A message from our Pastor and Teacher

Sunday, September 17, 2023 - "A New Day is Coming"

In Ernest Hemingway’s classic The Sun Also Rises, Solomon’s idea that the continual pattern of sunrise and sunset, day after day indicates human powerlessness to make a difference with their actions in this life. I prefer to look at Jeremiah’s word that God promises to do a new thing – to make a new and great covenant with the people. In Jeremiah 31, God offers the steady rising and setting of the sun as a symbol of God’s steadfast faith and love for creation. God’s Love is everlasting!

Sunday's Scripture:

Jeremiah 31: 31-37

September 17 -

Third Sunday of Creation Season

Click here for the Sunday Bulletin

LGBTQIAFG gathering Sunday, September 24

Wendy Birchard will be hosting this month’s LGBTQIAFG gathering at her residence (626 Dearborn St., Redlands, 92374). There will be good food and fun activities. This event is for all ages. Attendees are asked to bring a bottle of sparkling cider.

All are welcome to join us and are strongly encouraged to RSVP to Samantha, Sarah, or Wendy.

From the Environmental Justice Team

The Climate Action Postcard Campaign to make our voices heard on climate issues continues this Sunday, September 17, at RUCC. Climate Action Postcards will be available in the sanctuary before worship, and on the Climate Justice table in Covenant Hall after church with more information and postcards that you can sign. Speak out and write a postcard this Sunday! You can get involved in two ways:

1.    Sign a postcard that we will collect as part of the UCC Climate Hope Postcard Campaign. UCC.org, describes the project: “The UCC Climate Hope Cards campaign is part of an effort to save thousands of lives, address societal inequities, and get our nation on track to meet its climate goals. The EPA is in the process of updating a number of protections that could significantly impact our environment and public health. Congregations are striving to collect as many postcards as possible to urge the strongest possible protections. These postcards will be delivered to decision makers in Washington, D.C. in September. They will also be used to connect people to opportunities to submit comments to the EPA as updates to protections are considered.” For more information, visit https://www.ucc.org/churches-can-continue-climate-hope-campaign-with-postcard-drive/

2.    Learn about upcoming climate legislation and send a postcard to your legislator. We will have information about the bills, cards that you can sign, and address labels for representatives from our region.

Our postcards will then be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Reflection of the week from the Racial Justice Team

On September 15, 1963, four members of the Ku Klux Klan planted dynamite inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama and at about 10:20am, it was detonated. When that dynamite exploded into the history of our nation, it destroyed the lives of four girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley who were attending Sunday School services. Unknown to many is the fact that there was a 5th little girl, 12-year-old Sarah Collins, who survived the bombing and whose life has been shaped by that trauma ever since.

On September 15, 2023, Join the Movement toward Racial Justice is partnering with Nurturing Justice to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing and to support survivor Sarah Collins Rudolph. Through an online symposium, we will seek healing from the horror of past harms, while keeping the power of the story of survival alive in our communities. Through education, skill-building and reparatory justice, this symposium promises to not only honor the past but to equip us to build a future free from racial terror, one where people of African descent cannot only survive, but thrive.

Click here for more information and to register: https://jointhemovementucc.org/jtm-events/from-surviving-to-thriving-healing-for-the-forgotten-survivors-of-racial-terror/

This week's Tech Tidbit

Do you know what groups you’re in at RUCC? Are you getting their communications? It’s so easy to find out! Go to https://onrealm.org/RUCC/ and sign in, then click the magnifying glass in the upper right and search for your name. Once on your page, click the Groups button along the top and all of your groups will be listed. You can tell which Shepherd group you’re in, which volunteering opportunities you’ve sign up for, and generally anything you covenanted for. If you have any trouble, contact the church office.

You can become a sponsor of Art, for Heaven's Sake!

Art, for Heaven’s Sake! 2023 will take place on October 13, 14 & 15. SAVE THE DATES! Everyone’s help is truly needed. One way to assist is to become a show sponsor or to share the sponsorship request with anyone who you know who might be interested in being a part of our 44th year. Please use the attached letter and sign-up form. Thank you for your support of this important all-church event. Sponsorship Deadline is September 20.

Click here for the Sponsorship form!

Caring for Kin continues with supplies for unsheltered neighbors

In the month of September, we will be collecting supplies for kits for our unsheltered neighbors. Donated items should fit in a gallon-size ziploc bag, for example, toothbrush and toothpaste, travel-size soap and shampoo, hand sanitizer, band-aids, chapstick, nail clippers, socks, and granola bars. We will then come together on September 24 to assemble the kits together so we can take them with us to give to unsheltered individuals. For questions, please contact Diana Steele or Sue Hammond.

ART, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE! OCTOBER 13, 14, AND 15, 2023

                   THAT’S ONLY 4 WEEKS AWAY!!!

HELP IS NEEDED to make this event a success. During the next weeks the art show committee will be recruiting members and friends to help with the show. 

You can volunteer to

• Set up the show (Thursday October 12 and Friday October 13) Examples: Setting up pop-up canopies, helping with lighting and decorating, assisting artists in setting up their booths.
• Make cookies and appetizers for Friday night.
• Serve cookies, appetizers, and punch Friday night.
• Greet guests at the entrance.

• Provide Show Support by

Providing brief breaks for artists during the show, monitoring doors, eating area or cashier line, .................checking the bathrooms for supplies, being a runner to pick-up purchased art from the artists’ booths.

Take-down when the show is over at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Sign ups will be before and after church in the Narthex or contact Pam Dunn.

Even if you can’t help out, be sure to mark your calendar for this event. You don’t want to miss it! 

Art Show Hours

Friday, Oct. 13, 6 -- 9 pm

Saturday, Oct. 14, 10 – 7 pm

Sunday, Oct. 15, 11:30 – 5 pm.

Help for Maui fire victims

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)

RUCC's Wider Ministries Area recently approved a $1,000 donation to the Hawaii Conference. Please consider making your own individual donation to this cause.

Music Director search

We are grateful to Zoë Petersen who has stepped in to lead the choir for an interim period 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 until we fill the Music Director position. Personnel chair Carole Beswick and Worship Area leader Patty Little will jointly lead the search.

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

• September 16 - Braver Angels
• September 17 - Parents' Meeting
• September 27 - Lunch making for Youth Hope
• October 1 - Book Group will discuss Wrong Time, Wrong Place by Gillian McAllister
• October 13-15 - Art, for Heaven's Sake!
• November 11 - Mentone UCC Gospel Concert



The church calendars are found at uccredlands.org

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