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All are welcome at the UCC Black History Month Celebrations General minister and president sets stage for Black History Month observances at UCC Church House UCC justice advocates support Internet Abuse Act Additional incentives make NYE 2012 affordable for all Lenten 'carbon fast' targets earth-friendly actions UCC Church House to feature prominent African-American preachers during Black History Month |
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CLEVELAND -- Spring still may be several weeks off, but plans for the 2012 National Youth Event (NYE), July 10-13 in West Lafayette, Indiana, are taking root. National and conference initiatives are in place to make participation in and transportation to the event affordable. The Connecticut Conference is offering $100 scholarships and discounting fares on the New England Caravan bus trips to NYE. 02/03/2012
EAST HAVEN -- In a Connecticut shoreline town where a Federal probe has produced criminal indictments against four police officers for systematically violating the civil rights of Hispanic citizens, and where the mayor has twice spoken hastily and insensitively in its wake, local clergy of three faiths called publicly "for prayers for justice and peace and for a sustained reflection on human rights and justice. All of the citizens of East Haven need to build a culture that honors human rights and welcomes the diversity of races and cultures," they said in a statement. "We, the undersigned religious leaders in East Haven, stand ready to facilitate this work of reconciliation." 02/01/2012
NIANTIC -- The Special Olympics USA Scarf Project caught the attention of Judy Snitkin one day while perusing the plethora of yarn options at A.C. Moore. A brief encounter with a complete stranger from St. Mary’s Church in Groton last spring left Snitkin ready to knit, purl, and spread word of a good cause. Members and friends of the Niantic Community Church UCC got involved and, as the February 27 deadline rolls around, the church has accumulated more than one hundred hand knit and crocheted scarves destined for the Connecticut Winter Special Olympics. 01/31/2012
PLAINVILLE -- "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote Robert Frost; the poet himself was skeptical that "good fences make good neighbors." In contrast, pastor the Rev. Dr. Claire Bamberg and the parishioners of the Congregational Church of Plainville, UCC, love the sight of new walls rising in the winter sun. The wooden frames mark a new stage in the lengthy process of restoring the church's facilities for hosting, nurturing, and educating. 01/30/2012
SHARON -- There's lots going on at Silver Lake! Summer conference registration is open, the Maple Sugaring and Spring Action weekends are coming up, and there's still space available if you're hoping to bring a group to God's back yard for a retreat experience. 01/27/2012
GRANBY -- Ginny McDaniel and Nada Sellers were searching for a church that looked to the future and would consider new ways of becoming a church. At First Congregational Church of Granby, they found that church, through very different paths. 01/25/2012
FRAMINGHAM, MA -- The six leaders of New England's United Church of Christ Conferences have joined together to ask leaders, members, and friends of UCC churches throughout the region to join in the 2012 Lenten Carbon Fast. Those who sign up will receive daily messages throughout Lent with a suggested carbon-reducing activity. This year, four bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts have added their names to the summons to fast. 01/24/2012
WESTPORT -- From the Post Road that runs along its front, the facade of the Saugatuck Congregational Church UCC looks reassuringly normal. The 180-year-old meetinghouse door beckons invitingly, the white spire leads the eye to the heavens. Many have told Trustees Chair John Walsh something along the lines of, "Oh, good. It wasn't as bad as I heard." When he hears this, Walsh replies, "You need to see what's inside." One result of the severe damage is that investigators have been unable to isolate the cause of the November 20 fire. 01/24/2012
ROCKY HILL -- At least three United Church of Christ congregations are among those whose facilities have suffered break-ins by burglars in the last two weeks. According to media stories and in conversations with Conference staff, the intruders have so far sought ready cash, but have generally left a mess in their wake. 01/23/2012
TOLLAND -- The United Congregational Church UCC of Tolland continued its practice of observing the Martin Luther King Day weekend by welcoming a leader in justice and peace work to its parish and pulpit. "I'm feeling really upbeat right now; more upbeat than anyone I know," said the Rev. David Beckmann, President of the anti-hunger advocacy organization Bread for the World. After a year when aid to the poor in the Federal budget stood at the edge of the precipice time after time, he marveled, "At the end of the day, what's amazing is that there were no major cuts to programs focused on poor people." 01/23/2012
HARTFORD -- Why is January the first month of the year? Why is December, which literally means the "tenth month" in Latin, really the twelfth month? The answer is the old Roman/Julian calendar. 01/23/2012
HARTFORD -- Common Global missionaries Betty and Ken Frank, who have served overseas for forty-one years, will be in Connecticut May 1-31, 2012, and available to visit local churches at worship, for evening gatherings, and with leadership committees to share stories of their work. The Franks currently serve as co-general secretaries of the American Board with the Health and Education Foundation in Istanbul, Turkey. 01/12/2012
HARTFORD -- The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ published a number of stories of ministry and of concern over the course of 2011. As the new year begins, we share just a few of the milestones of the previous year. 01/04/2012
HARTFORD -- The season of Thanksgiving is at hand, and it is to that spiritual discipline that ConnTact comes as well. Stories in this issue consider the struggles and the grace of looking at the realities of God's grace in the world, found in Scripture, circumstance, relationships, and within the human heart. 11/18/2011
HARTFORD -- On the evening of Martin Luther King Day, worshipers from around the Hartford area came to Faith Congregational Church UCC to sing, pray, and hear "A Word of Justice:" or more accurately, several words of justice. In addition to a stirring message from guest preacher the Rev. Dr. Alvin Jackson, senior pastor of the Park Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in New York City, three additional speakers expanded the concept to include racial, social, and economic concerns, and high on the wall video clips of King himself grounded the assembly in the power and passion of the civil rights leader. 01/18/2012
HARTFORD -- As the Connecticut Conference reached the last day on which financial staff could credit local church contributions to 2011 giving, Associate Conference Minister Patricia R. Bjorling was able to announce that the 2011 goals for Our Church's Wider Mission (OCWM) Basic Support and Fellowship Dues (or per capita) have been achieved. Total church giving from these two sources is over $2.2 million. 01/13/2012
SOMERS -- A week earlier, they had gathered for a single worship service on New Year's Day in their 170-year-old meetinghouse. On January 8, they met across the street in the lower level of the Somers Town Hall. As they came in, they passed the blackened beams and toppled columns of their worship space, destroyed by a late-night fire just a week before. 01/11/2012
SHARON -- Eleven young people and nine adult advisers spent the first full weekend of January at Silver Lake Conference Center considering and discerning the call of God. This first Members' Retreat of the Thinking About Working for God program concentrated on the message that all persons have a gift from God, given them so that they may change the world. As witnessed by the tears glistening in the eyes of their adult advisers over the course of the weekend, all eleven young people took hold of their gifts, and began to transform those around them. 01/11/2012
SHARON -- The donors and supporters of Silver Lake Conference Center are truly an amazing group. Over the course of 2011, they gave more than $60,000 to the ministry of Your Conference Center. Their gifts have come in all shapes and sizes, from a $1 offering collected at the Connecticut Conference Annual Meeting to a gift of new helmets and harnesses for the high ropes course. Their support allowed Silver Lake to host 1,039 conferees this summer for a week of life-changing spiritual discovery. 01/09/2012
SOUTH WINDSOR -- Filled with energy, alive with ideas, and enthusiastic about her new call, Sarah Iverson began her service as pastor of the First Congregational Church UCC of South Windsor on the first Sunday of Advent. Her first pastoral decision, however, came a few weeks earlier, on the weekend of her candidating sermon. Scheduled for October 31, her introduction to the church she hoped to serve coincided with an early snowstorm which brought down tree limbs and power lines throughout Connecticut. 01/09/2012
HARTFORD -- "Our churches make a huge difference in people's lives. Our Conference makes a similar difference in the lives of our churches. You are the key to their future." So wrote the Rev. Charles L. Wildman in the 2011 Friends of the Conference appeal, sent to generous spirits and church leaders throughout Connecticut, asking their support for the Conference's continued ministry. 12/06/2011
GUILFORD -- Around four hundred ministers, delegates, and visitors came to the First Congregational Church UCC in Guilford on October 22nd for the Fall Session of the 2011 Connecticut Conference Annual Meeting. Invited to Imagine What's Possible, they shared their wisdom with members of the Conference Minister Search Committee; voted to become a Global Mission Conference of the United Church of Christ; and worshiped with Korean songs and drums, with Holy Communion, and even with dance. 11/16/2011
HARTFORD -- Legally, I am a farmer! I inherited the Wildman farm from my father, who was born in the old farmhouse and worked the land as a young man. His Irish immigrant grandfather established the farm, clearing the land, spending his life paying for it. 11/16/2011
HARTFORD -- Give thanks, my friends, because you have a treat before you. My cold-hearted editor's eyes have blurred with tears more than once as I read these stories of thankfulness. You'll find courage in adversity, recognition of blessing, and amazing grace at a Thanksgiving table. 11/16/2011
HIGGANUM -- Growing up, my least favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. Other people got to spend "Turkey Day" watching the parade on television, eating too much, and talking about how good the stuffing was. The Monday after Thanksgiving, my friends always talked about their pleasant family gathering for the long weekend. When they would ask how my Thanksgiving was, I would smile and lie, "It was good." 11/16/2011
SIMSBURY -- There is a small container of homemade applesauce sitting on my desk, tied with a green bow and topped with a thank you note. The first thing I need to do this morning is to send a thank you note to the person who sent me that gift (O.K.: maybe that's the second thing I'll do. First, I want to gobble up the applesauce!). It can become a vicious cycle, can't it? Thanking someone for the thank-you for the thank-you: Help! I'm trapped in a thank-you vortex and I can't get out! 11/16/2011
WEST HARTFORD -- Remembering to give thanks is sometimes a difficult task, and at other times gratefulness seems to well up in our hearts and overflow into the world. We all have been brought up to say "thank you" to the person holding the door or when we receive a gift. But remembering to say thanks to the Holy One every day is a practice we sometimes forget and something that we can choose to do regularly. 11/16/2011
GUILFORD -- The Living Waters Award was presented to Marilyn Graham, Executive of H.O.P.E., Inc., which provides affordable housing in southeastern Connecticut. "I'm truly, truly honored and humbled to have been selected to receive this award," she said, "especially when I consider how many people are doing good works throughout our state." H.O.P.E. has expanded from its first project in 1989, a home rehabilitation in New London, to expanded ownership opportunities, home repair workshops, and creating a rental program. 11/16/2011
SOUTHBURY -- If we stop to think about most of the times we give thanks to God for our blessings, we are likely to realize how often we understand those blessings in terms of our own ego needs. Consider some examples: the house we've always wanted, the job with a good salary that we enjoy, being respected and valued at work and in the community, our favorite team winning, or our children's success. Simply put, we are thankful when our egos get what they want and think they deserve. 11/16/2011
MARLBOROUGH -- The sign in front of the Congregational Church of Marlborough UCC reads, "Come as a stranger -- leave as a friend." When Cassie Hamilton of Marlborough called the church, she was looking for a friend, and some urgent help. 11/16/2011
HARTFORD -- The Connecticut Conference welcomed three new staff members this fall: the Rev. Dr. Thomas Clough as interim Eastern Regional Minister, Jennifer Kronholm Clark as Silver Lake Registrar, and the Rev. Mia Douglas as Coordinator of Sacred Conversations on Race. 11/16/2011
WOODSTOCK -- In this edition of Youth Speak, Connecticut Conference Media Assistant Drew Page interviews Olivia Arsenault, Age 15, East Woodstock Congregational and Gloria Knust, Age 15, First Congregational Church Woodstock. 11/16/2011
SHARON -- As the newest member of the year-round Silver Lake staff, my new commute takes me by the Twin Oaks viewshed, as we locals refer to it. If you've ever come to Silver Lake from the northeast, you'll remember the view: Two oak trees stand in a hillside clearing, overlooking Mudge Pond (which we call Silver Lake). 11/16/2011
DANBURY -- I consider myself a relatively grateful person. I try to give thanks for the blessings in my life and not to spend too much time obsessing about the things I want that have eluded me. So when Pastor Cindy Maddox asked members of King Street United Church of Christ to keep a daily Gratitude Journal during Lent to remember where our blessings came from, I figured, "Eh, I really don't need to do that." 11/16/2011
SHARON -- This year's General Association brought the Rev. Cameron Trimble back to Connecticut in October, where she brought the learnings, energy, and wisdom of the Center for Progressive Renewal to her two days of presentations. Her message: the world has changed around us, and it is past time to reform and renew the Church. 11/16/2011
HARTFORD -- Having a last name that begins with a "V" I have often found myself in the back of a classroom or near the end of a list. Over time, I learned that I really didn't have to begin paying attention until I started hearing names that begin with an "S" or "T." I knew my place and I was good with that. 11/16/2011
