Racial Justice Committee (RJC) invites you to become a Justice League superhero! This fall we hope you’ll join RJC events to learn, grow, and contribute to local efforts for racial equity in our community. Sept. 17 worship service: The play “A conversation between Frederick Douglass and John Brown” will invite us to listen to God…
DetailsWe want to welcome Carole Zegel to our committee and urge anyone interested in celebrating and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community to join us. We have work to do! In October ONA will sponsor a Pride seminar, and host a potluck brunch on Pride Sunday, October 22. We will also, no doubt, need people to…
DetailsI am happy to report that the current year financial picture of the church budget is good. Through seven months our revenue is above the expected 58.3% of budget and our expenses are below. This current year surplus is in great part due to Andy Bachmann’s departure and the use of an interim transition team…
DetailsAt long last, our solar panels have been installed on the education wing and youth room roofs, and they will hopefully have the kinks worked out and be up and running by the time you read this. Soon we can give you updates about how much money we are saving each month.Thanks again to the…
DetailsI visited Ray on August 22 at the Madison Correctional Institution. As many of you know, Ray spent 38 years in a single cell on Death Row. He is safe from the rampant resumption of executions and is quite happy to be at this incentive based correctional facility. Ray is now 70 years old. He…
DetailsOver the years, UCG has collected funds for a host of disaster relief efforts in communities around the globe. On several occasions, funds have come in after donations to other organizations have been made; or were not designated for a particular need; or were collected, but then permission to disburse them was not officially given.…
DetailsWhen a minister leaves a congregation, often a love offering is collected in their name. The practice varies from church to church: when I left my last congregation, I used the gifts to help defray moving expenses and toward the down payment on our house. When Andy left in the spring, we took up a…
DetailsIt’s too darn hot! Learn about local climate change and what we can do at the Climate Summit on September 30, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., at UCG, cosponsored by the Creation Care and Climate (C3J) Task Force of UCG and the Alachua NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Committee (ECJC). Register here. Admission is free but…
DetailsDuring September, the UCG Sunday Seminar Committee will host an inspiring collection of Sunday Seminars: They will be available on Zoom at 11:15 a.m. Meeting ID: 829 6457 0385, Passcode: 1624. See September’s offerings below. 9/3 – Labor Day weekend, no seminar 9/10 – “Webster’s Faith Vocabulary, Volume 1,” with Daniel Webster– In this seminar we will explore…
DetailsWe invite all who identify as men to join together for a weekend of fun and fellowship at beautiful Camp Weed in Live Oak. Our theme this year will be “Masking and Unmasking: Living Into Our Authentic Selves.” We’ll consider this theme throughout the weekend in various expressions: shadowboxing, defining modern manhood, setting priorities, and…
DetailsAt our May congregational meeting, our Creation Care and Climate Justice Task Force presented a motion to the congregation, asking for approval to seek designation as a Creation Justice Church in the United Church of Christ. The motion, of course, passed with enthusiastic and unanimous support. Following that, representatives of the task force completed an…
DetailsHere is one example of my experience of how the Holy Spirit works: As a child, I watched a lot of reruns of the BBC improv comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway? As I got a little older, as a teen and young adult, I got to see improv in person on a relatively…
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