•  THIS WEEK IN PNEC                  November 24, 2020
Penn Northeast Conference UCC, 431 Delaware Ave., Palmerton, PA 18071
www.pnec.org  610-826-3113; 610-826-5464 FAX
Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates   bonnieb@pnec.org       
Rev. Gilberto Garcia Rodriguez   hispanicucc@rcn.com
Rev. Christian Creyer    christianc@pnec.org     
Barbara Jennings   barbaraj@pnec.org
Patty Rehrig   pattyr@pnec.org
  SEND ARTICLES TO BE INCLUDED TO  pattyr@pnec.org
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Letter from Bonnie Bates
Happy Thanksgiving! I know it’s two days early but I won’t be wishing you a happy Thanksgiving on the actual day, so this is my advance happy wishes letter.

It’s been a rough year. Pandemics, natural disaster, political divides, issues of racism and police violence, protests and violence in response. It’s hard to always find things to be thankful for. Several years ago, I asked this question in a sermon. “What if everything you forgot to give thanks for this morning simply disappeared?” I will ask it of us today.

We take for granted so many things: clean air, clean water, food to eat, a house to live in, technology, physical abilities, cognitive abilities, work, education, family, friends, love, faith, grace, compassion, kindness…the list is too long to mention everything. As I was talking with a colleague this morning, she mentioned a gratitude journal as one way to remember and honor all the gifts we have. Recently one of our local churches has been inviting people to identify one thing they are thankful each day. That’s a wonderful practice.

So, I ask you, what are you thankful for today? For me, it’s preparing for a vacation which involves bringing my husband Steve home and seeing he and my family for the first time since April. I am thankful that I can take the time from work, that I have the funds to travel, that I am healthy enough to go to North Carolina and that I have resources to be safe while I travel, while I am there, and as we travel back home. I know how fortunate I am and how miraculous it is that Steve is physically able to come home after his surgery, COVID diagnosis and treatment, and a total of nearly 6 months in a long-term care facility. I am thankful! I feel like we are living a miracle.

What miracles have you encountered, are you encountering? Babies continue to be born. Children continue to grow. Families continue to love one another. Faith communities move into new ways of non-gathering and gathering. We are here. God is here. Sure, some things hurt us. There have been tragedies and losses, illnesses, and deaths. There have been lots of problems to overcome and some that seem insurmountable. And still God is here. We are here. The sun rises each day, and then sets. The skies rain and snow and clear. The wind blows and calms.

I cannot help but feel thankful for the work of our pastors and our congregations, for the ministries and missions happening in our midst, in our communities, the ways in which we are working in the world to make the world a better, fairer, more loving and just place. Join me today, right now, and this week, to remember all the things for which we can offer thanks. Be blessed my friends. Bonnie
Slowing the Spread of COVID-19
I share this with you so you can share it with our congregations.  My recommendation based on this information from the state is that our congregations cease in person worship and move completely to virtual worship for the safety of all concerned. -- Bonnie

"Calling it a critical time, Gov. Tom Wolf and State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine issued a new set of mitigation efforts aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. In the past week, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 has quadrupled, and the average daily case count is seven times higher than it was two months ago. Of particular concern is health care capacity."

Friend of the Conference 
The Generosity Committee would like to invite you to become a Friend of The Conference! Within our congregations, we have 33,000 individual! If each member were to donate an additional $10, that would be $330,000. And I know what you’re thinking, another thing I have to donate to, but consider the fact that $10 is less than what the average American spends on coffee in a single week, or roughly the cost of a fast food meal! You can mail your donations to the Conference office, donate at the Penn Northeast Conference website using tithe.ly https://pnec.org/tithe-ly-on-line-giving/ or contact the conference office for more giving options! And Conference Minister Bonnie Bates has issued a match challenge to the first 20 people to donate! Resources for churches like bulletin inserts and graphics are available on the PNEC website! or
For the bulletin inserts click here
For graphics click here
Letter from Jeffrey Mensendiek
Just wanted to share this with you. This year we had 44 US churches join the Christmas Card Project. You will see that a majority of churches are in the PNEC. This represents the eighth year of reaching out in prayer during Advent. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the great disaster in northeastern Japan. Many US churches are not gathering in their sanctuaries, so my US contacts are finding creative ways to make the cards this year, but I am encouraged by the response. They also know that the Japanese churches will be praying for them because this year the US is having a particularly gruesome year given the toxic political climate. COVID cases are on the rise in Japan as the weather gets colder, but our numbers are nothing like what they are in the US. These past nine months we have had 120,000 cases, and 1900 deaths nation wide.
Blessings, Jeffrey Mensendiek
Worship with the Council of Conference Ministers
The Council of Conference Ministers would like to share a worship service with our Authorized Ministers. Please feel free to use where/when you please. Click Here for Bulletin Click Here for Service Script
Boundary Training for Transitions

On Monday, December 7 from 1 pm – 3:30 pm, PNEC will offer a virtual Boundary Training for Transitions. This Boundary Training will fulfill the boundary training continuing education requirement but it is specifically designed for pastors transitioning from one congregation to another, retiring, or who may no longer be actively serving.

The Boundary Training for Transitions will focus on the ethics of leaving, the Ministerial Code of Ethics and establishing good boundaries as a pastoral transition or retirement takes place.

Please register by contacting Patty Rehrig at the conference office: pattyr@pnec.org or 610-826-3113. The cost for the course is $25. The registration deadline is Thursday, December 3. The Zoom link will be sent to those who register
SURVEY FOR PASTORS
Worship & Training Survey for Pastors
Hello to all authorized ministers. Please click on the link below to take a survey regarding Worship & Training. Thanks, from the PNEC Local Congregational Support Working Group.
SURVEY FOR LAY LEADERS
Local Congregational Support Training for Lay Leaders
Hello to all lay leaders of our churches. Please click on the link below to take a survey regarding Local Congregational Support Training for Lay Leaders. Thanks, from the PNEC Congregational Support Working Group.
Are You Prepared? An Advent Series on Faith-based Organizing
Advent...A Season of Preparation...Faith-Based Organizing Training for Justice
FORMAT: 4 Advent Sunday Afternoons, 4 Interactive Organizing Trainings, 4 Theological Framings of
Resistance as Discipleship
DATES: November 29, December 6, 13, 20 TIME: 4PM to 6PM EDT

Click Here for more details and to Register for All or Register for One
Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders
Does your congregation experience conflict? Does it harm your Christian fellowship and distract from your church’s mission? Learn to transform conflict from a negative force into an opportunity for reconciliation and growth. Register now for one of these six sessions of our popular and practical Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders 2021: March 1-5, May 3-7, June 21-25, August 2-6, October 11-15, or November 15-19, 2021. The “early bird” rate is $695. Currently we plan to conduct this event online via Zoom. NOTE: After December 2020, online registration will no longer be available via Brown Paper Tickets. To register or to learn more, contact the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center at 630-627-0507 or Admin@LMPeaceCenter.org.
Keeping the Faith: Continuing Connections MA-AUCE 2021 Event
Feb. 5-6, 2021 (Friday -Saturday) on Zoom
Friends involved in the educational ministries in our local congregations- this is for you!

This has been a truly strange year and continues to be so. We were forced to cancel our gathering in 2020, and missed the valued time of being together and sharing successes and challenges. Providing Christian Education has never been more mystifying whether you are a pastor, youth minister, children's program coordinator, or lay leader. We need each other and the sooner the better.

So our 2021 retreat is going virtual – like everything else. We have moved the timing up to February, from our traditional late-April. We've changed the dates from a mid-week event to a Friday-Saturday event hoping to make it accessible for more of our churches' part-time leaders. Workshops will include an opening presentation, small group reaction/sharing, and large group report outs. All of our conversations will include ideas for virtual, in-person, and hybrid situations.

The silver lining is that we've been able to reduce the cost tremendously because we've shortened the event and, well, we're on Zoom. This year's price is just $15 for first time attendees and AUCE/APCE members and $20 for all others.

Here is the link to register for this valuable event: https://bit.ly/3pl9KG1
If you have any questions, contact Janet Newett at janetnewett@gmail.com or 610-657-2189
Registration is now open for the 2021 Festival of Homiletics!
Registration is now open for the virtual Festival of Homiletics, May 17–21, 2021.
We’re excited about the superb thinkers and teachers who will present on this year’s theme, “Preaching for the Future Church”
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You Tube Link for Ministry Day
For those authorized ministers who were not able to attend Ministry Day, which was held virtually on October 24, we have a You Tube recording of the day. The cost to you would be $25 and if you complete the activities assigned in the video and send us a summary of your learnings, you could count this as your Cultural Competency Training. If you are interested, please be in touch with Patty Rehrig at the Conference Office either by phone 610-826-3113 or by email to pattyr@pnec.org
A Very UCC Christmas: 2020
Brought to you by the United Church of Christ National Setting
The staff of the national setting is working on a Christmas Pageant and full worship service coming for Local Churches to use as worship for on or around December 27th, or as piece meal. Each piece will be downloadable as a video file from the national setting, with more details released in marketing before November 20th. See full flyer
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3 Great Loves Advent 2020 Toolkit
3 Great Loves has created an Advent 2020 Toolkit with online and streaming worship in mind. Everything from weekly social media and theme graphics, to weekly video prayers on the themes of Hope/Peace/Joy/Love, and a suggestion guide. And this is a FREE resources and available for download now at UCC Resources. The toolkit includes calendar, theme graphics, social media assets for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and weekly video prayers. Best of all, it's free. Order Here
Video from National Council of Churches
This video has been a collaboration coordinated by the National Council of Churches and includes leaders from a diverse theological perspective. All of them share the common belief that there is an urgent need for democracy to be preserved and for the administration to accept the outcome.

It is rare that these voices would be one in common effort - and we ask that you share this as widely as possible. All efforts to uphold democracy and curtail tension or violence are being identified right now. Every little bit helps. 


Shalom, Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, General Minister and President
Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Lehigh Conference of Churches
Wednesday, November 25 at 7:30PM
The members of the Interfaith Action Committee wish to invite you to a special virtual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday, November 25th at 7:30 p.m. The story of Job (Ayyub) will be told from different faith perspectives and by spiritual leaders from a variety of congregations. Music, interaction and sacred scripture will also be included. This is a wonderful way to bring our communities of faith together in harmony and peace.

You must preregister your attendance by sending an email to: social@malv.org to receive a link for the service. Please have a pitcher of water, bowl, and towel for an act of healing and transformation during this event.

We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and hope you will be able to attend this very special interfaith service.
Pastor's Conversations
Bonnie Bates is inviting you to a scheduled semi-monthly Pastors’ Conversations Zoom mtg, held on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 2 pm.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 829 4709 0481
Password: 235909
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,82947090481#,,,,0#,,235909# US (New York)
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Spirit of Empowerment Holiday Gift Card Giving Drive
Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley
We will be collecting gift cards (increments of $25) until December 11, 2020 to allow for shopping time.
Click Here for flyer with full explanation.


Invitation - Webinars
each webinar will be one hour and will include 5 minutes of introduction, 45 minutes of presentation, with 10 minutes reserved for Q&A. Register now for these:

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UCF 4-Minute Video
United Church Funds has created a 4-minute video. We hope this video can be an educational resource for to highlight responsible investing strategies.
The mandate and mission of United Church Funds to invest responsibly to support our clients fund critical ministries has never been more important given the challenging climate within our healthcare system, social justice and human rights environment as well as many other topics.
Direct link to the UCF video: https://bit.ly/36dCA3P
ProJeCt of Easton. 
will once again be starting our Wish List and we are hoping you will continue to support this program as many of you have in the past. The Wish List is a monthly publication sent to participating organizations and designed to enable groups to collect the same items consistently. These shelf stable items such as peanut butter, soups, canned meats and vegetables, are most needed in our Food Pantry. We are hoping that you will be willing to participate in this program. Due to COVID-19, we have seen a growing number of local families being served by our Food Pantry with even more predicted in the near future. Please let me know if you are interested in sharing this with your members. 
Jamie Rzeszowski, Development Coordinator, 320 Ferry Street Easton, PA 18042
Phone: 610-258-4361 ; Fax: 610-258-7502
DISASTER MINISTRIES UCC
1. If you are seeking resources for your church from DHS Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives, please visit their website at www.dhs.gov/faith.
 
2. Insider threats pose significant risk to the safety and security of America’s churches. The FEMA Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has produced a new resource titled, Insider Threat Mitigation Guide.  This guide is designed to help churches protect themselves and their employees from unnecessary physical and cyber risks.  
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Anti-hunger partners across PA want to hear from people in our communities who are struggling to afford the basics, including having enough food for their families. We want to learn more about:
·        What those individuals have to say
·        Whether they know about the nutrition programs that can help
·        If they are aware of these programs but are having a tough time accessing them, what are the barriers?
To gather this information, we have developed this survey
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Clean-up Buckets needed by Church World Service
UCC extends grants to help churches
replenish CWS storm supplies
New drop off sites added - click here
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Ready PA Monthly
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**You can find more information & updates at UCC Disaster Ministries: www.ucc.org/disaster