UCC Grant Award
Congratulations! We've been approved for a grant of $1625 from the UCC Media with a Mission program!
The Community Connecting Workgroup is being creative and proactive in experimenting with ways The Gathering can, in fact, meaningfully connect with the community, and thanks to their efforts, some of those dreams and plans are coming to fruition - and we can pay for them.
The CCW applied for a Media with a Mission grant and received the entire amount for which we applied! Woohoo! Great work, CCW! Combining the grant money with some of our own funds, we will run ads/sponsor sites on our new NPR affiliate KNCH, we will expand newspaper advertising to include the Goodfellow Monitor in addition to the Standard-Times, we will add audio capability to our webpage, expand to youtube, and bring back our beloved Dinner and a Movie nights! In addition, we anticipate hosting a Comedy Club, a brown bag lecture at ASU, and possibly a time of enjoying a Dixie Land band. Some of these will be put in place this summer, and some will take place in the fall.
The Gathering is a unique faith community that embodies the messages that God is still speaking and that no matter who a person is or where she is on life's journey, she is welcome at The Gathering. With our marketing effort, we believe that people will be engaged by The Gathering and will check us out. So please come, share the gift of hospitality, make each other welcome - after all, this is who we are: a dynamic community (that) offers ... an inclusive spiritual home. We gather as works-in-progress in a chorus of Divine Mystery, committed to the possibilities in all God's creation through authentic relationship.
This Week's Worship
The Gathering meets this Sunday, June 13, 5:30 pm, 618 Locust Street, and I look forward to being together again as The Gathering.
After hearing Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite at the Annual Meeting of the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ in New Orleans, I am full of energy, enthusiasm, and hope for The Gathering because she talked about The Gathering! Well, she didn't really talk about The Gathering, but she did talk about the necessity for innovation in creating a faith community - and it appears we have much of that innovative impulse. Some of the topics she covered include "the age of anxiety," "wired wisdom," and "public theology". Sunday night I will share her insights, words of wisdom, and challenges, and you'll definitely want to be part of the conversation!
Our offering will be designated for the San Angelo Kids Eat program - the summer effort to feed a healthy lunch to 10,000 local children. And speaking of eating, because it is now officially hot (100+ degrees definitely counts as "official"), let's bring things that are cool, or will cool us down. Ice cream, watermelon anyone?
Restoring the Dance
SCCUCC Annual Meeting Report
So many things to share about Annual Meeting, but for now, a few highlights: * 460 hygiene kits were given to Back Bay Mission and 437 school kits were given to Church World Service - for a total kit value of over $11,000; * the worship, plenary sessions, and workshops were excellent; * New Orleanians are amazing, resilient people; * the UCC Disaster Ministry effort is not just rebuilding homes, but also rebuilding hope and health; * the food is exquisite; * we collected over $13,000 in offerings for a variety of ministries; * what incredible music!; * Susan Thistlethwaite was provocative and inspiring; and * it was renewing to be with people of like mind and spirit.
In Gratitude
Many thanks go to Nancy for planning and leading The Gathering's monthly worship service this past Sunday.
Holding in the Light
Larry and Irene;
Others who are sick and/or are having surgical procedures in the next few weeks;
Many who are traveling;
Conflict in the Middle East;
Conflict in Darfur;
The families of those killed in the Massey coal mining tragedy and the BP Horizon explosion;
The Gulf Eco-system and all those whose lives and livelihoods are now in peril
Further Opportunities for Connecting
The Lady in Blue Festival, Friday-Sunday, June 18-20
United Campus Ministries, Food4Thought, Wednesday, June 23 - We're serving lunch.
West Texas Organizing Strategy (WTOS) monthly meeting, Thursday, June 24, St. Paul Presbyterian
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