8:00 a.m.: Practices of Prayer for All Ages (details below)
9:00 a.m.:
Choir Rehearsal
10:00 a.m.: Sunday Worship
11:15 a.m.:Bell Choir Rehearsal
After Worship:Leave for Common Cathedral Worship
Children, Youth and Families
Common Cathedral: This Weekend, May 5th and 6th!
Please plan to join us this weekend as we prepare to share lunch and worship with the Common Cathedral congregation! All are invited to join this special opportunity to serve and worship.
ABOUT: Common Cathedral is an outdoor congregation, housed and un-housed, sharing God's love through community, pastoral care, creative expression, and worship on Boston Common. This Sunday, we are invited to join them, to serve lunch to their congregation and others who may be hungry on the Common, and to share worship together. The schedule for the weekend is as follows:
Saturday at 6:15pm -- Food Prep and Orientation: Gather in the meeting room near the church offices to help with food preparations and learn about Common Cathedral.
Sunday at 10am - Food Prep: Youth (4th grade and up) are invited to go straight downstairs to the kitchen at 10am to finish preparing sandwiches and lunch.
Sunday after Worship -- Lunch and Worship: We'll meet in the parking lot at 11:15am to carpool to Boston Common, where we'll begin serving lunch at 12 noon. CC worship begins at 1pm and lasts for approximately an hour. Following worship, members of the Common Cathedral staff will debrief the experience with us, and we'll plan
to head home around 2:30pm (arriving in Newton a bit after 3pm).
SOCK DONATIONS:
The Common Cathedral community is very grateful for donations of men's athletic/tube socks (white). If you are able to donate socks, please find a donation box in the Crocker Chapel that we will take with us on Sunday. Thank you!
Sunday Night and Coming Up: Exploring Our Faith
Exploring Our Faith students will meet this Sunday from 6-8:00 p.m. in the reception room for dinner and discussion. We'll then also meet next Saturday, May 12th from 1-6 pm on the former Andover Newton Theological School campus for a retreat as we prepare for worship on May 20th Pentecost (Affirmation Sunday), and celebrate their year and spiritual journey together. Parents and mentors have received an email and Evite about this, and should feel free to contact Amy (amy@ucw.org) with any questions. This is an exciting time of discernment and preparation for our students, and we are grateful for your prayers and support of them!
Mission Outreach
Whams Cafe has a new website
Check out the new website for our 1K Micro loan partner.
Companioning. Rev June Cooper and Kathy Lopez of City Mission joined us Sunday for worship and after - church conversation. We learned multiple paths to supporting families at risk of homelessness. Let Nancy Zollers and Beth Sears know if you want to participate in outreach to support these Boston Mothers and their children as they connect with us.
(from left to right, Kathy Lopez, Rev. June Cooper, Kathleen Hobson and Annie Gatewood)
Common Cathedral: May 6
CALLING FOR DONATIONS OF SOCKS!
Join us as we worship and share lunch with the members of the Common Cathedral congregation on Boston Common! Youth will prepare food during Sunday School (see below), and then help serve lunch before joining their afternoon worship. Common Cathedral is an outdoor church, and a place of community for many experiencing homelessness. In addition to lunch, we will bring gifts of much-needed men's tube/athletic white socks, and are grateful for sock donations (please see the box in the Crocker Chapel). For more information, please contact Jane Purser or Pastor Amy (amy@ucw.org).
Walk for Peace
May 13
Your generous offerings to the Easter Special Collection will support both the Mass Coalition to End Gun Violence and the Louis Brown Peace Institute.
Please follow the link below for information on the 22nd Brown Mother's Day Walk.
Our church has a 3-pronged response against gun violence in our society; the March for Life in solidarity with students who are continuing to advocate for gun control across the country, the Easter offering of funds contributed to the Coalition Against Gun Violence, and the forthcoming Offering of Letters to our Massachusetts legislators regarding laws on gun control.
On Mother's Day (May 13th), we will be signing and collecting letters to be sent to our legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives. Marching for a cause, contributing funds, and advocating for legislation reflect our concern for commonsense gun control.
An invitation for you!
Dear Union Church companions,
As you may know, we as a church have joined dozens of other faith communities around the area as a member of Great Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) to share in the good work together of advocating and organizing for policy change at the state level to advance key justices issues in our time.
Currently we are engaging in what is called a "listening campaign," where we will gather in small groups for dinner and conversation about our deepest concerns and defining stories. These conversations will not only help shape what could be GBIO's advocacy agenda in the future but even more importantly give us the opportunity to really get to know each other in a way that coffee hour does not always afford. I see these house meetings as a wonderful expression of being church together as we share, listen and honor each other's stories.
On behalf of our GBIO core team, I invite you to sign up for a dinner. The next one is scheduled for Sun., May 6, at 6:15 p.m., at the home of Carol Bascom-Slack. The one after that is Tues., May 8, at 7 p.m., at the home of Kathleen Hobson. Go
herefor the full schedule and to sign up.
In peace,
Stacy
"love one another. Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another."
John 13:34
Faith Formation and Fellowship
Practices of Prayer for All Ages over Eastertide
Why do we pray? Who are we praying to? Is anyone listening? Have you ever found yourself asking these questions? Do you still practice daily prayer? During the season of Easter, let us come together to explore any, and all, questions about prayer that weighs heavily on your heart. In our journey together as a community devoted to mindful prayer, we may each discover a daily prayer practice which may add to our spiritual wholeness. Each practice will be explained on one week; then, we will explore together how this form of prayer from various faith traditions rejuvenates the spirit, or if the practice does not help you reach God. This is a multigenerational exploration into the communal and individual prayer practices of humankind. Please join us on Sunday mornings during Eastertide on the Stage from 8-9:00 a.m. If you have any question or for more information please be in touch with Brian Donovan, Brian@ucw.org
UCW Community News
Newton Nomadic Theater presents the American premiere of
DRACULA:The Bloody Truth.
by Le Navet Bete and John Nicholson
Performances at the Unoin Church in Waban: April 27, 28 and May 3, 4
This lightening quick comedy has 4 actors portraying over 40 characters in the age old tale of DRACULA like you've never seen before. First performed in England last year by Le Navet Bete company, this smash hit comedy swoops its way to Newton M
A for the its American premiere. Its a comedy your want to sink you teeth into, Count on it!
The first two weekends of the show( April 27, 28 and May 3, 4) will be performed at the Union Church in Waban in the Vestry. The following two weekend will be performed at the Sacco -Pettee Mill in Upper Falls and Gregorians Rugs in Lower Falls.
For tickets and information please contact
Linda Goetz (
goetzlinda@msn.com) or website.
The Newton Nomadic Theater is dedicated to producing simply staged, high quality theater in interesting and unconventional theater spaces in and around Newton.
UCW Member Seeking Resources and Referrals
Adam Betters Reed, member of UCW and current Newton resident is a 30-year-old on the autism spectrum with experience living on his own who is looking for both housing and for an apartment/condo mate starting approximately August 2018.
There is no expectation of coordinating meals or social life. Adam has a strong preference for living in Newton, MA with access to the Green Line and near stores. He grew up in Waban and is currently living in Newton Center in a house that is closing this summer.
Adam's interests include: history, politics, Fan Fiction, Anime, walking, dogs/animals, food. Adam is currently enrolled in Pathways to Employment JF&CS program, but this too will discontinue in early fall.
His mother Bonnie is coordinating these multiple searches, and can be reached at
Any suggestions, resources or referrals are greatly appreciated.
From the Wider Community
This is an invitation to see STAIN
on May 13, Mothers' Day, 1 pm on Boston Common.
STAIN is a performance expressing the collective grief about gun violence.
Here is a write-up below of STAIN as performed on March 24:
In the Mothers' Day performance, we will commemorate the names of women who have been killed by their partners or their ex-partners in Massachusetts over the past year, adding these names to the student names from Sandy Hook and Parkland that we commemorated in the March performance. Every 2 days, 5 women are killed by their partners or ex-partners.
"Moral Courage in Public Policy"
Thursday, May 10, 2018, 6 - 9:00 p.m.
Temple Ohabei Shalom
1187 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446
"Moral Courage in Public Policy": What does this mean? Why do communities need to be a part of shaping public policy? What areas do they want involvement in? What are some examples in communities already? How do WE participate in society? It will be a
night of music,
community awards, and a
great way to meet people
across our different constituencies.
Reverend Liz Walker,
Roxbury Presbyterian Church's senior pastor, joined them in December of 2011. Rev. Liz, an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition is a 2005 graduate of Harvard Divinity School and a veteran television journalist, the first African-American weeknight news anchor in Boston. Rev Liz can be heard on the radio Monday - Friday on WROL 950AM at 8:15am. Listen to her previous radio sermons in Roxbury Presbyterian Church's
Audio Archive or subscribe to them on
iTunes
Note: Material for inclusion in the Friday e-Blast newsletter or our Sunday Announcements insert should be e-mailed to the office at ucw@ucw.org, by 9:00 a.m. on the previous Wednesday morning. Please specify whether for e-Blast, Sunday Announcements, or both. Thank you!
