 | Sisters and Brothers, Siblings and Friends: As you know, we're now sending out three different 'all-church' emails each and every week: this weekly news (Tuesday), a Love & Justice update (Thursday), and a weekend note with links for Sunday services (Saturday). If you're on our list, you should receive all three of these in your inbox. If you haven't been finding the Thursday and Saturday editions in your inbox, I hope you'll take a look in your spam or junk folders. Some (including your pastor!) have discovered these messages there! Some of us receive the Tuesday edition in our regular inbox, but have discovered the Thursday notes in a spam folder. Once you find the message, you can easily adjust your settings: marking these email as safe, so that they indeed find their way to your standard inbox! In these regular ways, we're doing everything we can to stay connected, to build ministries of witness and compassion in the community, and to express our ongoing gratitude for God's deep and abiding mercy. Thanks for your patience, your kindness, and (most of all) your ongoing faithfulness in loving and serving one another! May you continue to know the deep peace of God, and may the way of Love guide us on the path forward. Yours on that Way, Dave Grishaw-Jones (Pastor) | This past weekend, the Community Church received $47,400 as part of the Small Business Association's Payroll Protection Program (PPP). The loan (which is forgiven if the church sustains staffing) supplements the our income with about two month's payroll/utility costs--through the emergency period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We're all especially grateful for the hard work of Dianne Thompson (Business Manager) and the Stewards team...in making the application happen and the loan a reality! To see an outline of the Payroll Protection Program, as offered by the government, click here: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A6683da9d-f937-4161-a7e8-9589381518e4 | FRIENDS OF GOD: WEDNESDAY @ 10 am: Dave Grishaw-Jones hosts a simple hour of on-line conversation, each Wednesday morning at 10. We'll explore the themes and practices of faith--in an especially uncertain time--and connect with one another in friendship and compassion. Use this link to join with video: https://zoom.us/j/484120838. Use this number to join by phone: +1 929 205 6099. Our meeting number is: 484-120-838. JESUS & KOINONIA: WEDNESDAY @ 8 pm: Dave hosts an hour of conversation around the themes and practices of "Koinonia". Whether or not you participated in our Lenten program, you're welcome to join us for reflection on the presence of Christ in our lives, the practice of discipleship and the gifts of community. Use this link to join https://zoom.us/j/192057611. Use this number to join by phone: +1 929 205 6099. Our meeting number is 192-057-611. Both Wednesday Groups are open to one and all, and an opportunity for friends and members to connect, reflect and pray in this time of uncertainty and isolation. | Hope and Peace Challenge: The Hope and Peace Challenge was created by the 4th and 5th Grade Youth Group and is for all ages and all households!
It challenges you to make a piece of art, either 2D or 3D, from whatever materials you have at home or can find outside. The work must embody what hope and peace means to you. Please take a picture of your art and email it to kristinf@ccdurham.org or davidgj@ccdurham.org by May 6th. We'll include everything we receive in our online worship Sunday, May 10! The Trash Challenge: Enjoy the outdoors while helping clean-up our community! Our church High School Youth Group challenges you to put on gloves and pick-up trash as you enjoy walks and hikes this spring. With or without COVID-19, we still have gratitude for our planet. Let's see how much we can clean-up together. Send pictures of your clean-up to to kristinf@ccdurham.org or davidgj@ccdurham.org by May 6th. | MORNING PRAYERS WITH PASTOR DAVE: Dave leads a simple 20-minute 'morning prayer time' every day (except Sunday) beginning at 8 am. You can watch (and participate) by tuning into Facebook Live at 8; or you can find our Morning Prayers on the church's Facebook page (or Dave's blog) later in the day. Anyone can watch. Anyone can join in. It's a simple way for us to be grounded in faith, connected by prayer and comopassion, in ministry to the wide world. Find the Community Church's Facebook page here. And find Dave's blog (Valley Rise Up) here. | OUR SUNDAY SERVICES: We're online these days, with our regular Sunday worship celebration every Sunday at 10 am. Sunday School with our dear children begins at 9 am. Watch for links, every Saturday, that connect you to these important opportunities for worship, prayer, communion and fellowship. (After worship, we're improvising now, with a weekly "coffee hour"--a chance to see one another and appreciate the radiance of our faces and voices! That link, too, is included in Saturday's notes!) THINKING ABOUT A FRIEND? Maybe you've got a friend, a colleague; and you think the Community Church might really fit your friend's passion for spirit, justice and peace. Feel free to forward this email on...don't hesitate to share the good news of vitality and compassion that we experience together every week! You might be doing your friend a wonderfully good turn! CURIOUS ABOUT CCD & UCC? To find out more about Community Church, visit our church website. Or, find us on Facebook. Did you know that the Community Church of Durham also has a Facebook Group where ideas, comments and announcements can be posted? Check it out and get connected! To learn more about the United Church of Christ, and our bold witness nationally, visit the UCC's inspiring website. The New Hampshire Conference is another resource for great inspiration and connection in mission. You'll find the Conference online as well! DAVE'S BLOG IS "VALLEY RISE UP": And you're welcome to visit anytime, or better yet "follow" the blog to receive his latest posts. Dave regularly posts prayers, poetry, reflections and all of our weekly worship opportunities. | TUESDAY: "This Week"--a newsletter with church news and opportunities THURSDAY: "Love & Justice"--an invitation to weekly witness & action SATURDAY: "Weekend Update"--links for Sunday, and other happenings | RINGING THE BELL FOR LOVING SERVICE: You may have heard: we're ringing the church's wonderful bell every evening at 7. This ringing--organized by Nat Balch and our Stewards--bears witness to the extraordinary efforts of health care providers, public health professionals, public safety servants and all the others who are working tirelessly to keep us all safe. If you hear the bells, stop for a moment, and say a prayer for those whose efforts are so inspiring every day! SONGS FOR PEACE: We're delighted to invite you to mark your calendars for a special Joyce Andersen concert, online from her studio in Maine, on Saturday, May 9 at 8 pm. We'd planned on hosting this special event in our own Community Church sanctuary--but Joyce is undeterred and will perform from home! Watch the next couple of church e-news letters for links. (This concert is, in part, a fundraiser for the Arnie Alpert Action Fund of the American Friends Service Committee in NH!) CALL & CONNECT TEAM: Through our Spiritual Nurture Ministry, we've organized a Call & Connect Team to stay in touch with church friends and members. Coordinated by Diane Mix, the team is maintaining a special ministry with those who've asked for regular contact. If you'd like add your name to that list (as a caller, or as a recipient of the calls), be in touch with Diane Mix at diane.mix@comcast.net. ERRAND & ROAD TEAM: Through the same network, we've organized an Errand & Road Team to work with friends interested in regular assistance with grocery runs, pharmacy trips and other errands. Coordinated by Joe Smath and Nat Balch, the team is open to your requests. If you'd like to add your name to that group (as an errand runner, or as a recipient of this service), be in touch with Nat Balch at natster3413@comcast.net CHILDREN'S MINISTRY & SUNDAY SCHOOL: Hats off to Kristin Forselius for her commitment to our children and their families! Offering hope and connection, Kristin regularly gathers children for on-line conversation and support. For information on "attending" Sunday School and seeing the amazing network of lovingkindness there, contact Kristin at KForselius@CCDurham.org. TUESDAY MORNING STUDY GROUP: It has been decided that the Tuesday Morning Study Group will not meet to discuss our book until such time as it is OK once again to meet in the church parlor -- whenever that may be. In the meantime, we can recommend the book for your “leisure” reading: Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, by Susan Neiman. The author is a Jewish woman who grew up in Atlanta but who, after some years in Israel, has lived in Berlin for 30 years. She compares how the Germans deal with remembering the Holocaust and how Americans remember Jim Crow racism; and how we memorialize evil. Books are available for $20.50, shipping included -- the Amazon Prime price; there are two left in the church office which Dave GJ will deliver to you (DavidGJ@CCDurham.org) -- thanks Dave! -- or you can order one on your own. If you are interested, please call the discussion leader, Marion Ellis, at 659-1123 or Ruth Moore, convener, at 868-1086 so we can talk about our options. | Due to the emergency, we won't be publishing the monthly "Chronicle" until we return to the daily routine and the office staff returns to work in the building. In the meantime, we hope you'll keep up through this email list, and Facebook postings on the church's page there. If you're not presently on the regular email list, please contact Dave Grishaw-Jones at DavidGJ@CCDurham.org--so that he can add you as a regular recipient. God's blessings and peace to all, Dave Grishaw-Jones
DavidGJ@CCDurham.org
831-706-6819 | | |
