Thanks to the wonderful Holly Herman for reading ALL of your church newsletters and compiling the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches.
If you’d like a separate article about your news to appear on the website and The Loop, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
This poem, posted from Scottsdale UCC, spoke to me after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday.
For the Sake of Strangers
No matter what the grief, its weight,
We are obliged to carry it.
We rise and gather momentum, the dull strength
That pushes us through crowds.
And then the young boy gives me directions
so avidly. A woman holds the glass door open,
waits patiently for my empty body to pass through.
All day it continues, each kindness
reaching toward another—a stranger
singing to no one as I pass on the path, trees
offering their blossoms, a Downs child
who lifts his almond eyes and smiles.
Somehow they always find me, seem even
To be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself, from the thing that calls to me
As it must have once called to them—
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless, away from the world.
--Dorianne Laux
Every Thursday, members of First Christian Church in Las Cruces gather on Zoom to do a Spiritual Practice together. This last Thursday, they prayed through drawing their own sacred mandalas.
Pastor Michael Bush of Casas Adobes had a column in last Sunday's Arizona Daily Star. Read it here.
Casas Adobes is partnering with Oro Valley UCC to support Amphi Schools and Interfaith Community Services (ICS). On Sunday, October 4, there will be folks at the Oro Valley UCC to receive reusable water bottles for Amphi school district. ICS will also be present to collect food. They are especially requesting spaghetti and sauce.
One Small Group Ministry at Shadow Rock is issuing a Creativity Challenge. The prompt is "Junk Drawer Challenge:" build/design/fabricate something using materials from your home's junk drawer. Creations will be shared on Zoom.
Pastor Sarah at Church of the Good Shepherd in Albuquerque, in addition to written newsletter, is beginning a weekly video to update members on upcoming events and issues of the day.
With the mornings cooling off, Church of the Painted Hills in Tucson will begin "Parking Lot Church" on October 11th. Folks are to bring their own lawn chair, wear masks, and social distance.
S1 E1- Nurturing Change. This is the first podcast of "UCC at ASU" , campus ministry housed at Desert Palm UCC. Click here to listen
Various book groups at our churches might provide some recommendations for you:
Falling Upward- Richard Rohr (Rincon)
Year of Wonders- Geraldine Brooks (Ch. of the Good Shepherd)
The Rebirthing of God- John Philip Newell (First Church Phoenix)
This Is How It Always Is- Laurie Frankel (Shadow Rock)
Caste- Isabel Wilkerson (Scottsdale UCC)