October 12, 2005
Thank you! For those of you who were able to gather last Saturday for the Time of Celebration with Char Burch and Barry Bordenkircher, you can testify to an evening of fellowship and laughter. From both of us (Char and Barry) to all of you – thank you for your graciousness and support through these past few years – and a fun evening of celebration.
Lakeshore Event
The “Mission - Not Impossible” event is this Sunday (16th), 2 pm – 6 pm at Congregational UCC, Castalia. Various workshops are being offered to inspire and share information. $5 registration fee. If your church has not registered, contact the Association immediately to be included in the meal count.
nu-vIZION RESPONSE TO NEO-nAZI MARCH THIS SATURDAY
Saturday, October 15th there is a neo-Nazi march planned in the LaGrange Community where Nu-Vizion Christian Fellowship is located. Nu-Vizion is working with community groups, including the Erase The Hate program and the Lagrange Development Corporation, to sponsor “The Lagrange Community Unity Celebration” as a positive counter to the march, and urging everyone to stay away from the marchers. The event is scheduled from noon to 2:00 pm at the Chester Zablocki Senior Center (Corner Of Lagrange Street And Central Avenue).
In addition, Nu-Vizion Christian Fellowship will host a prayer vigil from 10 am – 4 pm at the church. At 4 pm there will be a special worship service of prayer and unity entitled, “Every Tribe and Nation.” They are seeking support of other churches through prayer and active participation.
UCC Responds to Pakistan Earthquake
This earthquake is already being described as the worst disaster in Pakistan's 58 year history. The death toll is rising steeply and some reports now estimate as many as 30,000 people may have died, and 50,000 injured.
Church World Service (CWS) is working in Pakistan and has dispatched assessment teams and basic health units into devastated areas. Already, CWS has been able to assist 1,600 families with emergency food and shelter and is preparing to expand that to 15,000 families, along with establishing medical camps to serve 50,000 to 100,000 people.
The United Church of Christ has responded with an initial gift of $20,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing. A special appeal is being made for more resources. Contributions can be sent to the Association office, marked Pakistan earthquake relief.
LOOKING FOR A TRUCK TRAVELING TO HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS! At the Association office we have a few boxes of baby items which need to reach the Katrina victims. Can anyone give us a lead. Call the office at 419-447-8323 or email office@nwoa.org
SANDUSKY VALLEY REGIONAL COORDINATING TEAM REMINDER
Gale Green sends along this reminder to the SVRCT: we are meeting Oct. 20th - 5pm at College Hill UCC. See ya there!
Special Visits and Offering for Nu-Vizion Christian Fellowship.
ALL Association churches are being asked to set aside this month, or as soon as possible, ONE Sunday for a special offering for Nu-Vizion Christian Fellowship. We are working to make up a $30,000 shortfall between targeted support and actual receipts from our churches, by the end of December. ALSO…your church may be contacted for a personal visit from a Nu-Vizion “missionary,” either to your church board or on a Sunday morning (to coincide with the offering if possible). These visits may be made by members of the NWOA Cabinet, the Church Development Team, or NVCF volunteers and mission trip participants. Please welcome these folks as they seek to share the “Vizion”!
Annual Meeting Planning Committee. The Association Annual Meeting will be held April 29 at St. Paul’s UCC, Wapakoneta. We are seeking a few additional folks to be part of the Planning Committee for the worship and program. If you are interested, please contact the Association Office.
God Is Still Speaking Initiative Continues
The Still Speaking Initiative is making an impact in many places. Visitors have been welcomed. The UCC Resource warehouse actually ran out of UCC Membership Certificates. A new commercial is being produced for Advent. Churches are urged to help make this commercial happen by contributing to the $1.5 million effort.
UCC Name Falsely Used in Ridgeville Corners
A local non-UCC minister claimed to have “a mandate from God” and the backing of the UCC's national setting to renovate a school in Ridgeville Corners, Ohio to house hurricane evacuees from New Orleans. Ridgeville Corners is located about 15 miles northeast of Defiance. Apparently, potential donors were being coaxed with promises that the UCC would “reimburse” those who would front money for the project. The real story is that the UCC has absolutely nothing to do with this. This serves as a warning to all of us regarding possible scams. Before donating money to any group, find out the facts.
News from Tracy Hughes (end of this newsletter)
Cleaning Cartridge for backup system
If anyone could use an ExaTape – Premium Cleaning Cartridge by Exabyte - please call the office. 419-447-8323 or email joan@nwoa.org.
RECENT EMAIL & MAIL CHANGES and ADDITIONS
If your personal (or church) email address or mailing address has recently changed, let us know!
New email for Henry Diehl – Church and Ministry Team
New email address for First Congregational UCC – Berlin Heights
Prayer Requests
Al Schwenke (Retired Minister) has been diagnosed with Acute Leukemia and has entered hospice care. He and his wife, Pearl, are both in good spirits and have accepted the impending transition from life to new life. Please keep them both in your prayers.
The Rev. Randy Ross (St. John’s, Baseline and College Hill. Bloomville) has submitted his resignation to the churches following a new call to Friedens Peace UCC, New Melle, MO. His last Sunday will be November 20.
Deadlines and Meeting Dates
Upcoming
October
13 Auglaize Valley Region Clergy
Defiance College 11:30 am
13 Auglaize Valley RCT
Defiance College 1:30 pm
16 Fall Gathering of Lakeshore Region
Congl. UCC, Castalia 2 pm
18 Lay School 7:15 pm
20 Church Development Team 10-2 pm
20 Sandusky Valley RCT 5pm
College Hill UCC, Bloomville
26 Lakeshore Clergy 11– 1 pm
Holiday Inn - Fremont
27 Witness & Proclamation 10-1 pm
30 Small Church Cluster Choir Fest
Fairhaven, Upper Sandusky, 3 pm
30 Sandusky Valley Regional Event
Fairhaven, Upper Sandusky, 3pm
News from Tracy Hughes
Hello Friends and
Family,
Below is another release from the CPT Colombia Team. This is
powerful reflection about one of the tiers of the Colombian civil war.
I have been told and feel that one of my gifts is the ability to
work with children and their mothers. I receive great joy when working with
the children (and their families)of the communities on the Opon River that
we accompany.
As you read this article put yourself in the place of parents
who live in daily fear of violent attacks from four different fronts of the
civil war: paramilitary groups, guerrilla groups, the national armed
forces, and the US led fumigation as part of Plan Colombia. Top this intense
violence with the fear and reality of assassinations, torture, kidnappings
and issues of raising children in the midst of the violence. Many of you are
parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles or teachers of children. Imagine how
you could/would raise your children or the children under your care if you
lived in the midst of a violent civil war in a country that in 2004 was
noted as the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. I plan n
using this article in my presentations in the USA in Nov. and Dec. 2005.
To all of you, I want to express my deep gratitude for your
prayer and financial support of my justice and peace ministry with the
Christian Peacemaker Teams as a long-term mission volunteer with Common
Global Ministries (UCC/DOC). Without your support from the USA and Germany I
would not be able to do the ministry and mission of justice and peacemaking
in the way that I am currently able to do in Colombia.
Thank you, Tracy Hughes
Reflection: Yes, there are children.
By Suzanna Collerd
When we CPTers left the Nasa land reclamation action in Caloto,
Cauca police stopped us at a checkpoint (For more information on the action
see CPT Colombia release "Walking the Word",
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cptcolombia/message/64).
A group of young soldiers asked us to get out of the car. I, quite honestly
tired of these random checkpoints (especially as I was trying to enjoy a
fruit popsicle), got out a little less than willingly. Greeting the young
men with 'Good afternoon' I realized just how young they were, all probably
less than 20 years old. When they asked where we were
coming from, we explained that we had visited the action on the farm to
support the community.
While we greeted each other, they looked through our bags. We
obviously had more experience at checkpoints than they, they were not sure
of what they were looking for, or which bags they had checked. Faces looked
at me, almost for affirmation that they were doing their job correctly.
One young soldier curtly asked, "So what are they [the community
members] saying?" A teammate responded, "That they are going to stay put
for the long haul. What are you guys saying?" "We wait for orders," he
answered, disappointed by his own response. His eyes got big and sad and he
asked, "Is it true that there are children? I heard there are children.
Babies carried in the arms of their mothers." "Yes," we said, "the whole
community is there together."
What he did not say with words, his eyes and body said: "I'm
scared of hurting children. I am a low ranking soldier and follow orders,
and now the consequences of those orders frighten me." The other officers
stood hunched as well, quite possibly thinking the same thing.
This conversation came back to my mind the following day, when
we heard the news that a young boy had lost his eye in an attack by the
police.
Yes, there are children: Children on that farm claiming their
rights to have land that will produce food and help them grow. Children that
are heirs to 500 years of resistance to colonization. Children who want a
future that does not include the guns of the police, army, paramilitary or
guerrilla. Children who deserve land where they can play without the fear of
stepping on an anti-personnel mine. Children who should be able to go to bed
at night without fearing that the next morning the guerrilla will violently
take over their town, or the army will attack to take it back, or the
paramilitaries will take control.
Children who want their grandparents to live more than the
average 40 year lifespan so that they may have the time to learn their
history, traditions, wisdom, and language from their elders. Children who
should not be required to carry arms against their own people. Children who
should get to be children.
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