The vote occurred on January 26, 2020 at Desert Palm's annual meeting.

from Jo Vredenberg’s January article:

As we at Desert Palm look ahead to the January 26th Congregational Meeting and the opportunity to decide on becoming a WISE church, I want to share some of my life-changing journey through this process.

3 p.m. on Sunday, February 16 at Shepherd of the Hills UCC, 5524 E. Lafayette Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85018

Away from home concerts for two years, singing professionally, baritone Austin Delp will reunite with pianist Neilson Chen for songs from the theater. If you didn’t hear the string quartet at last November’s performance, come and hear them at this concert.

Thanks to Holly Herman reading ALL of your church newsletters, we can keep up on the amazing work that is happening at the Southwest Conference Churches. If you’d like a separate article about your news, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.

Holly Herman reads your church newsletters to compile the weekly Church Jottings. (Thanks, Holly!) If you’d like a separate article about your news, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.

Holly Herman reads your church newsletters to compile the weekly Church Jottings. (Thanks, Holly!) If you’d like a separate article about your news, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.

7 pm on Friday, February 28, 2020 at Desert Palm UCC, 1230 E Guadalupe Road, Tempe AZ 85283

Marc Gaston and Michael McCall with Eric Jansen on piano. Freewill offering.

On January 23, 2020, the Sierra Vista Community United Church of Christ will receive an award from the SV Commission on Disabilities for its recently installed sound system that enables the hearing impaired to hear the church services wirelessly through their hearing aids. David Dean, who researched and oversaw its installation, will accept the award at 5:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers, 1011 North Coronado Drive, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635. The public is invited to attend.

Congrats!

Holly Herman reads your church newsletters to compile the weekly Church Jottings. (Thanks, Holly!) If you’d like a separate article about your news, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.

Every Thursday from January 9 until February 20, The Church of The Painted Hills, UCC will be open from 2:00 to 7:00 PM to provide an opportunity to come in and pray for peace in our world. This opportunity is available to anyone in our community looking for a quiet place to offer prayer.

More about prayer and fasting for peace throughout the UCC during the season of Epiphany

A number of tweens and teens have "aged out" of Vacation Bible School (VBS) but the Ministry for Christian Formation at Casas Adobes Congregational UCC is excited to announce a new program: Teen VBS.

They're working with several other religious organizations (specifically Family and Education Minister Rev. John Angiulo's association with churches, mosques, and synagogues) to develop a weeklong summer program for all their youth.

January 24–26, 2020 at Shepherd of the Hills UCC, 5524 E. Lafayette Blvd., Phoenix

with Iconographer Brenda Fox 

FRIDAY: 9:30 am - 6 pm; SATURDAY: 9:30 am - 6 pm; SUNDAY: 10:30 am - 7 pm 

Come learn the ancient art of “writing” an icon. No previous art experience is necessary. Brenda will walk you through a step by step process of learning to create an icon from start to finish. This is a time of contemplation in prayer and painting. Icons are painted in acrylic. 

I’m now on schedule to begin my storytelling groups. The good news is, because of the delay, we’ll now be finishing up our 8 sessions sometime in March, just in time for the April gathering of the Southwest Conference of the UCC. And guess what the theme of the annual meeting is this year? The power of story! Our Conference Ministers (Bill Lyons and Barbara Doerrer-Peacock) are both aware of my doctoral program storytelling project and excited to see how our storytelling will flow naturally into the annual meeting (and the “Moth”–like storytelling event that’s planned). 

Two half-day introduction sessions at First Congregational Church Albuquerque on Saturday, January 25 (Part 1) and February 8 (Part 2) from 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Led by Jennifer Bayley and Jocelyn Emerson, Pastor of St. Paul’s UCC, Rio Rancho

Would you like to deepen your spiritual practice? Do you want to connect with the world around you in a new way? Have you hoped for a closer relationship with the Sacred? Do you yearn for prayer that is interactive, conversational?