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| T O U C H S T O N E - A M i d W e e k B u l l e t i n |
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Our Core Values:
Spiritual Growth. Welcome. Justice-seeking
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Reflections for Worship ...
"Is Someone In Your Way?"
Matthew 18: 21-35
This Sunday we celebrate Just Peace Sunday in our denomination, an intentional focus on why our faith calls us to care about and act on issues of justice and peace in our communities. Our story from the Gospel shows two slaveholders - one who forgives a debt and another who ruthlessly pursues a debt - and compares God to the harsh slaveholder unless we ourselves find a way to forgive others. In a sermon entitled "Is Someone In Your Way?" we will consider how our faith calls us to look at both our friends and strangers as the person of Jesus - members of the Body of Christ. How often we consider others obstacles to what we need or want - whether we are in line for our food at the grocery store, waiting for an organ donation, waiting to hear about a job or arguing with an insurance company to cover a life changing medication. Instead, this text asks us to look at others as part and parcel of our own salvation! It is a sometimes challenging and overwhelming thought - that each person in our lives - from partner or spouse to store clerk - is a part of showing to us what God is like and our treatment of that person shows our commitment to having a relationship with God! Come join us at 10AM this Sunday in the Chapel for worship!
-Rev. John H. Pomeroy
Also this Sunday
Welcome Back Potluck
Membership Ministry invites us all to stay after worship this Sunday and take a step toward deepening our relationships with one another at a Welcome Back Potluck. Please bring a dish to share that serves 8-10 and drop it off in the kitchen on your way to worship. After service we will eat and spend time catching up - and hear brief announcements about upcoming opportunities to learn, serve and grow in our faith journeys! Visitors are welcome to attend - this is a good chance to meet others in an informal way outside of worship. The Nursery will remain staffed until 12:45PM on Sunday...come join us!
Hurricane Harvey Relief
We remember and hold in prayer all those affected by Hurricane Harvey. This category 4 hurricane and the winds, rains and flooding have devastated southern Texas. Our UCC denomination is part of a network of responders who are gearing up for immediate
and long-term recovery work. You may contribute through our denomination by going to UCC.ORG and clicking on the
DONATE button associated with the Hurricane Harvey information on the main page. You may also contribute money through our local Pasadena church - make your check out to FCC Pasadena, marked
Hurricane Harvey Relief and we will pass it on to our conference.
The UCC.ORG website also has other ways for us to get involved, including sending money and putting our name on a list for future volunteer opportunities related to rebuilding the area. The UCC Disaster Ministries is offering $250 matching grants to congregations assembling CWS (Church World Service) Emergency Cleanup Buckets. CWS distributed 8,000 buckets for Hurricane Matthew. Other requests (such as hygiene kits and School kits) will be forthcoming in the weeks and months to come. For now, our prayers and monetary offerings are needed and appreciated.
Several Ways to Get More Involved In Your Faith Community:
Join our Church Choir this Fall! First choir practice will be Thursday September 7th. See Connie Washburn for more info.
Join a Union Station meal team - 1-2 folks are needed for Alpha Team (serves January/May/September)
Bring food to church for Friends in Deed food pantry
Join the next Habitat Build.
Learn about becoming more welcoming to immigrants.
Buy a ticket to the Fall Jazz event to support Friends in Deed.
Visit folks who are housebound or recovering.
Contact any of our pastors for more information on how to get involved in any of these! The more we give... the more we receive!
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Worship Leaders
Rev. John H. Pomeroy
Rev. Marlene W. Pomeroy
Rev. Andy Schwiebert
Sandy Biehler
Bob Rinck
Kevin Cordova-Brookey
Liturgist
Krysty Leckrone
Pianist
& Music Coordinator
Combined
church school class for children and youth in the youth room - the teachers for this week are TBA/TBA.
(If we have enough youth, we will have a sermon talk-back time in the youth room after the sermon.)
Church Nursery (for infants - K)
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Jaquelyne Rodriguez/Serena Van.
Nursery opens at 9 :15 a.m. for early birds and then everyone comes to worship at 10:00 and stays through the Children's Time and then heads to the nursery with caregivers and parents.
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Nina Kung
Sermon Podcast:
D
id you miss a worship service and want to hear the sermon? Please visit uccpasadena.org and select 'podcasts' from the menu on top of the home page or click below
http://uccpasadena.podomatic.com/
Office Hours
Mon. - Thurs.
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Lunch hours:
12:00 p.m. -1:30 p.m.
Tel. # 626.795.0696
Fax # 626.795.0698
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In this Edition...
Upcoming Fall Programs
UCC Pastor Stands Up for Justice
Flower Chart
Union Station Team has Openings
Friends In Deed 'Jazz on the Green'
Interfaith & Community Training 9/29
Central Association Meeting 10/28
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Upcoming Fall Programs
September Welcome Back Potluck Sept. 17th. Join us, bring a friend AND bring a potluck dish to share! We will mingle, enjoy an art activity, eat and have a chance to catch up with one another after worship in our parlors. Sponsored by Membership Ministry (Tara, Lu, Kevin, Kim and Marlene)
Fundraising Outing on Saturday Sept. 30th
Enjoy an evening of Shakespeare and improv that entertains AND supports the work of My Refuge House. Discounted tickets are available thanks to the Appley Foundation Fund. Speak with Pastor Marlene for details. The reviews for this troupe are amazing - and Joey Bland is one of the members!
Pancake Breakfast on Sunday October 8th -
join us before worship for breakfast!
Annual Halloween Festival and luncheon on Sunday October 22nd - costume contest, spooky crafts and more!
Picnic in the Park on Sunday Oct. 29th - after worship. Sponsored by Membership Ministry
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Flower Chart
We have the following openings to bring flower or "flour" for Sunday worship
(Dates that are open: 9/24, 10/22, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10,12/24, 12/31). If you sign up and give Nina $40 a beautiful live bouquet will be ordered for you. Or you may opt for the "flour" option which means that your $40 donation will be sent to a local hunger organization in your name and our wheat display will be on the altar. Please let Nina know when you sign up which option you would like.
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Union Station Team Needs Members
 One of our primary ongoing outreach activities here at FCC is cooking and serving a monthly Union Station meal; folks at Union Station are participating in a program that helps support them moving from a life off the streets. We have been participating in this effort for several decades now. (many many thanks to Peter and Irene Keller for spearheading and staffing this effort for decades) We thank all of you who have served on a team or have subbed!!
Right now we have need of 2 people on the Alpha Team. This team serves the meal the first Monday in the months of September (THIS COMING MONDAY Sept. 3rd), January and May. Please contact a pastor before Monday if you can sub this coming Monday or wish to join this team.
Many thanks to the 16 folks currently serving on a team:
Barbara Klein/Regina Meyers/Alex Maddox - Alpha Team
Kim Story/Cindy Speakman/Krysty Leckrone/Neva Orr - Bravo Team
Irene Keller/one Cordova-Brookey/Lu Burd/Brian Brandenburg - Charlie Team
Peter Keller/one Rinck/Elizabeth Lanski/Josh Ashenmiller/Jordan Pederson - Delta Team
Many thanks to our Discipleship Ministry for overseeing this outreach activity.
Save the Dates for Upcoming Friends in Deed events:
Annual Fund Raising Event at the Historic Castle Green Hotel featuring the jazz trio performing that evening: Mr. John Pisano, Mr. Gene Bertoncini, and Mr. John Leftwich, Rev. Donna Byrns, recent past Executive Director of Friends in Deed will be one of the three honorees this year. Tickets are $99 each and all proceeds support the work of FID. See article below.
 Friends in Deed is a non-profit that serves the poor and homeless in Pasadena. It is one of our outreach partners that we support through our church both financially and with volunteer hours. FID oversees the Bad Weather Shelter, the Women's Room, the Food Pantry and many other services. Check out their website at
http://friendsindeedpas.org to learn more about their current programs and activities. We are pleased to be in relationship with this fine organization.
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September 27, 2017
Castle Green
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
An evening of live music, cocktail, hors d'oeuvres, and silent auction
We are pleased to have a jazz trio performing, Mr. John Pisano, Mr. Gene Bertoncini, and Mr. John Leftwich. These gentlemen have been bringing jazz to the world for over a half century.
John Pisano is a straight-ahead jazz guitarist who has recorded and toured the globe with artists such as Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Burt Bacharach, Natalie Cole, Peggy Lee (for whom he conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Diana Krall, Sergio Mendes, Manhattan Transfer, and many others. For more about Mr. Pisano,
visitjohnpisano.com
Gene Bertoncini is one of the pre-eminent jazz guitarists active today. His fluid technique and lyricism have won him international praise and accolades as the "Segovia of jazz." An eloquent and versatile improviser, Mr. Bertoncini has been heard with an extraordinary range of jazz greats, including performances and recordings with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws, and Paul Desmond among others, as well as such distinguished singers as Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Vic Damone, and Eydie Gorme. For more about Mr. Bertoncini, visit
genebertoncini.com
John Leftwich is a classical guitarist who has performed with a wide variety of musical luminaries, including Tierney Sutton, Rickie Lee Jones, Chet Baker, Mel Torme, and Hubert Laws. In addition, his music has been featured in commercials, as well as numerous movies.
Tickets available now, click here.
For more information, check out the Jazz page.
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An Interfaith and Community Training with CLUE & CIVIC to Visit People
held in Immigration Detention
Join us on September 29th for a training with CIVIC in LA to learn how you can visit and support people held in immigration detention!
Immigrants and refugees are suffering in detention centers across Southern California in deplorable and immoral conditions. Each year, there are approximately 400,000 people being held in jails and private prisons; many parents are unjustly separated from their children and some suffer in solitary confinement. This is a moral crisis and there is an urgent need to visit and offer care to people in detention centers who are being denied basic human rights. Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) is committed to ending US immigration detention "by monitoring human rights abuses, elevating stories, building community based alternatives to detention and advocating for system change" (
endisolation.org).
We have scheduled dates and times for LA County (09/29), Orange County (11/4) and San Bernardino/Ontario(12/1). The first training is scheduled in Los Angeles; please see info below:
WHEN:
Friday, September 29th, 2017
TIME:
10:00am - 12:00pm
 Come learn about conditions within the detention centers across Southern California and to receive detailed training tools for visiting detained persons. This will be an important time for people of faith and conscience to develop a deeper understanding about the crisis facing many in our communities and to put this understanding into action. After the training, our hope is that faith and community members across Southern California will continue the struggle for justice for our immigrant brother and sisters by:
- Educating their communities on the suffering of immigrants at local detention centers
- Coordinating visits to detention centers with members of their communities
- Advocating for systemic change
- Joining in support of CIVIC programs
We are also excited that Sister Greta Ronningen, Prior of Community of Divine Love Monastery, will be joining us to introduce us to some basics of
CHAPLAINCY. Sr. Greta currently leads a prison chaplaincy program.
ENDORSERS: Presbytery of the Pacific (PCUSA), Bend the Arc, Task Force on Sanctuary for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Matthew25th/Mateo 25, COPALA (Coalition of Latino Pastors), California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church, Jesus4Revolutionaries, USWW-SEIU UNITED SERVICE WORKERS WEST.
Guillermo Torres & Rev. Andy Schwiebert
http://www.cluejustice.org/
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United Church of Christ
Central Association
Southern California Nevada Conference
FALL MEETING
Saturday, October 28, 2017
at
Immanuel Latino Ministries, 1785 East 85th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90001
Rev. Haller Terrones, 626-329-7600
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
$5 per person plus $5 per person for lunch
Meeting begins at 9 a.m. followed by lunch at noon
Important highlights of our time together include:
1. Ecclesiastical Council to Welcome and Celebrate First Congregational Church of Los Angeles as a member church of the United Church of Christ
2. Voting on Association Bylaw updates, copies to be sent out SOON.
3. "Stop Separating Immigrant Families: Some actions we may take" will be our program, which is a follow-up to our spring meeting program, with Rev. Andrew Schwiebert again guiding us.
Please plan to carpool since parking will be limited
Please RSVP by October 21, 2017
Rev. Marcia Hoffman, Vice Moderator
Call or Text: 626.940.7497
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