“School is out at last,” goes an old Ry Cooder song. “I’m so glad I passed . . . I can stay out late with my buddies, I can do the things that I want to do, cause all my cares are through!” For those of us over 40, or maybe 50, these lyrics probably bring back memories of long lazy summers of blessed freedom from the classroom. Even if we had a summer job, the evenings were ours, and days off were days off, with the bonus of a little money to

spend.

That’s not quite the way it is today. In many communities, summertime—any free time—is considered mainly an opportunity for enrichment. Learn another language or a new instrument, go to computer camp, improve your soccer skills, double up on the piano lessons or ballet classes.

And it’s not just young people. For all of us, it used to take discipline and determination to do the work we needed to do. Now it takes discipline and determination to stop working—to stop worrying that we need to be constantly improving ourselves, accomplishing something, gaining an advantage, or just plain

getting something done.

But even God rested on the 7th day—after putting together the entire Creation! Take a lesson from that and take a day off. If you must feel guilty, try feeling guilty about working too much!

School is out!

How do I love you, United Church of Christ?  As the poet said, let me count the ways: 

   * You are not only a united, but also a uniting church. 

   * You welcome me, and all newcomers, into fellowship.  

   * You not only accept me just as I am, you affirm who I am, no matter what society says. 

   * You let me think for myself, and speak for myself, because you impose no tests of belief. 

   * You share the Good News without hesitation, but also without compulsion. 

   * You welcome me, and everyone else who believes in Jesus, to the Lord’s Table. 

   * You encourage me, and every member, to participate in the business of our congregation. 

   * You bind me gently in covenantal relationships with my congregation, Association, and Conference. 

   * You honor both the ministry of the laity and the calling of the clergy. 

   * You open the church doors to all the hurts and joys of the surrounding neighborhood. 

   * You join with other communities of faith in witness and service to the community and nation. 

   * You initiate and maintain partnerships with Christian churches around the world. 

   * Your compassion for those who suffer is only exceeded by your passion for justice and peace. 

   * You will never wither or weaken because you are always attentive to the stillspeaking God. 

   UCC I love U! 

What IS Our Church’s Wider Mission, Anyway? 

It’s a well-kept secret in a lot of places, but Our Church’s Wider Mission is, in a lot of ways, who we are in the United Church of Christ.

Without Our Church’s Wider Mission . . . 

We could not gather the great strengths of our congregations or make our voice heard in the public arena.   

We would not have missionaries in over 70 countries worldwide.

We could not help small, struggling, or emerging new churches with support for pastors or buildings.  

We could not provide congregations with distinctively “UCC” resources: for worship, stewardship, leadership.  

Congregations would be entirely on their own when looking for a pastor.   

There would be no United Church of Christ presence at all in parts of the United States.   

Our Church’s Wider Mission: It’s who we are.  Do you and  your congregation contribute?

The kitchen table – where so many of life’s important moments occur - is where Reverend Sharon Lee MacArthur remembers learning to give the best away.

“My mother had turned the entire back yard into a garden,” Sharon says, :"and it was at the kitchen table where I helped her sort the vegetables.  Neighbors and acquaintances received the best ones - the cream of the crop.  Cousins and other extended family members were given the ones that were not as pretty.  The vegetables that had some damage were used in our immediately household.  With my mother, I experienced sharing our abundance.  It was a celebration of what we had and included all those around us."

Reverend MacArthur is the pastor of Sycamore Congregational in El Cerrito, California, former chair of the United Church of Christ's Executive Council. She describes how she took to hear that childhood lesson of sharing, when she and her husband first joined a church.  She says, "Even though there were no assets to speak of, we decided to tithe.  All of these wonderful things started to happen.   

The idea of sharing with the family of God had always been abstract.  As I meet other people on this journey - people in other cultures, people of other ethnicities, and people from other countries - it becomes more real.  I have a new definition of the family of God.  A sharing and generous heart comes much more naturally.

While the United Church of Christ is descended from four churches that go back several centuries, we’re also celebrating our 50th anniversary as a denomination this year, making us both old and new at the same time.  But in all times, our church has strived to be true to the gospel call to love, compassion, and justice.   

In the United Church of Christ, our General Synod speaks “to” our local congregations and their members, not “for” them.  One of its first pronouncements was the 1959 “Call to Christian Action in Society” – “an attempt to discover what the Lord requires of us today.”  Nearly 50 years later, it still speaks to the culture in which we live.  “In the midst of…abundance, we are beset by much that is trivial, dehumanizing, and vulgar,” it reads.  “We are tempted to love things and use people, when we should love people and use things.”  How reminiscent this is of the prophet Micah’s words, reminding the people of ancient Israel, and us today, of God’s expectation that we “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.”  

The Call is part of the history of our church – preserved in volume seven of Living Theological Heritage, a memory bank of UCC traditions old and recent, published by The Pilgrim Press, our denominational printing house, which is also historic.  When the Pilgrims came to these shores, they carried the first printing press, and we publish today in a direct line from that fine tradition.   

The United Church of Christ General Synod and the Pilgrim Press (of Local Church Ministries) are both supported by your faithful generosity to Our Church’s Wider Mission. 

"A congregation rooted in the belief that God is still speaking to all of us beseeching us to create changing lives in changing times”… this is the vision for church renewal in First Church of North Miami Congregational UCC.

Founded in 1912, First UCC experienced membership decline common to many mature congregations. Located in a vibrant part of North Miami, the congregation wanted to be a beacon of light and hope where many are excluded because of their immigrant status, economic status, sexual orientation or lack of language skills. First UCC was willing to take the steps to live out the extravagant welcome of the UCC. 

Today the church building is used every day and nearly every evening. The God is Still Speaking banner inside and the “All God’s People Are Welcome Here” sign outside proclaim its welcome. Now 20% each Jamaican, Haitian, and Afro-American, 10% Hispanic, 30% Anglo, with openly gay members serving in leadership, First UCC lives its extravagant welcome. 

Renewing churches need just a little help from us to thrive once again. Our UCC Strengthen the Church offering provides grants that enable full time pastoral leadership, a critical factor in visioning and fostering change. With these grants we all partner in changing lives in changing times.  The Strengthen the Church offering is received in the United Church of Christ in June.