I 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…
DetailsLearn about local climate changes and what we can do at the Climate Summit, September 30 from 9:30 a.m. to 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: https://bit.ly/CSRSVP23. Admission is free. Pre-registration is required.
After our congregational vote at the May congregational meeting that affirmed our desire to adopt a Creation Care and Climate Justice statement, members of the C3J Task Force worked together to craft an application to the United Church of Christ, our parent denomination, to be officially recognized as a Creation Justice congregation. As part of…
DetailsThe COVID-19 virus is still detectable in nearly all of the wastewater samples from Alachua County. The numbers of new cases and hospitalizations, although both low, have been slowly rising over the past 2 months. Waning immunity and the continued emergence of new omi-cron sub-variants are likely contributing factors. The use of Paxlovid in the…
DetailsYou have no doubt noticed that our beloved UCG is embarking on two grand experiments as we seek to discern our path forward over the next several years. The first is already in place – the hiring of our three temporary and part-time transition support personnel, in the areas of worship and music coordination (Chad…
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