- THIS WEEK IN PNEC December 21, 2023
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Merry Christmas from
the PNEC Staff
Barbara, Bonnie, & Patty
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PNEC’s 2023 Closing Date will be Friday, January 12, 2024
Please plan your closing so that your final 2023 remittance will be received in the Conference Office by Friday, January 12, 2024. Receipts received after the 12th will be credited to 2024. Do not include 2023 remittances with 2024 and make certain remittance slips are marked for either the year 2023 or 2024.
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
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Bonnie's Letter
Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).”
Dear Friends,
As I was preparing this letter, this last letter of 2023 (as the office will be closed next week), I couldn’t help but think of the birth of Jesus. It is His birthday we commemorate at Christmas after all. I wondered about Mary and the specifics of Jesus’ birth. Every woman who has ever given birth knows it’s a chaotic, painful, uncertain, confusing, and messy process. Yet, in every picture I have ever seen which depicts the birth of Jesus, it is a cleaned-up version with Mary lovingly looking at Jesus, Joseph hovering about, and Jesus sleeping peacefully. That wasn’t my experience of birth, and I bet for most of you women, it wasn’t either.
In Richard Rohr’s devotional this week, he shares “Like so many renderings of the narratives in Scripture, the birth of Jesus has been domesticated and dulled to make it more palatable. But there’s something subversively fleshly and carnal about Mary birthing God and her role as an active agent in the messy, material, and imminent.
I wonder, What was it like for Mary to birth God? What was it like to feel God squirm and settle as he pressed against her organs? She probably got short of breath and had trouble finding a comfortable position for sleep at night….”
“Kat Armos reminds us of the real and raw birth process that Mary experienced:
This matters because a broken, refugee, brown, female, naked, stretched, hormonal, marginalized body is how divinity entered this world and where divinity still makes itself most known today….”
Divinity enters the world, not in a cleaned up, sterilized manner. Often divinity enters the world in the messiness of creation, in the pangs of birthing, in the collapse of certainties, and in the joy of new realizations that we are not alone – that we as the beloved of God cannot be separated from God, even or maybe especially, when our human life gets the messiest.
This Christmas while you are reading and reflecting on the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, remember that the “cleaned-up” version is not very human, and not real. It might be palatable, but God entered the world in the messiness of human existence, in the birth pangs of a teenager, far from home, in a stable accompanied by her betrothed and very, very uncertain about what would happen tomorrow and the day after that. Be blessed by the presence of God in the messiness of your own life. I am blessed in that way. Merry Christmas! Bonnie
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RIP Medical Debt Campaign Fundraiser for Epiphany 1/6/24 thru 2/11/24
Click Here for Bulletin Insert (front & back)
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Penn Northeast Conference
Presents the 16th "Annual" Youth Retreat
March 1-3, 2024 (check in Friday 6:30-7PM/Pick up Sunday at 12PM
Spruce Lake, 5389 Route 447, Canadensis
Cost: $195/person (includes all programming and meals)
For ALL youth in grades 7th-12th are invited*. Confirmation classes are encouraged to attend. If your classes include 6th graders they are welcome.
*One adult per church please
Life and faith are always smooth sailing - And that's ok!
What's important is that we learn how to talk about it, ask questions about it,
and how to make the best of it.
Explore these things with us through art, games and more!
Click Here for Flyer and Registration Form
and you can also register through the link below with tithe.ly
Click Here for tithe.ly link to register
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Prayer and Mediation
Union UCC, Neffs and Community
Led by Rev. Kris P. Snyder
Tuesdays 7-8pm
January 16, Feb 20, March 19, April 23, May 21
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87680378046?pwd=QmozYWJFemJOVENCdWJBbzRpbDVIUT09
Meeting ID: 876 8037 8046 Passcode: 954906
I'll lead us in various readings, scripture, and prayer practices like breath prayer and centering prayer, as well as meditation practices from the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Buddhist, and Christian traditions. Sign up with PastorKris@unionucc.org You are welcome to attend any or all of the sessions, whatever your schedule allows. Authorized Ministers can use these hours for continuing education.
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2024 Boundary Training For Clergy and Commissioned Lay Pastors
January 31/February 1 -- 9:30AM - 12:30PM -- Register by Jan 15th
May 7/8 -- 1:00PM - 4:00PM ET -- Register by April 20th
October 15/16 -- 10:00AM - 1:00PM ET -- Register by Sept 29th
Not-Your-Average Boundaries Training is tailored to focus on strategies to foster clergy emotional resiliency and well-being. While we still cover the "requirements," we believe the best prevention involves encouraging leaders to take steps to manage their stress in order to maintain balance and perspective when temptation to violate boundaries arises. This live online boundaries training is 5 total hours split over 2consecutive days (2.5 hours each day). Following the first session, participants are asked to engage in a bit of reflection work in preparation for the second session. This online boundaries training will be conducted via secure Zoom video conferencing.
Click Here for detailed flyer and registration information.
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Becoming a Church of Contemplatives in Action
You may be aware that this new website resource is available growing out of the "Becoming a Church of Contemplatives in Action" Resolution that passed at the UCC General Synod 2021. Lots of great resources for the congregations and Pastors in your Conferences! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions. https://www.contemplatives-in-action.org/
A group growing out of this Resolution meets monthly for rotating contemplative practices with different leaders each month. Our regular practices are the first Thursdays of the month at 2:30pm ET. Our last monthly contemplative practice of 2023 is next Thursday, December 7th at 2:30 p.m. ET at the Zoom link below. Rev. Mark Suriano will lead us next week in a loving-kindness meditation, and Rev. Susie Allen will lead our January practice. All are welcome to join us for contemplative grounding.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2043377541
January 4- Susie Allen- will lead a reflection in word and image on the experience of Sanctuary.
You may also be interested in this virtual "Lessons in Meditation" and "Meditation Teacher Training" that I am leading through the Southern New England Conference's Center for Transformational Leadership starting January 30th. More details below. Please do share in your Conferences, Associations, churches, and with whoever you feel would be interested.
Gratefully,
Rev. Matt Carriker and the "Contemplatives in Action" team
https://www.contemplatives-in-action.org/
ALSO...
Lessons in Meditation and Meditation Teacher Training
Beginning January 30th
In church, we often pray, but how often have we learned to meditate? Our relationship with God can be thought of as a friendship. If prayer is talking to God, then meditation is listening to God. How can we best listen, given the realities of the monkey mind? And given our own imperfect meditation practice, how can we best share meditation with others and our churches? This is offered through the larger Southern New England Conference UCC. Hear the interview with facilitator Rev. Matt Carriker here:
https://vimeo.com/880979672/d7c1011c90?ts=0
The 3-week “Lessons in Meditation” is offered on Zoom on Tuesdays from 2-3:30 p.m. on January 30th, February 6, and February 13th.
Register here https://sneucc-reg.brtapp.com/MeditationPractice
The six week Teacher Training program will include meditation practice, small group practice teaching sessions and one-to-one sessions with the facilitator. The 6-week “Meditation Teacher Training” is offered on Zoom on Tuesdays from 2-3:30 p.m. on January 30, February 6, 13, 20, 27 and March 5.
Register here https://sneucc-reg.brtapp.com/MeditationTraining71
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Ministers Financial Vitality Initiative Program (MFVI)
Grace to you and peace in this holy Advent season.
This letter is to notify you that the Ministers Financial Vitality Initiative program (MFVI), still has openings for its 10th and 11th cohorts which will begin in January 2024. The application period closes on December 31st.
Any UCC authorized minister who may be interested in joining the program, see the link below to apply.
Link to application: https://app.smarterselect.com/programs/91812-Pension-Boards
If there are any questions about the MFVI program, please reach out to me, Davon Thomas, at the following email address: mfvi@pbucc.org
With continued thanks for your care and advocacy of those who serve in your midst.
Davon Thomas, Grants and Scholarships Administrator
Davon (Duh-Vaughn) Thomas (He, Him, His)
United Church Board for Ministerial Assistance, The Pension Boards - United Church of Christ, Inc
Phone: (212) 729-2714 | Email: dthomas@pbucc.org
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Cultivating Generous Congregations - Spring 2024
The CGC Seminar for pastors and leaders offers an opportunity to explore faithful, practical, and tested ways to promote generosity in our congregations. This is a virtual seminar hosted by the South Central and Southeast Conferences on February 19, March 4, March 18, April 8, April 22, and May 6 from 7:30 to 9pm EASTERN (6:30 to 8pm Central) - The registration fee is $300 (per team of two) and $50 for each additional team member. Register Today - https://cvent.me/YwOoaz
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Clergy Convocation 2024: Healing Tother: Healing Me, Healing You
May 7, 2024 @ 3:00 pm - May 9, 2024 @ 1:30 pm
Double Tree by Hilton, Lancaster
Clergy Convocation 2024 –
To register, click here.
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Martin Luther King Prayer Breakfast
January 14, 2024
If you attended the breakfast earlier this year, you know that we will have another fantastic time. Bishop W. Darin Moore will be our speaker again for this great event as we continue to raise funds for the IMC college fund.
Date: January 15, 2024
Time: 9 am - 11 am
Location: Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel
Amount: $35
Proceeds benefit the IMC Scholarship Fund.
Online tickets are available today via Eventbrite (link below):
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-prayer-breakfast-tickets-769316374987?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
If you have students interested in applying for a scholarship, please take a look at the attached application and return it to Dr. Joseph Green by 12/29/23 for consideration, as we will award scholarships during the January event. Please send scholarship applications to jgministries@gmail.com
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2024 Women's Clergy Retreat: Carrying & Carried
Carrying & Carried....the things we hold and who holds us
January 16, 2024 · 4pm - January 18, 2024 · 12pm EST
Mariawald Retreat House
1094 Welsh Road Reading, PA 19607
Questions? Please contact: Kim Berenotto at kimberlyberenotto@gmail.com or
Tammie Wisniewski at tammie@psec.org
When you register, you give your permission to use photos of you or your children for purposes of telling the story of the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference on the website or in video, newsletter and social media posts. If you are opposed to having your picture taken and possibly used in this way, please let us know by contacting the PSEC office at: susan@psec.org including your name (and/or names of your children) and your email and phone contact information.
Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-womens-clergy-retreat-carrying-carried-tickets-767650903517?aff=oddtdtcreator
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On the UCC website, it states,
“Gender & Sexuality Justice Ministries seeks transformative justice for our faith communities and congregations by just action and love for all. ~ We believe in the justice-oriented ministry of Jesus and act with those facing systemic oppression at the intersection of gender & sexuality to offer care, sex positive education & curriculum, gender & bodily autonomy education & programming, policy & advocacy and partnership and outreach opportunities.”
For those seeking greater knowledge and depth in addressing this important justice issue, PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc. offers a course where participants from across the country have a place to gather in online conversations. Go to PATHWAYSTheological.org to register or to find out more about the course, Theology of Gender and Sexuality. There is still time to register for this course as well as UCC Polity and History, and several other courses which begin in early January 2024.
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