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Important This Week
- Find out how you can help with flood recovery efforts are in churches and homes in Schuylkill County.
- Read about last month's Eastern Regional Youth Event.
- Last day to register: MissionInsite training and Search and Call Summit
- Mission trip to Puerto Rico planned
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From the Conference Minister: How to "Be The Church"
Uriah the Hittite is one of my favorite biblical characters. As a solider of King David’s army and husband to Bathsheba, Uriah demonstrated a degree of fidelity, honesty and a capacity for sacrifice that far surpassed the one who lorded over him. He was my go-to model for Marines and sailors whose service to country was noble even when the motives and actions of their political leaders were not.
It has been both gift and challenge to read again the recent lectionary texts from Second Samuel in light of the political shenanigans that have plagued us recently. My contemporary disgust is tapered only by ancient truth. David is a confusing hero. The one whose passion for God brought him to power now uses his power to play God. His deceit and immorality may justify, in the most corrupt reading of scripture, those who support morally bankrupt politicians. But David’s behavior is humanity at its worst and for the cost to covenant, the community, Bathsheba, her husband and their marriage, it has no place in leadership.
That said, I know the line between saints and sinners is sometimes very thin. Those close to God can make serious mistakes. Church leaders know too well that ‘it’s easy to lose sight of God when you’re doing God’s work.’ The effects can be devastating. We cannot condone David’s sexual immorality and must confront sexual harassment always and everywhere. We also cannot stand in judgment from the sidelines.
Uriah’s faithfulness and David’s immorality challenge me to be vigilant about my own moral inventory. Where am I complicit with injustice? Am I immune to the temptations that ensnared David? How many times have I sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? We are all standing in the need of grace, trusting God and “the better angels of our nature” to guide us through. When we fail, we take responsibility and accept the consequences. When we succeed, we lend a hand to others. This is how we become neighbors to each other. This is how we “Be The Church.” Thank God we are in this together.
Rev. William Worley
Conference Minister
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Flooding effects churches and members in Schuylkill County
The week which began on July 22 became devastating for quite a few residents of Schuylkill county. By the time the rains stopped on Wednesday, Tremont and Pine Grove had the most damage; while residents of Tower City Borough, Porter, Pine Grove, Tremont, Frailey, Hegins, Hubley, Upper Mahantongo and Barry Township also felt the wrath.
Pine Grove has seen this situation before. Therefore, their recovery began early. The borough brought in dumpsters for damaged goods and a shelter was opened for a few days. Many people were prepared with sump pumps and have avoided storing much in the basement. Clean-up buckets were made available throughout the community. Pastor Jason Stump, St. Peter’s UCC in Pine Grove, has taken the lead and continues to serve the people of the community.
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Tremont is another story. They had about 85 homes with water, some of which had several feet on the first floor. St. Peter’s UCC, Tremont, had water in the basement and in the parsonage. When the water was gone both basements were covered with a slimy mud. So that the congregation could hold services on July 29, volunteers from the area, as well as a group from a United Methodist Church in Gilbertsville, joined together to thoroughly clean the basement. St. Peter’s pastor, the Rev. Claude Schach, is very appreciative of the offers from the UCC churches in Donaldson, Ravine and Pine Grove for the use of their facilities.
There are several areas of continuing need as we support our churches in the area and the people of western Schuylkill Association:
- We are recruiting volunteers who are willing serve on a "spiritual care" team. If you are interested contact PSEC Disaster Coordinator Karl Jones, 570-617-4018 or kjones275@comcast.net.
- There is a need for funding. Therefore, a Disaster Fund has been established with the Schuylkill Association. Checks should be written to the Schuylkill Association and mailed to Rev. Maureen Duffy-Guy, 618 Arlington St., Tamaqua, PA 18252. One of the first purchases will be dehumidifiers which will be used throughout the communities to assist in the drying out process.
Schuylkill County Emergency Manager, John Matz, does not think that there will be a Presidential Declaration for Individual Assistance. Therefore, he says: “I foresee a need in the aftermath to provide assistance through the faith-based and VOAD groups. With the increasing number of disasters, the impacted residents will be best served within a neighbor to neighbor, inclusive network of caring individuals.”
State Senator David G. Argall, who serves western Schuylkill County, said, “In western Schuylkill County, we often see floods. Whenever this happens, our faith-based communities are always willing to help a neighbor in need. Churches bring supplies and offer a helping hand to let residents know that they are not alone. To quote from the Book of Proverbs ‘Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.’”
Schuylkill County pastors who are helping to guide this work are: Jason Stump, Claude Schach, Maureen Duffy-Guy, Shawn Van Dyke, and Karl Jones.
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Historical marker installed honoring Boehm's founder
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An
historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
was recently dedicated at a ceremony honoring Boehm's United Church of Christ's founder, John Philip Boehm.
Read more here
.
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PSEC sends 50 to UCC's Eastern Regional Youth Event
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Youth from across the New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions gathered at California University of PA for the Eastern Regional Youth Event July 19-22. PSEC sent 50 youth and chaperones. To read more about what they did and dates for upcoming youth opportunities,
click here
.
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PSEC/PNEC Mission Trip to Puerto Rico planned
A preliminary meeting of those who might be interested in traveling to Puerto Rico for a Mission Trip from PSEC and PNEC is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 6 at 6:30p at St. John's Mickley, 2918 MacArthur Road, Whitehall. All interested people should attend. Questions can be directed to PSEC Disaster Coordinator Rev. Karl Jones:
kjones275@comcast.net
.
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Last chance: Sign up for Friday's MissionInsite event
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Join fellow church members and discover the benefits of learning about your community and how to welcome them. A workshop – “How to Understand Your Community” – will be offered on Friday, Aug. 3 from 6:00-8:30p at Zwingli UCC, Souderton. This will train church leaders and pastors on the MissionInsite tool. MissionInsite is a mission context analysis tool for churches. It's used to receive high quality demographic research, real-time congregant analysis, and easy to use web-based discovery tools. MissionInsite is FREE for all churches in PSEC thanks to your gifts to OCWM. The workshop cost is $20/individual or $50 for a church group.
Click here
for event flyer.
Register now
.
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Register now for Saturday's Search and Call Summit
Churches in the search and call are invited to the annual Search and Call summit on Saturday, Aug. 4 from 9:00a-12:00p at Zwingli UCC, Souderton. This year's theme will be "Assessing Pastoral Candidates"; learn how to avoid common mistakes made, how to check references, how to be clear on where the church is going, and best practices for interviews. The event is free to churches currently in the search process, but you must
register
so that we can have materials ready.
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Parish Secretaries' Seminar scheduled for October
The Annual Parish Secretaries' Seminar will be held at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn. This event is not hosted by the PSEC, but is many of our church secretaries attend.
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Church Events
Submit your Church Events
here
View a complete list of Church Events
here
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Educational Opportunities
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Church Openings
St. Peter, Knauertown: part-time beginning ASAP
Tinicum, Pipersville: part-time beginning ASAP
Trinity, Rehrersburg: part-time beginning August
Wyomissing, Gouglersville
: part-time beginning ASAP
If you’re interested in a position, contact Rev. Sharon Morris:
morris@psec.org
or 484-949-8774 ext. 302.
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Classified Ads
Submit your Classified Ads
here
View a complete list of Classified Ads
here
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Missed a week? Read past eNews here:
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