Pastor Letter 
Rev. Rob Mark, Pastor
Friends,
My greetings from Summer Sabbath. I have sent this posting to Evelyn in July before I left - but I am guessing these simple prayers/poems might be welcomed for each of us this August.
In peace and prayers, and see you mid-August,
Rob
The Rune of Hospitality
I saw a stranger yestereen;
I put food in the eating place;
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place;
And, in the sacred name of the Triune,
He blessed myself and my house,
My cattle and my dear ones,
And the lark said in her song,
Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise,
Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise.
From Thomas Merton:
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
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A Word to Covenant from the
Chair of the Building Committee
By Lucy Williams
As I review the Building Committee's work over the last few years -- how we have operated within our budgets, followed the building plan we established 10 years ago, done significant fundraising, and accomplished short term and long range goals -- I am in awe of the members of the Building Committee.
First, one of the major reasons we are able as an historical building to get grants is because COTC has for decades been the home of Women's Lunch Place and other social justice agencies. Even before we were putting in grant proposals, we were committed to social justice. Over and over, we hear that the reason we are getting grants is because we are known as a social justice church.
Second, I realize how far we have come in our recognition within the historic preservation community. When we began the Committee to Renew the Covenant (CRC) campaign in 1989, COTC was barely known in the Boston historic community. We were thinking about either leaving our building or developing it into a "mall" on the first floor (which in hindsight would never have been allowed by the historical society.) We are now a National Historic Landmark, thanks to Charlene James, and we have brought in significant historic preservation grants.
Finally, I do not believe we really knew what we were doing when we separated our budgets in 1989, except we knew that some members did not want their pledges to go toward building repair and some tenants did not want to support religious budgets. As a result, since that time, no pledges have ever gone to support the building and COTC may be the only church in the country that gets its building for free.
God was guiding us then and now, and I am so grateful to the members of the Building Committee over the decades who have worked on this vision of our church building as a beacon of social justice. I cannot name them all. But I hold them all up as saints.
Editor's Note: The Williams Library on the second floor of the Parish House was named to honor Lucy Williams for her leadership, dedication, vision, mountains of work, and accomplishments during the CRC campaign mentioned above. Her extraordinary work for our church building has continued for three decades since, largely behind the scenes, with a team of outstanding Building Committee members.
go to
In This Issue
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GBIO Healthcare Initiative: 
What is it and what you can do to help
By Holly Humphreys, GBIO Healthcare Captain for COTC
GBIO, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, is addressing several major healthcare issues including pharmacy costs, surprise billing, and mental health/substance abuse treatment. Covenant's GBIO leadership team is interested in how these issues effect you. And we want to have the biggest impact on our elected officials.
We are planning a Sunday after church this summer to hold a House Meeting in Bates Hall, to be announced soon. Please plan to come tell your story about healthcare or the story of someone you know.
Save the date: TEACH-IN Thursday Sept. 5 at 7 PM at Grant AME Church, 1906 Washington St., Boston. Can you get more involved? If you know now that you can come to the Teach-in, please let me know by email at [email protected] .
Looking ahead: GBIO plans a big rally in October to let our elected officials know our healthcare priorities in this legislative session.
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Environmental Resolutions Passed 
at the UCC's General Synod 32
By Barbara Darling for Consumption & Justice Group
The United Church of Christ held its every-other-year national gathering - called General Synod - in Milwaukee in late June. In addition to a number of other resolutions of witness considered there, the delegates to General Synod 32 overwhelmingly voted to support three explicitly environment-related resolutions.
First and most important was "Let Justice Roll Down - Declaring Support for the Green New Deal and Affirming the Intersectionality of Climate Justice with All Justice Issues." This resolution, passed with 662 yes votes, 30 no votes, and 9 abstentions, marked the first endorsement by a national Christian body of the Green New Deal, a Congressional initiative to address climate change. The resolution was authored by former Massachusetts conference minister and president, Rev. Jim Antal, who now serves as special advisor on climate justice to the General Minister and President of the UCC. The Green New Deal recognizes connections between action for economic and racial justice in human communities and action against climate change.
General Synod also passed (665Y, 5N, 3 abstentions) the "Resolution Regarding the Use of Plastic Foam" (i.e. Styrofoam), which called on all people of faith to reduce their use of Styrofoam. And a third resolution, in support of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019 - a congressional bill calling for "putting a price on carbon"- passed overwhelmingly as well, with 647 yes votes, 8 no votes, and 10 abstentions.
For more information you can check out these UCC News links:
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News from the Pews 
Compiled by Linda Pursley
Donald Denniston wants to "thank everyone for prayers and thoughtfulness while recuperating from knee surgery! Appreciate your kindness very much! Expect to be back to work at the beginning of August if not sooner! I continue with therapy at BU Physical Therapy Department (COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for everyone)."
Travel
Trudi Veldman writes, "During the month of August I will be spending time in Africa. The first two weeks I will be in Malawi to visit with a delegation of
Villages in Partnership and continue the training for 7th and 8th grade science teachers in the villages. Following that, my husband Bob will join me for a safari in Botswana and Zimbabwe; I am especially keen to see a giraffe.
I also would like to extend an invitation to the Covenant family as Villages in Partnership is celebrating its 10th Anniversary on Saturday, September 21, in East Windsor, New Jersey. Bob and I are hosting a table and would be delighted to have a representation from Covenant in attendance. More information about the event can be found here:
From the Covenant Diaspora
Kay Olm, who recently moved to Bend, Oregon to be near her daughter and family, writes, "
So happy to be with family...photo from recent adventure to Paulina Lake, Oregon. Daily I'm in awe with views
of the Cascade Mountains. Still missing you, Kay"
Anna Lovett sends word from Beijing, where she now lives with her husband,
 "I've been attending services at the Congregation of the Good Shepherd in Beijing, and we are quite spoiled that the choir is made up of a few expat professional singers living in Beijing. I do miss COTC in many ways, but this has been a nice congregation to discover so nearby our apartment." In other news, Anna says, "I have found myself much occupied with fostering a rescue puppy, Bruce. I definitely can't keep him permanently but have totally become one of those dog moms." (Photo of Bruce to right)
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Under the Mango Tree 
by Tim Groves
Note: This column will be a monthly sharing of stories from our sister church community, Dulce Nombre de Jesus, in northwest Nicaragua.
From July 1-11, a delegation of four of us from Covenant were invited to visit our brothers and sisters in Dulce Nombre de Jesus in Nicaragua. Faith Perry, Debbie Howland, Mocky Day and I were the first group of us to visit since Nicaragua's civil turmoil began last April, 2018. We traveled to learn more about Nicaragua's current realities, especially those of our sister community.
We were accompanied by the Team from Entre Culturas, with planning from Maryland by Memo and Amanda and accompaniment in Nicaragua by Eduardo, Luis, and the beloved interpreter from our first several delegations, Marcos. We were also accompanied by Sheilyn, an expert van driver and mother of an eight-year-old son in Managua.
Our five days in the village were full ones: two Celebracions de la Palabra, one in the typical style of Dulce Nombre, the other in the style of us at Covenant. We also had two dialogues that Eduardo facilitated. In these dialogues we considered two questions:
1) "What has happened in Nicaragua since April 19, 2018? Why has it happened? And how do we feel about it?" A related question for us from Covenant was, "What have we heard about Nicaragua and what are the reasons we have heard about? How do we feel about it?"
2)"How do we in both faith communities, Dulce Nombre and Covenant, pass on values and leadership from our traditions to the next generation of younger people?"
Both the Celebraciones and the Dialogues were rich, memorable experiences. We will share with Covenant's whole community in "report-back" Adult C.E. sessions, in an article to our listserv, and in an upcoming Nicaragua-style worship service in the Fall.
Perhaps the most memorable times in the visits were our homestays with families that hosted us: Mocky with Gloria Beltran and the rest of Esperanza's family; Debbie with Concepcion and family; Faith with Gloria Martinez; and Tim with Ruber, Mariana and Mildren. We also visited families that were not able to attend the group sessions in the church. We saw Rosa, Saul and Mikáelin; Yaritza and Delma; Doña Sayrah; Don Aquileo; and Gloria and Delfina.
We carried the love and best wishes of Covenant with us, including a card many of us signed at Covenant worship, the candle that was commissioned from Covenant's worship table, and direct personal greetings you sent with us. We shared especially the passing of Elsa and brought back the blessings of Dulce Nombre for us as a church and for Elsa's family.
We look forward to sharing with you all some of the stories and photos from our trip and the concerns and celebrations named in our sister community. We are glad to be back with these blessings.
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Our
2019 All Church Retreat will be
Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19, at the Miramar Retreat Center in Duxbury, Mass. Details and registration will roll out in August.
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Council did not meet in July. Its next meeting will be August 20, and that report will be in the September Covenant News.
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2
Melissa Morgan
6
Nancy Hollomon
11
Mark Huston
21
Mary Goward Robinson
26
Harry Forsdick
31
Walter Moczynski
Note: If your August birthday does not appear on this list, please notify Hillary in the church office so we can include you next year!
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August  2019
Calendar
most up-to-date church calendar.
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About This Issue
August 2019 Covenant News
Editor and Graphics: Evelyn Kimber
Template: Harry Forsdick
Deadline for the September 2019 Covenant News is Saturday, August 24. Please email your submissions to Evelyn Kimber at
[email protected]
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