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Click here for a three-minute animated video on empathy, narrated by Brene Brown

Featured Webinars September 24, 2020 - Disaster and Health: A Discussion About Race, Gender and Social Justice - the first in a free series sponsored by the Anna Julia Cooper Center. Click here for more information and to register! On Demand or Live by Request "Building Resilience," a one-hour program available in two versions, one for faith leaders* and one for general audiences, offered by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Designed to increase participants’ understanding of their own signs of stress and to teach in-the-moment tools to engage the relaxation response in body and mind. Click here for full information. * The on-demand webinar is offered in English and Spanish, as is a worksheet for both faith leaders and general audiences.

Support and Educational Opportunities 

Webinars and Training Resources - In Selected Conferences (All are welcome)

Coping With COVID-19 Resources for All

Stories of Hope

August 14, 2020 - UCC grant aids COVID-affected refugees, immigrants in CA and NY

August 6, 2020 - Grant to Kansas church aids immigrant, refugee neighbors during pandemic

August 5, 2020 - UCC pandemic grant, through conference, aids Marshallese congregations in Arkansas

August 4, 2020 - COVID-19 grants to UCC conferences, from PPE to tech upgrades

July 17, 2020 - California church caring for, feeding newcomers aided by disaster relief grant

July 7, 2020 - "Recovering Hope"offers emotional care resources in COVID-19

June 23, 2020 - 270 gallons of hand sanitizer for UCC PA Southeast Conference

June 15, 2020 - UCC funds three COVID-19 response grant requests in Africa

May 1, 2020 - UCC Disaster Ministries grants COVID-19 relief funds to NY Conference

April 21, 2020 - Indiana-Kentucky Conference models face mask-making project

For more information, or to share your resources
Contact: recoveringhope@ucc.org 

A Kentucky pastor, a long-time champion and supporter of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering, sees it becoming even more important in this time of COVID-19. 

"You are God's field; God's building."

Through the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering, we are planting seeds of new life.

Together, we are investing in communities worldwide: providing education to girls and boys, empowering communities through vocational
training, supporting microcredit lending and seeing people through to self-sufficiency, empowering families with skills to support themselves and their neighbors, and participating in sustainable solutions that offer dignity to all.

These are just a few ways the OGHS offering touches God’s children, in addition to disaster relief and refugee initiatives.

Through your generosity, the world is a better place. But more is needed. Today, you have an opportunity to plant seeds into the lives of others. Be a co-worker with God. Building, planting, watering…and trusting that God gives growth to all good gifts shared in faith. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your generosity

Invest in Futures

In Thailand, a 13-year-old girl arrives at the New Life Center, seeking relief
from the cruel conditions that have brought her here. Her life up to this
point has been mostly about survival. Here, she meets others like her. Some
are survivors of sexual abuse, domestic violence or human trafficking. Some
have been forced to work when they wanted to go to school.

What will the future be like when she is empowered to share her gifts with
her community and the world?

At the New Life Center, she is met with the investment of time, support,
and resources. And she is loved. She is allowed to imagine a new future.
Finishing school. Learning a trade. Even going to University to earn a degree.
In I Corinthians 3:9 Paul writes that we are all co-workers together in God’s
service. Some of us plant. Some of us water. But God gives the growth. Paul
reminds us that we are all called into the service of God, who cares for each
and every one of us. What could the future be like when we work to plant
and water together, and trust God to give the growth?

When you give to One Great Hour of Sharing, you invest in the futures of
these girls and countless others like them. Your gifts go to provide education,
vocational training, basic necessities, and much-needed community support.
When we share the love of Christ in this way, we see lives transformed. Not just
their lives, but ours as well. Because when we empower girls to build a life for
themselves, we help God build a better world for us all.

As we invest in futures and serve as co-workers with God, the future
becomes one of endless possibility and opportunity. What a great return on
our investment!

To order additional bulletin inserts, order at www.uccresources.com 

In the church, we often talk about the virtues of “servant leadership.” At its best, that term encourages church leaders to model their ministry after Jesus, who stooped to wash the feet of his disciples, who served them at the table, and who prayed for them faithfully even in his final hours.

God invites each of us to lead by serving, to share freely of our gifts so that God may work through us. Indeed, the word translated as “servant” in 1 Cor. 3:5 in the NIV is diakonos, the root of the term “deacon.”

Paul uses the term to describe someone whose work may be of benefit to others. Specifically in this context, he describes someone whose efforts God may use as a channel for good and growth. In choosing to humbly give their gifts, “servant-leaders” become channels of God’s healing love, so that all may enjoy the powerful experience of shared value, worth, and investment.

When we work and share our gifts together, none of us has to be Paul or Apollos, or any famous spiritual leader, in order to be faithful to the responsibilities we have been given. None of us is expected to solve all the problems of the world alone, or even as individual churches. Rather, we are called to use the time, talent, and resources we have been given for the opportunities before us. In so doing, we have the joyful opportunity to participate in the growth God is already providing in the world.

One Great Hour of Sharing works through a global network of partners, so that none of us has to do this work alone. Strong relationships are at the heart of this shared ministry, recognizing that true servant leadership empowers each person and community to use the gifts they’ve been given.

The Greek word translated as “co-workers” in 1 Cor. 3:9 in the NIV is synergoi. It shares a root with the English word synergy, meaning the interaction of two contributions—which, when combined, produce a greater effect than the simple sum of those contributions. 

When we give to One Great Hour of Sharing, our gifts join with others and the effects multiply exponentially as God gives growth.

The growth of any garden depends on the soil in which it grows. Different plants give and take different nutrients from the soil. Good gardeners are careful to balance plant varieties so that everything growing in the garden will have what it needs to thrive and bear fruit. If the balance of the soil nutrients is thrown off, all the plants in the garden may suffer. Keeping that balance does not mean treating all plants the same. Rather, it means giving each plant what it needs. As co-workers in God’s garden, when we share in the work of One Great Hour of Sharing, we make an investment in the future and receive abundant blessings in return.

Unlike with the stock market or a retirement account, we do not invest in God’s growth to receive a benefit for ourselves. Rather, we give, receive, plant, and water in the service of the future for which God yearns. 

A little-known band called Yurtfolk set to music the words of the Brazilian theologian Rubem Alves’ quote: “We must live for the love of what we may never see.” The song tells the story of an old man who plants a date tree in whose shade he will never sit, and whose fruit he will never eat. Why would he do that? Simply—for the love of what he may never see.

In this letter from Paul, the Jesus-followers in Corinth are encouraged to give and plant without undue attachment or ownership to the end result. It matters little who takes credit for the good fruits borne by the faith community in Corinth—Paul or Apollos. What matters is that they bear the fruit God has called them to bear. 

Church leaders may want to reflect on how our churches learn to live for the love of what we may never see.
How might we invest in futures, trusting that even if we may never see it, God indeed will give abundant
growth?

Call to Worship

One: Gardeners plant, not fully knowing if their gardens will grow. Yet, they kneel in the dirt, dig with their hands, and bury one seed at a time.

Many: They plant and trust that a harvest will come.

One: God’s word tells us that we are to be co-workers in service to others.
Yet many times, we don’t see how our meager support can help.

Many: We plant and trust that a harvest will come.

One: One plants. Another waters. But God gives the growth. We join
together as co-workers in God’s service to release the healing waters of God’s love throughout our world.

Many: We rejoice, trusting in God’s goodness, and trusting in God’s word.

Invocation

God of Growth and Abundance,
Prepare the soil of our hearts to receive your life-bearing call that we would invest our gifts with confidence and joy in the fruitful future you bring forth. We pray in the name of the One who makes all things new. Amen.

Offertory

When violence reigns, disaster strikes, or resources are scarce, a future with hope can seem far away. In those times, our communities can act as sources of important support, embodying the love of the Holy Source of all hope and healing.

Paul writes we are all co-workers in God’s service. We each have gifts to offer that may serve as channels of love and strength to all of us who find ourselves in need of support. We can trust that whatever we offer, God will use to bring
a future with hope.

Through the ministries of this church and through the ministries supported by One Great Hour of Sharing, we have the opportunity to be part of the hopeful future God is already bringing forth. Imagine what the future could be like when we join hands together across distance, cultures, and generations to invest in the growth God promises to bring.

Let us invest our gifts in the future that we can build as co-workers in the kingdom of God. Let us give generously today, believing in the future growth God brings when we work, plant, and build together.

Prayer of Dedication

Fruit-bringing God,
Bless the investments we commit to your work this day that our efforts would serve the future thriving of the world you so love.  Amen. 

Litany

Holy God, who brings sweet growth, teach us to live for the love of what we do not yet see.

Though we may sometimes feel buried deep, we can trust that your love, your hope, and your healing are always making ready to burst forth. Cultivate in us a belief in what the future could be when each one of us is empowered to fully live into the life your envision for us. 

O God, who brings sweet growth, teach us to live for the love of what we do not yet see.

Your life-bringing design is visible in the beauty of creation, in the dawning of each day and in the turning of the seasons. Awaken in us a hope that when we plant, when w

e water, and when we invest in the future you are bringing, we are part of the joyful work of releasing the waters of new life.

O God, who brings sweet growth, teach us to live for the love of what we do not yet see. Amen.

Communion Invitation

One: Dear co-workers in God’s service, we are called to the feast prepared by Christ.

Many: We come tired yet hopeful. We come with laughter and tears.
We come broken and blessed. We come to taste God’s promise of a world made whole.

One: At this table, may we find rest. At this table, may we find hope. At this table, may we be moved to plant new seeds, to nourish fresh sprouts, and to join in bringing forth all the future fruit God is growing even now.

Many: To this table, we bring our dreams, our prayers, and our gifts with hopeful trust in God’s holy healing power and love.

Words of Institution

On the night that he knew would be his last with them,
Jesus gathered his disciples for a feast.
They had walked many miles together.
They had known trials. They had seen wonders.
They would soon need to trust that God is in the business
of bringing hopeful futures from even the most painful endings.
So after dinner was over, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it,
and shared it with them, saying take, eat, do this in remembrance
of me.

Then he also took the cup, blessed it,
saying, “take, drink, do this in remembrance of me.”
Every time we do this, beloved co-workers in Christ, we too remember
that God is in the business of bringing hopeful futures even when we
have no idea of what is to come.

We eat and drink today to be filled to the brim with that good news.
We eat and drink this day to become holy channels
of Christ’s hope and healing for ourselves and for our world.

Prayer for Bread and Cup

God of the table,
You feed the wild birds of the air with fruit-filled
Branches and we flock to your table todayLonging to taste the hope and healing that you promise.

Nourish us with the bread
That sustains our souls and gives us hope.
Wash over us, reviving our roots in you.
Bless these elements we share
That the future you long for might
Burst into bloom in our hearts and in the world.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Rain-bringing God,
We give thanks for the gifts of bread and cup
Flowing with your promise of a future full of hope.
Carry us forth with courage to live for the love of all that
we do not yet see.
With trust in your eternal stream of new life we pray.
Amen.

Benediction

Go forth bearing the good news that God promises a future full of hope.
Go forth with expectant eyes, watching for the fruit God will bring.
Go in boldness, proclaiming God’s promises to the world.

Hymn suggestions: New Earth, Heavens New; Seed Scattered and  Sown; Beyond Dying Sun, For the Healing of the Nations, For Everyone Born, Welcome, Fresh as the Morning (God of the Bible), In the Bulb There
is a Flower, Now the Green Blade Rises, Pelas Dores Deste Mundo, O
Senor/ENGLISH, Si Tu Vieras Fe/If You Only had Faith11

It is not a coincidence that Lesby lives in the town "El Porvenir" which means the future. She has always been focused on how to improve her future and that of her baby Selby. Life in this municipality is not easy. Almost 40% of its inhabitants live in extreme poverty and 16% of babies and children face chronic malnutrition. However, children in this area live in better conditions than in other border municipalities in the south where almost half of children suffer from chronic diseases, learning disorders, and developmental delays as a result of chronic malnutrition.

Fortunately, Lesby had access to prenatal care at a local clinic, had an uncomplicated pregnancy, and after nine months gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby. Lesby recalls that thanks to the education she received at the clinic she was able to balance her diet with more fruits, vegetables, and meat which greatly benefited Selby.

But what price did she pay for a pregnancy without setbacks that resulted in a healthy and strong baby? Selby's father had to migrate to the United States in search of a better future for his family. Having her partner far away left Lesby with mixed emotions. On the one hand she is grateful for the economic opportunities it entails, but on the other hand, her daughter does not know her father.

The separation of the family has been difficult. Selby's father is one of the approximately 3.2 million Central Americans who live and work in the United States. Thanks to the remittances that Lesby receives month after month from the United States, she was able to access nutritious food during her pregnancy. She also had enough money to participate in a Habitat for Humanity program to build her house, a home where Selby can now play, eat, and sleep in a safe environment.

Thanks to your support, children like Selby have a brighter future. Better health and a safe environment during childhood will have lifelong benefits.

Bread for the World is supported by contributions from One Great Hour of Sharing. And because of our support, Bread for the World has invited interested parties to participate in a conference call with special guest, Dr. Lawrence Haddad, co-winner of the 2018 World Food Prize. The Conference call will take place on Tuesday, March 19, at 3:00 pm Eastern Time. Join us in the fight to end hunger. Call 773-231-9226 and use access code 149 691 3232#.

Lectionary Preaching Notes from the lens of UCC Humanitarian and Development Ministries
(Disaster, Refugee and Global Sustainable Development)

These ministries are made possible by your participation in the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering (UCC)

2019 
Year C

February 10

Text: Luke 5: 1-11

Preaching Focus:  Following Jesus means making an impact for the common good that is more than we can imagine.

Interpretation and Informing Stories

The disciples are fishing, without success.  This story like many others has multiple layers of meaning.  There is the physical, that these people who fish for a living, need that catch for their livelihood.  No fish – no income. Jesus steps in and the fish that have eluded them are present in abundance.

In UCC sustainable development ministries, we are part of such experiences in sustainable agricultural work.  In Central America, people need their farms and gardens to produce food in order to live.  When that land does not produce food because climate change has caused drought or violence has made it dangerous to cultivate the land, people suffer.  They need the land to produce food for their livelihood.  When people are brought together to teach each other new cultivation techniques that work in the new drought-prone lands, or when access to a microsavings loan cooperative enables women to gain access to cash for agricultural inputs, the community as a whole is strengthened.  Families have money for uniforms and shoes to send their children to school.  People connect with their neighbors in new ways to depend on each other.  These strong communities have a greater impact than we can imagine.  Communities thrive. Violence is curbed. People can stay in their home countries and not have to risk a dangerous journey north to try to enter the U.S. for asylum. 

The story of disciples and the disciples fishing also has a layer of meaning about where assistance comes from.  In humanitarian work, the danger is that those with access to resources may create systems that exercise power over rather than power with those who need access to those resources.  Whether deliberate or not, the transfer of resources can become disempowering rather than a building up of community. A needs-based mission based on identifying needs and then meeting those needs can be disempowering.  A grace-ful mission, however, identifies strengths and gifts present among a community and seeks new ways that these strengths can be brought together for the building up of community.

Greg Jarrell, in his 2018 book “A Riff on Love,” exemplifies this asset and strengths-based approach to life and faith.  Using his experiences as part of the Enderly Park Community in Charlotte, North Carolina and as a professional saxophonist, Greg writes of abundant community and belonging.  As the book cover notes “Surprising teachers. Tragic losses.  Unexpected gifts.  Every neighborhood has stories and ways of singing the stories of their place.  Start digging in, and you find all sorts of music.  In a neighborhood skilled in improvisation, like Enderly Park, you also discover new ways to sing those songs, and a choir of new kinfolk to sing them with.”  I recommend this book to you for your devotional and activist reading.

Hymn
Be Thou My Vision

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Name strengths of your own local community

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Cover Text

We sometimes think that “imagination” means something escapist or illusory. Yet, imagination is not something unreal or fake. No, it is essential to God’s hope for creation. Hear how the Apostle Paul put it: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine….” (Ephesians 3:20-21). And God imagines a world where all are safe,all are loved, all are fed.

You see, when we use our imaginations in the way that God does, we can begin to envision – and work for! – a world where no child goes unfed, un-housed, or unloved; where no one ever fears abuse or violence; where clean water is not a dream but a reality for all; where small farmers do their work with dignity and are paid a fair wage for their labors; where agricultural practices enrich and renew the land rather than deplete it; where survivors of natural disasters have the resources they need, now and for years to come; where vulnerable immigrants are welcomed in Christ’s name.

Can YOU imagine these things? Through your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing what we can imagine becomes ever more a reality for more and more people. Please give generously!  “More Than You Can Imagine...”

Inside Text

More than we can imagine

Hurricane Maria caused unimaginable damage in Puerto Rico. Who would believe that so much infrastructure, electricity and housing were destroyed? People’s lives and families were disrupted.

For Edda, a woman who lives in a house once belonging to her parents, the thought of losing her childhood home to the storm was unimaginable. Hurricane Maria left the roof of her house in such bad shape that water was leaking through her home every time it rained. To make matters worse, Edda’s husband had recently undergone knee surgery. She had to put towels and buckets around the inside of the house so he didn’t slip or fall on the wet floors.

Edda couldn’t fix her roof by herself and because of the surgery, her husband couldn’t either. They could not imagine how the repairs on their home would happen. They could not imagine that strangers would come and help them with a good roof that could weather the next storm.

Thanks to the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Puerto Rico (IEUPR), and help from four amazing volunteers, their roof was fixed in four days. Edda was grateful for the help because it wasn’t possible for her to do it alone.

Lydia Rosaly, with IEUPR shared Edda’s story, and like Edda, Lydia is thankful for our support, and walking with them towards a holistic long-term recovery.

Your support provides more than we can imagine. Thank you!

One Great Hour of Sharing, United Church of Christ

700 Prospect Avenue | Cleveland, OH 44115

216-736-3215 | Email: oghs@ucc.org

www.ucc.org/oghs

OGHS travel makes our work in the world through the United Church of Christ come alive. Listen to these testimonials and consider how you can be involved in future trips.