Dear Church,

It was so wonderful to celebrate our Social Hall and Kitchen renovation at the Annual Meeting on February 16th! This huge project has been such a great joy. Both the process and the outcome are strengthening our church and our community in wonderful ways, and I am already giddy with joy every time I see it used– by our preschoolers, the Cleveland Pride Band, our Youth Musical folks, our AA groups, and so much more. We have done a wonderful thing here, to the Glory of God. 

Click below to read Pastor Joanna's full letter.

LCC Youth Musical Update

Our youth musical rehearsals are really coming along! We hope that you are planning to come see the show.

Performances will be March 21, 22, & 23

 in our lovely new social hall! 

Tickets will be available beginning March 9th after church. There is no price for tickets, but donations are accepted.

Please see the information in The Columns regarding supporting the musical through purchasing program space. You can give a shout out to any of the musical participants and/or advertise your business or organization.

We are looking for 6th-12th graders who would like to be on the stage crew for the musical. Please contact Rachel if you are interested. We’d love to have as many of our youth involved with the musical as possible.

The 3rd-12th graders in LCC’s spring musical, “The Wizard of Oz”, continue to work hard every Sunday rehearsing.

• We will be singing a song from the play in the service on Sunday, March 9.
• The performances will be Friday and Saturday, March 21-22 at 7pm, and Sunday, March 23 at 2pm.

Please come join us and see this wonderful musical on our newly renovated stage in the social hall.

After the musical is over youth special music will resume for any interested students in grades 6-12.

-Tim Hampton, Director of Children and Youth Music

For the third straight year, the UCC is conducting a Climate Hope Art Contest. The theme this year is “Planting Seeds of Hope.” UCC children and youth are invited to draw, paint, or color works of art that bring this theme to life.

A fitting scripture to spark the imagination is Matthew 13:31-32 in which Jesus declares, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

We’ll accept art submissions from February 2nd to March 14th. An online award ceremony for finalists will be held on April 5th. In the ceremony, we will have winners for different age groups and an overall winner who will receive an all-expense paid trip to visit Washington, DC with a parent or guardian. The winner will advocate with the offices of their congress members, tour the Capitol, and learn how they can bring their faith values to life in the halls of power. The winning art will additionally serve as the logo for UCC Climate Hope advocacy work throughout 2025.

Registrants will receive:

1. A printable “Planting Seeds of Hope” art template.
2. Regular updates and resources about the “Planting Seeds of Hope” campaign.

REGISTER HERE

Spring is around the corner, and we’ll be hosting large events inside the Social Hall before you know it. In fact, Haynes, the Pride Band and other groups are already taking advantage of our beautiful new space. A team has been assembled to put together a new rental handbook filled with guidelines and pricing for future users of our various spaces. I would love to hear from anyone who has an opinion on anything pertaining to this so feel free to reach out.

Now we get to start returning the building to normal and that means the chapel and other rooms throughout the building need to be brought back to their former glory. We’re exploring pricing for carpet in the chapel like we did previously in the sanctuary and then also the nursery rooms off the balcony. The plan is for Rachel to move her office from the basement so all staff are on the first floor, but before we redo the carpet there is going to be some wall and ceiling repairs in those rooms so we can prepare it for fresh paint.

On May 10^th we’ll be mulching the church grounds and if you’d like to join us mark it on your calendar. Between 9 and noon we’ll gather with pitchforks, wheelbarrows and rakes to beautify the grounds. Any day now the company who installed the landscape lighting will return to get those up and running again in addition to the completion of the new Memorial Garden next the new entrance.

Speaking of, the West Clifton door has seen some improvements over the past few weeks and now has ADA compliant buttons to take advantage of our new ramped entrance. It is seeing one more upgrade so we can disengage the locking mechanisms making coming and going that much easier.

Everyone should take note of the new and improved Wi-Fi capabilities we had installed. The days of the basement being a dead zone are now behind us! Same goes for the new stage lights, sound system and curtain.

In the coming weeks I am going to be in contact with the fire department and get them involved in putting in place a fire escape plan for throughout the building. We have never official had one of these, so we’d like to get this on the books and have some maps installed throughout, so everyone knows where and what to do in a worst-case scenario. For added security we’ll be using walkie talkies so that greeters and ushers can more easily communicate when the building is in use.

Once we can turn off the boiler, we are going to be doing a comprehensive inspection of the entire system. It’s been rather temperamental this winter and we really need to get some things dialed in before we turn it on again in the fall. Our hopes are that by being preemptive without repairs we can avoid costly damage from excess water and moisture throughout the building.

Let me finish by saying that the building has been a bit of a mess over the past year so thank you everyone for your continued patience as we try and keep the building strong and healthy as our congregation grows.

 -David Spahr

The Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) is a faith and community-based, non-profit, justice-focused organization that presently has over 39 Congregations and other groups on its membership roll, LCC being one of them. We focus on trying to reform any aspect(s) of our legal system that is not fair or equitable for all people.

Our work continues to focus on examining the policy(ies) in Cuyahoga County on Youth Bind-overs and the procedures for utilizing Pretrial Justice Services, encouraging voter turnout, providing health and utility initiatives for those people who do not have access, and any other concern that is negatively impacting a person/community/etc. We have had sit-down discussions with Mayor Bibbs, County Executive Chris Ronayne, and several Cuyahoga County prosecutors and judges. As I work with GCC, I find that itis especially rewarding to be able to commune with, think with, discuss with people of varied religious, economic, and racial backgrounds.

A great way to get a taste of GCC is by attending its monthly ENGAGE GCC meeting the fourth Thursday of every month. Information about it and other GCC activities is posted on the bulletin board in the West Clifton hallway. Members of our LCC GCC CORE Team are: Pastor Joanna, Liz Maugans, Ron Petrie, Kristen Humphreys, Beth Ryan, Abbey Weaver, Billie Geyer, Michael Greenland, Rev. Catherine Lawrence, Vicki Smigelski, and Patti Komperda.



If you are interested in finding out more about the Greater Cleveland Congregation and/or become a part of LCC’s GCC Core Team, see Patti Komperda or Reverend Joanna.

MIRACLE JAR - Heifer International 

Many of you may be familiar with Heifer International as LCC has supported the organization in the past and has sent our youth to their farm in Massachusetts for two mission trips.

Their mission is to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way by supporting and investing alongside local farmers and their communities throughout the world. They provide a seed investment of livestock or agriculture and then mentorship to help project participants build a business, ultimately gaining access to supply chains and markets. Families are able to earn a living income and pass on their knowledge to the next generation of leaders.

This year, the children's Miracle Jar collection will be donated to Heifer International. We will also hold a Living Gift Market in December, offering members the opportunity to "purchase" animals in honor of a loved one at Christmas. Our children will be learning more about Heifer International in Faith Formation.

ESL - Conversational English

Sociable discussions with immigrants who already have a basic understanding of English, but who need practice to improve employment and social prospects.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE AS A TUTOR (no training required as all we do is chat), please contact Ron Petrie, 216-789-2301.

Classes are held Mondays and Thursdays, 6:30-8:00 p.m., in the Parlor EXCEPT, no class on the following dates: Monday, March 31, Monday, April 21, Thursday, April 24, Monday, May 26 (those are days the schools are closed, so we follow accordingly).

Communion Stewards Needed

Sign up to be a Communion Steward on the first Sunday of each month. We need volunteers to prep before the service and serve during worship. The Worship Team will prep you with everything you need to know.

Communion Steward Volunteer Sign Up Sheet

Fellowship Hour Host

Sign Up to be a Host for our fellowship time after worship on Sundays. All information and training will be provided by Sarah and Paul Pierce (our Coffee Hour coordinators). Sign Up Here

Be part of a two-person team to count the offering following worship on Sunday mornings

• It takes only about fifteen minutes each time
• Sign up for as few or as many weeks per month as you wish

Contact Laura Sangree if you are interested in signing up. (Contact information is in the Instant Church Directory)

Sign Up HERE

Please join us for Second Saturday on

Saturday, March 8, April 12, and May 10 at 9 am

Please join us for Second Saturday. We meet at 9 am in the church parlor for an hour of discussion, reflection and prayer. All who identify as female are welcome to join this intergenerational group. It's a great chance to get to know each other better in a relaxed setting. Hope to see you there!

The Prayer Shawl Ministry will meet on the following Tuesdays at 7pm, in the Parlor

March 11

April 8

May 13

Bring whatever project you are working on, even if not a shawl. We have a pretty creative group, and the conversation is always terrific!!!Questions? Call or text Debi Kasper 440-554-8798

ADVENTURES IN READING

CALLING ALL READERS

Come to Adventures in Reading

(LCC Book Club)

the second Wednesday of each month

(September - May)

Wednesday, September 11 - 12:30pm

All are welcome

Our December meeting will be a bring your lunch and a potluck item to share - appetizer, salad, or dessert. We will begin at 12:00 - shared potluck foods will be on a table in the parlor. Join us for this time of Christmas joy!

Books, dates, and discussion leaders are listed for the following three months.

March 12: The Measure (2022) by Nikki Erlick.  Catherine Lawrence - Discussion Leader

 April 9: The War I Finally Won (2017) by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.  Paula Deal - Discussion Leader

May 14: Gilead (2004) by Marilynne Robinson.  Sandie King - Discussion Leader

All are welcome. Please R.S.V.P. to Kathy MacDougall.

There are copies of many of the Adventures in Reading books available for borrowing for LCC members. 

The books are in the library/archives and can be signed out.

Men's Group

We meet for fun and conversation monthly. For more information email Tom Leatherman.

Mark your calendars for the 3rd Wednesday of the month:

• March 19 (at the Sangrees)

Look for more information in the weekly emails. Sign Up to host: HOST

Pub Theology: Meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 7pm

Meaningful conversation about faith, current events, culture, and more! 

Locations vary. Check weekly bulletins/emails for more details.

Join our Facebook group @ LCC Pub Theology

At LCC, we support & value our sober siblings. Some of drink alcohol at Pub Theology; some of us don't. Safe spaces are our priority.

We welcome & affirm our LGBTQ+ siblings. Each of us brings a different perspective, but our status as on Open and Affirming Church is not up for debate. 

If you were born anywhere between 1946-1964, you are officially a Baby Boomer...and that makes you an LCC Boomer Gal! (Of course, even if you were born before 1946 or after 1964, you are still welcome!)

Our LCC Boomer Gals enjoyed a movieless movie night back in January...this time, technology was on our side, but the DVD of “The Way We Were” was not! We had a most enjoyable evening talking about favorite movies and rehashing movie experiences from our pasts, along with eating lots of popcorn!

Watch your emails for a Sunset of Lake Erie gathering that will happen sometime in June!

Tai Chi at LCC

Just a reminder that we have been finding our Chi and experiencing Zen (and a lot of laughter) for over 15 years in our LCC Parlor during our weekly Tai Chi class led by Jeannie Koran. The class is for beginners right up through experienced tai chi-ers and is held in the LCC Parlor on Mondays from 5-6pm. There is NO FEE for your first time, and then the cost is $10 per class.

See Patti Komperda or Ceil Dorsch if you have any questions.

GET OUT YOUR CALENDARS NOW!…

OUR 2025 LCC WOMEN’S RETREAT DATE HAS BEEN SET

…We will be spending September 27-28, 2025 at Hopewood Shores in Conneaut, Ohio beginning at 10:00am on Saturday and ending around noon on Sunday. Your Retreat Planning Team (Reverend Catherine, Melissa Parlanti-Klein, Julie Warren, Beth Abbott, Jill Richardson, and Patti Komperda) is very excited…and, btw, if you have suggestions for the Team, let Patti Komperda know.

Office Hours:

Monday - Friday: 9:00am-3:00pm