Thanks for wearing your name tag

Thanks to all who wear your name tags at church to help learn each other’s names. Remember, you do not have to be a church member to get a name tag. This is the process of getting a new or replacement name tag. Find a blue connection card on the backs of the pews. Print your name as you would like it to appear on the name tag. Check the box on the card to request a name tag. Put the card in the collection plate during the offering. On the first Sunday of the month, we will clip new name tags to the rack just inside the church doors. 

You can also decorate your name tag on the first Sunday.  You will find stickers to use in Covenant Hall after worship. We encourage you to include a pronoun sticker. This is also when you could move your name tag into a holder that can be used with a lanyard. Some people put their tag on the rack at church as they leave. Some take them to their car or home. In any case, others will appreciate it if you wear your name tag whenever you are at Redlands UCC.

Caring for Kin - Hannah's House of Hope

Caring for Kin is collecting for Hannah’s House of Hope during the month of April. Hannah's House of Hope is a long-term transitional housing facility and program for homeless and at-risk children and their mothers.

We would like to provide them with any size:

• hand soap
• laundry soap
• toilet paper
• paper towels
• bleach and other cleaning supplies
• blue or gray bath towel sets
• Arco gas cards (Unfortunately, RUCC will not be able to order Arco cards through the scrip project at this time. Please investigate buying Arco cards else where to meet the needs of the clients at Hannah's House.)

Help decorate our church with Easter flowering plants

Would you like to share in decorating RUCC with Easter flowering plants for the EASTER season? To purchase an Easter flowering plant, we will have forms available on Sunday to place your order. You can give in honor or in memory of a loved one. Please fill out the form along with $15 donation per plant and put it in the offering plate.  If you have questions, feel free to contact our office at 909-793-3520.

Thank you,

Church Office

Easter Sunday Brunch with the church family

We're sticking to tradition during fellowship time on Easter Sunday. Casseroles will be provided for a festive brunch. Please consider bringinga salad, side dish or dessert to round out the menu. The children will be participating in the second Easteregg hunt of the weekend as well as eating. Parents: you get to relax with friends or make new friends. Watch for next week's issue of The View for more details.

Book Club meeting April 27. There will be no May meeting

The next RUCC Book Club meeting will be on April 27, 2025 at noon in the Founders Room. There will be no May meeting. The book to be ddiscussed in April is Feather Trails by Sophie Osborn. The presenter will be Mark Leggett.

“Ultimately, Feather Trails is an inspiring, poignant narrative about endangered birds and how our choices can help to ensure a future not only for the rarest species, but for us too.”

-Amazon review

“An intimate look at the wonder and effort needed for working with endangered species in the wild. [Osborn’s] matter-of-fact writing style and wry humor make the reader part of the action.”-Booklist review

Guest speaker April 13, 1 p.m. - Founders Room

Please join us for this informative and heartfelt presentation. Prof. Ellen Gruenbaum lived, worked and conducted research in Sudan in the 1970s. Ellen’s talk will focus on the past and present struggles of Sudanese women, describe her own experiences working with Sudanese students and educators, and share the current efforts of the Ahfad University for Women.

Follow this link to learn more. Prof. Gruenbaum’s talk is presented in tandem with this year’s Wednesday evening Lenten Series “Dialogues on the Refugee Crisis”.

Environmental Justice message

[A] group of about 50 leaders from rural communities in eight states — mainly in the western U.S. and Alaska — [travelled to Washington, D.C. recently] to urge lawmakers to preserve funding for climate and environmental projects that is threatened by the Trump administration. Organized by a nonpartisan group called United Today, Stronger Tomorrow, the trip was part of a larger effort by cities, states and civil society groups to stop the administration from withholding investments Congress authorized under the country's first major climate policy, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

[Lenise] Peterman, the Republican mayor of Helper, Utah, says the federal funding is especially important in rural areas. "We don't have the tax base that a more urban environment has," she says. "So, when we get those infusions of cash to bring projects to fruition, to me, it has triple, quadruple the impact that it might have in a more urban setting."

Source: “Rural leaders push Congress to unfreeze climate and environmental funds,” Michael Copley, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 4/1/25: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-s1-5342672/climate-change-grant-funding-freeze-trump-republican

Racial Justice reflection of the week

At the University of British Columbia, we believe excellence cannot be achieved without inclusion. 

Intersectionality is a framework that describes how overlapping social identities relate to racism and oppression. It merges race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and more, to create a more truthful and complex identity.

For example, a queer black woman may experience the world on the basis of her sexuality, gender, and race — a unique experience based on how those identities intersect in her life.

Source: https://vpfo.ubc.ca/2021/03/intersectionality-what-is-it-and-why-it-matters/

Celebrate RUCC's 50th Anniversary June 21 and 22, 2025

Seeking your memories and reflections!

It’s been an interesting time at RUCC for the last 50 years! Do you have a memory or digital photo you would like to share? It doesn’t matter WHEN it took place - 50, 25, 5 years ago, or even yesterday. If you do, write it out (no more than a paragraph) and send it to Kathie Blakley. If you have a digital photo to share, you can upload it to http://tinyurl.com/RUCCupload and let Kathie know the event, participants, and date, and include your name.

We’ll use some of these in several different ways- some as part of the church history book, some in a Memories collection, and some in various displays at the church. —Kathie Blakley, RUCC Church Historian

Rev. Joe's installation, May 4 at 4 p.m.

Rev. Joe may have been the pastor since July, but these installations often happen 3 months to a year after the official start date. It’s not just a celebration of the church and the new pastor – it’s about the work of the wider church in the area and the ties that bind us together. This is an opportunity for us to invite other churches and ministers and build relationships outside the “local church” context. The service will have the Conference Minister Rev. Rachael Pryor preaching, and Rev. Joe will preside over communion. We plan on some special music and a reception afterwards in Covenant Hall. Save the date!

Upcoming Dates to Remember

• April 17 - Maundy Thursday Seder & Tenebrae, 6 p.m. (see article)
• April 18 - Good Friday
• April 19 - RUCC's "Eggstravaganza"
• April 20 - Easter Sunday - Egg hunt for children following the service, brunch during Fellowship Time
• May 4 - 4 p.m. Rev. Joe's installation as RUCC's Senior Pastor
• May 14 - 10 a.m.—3 p.m. Blood Drive in Covenant Hall
• June 21-22 - RUCC's 50th Anniversary Celebration

The complete church calendar is online at https://www.redlandsucc.org/calendar