UCC Calendar of Prayer

Ash Wednesday - VIOLET

They say home is where the heart is, but what if your home and your heart are in an occupied territory? In February of 2011, leadership of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) joined other Christian leaders committed to a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Helping the unemployed get jobs is a mission that Mt. Zion UCC in Cleveland, Ohio, has taken on with Jobs Partnership.

Last Sunday after the Epiphany / Transfiguration Sunday - WHITE

After the minister of Webster UCC in Dexter, Mich., visited a UNHCR refugee camp in Ghana, West Africa, she shared the story with her congregation and it wanted to help.

Pastors of the Pentecostal Church of Chile spent time with members of the Shalom Center staff at a regional retreat in Temuco to come to terms with the effects of "compassion fatigue" following the major earthquake there in 2010.

The United Church of Christ's websites, www.ucc.org, and www.globalministries.org used the power of the internet to connect the faithful in prayer after the devastating tsunami in Japan in 2011. Here are two prayers offered in that forum as we continue to pray for those still suffering

SARA - Sharing America's Resources Abroad - is an ecumenical ministry associated with the Ohio Conference of the UCC.

All the ingredients are there - a good book, a cozy quilt, a comfortable chair. But the recipe might not be quite what you'd expect.

One place where the United Church of Christ builds on Dr. King's legacy of love's healing power is the Franklinton Center at Bricks in eastern North Carolina.

After First Congregational UCC in Eureka, Calif., attended a workshop about church vitality, a Vitality Task Force was started to increase the number of people actively participating in the church. The task force created a church website, created in-church activities for Sunday services, decorated the social hall to show its work flowing beyond the church walls, made repairs to buildings and held workshops to train members on how to be effective ministry participants. It then focused on being more active in the community and showing what the congregation stands for - acceptance for all.

When Morningside UCC in Inglewood, Calif., needed extra income and a stewardship project the congregation decided to open its doors to others in need of a space to worship or hold gatherings. It currently has four congregations worshiping in its space, a pre-school during the week and numerous community groups using the space all week long. The church tries to open its doors to as many groups as possible so it can show God's love.

Walk into any department store or drugstore this month and you will see signs of “love”. The hearts and cupids representing St. Valentine’s Day are everywhere. But the members of St. John’s UCC in Red Lion, PA know that the best part of love is relational – spending time together, talking, sharing and helping one another. The congregations’ medical mission trip to the Emuhaya Disabled and Mercy Home Orphanage in Kenya represents that same kind of relational love. The church’s first trip in March of 2011 completed a needs assessment tour. The second trip, planned for this year, endeavors to provide medical and orthopedic care for those at Emuhaya, and clinical care for the girls living at Mercy Home. St. John’s continued mission partnership with Emuhaya and their outreach in Kenya is, as their Outreach and Mission Committee describes, “love personified, love incarnate.”

It is hard to imagine having to walk miles for a pail of water or that a young woman would have to sacrifice her education to provide water for her family. This is the situation in Machaze District – one of the driest and poorest sections of Mozambique. Bringing water to the residents of Machaze District became part of the mission of the United Church of Christ in Mozambique and Global Ministries. A borehole was dug and three dams were built along the Vusi River to help supply the village and surrounding areas with more accessible water. More than 200 people have had the distance they need to walk for water cut in half and there are plans to dig three more boreholes in nearby communities. The Machaze District Well Project is just one way the UCCM and Global Ministries are attending to the needs of people – physically and spiritually.

Preparing the way for future faith leaders is part of what the newly established Lee and Jacquelin Brummel ISEDET Education Fund hopes to accomplish. The Brummels served in Argentina for more than 15 years with Global Ministries at the Superior Evangelical Institute of Theological Studies (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires and the Disciples of Christ Church of Argentina. An ecumenical institution with involvement from many Protestant churches, ISEDET provides training in theology to prepare students as pastors, teachers and researchers. Drawing upon the diverse traditions, values and beliefs in Latin America, ISEDET is better able to respond to the needs of a community rich in faith. All donations to the Brummel ISEDET Education Fund will be sent annually and used for the most pressing needs, with priority given to scholarship programs at the seminary.

When the earthquake in Haiti hit, a five-year-old girl from First United Protestant Church UCC in Hilo, Hawaii, asked her congregation to save its change and help buy shoes for the children in Haiti. The Sunday School children collected the money and were amazed at how much they received. When an earthquake hit Chile the little girl did the same thing again and showed her congregation that one person can start something.

This winter, food pantries and homeless shelters in many parts of the country are serving increased numbers of people. Homelessness and hunger are crises any time of year, but in winter the situation is acute—especially for families. UCC churches across the country are mobilizing and focusing on what they can do in these uncertain financial times. Certainly many churches are cutting back expenses, but they are also looking deeper at what they are able and equipped to do for others—and it’s a lot. Congregations are offering all kinds of assistance, to community members and church members alike. At St. Mathews UCC in Wheaton, IL, the youth group volunteers at the People’s Resource Center, a local food pantry. The youth work hard to get their jobs done, but it isn’t until they see the people coming in that they realize just how important food pantries are. That’s when they realize that not everyone gets to wake up from a warm bed and eat a hot breakfast before leaving the house to spend a short time in the cold. Some people may be in the cold all the time, and without the sustenance of three meals a day. It’s humbling to see the many people in need, but also good to know that the food pantry has a good stockpile of food at the moment. Projects like this provide defining moments in fellowship and service for church members. This winter, UCC congregations are stepping up to the plate and seeking opportunities to serve the vulnerable among us.

When the local food bank was asked to relocate, it had no place to go and was going to have to close its door if a new location could not be found. First Congregational Church UCC in Madison, Conn., realized that with a little rearranging it could give the food bank space to continue helping others. In just two years the food bank has tripled the number of families it serves and is now in need of a bigger space. The church has also helped a refugee family from Iraq, providing the empty parsonage as their home for a year. The youth of the church also have been helping others. On a mission trip to the Dominican Republic they experienced first hand what the homeless go through - sleeping where they sleep, eating common food, and loving the families they served. The church is continuing to help others in their community and all over the world.

First Congregational Church of Buxton, Maine, had two options: Deep Change or Slow Death. It chose the former and made drastic changes to the small congregation. After rearranging committee members, reducing the number of council meetings, moving Sunday School to the church and adding activities for the youth group, First Congregational Church found it is discovering new life, not heading for a slow death.

There is room enough for all at God’s table. Members of the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ, along with leaders of the Disciples and Congregational Churches of Mexico, gathered in San Diego in February 2011 to participate in a conference called, “Turning Walls into Tables”. If we turn walls on their sides that’s just what they become – tables at which to gather instead of barriers to keep us apart. Part of the group’s commitment is “identifying the walls that exist in our communities—from language, education, residency and economic disparity, to other political, religious and social boundaries. These walls impede the creation of God’s Realm on earth.” The commitment further states, “We commit ourselves to respond to the Gospel call to welcome the stranger, for we have become even more aware that we are “no longer strangers and aliens, but citizens with the saints, and also members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).”