September 10 - An Active Sunday at RUCC

Back-to-School time at RUCC! September 10 is kick-off Sunday for the Sunday School program at RUCC. During the summer we had one Sunday School class for kids. Beginning September 10, we’ll resume having multiple classes!

Blessing of the backpacks - Students: bring your school backpack to church to be blessed by Pastor Elaine. You'll head to school with a blessed backpack combined with a fancy new backpack tag. We hope that 2023-24 will be your best school year yet!

Congregation meeting immediately following the service to approve the slate of nominees for the Search Committee. See details in the article below.

Super Shepherd Sunday - see article below for information of when and where each group will meet.

A message from our Pastor and Teacher

Sunday, September 10, 2023 - "Down to the River to Pray"

For ages, humans have found themselves gathering at the river to seek God’s presence. We still do. We gather at Rivers, on seashores, at lakes. We climb mountains and cross the wild desert to find the places that are holy to us. 

Driving to church this morning I looked for the mountains ahead of me and saw only a shadowy blur of haze on the horizon. What will we leave for the humans who come after us? Can God’s earth-gift be saved?

Sunday's Scripture:

Revelation 22:1-7

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (adapted for inclusivity)

September 10 -

Second Sunday of Creation Season

Brief Congregational Meeting this Sunay, September 10

We will meet immediately following the Sunday Servicce to approve the Search Committee slate nominated by the Board.

If you won’t be in church on September 10, you can vote between now and then using an absentee ballot, available at www.uccredlands.org/ballot. Please send your completed absentee ballot to the office, either in person, by mail, or electronically.

The proposed members of the committee are: Sophia Beardemphl, Loring Fiske-Phillips, Samantha Sanchez-French, Keith Osajima, Dee Dee Seek, Diana Steele-Jones, Minori Tsukimoto, John Walsh, and Janet Wilson.

Again, thanks to all who participated in the process. We are fortunate to have so many strong leaders in our midst.

The Pastor Ponders Oceans of Justice, Rivers of Peace, and Lifelines of Hope

Hebrews 6: 18-20 (The Message)

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.

This scripture from Hebrews 6:18-20, can prompt reflection on churches as places from which lifelines of hope are extended. When have you witnessed lifelines of hope in the life of this congregation?

Lifelines of hope can be extended both within and beyond the walls of the church. In facing the crises of climate and inequality, churches can choose to be people who generate and share hope.

We can do this by following Jesus who has run before us. We can do this by turning love into action. As United Church of Christ climate activist and scholar David Orr has noted, “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.”

It is in action that hope is found. As the Israelites confronted the challenges of their time, the prophet Jeremiah passed along God’s message: Your labor is not in vain. There is hope for your future (Jeremiah 31:17).

You and I can take part in the Climate Hope Cards campaign, (Climate Hope Cards are in the Sanctuary for us to mail to the EPA), addressing societal inequalities and saving thousands of lives. We saw evidence of this in the past year as hundreds of UCC children and youth drew and painted about climate hope for an art contest. The winning artwork is now on the postcards being collected.

Together with other UCC congregations, we can put our nation on a path to reach its climate goals. Let us roll up our sleeves and extend lifelines of hope. You Can pick up your Climate Hope post cards before worship in the Sanctuary this Sunday, fill them out and place them in the offering baskets OR you can fill them out at the Climate Justice Table in Covenant Hall during Fellowship Time.

From the Environmental Justice Team

The Climate Action Postcard Campaign to make our voices heard on climate issues will begin this Sunday at RUCC. Climate Action Postcards will be available in the sanctuary before worship, and on the Climate Justice table in Covenant Hall after church with more information and postcards that you can sign. You can get involved in two ways:

1. Sign a postcard that we will collect as part of the UCC Climate Hope Postcard Campaign. UCC.org, describes the project: “The UCC Climate Hope Cards campaign is part of an effort to save thousands of lives, address societal inequities, and get our nation on track to meet its climate goals. The EPA is in the process of updating a number of protections that could significantly impact our environment and public health. Congregations are now striving to collect as many postcards as possible to urge the strongest possible protections. These postcards will be delivered to decision makers in Washington, D.C. in September. They will also be used to connect people to opportunities to submit comments to the EPA as updates to protections are considered.” For more information, visit https://www.ucc.org/churches-can-continue-climate-hope-campaign-with-postcard-drive/
2. Learn about upcoming climate legislation and send a postcard to your legislator. We will have information about the bills, cards that you can sign, and address labels for representatives from our region.

Reflection of the week from the Racial Justice Team

Neighborhoods right around downtown Redlands were racially diverse in the early 20th century. This map shows where every person listed as non-white in the census lived in 1910. Diverse communities grew up in these same spaces in the 1920s and 1930s circling the center of town and extending into the racially diverse north side. Racial exclusions in deeds and discrimination by real estate agents kept the south side largely white through the 1960s. (Click link below for the interactive map.)

Source: Collin O'Connor, Isabella Jacobs, and Jennifer Tilton, a project of REST University of Redlands, April 13, 2021. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a090cbe450c74fbdb9d67b655daaec35

Seekers Study Group resumes September 10

Seekers will resume its regular meetings this coming Sunday, Sept 10th at 9:15 with discussion to begin at 9:30. We selected "Philosophy of Religion" by John Hick. You'll need the 4th Edition so all will be on the same page.

Help us Promote Art, for Heaven’s Sake! Fine Arts Festival

Art, for Heaven’s Sake! is switching to electronic postcards and we need your help. Please help us reach more people by getting your friends and colleagues to sign up for our electronic mailing list. We plan to send out electronic postcards a couple of weeks before the show. If you make it your goal to get 10 or more to sign up it would be a great help. You can use the QR code here or pick up a QR sticker in the gathering area at church. People can also email artforheavensake@gmail.com and ask to be put on the list. All we need is a name and an email address.

Caring for Kin continues with supplies for unsheltered neighbors

Extending heartfelt thanks from Redlands Family Services for our donation of groceries from the month of August. The coordinator sent a note saying, "Your congregation's gracious gift will assist us in supporting many families struggling with food insecurity within our very own community." Way to go RUCC! 

In the month of September, we will be collecting supplies for kits for our unsheltered neighbors. Donated items should fit in a gallon-size ziploc bag, for example, toothbrush and toothpaste, travel-size soap and shampoo, hand sanitizer, band-aids, chapstick, nail clippers, socks, and granola bars. We will then come together on September 24 to assemble the kits together so we can take them with us to give to unsheltered individuals. For questions, please contact Diana Steele or Sue Hammond.

Help for Maui fire victims

Many of you have asked how congregations can support our siblings on Maui during this time of unimaginable devastation and suffering. We have been in contact with the Hawaii Conference Minister, Rev. David Popham, who has requested we send donations directly to the Conference office.

Funds are being collected and released to the congregation in Lahaina each day and will be available to those who evacuated as they are able to return. 

Meeting immediate needs is a priority. Judy Kinser, treasurer and office administrator of the historic Waiola church shared two painful statements: "We are destroyed. Devastated."

The pastor of the Waiola church, which recently celebrated its 200th year anniversary offered, "The church will gather under a burnt tree if that is all we can find. Our strength lies in our people."

Please mail donations to:

Hawaii Conference UCC

700 Bishop St, Suite 825, Honolulu HI, 96813

or donate online (hcucc.org/donate)

RUCC's Wider Ministries Area recently approved a $1,000 donation to the Hawaii Conference. Please consider making your own individual donation to this cause.

October Book Group News

How does it feel to be in the right place at the right time? But what about if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time? That is the question that our October Book group selection asks.

  The RUCC Book Group will meet on October 1, 2023, after church at noon, in the Founders Room, to discuss the book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. Rosemary Tuohy is the presenter.

“… an astonishing, compulsively twisty psychological thriller about a mother who witnesses her teenage son stab a man and then seizes on an unconventional way to try to save him, deemed ‘perfection, every word, every moment’ by Lisa Jewell”. (Amazon Review)

Music Director search

We are grateful to Zoë Petersen who has stepped in to lead the choir for an interim period and to our Associate Music Director Sophia Ohanian who has stepped up to take on music selection and other duties normally performed by the Music Director. Zoë and Sophia will continue to lead the choir together until we fill the Music Director position. Personnel chair Carole Beswick and Worship Area leader Patty Little will jointly lead the search.

The job posting is on the RUCC website. We will be advertising the position on appropriate search sites. If you know of someone who might be interested in the position, please refer them to the website posting.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• September 10 - Seekers resume meeting at 9:15 a.m.
• September 10 - End of summer kick off for children and youth, including annual Blessing of Backpacks. See article at top of the page
• September 10 - Brief congregational meeting to approve the Search Committee
• September 10 - Super Shepherd Sunday - see article above for details
• September 16 - Braver Angels
• September 17 - Parents' Meeting
• October 1 - Book Group will discuss Wrong Time, Wrong Place by Gillian McAllister
• October 13-15 - Art, for Heaven's Sake!



The church calendars are found at uccredlands.org

Click on "calendar" in the red banner near the top of the page