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CONFERENCE NEWS BRIEFS

PNC online meetings listed

Details on online meetings for the PNC are under events at Online Conference Meetings.

Our Faith Our Vote is at 1:30 p.m., Mondays.

Worshipping Together When We Can’t Be Together is from 1 to 2:30 p.m., second and fourth Wednesdays.

Courtney’s Community Office Hour is from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Wednesdays. She also has an Office Hour from 2 to 3 p.m., Thursdays.

Pastoral Care: Care During an Outbreak is from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., first and third Wednesdays.

The Rocky Mountain Conference has arranged a weekly meeting for Children and Youth Ministers at 1 p.m. PDT, Wednesdays on Zoom.

The Moderators Meeting is 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursdays.

Church Administration and Fiduciary Considerations meets from 1 to 2 p.m., Fridays.

There is also a Fun Friday Pastors Hour from 4 to 5 p.m. Fridays.

For links, email Arlene@pncucc.org.

Interfaith Mourning Vigils planned during October

The Faith Action Network is part of a national group pulling together a national time of mourning in October. It is recruiting churches to hold ecumenical services of mourning as part of “The Mourning Project: Moving into Unity: United We Stand – Divided We Fall.”

The Mourning Project is a national, interfaith series of four weekly vigils in October to mourn the now nearly 200,000 dead and other losses from the pandemic: unsafe schools, unsafe workplaces, unemployment to reclaim unity and commitment to peaceful elections and to defusing the risk of violence.

Peaceful candlelight vigils led by faith and health care leaders will be held outdoors with social distancing and masks. Some may join in parked cars or from home by social media.

The Mourning Project will provide 200 purple masks—the traditional color of mourning and a combination of red and blue—for the first 10 locations.

The idea is that collective grieving can serve as an antidote to rising violence and lament can be a call for God to bring forth justice, paraphrasing Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann, “Together let us cry for the justice and wellbeing God intends in our world.”

Mike Denton said in a recent email that 12 UCC churches are participating.

Building Church Differently sets three webinars

Three webinars are scheduled on “Building Church Differently—Partners in Building Event” on Sept. 17, 24 and Oct. 1.

It is offered by the UCC Church Building and Loan Fund under its new brand, “Building Church Differently.”

For information, contact https://whova.com/portal/registration/partn_202009/.

Communities of Practice are set for clergy enrichment

The 2020-21 Communities of Practice program will begin virtually on Oct. 1 with participants from the Montana-North Wyoming Conference and the Central Pacific Conference of the UCC. Some groups will be virtual even if COVID restrictions allow in-person gatherings.

Communities of Practice (CoP) are for clergy in local churches and specialized ministries, participating in small support and learning groups. CoP is based on a model developed by the Massachusetts UCC Conference to bring clergy together to look at what they are doing in ministry, to engage in peer learning and to reflect on their work.

The Rev. Brigitta Remole will be shepherding the program this year.

Participants need to register with $50 due on registration by Oct. 12 at UltraCamp and $225 due by March 1, 2021. PNC clergy needing assistance with funding can request it from Mike Denton at mike@pncucc.org or Cameron Sharp at revcsharp13@comcast.net.

For information, email brigitta.ucc@gmail.com.

Environmental Justice Team supports voter project

The Conference Environmental Justice Team invites persons and congregations in the PNC to become involved in the Environmental Voter Project (EVP).

It’s aim is to persuade environmentally passionate people to vote, said Roberta Rominger, pastor of the Congregational Church of Mercer Island.

“Statistics show that many of them don’t. This has effects, not only on the outcome of elections, but on policy decisions. Politicians shape their agendas around the concerns of reliable voters,” she said.

The EVP targets 12 states where turnout among environmentalists is particularly poor, reaching out to them through texting and phone calls. This is nonpartisan. The EVP never endorses candidates or supports initiatives on the ballot. They simply offer information and encouragement, she said.

On Aug. 5, the EVP sent 500,000 text messages to Florida residents to urge them to sign up for vote-by-mail. The PNC Environmental Justice Team committed to send 25,000 of them.

“This is a prelude to the millions of potential voters we’ll reach out to in the fall,” said Roberta.

For information, email roberta.rominger@ucc-ccmi.org or visit www.environmentalvoter.org.

New Pilgrims UCC holds anti-racism book study

As part of its commitment to be the church by rejecting racism, New Pilgrims UCC in Anacortes is participating in an ecumenical discussion of Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Antiracist with Celebration Lutheran Church of Anacortes via Zoom.

The book discussion group has migrated to Zoom during the pandemic, and they expect to widen their views by sharing in antiracist work with another congregation.

They are meeting weekly from 2 to 3 p.m., Mondays, beginning Sept. 14, said Becky Withington pastor.

For information on the Zoom meeting ID, email bwithing@comcast.net.

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