Congregational Meeting September 10 to approve nominees for the Pastoral Search Committee

Thank you to all who nominated people to be on the search committee, and to those who were willing to serve. The board is recommending the team of nine below to serve as the committee. Our bylaws require that this committee be ratified by the congregation, so we will hold a special congregational meeting immediately after church on September 10 for that vote.

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 French, Keith Osajima, DeeDee 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.

A message from our Pastor and Teacher

Sunday, August 27 “Like a Rock”

The lectionary leaves out the failures both in the paragraph before (about beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees) and after - verses 20-23 – it only shows Peter the Rock with the keys to the kingdom. 

Why is the lectionary leaving out the most important part - that we don’t have to be perfect in every way as per the Pharisees and Sadducees? – it’s as misguided as Peter refusing to believe that miserable things could happen to someone God loves and chooses.   

If Peter could be like a rock – maybe we can, too? 

Sunday's Scripture

Matthew 16: 13 – 23

NRSVUE

August 27 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

CLICK HERE FOR BULLETIN FOR AUGUST 27

Reflection of the week from the Racial Justice Team

The Racial Justice Act (RJA) is a California law that lets people charged with (or convicted of) a crime raise issues of bias or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin in their cases. It was created by Assembly Bill 2542.

Before the RJA was signed into law, courts often only recognized bias and discrimination that was extreme and intentional. But this kind of bias has been almost impossible to prove in court. In passing AB 2542, the Legislature recognized that both explicit (intentional) bias and implicit (unintentional) bias creates harm in the criminal justice system. AB 2542 enacts new approaches to combat racial discrimination and disparities. The goal is not to blame or punish people who may have unintentionally acted with bias, but rather to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, no matter their race, ethnicity, or country of birth.

Assembly Bill 256 – also called “The Racial Justice For All Act” – will make the RJA apply “retroactively.” This means it will apply to people who were sentenced before January 1, 2021. But AB 256 will become retroactive in stages, starting on January 1, 2023. It will not apply to everyone until January 1, 2026.

Source: California Office of the State Public Defender. https://www.ospd.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/AB-256-Racial-Justice-Act-retroactivity_Accessible.pdf

From the Environmental Justice Team

Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildlands fire scientist, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada is quoted:

"I used to think, “I’m concerned for my children and grandchildren. Now it’s to the point where I’m concerned about myself. … Things are crazy. We’re in uncharted territory. And that’s scary. Frightening.

"I’ve been doing this for over 40 years, and our models of temperature increases have been pretty darn good. But the impacts are more severe, frequent and intense than I expected. Things are happening, in terms of impact, much more rapidly than I expected.

" … at the end [of talks] I often say, “Urgent action is needed on climate change.” But I’m getting bloody tired of saying this, because we’re not doing enough."

Source: “How climate scientists feel about seeing their dire predictions come true,” Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 8/18/23: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-08-18/lahaina-yellowknife-hurricane-hilary-climate-scientists-watch-predictions-come-true

Mary's Drag Bingo, Thursday, August 31

The LGBTQIAFG group is going on an outing this month on Thursday, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. We will attend Drag Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s in Ontario. All proceeds go to the Riverside Pride organization.

Sarah and Samantha will meet at the church around 5 pm and can assist with carpooling for those who may need it. Those attending are encouraged to RSVP to Samantha or Sarah asap!

Anyone else want to join RUCC Dinners for 8ish?

Many of us have had the pleasure of getting to know members of our church family better this year through a new program called Dinners for 8ish, where we gather in small groups to share meals and conversations. We’ve completed two rounds of dinners and there are two more left this year. It has come to our attention that there may be some folks in our community who may not have been able to join this program at the beginning of the year but would like to join us for the last two dinners. If that is you, please email Minori Tsukimoto ([email protected]) and we would love to find a way to bring you in!

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 [email protected] and ask to be put on the list. All we need is a name and an email address.

Caring for Kin focuses on Family Services

For the month of August, we will be collecting again for Redlands Family Services, who are in great need of food collections. As before, their high-priority items include peanut butter, jelly, cereal, oatmeal, and granola bars. Let's keep up the excellent work!

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)

Music Director search

We are grateful to Zoë Petersen who stepped in to lead the choir for Jill's Celebration of Life, 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 on an interim basis until we fill the Music Director position. Personnel chair Carole Beswick and Worship Area leader Patty Little will jointly lead the search, and will be meeting with the choir August 24 to talk through next steps.

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

• August 26 - Heartspace workshop on coping with and honoring grief- for ages 8 and up. 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. - Covenant Hall
• September 2 - Sacred Saturday - 9 a.m.
• September 10 - Brief congregational meeting to approve the slate of nominees for the Search Committee



The church calendars for August and September are found at uccredlands.org

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