Many churches have traditions around All Saints Day in addition to the ofrenda at First Church Phoenix pictured last week. Shepherd of the Hills has an Altar of Remembrance with pictures of loved ones who have died. Rincon also builds an ofrenda with help from the children, displaying photos of loved ones who have died, letters or notes to deceased beloveds, small memorabilia, and marigolds.
Each month, Rincon highlights a couple selections from their Banned Book Cart. Their graphic format collection includes the top two most frequently banned and challenged books- Number 1 is Gender Queer-autobiography of a non-binary person’s struggle to grow up in a world focused on those who identify as man or woman. Number 2 is Flamer- an autobiography of a person’s struggles and challenges growing up as someone viewed as “other.”
Church of the Painted Hills presents their Fall 2024 Classical Concert on November 2, 2024 at 4:00 PM. Featured are Diana Peralta (Mezzo-Soprano), Daniel Becker (Clarinet), and Kyungsun Choi (Piano). The concert will include selections from Brahms, Strauss, Bizet, Mahler, Morricone, and more.
The Good Shepherd in Sahuarita collected winter jackets for the students at the San Xavier Mission School. Member Cindy G. then donated of about 100 beautiful handmade beanies to go with the jackets. They are in a wonderful variety of colors and sizes. After sending enough for the school kids, the rest will be donated to the Samaritans to hand out at the border.
The Mission, Service and Justice team at The Good Shepherd in Sahuarita is participating in a TRUNK OR TREAT event at the Amado Youth Center, October 31, 5:30 - 7:00pm. Folks are invited to decorate their trunk and providing Halloween candy for the children. This event will be a fun way to celebrate Halloween with the Youth Center, one of the church’s favorite non-profits. A Trunk or Treat event is also happening at First Congregational in Albuquerque on Oct 26th from 4-6pm.
Last week, I told you about a special offering being taken by Church of the Red Rocks for the hurricane damage in and around the Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church, Pastor Guillermo’s previous church that was damaged by recent Florida hurricanes.That special offering now totals over $16,000!
Black Mountain UCC is a valued partner in the East Valley Refugee Network, along with Desert Palm, both supporting Centro de Esperanza, a refugee shelter and resource center in Sonoyta, MX. Both churches have held toy drives for holiday Christmas gifts for the up to 70 children living 4-6 months at the shelter. Santa’s sleigh at Black Mountain holds some of the donations. (Full disclosure, I am the coordinator of this network housed at University Presbyterian Church in Tempe. Thank you UCC! Holly)
I’m going to also add this to the “working together” conversation. When the Desert Heritage UCC mission team could no longer field a full team to serve at the Paz de Cristo homeless feeding program, they had to abandon this beloved mission program. After hearing this, I asked the University Presbyterian (UPC) team if they could use a deeper pool of volunteers- so last month, four Desert Heritage volunteers joined UPC. At least three will be there this month, too. This is an ongoing trend as our churches get a bit smaller and older and I am personally thrilled to witness this “coming together.” Who else out there is seeing and doing this? Share with me! (Holly, hhbillsmom@gmail.com)
“We Walk With Shawn” aka Shawn Dromgoole was in Albuquerque this past weekend for four walks. Below is The Open Table Connection's photo of their event partnering with UNM Hillel, Precious Psi Chapter of Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority Inc. and We Walk With Shawn to host a "get to know your neighbor" walk. ‘About 30 of us broke bread together at Luther House, walked around UNM's main campus, and celebrated Sukkot at Hillel House. We laughed, we talked to new people, we learned, and we sang. What an incredible blessing! On Sunday, we worshiped with Church of the Good Shepherd UCC where Shawn preached about loving your neighbor and our UNM walk and we learned our new slogan for the month, "If it ain't Love, it ain't God!"‘
There were three other events, as well: A train to Santa Fe on Friday, an ABQ walk with interfaith friends on Saturday, and a walk with Church of the Good Shepherd and St. Chad's.
The Church of the Palms UCC invites the community to the All Souls Reflection & Labyrinth Walk on Friday, November 1 at 6 pm
Through story, reflection, song, lighting candles, speaking the names of our dear departed, and walking the labyrinth, we'll prayerfully remember and commune with our deceased loved ones in spirit. Bring a photo of a loved one and a flashlight if you choose. Seating and flashlights will be available.
Desert Garden UCC hosted Diane from Hospice of the Valley for a very helpful program on Care for the Caregiver and time for questions and comments. Watch the full video.