Re-Mod Squad – August 2023

Several donations to the Building Improvements Designated Fund were made in June and July totaling $13,000! These monies are so helpful to us, especially now that we have really depleted our funds and were praying for no big emergencies. And, of course, it was all in God’s good timing as our dear old 33- year-old…

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Time and Talent 2023

We are so fortunate at UCG to have significant participation on our boards and committees! Each year, we host a Time and Talent Fair in late summer to recruit new board and committee members to join our important work. This year’s Time and Talent Fair will be held on Sunday, August 13th, 11 a.m. – noon.  …

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Clergy Corner – August 2023

My maternal grandparents were married in September of 1953. He served as a helicopter pilot in the Army for thirty of those years, and they spent those first decades of their marriage traversing the country (and globe) as he was stationed at different bases. Fort Belvoir in Virginia, San Antonio, Darmstadt in Germany, Enterprise, Alabama,…

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Sunday Seminars – August 2023

Join us for our seminars each Sunday at 11:15 a.m. in Reimer Hall or on Zoom. Meeting ID: 829 6457 0385 Passcode: 1624.  See the offerings below. August 6 – The Vinery; the UCG connection with UF and Santa Fe — UCG has been part of the inaugural cohort of the Vinery, a national program designed…

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Board of Business – August 2023

Since my last newsletter article in June, the current financial picture for the church budget has improved. Through the first half of the year our revenue is at 53.3% of budget, despite plate giving only being at 34% of budget and parking income at only 30% of budget. Rental and interest income are well above…

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Racial Justice Committee Service on September 17

RJC has some exciting events coming up in September! On September 17, you’ll be saying, “It’s not like this every Sunday” at the RJC sponsored church service. Following announcements and prayers, for the remainder of the service local actors Stan Richardson, Shamrock McShane, and Pamela Marshall Koons will be performing the play “An Evening with…

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Climate Summit on September 30

The Alachua Branch NAACP in partnership with the Creation Care and Climate Justice Committee (and with the support of the UCG Justice League) will be holding a climate summit September 30, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. at UCG. The summit will focus on local impacts of climate change and how our community can address them.…

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The Racial Justice League

The Racial Justice Committee (RJC), Open and Affirming Committee (ONA), and Creation Care and Climate Justice Task Force (C3J) are combining forces . . . we are THE JUSTICE LEAGUE! There is a lot of intersectionality in our work, so it just makes sense to join forces in some instances. According to Wikipedia, “superheroes usually…

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Lunch at the Village

Many thanks to Rev. Ellen Ribe and some of our UCGers at The Village for coordinating lunch for residents and the ministers on Tuesday, July 11 at noon. We hope this will be the first of regular gatherings! If you are a resident at The Village and we somehow missed you, or you live in…

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The Vinery – July 2023

I was delighted to spend the last few days of June in Clemson, SC with Lucy Stein, a young adult member of our Vinery Team, as we met with both our partner church at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and Alexis Carter Thomas, the Vinery Program director. (We were sad not to be joined by Judy…

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Transition Update

We are now several months into this season of staff transition at UCG, prompted by Andy Bachmann’s retirement at the end of April. The Church Council approved the establishment of three temporary, part-time positions to help redistribute the work as we transition — for the moment, at least — from a three-person clergy team to…

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