Visioning the Future

by Hailey Lyons

Every January I parse out what I want from the coming year. Sometimes this takes the form of a written list of goals; other times I sketch out ideas and possibilities that aren’t just for the coming year but beyond. When I entered high school, I had goals I wanted to accomplish spanning all four years. In undergrad I did the same, adjusting each year and checking back in with how far I’d come. These visions of the future, possibilities of what might be, delighted me as much as they terrified me.

Movements, organizations, and politics are dictated by competing visions of the possible future. Possibilities make us feel a part of something greater and better. Possibilities spur us to do great things even in the face of terrible odds. Possibilities lead us toward liberation, allowing us to breathe even as the oppressor grinds their boot on our necks. When we in the UCC envision a Just World for All, we ask what that actually looks like. We talk not just to each other, but to those we have nothing in common with. In the confluence, we dream up a just world for all with the necessary emphasis on all.

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Church Jottings 2/22/2021

Thanks to the wonderful Holly Herman for reading ALL of your church newsletters and compiling the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches.

If you’d like a separate article about your news to appear on the website and The Loop, please submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
 

Rincon and Casas Adobes  are beginning to think about how to reopen some on-campus activities by compiling a list of members that have had, or will have both doses of vaccine.  This is just another tool in the planning toolbox.

For several months,  First Church Phoenix has staffed a food pantry and lunchtime feeding program for those experiencing homelessness.  Volunteers fill and distribute paper bag lunches Monday through Thursday from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. Contents of the bags vary, depending upon donations, but try to include a bottle of water, a protein, fruit, and a snack such as chips, granola bar, or nuts. On Thursdays they provide a bag of a few extras to help over the weekend. Hygiene items are also often available – toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, lotion, etc. – as well as underwear, socks, and right now hats, scarves, and other clothing items for cold weather.

Yesterday On zoom, Rincon members  met and greeted Interfaith Community Services (ICS) staff who are moving onto their campus. Members learned about plans, purposes and people who bring ministries of HOPE to Tucson.  To REALLY welcome ICS to their campus, Rincon held a food drive the previous day to fill the food bank!

First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque is sending home the book "50 Ways to Pray" by UCC Rev. Teresa Blythe to families with children for their Children's Lenten Series.

Church of the Beatitudes is launching a 40 Days for 40 CANS Drive as a Lenten Project benefitting NourishPhx.  Collection of the cans will be on Saturday, April 3rd from 10am to noon in the parking lot. 

Laura Lee Bond started writing haiku as a student, then called NAU home before she jettisoned to George Washington University for her Masters in Museum Studies. Haiku, described as a very short poem that is like a tiny window into a scene much larger than itself, is one of her favorite creative expressions. Her new book, The Love Around Us, launched on February 11 and on February 13, it received recognition as the #1 New Release in Haiku and Japanese Poetry on Amazon.  Laura Lee is the wife of Seth Bond whose parents are the Rev. Alan and Mrs. Lois—longtime members of Scottsdale UCC.  With this announcement and to celebrate her beginnings, Laura Lee wrote:

do something you love

for today and every day

ripples in a pond

Desert Palm will provide Easter baskets for the children and youth of a small Hispanic church in Mesa as part of an East Valley group of worship communities that support refugee ministries.

During the season of Lent, First Congregational in Albuquerque will place their prayer cross in the chapel. Folks may stop by and add their prayers to the cross. Paper and pens provided. Folks can even email their prayer requests and they will be added to the cross as received.

The Worship group at Oro Valley UCC created Lenten packets for people to pick up. The packets contain:

1. The Lenten Season Schedule. 
2. Jade Terry's King Cake recipe for your at-home Shrove Tuesday celebration.
3. Ashes and communion cups for the Ash Wednesday Meditative Communion Service. (Actual ashes! Editorial comment.)
4. Copies of the reflections and prayers for the Wednesday morning devotional.

Church of the Painted Hills provided two opportunities for receiving ashes “on the go" on Ash Wednesday. From 9:00 until 10:00 am and 4:00 to 5:00 pm, Pastor was in the parking lot to impose ashes with a Q-Tip, while folks remained in their car. After receiving ashes, folks were given a packet of devotional materials.  

If you view the worship video at The Good Shepherd UCC in Sahuarita over the next few weeks, please take note of the quilt that is placed on the pulpit during Black History Month. Clare Renoux made this quilt from fabric she purchased that came from Rwanda. The fabric is called African wax fabric and is thought to have been created with a technique derived from Indonesian batik methods.

Casas Adobes will welcome Hailey Lyons on Feb. 22nd to lead a conversation about what a Just World For All looks like and the role of the church in living into this. Hailey is a transgender woman, living in Gilbert with her partner while she completes her MA in Social Justice and Human Rights at ASU. She joined Desert Palm UCC in 2019, where she works as a ministry partner with UCC@ASU (our new campus ministry). There, she produces a bi-monthly podcast, teaches bible study, and DMs a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Her interests include the intersections of Social Justice, Christian Theology, Literary Criticism, and Critical Theory.

First Church Phoenix is encouraging donations to their DACA Scholarship fund to help pay for college and for DACA application fees for undocumented persons brought to the US as children.  Daniel Rodriquez, a member of First Church, was one of the first recipients of this fund and is now the first undocumented attorney in AZ.

First Congregational in Albuquerque will host a Racial Justice forum on Sunday, February 21 featuring Dr. Charles E. Becknell, Jr., Chair of the Africana Studies Department at the University of New Mexico and Pastor at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church in Rio Rancho. Attendees will learn more about African American history in New Mexico and next steps in this pursuit of justice.

Church of the Beatitudes is looking for used laptops for Maryland School.  Maryland School provides educational resources for several refugee families in their community. A father from Eritrea, a country in Eastern Africa, is signing up for classes at Rio Salado Community College and is very much in need of a laptop computer in order to access his classes.  He is currently using one that belongs to his teenage child, but they both need access at the same time, so it is not working out. They are a family of five people living in a small apartment, and do not have room for a regular P.C. computer.  If you have a used working laptop you are no longer using or know of someone who has one to donate or would like to contribute a monetary donation to help purchase a used laptop, please contact Cathy Kim at ckim248@yahoo.com.