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| The People's Climate March | | |
 From Jim Antal, MACUCC Minister and President
As busy a time as September is for us all, I'm urging pastors and laity alike to consider worshiping on the streets of New York City on September 21 as part of the People's Climate March. Announce it at church on September 14. Come with family. Come with others from your congregation. Join the hundreds of thousands already committed.
And if you can't come - make sure your worship service on September 21 helps people in the pews to understand the importance of this moment - through preaching, prayer, song and testimony - and in solidarity with those in NYC. See below for other ideas (petitions you can sign, etc).
Read more here, access petitions and travel info and learn what your congregation can do.
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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
Why Christians Should Care | | |
Sunday, Sept. 21 ~ 11:30 AM
The Congregational Church of Grafton
39 Grafton Common, Grafton, MA
 The Congregational Church of Grafton will host a program on the background of the conflict, our UCC connections to the area through Global Ministries partnerships and the call of Palestinian Christians in their Kairos Palestine document for the support of Christian churches world-wide. In response to the Kairos Palestine document, the MACUCC Task Team has brought a resolution to the Conference, which endorses the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation. At the past Annual Meeting, it was adopted for a year of study in churches. This program will also explain the reasons for the resolution.
For more information about this program, visit our website, email Jane Willan or
Presented by the Palestine Israel Task Team |
| CROP Hunger Walk | | |
October is coming, and with it comes CROP Hunger  Walk season!
The CROP Hunger Walk is the oldest nationally-based hunger walk in the country. Begun in the late Sixties by Church World Service supporters, it is an ecumenical, interfaith, community-wide event that brings people together to raise funds to fight hunger and poverty. Up to 25% of the funds raised are returned to the Walk community to help food pantries and shelters in their efforts to address local hunger.
In addition to fighting local hunger, Church World Service programs support integrated community-based development around the world and emergency disaster response initiatives globally and within the US.
This year CROP Hunger Walks will share almost $4 million with food banks, pantries, community gardens, and other local efforts across the U.S.
Find a CROP Walk for Hunger near you.
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Migrant Children at our Borders:
A Panel Discussion
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Saturday, September 27
9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church of Wareham
 There has been a slow crisis in violence and poverty brewing in Central America for some time. Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador are all within the top five most violent countries in the world. But within the last few years that growing issue has taken a new twist: parents have begun sending their children out of the country and into the United States to seek asylum at an historic rate. The U.S. Border Patrol has now apprehended over 57,000 children. That number is rising and may double by the end of the year. Why are they coming? Where are they coming from? What is pushing them? What do they expect when they get here? How are they treated? Should they be sent home? Is there a "Christian" response to the crisis? These and other questions will be addressed at this forum on the origins of the migrant children. The cost is free; modest lunch is available for $5. RSVP by email to Ruth Poole. Questions? Email Stan Duncan. Download a flyer here.
Presented by the Mission and Community Concerns Committee of the Southeast. Photo from UCC.org.
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| High School Students: Travel to Chile! | | |
 The Chile Partnership Committee is looking for high school students to join the MACUCC youth delegation to Chile in February 2015.
Eight students and two leaders will leave Massachusetts on February 14 and return on February 24, 2015. During their time in Chile, students will stay at the rustic Shalom Center, a retreat center in the Andes Mountians. Massachusetts students will share the Shalom Center with participants from the Pentecostal Church of Chile in Rauco, combining a spiritual retreat with a cultural exchange. Delegates will also work to maintain and improve the Shalom Center by performing tasks such as trail and road maintenance and constructing a challenge course.
Visit our website to learn more.
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| Spiritual Companioning Workshop |
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 This four-hour experiential workshop offered by the Rev. Elizabeth Magill and the Rev. Joan Murray is useful for basic training and for renewed experience in the sacred work of deep listening and pastoral care giving. Starting from the assumption that God loves and cares for each one of us, participants will learn to sit with another of God's children and support the telling of each one's story, making connections to God's story.
The workshop is designed to meet t he needs of anyone, lay or ordained, who wants to begin or expand skills for the work of pastoral or spiritual care. There will be space for personal experiences to be explored in relation to the companionship model of pastoral care. The fee of $35 includes morning coffee and lunch.
Offered by Worcester Fellowship and Chaplains on the Way with support of the MACUCC.
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Voter Registration: Make Every Voice Heard!
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 September 23 marks National Voter Registration Day, a good reminder that there is still time to ensure that members of your congregation and community are registered to vote.
Wondering how to make voter registration opportunities available to your community? Concerned about the guidelines for nonprofit religious organizations engaging in voter registration and education? This webinar is for you! Sign up to participate in the UCC Our Faith Our Vote webinar on voter registration, Friday, September 19, at 3 p.m. If you are not able to join the webinar in live time, you can access an archived version through the UCC Our Faith Our Vote website.
In this pivotal midterm election year, with so many challenges ahead for our nation and the world, much is at stake in choosing our policy decision makers. You can help make sure that the voices of your community are heard. Read more and register.
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Neighbors in Need Offering
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 Neighbors in Need (NIN) is a special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. Most UCC congregations will receive the NIN offering on October 5, 2014 as part of their World Communion Sunday observance, but local churches may also select a different date.
The 2014 theme for NIN is "Imagining Another World Where Literacy is No Longer a Concern" and connects to the "Reading Changes Lives" justice advocacy initiative of the UCC.
Find ordering information here.
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Super Saturday: 8 Justice-Related Workshops
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 Super Saturday will be held Oct. 25 at Keefe Technical School in Framingham. A number of workshops will focus on justice issues (listed below). Linda Jaramillo, Executive Director of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries, will give the message during morning worship and lead a lunch time forum.
Morning Workshops
- Going Up River: Working for Systemic Change ~ The Rev. Dr. Peter Wells, Associate Program Director, Walking in the Way
- Be The Change-The Nonviolent Response ~ The Rev. Sharon Key, Newman Cong. Church, RI
- Haiti Mission Work-Across the Ages ~ Suzanne Swanson, VP RICC Haiti Division; Shirley Hardison, Haiti Task Force Member
- Joyful Noise: Celebrating and Reinvigorating Your ONA Ministry ~ The Rev. Dr. Fran Bogle, Kath Mason, Ivy Tillman, Kathie Carpenter, (members, MACUCC ONA Ministry)
- I Was In Prison and You Visited Me ~ Vard Johnson or Matt Underwood or Eric Burks
Afternoon Workshops
- Creation, Creator, and Climate ~ Barbara Darling, Religion Professor, Wheaton College
- Repairing Criminal Injustice: Convictions of Innocents and Mass Incarceration in Massachusetts ~ The Rev. Charla Kouadio, The Rev. Jonathan Tetherly and Josh Beardsley
- Why Local Churches Should Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement against the Israeli Occupation ~ Israel and Palestine Task Team, representative of Jewish Voice for Peace, and a Palestinian Christian
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NO Barnes Grants this Year...
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There will be no further Barnes Grants for mission and justice. However, if you have a great idea, the Justice & Witness Council wants to hear about it! There could be a possibility for funding at a future time. So please email us at methotk@macucc.org.
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