UCC Urges Cease Fire in Gaza

On December 31, 2008, in Justice and Witness, by Karen Kulm

United Church of Christ-supported Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of 22 national church bodies, is urging prompt action by the U.S. government to end the Gaza violence.

In a letter to President Bush, CMEP urged the U.S. government to take action to restore the cease fire between Israel and Gaza. A copy of the letter also went to President-elect Barack Obama.

“We at CMEP mourn the losses suffered,” said CMEP Executive Director Warren Clark. ”Looking forward, we call on the Bush Administration, along with international partners, to take a proactive role now to restore the cease fire, end the blockade and restore security to Gaza’s borders.”


 

Children’s Time: Ginger Anne and the Advent Map of Hope

On December 24, 2008, in Children's Sermons, Front Page, by Bert Martin

Over the Advent Season, our children listened to Pastor Brooks present the story of “Ginger Anne and the Advent Map of Hope.”  This story conveys the meaning of Christmas through the adventures of Ginger Anne as she encounters Christmas fairies and elves in the Enchanted Christmas Forest.  Due to the cancellation of two worship services, the children of our church were not able to hear in person the final installments of this five-part story.  Here you will find the complete story:  ginger-anne-story


 

Christmas Eve Service

On December 24, 2008, in Front Page, by Bert Martin

Introduction:

Element 1: Divinity

To view the rest of the elements click on the link below.
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Stories of Love

On December 21, 2008, in Sermons, by Pastor Berndt

New Testament Reading—Mark 1: 1-8

The first story the acclaimed writer Lee Stringer wrote was about love.  The story begins in a cluttered apartment.  A man is trying to get pills from a friend.  The pills are to be the means for his suicide.  He wants to end his own life before the AIDS virus does it for him.  He eventually gets the pills from his friend and goes to a park where he lies down to “fade away on the grass.”   The man, however, begins to feel a sense of guilt.  He begins to feel the need “to apologize to the world because he has to die in public.”  Being homeless has left him with no other choice.  He regrets that “someone will have to come along and pick up” his dead body.  His sense of regret is doubled as he thinks of the friend who gave him the pills.  The two have never admitted to being friends.  They have spent a lot of time together but this time was principally used in “putting each other down.”  Nonetheless, the man laments that he will “never have the chance to tell his buddy that he loves him…and that he’ll miss him.”
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