Christ Church UCC Blog

How Can I Keep From Singing?

2011-12-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

Today's daily UCC prayer has that title. It is the song that Chuck sings at the beginning of one of our services. (Click on the link in the prayer ). It should also be my moto since I love to sing. I am very upset when I have a cold and can't sing well. I come to church to sing and I have learned a lot of scripture by singing it. I have been that way since I was a child and have sung in senior church choirs since I was sixteen. So here is the prayer.
As advent turns into Christmas keep on singing the praises of our Lord and all through the year.

"How Can I Keep From Singing?"

Psalm 89
"I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever."

Reflection by TalithaJ. Arnold

"My life flows onin endless song," affirmsan old hymn,"above earth's lamentation. . . .
I hear the real, thoughfar-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult andthe strife, I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in mysoul—how can I keep from singing?

- Gelineau

"The Christian faith was born singing," Joseph Gelineau wrote,"and it has never ceased to sing." That is never more true than inAdvent. When pregnant old Elizabeth greeted her pregnant young cousin Mary, shethrew back her head and sang, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spiritrejoices in God my Savior." When the angel announced to the shepherds thebirth of that child, a heavenly chorus joined in on "Glory to God!"Our carols, from "Joy to the World" to "Good Christian Folk,Rejoice!" echo those songs of joy.

But as Psalm 89 reminds us, we are called to sing of God's steadfast loveforever- --in good times and hard. So with our joy, we also sing ourlonging, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and our wondering "WhatChild is This?"

Like the Psalmist, we sing our faith in the One whose love is steadfast, inevery season, every time, every joy, every sorrow. The One born "in thebleak midwinter long ago." Born into the "hopes and fears of all theyears." "Born today"—and every day.

How indeed can we keep from singing?

Prayer

In this season and every season, O God, help us to sing your steadfast loveforever. Amen.

About the Author
Talitha J. Arnold is the Pastor of the United Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Copied from the UCC daily prayer e-mail.

Jeannette Brown
Choir member
UCC Representative.

Mission 1 Repreive.

2011-11-26T07:39:00.001-08:00

You can't get away from hunger. If you listen to as much TV news as I do it is always there. ( Have the TV on in the background because of tinnitus). So ABC News has a program in which you can donate help the hungry called Feeding America. It was the Thanksgiving news.

In our family we only hosted my extended family, my neighbor and three of her six kids. We had hoped her son with come. He is 16 and we bought enough food to feed him! In fact he had planned to eat at my house and his girl friend's house, but he did not make it to my house. We wanted to invite, and we did invite people who needed a dinner, but they did not come. Some of the leftovers went to my neighbor yesterday. She is not proud and young enough to be my daughter (46). So her kids are my honorary grand children! Yeah!

The reason for this blog today is that the director of Bread for the World was on "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" today. Combating Hunger. This is a PBS program on Channel 13. It will be rebroadcast on Sunday afternoon ( November 27.) if you want to see it or else follow the link to see it online.

As I said I will be collecting food monthly. Next collection date December 13.! I will take it to the Somerset county food bank on the Monday after that.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

Mission 1 Letter from UCC General Minister

2011-11-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

Geofry Black the UCC General Minister posted a letter about Mission 1. I have copied it below:

Dear Friends,

I believe Mission: 1 will change the lives of individuals and familiesthroughout our nation and around the world through direct food aid, programgrants, improvements in governmental policy on foreign aid and local efforts tocombat poverty. Our lives will be changed in the process, as our awareness ofpoverty-related hunger increases and our resolve to advocate for change ingovernment policy grow ever stronger.

It is about this opportunity that I am writing you today. If we are going tomeet our ambitious Mission:1 goals, we need the involvement of the whole UnitedChurch of Christ. Over the next nine days you are going to read stories ofwonderful efforts undertaken by our members, our congregations, nationalministries, conferences and associations, colleges and seminaries. What willyour story be?

This Sunday, I hope you and your congregation will join together with faithcommunities across our nation to write letters, collect food and take upspecial offerings. It is our collective action that will make the difference.This coming Sunday, November 6, will be our only Sunday during Mission: 1 -- I hopeyou won't let this special opportunity pass by.

I believe we will reach and even exceed our goals. Together, let's work hard,pray fervently, give generously and write passionately, all to the glory ofGod. Let's see what God will do with and through each and all of us as we seekto serve God in Jesus' name.

Blessings,

The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black
General Minister and President

Mission 1 e-mail from Dr. Black
Jeannette Brown
UCC Representativ

Mission 1 Send a letter to Congress

2011-11-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

OK This is day five of Mission 1. I know we got side tracked because of the October snow storm, but we can play catch up. Also we are extending the program until November 13 because of the school holiday. Remember hunger does not take a holiday. People have to eat every day at least three times a day.

I thought I was going to have to give you the information about your congress people for the letter writing campaign and today I opened the UCC website and voila the letter was written for me. Not only is the letter written but if you put in your name and address the system knows who your congress people are and then you just click send letter and it is gone! Yeah! Here is the link to the Mission 1 letter website. Mission 1 - Letters

So everyone should be able to do this either at home or in the computer room of the church. I will write a draft letter and print it on paper for those of you who prefer not to send by e-mail. I will have this ready for you next Sunday November 13 when we will be donating food.

I also would like you to submit pledge cards to pledge to either donate food to the food bank all through the year or participate in the Check Out Hunger campaign at your local supermarket. I posted the ad from the Food Bank next to the Mission 1 poster. As I said before hunger does not take a holiday.

The pledge cards will be ready next Sunday November 13 as well. Remember bring food and a friend to church on that Sunday.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative.

Mission 1. The collection begins!

2011-10-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

The boxes are out in the atrium. I hope you are beginning to gather your food for the Food Bank.
Sunday October 30, Diane Riley, Director of Advocacy of the Community Food Bank will talk to us about Hunger in America.

I have started shopping for food and for donations to the Food Bank. I bought some Peter Pan Peanut Butter in a plastic jar, (remember no glass jars) and grape jelly also in a plastic jar. You can tell the jar is plastic if it gives when you push against it. The Peter Pan Peanut butter had a code on it for a contribution from Conagra for Child Hunger Ends Here. I went online but their contribution had ended in August but that also means I bought the peanut butter before the price hike!
I went to the website of www.childhungerendshere.com and I found out a lot of information about childhood Hunger. It also links with Feeding America which also has a lot of information about hunger including a call to reach out to Congress just as the UCC Mission 1 site does.

The third component of Mission 1 is donation. It can be a donation by the Board of World Fellowship to represent all of us. But it can also be a donation of money that you make when you buy food, which I did recently. Look for the colored Community Food bank cards that are at the checkout. They are for $1.00, $2.00 and $5.00 denominations. You will never miss that money and you can do it year round instead of once a year. Hungry people don't suffer hunger only one time a year so we should make sure the Food Bank has food year round.

There are other programs beside the Food Bank that feed the hungry. Some groups are soup kitchens or food and clothing distributes like FISH in Dunellen. I found out recently that the food pantry of FISH is low.

Shoprite of Hillsborough New Jersey the town where I live is collecting money through
Partners in Caring Fighting Hunger in Your Neighborhood. Mine is not the only Shoprite that is participating in this program. Other grocery stores like Stop & Shop have wipe out hunger programs as well

So let's make this a year round event!

Mission 1 Cost of Peanut Butter going up

2011-10-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

"A staple of school lunches nationwide may soon be in short supply and what is available will cost more, the result of good cotton prices and bad weather, according to an article on the website Harvest Public Media.

"We have quite a peanut shortage this year," agricultural economist Tiffany Arthur is quoted as saying. Arthur works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, which makes emergency loans to farmers. "Things are snowballing and prices are sharply rising.""

The shortage also comes at a tough time, Arthur says, adding that peanut consumption normally increases during hard times, like now. Since the recession started in 2008, peanut butter consumption has jumped by 10 percent, the USDA says. Peanut butter consumption usually goes up just 1 or 2 percent in a regular year.

Source: harvestpublicmedia.org/article/787/pricier-pbjs-forecast-thanks-peanut-shortage/

Why do I feature this article? You can probably afford to pay the increase in cost to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your children's lunch box. But think of the people who live in poverty as the article above says peanut butter consumption goes up during a recession since it is a cheap source of protein.

It is one of things on the list that the food banks want. But if you decide to donate peanut butter make sure it in unbreakable plastic containers. Also since we want healthy food make sure that the oil and sugar content is low which makes it even more expensive.

Here is the list of the most wanted items for the food bank.

Peanut Butter (no glass please)

Jelly (no glass please)

Canned Meats (tuna, chicken, ham)

Canned Vegetables

Canned Fruits

Pasta

Pasta Sauce (no glass please)

Cereal

Rice

You may start bringing food to church and place it in the boxes starting the beginning of November.

Remember November 13 is the big food donation day. Bring food and a friend to church on that day.

Jeannette Brown

UCC Rep

Mission 1 Census Data

2011-10-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

This is the poster that you may have seen in the hall in Christ Church. Mission 1 is based on the UCC motto That they may all be one.

.
"One in seven Americans are living in poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today -- the highest level since 1994.
But the increase in the federal poverty rate, to 14.3 percent last year from 13.2 percent in 2008, was notably smaller than the 15 percent many experts had been predicting as the country has struggled to emerge from a painful recession.
"The bad news is that poverty is high and it's going up, but not as dramatically as we had feared," said Sheldon Danizger, director of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.
An estimated 43.6 million Americans in 2009 were living off incomes below the federal poverty line, or around $11,000 for an individual under 65 or $22,000 for a family of four.
The total number, an increase of 3.7 million over 2008, is the largest in 51 years, since the government first started tracking poverty data. "

The above is a quotation from one of the ABC TV stories about Hunger in America. For the full article go to http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/poverty-rate-increases-recession-highest-level-1994-census/story?id=11652753

This is another reason for the need for food.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Rep.

Mission 1 Hunger in America

2011-10-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

When I was at the UCC General Synod I first heard about Mission 1. The presentation struck me and also the concept. So after I left Tampa I was ready to start this program and some churches did. So in order to be really prepared to launch it now I kept tuned to the media about stories about hunger in America and the world and I was not disappointed. If you read the daily papers as I do or even if you get your news on line or on television there have recently been a lot of stories about hunger. Maybe you skipped over them in order to read the "real" news. But even in the headline news about the economy and joblessness and unemployment and underemployment if you drill down to the human factor you will find people who are either going hungry or eating unhealthy fast food because it is cheap.

This is the idea behind Mission 1. At Synod there was a fitness drive which was inspired by Michelle Obama We signed up for pedometers and were asked to record our steps every day. They handed out information about healthy food and life style. The church nurses (yes some churches have nurses and they are an organized group) took blood pressures and weight.

Just recently ABC TV Nightly News featured a special on Hunger in America. It is up on the ABCTV web now.

I will be featureing exerpts from this series as well as information from the UCC in future blogs. Stay tuned!

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative,

Mission ! Annonucement

2011-10-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

I would like to share with you avery exciting project of the United Church of Christ that will take place nextmonth. I am doubly excited to tell youabout it after that wonderful service that our youth presented two weeks ago abouttheir mission trip to Nicaragua. Theywere wonderful. They set a level that Ihope we all can achieve.

Because on

Nov. 1-11, 2011... I hope our church will be part of ONEUNITED CHURCH on a shared mission for 11 powerful days to feed the hungry andconfront food-related injustice.

This is MISSION: 1

• In 11 days, the UnitedChurch of Christ will collect more than 1 MILLION ITEMS

OF HEALTHY FOOD and other householditems for local food banks and outreach

services.

Imagine 5,300 UCC churchesconverted into storehouses of meat and bread, fruits and vegetables, soap anddiapers for neighbors in our local communities. Conjure an image of overflowingbaskets of peanut butter, cereal, tuna and beans waiting for delivery to sheltersand pantries. Envision hundreds of UCC members purchasing pounds of food onlinefor the most vulnerable across our nation and world.

This is MISSION: 1

I hope to invite the directors of the local food banksto speak to us about the need.

Another aspect of Mission I is:

• In 11 days, the UnitedChurch of Christ will offer more than 11,111 LETTERS to Congress asking ourgovernment to reform U.S. foreign assistance in a way that more effectivelybenefits hungry and poor people worldwide, helping to provide a major finalpush to Bread for the World's 2011 "Offering of Letters" campaign.

I will bring in sample letters ande-mail addresses of our congress peopleso that you can send them. For thosewithout e-mail you can snail mail them.

Finally

· In 11 days, the United Church of Christ willmake an extra-special push to gather

contributions of more than $111,111 DOLLARSfor Neighbors in Need food-related ministries, offerings that will be sharedfor hunger-action purposes with agencies of justice and compassionthroughout the United States.

I am working with the Board ofWorld Fellowship to see if some SOS funds can be used for this purpose.

So this is the charge to you. What do you think you can do to reach thisgoal?

How about 1,111 items of food, forstarters?

I hope that we can engage thecommunity in this effort. On Nov 13 we will celebrate bringa friend to church day. WE hope you canbring a friend and some food.

I will be blogging about this allthis month and hope to enlist some volunteers in this effort.

In all my years as UCCRepresentative this is the biggest effort that the UCC has mounted and thefirst time I have asked You to help.

Jeannette Brown

UCC Representative

UCC General Synod July 5 Continued

2011-07-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

I took notes at the meeting while I knitted on my prayer shawl which I finished at the meeting. As I look at the UCC web much of the information that I obtained at the meeting has been reported on the web. But I still think there is nothing like being at the meeting and hearing the information first hand. I hope that I can encourage someone from Christ Church to attend the meeting with me next time in 2013. It will be held in Long Beach California. I hope our youth and our youth minister will attend the youth events at the meeting. They seemed to be having fun. The participated in youth events and work projects in the community. They rocked the Howard Johnson Hotel which was dedicated to the youth.

Ok More resolutions:

Putting Our Money Where Our Values Are: Evaluating Church Financial Relationships
Voted YES

This resolution was brought by the Central Atlantic Conference, grew out of a single church member asking his pastor if the church had explored the practices of the bank it was using, based on the church’s faith values. I remember voting on this resolution at the Central Atlantic Conference meeting in 2010. ( I remember saying that my financial advisor had advised me to get out of the bank and use my credit union, which I now do).
An African American minister spoke about the situation in his church and other churches in the African American community. The bank they were using was not making loans in that community. They formed a banking collective and moved the money of several churches to it so that they were able to give back to the community.
Christ Church. This resolution requests that members examine faithfully the business, lending and investing practices of the financial institutions they do business with.

The Right of LBGT Parents to Adopt and Raise Children VOTED YES

This resolution got to me when they spoke about the number of children in the foster care system that age out of the system before they are adopted and are considered "adults" but have no family!
Some state do not allow LBGT parents to adopt children, fortunately New Jersey is not one of them. This resolution is in support of the LBGT who would like to adopt and maybe to call on state legislatures to permit this.
This gives children in the foster care system a family that can care for them and love them.
Note: as I left the meeting to take a shuttle bus to my hotel I saw what looked to me to be a lesbian couple and their three small children. The women were white and their three children were African American and Hispanic ages 2, 3 and maybe 4. I did not speak to them, just smiled as one of the kids wanted to run after the jacket she kept throwing into the street.
Christ Church We should continue to support the adoptive families within our midst and celebrate the members of our congregation who make this possible, legally and as social worker and supporter.

Affirming Health Care Coverage For Clergy Families Voted Yes

In some small churches they drop benefits for the clergy when the budget is tight.
On woman minister spoke of having an ill child and having her health care coverage dropped and having to scramble to find health care coverage.

Supporting International Human Rights Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Voted Yes
This resolution seeks to raise awareness of international instances of systematic discrimination, violence and abuse targeting persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI), and of contexts where such abuse is not prohibited by law but rather legally, politically, socially, and even religiously sanctioned. The resolution would commit the UCC to advocate for the fair and equal application of universal human rights principles and laws toward the protection of all persons from sexual or gender status-based abuse, discrimination or criminal prosecution.
Three international gay people came to thank synod for passing the resolution.

Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism Vote Yes

The problem that the delegates found with this was that it advocated saying the trinity during baptism. Some of our churches don't believe the the trinity.
One minister said she had to conform to the baptism service advocated by her church.
The delegates were told that this could not be changed since it was an ecumenical agreement and that UCC was the last denomination to ratify this agreement.
It is my opinion that this agreement would not be binding on any church because UCC churches are always free to do what they want. I have not talked to the Rev about this.

In Support of Effective and Constructive Peacemaking Between Palestinians and Israelis Through Positive Investment in Palestine Tabled.

This was tabled because there were other agreements that may be in conflict with this one.

These were the resolutions that were passed in the morning. I screwed up and scheduled to leave Synod on the last day not knowing that it really ended after the 7:30 PM worship that night. So I missed the afternoon session and last worship. I ordered the DVD of the last worship so I will view it when it comes. You may look at the web for the resolutions that were discussed in the afternoon.

Jeannette Brown

UCC 28th General Synod July 5th

2011-07-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

On the last day of General Synod the delegates voted on the resolutions. At every General Synod there are a number of resolutions that are proposed by various of segments of the UCC. They can be proposed by the Covenanted ministries such as Justice and Witness to mention one, or be started by a local church. If they are started by a local church they have to go to the Association for a vote. If they pass the vote of the association it then goes to the Conference annual meeting for a vote. If the resolution passes these hurtles it then goes to General Synod. This year the Central Atlantic conference of which Christ Church is a member, had no resolutions to approve, but there was one in 2010 which was sent to General Synod.

The process when the resolutions come to synod is that a committee looks at all the resolution submitted, and puts them into categories and then assigns them to a group. Sometimes if the subject is similar, they are combined. The delegates are assigned to a committee to work on resolution. The Conference Minister gets the list of resolutions and caucuses with the delegates about what position he/she thinks should be taken, but the delegates are free to vote their own mind! This is the UCC where every voice can be heard! The delegates go to their assigned committees and speak about the subject. This year something new was tried, in that there were experts who gave a talk about the background information for the resolutions. That happened on Friday July 1, the first day of synod. After the committees have met and come to a decision, there are hearings in which everyone, including visitors can speak about the topic. Visitors can observe the committee meeting but not speak. So this is a short version of the resolution process. When a resolution is passed it becomes the voice of the whole church and in most cases it goes back to the local church to implement. The UCC groups can provide resources for the implementation or not. There is a chart of how business is conducted on the web.

I will only mention the resolutions that were discussed at this meeting by title and whether they passed or failed and the possible action item for Christ Church. For those who would like to read the full copy of the resolution I refer you to the web. www.ucc.org/synod

· Proposed Changes to the Bylaws Pertaining to the Frequency of General Synod (pdf) Voted NO

Note: Synod is currently every two years and the resolution would be a bylaw change to make it every three or four years.

· A Call for a Reflection and Advocacy on Behalf of the Democratic Republic of Congo Voted YES

This resolution seeks to raise awareness of and engage settings of the church in advocacy 11 regarding the violent conflicts and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the 12 Congo, related especially to the exploitative mining of resources for export and industrial 13 applica
The mineral needed for our cell phones is mined in the Congo..

o Congo Week in October – A week that Christ Church will pray for the people in the Congo and members are requested not use their cell phones for a day in support of the Congo works. Put that on your voice mail!

· In Support of the Release of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners Voted YES

· A Covenant for Church Youth Ministries YES

o There was a lot of discussion about this. In some churches the youth ministry was done by volunteers and some by paid staff.

o This resolution gave guidelines for the support of the youth minister.

o It also called on churches to celebrate the achievements of the youth. As one person said “”We don’t need to entertain them, we need to engage them”

o Christ Church We already affirm our youth minister and her parent volunteers. We need to look at the guidelines to see what more we can do.

More later
Jeannette Brown

UCC General Synod 28 Tampa Florida Day 1

2011-07-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

July 1 was the first day of the UCC General Synod in Tampa Florida. I left for Tampa on June 30 on Amtrak train #91 The Silver Star. It was a great train ride. As usual I met a lot of interesting people on the train.\

The train arrived in Tampa about one hour late which is not bad for Amtrak. I checked into my hotel the Hyatt and then took the shuttle bus to the convention Center where the meeting was to be held and received my registration materials. Then I went into the exhibit hall.

The UCC has a huge exhibit where they showcase all the resources of the UCC. All the programs of the UCC are showcased and this year there were discussion groups in the exhibit hall, ,so there was a lot of things for a visitor to do. Just exploring the exhibits takes time.

Also some of the non UCC exhibitors such at SERVE and other exhibitor sell things. You can buy robes and stoles for the clergy and choir and jewelery, coffee etc. The UCC sells books and tee shirts etc. I bought a book of daily prayers.

At 3:30 PM the first plenary session began with the business of the synod. This was just the routine business like establishment of a quorum, introduction of the Moderators and the parliamentarians. There are two parliamentarians, one for the moderators and one for the delegates. They need them because sometimes fights over the method of running the meeting break out. There are three moderators one primary moderator and two assistants. This year one of the assistant moderators comes from Hawaii. They like to have a diverse group of moderators, just as they like to have diversity in everything else that is done at Synod. The delegates have to diverse by race, gender and age and there is a quota for 20-30's because they want to emphasize the youth. The Central Atlantic Conference did not make that quota in their delegates.
During the middle of the business they decided to break the meeting and introduce the new church starts. In the last two years there were 78 new church starts which is more than had ever happened since the formation of the UCC. So a representative from each church marched in with a sign saying the UCC Rocks and danced onto the stage. Unfortunately someone was injured during this, maybe the person fell off the stage so they paused while the paramedics attended to the person.

The two candidates for positions in the UCC Collegium gave their nomination speeches. One was Rev. Ben Guest who is the nominee for the Executive Minister and would be the first openly Gay member of the group. The other was Rev James Post candidate for the head of Wider Church Ministries.
They did not finish the business at the first session so they continued before worship service that night. They must break at 5 PM for sponsored dinners and other dinners.

I had a ticket for Justice and Witness Award Dinner, which I forgot about, almost. I am not used to jumping off the train and going right to a meeting, so I went back to my hotel and then I discovered the ticket. So I went right back and was able to eat at the end of the dinner. Wow! I am sorry that I missed the meeting part of the dinner since Justice and Witness is the group that I care about most in the UCC as you can tell why.

The evening session started with the unfinished business followed by worship service.

The worship service was unique because instead of using candles for each person to hold the minister told us to take our our cell phone and wave them in the air. I used my i-pod. It was pretty because it was like fireflies and was within the fire code. The service included three testimonies by three young clergy, one African American woman told us how she grew her church from 5 people to three hundred people. Another woman gave a testimony and there was a young man who was a minister but her looked like a high school student.

It was a long day. So long I forgot to go to the wine and cheese celebration to meet the people who write the daily Still Speaking Devotions. I was too tired and I thought the event was another night.

If you want to watch Synod it is streaming on line.http://www.ucc.org/synod/live.html
The archives will also be posted.
I will post pictures later.
Jeannette Brown

Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting Newark Delaware 4 Miscellaneous

2011-06-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

The total number of people in attendance was 87 clergy, 111 lay delegates, and 58 visitors.
They showed videos as a part of the Sherrie Taylor's New Jersey Association report. One was of the Camp Bernie Youth Retreat. I recognized some of our youth who attended that meeting, I will try to get a copy to show in church.

The other was the newest church member of the association Grace United Church in Flemington NJ. I was involved on the committee for that new church start and attended that church in the summertime when there was no choir at Christ Church.
The church in Paramus agreed to disband and sold the property.   The money has gone into the Paramus Congregation Trust Fund which is administered by the conference. Twenty three % of the money goes to local church ministries and the rest is used by the conference for new church starts etc. This took a long time to resolve.

During worship they showed some videos about Open and Affirming Churches. I send in some photos for this, but the only photo I recognized was an old choir photo, which I did not send in. Oh well.

Associate Conference Minister Richard Vaught is retiring in November and Sherry Taylor will retire sometime next year. Therefor the conference will be starting a search for an interim conference minister. They will also form a committee to discuss whether the duties of a conference minister will change. Currently there are four conference ministers for five conferences, there used to be five. They want to know if each conference should have a minister or should the duties be broadly spread over all the conferences by three ministers. The reduction is due to the lack of funds.

The banquet speaker for Saturday night was Dr. Robert Orr who is Director of planning for the UN.
He said that the UCC is responsible for the UN being in existence. During World War I the United States did not join the League of Nations. The Congregational Church (precursor to the UCC) worked hard during World War II to make sure that the US was involved in the UN.
The present goals of the UN are:
        Limitations to nuclear power
        Saving the environment
        The empowerment of women
         the empowerment of young people as it is their world.
He documented the reasons for those goals.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting Newark Delaware 3. Boundary Training

2011-06-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday of the Meeting, the workshop was Boundary Awareness Training for clergy and lay leaders. Here is information about Round 1.

The 2006 Annual Meeting of the Central Atlantic Conference affirmed a resolution from the Chesapeake Association which called upon the Conference and its Associations to undertake Boundary Training for its clergy and church leaders.

Following the adoption of this resolution by the Annual Meeting the Conference Ministry Team called together representatives of the five associations to design a Boundary Awareness Training Program for the Conference. It was agreed that each Association would adopt its own Boundary Training resolution using a similar template and that a common curriculum would be designed.

In order to maintain Ministerial Standing authorized ministers in the five Associations were asked to complete Round One of Boundary Training within two years at any one of the events held throughout the Conference. This two year cycle has been nearly completed.

At least 25 Boundary Awareness Training events have been held at locations throughout the Conference for nearly 400 clergy. A substantial portion of the curriculum for these events was based upon materials developed by the Faith Trust Institute with a particular focus on sexual misconduct.

I believe that all of our clergy has completed Round 1 of Boundary Training.

The workshop was to speak about Round 2 of Boundary Training which would include lay leaders of the church. For information about Round 2 see the link above.

Here is a distillation of the discussion about the workshop:
1. Sometimes people act inappropriately in our relationships to other people including the clergy.
2. We may treat our clergy in an inappropriate manner.
3. The UCC is in the process of developing a code for lay leaders in the church.
4. Lay leaders all have gifts which they want to share, but they need to know when to lead and when to follow.
5. Lay leaders need to understand that the church is not just the local church it is broader than that.
6. An orientation session should be set up for new lay leaders in the church so that everyone is on the same page.
7. Lay leaders
- Some churches come to agreement by working on consensus in which every voice is heard.
8. The pastor is the head of the local church and should not be asked to have another (former) pastor celebrate a service such as weddings or funerals. (There was a lot of discussion about this point.) The reason for this, if the pastor is new, he/she needs to develop a relationship with their flock.
9. Any information that lay people receive in confidence, such as prayer concerns that the person does not want to be made public, that confidence should be respected.
10. The Disciples of Christ have a list of ethical guidelines for congregations that people could consult.
11. The young people (20's and 30's) of the church should be consulted but they have a difference attitude about relationships which should be respected since they are the church.

This is all that I could glean from this discussion which was very lively and interesting.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting Newark Delaware 2 Conversation with Geoffrey Black UCC General Minister

2011-06-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Rev Black had a conversation with the members of the audience in which he answered questions about the UCC. When asked about the mandate to have a "Conversation about Race", he said this should not be a one time thing. Churches should have an ongoing relationship with another church in the area in which the congregation is totally different from your church in regard to race, social status and sexually orientation. For example he mentioned a UCC Church in Chapel Hill NC who formed a partnership with an African American Church. They now share a choir that sings at the UCC church in the morning and then the African American church in the afternoon. (When I spoke with the Rev about this, he said this is something we could consider.)

There was a question about Rev Jeremiah Wright situation during the Obama election. He said that he respected Dr. Wright as a colleague and the whole situation was simply political brought up by people who were against the Obama election and people should not put much stock in what was said then.

Rev Black then went on to explain the UCC much of which can be found on the UCC website .
The main goal is plant new churches. He said the church is changing. There are now Internet churches where people don't leave their homes to go to church. When he was the conference minister in New York he said there was a new church start in a bar! He said the UCC is you, the people.

The core values are:
          God is Still Speaking
          We believe in an extravagant welcome - everyone is welcome in our church
           We beleive in changing lives
            The reason for being is to serve God.

Then he itemized the UCC Goals over the next thirty years.
            To be involved in deep theological engagement to know our faith and that of others.
            To be a bold public voice for legislation and in the media,
                   just as the catholic church and conservative churches.
             To have excellence in leadership which includes the clergy and laity.
             To be passionate about the environment we want to take care of our earth
              We value cultural diversity which is our mantra. this means age, and the demographics.
                    of the community.

For more about the UCC please visit the UCC website.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting Newark Delaware

2011-06-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

The Central Atlantic Conference of the UCC Annual Meeting was held last weekend, June 10-12 at the conference center of the University of Delaware in Newark DE. This is about a 2.5 hour drive from my house which I usually do alone. This year I decided that it would be pushing my old Volvo to make the drive so I asked for a ride with Rev Chuck Rush was was going anyway because he is a member of the Board of Directors. We left early and should have arrived on time but we ran into traffic in Princeton New Jersey because of detours. There had been a storm the night before and maybe some trees were down.
Housing for this meeting is either in the dorm or in the Courtyard by Marriott. I opted to stay in the hotel and this year I had a roommate. She was the interim minister of Sojourners UCC Church in Charlottesville Va. We decided to room together again next year. The first night Friday we were so tired that we did not talk but we did the last day. We both sang in the choir. Sojourners is a relatively new church that I visited when we had an Antiracism task force meeting there. They were meeting in rented space. They now have a building that they were able to purchase.

Since I got to the meeting early I relaxed over lunch before the formal meeting started at 4:00 PM. It was a group meeting entitled "How we woke up! Good News from the churches - What have we done to Energize our congregations" This was the theme of the meeting. Churches were invited to tell their stories. LL DuBreuil who is minister of a church in Union NJ told us the story of how her church which was formed by the union of a German E & R church and a UCC Church became multicultural and multiracial. There are a lot of African immigrants who attend her church and have taken over the meetings. I told the story of "Let Justice Roll" that I wrote up for the UCC Synod. Rusty Hick's ( a fromer Christ Church minister) church in Homedale NJ had a interier face lift because a painters union picked their church to paint for free. Every year they pick a church to help. One of the members redesigned the church ceiling and they only had to pay for the painting of the design. Mark Wakefield's (another former Christ Church minister) church in Middletown MD burned last year. They were able to get it renovated and put back to normal in one year with the exception of the organ which will be ready in October.
The next meeting for me was choir rehearsal followed by dinner.
The first Plenary Session was the beginning of the business of the session, including the introduction of Rev Geoffry Black, General Minister of the UCC. We also have seven visitors from Germany including the new Bishop of the Lutheran Church. There was a worship service in which Rev Geoffry Black preached. The evening ended with a traditional ice cream social.
Saturday consisted of workshops and Plenary session followed by worship service and banquet. Many of the attendees come just for Saturday since most of the business is done then and they have to go home to run the service in their churches. It would not be a meeting without a controversy since the business was only the budget and the ministers compensation, I wonders where the controversy would be. It turned out that they amended the budget to include more money for Lancaster Theological College. The money was added due to an amendment of the budget after a lot of disscussion.
Sunday consisted of workshops and a final worship service which included communion.
I will include details about some of the sessions in my next blog.

Rev Rush's Palm Sunday Sermon amd UCC Daily Prayer.

2011-04-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

In the sermon,(Moral Courage), last Palm Sunday, Rev Rush mentioned thirty African American men who grew up in the gheto and are now very sucessful men. When asked about the secret for their sucess one mentioned a fourth grade teacher. It shows how important teachers are in children's lives. With all the conversation that is going on in New Jersey, I think it is important to remember our teachers. As this prayer says remember the good teachers, but I think we can also remember teachers who may not have been the best but we suceeded in spite of them. I remember a guidance counselor who advised me to go into teaching. I told her I was going to be a doctor or a chemist! This also happend to anotherAfrican woman who is in my book. She succeded in spite of some bad advise from teachers. She became not only a PhD chemist but a lawyer and mayor (selectman) of her New England town. Her name is Dr. Esther Hopkins.
Another book that I used for reference is "Swimming against the Tide : African American Girls and Science Education" by Sandra Hansen. In this book Dr. Hansen followed middle school African American girls who were interested in science and they pursued their studies in spite of the fact that some teachers did not think they would suceed! This is true for all the women in my forthcoming book "African American Women Chemists", to be published by Oxford University Press.
So when I saw this Daily Prayer from the United Church of Christ I thought of these things and decided to share them with you.
Happy Easter
Jeannette Brown

April 20, 2011

Who Was Your Favorite Teacher?
Excerpt from Isaiah
50: 4-9a
"The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word."

Reflection
by Christina Villa
The current budget battles in many states have focused a lot of attention, much of it negative, on teachers. I have a theory about why people are so ready to jump all over teachers for being
"glorified baby-sitters" who work "part-time" (out at 2:30!) and "take summers off."

Ironically, teachers may be singled out this way because they are not just glorified baby-sitters but instead crucially important figures in our lives. Everyone reading this, no matter how old, can probably name a teacher they have never forgotten, one who opened up some new world to them,
took them seriously, or just plain looked out for them. Many of us are lucky and can name several.

But you don't turn into a saint just because you go into teaching, and there are also some bad teachers out there. With all the influence and power they have over the young, a bad teacher can do some serious human damage. My theory is that a lot of the anti-teacher people in the budget debates aren't ready to forgive the really bad teacher who humiliated them or singled them out for abuse or turned them off to learning altogether. And now they're getting their revenge.

It's too bad, because by some weird physics of education, one really good teacher can go a long way toward counteracting the effects of several bad ones. A great teacher really does "sustain the weary with a word." They are never boring, always enlivening, even in such subjects as, say, Geometry or Biology (thank you Mr. Beardsley and Mr. Nelson). They stand up there and talk—it appears that’s all they do—but oh what a life-long difference it makes if it’s the right person standing up there
talking.

Prayer

Dear God, please bless all teachers, guide those who shouldn't be in the classroom to another profession, and give my regards to Mr. Beardsley and Mr.
Nelson. Amen.

http://www.ccsnj.org/Sermons-2011/110417-RealMoralCourage.html#_edn6

MLK' s I Have a Dream Speech done by 4th grade students

2011-01-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

The PBS News Hour broadcast a 4th grade class reciting Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a Dream" speech on Monday.
I thought it was so cute that I put it here in this blog. Here is the YouTube link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_1NYYKixM

Here is the PBS News Hour link: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/jan-june11/dream_01-17.html

I like the News Hour version best.
Enjoy.

Jeannette Brown

Daily Devotional and Your Faith

2011-01-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

In today's UCC Daily Devotinal (January 15, 2011) talks about acting your faith. Inviting people to come to church on your Facebook. Wow! I have invited people to come and sing at our church on my Facebook. I no longer have to do that since Mark Miller our new music minister has a following who are already joining our choir. We may even run out of robes! That's a good thing. But what do you do? Periodically the Rev asks us to bring friends to church, do you do that? I have already asked people to come to church for musical events and concerts. You can do that too. I have attached today's devotional for your review.
Jeannette Brown

January 15, 2011

Evolve

Excerpt from Acts 1:1-5

“In the first book…I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the
beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving
instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles…”

Reflection by Quinn
G. Caldwell

At some point, Disciples turn into Apostles.

In today’s passage, Jesus evolves the Disciples into Apostles, readying them
to be sent out with a message (see that word “post” in “apostle”? Just
like the mail!). I for one am glad they let it happen; if they had chosen
not to change, Christianity would have died when they did.

What stage of Christian evolution are you in? Do you go to church, try
to live a good life, and leave it at that? Or do you talk with other
people about it as well?

For the sake of everyone else in the break room who doesn’t know how sweet
faith can be, isn’t it time to stand up to that loud
atheist/fundamentalist/whatever at work?

Or do what one member of my church does: she periodically sets her Facebook
status to something like, “Can’t wait for church tomorrow! Anybody want
to go with and then get brunch after?” You’d be surprised how many take
her up on it. Or you could just be sure your FB profile lists your
religion and a link to your church. Or you could write a letter to the
editor—explicitly as a Christian—on an issue of the day. Or…well, you get
the point: be creative.

Do you think Christianity—or your flavor of it—matters enough to be kept
alive, or are you happy to let it die with you? If the latter, then enjoy
your discipleship. If the former, it’s time to evolve.

Prayer

God, grant me the Holy Spirit so that I might be strong for the sharing of
your Word. Amen.

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About the Author

Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston,
Massachusetts.

Next blog about MLK Day

Jeannette

A Prayer for These Days

2011-01-13T08:46:00.001-08:00

Because the shooting of Representative Giffords seems to be painted with
undertones of her vote on health care reform, among other things, a prayer by
people of faith who are committed to health care justice seems appropriate at
this time.
We offered this prayer for the national moment of silence on Monday and
continue to pray with these words:
In the sacred bonds of our common humanity, we give thanks for the life
that we share and for our calling to care for each other. In this time of
national tragedy, grief, and uncertainty, we remember the victims of this
senseless act of violence. For those who were greeted by death, we pray for
the benediction of holy light and peace. And for those who struggle to
recover from injuries, we pray for the blessing of healing. May those who hold
all of these persons dear feel the compassionate embrace of their national
family.
We pray also for ourselves, knowing that our most deeply held commitments
to the common good and our concern for our sisters and brothers are being
smothered by our inability to live together in peace. So we ask for
forgiveness, that we may rediscover the ties that bind us together and give us
strength for the journeys of our days. May the darkness and pain of these
moments be transformed into a dawn that invites us into new relationships in
which we not only give voice to our own ideals and passions, but deeply listen
to one another and respect the gifts and viewpoints of others.
In all things, may we be instruments of reconciliation and
compassion.
Amen.
The above prayer is taken from The Faithful Reform in Health Care e-mail that I receive. I felt it was very appropriate considering the speech that President Obama made last night at the prayer service. We must not let that nine year old childs dreams of government down.
Jeannette

Take Action Against Human Trafficking

2011-01-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Take Action Against Human Trafficking!

Across the world and throughout the United States, human beings are forced into labor, exploited in commercial sexual enterprises, and moved across national or state borders against their will, frightened and terrorized into silence. Trafficking in persons is the 3rd largest illegal trade business around the world (drugs and small arms lead the way). Women and children make up 80% of those trafficked.
Join us January 11 as we observe Human Trafficking Awareness Day, a time to pay attention to the realities of what is often referred to as modern day slavery.
The 27th General Synod approved a Resolution of Witness, A Call to Awareness and Action to End the Practice of Trafficking in Persons. It calls upon UCC congregations to utilize a time close to January 11 to become aware of these issues and learn how to become advocates for those victimized by such human rights abuses.
During the next 3 months, churches will be encouraged to support ratification of the International Violence Against Women Act as one way to advocate for an end to the trafficking of women and girls. Look for more information soon on the JPANet.
As we enter the New Year we invite you to educate yourself and your congregation about human trafficking so we can begin to do this work together!

Resources

Common Global Ministries of the UCC and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have excellent materials, including some fantastic ideas for recognizing Human Trafficking Awareness Day in your community, a PowerPoint, Combating Human Trafficking: Responses and Strategies, and other resources including first-hand stories of persons who have been trafficked.
Additional resources can be found at the National Council of Churches' Justice for Women Working Group site. Films with discussion guides are available, such as Lives for Sale, a documentary on immigration and human trafficking produced by Maryknoll and Lightfoot Films in association with Faith & Values Media. The DVD comes with a study guide.
A four session study guide from Thoughtful Christian (online publishing of adult ed curricula) on sex trafficking, authored by Martha Bettis-Gee, is also available. This study explores the scope of the problem and provides definitions of various aspects that contribute and have led to the spread of sex trafficking.
The above was copied from the UCC website. I thought it was relevant because of the adult education program that was held on Human Trafficking last fall.
Jeannette Brown

Hallelujah! Ok. Another Post About Music!

2011-01-01T06:55:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season is over with all the wonderful music. Our former Music Director Wayne Bradford wanted Christmas to last all year because he loved the music of Christmas. I started listening to the music on the local classical music station WWFM 89.5. ( http://www.wwfm.org/ ) It is located in Mercer County Community College and it is a great station. For those of you out of the listening area you can listen on the web.

In addition, music has been circulating on the web. You may have seen the link to the Hallelujah chorus that went around to the choir and other people. Recently the PBS News Hour got into the act with their blog called The Rundown. The title is Hallelujah! A Global Mash-up of Handel's
'Messiah' http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/12/musical-montage-handels-hallelujah-chorus.html

There is a lot of information about Messiah in this blog including video the Newshour staff singing and links to all the U-Tube videos. There are also links to Messiah performances on PBS and NPR.

Now about Messiah, I used to sing in the Masterwork Chorus under David Randolph. Since Messiah is a moneymaker (more about that later) Masterwork sang five performances of Messiah a season including two in one day! When you have sung that many Messiah performances you get a little tired of singing the piece. In addition, we had to sing it at a rapid pace because professional musician get paid double time after 11PM so we had to end before then. My favorite song in the piece aside from the alto arias is "The Trumpet Shall Sound". For one reason is that it is near the end of the piece and for the other reason because of the trumpet. I would wake up and sit up in my seat to hear whether the trumpet player is going to do a good job or blow it! (Pardon the pun!)

About Messiah being a moneymaker, there was another PBS story entitled "Hallelujah!: How Handel Orchestrated a Classic Financial Portfolio " http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec09/composer_12-23.html The video is there as well as the transcript. In Handel's time, most composers wrote operas.

"Harvard's Mike Scherer has written a classic on
classical music and economics: "Quarter Notes and Banknotes." Opera
was the road to independence from the patronage of court and clergy, he
says."

However, opera was expensive to produce.

ELLEN HARRIS:
( MIT) "Paying for the orchestral musicians, paying for sets, paying for
costumes. Opera has never been a really good moneymaker. We know this today.

Therefore, Handel decided to write oratorios.

PAUL SOLMAN:
Oratorios, like "The Messiah," required no sets, no costumes, cheaper
singers.

ELLEN HARRIS:
He began using exclusively English singers. So, he had a very different cost
ratio to his performances. And it's only with the oratorios that he began
making really big money

Later on the above article, they talked about the economy of
Britain depending on the slave trade. Handle got his money out of that
business before it went bust.

So here is the financial side of music as well as the enjoyment side. Incidently for the first time in years I went to a Messiah sing in Princeton with the Musical Amatures. I enjoyed it because everyone knew the music.

Now we should do Bach's Christmas Oratorio but that's another story.

Happy New Year!

Jeannette Brown

Avocational music and musicians

2010-11-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

I heard an radio ad for the Dessoff Choirs on NPR last Friday afternoon. The Dessoff Choir is a an avocational Choir which means volunteer group who become members by audition. In the radio story about the concert which was held last weekend the new music director Chris Shepard of the Dessoff Choirs was interviewed. He commented on the fact that in the job description they said they were an avocational choir. He was happy to learn that the group is together to sing because of their avocation which is the love of music.
This was the first time I had heard avocation used in reference to singing in a chorus and I thought about our Christ Church Choir. For those of us who are members singing is an avocation I guess. We strive to do the very best that we can do during the church service and our directors work very hard to see that it happens.
It was pointed out to me yesterday when I sang with the Princeton Amateur Singers. We read through Bach's B Minor Mass which I had committed to memory early in my singing career. I was a little disappointed because the group of women next to whom I was singing, although they knew the music what we came up with was not up to the performance level. It was only a read through and not a rehearsal so we could not go back and correct mistakes. So although I was singing I was not a happy camper. Our choir as far as I know reads very well even when we are exploring new music.
So I am hoping we can entice some new avocational singers to join us in the future.
Jeannette Brown

The Green Group in Christ Church

2010-11-13T03:22:00.000-08:00

At Christ Church we have a green group who work to see that we are environmentally friendly. We no longer mail bulletins and we recycle them when done. We have an e-newsletter that comes out once a week so we don't waste paper sending one out. It is also much more up to date then a quarterly newsletter would be.
In my home I had a 30 plus year old GE refrigerator that still worked except you had to defrost the freezer and since there was a air leak you had to do this frequently. So last June I bit the bullet and bought a brand new GE refrigerator. We are so excited about this refrigerator because it makes ice cubes and you can get filtered chilled water! The old refrigerator was taken by the State along with an old non working freezer ( it was supposed to be working but they took it any way). For this I just received a check from the state for $100.00 ($50.00 each) so it pays to recycle!
About that chilled water. This means I no longer buy bottled water, and now we come to the point of this blog, assuming that you are still with me. Here is another UCC Daily Devotion about water.
Think Outside the Water Bottle
Excerpt from 2 Thessalonians
1:3-12
“To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you
worthy of [God’s] call.”
Reflection by Donna
Schaper
Worthy of a call? Could I get a rain check? A way out of my home
in I-don’t-know-how or I-wish-I-could?
Excuses abound for unworthiness. Even more, unworthiness is an excuse.
Consider thinking outside the water bottle when it comes to your call from
God. We have so many habits that distance us from the divine. How
about changing just one this week, and another next week? Think of it as
taking one step on a stepladder to the heaven of worthiness.
Here’s one step to take: Water comes out of a tap. We don’t need to
buy it in a bottle. We have cups and glasses. Even if we recycled
the same water bottle or purchased the more politically correct type, we could
step our way to a cleaner ocean.
Consider as well the spiritual side of the way you drink water. Many
women in the world walk 20 miles a day to get water. They also send their
children to fetch water, the same children who then can’t go to school.
We become worthy of our call not just by keeping the ocean clean. We become
worthy of our call by treasuring our water and remembering, always, in every
way, who has and who has not. I do ridiculous things not to waste water, like
using the dog’s bowl to water the plants if the dog bowl needs
freshening. Or washing dishes in the most conserving ways I can imagine.
Doing these things won’t make me worthy of God’s call. But it will
remind me of whose I am and who my friends elsewhere are. Worthiness
might be a side effect. I might even run out of excuses.
Prayer
Oh, God, take us away from our hellish habits to spiritually-stepped rituals
that ache to be worthy. Amen.
Jeannette Brown

New UCC Video and Global Minisitries Update

2010-11-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

When I went to the UCC website this morning this awesome video played. Here is the link: http://www.ucc.org/ Note: if the link does not work cut and paste into your browser. At the end there are two other videos to see.

The Global Disciples Ministry today had information about Alternative Giving
http://globalministries.org/get-involved/special-giving-opportunities/alternative-christmas-giving.html

"Alternative Christmas Giving

With an Alternative Christmas gift, you honor your loved ones and make a difference in the lives of people around the world at the same time. Alternative Christmas Gifts don’t get returned because the recipient already has one. They’re perfect for the person who has “everything” and are sure to bring smiles to the gift recipient and to the faces of global partners. "

The article goes on to say people should donate to the Disciples Ministry. I want you to attend the Alternative Giving Mall that Christ Church along with other religious groups in Summit are sponsoring on November 21 at Temple Sinai. It will run from 9:30 to 2:00 PM. Drop by after Church.
At Christ Church the Board of World Fellowship takes care of our global ministries which we do through their gift to the UCC. Therefore this donation is a part of your pledge to Christ Church.

Jeannette Brown

Note: My blogger website is not working properly so you need to cut and paste the links today.

Daily Devotional and the Annual Pledge Campaign

2010-11-07T01:47:00.001-07:00

I know that soon it will be the time for us to renew our pledges to the church. As you know the UCC Daily Devotional comes into my e-mail inbox. I thought I would share today's devotional with you about the subject of giving to the church.

November 7, 2010

An Offering You Can’t Refuse

Excerpt from Luke 21:1-3

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he
also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly, I
tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them
have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in
all she had to live on.”

Reflection by
Martin B. Copenhaver

I have a recurring dream, particularly this time of year. Someone
calls me on the phone and invites me to lunch. Over lunch that person
says, “Martin, I am aware that the church is pressed for funds, particularly in
this financial climate, and the church has to spend so much energy to raise
those funds. Well, I came into some money this year, so I want to cover
this year’s entire church budget with my own gift.”

First I try to catch my breath. Then I offer to pay for lunch.
But the person goes on: “I ask only one thing,”

I say, “Sure. Whatever. Would you like some champagne?”

“No, thank you,” he says. “All I ask is that you not accept any other
contributions or offerings for the rest of the year. I want to do it
all. My gift to the congregation.”

Then I take another deep breath and say, “I’m sorry, but I cannot accept
your gift. I can’t do that to the people. It’s not just a matter of
being able to pay the bills. We need to be able to respond to all that
God is doing in our midst and to share in that work. We can’t be deprived
of the opportunity to give of ourselves. To hear the promises of God and
to receive the gifts of God, and to be unable to respond? Why, that’s a
burden. We just can’t do that to the people.”

A contribution and an offering are different: We make a contribution
because the church needs money. We make an offering because we need to
give. Only some are able to give a large contribution. Anyone is
able to make a great offering.

Prayer

Giver of every good and perfect gift, accept this gift of mine, that I might
share in your work and that your work might prosper.

The Rev will be speaking about this soon.

Jeannette Brown

UCC Daily Devotional and Christ Church New Members.

2010-10-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to the UCC Daily Devotional. Today's Devotion reminded me of Sunday when we welcomed new members and "hired" Rev Caroline Dean as the youth minister. The devotion says that youth will remember the church that they went to when young even when they stray from the church, possibly in the college years. They will come back home when they settle down.I remember the youth group in the congregational church that I went to as a teenager. It was run by a man who was a church member He would pile all of us in his station wagon after the meeting to go to the "ice cream parlor". The ice cream palor was owned by a member of the church. This was "homemade" ice cream and oh so good. This was before the days of seat belts so we would all be sitting in the back of the wagon on top of each other. It was fun.
.Jeannette.____________________________________________________

October 22, 2010

Coming Back to Church as a Grown Up

Excerpt from 2 Timothy 3:10-15

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known

the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith

in Christ Jesus.”

Reflection by

Lillian Daniel

These days, very few people who join our church were raised in the UCC. Most

of them were raised in other forms of Christianity, and they may have some

negative feelings about the church of their childhood. And so they drifted from

church and sought to go it alone, without a faith community.

But eventually, they hit something that is bigger than private, self-created

spirituality. Perhaps it is the death of a parent, the birth of a child, a

friend’s illness, a lonely patch in life, but suddenly they find themselves

remembering some of those childhood Bible lessons. They find themselves recalling

the blessings of the Christian faith, and they search for a church, but they do

so very tentatively, not knowing what they will find, and afraid of being

hurt.

When they do find us, they have the same reaction that so many people do

when they discover the UCC. “This is the church I always wanted to find but

didn’t know existed.” But our church isn’t perfect any more than the churches

they left are all bad. And a miraculous thing happens to grown ups on a faith

journey. We come to appreciate moments from our past, like the Sunday school

teacher who taught us the “sacred writings” in our childhood.

That is why when people join the church, we always say, “We give thanks for

every community that has ever been your spiritual home.”

As the scripture tells us today, we realize that there is a connection

between who we were raised to be and who we are now. It might not be a straight

line, but you can connect the dots.

Prayer

Today I give thanks for the small and tender blessings of every place that

has ever been my spiritual home. Amen.

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About the Author

    Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church,
    UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Her new book, This
    Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers,
    co-authored with Martin B. Copenhaver, has just been published.

Why so many people applied for the Music Director Job

2010-10-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Today Penny spoke about the progress towards the hiring of a new music director and said that more than 50 applications had been received for the post! Besides the fact that Christ Church is a very unusual place and has a very diverse and warm congregation there are other reasons why so many people applied which may not have to do with economics, but that may be one reason.
I remembered an article that I read last year in the Star Ledger about a new organist that was hired by Grace Church in Newark. I found the article again and here is the link to the article. It is titled; Julliard-trained organist brings passion for pipes to Grace Church in Newark. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/juilliard-trained_organist_bri.html
The article is about a young organist who was hired by Grace Church in Newark. What is so special is that that the article says;"Classical musicians such as Arndt, who attained a master's degree in music from Juilliard and has performed in Cambridge, England, are hired less often by churches these days as houses of worship cater to Americans' growing tastes for popular "praise and worship" music at Christian services, said Martin Knoblauch of the Church Music Association of America. Plus, as churches struggle through the recession, full-time music directors are often considered a luxury"
Christ Church has a wonderful pipe organ, actually as our emeritis music director Wayne Bradford told me it is two organs! The organ is actually too big for the church but that is OK. We also have a traditional music program with a great choir and bell choir. And as the article says churches are getting rid of their music programs and may not have a pipe organ. I spoke to a woman who told me that her church disbanded the choir! So we are lucky.
The article goes on to explain about the mechanics of the organ an why it needs an advocate. The organ has to be played well and the our search committee is only presenting candidates to us that have that skill. I hear most of the candidates are experienced organists. The article says that many people are no longer studying the organ which is why the American Guild of Organists has a program to introduce the organ to young people.
So Christ Church will hire an excellent new music director if the two that have already auditioned are any indication. Both persons that we met were excellent and my intitial idea was to hire them both!
Jeannette

Oprah Winfrey Mayor Booker Gov Christe and Education?

2010-10-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

I have been following the news about public education and the movie "Waiting for Superman". The United Church of Christ has a minister, Jan Resseger whose full time job is to support public education. I am going to attach a copy of the e-mail which she just sent me about what people are saying about this.
I am glad that people are talking about public education and I suggest that Christ Church have a group who will go see the movie "Waiting for Superman" as a group or individually and then meet to discuss it. One member of Christ Church has already seen the movie in a private showing at NJPAC and she is in favor of the discussion. I know that some people get through the system inspite of poor schools but I worry about our "throw away chilren" who drop out and who could have become doctors, or scientists or teachers or lawyers or financial experts.
Here is what Jan says:

I send links to two blog posts this morning. Both are thoughtful
reflections after the hoopla in the media this past week on the opening of the
film, “Waiting for Superman,” and the special coverage on NBC, “Education
Nation.”

Both writers are well respected and extremely thoughtful generally, but their
comments yesterday explore two subjects that have been skimmed over with
virtually no attention that I can see this past week.

The first is from Valerie Strauss, “Answer Sheet” blog in the Washington Post: “The
Poverty Gap: There Are Always Exceptions, But They Make Bad Policy.” http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/school-turnaroundsreform/obama-and-the-elephant-part-2.html#more
What does it mean for public schools that in Washington, DC,
“Among black children… childhood poverty shot up to
43 percent, from 36 percent in 2008 and 31 percent in 2007”? Most
particularly what do such statistics mean for schools? Of course all
children can learn, but how can we realistically consider the impact of
children’s lives outside school on their academic achievement and address those
children’s needs---to ensure the children can learn?

The second is from Anthony Cody’s very thoughtful Education Week blog,
“Living in Dialogue.” Yesterday’s post is entitled: “Teachers: Must We Be
Saints or Sinners?” http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/10/teachers_must_we_be_saints_or.html
. Cody is a public school teacher. In this blog he reflects on what
society expects of school teachers and wrestles with how such expectations can
be met and at what cost.

These columns explore deep and important issues the media has ignored. I hope
you will read and think about them.

In peace

-Jan

Ms. Jan Resseger

Minister for Public Education and Witness
Justice and Witness Ministries

700 Prospect, Cleveland, Ohio44115

216-736-3711
http://www.ucc.org/justice/public-education

"That all citizens will be given an equal start
through a sound education is one of the most basic, promised rights of our
democracy. Our chronic refusal as a nation to guarantee that right for
all children.... is rooted in a kind of moral blindness, or at least a failure
of moral imagination.... It is a failure which threatens our future as a
nation of citizens called to a common purpose... tied to one another by a
common bond." —Senator Paul Wellstone, March 31, 2000 Jeannette Brown

Join the Choir!

2010-09-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Volunteer Singers
Wanted

The Christ Church Summit New Jersey Choir

561 Springfield Ave.

Summit, NJ.

http://www.ccsnj.org/music/ index.htm

has openings for volunteer singers
especially Sopranos

Rehearsals Wednesday Night 7:30 - 9:00 PM

The Call Time Sunday: Sunday~ 8:45 AM

Service: Sunday 9:30 AM -10:30 AM

We are in transition and expect to
hire a new director of music

by the end of the year

Our interim director is

Patricia (Trish) Joyce

http://njyouthchorus.org/Director.aspx

Founder and director of the New
Jersey Children's Choir

Contact Trish

Staff@ccsnj.org

Note: Next week rehearsal will be
Thursday September 30 at 7:30.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night

2010-09-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

I will be walking the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk for the fifth year in a row. I have worked on this fund raiser every year since I was first diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. It is truly an inspiring evening of walking with lighted balloons, red for supporters and white for survivors and gold for those who have lost the battle.
I not only walk for myself but for all those who have suffered from blood cancers some of them in silence.
I have become a patient advocate to spread the word about blood cancer. Few people know that SEPTEMBER IS BLOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH IN NEW JERSEY.
The LLS is trying to make September blood cancer awareness month nationwide. You can help by contacting your congress person. Here is the link:Act now to make September Blood Cancer Awareness Month

The Light the Night New Jersey Team will be on Good Morning America on Channel 7 ABC on Wednesday September 22. I don't know if it is an interview or just in the audience as I have been. The show airs from 7 AM to 9 AM when I am usually exercising so I will watch it on the Internet.

I am walking the Light the Night walk on Saturday October 2 at Princeton Forrestal Village. The ceremony starts at 5:00 PM and is usually over by 9:00 PM. We walk rain or shine in warm weather and cold weather and I have had all of that.
If you would like to donate to my team my web page is :

http://pages.lightthenight.org/nj/Colonial10/jbrown_LTN45

I hope you donate the cost of one less cup of Starbucks coffee or Latte even more if your company will match.
You have until JANUARY 31 TO DONATE! Think about your tax deductions.
Remember I am walking for a cure. The researchers are close to getting cures for some blood cancers but they need money for this. Researchers are humans who have families and houses and need to eat so you will be stimulating the economy by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! Think of that!
Jeannette Brown

HomeSharing Fundraiser

2010-09-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Board of World Fellowship supports HomeSharing which provides affordable housing by allowing people who have rooms in their homes to share with a person who needs housing. It started in Somerset County, expanded to Hunterdon County and is now expanding to Morris and Union Counties.
Scampi's Restaurant in Somervile will donate 15% of your bill to HomeSharing. The restaurant is at 198 Main Street in Somerville NJ. Somerville is the County seat of Somerset County and has a lot of Antique Shops as well as the Courthouse. They are closed on Monday.
I hope you will find time to go. It is not far from the Bridgewater Mall if that will tempt you.
The discount sheet is posted above or you can e-mail me and I will send it to you.
Jeannette Brown

Health Care Conference Call

2010-09-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the information about the Health Care Conference Call.

Home: Justice and Witness Ministries: Health

As a member of Faithful Reform in Health Care, the United Church of Christ invites you to a:

Health Care Conference Call with President Obama

"Linking Faith and Community Leaders to New Benefits & Information"

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

4 pm ET -- 3 pm CT -- 2 pm MT -- 1 pm PT

A Conference call for Faith and Community Leaders

with the President of the United States

Hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

and the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

RSVP now! (An RSVP is not required, but it will ensure that you get the call-in and web access details when they are released.)

Download a flier/bulletin insert that can be distributed at gatherings of your faith community in the days ahead. The text includes information about the call and a list of new benefits that take effect in new plans on/after September 23.

September 23 will mark the six-month anniversary of health care reform. You are invited to join President Obama for a conference call to discuss key new benefits of the Affordable Care Act. As trusted messengers, it is important that faith leaders have the most up-to-date information and resources about these new benefits to share with our communities of faith and congregations.

Highlights of the call:

• HHS officials will provide an update on the Affordable Care Act, highlight new outreach resources, and answer questions from faith and community leaders.

• Leaders will also share their efforts to bring the benefits of health care reform home to communities.

• President Obama will speak to key issues related to health reform implementation.

Save the date and plan to join us for this important conversation!

Blessings,

Barbara Baylor

Minister for Health Care Justice

Jeannette Brown

One Voice Against Cancer Lobby Day

2010-06-21T10:55:00.001-07:00

I was asked to participate in this annual event by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since I am a patient advocate for them. One Voice Against Cancer is a consortium of Cancer organizations that get together once a year to lobby congress for more funding. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is one of the groups in the consortium. It is organized by the American Cancer Society Action network, I believe.
Lobby days this year were June 16-17. The first day we gathered in the Liaison Hotel for a wonderful lunch followed by a half day of training as to how to lobby congress. The introductions were done by members of the American Cancer Society Action Network followed by a panel of congressional staffer who told us about the climate on the Hill. The budget is still in a state of flux in that no budget has yet been passed or even discussed due to other urgent issues The President has made his budget requests though
A former congressman spoke about how it was to be a member of congress and how we should approach the congressional staffers who are for the most part young. Many of them would be still smarting from long days and nights working on the Health Care Bill.
Then we were giving the packet of information about what specific requests we would ask for, they are in summary:

Sustain current level of support for medical research and provide the NIH with $35.2 billion.
Support a funding level of $601 million for Center for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention
Provide Health Resources and Services Administration with $267.3 million to support Title VII Nursing Programs and $18.6 Million for Patient Navigator Programs.
Fully Fund the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act by providing $30 million for this program.
Support and increase of $495 million for the Food and Drug Administration to bring research to the bedside.

Of all the asks only the last one was an increase over the budget.
Finally we were divided into teams of about six people by state and given our assignments for the next day. The full team of six people were to visit both state senate offices and each one was to visit their congressman and two other congress people from that state, a total of five visits in the day which was a lot. Each visit was only 15 minutes long. The staff had made the appointments which were subject to change the next day. In s addition each state team was given a packet of information for each congress person in the state to drop off at the congress person's office.
Following the marching orders, our team met and decided who was going to do what and when.
That evening we had a reception at the Dubliner Bar with drinks and snacks.
The next day Thursday was lobby day. We met in the morning for breakfast and a pep talk and then our teams set off to the Hill to start the work. We found out that our first appointment of the day, which happened to be with Congressman Lance, was changed to the afternoon so we had nothing to do until our 11 AM appointment with Senator Lautenberg's staff person. So since it was an unusually nice and mild day in DC I walked from the hotel to the Capitol and circumnavigated it until I got to the Hart office building, by which time I was tired. So I met two of my other team members sitting on a bench and we sat and waited for the time. The two team members were a husband and wife from LLS. He was an Acute Leukemia patient and she was his wife and social worker. On our team, we had one other LLS person, a Susan Komen foundation person, and a Prostate Cancer person who happened to be the son of Betty Gallo who runs The Dean and Betty Gallo Center
Prostate Cancer at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
Our first meeting with Senator Lautenberg's staff person was our worse. Our team hung in there in spite of the fact she attacked us for coming at the wrong time of year. She said the Senator had made his budget requests in February and they could not be changed. We said there is no budget and things can always be changed. But we came out of the room satisfied that we had made our points, hit all five requests.
The next meeting with Menendez's staffer went better and so did all the other meetings. After the meetings on the Senate side we split into teams of two to talk to our respective congress people. Since Congressman Lance was late for his appointment, he was the only member of congress that we met personally, the four of us split into two and two since the appointments were back to back in different buildings. After the last staff visit to congressman Scott Garrett's office, my team of two spilt and each took some of the packets of information to drop off at the offices of the other New Jersey congress people.
While we were wandering the halls of congress I ran into Congressman Lewis. In fact I looked at him and I said, I know you, but I could not place his name and he introduced himself. Wow, he was part of the Civil Right movement with MLK Jr...!
After the last packet of information was dropped off I took a taxi back to the hotel and relaxed after a long day!
Would I do it again, you bet! In fact I will follow up on this visit by thanking the staff people for their time.

Note to see the photos from this trip go to http://picasaweb.google.com/sisterchemist/OVAC2010#

This blog has moved

2010-03-17T19:32:00.001-07:00

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Black History Month and Valentines Day

2010-02-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday is Valentine's Day and the sermon will be about love and the Song of Solomon. The Rev asked us to submit love poems. Well since it is Black History month of course, I thought about my favorite African American woman poet, June Jordan. June and I were children together. We went to day camp and then sleep away camp at Robin Hood Camp run by the Brooklyn YWCA. I later found out by reading an interview in Essence magazine that June hated the camp, but I loved it. I credit my leadership skills to the fact that I went to camp and became a camp councilor. June must have learned something at summer camp because I read in her biography that she and her husband spent their honeymoon back packing! I taught hiking and back packing at the camp as a councilor.

So here is the love poem that she wrote:

Poem for My Love

By June Jordan

How do we come to be here next to each other

in the night

Where are the stars that show us to our love

inevitable

Outside the leaves flame usual in darkness

and the rain

falls cool and blessed on the holy flesh

the black men waiting on the corner for

a womanly mirage

I am amazed by peace

It is this possibility of you

asleep

and breathing in the quiet air

Reprinted from Directed by Desire: the Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005), edited by Jan Heller Levi and Sara Miles.

June was born in 1936 and died of cancer in 2002, so we are contemporaries.

Here is her impression of her education as poet in the time when there were no Black Studies programs.

"For most of her high school years, Jordan's parents sent her to a prep school where she was the only black student. Her teachers encouraged her interest in poetry, but did not introduce her to the work of any black poets. After high school, Jordan enrolled in Barnard College in New York City. Though she enjoyed some of her classes and admired many of the people she met, she described her years there in Civil Wars this way: "No one ever presented me with a single Black author, poet, historian, personage, or idea, for that matter. Nor was I ever assigned a single woman to study as a thinker, or writer, or poet, or life force. Nothing that I learned, here, lessened my feeling of pain and confusion and bitterness as related to my origins: my street, my family, my friends. Nothing showed me how I might try to alter the political and economic realities underlying our Black condition in white America." Because of this feeling of dissatisfaction, Jordan left Barnard without graduating. " (From her biography)

At the end of her life, she was poet in residence at UC Berkley. I sent a letter to her, which she was too sick with cancer to read. I got a note from her son expressing his thanks that I had thought about his mother;

Jeannette

Black History Month Resources

2010-02-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

The United Church of Christ web site has a lot of good links on the Black History Month page. The link is below.

Black History Month Resources

Incidently Paul Tukey has correctly identified all three women in my black history month quiz. Anyone else want to try? I will reveal the answers at the end of the month. Maybe you can find the answer in these resources.

Jeannette

Information about the United Church of Christ

2010-02-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Paul Tukey sent a link to an OpEd on the UCC website about the UCC Bouncer ad that CBS now would have liked to air on Sunday during the superbowl.
The article is at:
http://www.ucc.org/news/opinion-ucc-reaction-to-cbs.html.

The UCC no longer has the money to spend on an ad because of making long term care of Haiti a priority which is as it should be.

On the page where the bouncer ad can be seen is a video about the UCC called UCC 101. I reccomend it to thoses of you who may not know the history of the UCC. It is a quick way to get to know what the UCC is all about.
http://i.ucc.org/StretchYourMind/UCC101/GodIsStillSpeaking/tabid/115/Default.aspx

Peace
Jeannette
Christ Church UCC Representative.

Black History Month 1. African American Women in Science

2010-02-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

I write three blogs off and on. This month I will put the same information in all three blogs, because it is Black History Month and I want to convey some information to the public.

As you know I am writing a book about the history of African Amercan women chemists so I am going to give you a quiz.

I will post some photos and I am going to ask you to identify them and what was their claim to fame. The only clue is they were all chemists but what did they do?

Ok. Its up to you to tell me who they are and what they did. That's a hint they are all deceased.

Good Luck
Jeannette

Personal Reflections on the Situation in Haiti

2010-01-15T02:35:00.001-08:00

These are my people. We are the same race. They live in the one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. I have been there to see the country so I can relate to how bad the situation must be because in normal times it was not great! There is no infrastructure to restore because there was very little to begin with.

I have been watching the TV coverage; one would say I have been obsessing over the photos and stories. The fact that the airport is a disaster area so that the badly needed help cannot get in. One plane circled the airport for five hours and could not land. Planes that did get in do not have enough fuel to take off. When they land, the roads are too bad to get to the capitol city. They are concentrating help on Port Au Prince but there are thousands in the countryside that no one is talking about because help cannot get in.

I am writing this with tears in my eyes because people are dying because we cannot get in to help them.

This situation will last a long time. It will take years to rebuild and get the county back to some semblance of normal. I read the flyer about the Lambi Fund

I will support this fund personally, as I know the Board of World Fellowship has been doing.

Again I pray that help will come that can work on the infrastructure so that the responders can get in. I hear that airport experts from McGuire airport are going to Haiti to help the situation. Thank God.

I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes so I had to write this.

Jeannette

Earthquake in Haiti update

2010-01-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

Here is the news I received from our Deciples Ministry partners:

Your Global Ministries Update: January 14, 2010

Disciples and UCC… together in God’s global mission - Visit us at: http://www.globalministries.org//

Haiti Earthquake Update:

Global Ministries received news this morning that Patrick and Francoise Villier are safe. Patrick is the president of CONASPEH, a grassroots movement of 6,000 congregations and our largest Disciples and UCC partner in Haiti for almost three decades. Patrick is also a member of the Common Global Ministries Board. We also learned that Polycarpe Joseph, the House of Hope Director, is safe. The leaders of our two denominational partners in Haiti are alive. We are grateful to God for this, but deeply saddened by the loss of so many.

To see the latest updates as we receive them at Global Ministries, please follow this link and return to it regularly:

http://globalministries.org/news/lac/haiti-earthquake-what-we.html

The blog posting from Kim Bentrott, GM missionary in Haiti with her husband Patrick and son Solomon provides the latest details:

Dear Friends and Family,

I will write more later, but just want to let you all know that Patrick, Solomon and I are safe. We had just gotten home when the earthquake hit, our apartment building went from 3 stories to 2 in one sickening crunch, but our space stayed miraculously in tact and the people on the first floor got out in the nick of time.

We had a group working with CONASPEH here with us from Tennessee. All members of the group were safe. Had they been on time for dinner, this note would have a different tone. Not all people in the guest house got out alive. We took the group to the embassy yesterday and they should be able to leave the country via the Dominican Republic in the next few days.

CONASPEH building has been flattened. All my nursing students were inside. Yesterday we helped pull bodies out of the wreckage and heard some voices within the rubble. Efforts continued frantically all day to reach them.

Patrick and Francoise Villier are safe. Their house seems to have held. They lost one of their foster care children in CONASPEH.

Communications are horrible. The phone network is either jammed or down completely. The manager of the guest house and our DEAR FRIEND has taken us under his wing and brought us up the mountain. He has a family with a 3 year old girl and a new born to consider as well. We are trying to figure out our next move at this point.

I will write more soon. Please pray for Haiti. In a minute's time, buildings crumbled and life was lost. So much life. And even with that said, I think the hardest times are still coming as people try to figure out how to put their lives together again.

Much love. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Kim, Patrick and Solomon

You can follow updates from the Bentrotts on their blog: http://www.kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/

At this time the most urgent need is for funds for emergency relief. Global Ministries has wired funds from the Disciples Week of Compassion (WoC) and the UCC One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) to CONASPEH and House of Hope, our denominational partners in Haiti.

As we walk in solidarity with CONASPEH and the House of Hope during this difficult time, let us re-affirm our commitment to pray for them and their leaders, Patrick Villier and Polycarpe Joseph. Let us do all that we can to help “meet God’s people and creation at the point of deepest need” with our gifts and service. Let us also remember that as Disciples and UCC, our Critical Presence with our partners in Haiti will be required over the long haul as we help re-build the infra-structure that is so essential to the life-giving ministries of our partners. For those that have visited the CONASPEH headquarters and the House of Hope center, you will know how important these places are to the ministries of our partners… May God give us all grace for the journey ahead! '

Jeannette

The Disaster in Haiti and the UCC Response

2010-01-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

The Christ Church Board of World Fellowship is well aware of the disaster in Haiti and they are working to see how they can help. They also know that although some things are urgent in the country this will be an ongoing situation so they have time to consider long-term support.
For years, they have been supporting the Lambi Fund. http://www.lambifund.org/
Bre Reiber the ex wife of our former minister Tom Martinez used to work for this organization. I contacted her yesterday and here is what she said:
"As of today (1/13), no one in the U.S. has heard from the Lambi Fund staff in Haiti, so we do not know if they are okay or not. All phone and internet service is down throughout the country, so we may not hear from them for several days. The Lambi Fund office is a small, one story building so it may have been less damaged than other buildings (unless a neighboring building fell on to it.) I do not know how badly Lambi Fund projects in the countryside were damaged. A Haitian art website mentioned that some Lambi Fund supported grain silos have been completely destroyed, but it is unclear to me how they know that for certain. Someone would have to call by satellite phone to get that info to the U.S. "
Latest news about the Lambi Fund Director: "The website news scroll says that Karen has heard that Haiti Director Josette Perard was seen walking home after the earthquake. That is great news. I know that Josette has medications she needs, though, so I hope she was able to get to them. I have no doubt she has been helping people through this. She is always there! "

The UCC has sent out and appeal for funds:
"The United Church of Christ has launched an emergency appeal for Haiti after a major earthquake struck the country. Thousands of people are feared dead and countless have been left homeless.

The quake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale, struck 10 miles southwest of the capital just before 5pm local time yesterday, January 12.

It is still too early to know the full extent of the damage, but One Great Hour of Sharing is expecting very high loss of life, widespread destruction of homes, schools and other buildings, and major damage to key water, electricity and road systems.
Global Ministries personnel, Kim, Patrick and Solomon Bentrott have reported in that they are safe.

One Great Hour of Sharing funds are being rushed to our Haitian partners to support their initial emergency response. As damage assessments are made and plans for relief, recovery and rehabilitation are developed, additional support will be shared. The need is massive."

One of the UCC churches in Baltimore, part of the Central Atlantic Conference of the UCC used to have an ongoing relationship with Haiti. They would send work groups out every year. I do not know if they are still doing this.

Years ago, I spent a week in Haiti with my friend who is a physician. We witnessed the poverty first hand. We were tourist staying in a hotel and we could see from our hotel window the shacks that the people were living in. I watched them carry buckets to the water spigot so that they could have water in their home. We went to the town of Jacquemel by one of few paved roads in the county that had been built by the French army before they left. It was so bad my friend said she never wanted to return to Haiti. I did bring home some of Haitian art and have three paintings hanging in my living room.

I am happy that the United State government is mounting resources to help the Haitian people. I am sure some of the search and rescue teams that worked so hard here in New York after 911 are now in the air enroute to Haiti. I hope the summer intern that worked with me at Merck who was Haitian has now become a physician and is back working in Haiti, as was his goal.

The Prayer Chain is praying for the Haitian people. So shall we all.

Jeannette

Marriage Equality in New Jersey 3

2009-12-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the contents of an e-mail notice that I received from the New Jersey Association UCC listserve.

URGENT: The New Jersey Senate is deferring tomorrow (Thursday's) vote on the marriage equality bill at the request of bill sponsors Senators Loretta Weinberg and Raymond Lesniak.

Garden State Equality members will "still meeting in Trenton tomorrow at 9:30 am for what will now be a lobby day.

Senators Weinberg and Lesniak want to give the Assembly a chance to weigh in, beginning with an Assembly hearing. Senators Weinberg and Lesniak also believe, correctly so, that the more than 150 people who wanted to testify at this past Monday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, but could not because the
hearing ran eight hours long, should have a chance to testify before the legislature.

Below is the statement from the prime sponsor of the marriage equality bill, Senator Loretta Weinberg.
This afternoon, Senator Ray Lesniak and I requested that Senate President Richard J. Codey hold Senate Bill 1967. We also requested that Speaker Joseph Roberts schedule a meeting for the Assembly Judiciary Committee on A2978, popularly known as the Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act.

In light of the Senate Judiciary Committee?s historic passage of S1967, Senator Lesniak and I believe that the public needs another opportunity to engage legislators on this issue. Moreover, the Senate committee has substantially amended its version to include sweeping, additional protections for religious institutions. We believe that members of the public need to be afforded an additional opportunity to debate this new
provision as well.

Tuesday?s Senate hearing was extraordinary. Hundreds of citizens lined up outside the committee chambers to offer testimony on behalf of, and in opposition to, the proposed legislation. Under the leadership of Chairman Sarlo, who conducted one of the most houghtful and fair-minded hearings in which either of us has
ever participated, the committee spent seven hours hearing from scores of New Jerseyans. We had to turn away another 150 witnesses for want of time. In addition to the committee hearing, thousands of citizens, and dozens of religious and secular organizations, have engaged our members in a thoughtful and productive dialogue on marriage equality.

Accordingly, as sponsors of S1967, we asked Senator Codey to postpone full Senate consideration of the Marriage Equality Act until the Assembly Speaker has an opportunity to review scheduling the Assembly Judiciary Committee for a hearing.

We thank Senator Codey for his leadership. Marriage equality is a difficult and challenging question for members from both sides of the aisle. Throughout this debate, he has been balanced and evenhanded in his treatment of all Senators. For this, he has our deepest gratitude. #

Jeannette Brown

--------------------------------------------------

Marriage Equality in New Jersey 2

2009-12-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

OK Still we wait the verdit from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Three hundred people came to the hearing today. As the reporter from the Star Ledger said. without their identifying tee shirts etc it was hard to tell the pro's from the con's. In fact according to the columnist that (when) "the question that is asked by millions of people on this issue. And that question is, "What’s the big deal?""

"Hundreds of people came today to the Statehouse Annex Building to attend a Senate Judiciary Hearing on gay marriage.In three polls before the November gubernatorial election -- by Monmouth and Quinnipiac universities and the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers -- only one or two percent of New Jerseyans saw gay marriage as an important issue. That means 98 or 99 percent didn’t"
This article also has a link to the Star Ledger coverage of the issue.

Late edition. The bill was voted out of the Judiciary Committee late last night. Now for a full vote in the Senate. Contact your Senators!
Jeannette

Marriage Equality in New Jersey

2009-12-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

Christ Church is an Open and Affirming Church. This means we support and welcome Gay and Lesbian members. New Jersey currently has a Civil Union law which means our Gay and Lesbian members may be joined in our church and at least one couple has celebrated their Civil Union in our church.
This week the senante of New Jersey will be taking up legislation to leagalize same sex Marriaage in New Jersey.
A petition was circulated and "signed by more than 2,300 Democratic officials, advocates and residents has helped sway members of the State Senate Judiciary Committee.' The State Senate Judiciary Committee will take up the bil tomorrow Monday December 7th. According to the New York Times article of December 4th "A large turnout for the vote is expected by those on both sides of the issue; gay couples are planning to testify about what they believe are shortcomings in the state’s civil union law, which was passed in 2006."
It is expected that this bill will be passed by the Judiciary Committee and voted on the full Senate later this week.
There is opposition from "the New Jersey Catholic Conference (that) helped deliver about 156,000 signatures asking legislators to enforce the civil union law instead of approving same-sex marriage.
Since Christ Church belongs to the United Church of Christ, here's with what the UCC has to say about marriage equality: "On July 4, 2005, at the 25th General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Atlanta, delegates voted to adopt the resolution, "Equal Marriage Rights for All" The resources below are provided to help facilitate conversations and study throughout the church and society on this complex and challenging matter which has important implications for individuals, families and the wider community. They are intended to get people of faith talking about the purposes of marriage, looking more closely at how marriage has evolved and changed through time biblically and socially, exploring the theology of marriage, and critically discerning the appropriate roles for the church and the state in marriage." Here is the full article about marriage equality from the UCC.
The link contains resources and information about the topic. As I said in church today, we need to pray for this and contact out New Jersey State Senators, that we support the idea of marriage equality and that they should vote for this in New Jersey.
Jeannette Brown

Disaster Releif for American Samoa and South East Asia

2009-10-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

UCC sets $250,000 goal for aid to Southeast Asia and the Pacific http://www.ucc.org/news/ucc-sets-250000-goal-for.html

Since the Board of World Fellowship usually has funds for disasters, I hope that some funds will be sent to the UCC for this cause.
Although the majority religion of American Samoa is reputed to be Mormon, the UCC does have churches there and I have met people from there at Synod.

"According to Susan Sanders, the UCC's OGHS (One Great Hour of Sharing) administrator, the UCC responds to a disaster, on average, about once every two-and-a-half days. "To have three major disasters, in the same general area of the world, three days in a row is unprecedented in my experience," she said. "I'm grateful we have such a large, capable network of partners who are able to respond immediately, with assistance from OGHS gifts.""

"UCC members and staff have been in contact with church partners across the region expressing sympathy, compassion and offering support. One Great Hour of Sharing emergency solidarity grants are being sent to partners to assist with immediate relief efforts.

Our UCC church partners, including Church World Service and other members of Action by Churches Together, Intl. are conducting damage assessments, providing immediate relief of food, water and shelter and making plans for immediate and long term relief, recovery and rehabilitation."

Jeannette Brown

Prayer before Breakfast

2009-10-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

Actually I took place in prayer for Geoffrey Black during breakfast. I am in Tucson Arizona and the 12 noon prayer service was a 9 AM here.
It was good as I had never participated in an audio prayer service before. About 200 callers had opted in as this was good as we didn't get much notice. Some were listening via voice mail or Scype so it was probably more than 200 people.
After the call in we were allowed to voice our own prayers which will be delivered later.
You can still participate by sending prayers on line at prayer @ucc.org , I believe.

Jeannette

Geoffry Black becomes new Executive Minister of UCC

2009-09-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

There will be a national call in prayer service for Geoffry Black the new executive minister of the UCC. The link is http://www.ucc.org/news/join-in-prayer-for-geoffrey.html.

Rev Black takes office October 1, 2009 and that is the date of the prayer service which will take place at noon eastern time. I will be taking part in this service even though I will be in Arizona on vacation.

Rev. Black will need all the help he can get with the issue of reorganization and the problems it caused. For more information about that see my previous posts about the General Synod.

Jeannette Brown

Last Weekend of Summer

2009-09-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a very busy summer. I spent the beginning of the summer at the Chemical Heritage Foundation working on my book. I had another fellowship there. Then I went to Synod and I have blogged about that.
I have just come back from Washington DC and Atlanta GA. I was in Washington for the American Chemical Society meeting and I also took the oral history of one of my African American women chemists. I went to Atlanta to take the oral history of three more at the expense of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. They have a program in which they are taking video oral histories of women chemists so my women fit into their program. I experimented with my video camera and took both an oral history and a video history. It was fun.

The good news is that I have a publisher for my book about these women. I won't say who is going to publish the book yet until I sign the contract. I am in the middle of contract negotiations now. I have two lawyers looking at the contract as I don't know whether to accept their terms or negotiate. I could use some help. My editor is very supportive. I think he stacked the deck in my favor because two of my friends on the women chemists committee of the American chemical society told me that they were the blind reviewers. I got three positive reviews for my book proposal. So I will be very busy from now on. The book it due to the publisher in September 2010. There is a lot of work to do besides writing as it is a non fiction book so I need permissions from a lot of people. I have begun to blog about this I set up another blog http://aawomenchemists.blogspot.com.
Jeannette

Post Synod Musings #5 Music

2009-07-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

I did not sing in the choir at this synod. It was the first time. I missed the call for choir members and when I spoke to the UCC minister in charge of the choir he said I could join but the rehearsal was at the same time as the United Black Christians lunch that I was to attend so I did not go. It was OK because they only sang one anthem not a lot a music like previously.

But I did go to the workshop which was the launch of the UCC's new praise hymn book. "Sing Prayer and Praise" OK you say praise music? It is not the usual praise hymn book it has some wonderful modern hymns one of which I have already sung as a solo at Grace United in Flemington.

Here is the UCC definition of praise music:

"Definition of Praise Music Praise music is a memorable, melody-based composition which is musically accessible without being simplistic; it has a fresh sound incorporating less-traditional rhythms and harmonization. Praise music makes one “feel” something with a goal of establishing a deeper relationship with God. It can move one to thought, action, and reflection based on the text or theme. The language of praise music is inclusive and accessible. It encompasses traditional religious vocabulary; explores non-traditional, contemporary images of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; and draws from the rich imagery found within sacred Scripture. Praise music seeks to embody the covenantal values of the United Church of Christ: Justice and Peace, Multiracial/Multicultural, Open and Affirming, Accessible to All – as we seek unity; celebrate diversity; honor inclusion; hope for relational, loving communities; and explore multiple images and understandings of God.” ~Adopted by the Praise Song Advisory Team, Sunday, July 22, 2007"

Since they were running a sale on the books I purchase five, two of which I am giving to Holly and two for the music director at Flemington and one for me. They are paperback editions which just the music and the words. The full book with the accompaniment will be published later this year. Holly has already ordered the full book and I have also placed an order for myself.

Holly has already asked me to chose one of the pieces for a solo so I will sing the one I know already which is called "Dream God's Dream" and maybe learn a new one.

It is always fun to learn new music.

Jeannette Brown

Post Synod Musings #4 Health care reform #2

2009-07-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Margaret Tompsett spoke about the health care reform bill from the Doctors point of view. She urged us to take action on the single payer options. She gave the web sites. I believe one was Physicians for a National Health Program.

Here is the resolution that the UCC approved at General Synod. An Urgent Call For Advocacy in Support of Healthcare For All, as in H.R. 676 - A Resolution of Witness - Approved

Congressman Conyers came to synod to speak about this bill. I did not attend that meeting.

Jeannette Brown

Post Synod Musing #3 Healthcare Resolution

2009-07-09T02:46:00.000-07:00

Since Margaret Tompsett will be speaking about the single payer health care legislation that is in congress, I thought I would post the resolution about health care that was passed at Synod.
We were asked to march for universal health care and some people did, here is the story:

Marchers spill into the streets in support of universal health care

Written by Micki Carter
June 30, 2009

Two hundred Synod-goers marched from DeVos Place to City Hall Monday afternoon and gathered in the shadow of Grand Rapids’ signature Calder stabile to demonstrate their commitment to universal health care.

Chanting "Health care now!" they wound their way through downtown streets on a path cleared by city police. Leading the15-minute walk was Mayor George Heartwell, a UCC pastor, and the demonstration organizers, Bert Perry of the Florida Conference and Peter Wells, an Associate Conference Minister from Massachusetts.

At the Calder, marchers were joined by Paul Mayhew, a Baptist minister and Kent County Commissioner who is also a mental-health activist.

"We've got a president who's committed to health care for all, but we have to keep him on task," Mayhew said. "We've got to get on the telephone to our Congressmen and the White House so everyone knows where we stand."

Perry introduced Barbara Baylor, the UCC minister of health care justice, who told the group "the UCC still speaks prophetically for health care for all. . . . Remember that two people die every hour every day due to the lack of health care."

Recalling the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho, Baylor led the marchers in a chant, repeated six times, "All the walls of health-care injustice came down!"

The entire event was staged in about 36 hours. Perry and Wells were chatting on Saturday, and "we couldn't believe that the UCC was meeting in the middle of a city and we weren't out in the streets making a public statement," Perry said.

She added that they immediately identified the issue they wanted to take to the streets of downtown Grand Rapids. "Quality health care should be available to all, and that's the issue on everyone's mind right now."

Perry and Wells recognized that they needed to enlist some local help and they knew just whom to call.

"When the mayor welcomed us to the city, he gave out his cell phone number and said to call him if we needed anything. So I called him," said Perry.

And he answered. "We called the mayor on Saturday," Wells said, "met with him on Sunday and marched with him today."

Here is the article about the resolution that was passed:

Single payer health care gets nod from UCC assembly

Written by Jeff Woodard
June 30, 2009

Citing both specificity and urgency, General Synod 27 passed without amendment Tuesday a resolution "Calling for the Support of H.R. 676 – Single Payer National Health Care Reform to Advance Health Equity for All and to Eliminate Health Disparities."

Mary Beth Cross, a delegate from the Nebraska Conference, said after a unanimous vote out of committee Monday that the time to rally is now. "This is a Gospel-mandated mission of faith for everyone to make sure that universal health care becomes a reality."

Several delegates expressed an urgency for action within the next four months, before another election cycle begins. They concurred that it was crucial for the resolution to support a specific action – H.R. 676, in this case – rather than a general endorsement of universal health care.

The resolution was submitted by the Council on Racial and Ethnic Ministries (COREM). Key among its proponents has been Barbara Baylor, UCC Minister for Health Care Justice.

"We lift up our (belief) that all persons deserve and must have quality, accessible, affordable health care and related social services – including mental-health service and full accessibility for the disabled," said Baylor.

H.R. 676 (the U.S. National Health Insurance Act) is a bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan to create a single-payer, publicly financed, privately delivered universal health-care program. Its goal is to cover all Americans without charging co-pays or deductibles and guarantees access to the highest quality and most affordable health-care services regardless of employment, ability to pay or pre-existing health conditions.

In a "single payer" system established by the government, one entity handles all billing and payment for health-care services. The current system involves several thousand payers. Reports suggest that administrative waste accounts for roughly 31 percent of the money spent on health care.

I will look for a copy of the resolution and bring copies on Sunday.

Jeannette

Post Synod Musings #2 Michael Jackson?

2009-07-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

OK. You are probably wondering what Michael Jackson has to do with Synod. Well nothing really except if you are a media hog like me, you can't avoid the news and my synod experience started when I was in the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago. I was waiting for the train to Grand Rapids when the TV that was tuned to CNN announced that Michael Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest and was in the hospital. I was not watching it, but I did notice they went on for almost a half hour about this story. Then when we got on the train the conductor who was African American stated that he was only in the hospital. Later on as the train moved on he made the announcement that Micheal was dead. The train car that I was in was full of people going to synod. I don't think there was any real reaction.
Then all that week, USA Today and the TV had stories about Micheal Jackson. It was the lead story. I wondered why all the fuss but I sort of listened. I looked at the photos of the young boy who I thought was cute change to the body he designed for himself and I wondered why he had to try to change nature. Would he have been such a star if he had the same body he grew up with? I look at his brothers and I can see what he would have looked like.
Well I started this blog because of the music. I could not avoid watching pieces of the memorial service for him. The song "I'll be there" got to me and also his favorite song "Smile". I go to church for the music.
Then Rev Al Sharpton said at the memorial service that Michael brought all races together. So maybe in his way Michael held a sacred conversation about race except he seemed not to like his race by changing the color of his skin.
Anyway I just had to get this off my mind before I went to bed tonight. I will go on to real musings about Synod next.
Jeannette

Post Synod Musings #1 Single Governance

2009-07-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am still en route home from Synod. I made it as far as Washington DC. I missed my connecting train from here to Trenton NJ so I have time to muse. I would have made the connection except for the fact that the Red Caps were busy and they did not come to collect me until it was too late.
No matter, I am getting on a train that goes directly to Princeton Jct so that I will not have to change trains in Trenton and I have time to muse on this blog.

I received the following e-mail from John Deckenback our Central Atlantic Conference Minister. You have met him at Christ Church. I am copying it here without comment. That will come in further musings.

"Single Governance" for the national settings of the UCC was a major topic of conversation at the CAC Annual Meeting last month as we considered resolutions from the Catoctin and Potomac Associations.

This was also a major topic at the just-completed General Synod in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In the end a "substitute" motion was presented by a Synod Committee. Here is the final text as approved by the delegates:

1 SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION
2 TOWARD UNIFIED GOVERNANCE FOR THE NATIONAL
3 SETTING OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

4 APPROVED

5 BE IT RESOLVED that since the dialogue regarding governance has surfaced historical
6 and present tensions regarding matters of race and ethnicity in our denomination, the
7 General Synod requests the Executive Council and the Covenanted Ministries Boards to
8 engage in further sacred conversations on race, especially around what it means to be an
9 anti-racist, multi-cultural, multi-racial church. This conversation would be separate from,
10 although possibly concurrent with, the discussion on governance in recognition that we
11 cannot heal relational issues through governance discussions, but we do need to move
12 toward reconciliation.
13
14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Synod requests that the Executive
15 Council appoint a Working Group with representatives from the Collegium of Officers,
16 members of the Executive Council, Covenanted Ministry Boards, Affiliated and
17 Associated Ministry Boards, the Council of Conference Ministers, and the Historically
18 Underrepresented Groups, to guide work toward Unified Governance in preparation for
19 action by the Twenty-Eighth General Synod. In consultation with the Chair of the
20 Executive Council, each of these bodies would identify their representative so that the
21 diversity of the church would be well represented in the Working Group.
22
23 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that General Synod requests that local churches,
24 Associations, Conferences, and Historically Underrepresented Groups engage in dialogue
25 and discernment regarding Unified Governance for the National Setting and report back
26 to the Working Group by Fall 2010. The Working Group, in a transparent way, will
27 document all information received and include it in the discernment process.
28
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Twenty-Seventh General Synod affirms the
30 principle of a Unified Governing Board as the basic governance structure of the national
31 setting of the United Church of Christ, based on theological reflection, and practices of
32 good governance that include strategic planning, resource development, and monitoring
33 and oversight, incorporating the principles and concepts contained in the Fall 2008
34 Governance Follow-up Team II proposal, in order to carry out faithfully the mission of
35 the church.
36
37 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Synod requests that the Executive
38 Council and the Covenanted Ministry Boards bring to the Twenty-Eighth General Synod
39 a proposal for a Unified Governing Board with changes in the constitution and By-Laws
40 necessary to begin implementation of a Unified Governance structure.
41
42
43
44 The above resolution replaces 10 resolutions sent to Committee at
45 General Synod. The Committee recommended “no action” on the
46 submitted resolutions.

Rev. Dr. John R. Deckenback
Conference Minister
United Church of Christ Central Atlantic Conference
916 South Rolling Road, Baltimore, MD 21228
410 788 4190 (office) 443 253 2343 (cell)

Jeannette Brown

Synod Day 5 Tuesday

2009-07-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well this was the day! I decided I needed to sleep and then have my last swim in the pool followed by breakfast so I arrived at the Plenary session late, 9:30 AM, they start promptly at 8:30 AM! I arrived just in time to find out from my new friend that they were finishing the voting on Single Governance which was the most controversial business of the synod. They gave one committee all six or more resolutions which dealt with the topic of single governance. This committee looked at them all and came up with a new resolution which was a compromise. Here is the report that is on the UCC website:

Synod votes for a unified governance structure

Written by W. Evan Golder
June 30, 2009

Tuesday morning’s first order of Synod business was consideration of a unified governance structure for the national structure – and the motion was adopted. The effort required 49 minutes, with 29 speakers engaging in debate.

Currently, five different boards guide UCC policy and decision-making in the national setting. With this motion, General Synod affirmed the principle of a single, unified governance board.

GS27 asked the Executive Council and the Covenanted Ministry Boards to bring to General Synod 28 a proposal for a single governance board, along with necessary constitution and bylaw changes. That Synod is planned for Tampa, Fla., in 2011.

Conspicuous by its absence was any floor discussion of the issue that had attracted the most opposition prior to Synod: the concern of the racial and ethnic constituency groups about losing their hard-earned representation on the current governing boards.

After the vote, protesters gathered at microphones to request reconsideration of the vote so they could introduce a minority resolution. The moderator ruled the request out of order.

Now I was at the meeting and from what I heard, people were at the mike to present the minority opinion but the question was called before they could speak. Calling the question ends debate according to Roberts Rules and the delegates voted to end debate.

Well that's went the ruckus started and they wanted to reconsider the vote etc but according to Roberts Rules it was out of order. People are allowed to react to this at the center mike according to the standing rules of the synod and react they did. Minorities in the UCC, African Americans and Asian and Pacific Islanders felt that they were not a part of the original meetings about the new governance structure and wanted a pause so that all voices could be heard. I have a copy of the resolution that was passed and I will scan it or try to find it on the UCC web so that you can read it. One of most important things in this resolution that was passed is that the Sacred Conversations about Race should continue. I will write a separate blog about that in the future because of course, I have some opinions.

In fact there was another resolution about "Sacred Conversations about

Race" that was introduced and passed. It called for resources from UCC to facilitate these conversations:

Synod says Sacred Conversations on Race to continue

Written by J. Martin Bailey

June 30, 2009

The 27th General Synod requested the Justice and Witness Ministries covenanted ministry to take the lead in continuing the program of Sacred Conversations on Race.

The delegates called on conferences, associations and congregations to "establish, promote and encourage" the conversations.

The resolution, which passed without objection, had been proposed originally by the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference.

They went on to other business before lunch. At lunch time I decided to find the Bank of America ATM to save money and found a newly opened restaurant that served Mediterranean fast food. Greek and Israeli. I had lemon chicken soup and a Greek salad which was good.

After lunch the delegates concluded business. There are a lot of resolutions that they considered but I will highlight one here. The rest can be found on the UCC website. Here it is:

General Synod encourages diversity education in public school

Written by J. Martin Bailey
June 30, 2009

The experience of two UCC congregations in California prompted the denomination's General Synod to urge churches in assisting public school efforts to protect children and help them understand people of other races and sexual orientation.

The congregations in Hayward and Alameda have longed worked with their local schools and their pastors accepted invitations to participate in school programs designed to end bullying and harassment. Delegates learned that frequent taunts of "You're so gay!" has led to violence and to two suicides.

Those schools and several others in California have been targeted by "traditional values" groups following programs designed to create safe schools as required by state law. An organized campaign of intimidation has been directed at schools that have sought to protect children of gay and lesbian parents and children whose parents are immigrants or from a different country of origin.

The General Synod action, approved by an overwhelming majority after extensive debate, encourages public schools to develop programs that help to keep all children safe, and for churches to assist in appropriate ways. The resolution includes recommendations to local churches, Conferences and to national ministries.

The educational programs are to embrace students of all races, ethnic origins, genders, faiths, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic classes, countries of origin, and their families.

During the debate Synod delegates listened to appeals that the California churches not expect nationwide support for programs designed to protect children of gay or lesbian parents, or that sexual orientation and gender identities be separated from racial and ethnic diversity. Attempts to modify the resolution failed.

The two UCC pastors have resisted the pressures that included personal threats and legal actions. Both Eden UCC in Hayward, Calif., and First Congregational UCC of Alameda, Calif., have supported their pastors, the Rev. Arlene Nehring and the Rev. Laura Rose. Their efforts have also been supported by their Conference Minister, the Rev. Mary Susan Gast.

It is my opinion that this resolution mixes apples and oranges. I agree that schools should have education programs about sexual orientation, but I also think they need to have programs that cover the racial diversity of the students so that they can understand the differences and similarities between races. That has not happened yet in some schools.

The evening ended with a worship service which ended Synod.

The next Synod will be in 2011 in Tampa Bay Florida. This was a switch from Hawaii due to the economy.

Jeannette

Synod Day 4 Monday

2009-06-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Monday was Service Day for visitors and work day for delegates. Some people went to Habitat for Humanity to help build a house and some went to a nursing home to talk to the old people. Since I am one I did not want to do that! So I chose to go to the United Church Outreach Ministry Center. It is a food bank, tutoring center for kids and and education center for adults. Food banks in Grand Rapids are all linked so that the people must register to receive food and wait while they are checked to see that they are not abusing the service. Then they can come once or twice a month to receive food. Plus Fema supplies milk so once a week they can come and receive an amount of milk depending on the number of children in the family. They also have a used clothing and furniture center. The center is located in an old funeral home but they have space for the food and several trucks stocked with excess food and furniture.
We were greeted by the director of the center who assigned jobs to us. Some people cleaned out the freezer so it could be moved some people stocked the shelves with food, some people repacked flour and other food that was supplied in bulk. Some painted the walls and offices and I chose to help get the notebooks used in tutoring to be ready for next fall. They reuse notebooks so I had to make them look like they were new and put new labels on them so that the kids could put their name on them. I found out about the tutoring program and plan to send them some science activities from the American Chemical Society that they can distribute. I will also see if some of the college student who tutor can help with the science activities.
Another group of students arrived after we came and they were also put to work, mostly painting. The youth groups at Synod had been working all week doing service projects so this was not new to them. I will write more about the youth and young adults at Synod later. About 11:30 AM lunch arrived! We had pulled pork sandwiches which was good. The bus to take us back to the convention center was to arrive at 12:30 but the director kept people working even after lunch until we got on the bus. I finished my job and went out into the parking lot to practice my Speak Out.
We got back into the convention center about 1:30 which was well in time for the the afternoon session.
The first thing that happens during any Synod business session is "Speak Out". This is a session where anyone can "Speak Out" for one minute about any subject not on the agenda of Synod. I chose to speak about blood cancers of course and funding for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via the "Light the Night" walk. I managed to do it in one minute. After my performance I went to sit in the audience and observe the delegates debate the resolutions. I will talk about the resolutions in a later blog, I just want to give an overview of my day here. I wound up sitting next to another visitor from the state of New York. His wife was a delegate. He had printed out all the resolutions and was following the voting etc. It was nice to sit next to him as we had a running conversation going about the event. We wound up sitting next to each other by choice during all the plenary sessions.
That evening Geoffrey Black was elected the new General Minister replacing John Thoma. He was the New York Conference Minister and he is the second African American to head the United Church of Christ. We also elected The Rev Linda Jaramillo Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries and The Rev. Stephen Sterner Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries and members of the board of directors.
The evening ended with a short worships service which is different because it was liturgical dancers interpreting Scripture as it was read.
I will write about Tuesday tomorrow. I am a day behind because I got tired Monday night and went to bed instead of blogging. Tomorrow Wednesday, I leave for home, I will have time to do some blogging tomorrow since I have a long layover between trains in Chicago.
Jeannette

Synod Day 3 Sunday

2009-06-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Today was Sunday and another day of rest. Well it was a day of rest for us visitors. The delegates are working hard on resolutions. I will speak about them tomorrow. Today started out with the Sacred Conversations about Race. We will have them some time at Christ Church I hope. We were supposed to have them last fall but somehow that did not happen. There were several different groups who talked about several different topics. The topics were: Race, Media and Politics, Race and the Environment, Race and Gender, race and LGBT, Race and Immigration, Race and Religion, Race and the New Generation, Race,Economics and Poverty, Race and Education, Race and Daily Life, Race and the Criminal Justice System, Race and Culture,and Race in the UCC. So you see there is something for everyone to discuss. I was torn between Race and Education and Race and Every Day Life. I chose Race and Education because that's my passion but Race and Every Day Life is something I live. For example when I went to buy a dress for a big occasion at a store in the Short Hills Mall, the clerks ignored me and I was ready to pay $l00 or more for that dress. That's is an example of Race and every day life. Or else clerks come over to you with the "Can I help you?" and then hover over you while you are in the store in case you are going to steal something, I guess.
But in the Race and Education group was a diverse group of mostly educators. It started by a talk by a young African American music teacher who teaches Band at a middle school in Greensboro NC. He spoke about his experiences as a teacher and the impact of the "No Child Left Behind Act" on the schools. Then we broke up into groups of three to discuss this and then larger groups. Each of the larger groups then reported out our finding. Most of what was said has been said before. The big action item is telling Congress when they reauthorize "No Child Left Behind" to put teeth into the bill. Right now it is an unfunded mandate and teachers spend a lot of time teaching to the test for fear of their jobs. It can be done better with alternative means of assessment. But I have blogged about this before so look at the old blogs.
Today was also the United Black Christians Celebration Luncheon. I had a ticket to this luncheon so I dressed up for the occasion. I wore my Afrocentric dress as most of the people there tend to wear Afrocentric clothing both men and women. The United Black Christians was started in 1970. It's mission Statement is:
To provide VOICE for all of the African American members of the United Church of Christ.
To strengthen the Black churches within the United Church of Christ.
To train and nurture leaders of our churches for Gospel inspired service to the Black Community
To provide support for institutions that strengthen our community,
To provide a relevant ministry for our youth and young adults,
To empower the laity for a present day ministry,
To be active advocates for liberation and racial justice at home and abroad,
To provide spiritual nurture for our members,
to enhance clergy-lay ministry partnerships, and
To preserve our history as a people within the United Church of Christ.

I am a member of the United Black Christians. John Thomas came to the luncheon to say his goodbye's as well as the new General Minister nominee Rev. Black.
The program was filled with music and another sermon by an African American minister Rev. Henry Simmons.

After the luncheon we all went back to the convention center to attend the afternoon worship service to which the general public was invited. The Rev John Thomas preached and the choir sang. I am glad I was not in the choir because they only sang one song and their rehearsal was during the United Black Christians luncheon.

After the worship service the delegates got down to business to review the numerous resolutions. Since I am not a delegate I went back to my hotel for rest and relaxation. Tomorrow is the service project day.
The Synod is being webcast live if you would like to see what is going on.
Jeannette Brown

Synod Day 2 River City Saturday

2009-06-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a special day River City Saturday. It was a day of special events which means the business of the Synod was not done while we had these special events which were fun, but I think I would be mad if I were a delegate because there is a lot of work for the delegates to do and not a lot of time assigned to that work. But this is the view of a visitor maybe they are working behind the scenes.
The day started with worship at 8:30 AM in the Plenary Hall. Ina and I got there late but in time to hear Eugene Robinson the Washington Post writer and TV commentator speak. He is writing a book about African Americans and their status post civil rights legislation. He started it before the election of our current president. He spoke about his life growing up in the segregated south and the status of African American now. One of the things he predicts is that our races are becoming blended and there will be no minority race in 40 years. He said "there is no right American history , no standard American history, our divisions are our strength".

The next event I went to was the Praise Hymnal workshop. The UCC has produced a new Praise music hymnal entitles "Sing!Pray and Praise". This workshop talked about how the hymnal was written and how they chose the music. Right now it is just words and music the accompaniment version will come out later this year. There is some music in it that is good so I purchased five copies ( they were running a sale). I will give two to Holly and Ms Allie and the other two are going to the church in Flemington and one for me.

I was tired and but instead of going back to the hotel I got some lunch and went to watch the river. In the afternoon there was a talk by Ray Suarez of PBS and Krista Tippett of "Speaking of Faith" on NPR. Both talks were very good.
After that Ina and I went to dinner and then to the evening event which was a send off for John Thomas the current General Minister of the UCC. Synod will elect a new General Minister this session. John Thomas's twin brother Dick was also there and confused one video photographer. Since Dick is a member of the New Jersey Association and in New Jersey I don't confuse them. Besides Dick is a fellow chemist.
Tomorrow is Conversations about Race. That should be interesting.

Jeannette Brown

27th General Synod UCC Grand Rapids Michigan

2009-06-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my blog from GS27 in Grand Rapids Michigan. This is about the fourth or fifth time I have been to a General Synod as a visitor. My first Synod was held in Providence Rhode Island.
This time I took the train from Washington DC to Chicago IL and then the train from Chicago to Grand Rapids after a layover of all day. The Grand Rapids train ride was interesting. We found out later that most of the people on the train were going to Synod. In fact the conductor commented that he had never seen so many people bound for Grand Rapids. The train left the station on time and got somewhere in Indiana and stopped. We waited for a while and then the train backed up. It seems the CSX dispatcher had sent us on the wrong track! CSX the freight line owns the track. Well we got almost to Grand Rapids and we stopped again. It turns out that CSX said there was Amtrak equipment in the way. They got that straighten out and we headed for Grand Rapids one hour late.
Ina Isobe was waiting for me at the station. She is from Union Congregational Church in Montclair and also a visitor at synod. She is my room mate till Sunday. She was among a group of UCC bikers who biked from Syracuse to Grand Rapids. She is going home by Amtrak.
This morning I visited the widower of one of the women chemists that I am working on for my book. He is an Episcopal priest at St. Marks here in Grand Rapids. The woman died in 1997 but I wanted to check with him about her life.
At about noon I checked in to synod and attended a hearing about the proposed governance changes. The UCC would like to change the governance structure to have one group rather than the five groups each with their own board that meets twice a year. it is very complicated but if you want more information about this I refer you to the UCC website.
After the hearing the business of Synod started.
I went to the Science and Religion Network dinner. The Science and Religion Network is a group of scientists who ponder the interface between religion and science. They are now working on evolution. There was a speaker at the diner who talked about evolution.
After the dinner it was back to the Opening Worship in the Plenary Hall. We had a rousing sermon by The Rev. Otis Moss III who is the new minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. This was the same church that Barack Obama use to attend. Choir members from that church sang the music and the liturgical dance troupe danced the music. I have always wanted Christ Church to have a liturgical dance group, because I think it is so cool. The Rev Moss sounds a lot like Martin Luther King Jr. when he preaches, or maybe it is the same lively way all African American ministers preach. They start out slowly but their body seems to be on springs as they jump up and down and then they wind up and let it fly and it goes on and on for an hour. He was very good. We got back to the hotel late last night and I fell asleep writing the first draft of this blog.

Jeannette

Christ Church Women's Retreat and other retreats

2009-03-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Well I finally went on the Christ Church women's retreat. It is run by Rev Julie Yarborugh our associate minister. Julie said this was the 13th retreat that she has run. Well 13 is my lucky number as I was born on the 13th and lived at 13 Dennis Place in Summit for years so I am not afraid of the number 13. It the first time I had no real excuse not to go on the the retreat so I went and I am glad because I had fun.
This year it was held at a new location for the retreat, the Carmel Retreat Center in Mahwah New Jersey which is about as far north as you can go in New Jersey without going into New York state.
It is lovely in the hills of New Jersey, I hesitate to say mountains in case people who really live in the mountains read this. I went with my Hillsborough friend and Christ Church member Kathryn and for us it was a straight ride up I 287. We could have gone all the way on Route 202, but even though that would be scenic it would also be very slow.
The Carmel Retreat house" began as the private estate of Clarence Chapman, a New York financier whose principal interests were in mining and shipbuilding. A ship's bell forged by the Menelly Bell Company of Troy, New York in 1903 still reminds visitors of Mr. Chapman's business interests when they visit the site of his summer home in the Ramapo River Valley of New Jersey. He named the estate "Welawiben", a word created by him to connote good health and fellowship " For more information about the estate and it's history see this website: http://www.carmelretreat.com/html/about/history.html

This year thirty women decided to go on the retreat which is the largest group ever. Julie thought it was because of the topic. "Hope in HardTimes". I guess I went just to see what it was like.
I am not going to discuss everything we did because that would not be right. It was an opportunity for me to meet and interact with some of the women of the church and their friends as we were allowed to bring non church members. Almost everyone in the church knows me because I sing in the choir and I am very vocal about UCC announcements but I don't know everyone in church. This was indeed a way to interact and meet with the women.
What was good about the retreat was silence. Many people took a walk or a run around the property when we had breaks. It is a beautiful property to walk. I did not because walking is hard for me and I also have a cold.
Sunday we did a craft project lead by Lynn our crafts person. At first we all thought it might be too hard but we all got into the project and came out with very pretty accordion books that we made by making a printing block and printing on paper.
The meals were good and a good time for informal fellowship and talks with people whom I did not know until then.
This retreat was good time to get away and think about our lives without the hustle and bustle of life.
So as not to reveal all that we did I will leave it at that.
This was the first Christ Church retreat I have been on but not the first retreat in my life. I am a Turtle Sister which means I have been on the Turtle Island Project retreat twice. This is held in Arizona in the fall. This year it will be either the first or second weekend in October and I hope to fit it into my plans again. You are welcome to join me.The highlight of this retreat is the sweat lodge. The retreat is run by three therapists, one of them being a Native American and another being Native American and African American. The sweat lodge takes some getting used to. As I said I hope to go again this year if I can fit it into my schedule.
Sorry guys these retreats are only for women. Do you have retreats like this?
Jeannette Brown

Steal Away the spiritual

2009-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

Sunday January 18th I will sing "Steal Away" a negro spiritual arranged by a British composer Rutter. I like the arrangement so I introduced Holly to it and she decided that the choir should sing it.

Rev Rush's sermon will be about women. I don't know whom he will be talking about, but this spiritual is about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman who was the "conductor" of that railroad.

The meaning of Steal Away has been interpreted by many people here is one I found on the web.

Spirituals are very important (in the Underground Railroad), because spirituals have layers of meaning to them.

One of my favorites is “Steal Away.” Because, in the spiritual, “Steal Away” people are not only told to “steal away” to Jesus, but also to run away. And that particular spiritual tells you when to run away, because there is a line in it, “My God calls me, he calls me by the thunder.” Well, thunder occurs only during a storm. Another line within Steal Away refers to “green trees abending.” Green trees are green and have the suppleness to bend in springtime. We’re also given information about the storm. This has been corroborated in other stories of how people waited until there was a storm, because if you left during the storm, chances were, you would not be discovered for several days. The blessing of the rain would wash away any cells from the body, and so, therefore, any scent that there was was gone. The dogs would have nothing to go by. I think Steal Away is one of those spirituals that will haunt us on many different levels and beckon, almost like the whistle of a train as you hear it far off. Written by Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., professor of art and art history Howard University.

This is from a film "Safe Harbor" This film is about the Underground Railroad.

The author says that this spiritual is his favorite as it is mine. I listened to the CD of this arrangement so much that it became ingrained in my spirit. As my voice teacher says it has become part of me. I hope I do it justice.

The Inauguration of our New President

2009-01-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

OK this is not polictical because no matter who you voted for Barack Obama will be President of the United States on Tuesday. The media is asking for our impressions of this. I am watching today's events the train trip from Philiadelphia PA to Washington DC to be like the trip President Lincoln maded from Springfield Illinois where President elect Obama launched his campaign. I only wish President elect Obama had mad the full trip from Springfield Illinois but I guess this little trip is OK. The trip is taking longer than a regular Amtrak trip from Philadelphia to Washington takes as they are going slowly so that the public can see him. I just saw the whistle stop at Edgewood MD and I cried. I am writing this with tears of joy in my eyes.
I have tried to be very cool through this whole process because at my age I remember everything that could go wrong. I am still afraid and I guess we should all pray that everything goes smoothly.

One of our choir members, Scott Nelson and family are going to Washington to see the inaugural as is my voice teacher. I hope they bring back photos and first hand accounts of the event. I don't like crowds, besides you can see it better on TV.

I did go to the second March on Washington because I happened to be in Washington DC for an American Chemical Society Meeting. I remember I went at the last minute. I decided to take the Metro and took with me only the Metro fare and my ID, no purse. This is the same security as will be at the Inauguration on Tuesday. I managed to wiggle my way to the front of the crowd on the Mall and I saw MLK and Ralph Abernathy and all the other people on the platform up front and close. I probably have photos somewhere as I never travel without a camera.

I only wish my mother and father could be alive to see this inauguration. I think my father would forgive him for being a Democrat. As a matter of fact he probably would have voted for him even though my father was a life time party of Lincoln Republican. I think he would have been fed up with the current administration and might even have been investigated for the letters he would have written to the current President. I gave a talk in church about my father and the older members of Christ Church may have read his letters to the editor of the Summit Press and the Independent Press about race.

I worked hard for the election of our President elect and I am continuing to help with the change he wants. I have scheduled a meeting of Scientists for Change which is posted on the Obama website and I attended a meeting in Bedminster of people who wanted to continue the change. Because our future President says he can't do it alone. We all must work to effect the change that will help all of us.

The UCC is going to begin the Inauguration event with a prayer service: .

The Special UCC Prayer Service and reception

Monday, January 19, 2009, 7 PM

Christ Congregational United Church of Christ

9525 Colesville Road

Silver Spring

(just inside the Washington Beltway at Colesville Road)

Sponsored by: Christ Congregational United Church of Christ, UCC Justice/Witness Ministries and the Central Atlantic Conference

Join members and friends from throughout the country!!!

Rev. Dr. John R. Deckenback
Conference Minister
Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ

There is another event that you could attend:

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

On January 20th Americans and the entire world will witness a truly historic event with the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.

We warmly welcome to Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters Malia and Sasha.

As part of the Inaugural Weekend at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is hosting an Open House on Monday, January 19th from 11am to 3pm at the S. Dillon Ripley Center for our exhibitions Road to Freedom and After 1968. The Ripley Center is located next to the Smithsonian Castle on the west side and can be easily reached via Metro.

Suffer the children Let us pray for peace

2009-01-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Mathew 19: 14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)

The other day the television news highlighted the children of Gaza and Israel who are suffering because of the fighting. Children in Gaza went to a UN school where they thought they would be safe and the school was bombed. There are no safe shelters for children or anyone in Gaza. Children in Israel spending there days in a bomb shelter and dreaming of rockets and bombs over night.

Why is this happening? The UN passed a resolution to stop this but the fighting continues except for three hours a day for humanitarian purposes. Why can't the Arabs and Jews get along with each other?

Here are the statements from the United Church of Christ about the situation:

UCC offers its prayers, offerings and advocacy to urge peace for Israel-Palestine

January 6, 2009

In Gaza, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and at least 3,000 injured as a result of the Israeli military campaign. Israelis have also been killed and others injured by rocket attacks originating from Gaza. The result of violence has only been more violence, more suffering.

Gaza has become the focus of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the last couple of weeks, with a focus on eradicating Hamas elements. Gaza – the most densely populated place on earth – is a small landmass of roughly 140 square miles, with a population of 1.5 million Palestinians. Gaza has been essentially sealed since Israel withdrew in August 2005, with little access for supplies (food, medicine, or fuel), a condition that has been made especially clear in the past days. Unemployment is at an all-time high, and despair among Palestinians – both Muslims and Christians – is extremely high.

Collegiate statement on Gaza

In a Jan. 6 Epiphany letter, the UCC's Collegium of Officers, urging comprehensive peace in the Middle East, prayed that "nations shall come to your light, and rulers to the brightness of your dawn."

"Today we hear the Psalmist remind us of a Sovereign who "delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper, who has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needed, who from oppression and violence redeems their life." " -----
" May we no longer be at ease in a world grown comfortable with its cruelty and war. Indeed, may we be so ill at ease that Rachel's wailing drowns out the cruel silence of our rulers, and Herod's sword is stayed by the Child who is the redeemer of life. For once again the light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen, and nations shall come to the light, even rulers to the brightness of God's dawn."

The UCC is calling for funds to help the people of Gaza.
Support humanitarian relief

The UCC is seeking an additional $75,000 for the immediate and long-term needs in Gaza. Already, $25,000 from the UCC's One Great Hour of Sharing offering has been sent to partners in Jerusalem who are preparing a shipment of humanitarian aid, including food, medical supplies and plastic sheeting, as soon as Israeli authorities open a border crossing.

Christ Church people can also advocate for peace by sending a letter to members of congress and Secretary of State Rice. The letter is on the UCC website.

Advocate for justice, healing
Take action to support international efforts to broker a comprehensive cease fire and pressure Israel to allow humanitarian relief supplies – including food, medical supplies, and fuel – to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of thousands.

The UCC has a presence in the middle east. Our Conference Minister John Deckenbach recently showed the photos of his recent trip to the middle east when he lead a discussion about it during an adult ed program at Christ Church.

About the UCC's work in the Middle East
Through Global Ministries, the United Church of Christ has long-established mission relationships in the area. Here are the positions of the UCC’s General Synod.

Lastly the whole ecumenical community is calling for peace.

Ecumenical responses
Statements calling for a comprehensive ceasefire and urgent humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza have been issued by many UCC partner bodies, including the Middle East Council of Churches, the Jerusalem Bishops and Patriarchs, the Sabeel Liberation Center [word doc], the World Council of Churches, and more.

My heart is sad and I pray for all the people in the middle east both in Gaza and in Isreal that they can decided to stop bombing each other and live in peace. Maybe I am unrealistic but at least I can pray for peace. I hope you will join me

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative.

Note: Most of this information is on the UCC web page. The links above should work and connect you to the web page

Christmas Carols for the Christmas Season

2008-12-27T04:33:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas Carols. I love Christmas music. I wish we could sing them all year long. So I spent this Christmas season listening to Christmas music on the radio and on Christmas Day there were several great TV programs of Christmas music. (In fact we had a small TV war when my cousin switched the channel temporarily to a football game. I won, it was my house!)

So lets start with the history of Christmas Carols. I googled History of Christmas Carols and came up with the following links:

from Ask.Com http://musiced.about.com/od/christmasnewyeararticles/a/carols.htm

Word Origin
The word carol or carole is a medieval word of French and Anglo-Norman origin, believed to mean a dance song or a circle dance accompanied by singing. Broadly defined, carols express religious joy and is often associated to the Christmas season. Carols are also used to describe late medieval English songs on various subjects with a verse and refrain. Often the verse and refrain (also called burden) alternates.

History of Christmas Carols
It is unclear when the first carol was written but it is believed that circa 1350 to 1550 is the golden age of English carols and most of the carols followed the verse-refrain pattern.

During the 14th century carols became a popular religious song form. The theme often revolved around a saint, the Christ child or the Virgin Mary at times blending two languages such as English and Latin.

By the 15th century the carol was also considered as art music. During this time elaborate arrangements were made and carols were considered an important contribution to English medieval music. The Fayrfax Manuscript, a court songbook featuring carols, was written by the end of the 15th century. The songs were written for 3 or 4 voices and themes were mostly on the Passion of Christ.

By the 16th century though the popularity of carols faltered, almost disappearing entirely if not for the revival that happened by the middle of the 18th century. Most of the carols we know today were written during this period.

Then there was the Wikipedia version which I will let you look at for yourself. Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol#History

While baking cookies on December 20, I heard the news on WNYC nationall public radio. John Rutter was interviewed and asked about his favorite carol. He said "In Dulce Julibo" which the announcer did not know so she asked him to sing it. He did, but he said that was his radio vocal debut and he will stick to conducting and composing. He said he used to be a boy sporano! He was interviewed because he has composed a new Christmas Carol. It is on his new CD "A Christmas Festival". This can be found on the following website along with a sample of the music. http://www.collegium.co.uk/us/ Although the Christ Church choir has sung a lot of Rutter music and I love it I heard on another interview on National Public Radio that he is a non believer. (note: I heard this on SoundCheck) Whatever, he writes or arranges beautiful music and he must get his solace from that.

Music directors in Great Britain and some in the United States were surveyed as to their favorite Christmas Carol. The list is surprising. This was another interview that I heard on WNYC Soundcheck about the poll. Here is the link if you want to listen to the program; http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2008/12/24

Fifty Greatest Christmas Carols

BBC Music Magazine recently polled choirmasters and choral experts on the greatest Christmas carols ever. We find out what songs made the Top 50. (It’s not “Silent Night.”)

Last Carol Standing

“In The Bleak Midwinter” is the world’s best Christmas carol, according to a poll of leading choirmasters and choral experts from the UK and US. The song came out top in a poll conducted by a BBC Music magazine poll, placing above well-known carols “Silent Night,” “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and “Once in Royal David's City.” Oliver Condy, editor of BBC Music joins us to share the results.

My new favorite carol is "Once in Royal David's City" I think it is in our hymnal. I found another site that has favorite hymns and the words and music if you want to sing along. I think it is for churches that don't have choirs and beautiful organ and great music directors like we do. Here is the link to " Once in Royal David's City" but you can search for others. http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/n/onceirdc.htm

Well this should get you started on your carol singing. Tomorrow I will be singing "Oh Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion at Grace United Church in Flemington, the new UCC church start that Christ Church supports.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Jeannette Brown

We have a new president. A Historic President

2008-11-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

Either way this election would have made history. If McCain had won we would have had the nation's first woman VP. But Barak Obama won and we have the nation's first African American President! I don't think this is partisan since the election is now over and the people have spoken. No matter who you voted for Obama is now your President. Obama spoke about the 106 year old woman who lived to vote for him. When she was young she could not vote because she was a woman and also more importantly because she was African American. My father was as I have said before a party of Lincoln Republican. When I found out that Obama won I prayed to my father and said I know you would have voted for a Democrat for the first time in your life. I am sure of that! My father was the one who taught me African American history even though I did not believe him because "it was not taught in school". How I wish I had listened to him at the time. He is probably saying "I told you so."
Now that this has happened I think we at Christ Church should have the "Sacred Conversation about Race" http://www.ucc.org/sacred-conversation/ that the UCC has been advocating. Because people might be saying that Obama was/is the exception. We need to look at what we think about race and let the ugly realities come out and face them.
They tell me that reading material would be Obama's books, The Audacity of Hope and others. They tell his life story. Also look at Michelle Obama's life story. They rose from working class parents to this stature. There are a lot of African Americans who can say the same, myself included.
When we had the Neighbor to Neighbor workshop at Christ Church two Sunday's ago they showed a video of children in the slums of Philadelphia. We were asked our reaction to the video and I said I could relate to the video because one child talked about being harassed by children in school for being different. This happened to me in the second grade because I was interested in learning and the kids didn't like that. We must talk!
Jeannette

HomeSharing Article Star Ledger 11/2/08

2008-11-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Above is the article on HomeSharing that was published in the Somerset, Hunterdon County editions of the Star Ledger on Sunday November 2. I am posting this article not because it is about me and my match but because it is a way to provide affordable housing in this time of people losing there homes because of foreclosures. Perhaps a family could avoid foreclosure if they share a room or rooms in their home. The operative word is share not rent because the seeker becomes a part of the family. If a homeowner has a big house then they might have separate quarters for the seeker. Since I am on the Board of Directors of HomeSharing we hear stories of the clients. The providers are not always poor, they may be elderly or empty nesters who want companionship. That is my story. Olinda Young my seeker came to me at the right time in my life. One year ago just before I was to have chemo. It would have been hard for me to live alone during my time of having chemo, especially as I had an adverse reaction the first day and wound up in the ER. I did not know how I was going to get home as I did not have my address list with me. I called Paul Tukey who is on my Lots of Helping Hands website and he called Olinda. All I knew is that Olinda (my angel) showed up to take me home. As a retired social worker and avid church worker, she has those caring aspects.
A full time agency like HomeSharing does not exist in Union County as the article says there is only a part time agency. Since people in Christ Church started the homeless hospitality network, this might be a project for someone to take up.
Jeannette

Our Faith Our Vote Tuesday is the day!

2008-11-02T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here is the UCC Election Day Check list.

Election Day Checklist

The end is in sight! Election Day is almost here! You've stuck with us this far - join us in our final push to prepare for the elections.

Voter registration is way up! Overall, 13 battleground states have already received 3.4 million new voter registrations as of Oct. 14, 2008 compared to 1.8 million new registrations in 2004. This is exciting, but the overwhelming number of people expected to vote on November 4th is going to put a big strain on our electoral system. It is all the more important to watch for incidents of voter disenfranchisement and intimidation.

The following are just a few of the disturbing incidents that have been reported so far:

Voters in Philadelphia are being told that they will be denied the right to vote if they have unpaid parking tickets. FALSE!
In some areas, flyers are being distributed with misinformation about elections, including such false warnings that anyone whose home is in foreclosure cannot vote. UNETHICAL!
Some Georgia residents waited 6 to 8 hours to cast an early ballot, in large part due to computer glitches and an overload of the state's computerized voter verification system. DISTURBING!

What can you do to insure that your vote and the votes in your community are counted?

Prepare yourself!

Know where your polling place is located
This may seem simple but knowing your polling place will save you time and frustration. You can use this tool to find it right now. (LINK http://www.866ourvote.org/find-polling)

You can also help members of your church find their polling places. Set up your computer during coffee hour so anyone can find their polling location or print out directions to local polling stations so everyone knows where to go!

Know about your state's voter requirements
Does your state require ID at polling places? What kind of identification is acceptable? Make sure you know what to expect in your state.
Know your rights
No one should be able to deny you your right to vote. Come prepared with the facts in case you encounter unexpected problems at the polling place. The UCC OFOV project has prepared a basic Voter Bill of Rights in English and Spanish for your use.

Spread the knowledge with this useful bulletin insert. Include it in your Sunday worship materials so all your friends and neighbors can be prepared.

If you encounter any problems call the election protection hotline for immediate assistance from trained legal professionals. 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Consider voting early
Massive voter turn out is going to lead to long lines on Election Day. If you know you won't be able to make it to the polls on November 4th consider voting early or requesting an absentee ballot. To find out if your state offers early voting click here.
Don't wear buttons, stickers, shirts or carry signs promoting a candidate to a polling location
The laws about this vary state-to-state and county-to-county. Because there is a great deal of confusion about this among poll workers, voters and officials it is better NOT to wear campaign gear when you go to vote.

Prepare Your Church!

Voting can be difficult to fit in your schedule. With jobs, children and pets to care for many people have trouble finding time to cast their ballots. Help the members of your church find time to vote.

Car pool
Make sure everyone has a ride to the polls. Get some drivers to volunteer and find out who needs a ride. Make a sign-up sheet and divide responsibility so that everyone who needs a ride from home or work can make it to their voting place.
Child Care
It's hard to make time to stand in line and vote when you have kids to worry about. Open up the church nursery and offer to watch your members' kids while their parents vote. They will appreciate it more than you know!
Dog Walking
Offer to walk dogs so people are free to vote and free from worrying about their pets waiting in the car or at home. This is a great way to get your youth group involved in the voting process and will be appreciated by pet owners.
Encourage everyone in your congregation to vote
Sometimes we all just need a little reminder!

Thank you for your engagement in this election!

______________________________________________________________

I can't tell you how to vote and who to vote for. All I can say is VOTE. Make sure you're friends and neighbors and even your relatives VOTE!

Jeannette

The Election is 23 Days away and Counting

2008-10-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

OK There is another UCC resource for the election. It is called "Our Faith Our Vote". This is a non partisan look at the election process including the voting process as well. No matter who we vote for we must insure that every vote counts and the election process is fair and unbiased.

As an African American and also a woman there were times in which both of us had to fight for the right to vote. Even when given the right to vote African Americans had obstacles thrown in there faces in the form of poll taxes and unfair voter registration practices.

What about our immigrant populations who have become citizens and have the right to vote. Also we need to think of our homeless population which Christ Church serves in numerous ways. Are they registered? They do have the right to vote.

Also think of our college students who are away. Did they apply for an absentee ballot or are they registered to vote in their college town? I remember the very first time I could vote for president at 22 my absentee ballot arrived from New York State on the very day it was due back in New York! I was livid! You could not fax it to anyone and one day express mail did not exist! I sent them a scathing letter!

So look at the resources available on the UCC website I have given you the link.

Sign up to host or go to a debate party on Wednesday October 15. I did that with my young neighbors. The 13 year old boy was very interested in the first debate so he came to my house for the VP debate along with his older step sisters one of who will be voting for the first time this year. Wow I would have like to vote at 18 but it was not available in my time. I was so surprised that the 13 year old wanted to discuss the election and it was not homework! How our times have changed. Or maybe it is because this is an historic election that would inspire a 13 year old African American/Hispanic boy to be interested in a presidential election.

So enjoy the debates with you teenage children. This is democracy in action!

Jeannette Brown

Public Education in New Jersey

2008-10-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

How timely my blog was about the UCC and public education. In today's Star Ledger (October 12,2008) John Mooney the education reporter for the Star Ledger wrote about the candidates and their positions on education and how it would affect New Jersey. The title of the article is: "Both Candidates want to see Uncle Sam in the Classroom". In the article Mr Mooney compares the effect "No Child Left Behind" has on a suburban community like Chatham with the effect it has on an urban community like Newark. It is vital for Newark to help equalize the educational experience for all children.

You may check both candidates education policies in the Star Ledger or other local papers or go to their websites and read them. I am not allowed to take sides on this blog. I just wanted you to be aware of the information.

Jeannette Brown

2009 Public Education Resource

2008-10-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Below I have copied the information from the UCC about Public Education. The "No Child Left Behind Act" is up for re authorization. Since congress did not act on it in 2008 it will be left for the new congress under a new administration to act on it. Since I strongly beleive in quality public education for all children I think we should all seriously consider this. By have a world standard education for all students we will be able to grow our own well educated work force and not have to import them.

Public Education

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22: 35-39

As we think about whether American society embodies Jesus' teaching that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, we need to be concerned about public schools, the primary institution where we have agreed to nurture and shape God's precious children. Public schools are our largest public institution, serving nearly fifty million children.

In the national conversation about public education, our role in the church is special. We are concerned about our schools as an ethical and public policy matter. How do they embody attitudes about race and poverty, power and privilege, and cultural dominance and marginalization, and how do disparities in public investment reflect these attitudes?

The United Church of Christ has spoken prophetically to name poverty and racism as among the primary causes of injustice in our nation's schools. General Synod 15 warned: "While children from many areas have comfortable schools with all the educational trimmings, poor and ethnic minority children often face overcrowded and deteriorated facilities, and a lack of enrichment programs or modern technology." General Synod 18 cautioned: "Because the poor and their children are disproportionately people of color, the educational inequities in our public schools reinforce the racial/ethnic injustices of our society." General Synod 23 proclaimed public school support - and advocacy for the same - as one of the "foremost civil rights issues in the twenty-first century." General Synod 25 called all settings of the UCC to do justice and promote the common good by strengthening support for public institutions and providing "opportunity for every child in well-funded, high quality public schools."

Featured Resource for October 2008

Justice and Witness Ministries' annual beginning-of-school resource, the 2009 Message on Public Education, lifts up the importance of schools to form each whole child, created in the image of God, in contrast to the test-and-punish philosophy of the federal education law, No Child Left Behind, that has dangerously narrowed the curriculum in schools serving America's poorest children. A second key article challenges us to evaluate justice in charter schools according to values of access, equity, and public purpose. If you would like additional printed copies for discussion in your congregation, please contact Jan Resseger (216-736-3711) or ressegerj@ucc.org.

"Tyranny of the Test: One Year as a Kaplan Coach in the Public Schools" is Jeremy Miller's story of his role as a Supplemental Education Services tutor under the No Child Left Behind Act. Miller exposes the flaws of redirecting public tax money that could have been spent to strengthen public school staffing and programming to Kaplan, a private contractor providing NCLB-mandated services to schools labeled "failing" under the federal law. The story contains shocking statistics about the role of private contracting and profit: "The failure of schools serving low-income students has been a windfall for the testing industry. Title I funds earmarked for test tutoring increased by 45 percent during the first four years of NCLB, from $1.75 billion in 2001 to $2.55 billion in 2005. With the ever growing stream of funding flowing through the nation's schools, the number of supplemental-service providers nationwide has exploded... In 2003, Kaplan hired former NYC Chancellor of Education Harold Levy as an executive vice president and general counsel, and in 2006 relocated its headquarters for Kaplan K12, the division of the company that works in schools, from Midtown Manhattan to luxury offices downtown. According to Crain's, the company made the move 'to be closer to the New York City Department of Education.'"

Action Needed Now

The reauthorization of NCLB will now drag into 2009. Please tell your Senators and Representatives that you remain very concerned. Send the letter to Senators and Congressional Representatives at our TakeAction page. Please send the letter as-is or as you edit it, and urge others to do so.

Jeannette Brown

Are you able to refrain from violent TV — just for one week?

2008-10-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

The United Church of Christ and many other churches are declaring a fast from viewing violent TV for one week starting October 12 -18.
Starting this Sunday, UCC members are pledging to refrain from watching violence as entertainment. Will you join us?

Sponsored by the UCC and Rainbow/PUSH, the Media Violence Fast is encouraging participants to take a stand against violent media by making a conscious decision not to watch it. We are asking people to seek other forms of programming and intellectual stimulation, and to reflect on what it means to purposefully distance oneself from violence as entertainment.

As a participant, you will receive a daily e-mail devotion/meditation for use individually or with family members or faith groups. You will also be encouraged to offer your own reflections and feedback in a group forum.

Just consider this: Before reaching the age of 18, the average U.S. child will witness 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 40,000 murders. The National Television Violence Survey has found that 60 percent of TV shows contain violence.

This Media Violence Fast is not about censorship. Instead, this is an opportunity to pause and consider how the saturation of violence on our TV screens also affects our spiritual lives, our relationships with others, how we see the world and how we promote peace as a religious value, starting with our remote controls.

Starting Sunday, I am changing the channel. Will you give it a try too?

The above was written by The Rev. J. Bennett Guess
Executive Director, OC, Inc
United Church of Christ

Note: This refraining from media violence does not include the last Presidential Debate on October 15 unless you think that will be violent! (:-)

Jeannette Brown

Give Me Jesus and other spirituals

2008-05-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

"Give Me Jesus" is the title of the spiritual that the Christ Church Choir sang Sunday May 25. It is a new spiritual to me so I decided to do some research on the back ground of the spiritual. Here is part of what I found:

Give Me Jesus

The spiritual often elects Jesus as the slave’s closest and most reliable friend. He is coming in person to gather up his friends and

take them to heaven. Give Me Jesus shows a touching faith in that relationship.

“You may have all this world. Give me Jesus”.

There are two different versions of this spiritual. this comes from : http://www.negrospirituals.com/history.htm

The choir sang the second version.

GIVE ME JESUS (Second version)

I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
« Give me Jesus »

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus
You may have all this world
Give me Jesus

At dark midnight, was my cry
Dark midnight was my cry
Dark midnight was my cry
“Give me Jesus”

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus

And when I come to die
And when I come to die
And when I come to die
Give me Jes(us)

The first version is:

GIVE ME JESUS (First version)

Oh when I come to die
Oh when I come to die
Oh when I come to die
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus

I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
I heard my mother say
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus

Dark midnight was my cry
Dark midnight was my cry
Dark midnight was my cry
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus

In the morning when I rise
In the morning when I rise
In the morning when I rise
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus

I heard the mourner say
I heard the mourner say
I heard the mourner say
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You may have the world
Give me Jesus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Logan sang:
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"

NOBODY KNOWS DE TROUBLE I’VE SEEN

Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen
Nobody knows de trouble but Jesus
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen
Glory Hallelujah!

Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down
Oh, yes, Lord
Sometimes I’m almost to de groun’
Oh, yes, Lord

Although you see me goin’ ‘long so
Oh, yes, Lord
I have my trials here below
Oh, yes, Lord

If you get there before I do
Oh, yes, Lord
Tell all-a my friends I’m coming too
Oh, yes, Lord

Here is the interpretation by Joe Carter http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/joecarter/gallery.shtml

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"
The authors of most spirituals are unknown. Various tales, often apocryphal, account for the origins of many songs. One legend has it that upon emancipation, newly freed slaves gathered on a South Carolina island were awaiting promised land grants from the government. "It was a great, wonderful day," says Carter. But when a government agent informed the crowd that no grants were forthcoming, one woman spontaneously began singing this song, making it up as she went.

I usually hum the music that we have sung all week, this week it is "Give Me Jesus". For more information go to the on line resources.
Jeannette Brown

Muhlenberg Hospital Plainfield NJ

2008-05-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today in church the plight of the people of Plainfield was discussed because of the pending closing of Mulenberg Hospital. The closing was discussed at the New Jersey Association meeting and a letter was generated and sent to the state.
I figured that you might want some background information about the hospital and its closing.
The first article that I found about the closing was in the Star Ledger Saturday February 23, 2008, 4:15 PM "Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center shutting its doors" : http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/02/muhlenberg_regional_medical_ce.html
The article begins; "Faced with mounting deficits caused mainly by insufficient state aid to cover all its uninsured patients, officials at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield plan to close the 130-year-old facility later this year." It also said it would temporarily maintain the emergency room service.
The next article is also from the Star Ledger : "500 protest closing of Muhlenberg hospital in Plainfield " Saturday March 15, 2008, 5:02 PM http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/500_protest_closing_of_muhlenb.html
That was the second held that month in protest of the hospital's closing. Organizer Lawrence Hamm of the People's of Organization for Progress said the group planed a third rally on April 5 in Trenton.
There is a complete blog about the closing of the hospital that will tell you more than you want to know about the closing. "Save Muhlenberg" http://savemuhlenberg.blogspot.com/2008/03/closings-of-hospitals-such-as.html
For information about the "current" services of the hospital and what would be lost I refer you to the hospital website: http://www.muhlenberg.com/muhlenberg-regional/. There is also information about the Muhlenberg Foundation on that webpage.
I hope this helps.
Jeannette Brown

Sacred Conversation about Race

2008-05-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about the UCC churches having a sacred conversation about race on Sunday May 18th. At Christ Church Chuck will start the process by preaching about it. We will have the whole summer to do some reading and thinking and maybe private conversations before we have our "Sacred Conversation" in early September.

The following is a quote from the UCC web:
"The UCC is holding this national dialogue in order to foster a spirit of healing and unity in our churches and communities. While much has been said during the past few weeks about the Rev. Jeremiah A Wright Jr., this dialogue among our members is intended to be a larger conversation, one not focused directly or exclusively on the recent controversy, but one certainly influenced by it.
Sacred conversations are never easy, especially when honest talk confronts our nation's painful past and speaks directly to the injustices of the present day. Yet sacred conversations can, and often do, honor the value of diverse life experiences, requiring an openness to hear each others' viewpoints. Growth often happens when honest conversations are communicated in a respectful environment."

Over the summer you will hear a lot about race as the media and politicians play the race card because of the first possible African American nominee for President. This would be similar to the gender card if the first woman is the nominee. But the difference between playing the race card and the gender card is that the race card hurts. There is a history of people who have been killed only because of the color of their skin. In this country I don't believe we physically abuse women.

The UCC website http://www.ucc.org/sacred-conversation/ has a number of resources that can be used as you prepare for our conversation about race in the fall. Also as a member of the UCC Anti racism task force I have put a lot of material that can be used on the Christ Church website.

First I believe everyone should read the pastoral letter which is posted on the website. Then go through the steps.

The Pilgrim press has listed some books that can be a part of your summer reading. I will bring the books that I have to display tomorrow. I don't know if we have them in the library.

I would also recommend viewing "Eyes on the Prize I & II" to see the history of the civil rights movement. Most libraries have a copy.

For those of you who would like to start an online dialog you may post comments and information on this blog.

My colleagues on the Anti racism task force want to focus on African American racism, although this might be too broad I think racism of any kind against any people is not to be tolerated.

Here is a segment from the Pastoral Letter of 2008:

"As members of the United Church of Christ, we have a rich history of spirited resistance
to racism that can serve as both a resource and an inspiration for this sacred work. One such
resource is the Pastoral Letter on Racism and
the Role of the Church published in 1991 by the Commission for Racial Justice. The biblical,
theological, and political analysis of this ground-breaking document remains relevant for our day. The Pastoral Letter on Racism boldly names the “sin and idolatry of racism” and calls Christians to renew their commitment to be a people grounded in the love and justice embodied in Jesus Christ and the beloved community that King envisioned.
The Pastoral Letter on Racism documented what it called “a sobering truth” – namely, that despite the meaningful progress achieved during the civil rights era, “quality of life for the majority of racial and ethnic people is worse today in many ways than it was during the 1960s.” The letter went on to name a number of disturbing trends that signaled growing racial intolerance and hostility: increasing inequities between the rich and the poor; charges of “reverse racism”and attacks on affirmative action; a resurgence of racially motivated hate crimes and; fear of “foreigners” surfacing in movements such as “English Only.”
Seventeen years later, in 2008, we might wish to believe that we have made significant progress in addressing and reversing those alarming trends. Lamentably, that claim cannot be substantiated."
It goes on but I think that sums up the reasons for this conversation.
Jeannette Brown

Earth Day Prayers

2008-04-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

These prayers are from the book "Earth Prayers From Around the World"

Suggested for Earth Day

And now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.....

For once on the face of the earth
let's not speak in any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man fathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity
(Life is what it is about,
I want no truck with death.)

If we were not so single minded
about keeping out lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding out selves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive

Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go

Pablo Neruda

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the Lord your God
is bringing you
into a good land.

a land
of flowing streams,
with springs and underground waters
welling up in valley and hills.
a land of wheat ad barley,
of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive trees and honey,
a land where you may eat bread without scarcity,
where you will lack nothing.
a land whose stones are iron.
and from whose hills you may mine copper

You shall eat your fill
and bless the Lord your God
for the good land
he has given you.

DEUTERONOMY 8:7-11 NRSV
___________________________________________________________________

Don't destroy the world
I've only nibbled
the grasses of my lover's meadow.
We are early May
and clematis has not yet blossomed.
Alyssum, lady's slipper, buttercups
I want to hold the to her chin as we did childhood summers
shining their yellow reflection.

And the large magnificent trees
rhododendrons, splashed pink as dawn
magnolia, white waxy bowls of purple swooning.
I've waited my lifetime for this.
Plums are yet to come, fat, taut
the fragile bloom misting their skin like breath.

Let there be days of grainy juices
sticky on my face I
want time. There's
plush mango I smear over her.
Let me lick the pit clean, memorize
each crevice with my tongue

Don't
destroy
the world
because my child;s five, because
she crises when she scrapes her knee on gravel' skin shredded, blood beading through the dust
cries pitifully and long
while I envision scenes of devastation
holding her against the clawing pain
her screams, my helplessness.

"I hope nothing really bad ever happens to you," I blurt
the accusation, shield for my own hysteria...
Don't Don't destroy the world.

Ellen Bass

Happy Earth Day

Jeannette

Martin Luther King Holiday Musings

2008-01-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

Today in Christ Church we celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday. It is one of those flexible holidays which are celebrated on Monday even though Dr. King was born on January 15th.

We heard readings from Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. As I listened to the selections I was struck by how appropriate they were for today.

Why we can't wait. People keep telling us to wait and things will be better. We African Americans wonder how long shall we wait. I wonder what Dr. King would have said about the photos of people on the Gulf coast and New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. It looked like a third world country and this was America. Our leaders were saying help would arrive. It has been two years and help has still not arrived for some people. How long should they wait?

Brown vs Board of Education was supposed to integrate schools and make education equal for all students. Well the schools have been integrated but white people (in New Jersey) have moved to the suburbs leaving the urban schools to have a majority of African American and Hispanic students. Is the education equal, no not really. How long can we wait?

The new school funding plan will put more money in school districts with large underrepresented populations statewide. This changes the old Abbott schools who were the urban schools and received more funding. Will this work? I really don't know because not all the extra money in the urban school districts was used for education purposes.

But back to MLK. Dr. King spoke about the fact that African Americans would like to be able to order a cup of coffee from a lunch counter. My cousins who live in Springfield Mass drove my grandmother south to Greensboro North Carolina. They had grown up in the north were there was no overt discrimination. The first thing my cousin Robert noted that he could not stop everywhere for gasoline. He was told to go to the "Nigger" gas station. The other thing he found out that some of our cousins who lived in Greensboro and were attending North Carolina A & T were involved in the sit in at the lunch counter in Greensboro. My southern cousins told Robert to stay away from them because they were afraid since he did not know the problems in the south he might get in trouble.

Dr. King also talked about traveling by car and having sleep in his car. This was shown in the Percy Julian DVD on NOVA were Dr. Julian a respected chemist and business man was also forced to sleep in his car on occasion. When my parents and I traveled we consulted the "Red Book" a book that told Negros the names of hotels that would accommodate them. This book was used not only for the south but the north. My parents consulted that book when they went with me to graduate school in Minneapolis Minnesota. They were given the room that overlooked an air shaft near the elevator. I have been back to Minneapolis since and that hotel has been torn down! My father was so excited when the civil rights act was passed because we could now stay in any hotel in Washington DC!. Even when I was traveling for my company in the south I always had my reservation in my hand when I went up to the desk for fear that they would turn me away. That did happen one time when I had a confirmed reservation at a hotel in New Orleans. But they booked us in another hotel and paid that night's rent and the taxi to and from their hotel. We arrived late at night and they had overbooked the hotel. We also got a free night at the hotel that we had originally booked!

MLK sitings.
My mother and father and I were at Riverside Church when Dr. King preached. My father decided we should go and I went along for the ride.
I also went to the second "March on Washington". I stood in front so that I could see the speakers. I happened to be in DC for an American Chemical Society meeting and decided to go. I got on the Metro and arrived at the mall right in front of the speakers platform!

So these are my thoughts about Martin Luther King's birthday 2008.
Jeannette Brown

New Jersey apologizes for slavery

2008-01-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I announced in church that New Jersey was considering resolution that would apologize for slavery. The vote was taken today and New Jersey became the first northern state to apologize for slavery. This resolution was sponsored by outgoing Assemblyman William Payne.

As today's article says: "Payne said an apology will comfort black residents, who make up 14.5 percent of New Jersey's 8.7 million residents.

"This apology is not for deceased slaves," Payne said. "It's an apology for their descendants. It's an apology for the ages and all mankind."

"The Assembly voted 59-8 and the Senate 29-2 to approve a resolution expressing "profound regret" for New Jersey's role in slavery. A resolution expresses the Legislature's opinion without requiring action by the governor.

"This resolution does nothing more than say New Jersey is sorry about its shameful past," said Assemblyman William Payne, D-Essex, who sponsored the measure.

The resolution offers an apology "for the wrongs inflicted by slavery and its aftereffects in the United States of America."

It states that in New Jersey, "the vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities." Note: These traffic stops are not limited to African American males although they are the principal target, I have been stopped by a police man who probably thought I was a man, not a little old African American lady. I have never received a ticket on these stops only warnings.)
Note: Taken from the Associated Press article by TOM HESTER Jr. |Associated Press Writer| http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--
slaveryapology0107jan07,0,2453783.story

Here is some information about the slave trade in New Jersey. In 1800 the number of slave in New Jersey was 12,422 second among the northern states with New York at an estimated 20,613 slaves.
For more information about the slave trade in New Jersey here is a link: _slavery_in_New_Jersey#The_Great_Migration

For information about what New Jersey blooggers think about this, here is a link: http://blog.nj.com/jerseyblogs/2008/01/bloggers_react_to_new
_jerseys.html

What do I think? I think it's great. Anything that might help people to think about history and how what happened in the past reflect the present and maybe the future is a good thing. As a newly minted historian I have seen this time and time again.
Jeannette Brown
A little fuzzy from chemo meds today so I hope this makes sense.

Happy New Year & New York Times Op Ed Article worth reading

2007-12-30T03:56:00.000-08:00

I managed to make it to the Christmas eve evening service. It was great although I would rather sing in the choir than in the congregation. I am slowly coming back from the reactions to chemo even though I have four more treatments to go, I seem to be tolerating them better.

I would like to point out an Op Ed in today's (December 30, 2007) New York Times about the end of the slave trade in the United states. It is worth reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/30foner.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Here is a summary of it.:

Forgotten Step Toward Freedom

ERIC FONER

Published: December 30, 2007

WE Americans live in a society awash in historical celebrations. The last few years have witnessed commemorations of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase (2003) and the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II (2005). Looming on the horizon are the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth (2009) and the sesquicentennial of the outbreak of the Civil War (2011). But one significant milestone has gone strangely unnoticed: the 200th anniversary of Jan. 1, 1808, when the importation of slaves into the United States was prohibited.

-----"In the United States, however, slavery not only survived the end of the African trade but embarked on an era of unprecedented expansion. Americans have had to look elsewhere for memories that ameliorate our racial discontents, which helps explain our recent focus on the 19th-century Underground Railroad as an example (widely commemorated and often exaggerated) of blacks and whites working together in a common cause.

Nonetheless, the abolition of the slave trade to the United States is well worth remembering. Only a small fraction (perhaps 5 percent) of the estimated 11 million Africans brought to the New World in the four centuries of the slave trade were destined for the area that became the United States. But in the Colonial era, Southern planters regularly purchased imported slaves, and merchants in New York and New England profited handsomely from the trade."

Note: New York City was a center for the slave trade and our Congregational forefathers were actively engaged in the slave trade.

"From 1803 to 1808, between 75,000 and 100,000 Africans entered the United States.
By this time, the international slave trade was widely recognized as a crime against humanity. In 1807, Congress prohibited the importation of slaves from abroad, to take effect the next New Year’s Day, the first date allowed by the Constitution.

For years thereafter, free African-Americans celebrated Jan. 1 as an alternative to July 4, when, in their view, patriotic orators hypocritically proclaimed the slave-owning United States a land of liberty."

OK. Enough I hope you will read the full article in the newspaper today or in the library some time this week.
Jeannette

A Poem for Christmas

2007-12-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

This is taken for "Earth Prayers From Around the Wold 365 Prayers, Poems and Invocations for Honoring the Earth" edited by Elizabeth Robers and Elias Amidon.

This poem is and adapted from the Gaelic. In the choir we have sung a piece with similar words.

Deep peace of the running wave to you,
of water flowing. rising and falling;
Sometime advancing, sometime receding;
Deep peace of the running wave to you!

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
which fans your face on a sultry day;
the air which you breathe deeply, rhythmically,
which imparts to you energy, consciousness, life;
Deep peace of the flowing air to you!

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;
who, herself unmoving, harbours the movements
and facilitates the life of the ten thousand creatures
while resting contented, stable, tranquil;
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you!

Deep peace of the shining stars to you;
which stay invisible till darkness falls
and discloses their pure and shining presence
beaming down in compassion on our turning world
Deep peace of the shining stars to you!

Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you;
of unpretentious folk who, watching and waiting,
spend long hours out on the hillside;
expecting in simplicity some Coming of the Lord
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you!

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you,
who, swift as the wave and pervasive as the air,
quiet as the earth and shining like a star;
breathes into us His Peace and His Spirit:
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you!

by Mary Rogers Adapted from the Gaelic

Jeannette Brown