11:30 AM:    First Sunday Spirituality Series

Black Box Bible Study-Theological-Spiritual Forums in January & February.  During the Sundays of January and February, there are several Sundays available to offer 11:30 forums after worship.  Tony and Karla are collecting topics/issues that you are interested in discussing and studying.  All you need to do is submit your "topic" and after we have gathered a bunch of them, we will put them in a box and draw as many as we need to cover the Sundays!   Please submit your ideas by January 12th by either sending an email to Tony or sending an email to Karla  or by placing your idea in the offering plate on Sundays.

HOW would you describe Eliot Church in ten words or less?  Your membership commission is looking to you, the congregation, to submit ideas and slogans that we might use as our "mission" tag line.   A mission statement should be brief, hopefully catchy, and capture who we are and why we exist.  For example, one congregation's mission statement is "Becoming the Beloved Community".  Another congregation's statement is "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors".    Some of the "mission" statements from the UCC national campaign include, "Ancient Faith, Fresh Perspectives", "God is Still Speaking", and "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."   What words or statement do you think will capture the spirit and community of Eliot Church?  Submit your ideas to Karla Miller, or Fred Balfour; or write them on the bulletin board by the church office.  There is also a prize-a Kiva Micro-Loan credit that you can use to invest in small businesses/entrepreneurs  in the developing world!  See www.kiva.org for more information!

Summer 2010:  Opportunity to Meet the Chipego Women of Hope in Zambia

Would you like to meet our partners, the Chipego Women of Hope, in Zambia this summer?  Communities Without Borders (CWB), the Newton organization linking us to the women, is sponsoring two trips in the summer of 2010; and members of Eliot are invited to go. Consistent with CWB's approach, the emphasis will be on human connection as well as education and related issues.

CWB is having an introductory meeting for all potential summer 2010 travelers to Zambia on Thursday Jan. 7th at 7.30 at the Union Church on Beacon St. in Waban. If you might be interested in this unique and often life-changing trip, you an learn more at this meeting.  If you are unable to attend, you can contact Dick Bail (richard_bail@hms.harvard.edu) or Brita Gill-Austern at (bgillaus@ants.edu) for information. Deposits are due in January.

Background:

Given the November service and related announcements about CWB, you may already know that the Chipego Women of Hope care for 70 AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children by preparing meals and seeing that the children go to school. For 30 of the children, Eliot provides $100 a year to cover school fees, books and uniforms. Through a recent "Alternative Giving" event, members of Eliot also contributed funds to help rebuild the station where the children eat every day.

CWB supports over 1,000 children in nine communities in government schools.  It also supports a similar number of pre-school children through Family Support homes run by groups of women in the partner communities. For more info, contact Communities Without Borders.

This is how we will communicate within the Eliot congregation about the cancellation of activities due to weather or other emergencies:

Since pastor Tony can walk to church, we have never cancelled a Sunday worship service, and probably won't.  However, there are times when we may wish to cancel Sunday School, Chancel Choir, Children's Choir, and other planned programs.

Since most of the congregation is connected by email, we will use the Eliot Email list to "get the word out" about cancellations.  For major events, an all-church email will be sent, as well as separate emails for special groups - e.g. the choir, church school families, etc.  We will have a special message on the church telephone answering machine announcing the cancellations.

If you don't have email at home, or would prefer to get a telephone call (rather than email message) if a cancellation might affect you, please call Terri Whitney Jackson in the church office at 617-244-3639 ext. 201 or send her an email at office@eliotchurch.org and asked to be put on the phone contact list.