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Important This Week
- Hand sanitizer available to churches
- Feeling stressed? UCC has a website to help
- Pension Board Insurance Rates available for 2021
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From the Conference Minister: Love God, Love Neighbor
36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22
It’s a simple concept: “Love God, love neighbor.” The hard part is in the execution. Everyone I know who has made a serious, lifelong effort to live out these simple precepts has struggled with one or both. Who is God, and who is my neighbor? What does it mean to love them? Being a disciple of the gospel text means wrestling with the questions. Being a disciple of the living Christ means accepting God’s love and offering it to others.
This love is more than warm feelings or being nice — though that has unmistakable value. This loving Jesus has just spared with the chief priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and their lawyers. He drove from the temple the people shopping and selling and turned over the money changers tables just the day before offering this language of love. He sees no contradiction between this and the Great Commandment to love. You can love and resist. But don’t hate, don’t harbor a grudge, love all of God’s people even as you stand for justice among the jerks.
This is more than having the right ethics, finding the right ideology, voting in the right way, volunteering, though all these may be done with love. Love is having a great passion for the well-being for others, for of all life, and acting upon it.
Our impatience with the slow, persistent, incarnate Word that changes hearts and minds has a tendency at times to turn anxious Christians into badly tuned flutes and ill-made gongs — Paul’s symbols for the absence of love. I pray for us, you and me, to trust in the endless horizon of God, in whom all things are possible. Despite all evidence to the contrary, this is God’s world, and if hearts are to be changed toward the love of neighbor — the ones who look different, think different, and vote different — the first courageous act will need to be ours; the broken and blessed people of God.
I pray it may be so for you and for me and for the people we love.
Pastor Bill
Rev. Bill Worley
Conference Minister
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Eileen Fruchtl hikes 40 miles to join 'virtual' CROP Hunger Walk
Eileen Fruchtl, wife of Rev. Kevin Fruchtl, St. Mark's UCC, Cressona, hiked 40 miles to support the CROP Walk. Eileen's hike began at dawn on Friday, Oct. 2 and concluded late in the day on Oct. 4. This was the same weekend that the Schuylkill Haven Area Ministerium hosted CROP Walks both virtually and in-person. Eileen carried everything -- food, water, tent, emergency supplies -- completely self-contained. She hiked 40 miles along the Appalachian Trail and the final total raised for CROP was $2,100 (well-exceeding the church's goal!).
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Hand sanitizer still available
to PSEC congregations
Over the summer, Disaster Coordinator Rev. Karl Jones worked hard to get 260 gallons of hand sanitizer for PSEC churches. There are now just 8 gallons left for congregations to use. If you would like one for your church, contact Sue Creswell: susan@psec.org.
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Insurance Board has training on Reopening during COVID-19
The Insurance Board has created a video training on "Reopening During COVID-19: Considerations for Church Leadership and Clergy". You will need to register to view this video by following this link. This video is free to Insurance Board members and $5 for non-members. You will need your ID# during registration.
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Feeling stressed?
The UCC has a website to help
The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll both on people's physical health and lives and on their emotional, mental and spiritual health. No one is immune, from congregants to pastors to conference and national staff. In response, a team drawn from across the UCC has come together to create and consolidate resources for "Recovering Hope" into a single, simple website. The site is designed to provide one-stop gathering of resources to mitigate stress caused by the pandemic and effects.
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Churches commit to change;
PSEC 50-50-50 Challenge
The PSEC Climate Justice Working Group has started the 50-50-50 Green Church Initiative, challenging 50 PSEC churches to make a commitment to do something to mitigate climate change in the coming months. Churches can hold a special service, share educational materials, take on a project of recycling or composting, or many other things. One is example is here:
Ridge Valley United Church of Christ, Sellersville: Changed Sanctuary lighting, vestibule, bathroom, and most parking/outdoor lighting to LED. Planted a new tree on Church grounds Spring 2020. Eliminated Foam cups and utensils at greet and coffee time, began using washable cups and plates. Reduced heating of unused space for winter and furnace was serviced. We plant a flower garden and hold services in the outdoors during Summer. Returned Christmas greens to compost, and will reuse materials for wreath making events.
For a list of all churches that have made a commitment, more suggestions for actions your congregation can take, and a form you can use for your church to accept the challenge, visit psec.org/green.
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2021 Pension Board Insurance Rates now available
The Pension Boards released the 2021 medical and dental rates for clergy and lay employees. Use the updated interactive rate finder by clicking here.
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Register now for the PSEC Fall Meeting next month on Zoom
Registration is now open for the 2020 PSEC Fall Meeting taking place Sunday, Nov. 15 from 3:00-5:00p on Zoom. The agenda includes social justice issues, plans for moving toward a hybrid PSEC office, and approval of the 2021 budget. To register, click here. For more information and advanced materials, click here.
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Monday Meetings with the Conference Minister continue
Each Monday at 11:00a, authorized ministers and church leaders are invited to check in with the Conference Minister, Rev. Bill Worley, on a Zoom call. Share your experiences with ministry in this season of COVID with other clergy, ask for advice, and be in community together. Click here to join the call on Monday.
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UCC holding denomination-wide All Saints virtual service
You are invited to join the UCC in honoring those who have passed, especially to COVID-19, for a service of All Saints with music, prayer, and lifting of names. We will gather via Zoom on Nov. 1 at 6:00p. Click here to register for the Zoom worship. To contribute a name to the virtual list of people in memoriam, fill out this form. Additionally, if your congregation has done a communal memorial, you are welcome to send photos to UCCPhotos@ucc.org and have them included in the national service.
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Volunteers needed to make disaster response phone calls
Crisis Cleanup, the tool we use when disaster strikes to help guide our response, is working on a huge push to get 200 phone volunteers to make or return 20 calls each day for five days. Doing so would clean up the maps of both Sally and Delta-Laura-Marco plus handle the wave of inbound calls we anticipate. To get all the details about how you or your church can help, go to http://bit.ly/DeltaCalls. For additional info contact: Gina Newby, 406-461-2388, gina@crisiscleanup.org.
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Lecture video: 'How to Live When Things Fall Apart'
Tony Robinson (UCC writer, pastor, teacher, and theologian) was part of a lecture series this past weekened, presenting 'How to Live When Things Fall Apart.' You can watch a video of that lecture here. Rev. Austin Chinault (Zion UCC, Pottstown) said the lecture was "insightful and helpful in our current situation." Conference Minister Bill Worley said "It is worth the watch and will, I believe, inspire your thinking and soulfulness."
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Open enrollment available for UCC Dental Plan 2000
UCC employees and retirees who do not have dental coverage, or who have coverage in a plan other than the UCC’s can enroll in the UCC Dental Plan 2000 until Oct. 31. Coverage will be effective Jan. 1 and is available on a stand-alone basis, regardless of participation in the UCC Health Benefits Plan or UCC Medicare Supplement Plan. UCC Dental Plan offers 100% coverage for preventive care services, with no deductible or coinsurance. Preventive care services will not reduce the annual plan maximum. Click here for a summary of benefits. Click here for an application.
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Coronavirus resources available for churches, pastors
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New resource for churches to share worship components
Several churches asked for more worship resources: music for live-streaming, worship components, and services from the Conference staff. In response to that, PSEC created a Google Drive for churches and pastors to share worship components. If you or your congregation recorded a service, sermon, children's moment, musical selection, or order for communion you would allow others to use, upload that video to the Google Drive. Note: each church needs to take responsibility for its own copyright use. Visit the Google Drive (drive.google.com/drive/folders/18wnxvyEEbyEaVhx0Tonj0DU_j2TbZ_by?usp=sharing) and read "PLEASE READ: Requirements" for more information.
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Updated list available: PSEC churches online this fall
If your church isn't currently worshipping or you are not able or comfortable attending services, we have compiled a list of churches in PSEC that are holding digital/ virtual worship experiences. Share this with others that might not have another option for worship. Click here for an updated list.
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Safety Symposium for Faith-Based Communities planned
Strengthening Relationships between Law Enforcement & Communities of Faith will be held Oct. 27 from 1:00-3:15p. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and InfraGard will host a free webinar to gather faith leaders, security professionals and law enforcement to share information, best practices and risk mitigation strategies in support of protecting houses of worship. To register, click here.
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Church Openings
- Allegheny UCC (Sunday supply)
- Bern Reformed UCC, Leesport (three-quarter time settled)
- Calvary UCC, Barto, and Pennsburg UCC (full-time designated-term)
- Christ Delong UCC, Bowers and St. Peter's UCC, Topton (3/4-time interim)
- St. John's UCC, Orwigsburg (full-time settled)
- St. John's UCC, Pottstown (part-time interim)
- St. Paul's UCC, Birdsboro (half-time interim)
- Salem Hetzel's UCC (shared ministry; full-time interim)
- Trinity UCC, Rehrersburg (part-time settled)
- Wyomissing UCC (part-time settled)
- Zwingli UCC (full-time associate)
If you’re interested in a position, contact Rev.Dr. Susan Minasian: minasian@psec.org or 484-949-8774 ext. 302.
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Classified Ads
Submit Classified Ads here
View a complete list of Classified Ads here
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Educational Opportunities
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Church Events
Submit Church Events here
View a complete list of Church Events here
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Missed a week? Read past eNews here: |
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PSEC is the link that connects our church’s various and diverse ministries both locally and globally. Together, we provide our local churches, pastors and congregations with the training and inspiration they need to carry out our church’s wider mission. We are stronger together; therefore, we embrace diversity, and above all, we spread God’s love! |
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