Community UCC eNews October 3, 2019 Community UCC is an inclusive and progressive Christian Church doing social justice, environmental faithfulness, interfaith collaboration and and spiritual formation to help ourselves and others grow in faith, hope and love. Click here to learn more about who we are at Community UCC. Sunday Sermon    On Sunday, Oct. 6, which is World Communion Sunday, Pastor Ara will deliver a sermon titled " Perseverance in Hope. " World Communion Sunday offers congregations a distinctive opportunity to experience Holy Communion in the context of the global community of faith.  Worship Service Each Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

NOTE: We broadcast our Sunday Worship service on Facebook Live beginning at 10:30 a.m. We want to make service accessible to members or friends who can't be with us on Sunday mornings. The camera captures the front of the Sanctuary and the first couple of rows of seats.

Recycling Sunday is this weekend, Oct. 6. Bring your cans and glass bottles, ink cartridges and batteries to the Church to help with our recycling efforts!

WORSHIP THEME: Coercion vs. Freedom Our general worship focus for the fall will be Coercion vs. Freedom. We will be inspired by the minor prophets and the Pastoral epistles, as we struggle with the short term efficacy of coercion and threat, and the long view guided by a love ethic. How do we mature as persons of faith and disciples of Christ? It is for freedom Christ set us free. How may we live this as fully and faithfully as possible? It captures and hopefully addresses our challenge of being an Open and Affirming congregation of welcoming each of us as we are. How to be our best self, individually and as a Body!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED after church on Sunday, Oct. 6, to distribute door hangers about Oktoberfest in the neighborhood surrounding our church!

Join us for the CUCC Oktoberfest Fall Fundraiser! Beer, brats, live music and more beer! Saturday, Oct. 12 5-8:30 p.m.; Community United Church of Christ 5550 N. Fresno Street, Fresno, CA             Call 435-2690 for tickets or buy at the door Fun for the entire family! Carnival games for kids: bounce house, Corn Hole, Ladder Toss and more! Unlimited access to games! Raffle tables filled with lots of great prizes for sale! SPECIAL:   16 oz. glass beer stein etched with CUCC logo : $20 Dinner at 6 p.m. with dancing after to the terrific CUCC Band! Dinner tickets: Presale price by Oct. 6: $20 Adults; $7 Kids 12 & younger After Oct. 6: $25 Adults; $10 Kids 12 & younger A portion of the proceeds go to the Syrian Refugee Project

Saturday Morning Breakfast Group Saturday, Oct. 5 , Conference Room Breakfast at 8:45 a.m., talk begins at 9 a.m. Helmut Kloos will discuss his work in Ethiopia from 1972 to 2019, trying to make a difference. He was an associate professor in geography, with specialization in medical geography, at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia from 1983-1991. Since 1972 Helmut has been a research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics with UC San Francisco Medical Center. Between the 1970s and 1990s, he served as a consultant to the ministries of health in Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and Brazil. Helmut will bring breakfast for his talk.

Missions & Social Justice Neighbors in Need (NIN) Special Offering Sunday, Oct. 6 This years theme: Love of Children Neighbors in Need is the UCC's annual offering to support ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States, including the Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM), justice and advocacy efforts, and direct service projects funded by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries.

"ProFuture Faith: The Radical Species Comes Home." Beginning Oct 13 , Living the Questions, "ProFuture Faith: The Radical Species Comes Home." We will watch a 20-minute DVD, then have a time of discussion. Class begins at 9 a.m. in the Conference Room each Sunday morning.

FIRM's Senior Fridays One of the community programs that the Missions and Social Justice Team is engaging in is FIRM’s Senior Fridays. This is targeted to seniors in FIRM’s programs who are primarily Hmong, Cambodian, and a mixture of other ethnic groups. Missions and Social Justice has selected Friday, November 15, 2019 for its service. We need volunteers to engage in activities/games with the seniors and volunteers to donate items. Items needed are: Games (Bingo, etc.) Food: Chicken Salads Dinner rolls Rice Cookies Lemonade Please contact Elizabeth Davis-Russell (559.862.6914) or Susan Chavez (559.269.0838) to donate your service and /or food.

Sunday school teachers needed for once a month From the Faith Education Team: Do you enjoy working with children? If so, we have the perfect position for you. If you can volunteer one Sunday a month to teach our children in Sunday School, it would free up our teachers to be able to attend the church worship service. Please contact Eileen at 559.251.3357 if you would like to volunteer. Thank you.

Meal Train for the Baird Family From Erin Hinojosa, originally posted on Facebook: The Baird family is reunited, after their accident nearly two months ago. After listening to suggestions, I have put together a Meal Train to coordinate meals for Grandma, Mom, and Dad, which would be the greatest source of support for them at the moment. Linda is gluten-intolerant, so gluten free options are best (though she DOES do well with sourdough bread!) Lower sugar options would also be helpful. If you have questions or need guidance, please text Erin at (559) 451-6066. Favorite meals: Gluten-free pastas, casseroles, soups, etc. that keep well would be wonderful, but variety is great, too! Least Favorite meals: Anything too spicy! Otherwise, they aren’t picky. Allergies or dietary restrictions: Gluten-free, lower amounts of sugar preferred. No shellfish either due to Mom’s allergy. Gift cards for SaveMart, Trader Joe’s, and services like Grub Hub, Uber Eats, and Door Dash would also be a tremendous blessing. Please private message me if you’d like e-mail or phone information to send th ose too. We are unbelievably grateful for your continued love and support, and have been humbled by how much you all have held up our family during this great trial. Much love to you all, and thanks for sharing in our joy as Dad is returned to his family this week!

In each week's eNews, we include a news article from our larger denomination, United Church of Christ , to show the faithful work being done in other places.

Faith leaders rally for refugees, urge members to push Congress against refugee ban United Church of Christ advocates, distressed and angered by the administration's plans to limit the number of refugees resettled in the United States to 18,000 in 2020, joined other faith leaders and humanitarian groups in the streets of Washington, D.C., on Friday, Sept. 27. The rally for refugees began in front of the White House and ended at the Trump hotel. "It is a moral atrocity to turn our backs on persecuted people at a time when there are over 25 million refugees, more than at any other time in history, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)," said the Rev. Noel Andersen, grassroots organizer for Church World Service and coordinator of the UCC Collaborative on Immigration. "Yet this administration has again slashed the program to the lowest refugee admissions goal in U.S history which will decimate and dismantle our refugee resettlement infrastructure." Continue reading at the UCC.com website.

Happy Birthday and Anniversary to all who are celebrating this month! October Birthdays 1 — David Contreras, Jess Garcia 3  — Adrian Ramirez, Nayele Wall 5  — Joe Mack 6  — Dena Reynolds 8  — Cristi Newport, Chad Hayden 12  — Sarah LeBeau 18  — Hayden Shea 25  — Nancy Pressley, Dru Ramirez 27  — Debra Westhaver-Church 28  — Nanete Maki-Dearsan, Boone Watkins 31  — Pat Gebs, Claire & William Knapp October Anniversaries 2  — Ruben Fernandez & Lynn Samuelian 6  — Charlene Toews & Michael Dillahunty 8  — Annie & Jack Van Patten 26  — Kelli & Alan Chaffin

Upcoming Church Events Oct. 3 - Church Council meeting, Conference Room, 5:30 pm Oct. 5 - Saturday Morning Breakfast Group, Helmut Kloos will speak and bring breakfast Sundays at 9 a.m. - Adult Education in the Conference Room Tuesdays - Women's Book Club Discussion began "The Universal Christ" by Richard Rohr Tuesdays - Men's Book Study, Room 1, 6 p.m. Oct. 12 - Oktoberfest fall fundraiser, fun for the entire family! (See article above) Oct. 20 - Fresno/Clovis CROP Hunger Walk, details at crophungerwalk.org/fresnoca/ Oct. 26 - Memorial Service for Margaret Fullerton, 11 a.m. at the Church. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to this church in her name. Nov 15-FIRM's Senior Fridays, see Elizabeth Davis-Russell Nov. 22-24 - Journey into Advent, with Julia Penner-Zook, theme is "While it Was Yet Dark" Keep up to date with our Church's online calend ar !

Services for member Lisa Boyles' brother will be held beginning at 10 a.m. on  Monday, Oct. 7, at St. Paul Newman Center, where he and his wife were married. Please RSVP to Lisa at lisamboyles12@gmail.comif you plan to attend. Sean's obituary is posted here.

CROP Walk Sunday, Oct. 20 First Congregational Church (Big Red), 2131 N. Van Ness Blvd. 1:30 pm Walker Registration, 2:30 Walk begins. CROP Walk is a community walk event in support of local and global hunger and disaster relief. We need volunteer walkers! Sign-ups will be Sundays in the Breezeway of the church.

eNews deadline is 10 a.m. Wednesdays  CUCC eNews is a weekly publication distributed every Thursday. Deadline for submitting announcements is 10 a.m. Wednesdays (and earlier is appreciated). Please send your announcements to Marilyn at office@communityucc.com .

Online Giving

Phone: 559.435.2690  Email: office@communityucc.com   Website: communityucc-fresno.org

Follow Us ‌ ‌ ‌