First UCC Richmond

Beloveds -

As I begin to write, your faces come to me – old ones, young ones, in-betweeners, families, singles, grandparents, empty nesters . . . . I’m praying for you! So many of our families have just come through or are still in the midst of hard times. And yet there is still so much joy among us. I’m grateful that we share this life together and that we know that God is in it.

Autumn is my favorite season. Maybe because it is full of so much beauty and sweetly sad at the same time. Do you experience it that way? To me it is bursting with how life is – beauty, abundance, yielding, falling, trusting that after winter, life will spring forth again. It can bring me to tears. It can bring me to a deep peace. It can bring me into deep communion with other people and creatures and Creation.

Which is just what the world needs right now.

I’m thinking of Charlottesville. I’m thinking of Harvey. Disaster response is in order for both. I’m grateful that UCC leaders were in Charlottesville and Boston to stand with the local clergy and leaders against hate. It really was a sort of disaster response I think. But there is on-going work that is needed to unmask the history and the reach and grasp of white supremacy which is beneath such disasters. We need to face into this history together, dear friends.

And I’m grateful that the UCC is organizing congregations to respond to the terrible disaster of hurricane Harvey. You can be sure that the UCC will have an important role in meeting the needs of people in both the immediate and long-term. They say 100,000 homes have been destroyed. Imagine the enormity of the suffering and challenge of our brothers and sisters in Houston and surrounding areas. Imagine the environmental challenges in this area that is the heart of the fossil fuel drilling and refineries. We need to be a part of the disaster relief efforts.

At 1st UCC we invite you to make contributions to support Harvey disaster relief. These funds will help with immediate needs as well as on-going ones people will face. On your check, please write Harvey in the memo line. You can make contributions through the month of September. First UCC will also assemble 20 Clean-Up Buckets that will be sent to Church World Service. A list of what goes in the buckets follows the prayer shared by Katie Dailey on the next page. There will be a list in the Narthex to sign up for what you will bring.

Thanks in advance for the outpouring of love that I know will come.
Thanks for knowing that we are all in this together and that God is in all of it.

Love to all,

Pastor Denise

Season of Creation

For the month of September our worship will focus on the gifts and care of Creation. It’s a lovely time of year to celebrate the gifts of the earth as we bring in the harvest from our gardens and give thanks for the beauty and power of nature. We will celebrate our place in the web of life and our responsibility to care for the earth. So come to worship and listen for the ways that God is calling us through Creation.

A Charlottesville Prayer shared by Katie Dailey of 1st Congregational Church of New Baltimore

This prayer, which follows , was written by Rev. Jill Duffield who lives in Charlottesville. She wrote it after participating, along with other clergy, in a call for love, not hate, in her city.

Over 1,000 Nazi, KKK and alt-right groups marched on the campus of the University of Virginia in night-time torch-lit march chanting Nazi chants (‘Blood & Soil” and “Jew will not replace us”) as well as the white supremacist/anti-immigrant chant: “You will not replace us.” The march was reminiscent of Nazi marches during the time of Hitler in Germany. The following day thousands of counter-demonstrators gathered to denounce the message of hate. One of the Alt-Right/KKK/Nazi demonstrators intentionally drove a car into the counter-demonstrators killing Heather Heyer and injuring several others. The events shook the Charlottesville community and the rest of the country as well.

We at 1st UCC in Richmond join in this prayer for love, courage, justice and healing. Even more, we commit ourselves to the important task of learning about the white supremacy system that justified (and justifies) the take-over of Native American lands, the destruction of Native culture and people, slavery, Jim Crow in the South and segregation in the North, and more. The hate-groups that marched on Charlottesville are just the tip of this iceberg. Let us commit ourselves to a season of learning and un-learning so that we might learn a way that more nearly resembles the Way of Jesus and God’s love for all.

– Pastor Denise

August 12, 2017 by Rev. Jill Duffield of Charlottesville, Virginia

Sweet Jesus, what has happened to your beloved world? What darkness is on the loose when those who hate their neighbors pray in your name and ask for your blessing?

You have told us, O Lord, what is good: to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with you, and yet there are those among us who wield machine guns to intimidate and chant vitriolic rhetoric to terrorize, and ram cars intentionally into crowds to kill.

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

We have no hope save in you. We have no hope to stop the violence and stem the racism and cease the destruction, save in you. Save us now.

Prince of peace, you tell us to pray for those who persecute us and love our enemies, but right now, in this moment, those prayers are not readily on our lips. Help us. Intercede for us.

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you even if, in this moment, they are colored with anger and weariness and questions about your presence during the storm.

What next, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, when we are right in the middle of the chaos and the killing and the carnage? We know that justice will roll down like water and that crying and death will be no more someday, but we need to know what to do this very day.

This very day you have made. Creator God, Living God, God of the new thing, the very good thing, show us where to be and what do to and how to be the light and the salt and the leaven and the love you call us to be.

Precious Lord, take our hands, lead us home to the place you prepared for us and give us rest. Put us beside still waters and overflow our cups with grace upon grace until it spills into the streets and washes away the evil in our land. Wash us and we will be clean. Made new. Clothed and in our right minds. Together.

All powerful and promise keeping God, make it so.

BUCKET CONTENTS AS SPECIFIED BY CHURCH WORLD SERVICE

•  One five-gallon bucket with re-sealable lid (If bucket has been used, clean well but do not use      if it has held chemicals of any kind.)
•  Four scouring pads
•  Seven sponges, including one large
•  One scrub brush
•  Eighteen reusable cleaning towels (e.g. Easy Wipes)
•  One 50 oz. or two 25 oz. bottle(s) of liquid laundry detergent
•  One 16-28 oz. bottle of liquid disinfectant dish soap
•  One 12-16 oz. bottle of household cleaner that can be mixed with water (no spray bottles)
•  One package of 48-50 clothespins
•  Clothesline, two 50 ft. or one 100 ft.
•  Five dust masks
•  Two pairs non-surgical latex gloves
•  One pair work gloves, cotton with leather palm or all leather
•  24-28 heavy duty or contractor type 30-45 gallon trash bags on a roll and removed from              carton
•  One 6-9 oz. bottle of non-aerosol insect repellent

All cleaning items must be new – all liquid items must be capped and securely tightened. Place all items into the bucket, making sure they are packed securely to avoid damage during shipment. Snap the lid on tight and seal with packing tape.

Value: $75.00 Processing fee: $3.00 per

Pastor Denise’s Office Hours and Pastoral Care

I plan my week to be in Richmond on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. It’s possible that the days may move a bit as I respond to various needs that arise, but for the most part, that’s when I’ll be in town. If possible, please plan for committees to meet on one of those days or evenings. Thanks so much!

If there are situations that arise in which you’d like pastoral care, please call to let me know. In the old days, hospitals and rehab/nursing facilities used to inform pastors when one of their flock was admitted. That doesn’t happen anymore.

You can reach me directly by calling my cell phone—630-297-1740 or call the church office and leave a message with Helen or on the answering machine. I’m always happy to receive your calls.

Pastor Denise