1. Placement Assistant
2. National Youth Event
3. A Letter from John Thomas, President of the UCC
1. With the arrival of a new Placement Assistant, there will be several changes
in the operations of the Placement team. First, the Placement Assistant will
now be based in the Conference office in Yarmouth, so you can reach her at (207)
846-5118 or (800) 244-0937. Please send all correspondence for the Placement
Assistant or David Gaewski to the office in Yarmouth. Secondly, the new e-mail
address for the Placement Assistant is placement@maineucc.org beginning immediately.
Karen’s old e-mail address will disappear at the end of the month. We
have hired a new Placement Assistant, who will begin in the middle of January.
Stay tuned for more details.
2. Save the Date. The Maine Conference’s trip to the National Youth Event
will be July 23-29, 2008. Watch your mail. Additional information will arrive
in early January, including costs and fundraising suggestions for youth and
their churches.
Dear
Churches
Earlier this month, at the UCC's Amistad Chapel in Cleveland, dozens of worshipers lifted a beautiful cacophony of prayers for peace, using the personalized prayers that many of our UCC members and supporters have posted on the "100,000 for Peace" site in support of U.S. military personnel. It was a powerful, audible reminder of the thousands of individuals and congregations that are praying earnestly for peace and safety for our troops and for the people of Iraq. Have your offered your online prayer yet?
Today,
I'd also like to invite you and your local church to demonstrate -- in yet another
powerful way -- the hundreds of thousands of prayers that are growing from across
our "100,000 for Peace" movement. We're asking that your church consider
circulating a "prayer journal" among your members -- either before
or after Sunday worship, or as part of the service itself -- in order to collect
prayers and encouragements that we will forward on to troops on your behalf.
We've created a short how-to guide
to help you create your own prayer journal.
If we receive your prayer journals by Tuesday, January 15, we'll bless them
during weekly worship in the Amistad Chapel on Wednesday, January 16, and then
ship them to our UCC military chaplains serving in Iraq. They should receive
them during the season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6. What
a great way to bridge these two major seasons of the church year with prayers
of peace, love and goodwill. Get started on your prayer journal this Sunday.
Thank
you for your continued witness for peace this Christmas.
The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ
P.S. As of today, we've raised $63,000 toward our goal of collecting $100,000
before January 6 for the UCC's Iraq Humanitarian Appeal. Please
make a donation to aid families displaced by war in Iraq.