Important This Week

• Register for PSEC Fall Meeting
• First Keystone Project and Fall Meeting 'Town Hall Meeting' next week
• 'Are you being called to ministry?' event tomorrow on Zoom
• PSEC Addiction & Recovery Taskforce holding Winter Clothing Drive

From the Conference Minister:

“'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”       — Matthew 22:35

It’s a simple concept: “Love God, love neighbor.” As with most things about our faith, the hard part is in the practice. Everyone I know who has made a serious, lifelong effort to live out these simple commands has struggled with one or both. Who is God, and who is my neighbor? What does it mean to love them? What do you do with people you can’t seem to like no matter how hard you try? And what about bullies, people who threaten your safety and those for whom your love is meaningless? Being a student of Jesus means wrestling with the questions and fumbling with the answers but always making one more try.

For that reason, the world's great religions have always required communities of people in which to practice Jesus’ two commands. Whether they are congregations, or house churches, or people gathered around the table of a local coffee shop, these communities are the places where we practice loving. One look at the headlines will let you know we are out of practice and have been for a very long time. Look too long at the headlines, your social media news feed, or the unrelenting places of division and violence and you can be easily seduced into not trying at all.

Where that practice is going well in Christian communities and in congregations around our Conference there are people who truly enjoy being together. Joy and creativity and trying new things have found a home. Where it is not, there is decline, and fear, power struggles, petty arguments, boring meetings and parking lot conversations. The observation of poet Jonathan Swift is true of too many churches, we have just enough religion to make us hate one another but not enough to make us love one another.

Barbara Brown Taylor was not the first to observe that the hardest spiritual work in the world is to love neighbor as self — to encounter another human being not as someone you can use, change, fix, help, save, enroll, convince or control, but simply as someone who can spring you from the prison of yourself, if you will allow it. All you have to do is recognize another you for whom you may care as instinctively as you care for yourself. To become that person even for a moment, is to understand what it means to die to yourself. This can be as frightening as it is liberating. It may be the only real spiritual discipline there is — the one that guarantees us that we, like the scribe speaking with Jesus, are not far from the Kingdom of God (Taylor, Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, p.93).

With prayers for our practice of love,

Pastor Bill

Rev. Bill Worley

Conference Minister

Register now for PSEC 2023 Fall Meeting

The 2023 Fall Meeting will be held Nov. 12 as a hybrid meeting — join us online OR we would love to have you in person at St. Paul's UCC in Amityville. Come together with clergy and delegates for worship and to do the business of our conference. The agenda includes OCWM 2023 report and approval of the 2024 Spending Plan and a presentation from the Keystone Study Group. Click here to register.

Registration opens at 2:00p. Refreshments will be available as you visit tables hosted by some of the PSEC Committees. The meeting will be from 3:00-5:00p.

Town Hall Discussions set on Keystone Project, Fall Meeting

Prior to Fall Meeting we are offering two opportunities to join Rev. Bill Worley and others in presentations about the work of the Keystone Study Group and the Fall meeting. There will be opportunities for questions. Town Halls will be Oct. 30 at 7:00p and Nov. 8 at 2:00p. (Click the date you would like to attend to register.)

Tomorrow: Are you being called to ministry?

Have you ever had the experience of leading worship and felt that you were called to do more of it? Has anyone ever said to you that you should think about being a pastor? Discussions around these questions and what it means to be “called” were part of a conversation that began this summer. That conversation continues. You need not have attended the first session to join this one. On Oct. 25 at 7:00p on Zoom, we will hear more brief stories of people who have answered the call to serve the church in this specific way and reflect on what we’ve discerned since the first session. For more information, click here.

Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry courses coming up

Moral Injury & Veterans Ministry

Community Training for Advancing Veterans' Whole Health. Building the capacity of spiritual leaders and faith communities to welcome those who have experienced war and military service. Free online training, Nov. 9, 11, and 14. CEUs available for a nominal fee. Register by Nov. 1.

Introduction to Preaching

Connect with your congregation, make Biblical text come alive, and learn breathing techniques for a more compelling delivery. Your congregation will thank you! Six weeks online, Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30p, Jan. 2 – Feb. 6, 2024. $325 for 2.5 CEUs. Information and Registration.

Peter Schmiechen celebration and portrait unveiling at LTS

You are cordially invited to a celebration and portrait unveiling of Lancaster Theological Seminary President Emeritus Peter J. Schmiechen on Friday, Nov. 3 from

4:00-5:30p at Santee Chapel at Lancaster Seminary, 555 W. James Street, Lancaster. Remarks and reminiscences from: Rt. Rev. Dr. Nathan D. Baxter, Dr. Lee C. Barrett, Dr. Greg Carey, President Emerita Rev. Dr. Carol E. Lytch, Dr. Julia M. O'Brien, and Dr. Anne T. Thayer. Followed by refreshments in The Rt. Rev. Dr. Nathan D. Baxter Room. RSVP to Brenda Sauder:

bsauder@lancasterseminary.edu.

Nov. Theology with a Twist: Can the Church Survive?

The next Theology with a Twist will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7:00p at the Kutztown Tavern. Join Dr. Jill Peters as we tackle the questions: What is the future of the local church? Who would miss us if we were gone? What about our current church culture has pushed us toward extinction? Dr. Peters is the Crossroads, Missional Leadership Developer at Moravian Seminary. Click here for more information.

UCC webinar:

Holy Heat Pumps

How we cool and heat our buildings is a significant part of how we address the climate crisis. When it comes to Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, heat pumps are a crucially important technology in the transition away from fossil fuels. This webinar will explain how heat pumps work and how government funds can be accessed by congregations for their purchase. We will hear a success story from a local faith community that installed both air-source and ground-source heat pumps. Finally, we will address frequently asked questions, such as, “What do you do with a building that has had radiator heating?” Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time on Oct. 25 at 1:00p, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it. Register now!

PBUCC Annuity Plan Beneficiary Designations

Effective Sept. 1, 2023, Recordkeeping Services for the Lifetime Retirement Income Plan for the UCC also known as the Annuity Plan (the “Plan”), moved to Fidelity Investments. This was a change in the recordkeeping services provider for the Plan only. Existing PBUCC annuitants are NOT impacted by the transition of recordkeeping services to Fidelity.

There have been several emails and mailings about this change for current members, but we wanted to highlight this:

Beneficiary elections did not transfer to Fidelity. It is important to designate your beneficiary at Fidelity. To update your beneficiary designations, go to: PBUCC.org > Member Account > Access Fidelity NetBenefits > Profile > Beneficiaries. You can also contact Fidelity for a form to complete and return to Fidelity. Contact Fidelity through PBUCC Member Services at 800-642-6543, from 8:30a to 12:00a, Monday through Friday.

Lecture: Missions Today: How did we get here from there?

On Saturday, Oct. 28 from 12:30-1:30p, the PSEC Lay Leadership Education Team will host a free lecture by Dr. Charles Maxfield. The lecture will explore how our understanding of mission has evolved through the years, and will raise questions about how we do mission today. For more information, click here.

PA Council of Churches Statement on Israel/Palestine

The Pennsylvania Council of Churches grieves over the extreme escalation of conflict in Israel and Palestine. We name – and cry out against – centuries of anti-semitism and violence against our Jewish siblings. We also recognize the oppression of, and violence directed at, the Palestinian people: violence that, as reported by the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, has increased considerably in recent months. We affirm that violence can never end violence. Only a just peace can do that. The heinous attacks by Hamas only cause further suffering for all people on both sides of the conflict. Read more.

Webinar: From Greenwashing to Environmental Justice

The President of the upcoming UN Climate Conference is the CEO of the one of the world's largest oil producers and is currently working to aggressively expand his company’s production. In this webinar, panelists will provide a critical assessment of the greenwashing and corporate capture of this conference, and also cast an alternative vision and pathway forward. The world deserves and desperately needs a UN process dedicated to the advancement of all peoples, a core principle of the UN Charter. Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time on Nov. 8 at 1:00p, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it. Register now!

From the Addiction & Recovery Taskforce:

Harm Reduction Resolution

A Resolution of Witness, titled “Faithful Advocacy for Intersectional and Transformational Healing in Harm Reduction” was approved by the delegates at a plenary of the Thirty-Fourth General Synod of the United Church of Christ, held in Indianapolis June 30-July 4, 2023.

The PSEC Addiction and Recovery Taskforce urges you to read this vital resolution and study the practices encouraged for consideration within your churches and organizations. Find it on our webpage at the PSEC website.

Addiction & Recovery Taskforce holding Winter Clothing Drive

Note: more drop-off locations have been added since last week:

• Zwingli UCC, 350 Wile Ave., Souderton
• PSEC Fall Meeting, Nov. 12 in Amityville

Bethany Children's Home shares Christmas lists

Each year, Bethany youth and team members look forward to Hanging of the Greens service, cookie socials, ornament exchanges, fellowship opportunities, the Youth Christmas Dinner, Christmas Eve service, and of course, Christmas Day! Click here to visit the "Holidays at Bethany" webpage where you can learn how to donate, view the Wish Lists, and review the drop-off info.

Online Boundary Training for Retired Clergy

The UCC's Ministerial Excellence Support and Authorization (MESA) Team will host Boundary Training for Retired Clergy on Monday, Nov. 6 from 5:30-8:30p.

Join them for a focused conversation on boundary topics faced in retirement – identity, leaving well, Exempt Status, as well as a refresher on the Ministerial Code, power, and accountability. Click here to register.

PSEC All Saints Special Offering materials available

All Saints Sunday is the first Sunday in November. We celebrate long ago saints and those known to us as saints. Some of the PSEC pastors who retired years ago are in need of special assistance. Because their retirement income is low, the churches of the PSEC supplement the cost of their health benefits. We remember these saints as we receive the All Saints offering. 2023 resources for that are available here. 

Rev. Barbara Pence installation at St. Andrew's UCC, Perkasie

Click the invitation below to download a PDF to share.

Apply now: Ministers'

Financial Vitality Initiative

UCC authorized ministers interested in joining the Ministers’ Financial Vitality Initiative for the 2024 cohort, follow this link to apply. Spaces are limited and requests will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. MFVI is a three-year Faith and Finance program of the Pension Boards to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders, which seeks to empower UCC ministers with financial tools and strategies to better manage their personal finances so they can serve their ministries more effectively. To learn more, read our Frequently Asked Questions.

This email is brought to you by your generous gifts to OCWM (Our Church's Wider Mission)! Thank you!