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Important This Week
- It's not too late to register for this weekend's "Part-time is Plenty: Thriving Without Full-Time Clergy" workshop.
- Conference Minister's message on this week's lectionary text.
- Several free webinars coming up.
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From the Conference Minister: Thankfulness and offering thanks
15Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17
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There is an irony I confront anew every harvest season. The more we have, the less likely we are to thank God. We live in a time of extraordinary abundance, but that has not led us to greater thankfulness. In fact, a defining characteristic of our age is that we live with an extraordinary sense of entitlement. The animated character, Bart Simpson, when asked to offer thanks at a family meal, said, “Dear God, we bought all of this stuff with our own money, so thanks for nothing.”
No one is born grateful. So it is not surprising, perhaps, that gratitude doesn’t always come easily to us and sometimes it doesn’t come at all.
The one leper who came back to Jesus gives me regular pause for thought for the way he had his life changed in a way the others seemingly did not. Ten were healed of their disease, but only one was made well — that is, made whole, completed. It is a distinction worth making. You can be cured of a disease and still lead an incomplete or fractured life. You can live with a life crippling disease and still find wholeness. That is the gift that the one who returned to offer thanks was given — the gift of wholeness. There is something about offering thanks that makes us whole.
C. S. Lewis observed that grateful people are emotionally healthy people. “Praise,” he said, “almost seems to be inner health made audible.” Anne Lamott, in her book on prayer, adds from her own experiences of gratitude this thought: “The movement of grace toward gratitude brings us from the package of self-obsessed madness to a spiritual awakening. Gratitude is peace.”
Praise is inner health made audible. Gratitude is peace. To which I can only add, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
May it be so for you and the people you love,
Pastor Bill
Rev. William Worley
Conference Minister
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Free UCC webinar: Sisters in the Struggle for Justice
The next
Creation Justice Webinar
will feature four African American women who are leaders in the environmental justice movement: Leslie Fields from the Sierra Club, Adrienne Hollis from the Union of Concerned Scientists, Jacqueline Patterson from the NAACP, and Heather McTeer Toney from Moms Clean Air Force. We will focus on the moral center of the movement: frontline communities that suffer the most from environmental harms. Even if you can’t make it,
register
to receive a video recording.
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Hartman Center holding Fall Festival fundraiser this week
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October ReadyPA Monthly features cyber security tips
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October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. In this issue of the
Ready PA Monthly
, learn how to protect yourself - Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT. Read tips on how to be personally accountable and proactive in protecting yourself from common cyber threats. The Ready PA Action Sheet provides information on Cyber Safety for Kids.
With Fall upon us, the risk for outdoor fires increases. Only you can prevent wildfires and the State Meteorologist tells you how.
Please share this newsletter and action sheet with your church, your family and friends. Remember, both the Ready PA Monthly and the Action Sheet are available at
www.Ready.PA.gov
.
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PSEC announces new bookkeeper: Kim Kulesa
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The Pennsylvania Southeast Conference recently hired a new bookkeeper: Ms. Kim Kulesa. Kim is excited to be working for the Conference office. She also currently works part time at a local UCC church as an Office Administrator. Kim has a degree in business management from Peirce College in Philadelphia and an extensive background in accounting.
She was raised in Delaware County and moved to the Gilbertsville area with her family almost 20 years ago. She and her husband, Steve, are blessed with two children and she enjoys cooking, reading, gardening, traveling with her family, and her dog, Gus.
- Assistance with church-requested statements
- Help with OCWM giving
- Basic financial questions
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Webinar: Matching Property with Ministry & Mission
The Cornerstone Fund will host a free webinar for pastors and lay leaders on "Matching Ministry with Property & Mission; Part 1: Designing It"
Thursday, Oct. 10 at 1:00p. This two-part webinar series asks panelists to discuss how to first design property that helps your church better match your ministry and mission, and then how to build it. Each webinar includes a 45-minute panel presentation with 15-minute Q&A session.
Click here
to register.
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Clean-up Buckets needed by Church World Service
UCC Disaster Ministries is asking churches to help overcome a shortage of cleanup buckets, stocked with essential supplies for after a natural disaster strikes. Disaster Ministries is offering matching grants of up to $250 as an incentive to assemble Church World Service kits — in particular, the Emergency Cleanup Buckets. To learn more about these kits and how to apply for the grant
click here
. For a list of PSEC and PNEC congregations that have offered to be drop-off locations for the kits you assemble, visit
psec.org/drop-off
. Email
kjones275@comcast.net
with your stories and pictures so we can share your story.
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PSEC endowments divesting from fossil fuels
In 2015, the General Synod voted in response to climate change, to call for the complete elimination of fossil fuels for energy by 2040. United Church Funds took seriously this charge and established funds which offer investments free of companies exploring for or producing fossil fuels. The PSEC Endowment Committee also took this seriously and voted unanimously to move 10% of the balance of each of our investments with UC Funds to the fossil fuel free funds beginning in 2016. With the intention of those investments being totally in fossil free funds within 10 years or so, depending on performance.
To date, the fossil fuel free fund that has been utilized has been performing well and very close to the performance of the Moderate Balanced Fund that our investments have been in. The Conference Consistory encourages all our churches to look at their investments and to divest from fossil fuels wherever possible. For more information,
click here
.
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Registration is open for the PSEC Fall Youth Event 2019
The PSEC 2019 Fall Youth Event will be Nov. 8-10 at South Mountain YMCA Camp
for youth in grades 7 thru 12. The theme is "Caring for Creation." The focus scripture is Psalm 24:1 "
The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." The r
egistration fee ($90) includes meals, lodging, events, and activities. The
deadline is Nov. 1.
Click here
for info.
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Pastoral Leadership in Congregational Systems
The Penn Northeast Conference is hosting two series of courses in Pastoral Leadership in Congregational Systems.
Pastoral Leadership in Congregational Systems 101 --
Oct. 9, Feb. 12, March 6
Authorized ministers are invited to join three days of Experiential Learning about Congregational Systems. Each gathering will be from 9:00a-5:00p in Center Valley. The registration is $350.
Click here
to read more and to register.
Pastoral Leadership in Congregational Systems 201 --
Nov. 13, March 4
Those who have already received basic training in Congregational Systems are invited to these advanced days. Each gathering will be from 9:00a-5:00p in Center Valley. The registration is $220. Click here to read more and to
register.
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Church Events
Submit Church Events
here
View a complete list of Church Events
here
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Classified Ads
Submit Classified Ads
here
View a complete list of Classified Ads
here
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Church Openings
- St. Mark's UCC, Reading (10 hrs/ week)
- UCC Valley Forge (full-time interim)
- St. John's UCC, Pottstown (part-time interim)
- St. Paul's UCC, Pottstown (part-time settled)
If you’re interested in a position, contact Rev.Sharon Morris:
morris@psec.org
or 484-949-8774 ext. 302.
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Educational Opportunities
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Missed a week? Read past eNews here:
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