The Union Church in Waban               
Friday, February 28, 2020 

This Sunday
          8:00 a.m. - Bible Study (Stacy's study)
  9:00 a.m. -  Choir Rehearsal
10:00 a.m. - Sunday Worship
This Sunday if the first Sunday in the liturgical season of Lent.  For the next forty days we journey through the wilderness in learning and growing as we prepare for Holy Week.  Pastor Stacy will be our preacher and will be focusing on Mark 10:17-31 and Jesus conversation with the man who wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.   The choir will offer the anthem "The Lone, Wild Bird" arranged  by David L. Johnson.

11:30 a.m. - Public Voices presentation on the stage
We are privileged to host two speakers from  City Mission's Public Voice  program today .  Public Voice provides trained storytellers/speakers whose lived experience gives insight, understanding and perspective to the issues underlying homelessness. City Mission's Public Voice Project customizes storytelling training and presentations to help participants find and share the stories which break down barriers and build understanding within oneself as well as across groups, cultures and communities.
1:00 p.m. - Sunday High School Youth Group @ Boda Borg! 
We have a reservation at Boda Borg from 2:00-4:00 p.m., (meet at the church at 1:00 p.m. so we can leave by 1:15 p.m., and be sure to fill out the Boda Borg online waiver) and then will come back to the church for pizza and Exploring Our Faith (5:00-6:30 p.m.)
 
Lenten Prayer Station
Throughout Lent, we will ask that God presence 
be a light to us, helping us to find The Way of 
Jesus in our lives today.  You are invited to 
spend some time with the Lenten Prayer Station 
in Crocker Chapel to offer up your prayer 
for guidance, support or whatever it is that is 
on your heart as we move deeper in the mystery 
of God's profound love that is to be revealed to 
us again on Easter morning.  
Upcoming Sunday Worship

Sunday March 8
We will have a special guest with us this morning.  Josephine Bolling McCall will be joining us and will be sharing with us during the children's time her work with the elementary schools in Lowndes County, Alabama.  Please also consider joining us for a potluck at Jenny Weisz house at 6:00 p.m. where we will have a chance to talk with Josephine about her book "The Penalty for Success" (see below). Pastor Stacy will be our preacher.  She will be exploring  Mark 10:32-52 focusing on the healing of blind Bartimaeus.  The choir will offer us the anthem "Create in me a Clean Heart" by Victor C. Johnson. 

Sunday, March 15 - Nicaragua Service
Our travelers will lead us in the service sharing with us their experiences and faith formation from their service trip in February 

Sunday, March 23  
Pastor Stacy will be our preacher and will be exploring Mark 12: 28-44, specifically focusing in on Jesus commandment that we are to love God with our whole selves and love our neighbor as our selves. The choir will offer the anthem "Make me an Instrument of Thy Peace" by Mary MacDonald.

Sunday, March 29 
On this last Sunday before Palm Sunday, Ministerial Intern Jade will  be our preacher and will be exploring   Mark 13:1-8, 24-37 and Jesus call to be awake and watchful. Our choir will be offering the anthem "Bring us to your Light" by Henry Mollicone.
Adult Education, Spiritual Formation and Fellowship
New Bible Study Group at The Union Church
Starting Thursday Morning,  March 5 th  from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Led by Jade Hargrave

Join us on Thursday mornings starting March 5 th for six weeks of Exploring the Bible: Old Testament. This study series is intended for all who are interested in learning more about the Bible, even if your previous understanding is limited. In our time together, we will learn more about the content of the Old Testament and the context in which it was written. 

We will meet from 10:00-11:30 on March 5, 12, 26, and April 2, 9, and 16.
March Book Group:   "Hope in the Dark" by  Rebecca Solnit
Tuesday, March 31st from 7:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. 

Our March read is "Hope in the Dark: untold histories, wild possibilities by Rebecca Solnit.
"No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that's marked this new millennium." - Bill McKibben
"An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways."
-The New Yorker 
Save the Dates!
Josephine will tell the story of how her father's success as a businessman in Alabama led to his lynching and how that impacts his descendants and the community even today. She will provide updates on the Legacy Museum and the Memorial in Montgomery both of which honor her father as one of many victims. Jo will also challenge us to rethink the reality of life for Blacks and Whites in the mid-20th century rural South by considering joining a literacy campaign. 

Research shows that children who have learned to read by the third grade have a much better chance of completing high school. Alabama has a new law that children will be retained if they do not successfully complete the third grade. 

The speaker hopes her presentation will set the stage for dialogue on creative ideas for participants to help improve literacy in Lowndes County, Alabama.    

If you are interested in sharing in this evening with Josephine,
please rsvp  HERE .

Sponsored by the Advocates of Racial Justice, 
 
Save The Date!
Boston City Singers
Sunday, March 15 th at 3:00 p.m.

Performing at The Union Church in Waban
Join us for a memorable concert featuring Luke and Elisabeth van Reijendam and the talented Boston City Singers' 35-voice choir in a program of music and dance from around the world, in collaboration with Naledi Masilo and Chi-Wei Lo. This will be your last chance to hear Luke sing with this choir as he will be graduating from high school this spring!
 
Your donation will support the Scholarship Fund for our upcoming Global Voices Tour to Ecuador, in the summer of 2021. Your support ensures that all chorus members, regardless of financial means, can participate. We never leave anyone behind! No tickets required. Free-will donations at the door.  More details here.  Thank you, Jaap van Reijendam. 

Mission Outreach 
Nicaragua - Mission and Gratitude
From February 15th -24th , twenty-one members of the Union Church traveled and served in Nicaragua's San Juan del Sur.   We helped a local community and school with needed improvements to their building and eating area, but more importantly, we built friendships and deepened relationships with the community and our long-time partners. We are so grateful for the church's prayers and support during the trip, and very much look forward to sharing photos, reflections, songs and more during our Nicaragua worship service, tentatively scheduled for March 15th.    
Public Voice Speakers from City Mission
This Sunday! March 1st, Following Worship
  We are privileged to host two speakers from City Mission's Public Voice program on March 1 st  after fellowship. Public Voice provides trained storytellers/speakers whose lived experience gives insight, understanding and perspective to the issues underlying homelessness. City Mission's Public Voice Project customizes storytelling training and presentations to help participants find and share the stories which break down barriers and build understanding within oneself as well as across groups, cultures and communities.

Common Cathedral
March 8 th , After Worship
Please consider sharing in worship with the outdoor church of Common Cathedral on Boston Common on Sunday afternoon.  Our children will be preparing food in Sunday School and then all ages are invited to travel down to the Common to serve lunch and share worship with our friends who are experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness.       


Zoned Out: Part 2 
Who gets to live in suburban Boston?
Sunday,  March 29th  

We thank you for our first conversation last month on our severe housing shortages and the terrible history of exclusion. And we invite you to join us again on Sunday  March 29th , for another opportunity to learn about housing equity and justice.

The Advocates for Racial Justice group of Union Church look forward to your participation in an interactive dialogue on what we can know and what we can do, as we seek to achieve a more equitable and inclusive community..
 
Everyone and all ages are welcome, no preparation necessary-but these are easy-to-digest pieces create a helpful frame for the conversation we envision:

The Character of the Neighborhood -Rev. Howard Haywood, Newton TAB (op-ed), 1/21/15, during the Austin Street fight
"Special: Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law Mission YIMBY event"-Rothstein here gives a particularly clear and vivid version of the argument in his book (The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America). You can skip to 5:10, where his lecture begins. (Infill podcast, approx. 45 min)
" You have a better chance of achieving 'the American dream' in Canada than in America"-Ezra Klein interviews Raj Chetty, Aug. 2019 (both in written and podcast form,  vox.com)

.......and  links to additional resources can be found on our church website  HERE:
CYFChildren, Youth and Families
Growing in Faith and Community 
MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUPS - More Events Coming Up!    
Please save the date for upcoming Middle School and High-School get-togethers:
  • This Sunday:  March 1st: High School Youth Group @ Boda Borg! -

    We have a reservation at Boda Borg from 2:00-4:00 p.m., (meet at the church at 1:00 p.m. so we can leave by 1:15 p.m., and be sure to fill out the Boda Borg online waiver) and then will come back to the church for pizza and Exploring Our Faith (5:00-6:30 p.m.)

  • March 8th: Common Cathedral - All ages are invited to help prepare food in Sunday School, and then to serve lunch and worship with our friends experiencing homelessness on Boston Common.
  • March 27th-28th: Middle School Overnight! We'll gather for an awesome night of fun, games, food, connection and worship.
CALLING FOR SUNDAY MORNING VOLUNTEERS - LENT AND BEYOND
LENT AND BEYOND
As we seek to surround our children and youth with loving adults, we would like to ask YOU to volunteer to share one or two worship services in Lent, or May/June with our kids Our hopes are that you can share your presence, maybe a story or thought about the Bible passage, pray with them, and sit with them as they do a craft or service project, or discuss the scripture passage. If you are willing to volunteer your time and presence, please let Pastor Amy know. We'd be so very grateful!
PALM SUNDAY: ALL-AGES WORSHIP
Sunday April 5th
On April 5 th we will celebrate Palm Sunday and share a  Walk Through Holy Week during worship.  We invite all ages - from 2 to 102! - to share in the telling of this ultimate story of hope and God's healing, life-giving work in the darkest of places.  We'll be talking with the kids and preparing for this service during Sunday School in Lent. If you or yours would like to be involved in this meaningful service, please be in touch with Pastor Amy ( [email protected] ) or Cindy Spertner

                                                
                                      Our Covenant
 
We, the members of The Union Church in Waban, true to our founding principle of being an inclusive church, covenant together to nourish and to sustain in our common life and practice a fully welcoming and affirming church for all persons. Welcoming all persons who seek to join with us in a commitment to love God and our neighbors, affirming the inclusive love of Jesus, we are open to all, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, nationality, ability or economic circumstance. We invite all to full participation in our worship, membership, leadership and life of this church.


Performing at The Union Church
BCS

It is the hope of the Union Church to always have our sanctuary open on Sunday mornings for worship and fellowship. We also realize that conditions may be such that the safest option for staff and congregants is not to travel. We ask that all use their best judgment. As such, in inclement conditions, the church will remain open - however we cannot assure that there will be childcare, Sunday School, professional music or pulpit coverage. Every effort will be made to keep walkways and stairs clear, although this cannot be guaranteed. Congregants will find an open door, a worship service and sanctuary together with others.

In the extreme situation in which the church is unable to open, notification will be on the church website ( [email protected] ), and a message will be on the church phone  - 617-527-6221.     

For a complete listing, and details of all upcoming events,  please 
visit our website, www.ucw.org 
 
Note : Material for inclusion in the Friday e-Blast newsletter should be e-mailed to the office at [email protected] , by 9:00 a.m. on the previous Wednesday morning.