Sun Lakes UCC is celebrating Rev. Dr. Vernon Meyer’s 10 year pastorate and 42 years of ordained ministry as he retires. From Bill Lyons-“On behalf of a grateful Southwest Conference UCC, well done, good and faithful servant! God who calls, we pray that he will be filled by your Spirit’s power and wisdom as he discerns and embraces new ways to fulfill his vocation and share his gifts in the next chapter of his life. Take him higher, deeper, and wider into the mystery that is You. Bless him in powerful ways, that he might bless next generations seeking to follow you. Help him to always be a beacon of your light and love.”
First Church Phoenix is excited to provide an internship opportunity to a college student or above who is looking for a 2 month opportunity to serve the church. This paid opportunity will provide a bridge of coverage until the new admin assistant arrives. Ideally, we'd like the Intern to start as soon as possible and work through the end of July or beginning of August. If someone in your family or network is interested in this critical role, please contact Mike Kelly, Personnel Chairperson at osidewildcat@yahoo.com or 602-930-5592
It’s Pride month! At First Church Phoenix, they “pride” themselves on their statement of inclusion of all peoples and declared themselves an Open and Affirming church in 2003. Some years ago, they opened their doors to Cadena, a group advocating for the Dream Act; and PFLAG, a support group for parents and friends of gay children. Currently, they lease space to Joshua Tree, a non-profit food pantry for the HIV/AIDS community, and host two other groups that also support the LGBTQ+ community: Rebel and Divine and TransSpectrum. Rebel & Divine is a 501c3 charity that not only reaches out to “at-risk” youth and young adults, but to all who desire to change their lives. The Boutique, located here at First Church, provides free clothing and personal care items. Meals, food boxes, bus passes and food gift cards are available at weekly meetings to those in need. TransSpectrum is a peer support group for transgender people, gender expansive folks, and our allies. Peer support is incredibly important for the trans community.
LGBTQ resources for your church and merchandise to show your pride, during Pride Month or anytime. There is some great and fun stuff from the UCC and the Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ. Check it out.
Every Thursday evening at 6:30pm in the month of June UCC@ASU is offering a new Zoom group for all young adults. There are young adults from across California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas currently signed up. They specifically are creating a space to support people just out of college who are looking for meaningful community and spiritual engagement. Contact Andrew for more (andrew@desertpalmucc.org). For ASU specific ministry a full plan is prepared for on-campus/in-person ministry this Fall.
On Saturday, June 5, Rincon volunteers came together for the first time in more than a year to make 1,500 sandwiches to help Casa Maria provide meals to poor and increasingly homeless individuals.
The Arizona Faith Network presents the Regional Homelessness Capstone Event on Thursday, June 10th from 2-4 PM. The number of people experiencing homelessness in our region has increased for the past four years. While this is a concerning trend nationwide, homelessness is growing at a faster pace here than anywhere else. In 2020, Arizona had the largest percentage increase in homelessness in the entire country. Our elected and community leaders are committed to strengthening the regional response to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness and to ensuring that all communities are strong, safe and healthy. Since last fall, we have been building the infrastructure needed to address the increasing rates of homelessness. Regional strategies have been identified on the basis of extensive outreach and research. The purpose of the event is to begin creating the implementation plan to put the regional homelessness strategies into action. Come help us build bridges across diverse sectors to mobilize a multi-disciplinary response to homelessness. As we pivot now to action, we need your perspective as we identify the key partners, funding sources, and timeline for implementing the strategies.
The Racial Justice Team at First Congregational in Albuquerque is beginning work on a "land and waters acknowledgement" (also called a "land acknowledgement") for our church. This statement would recognize that all land and waters in what is now the United States were stolen -- taken by force and/or deception -- from the original indigenous occupants, and that this includes the land where our city and specifically our church are located. A land and waters acknowledgement is one step in moving toward living in just relationship with the descendants of the original inhabitants and with the land itself and all living and inanimate occupants of the land. This work is our initial response to two Racial Justice Team forums this year. One was on May 16th, featuring an overview of pueblo history by Jon Ghahate (Laguna/Zuni), museum educator at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The other was an exploration of the Doctrine of Discovery on Jan. 17th. We are also inspired in this work by a book study group reading An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.
MBL & Co. is so happy to be back in production mode at Congregational Church of the Valley!!! We've started our first camp for the summer of 2021 with 11 kids, all age 10 and under --- a new guard. We'll be presenting our show "I Dream of Disney" twice on Friday, June 11, at 1:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Performances are free and open to the public. We'd love to have a great showing of support from our CCOV family, and please invite your friends to see what the kids can do in just two short weeks!