Church Jottings 3/22/2021

Now that ICS is housing at Rincon, there are many opportunities for members and other Tucson residents to become involved.  Opportunities may include helping in the food bank, driving a senior to a doctor’s or vaccine appointment, delivering for Mobile Meals, answering phones, representing ICS at community outreach events, conducting intake interviews, helping with fundraising events, helping someone write their resume and look for a job, help with committee work to share your wealth of experience and resources, or helping seniors register for a vaccine.  So, find your niche and get in there!

Church of the Palms will hold an outside, in person Easter service.  Limited numbers, masks, distanced,  and pre-registration required.   First Church Phoenix, Shadow Rock, The Good Shepherd (Sahuarita), Church of the Painted Hills, Black Mountain, Rincon, and Church of the Beatitudes are all offering similar worship experiences.

Pastor Cindy at Church of the Red Rocks is asking folks to send in photos showing how they participate in worship remotely- on a tablet?  TV? In a special corner of the house? Outside? In slippers? Sweats? Should be a fun array of pictures when compiled.

Rincon is actively "re-wilding" its landscape. It’s time to add plants to the northwest lot to help the desert rejuvenate.  But on this work day they will have company—the rabbi and some members of Congregation M’kor Hayim will join them.  They heard about the project and were excited to help!

First Congregational in Albuquerque holds regular, and successful,  "Drive and Drop" events to collect items for its many outreach partners:  hygiene items for Faith Works;food for the UNM/Lobo Food Pantry and Zia Puebla; and PB & J, baggies, and cookies for Project Share.

Church of the Good Shepherd in Albuquerque is collecting funds and hams to prepare an Easter feast for Zia Pueblo.  

Not to be outdone (though it's really not a contest), the Drive By/Drop Off at Oro Valley UCC last week collected 300 pounds of food for the ICS Food Bank shelves.

Carrie Newcomer livestream Concert---March 28, 2021 - Within Us and Between Us is Everything We Need (With song request feature) - The Javarita Coffeehouse at The Good Shepherd UCC (Sahuarita) has been asked to participate in a livestream concert with Carrie Newcomer, Gary Walters and Allie Summers for an evening of music that acknowledges the very real challenges we face, while affirming the resilience and resources found in our individual inner work and our community and collective work. Carrie will perform songs that stir the spirit, open the heart, laugh out loud and create a sense of connection and shared community.  This is the link to buy tickets to the Carrie Newcomer concert.  Tickets are $20.

If you missed last weekend's 2 Pianos! livestream online concert, you're in luck! Now until the end of March, you can watch a special replay of the entire concert featuring Church of the Beatitudes Music Director, Stephen Schermitzler, and fellow pianist, Charles Szczepanek, performing live on 2 grand pianos. The concert featured classical, broadway, and pop music including vocals from singer, Eliza Bustos.  This is a pay-as-you-can donation to benefit the Music Ministry program at Church of the Beatitudes. Your donation will grant you an access link to watch a replay of the previous livestream concert of March 13, 2021.  To make a donation and get the access link to watch the replay, please click here.

As the largest family shelter in our community, UMOM is offering a behind-the-scenes virtual experience to give you an inside look at what we do and why your support is so important. Our goal is to create more awareness about homelessness - why it happens and what we are doing to solve the problem. For your convenience and safety, Black Mountain UCC is inviting everyone to a brief 30-minute Zoom meeting so you can join us from anywhere. This New Day Experience will be an opportunity to learn about the mission of UMOM, hear compelling stories how lives are being changed, and meet our new CEO Jackson Fonder who will share current updates about our impact. Click here to email UMOM to be added to the Zoom meeting.

Desert Palm (as well as other area UCC churches) is pitching in to assist the Welcome Center's intake and processing of Asylum Seekers by providing hygiene products and snack items. The need will only be growing in the near term.