The Union Church in Waban                
Friday, June 22, 2018
July Summer Services 

This Sunday will be our final Sunday morning, 10:00 a.m. worship service for the program year.  

Starting on July 8, we will worship at 5:00 p.m.  These will be more informal worship services in Memorial Chapel (just off the sanctuary) where we invite you to come just as you are, whether that be straight from the beach or from the garden.  Worship will be followed by some light refreshments.  If you are interested in helping to lead service, sharing a reflection or playing some music for a service, please be in touch with Pastor Stacy.

Sunday Morning, 10:00 a.m. Worship will resume on
September 9, for our Gathering Sunday Service
This Sunday 
 9:00 a.m.:    Choir Rehearsal 

10:00 a.m.:    Sunday Worship 
Featured 



CHOIR SKILL BUILDING SESSION
Join us on  Monday, September 17 , from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the main sanctuary for an evening of developing group-singing and music-reading skills. We will have a time for pizza and socializing after our skill building session. Anyone interested in growing these skills is welcome, including youth and families! If you plan to attend, please email Kayla Gautereaux at [email protected] .
Children, Youth and Families
This Sunday  - Childcare during Worship

While our formal Sunday School is now on break for the summer, today there will be supervised childcare for all ages (including play and crafts in the Vestry and on the playgrounds). Lisa, our professional nursery staff-person, will also be in the nursery for our littlest members (infants and
 
 
What a wonderful year of Sunday School we had!  Thank you to all the teachers, parents, kids and UCW members who made it such a joy-and-faith-filled experience for all.  

Thanks for a Wonderful Year!  
Mission and Outreach
Nicaragua Update
    
We are so grateful that for the past 15 years, we have been blessed with the opportunity to travel and grow partnerships in San Juan del Sur. It has been such a joy to see our ministry in Nicaragua grow from 12 people in 2003 to a wonderfully large group of 52, including 24 youth in 2018.

These past 15 years have been peaceful with little to no difficulties, except for a police bribe here and there. Though there were signs of old revolution-era feelings, there were no indications of possible violence. Food overflowed constantly at the market in the center of town, foreign tourism was flourishing, power outages became rare, and as recent as 2016 saw the advent of street names and signs.

However, as of April 19th, 2018, just a few months after our Nica Trip Travelers returned from what is probably the most successful trip to date, turmoil and unrest has gripped the country.  Peaceful student-led protests turned violent when police and pro-Sandinista paramilitary gangs attacked the gatherings, resulting in over 170 deaths and injuries in the thousands.  San Juan del Sur has been relatively safe, though the locals have taken to arming themselves to defend the town in case of violence.
 
A PRAYER FOR NICARAGUA

God of Love,

You sent your Son Jesus to show and teach us to love God,
and love our neighbors as ourselves. 
You also called this beloved church, years before some of us joined to be ambassadors of your love to our brothers and sisters in San Juan del Sur. 
It is with much gratitude that we thank you for the ways in which you have and continue to bless our ministry in Nicaragua.

Today, we come to you asking for you to stay close to our neighbors in Nicaragua, and ask you to put on our hearts and minds what it is that you would have us do to continue walking with our friends through this time of political unrest and turmoil. And may a lasting peace rooted in your love be put in the place of violence.
   
Notes from our partners on the current  situation in
San Juan del Sur (SJdS).

Katie Brugger describes:
" It is a tough time for Nicaragua. San Juan del Sur is turning into a ghost town--a large number of foreigners have fled so most of the businesses catering to tourists have closed. Lots and lots of people have lost their jobs. The universities are closed.I think about the consequence of long-term unemployment on the people of San Juan and it's not pretty."

Kathy Knight says:
"So far SJdS has been quiet and non-violent, but who knows how long that will last.  The situation is NOT good. Food and gasoline have been scarce but they have been getting some fuel, at a very high financial cost.  Food seems to be a different matter. Lots of roadblocks and up till now, SJdS has suffered very little violence but that may change soon.  Please pray that it ends soon. Lots of love and hugs "

Yarisleidy says:
"I moved a few weeks ago from Jinotega to San Juan del Sur, my father went to pick up me to a "tranque" (block street). Jinotega is very dangerous now... Comunidad Connect is not working in the community. So I'm still working some days at the office in San Juan, for now cause we don't have violence,,, here is quiet, not violent, here we have still some food and basic things, we hope it will continue the same here. My family are safe for now."

Here are some links to articles to dig in deeper 
about the developments:

The Unraveling of Nicaragua  Amid the mass protests

What are some of our community partners and friends saying?
Mass Senate Unanimously Passes Omnibus 
Renewable Energy Bill  - including carbon tax  
Union Church in Waban Team Getting Traction Converting Legislators
 
The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a carbon pricing bill last week, handing climate activists a major victory here after a series of setbacks in other states.
The bill, which won support from Senate Dems and Rs alike, commits Massachusetts to becoming the second state after California to impose an economy-wide cap on carbon emissions. The omnibus energy bill also calls for increases in Massachusetts' use of renewable energy and an end to net-metering caps.
The carbon tax issue now heads to the House, where we only need four more converts to reach majority. The lobbying coalition we are working with has made steady progress converting members in both chambers, with our own Nancy Zollers scoring a key House conversion.






The Call for Moral Action continues

The campaign unveiled a Declaration of Fundamental Rights and Poor People's Campaign Moral Agenda* that will guide the movement through its upcoming 40 days of nonviolent direct action and beyond. The 40 days included a rally and direct action. 
 
This campaign is an invitation to us to come along side and learn from those who are suffering from poverty and the issues that perpetuate poverty by attending the rallies with a listening, "companioning" heart.

The campaign culminates with a rally and action in Washington D.C. on Saturday, June 23rd.  Buses will be going from Boston.  To learn more about transportation please go here. 

Union Church at Moral Revival Poor People's Campaign at the
State House in Boston.

Pastor Stacy Swain gave the invocation for the rally on June 11. 
 
"Fifty years after Rev. Dr. King and the 1968 Poor People's Campaign declared that silence was betrayal, we are coming together to break the silence and tell the truth about the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and our distorted moral narrative," the Moral Agenda reads. "We declare that if silence was betrayal in 1968, revival is necessary today."
 
                                                                                                               Learn more

2018-2019 Stewardship Campaign

Click above to submit an online Pledge Form

















































(You can also access the online pledge form at any time by going to 
the Union Church website homepage at  uwc.org.)
 
I f you have any questions,  please do not hesitate to reach out to    Grant Gund ,  co-chair of  our Stewardship Team.  

From the Wider Community 

Faith Leaders Speak out Against
Children Being Separated From Their Families
A Word from the National Leadership of
the United Church of Christ
 
"Still, when God saw the trouble they were in and heard their cries for help,
God remembered God's Covenant with them, and, immense with love, took them by the hand.  God poured out God's mercy on them while their captors looked on, amazed." Psalm 106:44-47 (MSG)

Friends, once again we stand at the brink of a moral precipice in our society and the question before us is will we choose to act in covenant with God on behalf of God's people or will we sacrifice our soul. 

The United Church of Christ has long been a supporter of migrant families seeking refuge within our borders from intolerable and unsafe living conditions in their homelands. As people of God committed to the sacredness of all creation and the sanctity of every life, we are compelled to heed the cries of families now being violently torn apart at our borders for political expediency and profitability. Such violent acts are unnecessarily punitive and place at risk the physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and developmental stability of hundreds of families who now find themselves separated, caged, and commodified in a strange land.

All of our sacred texts, no matter the faith, identify the disregard of the humanity of the vulnerable as sin.

And God hears the cries of God's people. The plight of black and brown migrant families whose children are ripped from their care cannot be the policy of a civilized land. We've been here before. Our nation's history bears witness to a legacy of lost love. We separated the children of Native people from their families. We separated the children of enslaved people from their families. We separated the children of Japanese people from their families. Many of these families were never made whole again. This legacy of white supremacist ideology is idolatrous and leaves an indelible mark of evil that can only be redeemed by a conscious act of spiritual repentance and repair.

We must resist the evil of dehumanization enacted upon the vulnerable among us. The United Church of Christ strongly condemns the dismantling of families, the criminalization of the quest for freedom, and the caging of those whose only crime is to seek shelter from harm. How we treat those who seek shelter in our midst is a direct reflection of how we treat God.

Faithfully yours,

The National Officers of the United Church of Christ
The Rev. John C. Dorhauer,  General Minister and President
The Rev. Traci Blackmon, Executive Minister, Justice and Witness Ministries 
The Rev. James Moos, Executive Minister, Wider Church Ministries
The Council of Conference Ministers of the United Church of Christ




The Week Ahead at UCW
Sun., June 24
10:00 a.m.
Worship
Wed., June 27
12:00 p.m.
Lunch Bunch
Tue. J uly 3
6:00 p.m.
Deacons Mtg.
Sun., July 8
5:00 p.m.
Summer Evening Worship

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 or our Sunday Announcements insert should be e-mailed to the office at [email protected] , by 9:00 a.m. on the previous Wednesday morning.  Please specify whether for e-Blast, Sunday Announcements, or both. Thank you!