I have been noticing butterflies this summer.  On a trip to the local arboretum I learned that Monarch butterflies will only deposit their eggs on milkweeds.  The female flies 'round and 'round until she finds a milkweed and turns it into her personal leafy nursery.  If she doesn't find a milkweed, she flies until she is exhausted and drops to the ground, dead. This confirms for me that milkweeds are flowers, not weeds. (and have you ever examined a milkweed blossom or inhaled its fragrance?)
 
On a recent train trip, my friend Joanne was sitting behind me.  We were traveling through the mountains, looking for bears.  Joanne saw a butterfly, not a bear. Her reaction: "Thank you, God, thank you, thank you. Thank you, God!", not because she didn't want to see a bear, but because the butterfly was beautiful.
 
The purple coneflowers are growing wildly on either side of the sidewalk to my front door.  As I walked through them this morning, twenty Painted Ladies swarmed around me as I interrupted their feasting.
 
God finds so many ways to entertain us. I wonder if God had any other purpose in creating them, other than to make us happy.
 
God gave a rainbow as a promise, but butterflies are more numerous, and just as amazing and much more accessible, and it's no wonder they are a symbol of resurrection.  Thank you, God, for giving us beauty at every turn, and thank you for the good sense to appreciate it. 

Dianne Prichard
Director
C.E.N.T.E.R./L.E.A.R.N./S.E.A.R.C.H. and
The Pilgrimage

From Florence Coppola in our national office:

As events continue to unfold on the Gulf Coast, we are aware that even if the oil well is finally "killed," the long term recovery of the people impacted is just beginning.  The UCC Florida Conference decided to ask their churches to participate in a conference wide worship service either on the beach or in their own buildings on August 22 to recognize and to pray for people impacted.
 
In Kent Siladi's words:  "In the Florida Conference the fourth Sunday in August has been set aside as "Disaster Relief Recognition Sunday".  This annual observance is in recognition of the disasters that take place here in the Florida Conference - hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires and in the case of the oil spill - technological disasters.  Pastors of the Gulf Coast region have been meeting to discuss how their congregations might respond to the Oil Spill and they decided that a Conference wide gathering on the beaches across Florida would be one such response."
 
This note is to invite all UCC churches across North America to consider having a worship service or other type of event on August 22 (or on a date that would be appropriate to their church life) as a witness to the caring nature of the church for people whose lives have been put on hold indefinitely. Provided here is a link to a UCNews article and a liturgy that you may choose to use.  We continue to pray...