•  THIS WEEK IN PNEC                  April 9, 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
Holy Week Reflection

My friends, 
As we move through Holy Week, my mood is mixed. On the one hand I have experienced the joy of parts of 10 worship services I visited for Palm Sunday. On the other I am moving toward Holy Thursday and Good Friday experiencing the ebbs and flows of spiritual experiences and encounters with loss and grace. I awoke this week thinking about the apostles who are not named this week in our worship lectionary scripture readings. I wasn’t thinking about Judas as the one who Betrays; Peter as the one who Denies, the beloved disciple and Mary Magdalen who knelt at the cross. I was thinking about those whose concerns, fears, and experiences might be much like mine as I sit in isolation this week.  
 
While I have family around me, as many of the disciples probably had, I am not able to gather with community, share my experiences with teachers and pastors, leaders in the faith, and those with whom I regularly interact and share. The disciples had to be feeling the increasing anxiety and the shifts in community attitudes and support for Jesus as the week progressed. I, too, am experiencing the increasing anxiety of our pastors and congregations as the shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders remain. Worship preparation may be becoming easier, as we all adjust to the technology, but the stress of the isolation from physically-present pastoral care and sanctuary worship is growing as times passes. This tension, I think, almost mirrors the tension the followers of Jesus must have been feeling. Think about the events as they unfold. There is the cleansing of the temple in Matthew 21; the decision of Judas to betray in Matthew 26; the servant leadership of the foot washing and the first “communion” sharing in Matthew 26; the condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus in Matthew26-27…all these events moving us toward the grief and loss of Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil – the in-between time. 
 
I feel in-between right now. I am offering gifts and support as I am able, but feel in-between during the isolation of this time and the need to touch and personally minister to those in our conference. I expect many of us feel the same kind of disquiet, discomfort, desolation. Yet, I am a person of faith so I know these feelings do not dwell forever. I know that no matter how empty the sanctuaries, the tables, the streets, the communities are… Grace lives. Hope lives. Jesus lives. We will celebrate this on Easter Sunday – no matter if we are alone in our homes, sheltered with a few close family members, or isolated in hospitals or nursing homes. The Holy Spirit is not encumbered by time or space - the Holy Spirit dwells within, between and among us. That is my fervent belief and my fervent prayer for all of us this Holy Week. 
Blessings, Bonnie
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Introduction to Becoming a WISE Congregation
(Virtual Training)

Is your congregation considering becoming a WISE Congregation? Have you ever wondered why it is important to be a WISE Congregation? Or maybe you are just wondering what it means to be a WISE Congregation. On Wednesday, April 29 from 10AM to 12 PM, Christian Creyer, PNEC Search and Call Associate and Pastor of Chestnut Hill Church in Coopersburg will be hosting a 2 hour ZOOM introductory session on what it means to be a WISE Congregation and giving an introduction into how to become a WISE Congregation. The session will cover some definitions, resources, and a brief introduction to the process. The session qualifies for 2 hours of continuing education credits.
Click Here for the WISE brochure. Click Here for a flyer.

See below for the link to join the ZOOM meeting on April 29 at Noon.
Meeting ID: 559 777 477
Password: 006159
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The Festival of Homiletics
May 18-22, 2020
On-Line and Free

The World Needs Good Preaching…Now More than Ever
The Festival of Homiletics is moving online! And because there’s no better time than our current crisis to learn how to “preach a new earth,” registration for the virtual conference is totally FREE!
Already registered? Explore your options .
Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation
Be inspired by God’s Word proclaimed by some of the nation’s finest ministers and teachers. Experience the fellowship of hundreds of preachers. Learn and worship in an atmosphere that is dynamic, friendly, nurturing, and prophetic. Come renew, refresh, and recharge your spirit.
Scripture’s first description of God is as creator. God brought the world into existence and all that makes up the world as we know it. But God realized that caring for creation could never be a sole endeavor. We are charged with that co-tending, and preachers are challenged with imagining and preaching about an ecological God. Our God is committed to, dependent on, and immersed in all the Earth provides, sustains, and yet, needs our help to bring the fullness of God’s creative work to bear. Our God needs our help to speak the truth about where and how God’s Earth groans for renewal, even resurrection, how our very climate changes are God’s cries for help. The 2020 Festival of Homiletics theme invites preachers to imagine their own role in God’s creative work, to be courageous in preaching about God’s creative activity, and to claim boldly our role in caring for God’s creation, when God’s very creation is at stake.
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Clergy Convocation May 5-7, 2020 CANCELLED
Dear Clergy Colleagues,
               After consultation with Doubletree in Lancaster, our Conference Ministers and staff, and the Clergy Convocation Mission Team, we have decided in the interest and safety of our communities and authorized ministers to cancel our May 5-7, 2020 event. The good news is that our presenter, Rev. Dr. Emily Heath, will be able to be with us at Convocation in 2021. Refunds for those who registered will be issued through Eventbrite in the coming weeks. On behalf of the Convocation Team we pray for all of you faithfully serving your communities in these days of pandemic and give thanks for the grace which binds us together as one in Christ.
Faithfully, Nick Pence, Convener
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IMPORTANT DATES RESCHEDULED…
Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates will be installed as our fourth Conference Minister on
Sunday, June 28, 3:00 p.m. at UCC Greenawalds .
(The original date of Saturday, April 4 has been cancelled.)
  The April 24-24, 2020 Spring Meeting of the Penn Northeast  has been postponed until April 16-17, 2021 at The Chateau at Camelback
If you registered through Tithe.ly or sent a check to the Conference Office
a refund will be issued
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Please be aware that you can find continuous updates on the Coronavirus on the Penn Northeast Conference website www.pnec.org Just click on the COVID-19 tab. Thank you.
Zoom Passover seder
from Rabbi Daniel Swartz 
Zoom Passover seder this Friday evening — All of you are welcome to attend (and to invite others) — just drop me an email at rabbidaniel@comcast.net if you’d like to take part. There is a $5.75 registration cost if you register online (link in the flyer), but if you email me directly I can register you without cost. Sister Donna Korba and Dr. Melinda Krokus will share teachings during the seder. Click Here for flyer.

Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Spiritual Leader, Temple Hesed
570-344-7201
We also have monthly multifaith chanting circles at Temple Hesed for the past couple of years. These are now also on Zoom, and we’ve had requests to do them on a weekly basis instead. They are always at 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays, and they will be every week starting on April 11th until the situation changes. Once a month, the circle will last for an hour and I’ll do more in-depth teaching; the other weeks it will run for 1/2 hour (the 11th is a half hour and the 17th will be for an hour). The Zoom invitation is the same for every chanting circle — you are most welcome to join us, and feel free to pass the invitation on to anyone you think would get something out of it. Especially in these times, many people (including me!) can use all the support and comfort we can get. Here’s the link:

 
Or if entering through the Zoom app, type in this Meeting ID and password:
Meeting ID: 262 786 448 
Password: Gratitude 
Or call +1 646 558 8656 and enter Meeting ID: 262 786 448 
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Do Americans Replace Traditional Church with Digital Faith Expressions?
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National Youth Event
The plan for National Youth Event is to reschedule at Purdue University for the summer of 2022 -- this will take the place of the Regional Youth Event that would have normally been planned for 2022.
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New Easter Hymn for these days
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2020 Boundary Training
offered by Lehigh Presbytery
Click here for the flyer for Boundary Training Offered by the Lehigh Presbytery in 2020. These sessions will be led by David Olsen. NOTE: The May training has been cancelled.
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Cultivating Generous Congregations
Follow-Up Webinar
Dear Colleagues,
We gathered for Cultivating Generous Congregations Seminars in Pennsylvania and Michigan earlier this year. The seminar happened only a few weeks or months ago and yet it feels like much changed. And it did. We took necessary steps like physically distancing and moving worship online in order to save lives. Pastors and leaders adopted new ways of connecting, praying, and serving in their communities. And it continues. This will be a unique Holy Week.
I see pastors and leaders rising to this challenging time all across the UCC. And I’m hearing people ask both technical questions – how do we do this? – and more adaptive ones – how are we called to be church?

Andy DeBraber and I are offering a time for us to gather to address technical questions and to wonder together about adaptive ones. We would especially like to focus on how to implement what you learned at the CGC. We’ll begin with a few observations but most of our time will be for QnA about generosity, fundraising, and leadership. We hope you’ll join us. 
PS: Many congregations only send a thank you letter annually. This would mean a person who gives a gift now would not be thanked until January 2021. We can do better. Please consider sending out quarterly thank you letters (more frequent is even better).  Click Here for an example of the kind of letter you might send for gifts received in the first quarter.
Rev. Andrew Warner, CFRE; 414-758-6233
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NAVIGATING CONGREGATIONAL CONFLICT & CRISIS
(from PA Academy of Ministry - Lancaster Theological Seminary)
 
I am pleased to announce a new continuing education class in church leadership - Navigating Congregational Conflict and Crisis - will start this summer as part of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry at Lancaster Theological Seminary. SIGN UP NOW for the 2.5 CEU class that features one on-campus meeting - Saturday, June 27 from 9am-3pm - followed by five convenient online classes for just $325. Designed for lay ministers, individuals in discernment, and other church leaders, PAM offers ecumenical classes focused on leadership in the local congregation
F or more information, please see the attached flyer
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The Story of Worship
June 11, 2020
9AM to 4:30PM (Registration 8:30AM)
Jordan UCC, Allentown -- details TBA
(This will count for 7 hours of continuing ed.)
Stories are powerful. But harnessing the power of story in worship requires more than a few film snippets or sermon illustrations. Whether we realize it or not, most people make sense of their lives in terms of a life story. Every Sunday, when people gather in our churches to worship, it is an opportunity for peoples’ life stories to be woven into the fabric of God’s story and the story of the church. This workshop will look at how we better seize that weekly opportunity by being more attentive to the story our worship tells and presenting a more holistic view for incorporating story and storytelling practices into our worship.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST...

--April 14 & 28, May 12 & 26 - All Conference Book Study "White Fragility" Zoom Conversations - We will be reading and discussing the book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo. This book examines the emotions and behaviors which impact our ability, as Caucasian or Euro-American individuals, to talk about issues of race. The Conference will be sponsoring 5 Zoom conversations about the book. (Please see the attached flyer for dates, times and Zoom links.) For authorized ministers, attending all 5 sessions will qualify as the completion of the triennial anti-racism training requirement.

--May 30 - Valley Over The Edge - Lehigh Conf. of Churches is hosting, to help those most in need in the Lehigh Valley. Read more...
DISASTER MINISTRIES UCC

CWS temporarily closes kit depots in local congregations,
discourages kit assemblies
Church World Service is closing all of its kit depots in local congregations through May 31, 2020, in line with Centers for Disease Control, state and local guidelines.
"We are encouraging our churches not to host kit assemblies during this time period," said CWS's Matt Stevens. "Of course, our kit donors are welcome to shop online for kit items, but we don’t want them to gather their teams to make the kits during this time period."
CWS sent an email to its kit depots and its kit donors on Tuesday, March 24 informing them of this change. It also is updating  https://cwskits.org/  and  https://cwsglobal.org/  to reflect these changes.
"Our hope is we can reopen the CWS Kit Depots in June," Stevens said. "We will be updating you and our donors on May 4 with any new information. 
"CWS is committed to our kit program and we will continue to respond to the many requests we are receiving at this time. We are thankful for your dedication to supporting CWS Kits ministry. Thank you for your flexibility as we work through this difficult situation."

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April Preparedness Toolkit (Financial Preparedness) from FEMA
With the call to stay at home at this time due to COVID-19, April could be a good time for people to look at ways to prepare financially for a disaster. April is National Financial Capability Month and FEMA is working with its private sector and governmental financial partners to get the word out on the importance of financial preparedness.
There are so many ways to prepare yourself financially should you or your loved ones be affected by a disaster. It goes beyond just saving money in a bank account. That’s what makes financial preparedness so important. Implementing a multi-faceted approach to financial preparedness can give you peace of mind during your response to and recovery from a disaster. Mentally, knowing that certain expenses will be taken care of can lift a heavy burden.
Take, for instance, insurance. Each year, you should review your policies to make sure they are up-to-date and that your coverage is adequate. This means reviewing your homeowners insurance and renters insurance. It doesn’t stop there. This is also an opportunity to review all types of insurance that you may carry, to include auto, flood and other types of insurance.
 Another strategy to follow is backing up critical documents. Take a day in April to make copies of important documents, like deeds, mortgages and personal identification cards. Keep them in a waterproof safe or fireproof safe. If you don’t have access to a safe, talk to a neighbor and see if you can keep it in theirs, or, keep it in a secure and accessible part of your home so that you can access these documents when you need them the most. To this end, we’re reminded of stories during disasters where residents had to provide documentation and proof of residence to return to their homes.
You don’t need an economics degree to prepare financially for a disaster. Many of the strategies you’ll find in this toolkit are common sense solutions. Remember, it’s not all about saving money, but we encourage that too if you’re able. Even if it is $5 a week in a savings account, that can add up over time. Every little bit will help.
Take the month of April to do a bit of spring cleaning of your financials, your critical documents and your insurance. Click Here for more information.
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Shalom, Karl Jones, Disaster Response Coordinator; cell: 570-617-4018
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**You can find more information & updates at UCC Disaster Ministries: www.ucc.org/disaster