On Friday, October 11, the Eastern Ohio Association will hold an Association Worship Service for church professionals and their families, who rarely get a chance to worship together. The service will be held at Suffield UCC.

Christ Church UCC, Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, sponsored "Talking to Your Kids About Alcohol and Drugs," a program for parents of kids of all ages, on September 18. The program was co-sponsored by North Key Community Care Regional Prevention Center.

The Federated Church UCC, Chagrin Falls, sponsors Parents’ Night Out, 6 – 9 pm, one Friday night a month during the school year. It is open to children ages 2 – 14. Pizza dinner, crafts and service projects, Christian storytime, organized games, free time and movies are provided. Federated Church members serve as caregivers. The cost is $10 for one child, $5 for each additional child, $25 maximum.

The Board of the Diaconate at Pilgrim Church UCC, Toledo hosted their first Pastor’s Brunch for all new persons at Pilgrim on Sunday, September 29, 12:15 pm. The brunch is for new people to learn about Pilgrim Church, meet church personnel and leaders, and ask questions about membership and the church.

Christ UCC, Orrville will offer Children and Communion classes at 5 pm on Wednesday evenings in November. The classes are for elementary school age children and their parents in preparation for the child taking communion.

Pilgrim UCC, Cleveland held an open house on September 22 to introduce the congregation to the new Community of Artists in Residence space at Pilgrim. The group is looking for other people who want to explore their creativity and the connection between creativity and spirituality. The artists get together on Tuesday evenings, or the room can be used as individuals’ schedules permit.

A traditional fund raising project for First UCC, Sugarcreek is a tent at the Swiss Festival in September, where baked goods and crafts created by congregation members are sold. In preparation for the event, groups gather at the church to make Braetzli, an almond flavored cookie handmade with a Swiss iron, and sweet rolls.

First Church, Congregational, Painesville has started a small group fellowship program called Dinner for Eight. Sign-ups are being taken for people interested in having dinner once a month with seven other First Church members. Group members must be willing to either plan an evening out or host a dinner at home. The group will meet for four months, and then group members will be changed.

The Arts Ministry of Burton Congregational UCC, Burton, will open the inaugural exhibit of the ministry, Peace, on October 4. The juried exhibit will run until December 27 in the Ronyak Room at Burton.

First Congregational UCC, Berea, held a workshop on hand painting on silk as a fund raiser in September. The $60 fee included a day of instruction and all materials and supplies.

Today’s record-setting heat for this valley, combined with window air conditioners that don’t work or don’t work very well, sent us scurrying for ice–lots of it–for cold drinks at supper.

Our consensus after a hard, hot day of work was that tacos never tasted better, and cold lemonade was God’s own elixir!

People are warming up to us—and we to them. They’ve started to share their stories. Tears were shared, too, as folks wanted – needed – to tell us about their experiences.

A volunteer who read 400 case files said her head spins from report after report detailing how fast the flood waters came up and how much of the damage came from above as water sheeted off the mountains.

Even people who have lived here for years, used to the risks of flooding, could not believe what was happening.  They had to sprint up the hills to safety only to turn around and watch their houses disappear under muddy waters in mere minutes, then within a couple of hours see them reappear as waters receded, leaving behind the destruction of a life-time’s treasures.

Some carried older family members and neighbors in their arms, with their oxygen tanks dangling or their dialysis equipment trailing in the muddy swirling waters.

Today a stout group of teenagers and their adult advisors ripped off a laundry room, paneled the ends of a trailer house, repainted, set up footers, and donated several hundred dollars for building supplies when they discovered that the divorced owner-mother had mis-estimated what she needed for this project, and had run out of money.

We listened to her story, a 28-year-old who has had 15 surgeries and a problem pregnancy which nearly cost her only son’s life. The story goes on with heart-wrenching tales of a violent domestic assault and life-long depression.

She’s a survivor, and we’re helping her make a better home for her son and herself. We wonder as we work how much longer the tree stumps which supported her hillside house would have lasted!

Other workers laid up three courses of cinder block for the foundation of a house that had to be lifted by a crane some 4-5 feet above the high water mark.

Their backs, shoulders and fingers are pretty sore tonight from working on a scaffold to lay the blocks, but they feel good about what they accomplished.

The grown ups tell me they are so proud of their kids, who aren’t even complaining (very much!) about food, dirt, heat, smell, no water pressure in the showers, and too little a/c at night.

These are all vexing problems that are not vexing enough to dampen our determination to give a good account of ourselves, to represent our United Church of Christ conferences faithfully, and to leave smiles behind us when we head north.

As the day progressed, we got a primer on how to prepare gabion baskets to serve as retaining walls where river banks are eroding.

Most of all, the day provided lessons about cooperation, giving and taking gently and respectfully, praising and lifting up each other, and having a good laugh which helps make nasty conditions fall victim to our undiminished joy at being a servant community for this week.

"This mission will be transformative for the people who go. They will be different people when they come home," says Tracy Hughes of the peacemaking trip to Israel/Palestine she will lead next January.

"It will change the way they live out their faith, the way they live in the United States, and their outlook on the world."

Rev. Hughes, Minister to Families, Youth and Young Adults at Trinity UCC, Wooster, is speaking from experience. She has made several such trips as a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). The CPT objective is to strategically intervene in situations of armed conflict with the goal of reducing violence and creating space where nonviolent alternatives can take root.

Pastor Hughes invites others from the Ohio Conference to join her from January 19 – 31, 2003 on a 12-member peace delegation to the Hebron Region.

She describes the mission this way: "The delegation will provide a 12-day engagement with groups in Israel and Palestine that are engaged in non-violent peacemaking. We will engage these groups in conversation and learn from their voices."

"We will spend time in the Hebron Region with the Christian Peacemaker Team living in the center of Hebron. We will actively engage the oppression of the current situation with prayer vigils, non-violent direct action and other forms of peacemaking."

From a flyer describing the mission: "…The presence of a peacemaker delegation can instill hope in a situation that seems to have reached an impasse and can support people on both sides of the conflict..."

The delegation will receive pre-departure training on January 3 - 4 and will meet after the trip to share and process the trip and make plans for reaching out to others about the experience.

The CPT is seeking participants with some of these interests, experiences and gifts:

Participants are expected to prepare for the trip by becoming familiar with the current conditions in Israel/Palestine; to communicate their experiences upon return; and to raise $1800 to cover costs of the trip (includes international airfare, all in-country travel, simple accommodations, two meals/day, honorariums and delegation fees).

The delegation will work with a trained CPT group in Hebron. CPT has had a presence in Hebron since 1995. "They are sensitive to the culture and knowledgeable about the issues. They have lived in the violence," said Pastor Hughes.

Rev. Hughes hopes the joint UCC/Disciples of Christ delegation will be able to:

But she notes, "The situation will be fluid. Plans will be changed as the situation demands. A long-lasting curfew can keep us from doing what we had planned. But just the fact that the team members are there, seeing and experiencing and going home to tell about it, is enough," she said.

"The delegation is a way to learn about and experience the crisis, the occupation, and to live with the Palestinians. We hope to connect with them on human and faith levels. Through faith – Christian or Muslim – all are connected through God."

Tracy was with CPT in Bethlehem beginning the Monday after Easter when tensions were high. Because of the curfew, they could not leave the homes where they stayed to carry out the activities they had planned.

Even so, it meant a great deal to the Palestinians to have CPT members there. "I heard it over and over," said Rev. Hughes, "even from people I didn’t know. They thanked us for coming to see what is happening to them and for telling people about it."

What of the difficulties of the trip? "Delegation members will experience emotional stress, sharing the Palestinians’ lives, becoming friends with people who live with the results of the occupation, the danger and the bombing," said Rev. Hughes. "Also, we will be taking risks; it could be dangerous," she added.

Why then does she return? "I feel called by my faith to do this," said Rev. Hughes. "I believe that people of faith are called to work in partnership with God to create a world of peace and justice. This is one way and one place where this work can be done."

"I believe that people are looking for ways to engage in alternative peacemaking," said Rev. Hughes, "a yearning to create a world where justice can thrive. The situation in the Middle East seems overwhelming. People don’t know what they can do."

"This delegation is a way to do something positive by being a presence in Israel and then coming back to share the experience with others."