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Annual Meeting and potluck January 26
RUCC's annual meeting is this Sunday, January 26, after worship. We'll stay in the sanctuary for the business portion of the meeting (see below), then move to Covenant Hall for information, fellowship, and food! Please bring a potluck item to share.
We will have two formal votes at the meeting - first, to approve the recommended 2025 budget, and second, to elect the board for 2025. The nominating committee has put forth the slate below, which the board endorses. We will also accept additional nominations from the floor that day:
- President: Dan Abushanab
- Vice President: Patty Little
- Clerk: Sue Wallace
- Treasurer: Diana Steele-Jones
- Member at Large: Stacy Kaiser
- Growth: Michael Dewey
- Education: Andrea Morics and Jules Rattray
- Shepherds: Maegan Hill
- Stewards: Pam Dunn
- Hospitality: Kimberly Lara-Kane
- Wider Ministries: Kathie Blakely
- Worship: Barbie Fiske-Phillips
We need a majority of covenanting members for a quorum. If you are unable to attend in person, please complete an absentee ballot, available at https://redlandsucc.org/ballot/ and return it physically or electronically to the church office or to an officer of the church.
The RUCC Book of Reports is available here.
If you have any questions, please contact Dan Abushanab, RUCC Board President.
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A message from our Pastor and Teacher
Sunday, January 26 ~ Third Sunday after Epiphany ~ "Grassroots Jesus"
In the three years of Jesus' public ministry, he never traveled farther than he could walk. He never wrote a book or planted a church. He never led an army or held any kind of official office. Yet, he is the most influential figure in all of human history. This is perhaps his greatest miracle. But in addition to divine power, he did something very common—grassroots organizing. He handed power off. He developed and empowered the future leaders of the church who likewise did the same. As we read Luke 5:1-11, when Jesus calls his first disciples by the lakeshore, we will explore and study this holy approach to community.
In the Time of Reflection, I will be playing guitar and singing a song that reminds me of James and John leaving their father Zebedee behind to follow Jesus. It's a song about a seeking your own way when your parent—who wants what's best for you—wants to see you settle down and take things slow. It's Father and Son by Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam.
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Concerns:
- Prayers for those affected by the Palisades, Eaton, Hughes, and other wildfires. Ongoing prayers for Altadena Community Church UCC, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire.
- Ongoing prayers for Mary Lou Haney, and her daughter and caregiver Jennie, and her fiancé Patrick.
- Prayers of thanksgiving for a successful surgery for Fred Freeman, and prayers of recovering and healing. Prayers for his partner and caregiver Kathy Economen.
- Ongoing prayers for Mary Mortensen as she recovers from surgery, and for her husband Larry.
- We renew our prayers for the victims of violence and oppression around the world. This week we lift up the global LGBTQ+ community, which faces danger and oppression in many countries around the world. Even countries with legal protections have seen challenges in accepting, protecting and treating the community fairly.
Ongoing Concerns:
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Danny Anderson
Jerry Andrews
Johanna Ballard's brother
Bill Buchanan
Judith Gregory
Beki Hill
Harriet Holt, Beki Hill's mother
Paisley Parcell
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Jules Rattray’s sister, Jenny
Amber McGuigan
Cynthia McGuigan
Dondon and Scott Mong
Floyd Orr
Dee Dee Seek’s great grandson Jaxson
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Carl Parish
Robert Silver
Steffen family
Sforza family
Tom Miller
Janet Wilson’s great niece Amelia
Michael White
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Pizza With the Pastor...
Sunday, February 16, at noon! An informal gathering for folks considering covenanting with the church for the first time. We'll have copies of the 2025 Covenant booklet and will have a discussion about what it means to become a member of this church. There is an opportunity for questions, not only of Rev. Joe, but a couple of RUCC's volunteer leaders. And of course, lunch is served!
Join us for a time of information, relationships and discussion about whether God may be calling you to Redlands UCC. Enjoy fellowship time after the service, then gather at noon in Founders Room.
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RUCC Dinners for 8ish 2025
Have you been coming to Redlands United Church of Christ for a while but feel like you still only know a handful of people? Are you looking to make new friends and deepen existing friendships at RUCC this year?
By popular demand, RUCC Dinners for 8ish is back for a third year. Participants will share four meals over the course of a year. Your “set”* will coordinate one meal and you’ll attend three meals coordinated by others, each time with three different sets of people. You’ll end up having a meal with a total of twelve sets of people.
If you are interested in participating in RUCC Dinners for 8ish 2025, please click here to sign up and we will be in touch in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, please send an email to D48ish@redlandsucc.org or contact Kim Lara-Kane or Loring Fiske-Phillips.
Please sign up by February 9th.
*A "set" can be you and a friend, you and a significant other, you and your kids, just you, etc.
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Souper Bowl comes to RUCC
Mark your calendar for February 2 and 9 for RUCC's annual "Souper Bowl" competition! The teams representing the NFC and the AFC will be determined this Sunday, January 26. We will collect soup products for the NFC team and cans/packets of tuna and chicken for the AFC team.
Get ready to cheer on your favorite team, as you also support and encourage our hungry kin!
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Rummage Sale coming soon!
RUCC's annual Rummage Sale is Saturday, February 22, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Please start saving your treasures! We are taking clothes, books, toys, small appliances, sports equipment, decorations, artwork, linens, jewelry, home decor, kitchenware—you get the idea. Unfortunately, we cannot take any furniture. We will start accepting donations on Sunday, February 16. There will also be an e-waste truck for collecting TVs, computers, etc. on site during the Rummage Sale hours.
Several people have indicated they want to help with the Rummage Sale—we will be contacting you soon. Please let us know if you haven't been contacted and want to help. Also, if you have any recommendations for where unsold items can go, we would be most appreciative. That's one of the hardest areas to cover.
Thank you so much,
Pam Dunn and Claudia Tolar
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RUCC Bible Study: New Book and Online Access!
We have a new book for Bible Study: Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven by Amy-Jill Levine. We’ll be reading this book together for the next six weeks, beginning this Monday, January 27.
We also have a new link for those who would like to join us online. You do NOT need a Teams account to use this link nor do you need prior experience with Teams.
RUCC Bible Study meets every Monday at church and/or online from 7-8:30 p.m. Please contact al_education@redlandsucc.org if you need a copy of the book, have any questions, or have difficulty with the online link.
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Seekers
The Seekers group is finishing up Becoming Kin. We’re currently discussing chapters 5 and 6, with chapters 7 and 8 left to go. Our next book will be Bitten by a Camel: Leaving Church, Finding God, by Kent Dobson.
Please join us Sunday mornings in Founders Room at 9:00 for social time, with discussion of the book starting at 9:15.
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Parents, want a kid-free night on Valentine's Day?
Drop off your kid(s) at the church at 5 p.m. on February 14 where they'll enjoy a fun night of movie watching (Ratatouille), pizza making (and devouring), and crafts! Pick them up by 8 p.m. and you don’t even have to pay the babysitter!
For more details, contact Susi Jacobsen.
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Caring for Kin, last Sunday in January
This Sunday, January 26, is the last day to give jackets, sweatshirts, and hoodies through Caring for Kin. You have been very generous and the recipients of your donations have been most appreciative. Thank you for keeping our kin warm!
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Pilgrim Pines Winter Camp is February 15-17
It’s almost time for Pilgrim Pines’ annual Winter Camp during Presidents’ Day Weekend. The program is open to kids 6th grade and older. This year's theme is "Belonging."
RUCC offers “camperships” (scholarship funds) to members and also to grandkids of members (even those who don’t attend RUCC).
Please contact al_education@redlandsucc.org if you are considering attending. Registration closes February 8, 2025.
Use the following link to find more information about the program:
https://www.pilgrimpinescamp.org/wintercamp
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Consecration of Live Oak UCC
RUCC is invited to join in a special celebration on Sunday, February 23, at 3:00 p.m. This will be a joyful day as Rev. Sarah Averette-Phillips (daughter of Barbie and Loring) is officially installed at Live Oak United Church of Christ during their Service of Consecration.
The emerging Live Oak UCC is a unique congregation, born from the consolidation of Brea Congregational Church and the Congregational Church of Fullerton. This new church community is three years in the making and has taken countless hours of love, conversation, dreaming, and growing together to become the vibrant church it is today.
With gratitude for RUCC, the church that formed and believed in her, Sarah hopes to share this milestone with the community that helped shape her faith and ministry.
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Chris Singleton has a message...
of Love not Hate, Unity, and Respect. Chris is a former pro athlete who lost his mother in a racially-motivated mass shooting. He is now an inspirational speaker sharing a message of unity and racial reconciliation.
Wednesday, February 5, University of Redlands Chapel, 6:30 p.m. RSVP needed: Redlands.edu/Singleton
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Environmental justice message
The descendants of the Los Angeles Basin’s first people had not had land of their own for nearly 200 years. Two years ago, a 1-acre property in suburban Altadena dotted with oak trees and shrubs became the first parcel of land returned to the Tongva people. They finally had a space to host traditional ceremonies, community gatherings and other events. The fire that broke out in the hills near Eaton Canyon Jan. 7, charring more than 14,000 acres as of Friday, caused significant damage to the property, including the destruction of an old stone house and a garage on the land. Still, the losses could have been much worse if not for the Indigenous practices implemented on the land, according to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the land and cultural heritage of the Tongva people in the L.A. region.
Wallace Cleaves, president of the conservancy’s board, credits traditional stewardship practices — including the removal of 97 fire-prone eucalyptus trees — with reducing the wildfire’s impact. Along with removing the eucalyptus trees, they have nurtured 50 full-grown oak trees and removed tons of old firewood and other debris, Cleaves said. … “Our duty is to be good stewards of the land, of the plants and the animals that are under our care,” [he] said. “So a lot of our efforts went to restoring as much of the Indigenous habitat as we could.”
Source: “The Tongva’s land burned in Eaton fire. But leaders say traditional practices mitigated damage,” Rebecca Plevin, Los Angeles Times, 1/20/25.
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Racial Justice reflection of the week
“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.”
Source: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), minister, activist, civil rights leader. “Where Do We Go from Here” speech, August 16, 1967. (AI image)
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Book Club - February 2
The RUCC Book Group will meet Feb. 2 in Founders Room after church, at noon. The selection for this meeting is The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane with Beth Kolpien presenting.
“Fiona McFarlane’s blazingly brilliant new novel, The Sun Walks Down, tells the many-voiced, many-sided story of a boy lost in colonial Australia. ‘The Sun Walks Down is the book I’m always longing to find: brilliant, fresh, and compulsively readable. It is marvelous. I loved it start to finish.’ ―Ann Patchett” (Amazon review)
Upcoming RUCC Book Group dates and selections:
March 2: Drawn Testimony by Jane Rosenberg, April 6: James by Percival Everett, April 27: Feather Trails, by Sophie A. H. Osborn, No May Meeting, June 1: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
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One moment in 50 years at RUCC
When our church began, we didn’t have a place to meet. Redlands First United Methodist church offered to share their facility with our newly-founded church, and we met there for over eight years. RUCC then met in the Baptist chapel for another 18 months. During this time, our church purchased the current 3.5 acre property at the corner of Olive and Bellevue. It included a historic “Heritage House,” orange trees, and four shares of water for irrigating the grove. The price was $105,000. The old grove house at 1500 W. Olive Ave. was renovated and used for offices and small group meetings. This house was destroyed in an arson fire in 1998 and stones from the house were used to build the church labyrinth.
Pictured: An after-church gathering at the Church House located where the labyrinth is now.
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To be better informed, subscribe to scncucc.org
For the latest information about current events and UCC information, subscribe to the Southern California Nevada UCC Conference newsletter which you can find at scncucc.org. You can subscribe by scrolling down to the button that says, “subscribe here.”
ALSO: The latest information from the Conference is "L.A. Works is THE place to go if you want to volunteer with recovery efforts most effectively." You can connect with them on Facebook or their website laworks.com.
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Upcoming Dates to Remember
- January 26, 11:30 a.m. - Annual Meeting of the Congregation with potluck (see article)
- February 1, 9 a.m.-noon - Sacred Saturday
- February 2, 12 noon - Book Club (see article)
- February 2 & 9 - Souper Bowl (see article)
- February 13, 8 a.m., Interfaith Bagel Bash at Redlands SDA
- February 15-17, Pilgrim Pines Winter Camp (see article)
- February 16, 12 noon - Pizza with the Pastor (see article)
- February 22 - Rummage Sale (see article)
The church calendar is online at redlandsucc.org/calendar
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Sunday, January 26
- Seekers ~ 9:00 a.m. Social; 9:15 to 10:15 - Discussion - Founders Room.
- 9:30 a.m. – Kids’ Zone
- 10:30 a.m. – Worship service
- 11:30 a.m. - Congregational meeting, Sanctuary
- Noon - All-church potluck gathering, Covenant Hall
Monday, January 27
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7 p.m. - Bible Study at church or online
Tuesday, January 28
Wednesday, January 29
- 1 p.m. - Mahjong, Mosaic Hall
- 7 p.m. - Choir rehearsal
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Thursday, January 30
Friday, January 31
- 7 p.m. – Woman’s AA Meeting - Founders Room
Saturday, February 1
- 9 a.m.-noon - Sacred Saturday, Mosaic Hall
Sunday, February 2
- Seekers ~ 9:00 a.m. Social; 9:15 to 10:15 - Discussion - Founders Room.
- 9:30 a.m. – Kids’ Zone
- 10:30 a.m. – Worship service
- 11:30 a.m. - Fellowship time, Covenant Hall
- all day -- Souper Bowl begins (see article)
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RUCC Staff
Senior Pastor: Rev. Joe Zarro
Music Director: David Wells
Associate Music Director: Sophia Ohanian
Children's Education Director: Susi Jacobsen
Director of Youth Ministries: Kathy McCool
Office and Property Manager: Veronica Bermudez
Child Care: Caitlin Walsh
Website: www.redlandsucc.org
Phone: 909-793-3520
Staff and Other Emails
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pastor@redlandsucc.org
musicdirector@redlandsucc.org
childrenseducation@redlandsucc.org
youth@redlandsucc.org
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office@redlandsucc.org
weddings@redlandsucc.org
theview@redlandsucc.org
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