A Message from our Bridge Pastor and teacher

Earth Sunday at RUCC ~ April 30, 2023 ~ "Starting From Scratch"

Celebrating Earth Sunday can strike us as an oxymoron; these days it feels as though we are a generation that is presiding over the beginning of the end of our climate, Earth and ecosystem as we have known it. What is our responsibility as a community of faith in educating ourselves and working with our wider community to care for Creation? We will consider what it looks like to live in a modern society and look at ways to unplug our privilege – and listen to a model of church that has responded by making church more eco-friendly!

Sunday's Scripture

Genesis 1:1-5

April 30 - Earth Sunday at RUCC

CLICK HERE FOR THE BULLETIN

FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 30



This is a PDF file which is easy to download and print for use during the service whether you are watching on line, or attending in person on Sunday.

Heart to Heart - Where the heart speaks and the heart listens.

The Heart to Heart team is a group of your peers that have volunteered to listen, hug and walk beside you to share our range of emotions and our heartbreak about Jill’s being placed in hospice care and the challenge of the threshold of change for our church. Each Wednesday from 7-8, Heart to Heart will host a meeting at church for you to come and share your heart with ours. Please join us. This is not therapy. Just open-hearted support.

Team members and preferred method of contact are:

Judith Turian, Coordinator: Text, Email

Cherie Bogel: Phone, Email

Loring Fiske-Phillips: Phone, Text

Sue Hammond: Text, Email

Jennie Haney: Text

Jim Holbrook: Email

Patty Little: Phone, Email

Michelle McNevin: Phone, Email

Of course, you can stop any one of us at church for a hug or a listen. We will be wearing our red Heart to Heart buttons. You can find our contact info on the directory on Realm, through Veronica at the RUCC office or you can email me (Judith) at [email protected]. If you don’t have the Realm app or need info about it, email or text me(Judith) or call Veronica for help.

Crossing the finish line - organ report from Board President Dan Abushanab

We have reached a major milestone in the effort to get a new organ for the sanctuary. We now have a custom design, experienced builder, and a proposed contract that is within the budget of the organ fund. We will provide more information at the congregational meeting this Sunday April 30, and take a formal congregational vote to authorize the project on May 21. You can see the proposed contract and an absentee ballot at www.uccredlands.org/organ.

My thanks to Andrea Morics and the members of the organ committee, who worked through many attempts to find and purchase a used organ until they and old friend of RUCC Rick England came up with the idea to build an organ to fit our space.

As we pivot from idea to execution, we have reformed the committee with Mark Sternberg and Richard Steffen serving as co chairs. They will take the baton from Andrea Morics to get us over the finish line, and will give periodic updates to the congregation from now until Easter 2024 when we plan to have the organ in service. Stay tuned!

"Bridging the Divide" with Braver Angels this Saturday, April 29

Braver Angels is a grassroots organization that seeks to depolarize American politics and find common ground where it exists. Their popular workshop "Skills for Bridging the Divide" helps teach how to have constructive, non-polarizing conversations between people who disagree politically. 

The "Bridging the Divide" Workshope will be held at RUCC this Saturday, April 29 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration is free, but donations are accepted. CLICK HERE to register. If you have questions, contact Holly Highfield at [email protected]

Caring for Kin - Ongoing food collection

RUCC is beginning a monthly collection program to make it easy for all of us to help our siblings in need. We hope that when you shop for your own family, you will delight in picking up an item or two to donate. This month we will be asking you to bring CEREAL, PEANUT BUTTER, and/or PACKETS OF OATMEAL for distribution by Redlands Family Services.

Beginning Sunday, April 30th, you will see a large shelving unit in front of the church each week before the service begins. Please enjoy helping in this effort by establishing a new habit of adding to the shelves on your way into worship!

Thank you for helping us care for our Kin in our community!

Reflection of the Week from the Racial Justice Team

Think slavery has little place in the stories Americans tell about the West?

More often than not, California slaveholders had the agents of the law on their side. Five of the seven justices who sat on the California Supreme Court between 1852 and 1857 hailed from the slave states. In dozens of cases, California courts ruled in favor of slaveholders and against the freedom claims of African Americans. Even previously emancipated black people were returned to those who claimed them as property.

A lack of antislavery policing allowed a slaveholding colony in San Bernardino to flourish in plain sight in the early 1850s. Mormon migrants, with at least two dozen enslaved African American in tow, built a settlement that rivaled neighboring Los Angeles in size and, by most metrics, surpassed it in agricultural output. Only in 1856 did the settlement’s largest slaveholder come to trial, and only because he attempted to leave the state with his 14 enslaved laborers.

Source: Kevin Waite, author of “West of Slavery,” and speaker at Redlands’ Smiley Library Assembly Room on Tuesday May 2 at 7pm. https://theconversation.com/the-little-known-story-of-how-slavery-infiltrated-california-and-the-american-west-165705?

From the Environmental Justice Team

Nalleli Cobo, an environmental justice advocate and the winner of the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize for North America advocates for California SB556:

I grew up 30 feet from an oil well. We couldn’t open the windows of our South L.A. home because of what was in the air. I couldn’t play outside for more than a few minutes without feeling sick.

At the age of 9, I started organizing to shut down the drilling that was making me, my mother, my sister and our community sick. I helped found a grassroots campaign called “People Not Pozos,” Spanish for “wells.” Over a decade later, it’s a campaign I and others are continuing across California as toxic drilling continues in our midst.

SB 556, would make oil drillers presumptively liable for illnesses linked to their operations within the setback zone [protecting homes, schools, and communities from new oil extraction (SB 1137, enacted in 2022)]. [SB556] would essentially shift the burden of proof from communities to polluters. If oil drillers choose to continue to ignore the scientific evidence that they’re sickening surrounding communities, they would assume the risk of significant legal and financial penalties.

Source: “I grew up next to an L.A. oil well. California can protect others from what I went through,”

Nalleli Cobo, Los Angeles Times, 4/24/23, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-04-24/oil-drilling-setbacks-california-legislature

Calling all runners! 

In honor of our wonderful pastor, Jill, a few of us have decided we would like to run a marathon and raise funds for American Cancer Society. Whether you are an Ultra Runner or you have never run before, we would love for you to join us. We can decide on a specific race depending upon how much training time the majority needs. One possibility might be the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon on October 15, 2023. The more we can raise the better, as we hope for a future free from the pain and suffering caused by cancer. 

If you are interested in walking or running a Marathon or Half Marathon with us let Jules Rattray know by emailing [email protected] or find me after church this Sunday.  And for those of you who would love to get involved but don’t want to run, we will have opportunities for you too, don’t worry! 

So come and join us in taking on a great challenge in celebration of Jill and all she has done for us. 

Spotlight on Wider Ministries

Kathie Blakley and Carol Robb, Co-Leaders

Kathie and Carol have teamed up to co-lead the Wider Ministries Area this year. Both believe that Wider Ministries must involve more than simply making donations to well-meaning organizations that provide services in our community. Wider Ministries also means getting RUCC members actively involved in organizations and activities that benefit the community. We're not asking for a life-time, 24/7commitment; it can be as simple as helping with sack lunches for Youth Hope, donating blood at our May 26 Blood Bank, or picking up a few extra grocery items for "Care for Kin" from time to time. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something!

New initiatives have already begun to blossom including

• "Caring for Kin”- a weekly donation program of food and goods to support various local helping organizations.
• Helping Our Unhoused Neighbors”- to provide practical help to the unhoused.
• Feminine Project Hygiene Kits- part of the UCC Synod program to provide help to women during “period poverty”.
• Blood Donation Event- held at RUCC on May 26. 

Raise Right - Gift Cards make shopping and fundraising easy

Raise Days on May 4-5 – Mark your calendars for the next Raise Days event when you can earn higher rebates (bonuses) on select eGift cards and reloaded gift cards. You must have an online account to participate, so this is a great time to get signed up if you aren’t already! If you have the RaiseRight app you will be able to sneak peak of all brands on bonus on May 3. 

About RaiseRight: When you purchase gift cards through the RaiseRight program to pay for your day-to-day expenses or provide as gifts, RUCC receives a rebate that helps fund our missions. It’s an easy way to raise some money for RUCC. Hundreds of retailers participate, including grocery stores, gas stations, home improvement stores, department stores, online retailers, and much more. Please contact Jennifer and Pam at [email protected] if you need an enrollment link, need help setting up/accessing your online account or placing an order, have any questions, or want to learn more about the program.  This video will give you an overview of how to get started: https://youtu.be/c-v65F0xr2c

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• April 30 - Earth Sunday
• April 30 - Quarterly Gathering following worship
• May 1 - Office closed
• May 6 - Sacred Saturday
• May 7 - Music Sunday
• May 7 - Book Group will discuss Orwell's Roses. Nan Root will facilitate the discussion.
• May 21 - Special Meeting for congregational vote on final authorization of the organ project.
• May 21 - Wider Ministries quarterly meeting with a guest speaker and consideration of donations for the quarter.
• May 26 - Blood drive in Covenant Hall



The church calendars April and May are found at uccredlands.org

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