Have You Heard?

Rev. David K. Popham, the Hawaii Conference Minister, shared this information in the Hawaii Conference newsletter: WildfiresNo doubt, like me, you watched in horror the newscasts and read news stories as the fires spread across Maui and Hawai'i Islands. Most heartrending at this time are the images of Lahaina on fire. Due to limited phone access, we are still seeking firm information regarding people and church properties directly affected.     We do know the following limited information: Waiola Church fellowship hall burned in the fire, we do not have word on their sanctuary. We know the Campbell House and adjacent park…

High schoolers and youth leaders are heading down to Camp Tamarack youth camp in about a week. We’ll spend seven days together with bonfires, camp songs, togetherness, time to listen and share, oh, lots of sweat, and it’s hot out there. But when we ask teens where they’ve seen God work, summer camp shows up a lot—not because of how fantastic our campsite is, but because God has used this week to change our hearts in beautiful and abundant ways. We’re praying that God does that again this year. I hope and pray that you will send your High Schoolers…

That feeling of experiencing history in person took my breath away, tears rolled down my face and I had to keep my feet from breaking into a full-on Holy Ghost Dance as the favorable vote came across the screens. The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson was elected as the UCC's General Minister and President, the first female and the first of African descent. For me, it was an important reminder of being a part of a larger whole, where each part of the church can offer its blessings and ask for support in its burdens. I have been publicly criticized…

Disaster responders, communicators and coordinators gathered May 8-11 in St. Louis for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) conference, “Gateway to Collaboration.” Attendees from religious and secular organizations from around the country, along with representatives from government agencies such as FEMA, heard the latest disaster response initiatives in the various workshops and presentations offered throughout the four-day event. What was just as important as the plethora of information, though, was for VOAD members to meet in-person once again.“It was good having the family back together,” said the Rev. Karl Jones. Jones, who serves as a Conference Disaster Coordinator…

This month we, the Northern California Nevada Conference UCC, celebrate our 61st Anniversary. We are the United Church of Christ in Northern California and Northern Nevada. We are 110 local churches (13,500 members) and 357 ministers, from Eureka to Tulare, from Monterey to Reno, and everywhere in between. Some of our churches were founded during the early years of the California gold rush. We all started with a desire to be people of worship, education, fellowship, and ministry to our communities. Our mission is to unite ourselves as a covenant community and support and nurture each other as we seek to make God’s…

Luke 24:13-35 Writer Elaine Wainwright shared this text something like this, and it spoke to me. The story’s beginning “immediately grounds the people in the material of the road, the distance and immediacy of all that has just happened.” Two of Jesus’ disciples are walking together on the road from Jerusalem to the nearby village of Emmaus. The evangelist does not initially name the two disciples so that they could be any disciple, male or female. We can all enter this story in the corporeality of our bodily experience. Then another traveler joins the two disciples on their Emmaus journey,…

I have a fourth cousin who is moving to Orlando, Florida. She landed a job as an “imagineer” with Disney. It’s her dream job. Good for her! She happens to be white, cisgender, and straight. Because I am a trans woman, I cannot go to Florida. There are multiple states to which I cannot travel including North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee. They want to erase us. When I moved to the Bay Area in the late summer of 2017, my plan was to take I-70 out of Pittsburgh to St. Louis, pick up I-44 to Oklahoma City, then I-40…

Blessed Holy Week to all of you from all of us, your Conference Staff. Every day, but especially in these days and times in which we live, I thank God for Jesus.    I was blessed yesterday to witness people from different places on their life’s journey have their feet washed by clergy from five denominations. Young, elders, white, black, republicans, democrats, rich, poor, housed, unhoused, the haves and the have-nots, gay, trans people, and pastors like me. One moment that stood out to me the most was observing how attentive an elderly white minister, carefully and tenderly, washed the feet…

As many of you have heard, our NCNC kin at Loomis Basin UCC have been the targets of a horrific campaign of hate because of their support and love for LGBTQ+ youth. Our hearts are broken to know that Pastor Casey Martinez-Tinnin has been specifically targeted by a deliberate misinformation campaign and both he and the church have been threatened with violence.  What’s more, the life-saving space that was being created to nurture the flourishing of these amazing queer youth has become a target of fearmongering hostility. People of good will from all over the Conference have reached out to…