May 20, 2021 Thursday Thoughts

May 20, 2021 Thursday Thoughts

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May 20, 2021

Dear Congregation:

ERUCC continues to be a blessing and support for our younger adults as they explore their faith through a variety of ways – worship, Sunday School, youth group activities, community service, and travel.  In 2020, we were unable to travel to the UCC National Youth Event or welcome our German partners.   We hoped and prayed that 2021 would provide the opportunity to engage in travel once again.

As I write this, we have Plan A and Plan B for a trip July 22-31.  Plan A is to visit our partners from Klein Schwechten in Germany.   We will be traveling to Ravensbrueck and staying at a youth hostel that is close to the concentration camp that housed, mostly women.  During our week together, we will join in outdoor activities, visit Potsdam, and hold conversations about our lives under the pandemic.

As of this writing, Germany is not open to US visitors which may lead us to Plan B which is spending a week in Memphis, TN at First Congregational UCC.    This program will involve an immersion in the civil rights movement, particularly related to labor.  We would be visiting the Civil Rights museum and engaged in their food ministry, bike repair ministry, and other mission projects.

Whether we do Plan A or Plan B, our youth will be immersed again in a transformative experience.

Due to COVID, we have been unable to do our usual food raisers.  While each family provides financial support for their son or daughter to participate, we count on our fund raising efforts to make these trips as affordable as possible.

I am asking you to consider making a gift towards our summer activities.  I am asking you to continue to invest in our youth by contributing online and marking your gift “youth” or write a check to ERUCC and put “youth” in the memo line.

Thank you.

Pastor Daniel

 

Worship          Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1–21 “I will pour out my Spirit….”

Pentecost, as described in the classic text in Acts 2:1-21, is a high holy day of the life of the church. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the founding of the Christian church.  More than that, on Pentecost we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the life of the church and into our own lives.  The power of the Holy Spirit is reinforced in the gospel for this day, John 15:26-27 and 16:4b-15, when Jesus explains what the Holy Spirit will do for the faithful.  Romans 8: 22-27 implies creation itself has been in a period of birth, bringing something new into the world.

You are invited to wear red, to symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit,  as you come to worship in the building or worship at home

 

Food for Thought:   

Come Holy Spirit, come. Renew your church. Ignite our hearts. Open us to new understanding. Propel us to greater ministry. Breathe on us.  Come, Holy Spirit. Come!

 

Rev. Dr. Barbara Kershner Daniel, Senior Pastor

Evangelical Reformed Church, United Church of Christ

15 West Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701

301-662-2762

E-mail: bkdaniel@erucc.org

 

Article by Evangelical Reformed UCC