Members of the Federated Church UCC, Chagrin Falls, were invited to receive silent communion in their chapel on December 11 and 18. The chapel was open from 7:30 am to 9:00 pm on these two days for members to come and be in the presence of Christ, take communion in silence, linger a while and pray.

Highwater Congregational Church UCC, Newark, held a Twelfth Night Celebration on January 5 to celebrate Jesus, the light of the world, with stories, worship, snacks and a bonfire fueled with members’ cut Christmas trees.

Pilgrim Church UCC, Toledo is offering The Alpha Course, a ten-week adult course that takes a look at the basic, fundamental aspects of the Christian faith. The classes, which began on January 8, are offered on Wednesday evenings.

Burton Congregational Church UCC is holding a juried exhibit of two and three dimensional works of art that address issues related to prayer. The "Prayer" exhibit is an outreach of Burton UCC’s arts ministry, which offers faith-inspired exhibits, workshops, book discussions, speakers and concerts to the community. The exhibit opened on January 10 and will run through February 23.

The Confirmation Class and other interested congregation members of Trinity UCC, McCutchenville, traveled to Toledo to worship with the Abat Adonai Congregation on Friday, January 17. Abat Adonai is a Christian congregation led by a Jewish rabbi. They follow the Jewish liturgical year and observe many Jewish worship practices.

At Clague Road UCC in North Olmsted, members were invited to take an envelope of money out of the offering plate on January 12. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, special envelopes, each containing $20, were in the offering plates that Sunday. Worshippers were encouraged to take out one of the special envelopes and use the funds at their discretion to provide a blessing for someone that members might not ordinarily bless. They were encouraged to think creatively about "what Jesus would do," and the results are just between the givers and God.

Brecksville UCC has a Blessing Jar where members can put a note of thanks to a fellow member or church staff member or a note about a blessing they have received. Notes from the jar are printed in the church newsletter for all to enjoy.

Six confirmands at Gomer UCC in need of a service project were provided a unique opportunity by their church to "un-box" 200 new chairs from 40 boxes. The young people spent a Sunday afternoon amid plastic wrap and cardboard, in friendly competition and fun while performing a service for their congregation.

A new technology on the United Church of Christ website will help you post emailed or FAXed letters to your Congressional representatives, Ohio’s state legislators or the editor of a newspaper.

A sample letter (excerpt below) has been placed at the new UCC Take Action Center by the Ohio Conference School Finance Study Group. Visit www.ucctakeaction.org. Edit the letter to make it your own, or send it as is. Try out this technology and at the same time help the School Finance Study Group keep this issue in front of Ohio’s legislature.

Dear (Rep.) (Senator) (Editor):

November’s election day was a sad day in Akron. Many school district buildings were in disrepair. In the Wooster-Lane area, for example, buildings were in such bad condition that they had to be closed, making it necessary to bus children all over the city.

The cost of repairing the district’s buildings was exorbitant. Property owners were unable and unwilling to bear the expense. However, if there were some way to raise matching funds, the district would qualify to receive about $409 million in state money.

The Board of Education suggested an innovative proposal. It won the support of local leaders... The plan was to generate $900 million over 30 years from a half-cent increase in the county sales tax. At 6.5%, the tax would still be less than Cuyahoga County, and it would not include food and medicine. The benefits would be spread over the entire county, reducing the frequency of requests for property-tax increases...

The result of the vote was disappointing...The proposal was defeated...

How long must this continue in our Ohio schools? We need to get the burden of our public school system off the backs of local property owners. The issue has been before the Ohio Supreme Court and the Legislature for more than a decade...

In the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ, we ask you to make sure our state is not maintaining two school systems—one for the children of the privileged and another for other people’s children.

Sincerely, John/Jane Doe, ________ United Church of Christ

"We provided the building, but it was a community effort," said Sue Rainey, a member of St. Jacobs Church UCC in Republic, Ohio.

She was talking about the response, centered in the building occupied by St. Jacobs 60-member congregation, of this northwest Ohio community to the damage caused by tornados on November 10.

Immediately following the storms, two women living in the St. Jacobs area decided to help by feeding the tornado victims and those who were helping to clean up.

The women cooked meals in their homes and set up delivery routes that reached the 45 families whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged. They soon discovered that the task was larger than they could handle from their homes.

"St. Jacobs is right across the street from where the tornados went through," said Ms. Rainey, "and they asked if they could use the church." The congregation opened its doors and made its facilities available for almost three weeks.

Members of the church were there every day to help, but it became a real community effort. "Every day a different church came in and cooked," said Rainey. "One church came and made potato soup. A group from Trinity UCC in McCutchenville made spaghetti and delivered over 60 meals to cleanup workers. People from Union UCC in Bascom as well as several Catholic churches came to help, and non-church community organizations pitched in.

In addition to deliveries, meals were served at the church. "We served soup and sandwiches at noon and a hot meal at night," said Rainey. "There was a massive cleanup on the Saturday following the tornado, and we served 300 – 400 people lunch and dinner that day."

Community members donated quantities of supplies and food. "Wal Mart checked every day to make sure we had enough bottled water and soft drinks. They even paid two of their employees to come out to help serve food," said Rainey.

When the refrigerator in the church broke on the first day, The Appliance Warehouse in Tiffin brought out a new one for the cooks to use.

"I can’t say enough about the experience," said Rainey. "There were so many new friendships made and so many good things that happened. One woman was driving by and saw us carrying food into the church. She stopped and gave us $100 for whatever we needed."

One of the church’s new friends stopped in for a visit during the Sunday service on December 29.

"My husband, who is the consistory president, was reading aloud some thank you notes from the community when a woman came in and asked to speak to the congregation," said Rainey. "She apologized for interrupting the service but said that she was a tornado victim, and just had to stop and thank us for what the church did."

The Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team is looking for people who are willing to be "on call" to respond quickly to crises like the November tornados. Team Coordinator Jim Ditzler learns about needs to be met soon after a disaster, and he needs a group of people who are willing to be possible "first responders." Click here for details.

The Ohio Conference Disaster Response Team needs to respond quickly when a disaster happens. To do this, we need people who are willing to be called on to meet disaster victims’ immediate needs, especially right after a crisis occurs. We’re not looking for a definite commitment but for an indication of willingness to be called upon.

The Team also needs a person in each church to act as a volunteer coordinator. Ideally, coordinators would identify people in the church and the skills and resources they could offer in an emergency, such as building and repair skills, equipment or trucks that could be used or fluency in Spanish. The Disaster Response Team could be even more effective if we had such a "bank" of people who could be called upon immediately after an emergency.

"We are pleased that our search has produced such a fine candidate whom the board concurs will provide excellent leadership for Heidelberg College," said Board of Trustees chairman, Gary Bryenton.

Upon his appointment, Dottavio said, "I find the opportunity to be part of the tradition and future of Heidelberg an exciting prospect."

Josh, Sarah, Letisha, Thomas and...the list continues—108 campers who enjoyed a week at camp because of the faithfulness of UCC congregation members who contributed to the Outdoor Ministries Campership Fund.

 Cookouts and hopping in the dining hall, building campfires and roasting marshmallows, singing table grace, inviting God to be present through hiking and crafts and vespers—former campers tell us that activities like these have contributed to their faith journeys. You can help provide similar opportunities for campers this summer by contributing to the Campership Fund.