680/permalink/10151163534853681/#!/media/set/?set=a.377652286786.165494.13217786786&type=3

I hope all is well with you my readers and remember " We shall Overcome" and we shall survive!

Jeannette Brown
Christ Church UCC Representative.

Post Sandy Hope all is well with Everyone

We will survive from the worst hurricane that I have experienced in my 78 years of life.  I hope that all of you are warm, safe and well.  Christ Church staff is ready to supply help for those of you who may need it. 

 

Here is the message I received from our senior minister:

 

"I want you to know that we will organize ourselves to be helpful for each other in the advent that we have serious water and tree damage. So, if you need a generator to get a sump pump going, if you need a tree cut that is blocking something, if you need a place to stay, just shoot me a note at ctrush@ccsnj.org

 

Likewise, if you are able to help out or could offer assistance of some kind, describe it for me and we’ll add you to the team. It looks like the worst will hit south of the Raritan river but there is no harm in being prepared.

If you lose power, you can still reach us by finding the “Christ Church” Facebook page with your cell phone and leaving a message there."
 

 This message is not just for Christ Church members but anyone in the community.  If you need help do not hesitate to reach out to our church.  All are Welcome here and in God's sight.

 

Jeannette Brown

Christ Church UCC  Representative

 

My prayer to you.

 

Dear God we have survived the worst disaster in the life of those of us who live in New Jersey please help us to continue to be safe and take care of each other.  By working together with your help we will survive.  Thank you God for your help so far.  Amen

 

Since I love to sing the song that came to mind is We Shall Overcome.

 

Service Sunday October 28

This Sunday October 28 is Service Sunday where we will hi-lite the service projects in which the members of Christ Church are involved.  I thought I would tell you about some of the service projects that I do.

I sing in the choir, which is the biggest service project because it requires the most time in my life with choir rehearsal and church services.  I also take voice lessons to keep my voice in shape, but that is not mandatory for choir members.  I am also the choir music librarian which means I keep track of the music that the choir sings by filing the music we have sung and numbering the new music and putting the new music in the database so that we can find them again.  For this I have help from Marian Glen.

Another service project is the Shawl Ministry which I started at Christ Church.  There are members of Christ Church who knit prayer shawls or hats to be donated to members in need or members of the community.  I could use more members to help with this as the need is great and we have not been able to keep up with the need.

An adjunct to the Shawl Ministry in my mind is the Scarf Project.  I have blogged about that project so scroll down to read about it.  I am knitting multicolored scarves to be worn by members and guests of the UCC Synod to be held in Long Beach California next June.  I am thinking of having the choir "borrow the scarves that I have knitted for our Martin Luther King Concert.  I could also use more people to join me in this.  I think I am the only Christ Church member who is knitting these and they are quick, quicker than prayer shawls.

A new project of mine is Christ Church historian.  This one has not yet been announced officially by me as I hope to do so in January.  To begin with I will be taking the oral history of long time Christ Church members before they leave the region or get too old to remember.  I will also work on the archives of Christ Church.  More about this in detail later.  But if this project interests you let me know.  I could use volunteers.

This Sunday members are asked to bring in toiletries that we bring home from our travels.  I have a sack of them that I will bring to church.  Hope you will do so too.

Jeannette Brown

Christ Church UCC member.

PS:  Saturday is the New Jersey Association UCC meeting in Short Hills.  The discussion will be Social Media and I will be there, hope you will join me.

Welcome Sunday at Christ Church

No matter who you are you are welcome here.  This is the motto of the UCC.  This means all people regardless of race, sexual orientation, economic status etc are welcome at Christ Church.  It has been said that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week in some towns because people worship in different churches.  As a budding historian, I know that in a town Pittsfield Massachusetts where my mother lived they had two Congregational Churches, First Congregational and Second Congregational which was founded by a Black minister for the Black people of the town.  I don't know if my mother and grandmother worshiped there, my great grandfather was a AMA minister.  AMA was a part of the Congregational church.  As far as segregation in church, if there was not a separate church Black people had to worship in the balcony, if the church had one.

That was then but now ALL are welcome.  The point of this as you are asking people to come to church, think of your cleaning person, your gardener, the people where you work, if you work in town, your child's teacher etc.  In other words think outside the box because all are welcome.  You might even find out that you have something in common.  My cleaning woman can hardly speak English but her son is in high school and she is thinking about his college education.  She lives too far away for me to invite her as I do, but we have some choir members who make long commutes to come to our church so that should not matter.

I have invited and brought my "grandchildren" to church events and even church when they helped me with the Homeless Hospitality People.  The family is Muslim but they are nothing.  Maybe when they grow up they will remember and decide for themselves. Since this is a blended family I remember one time when the two girls from my neighbors first marriage were arguing with their little sisters.  The little sisters were saying we are Muslim and the older sisters were saying they were Christian.  It was cute to see them discuss this.

What got me thinking about this is this morning's Daly Devotion from the UCC. 

Jeannette Brown

UCC Representative

 Here it is:

The Separating Power of Possessions

Excerpt from Genesis 36:1-8

"Their possessions were too great for them to dwell together."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Jacob and Esau, the twin brothers whose tussles began in their mother's womb, eventually reconciled enough to be able to settle in the same neighborhood in Canaan.  They prospered, but eventually became the victim of their own success.  The land was not able to support the herds of cattle of both brothers, so Esau had to move away.

This was a matter of environmental sustainability, but also something more.  As the author of Genesis put it, "Their possessions were too great for them to dwell together."  This is not an ancient problem.  Today—whether it's in Canaan or New Canaan—prosperity has a way of separating us.  The fastest growing segment of the housing market is exclusive gated communities, whose chief attraction is the way they separate people.  If you have enough money to buy sugar in large quantities, you are less likely to have to go next door to borrow a cup from a neighbor.  When you have your own car, you never meet your neighbor at the bus stop.

Our prosperity can be too great for us truly to dwell with one another.  There is another way of putting it:  Sometimes the more wealth we have, the more impoverished our lives can become.  Is there a way you can think of to keep your possessions from coming between you and your neighbor?

Prayer

Dear God, everything I have is a gift from you.  May I express my thanks by never letting my possessions create distance between me and those around me.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Christ Church in October

Last Sunday October 14 was Inspiration Sunday.  As Pastor Chuck Rush said in his communication to the Congregation "
Think for a moment when you were inspired by a great idea and you felt like you had the resources to act on it… The burst of energy in the morning, the bounce in your step, a surge of positive optimism that bubbled with good ideas…"
It is early in the morning as I compose this blog.  I wake up with energy to write to you about my church, Christ Church, and the church universal UCC.  Pastor Chuck goes on to say "
This Sunday we lift up the wonder of inspiration itself and we celebrate it with an Art show featuring people in the congregation who have painted and sculpted crosses in so many different ways. It is something of a living metaphor of our life as a community with people from many different walks of life and many different cultures converging around a common symbol that means different things to each of us. There is a real beauty that comes from variation on a common commitment."
To me this represents our church.  For more about Inspiration Sunday I urge you to listen to the sermon that he preached last Sunday. 

Next Sunday October 21 will be Welcome Sunday.  We are inviting all of you who read this blog and have not attended a service at Christ Church Summit to come and check us out at our 9:30 AM service.
Here is the invitation.
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Hello!

I heard about this opportunity at our church (Christ Church in Summit) and I thought of you!  If you are interested in looking for a spiritual home, a place for you or your family to explore service opportunities or a community of support, this is a great Sunday to try out Christ Church!

Christ Church is hosting an Open House this Sunday, October 21st.

We have two services at 9:30am and 11:15am.  The first service is a more "family-friendly" service and the second is more meditative with jazz piano.  There will be an opportunity to learn more about the church's adult, youth and children's programs during coffee between the two services.  Nursery care is provided at both services.

Comment if you have any Questions.

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 Since I am a choir member I have been humming the Welcome Song written by our Minister of Music Mark Miller.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative
Christ Church Summit NJ.