Especially in our Prayers: Cheyenne Olson and family, at the death of her sister, in Manhattan, Kansas.
Pool Party Wednesday! 7-9 at the Berea Pool. Pizza and drinks provided, bring a side or dessert if you can. 
Office Help Needed, August 6-8, possibly 9: Joan English, Office Admin, will be away  picking up her parents, George & Elsie Hardman, in Florida and bringing them back here to live permanently. If you can cover the office on one or part of those days, it would be much appreciated! Call 859-986-3725 or email office@union-church.org.We may ask for help unloading the POD when it gets here, too, around Aug. 15. Prayers welcome as the family settles into a new routine.
Sue Reimondao, a counselor at Berea College, knows of a student who needs housing for the fall semester. He’s taking fall off, going back to school in the spring, and does not have safe family to live with. Please call the office – Rev. Kent has more info. Thanks.
The Ngabwema Family Sends Their Thanks!!  Thanks to your donations of money and furniture all 7 members of the Ngabwema family is sleeping on beds in their new apartment and have dishes, lamps, and cooking pots. Charlsa Hensley, Shane Wilcher, Sayer and Dave Kobersmith, Paul Jacobs and Pastor Kent delivered and set up furniture from Union Church on Tuesday. As we know how we can help them adjust, we’ll share more!
The 9th Berea Celtic Festival, August 17-19, includes a fantastic traditional and grassroots concert at Union Church Sat. 8/18 (admission $20, students/kids $5, under 6 free, special seating $50), and Irish harp music at the Sunday service. Volunteers are needed all weekend! If you can help, call Sune Frederiksen at  248-0690, or email sune.ky@icloud.com
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/207398293258504/
https://union-church.org/healing-arts-retreat-september-15/
MealTrain organized for the Garrett family at the birth of Vera! Contact the office for the link or sign up at https://mealtrain.com/20vm3q
New Church Directory Coming and we NEED YOU! We’re trying for a print date of earliest September. If you will send us your photo and info (names, addresses, birthdates, anniversaries, email addresses and phone numbers), you can save us a phone call! Kiddo gone off to school? Gotten hitched? Maybe you’d like to opt out of the Directory? Send to office@union-church.org. Thanks.
Sometimes our church members need help. If you have a skill you are willing to share, please email the information to dodiemurfmsw @yahoo.com. It will be printed on a page in our new church directory for folks to contact you directly. Thanks for considering! Possible categories (include your own skill if it’s not listed):

• Yard work –planting, weeding, watering
• Making a meal
• Babysitting
• Baking
• Driving to appointments
• Running errands
• Grocery shopping
• Doing laundry, ironing
• Mending or hemming
• Writing thank you notes
• Lending books, DVDs or CDs
• Typing
• Computer software/hardware instruction, repairs
• Small plumbing jobs

Bridge classes. The Bridge Club will be holding “Bridge for Beginners” classes every Friday from 1-2 pm starting this Friday, August 2, in the Classroom. Classes are free. Join us and learn to play OR brush up on skills if you’re rusty.
Our Piano Is Back And Better Than Ever! Thanks to everyone’s generous donations our sanctuary piano is completely refurbished and better than ever! The $4400 includes the rebuilt action and the addition of special humidity regulating equipment. Everyone “played” a part. 🙂 Thank you!! If you adopted a key, your thank you gift will be coming soon!
Paul Jacobs is available for moving and hauling jobs:  Call him at 859-358-5499.
Babysitter needed: Lois Morgan’s neighbor, Allison, needs a sitter for three girls 3, 5 and 7 beginning August 9 (when school starts) from 2:30 – 5 pm four days a week. Call Allison at 595-3680.
Can You Help With Special August 5 Coffee Hour? Kent & Diana’s first wedding anniversary will be celebrated at an after-worship Coffee Hour August 5, in the Community Room. We’ll also celebrate our newly wed church members, David Bellnier and Laura Howard (married yesterday). If you can bake something gluten-free for this joyful event, please call Barb Smith at 859-582-0368. Thank you!
Rescheduled — Community Hymn Sing August 5, 2:00 pm, Cowan Chapel. Did you know that singing with others releases endorphins in our brains that promote a sense of well-being and community connectedness? Come see, hear, sense, and feel for yourself! All ages welcome! 
Hymn Favorites on Handbells Sunday, August 12, 2:00 pm.
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth Annual Membership Meeting “Claiming Our Commonwealth: Creating Kentucky’s Beloved Community” August 3-5 at Berea College. To register: kftc.org/events/2018-annual-membership-meeting
Please Sign up to Read Scripture or to Help Greet and Usher!  Please use our electronic sign up system, http://signup. com/go/xkdVtB, where you can pick a date that works for you and get reminders!  OR you can also call the office and we’ll get you on the lists.
 

From Sunday’s Service…

Be gentle when you touch bread.
Let it not lie uncared for—unwanted
So often bread is taken for granted.
There is so much beauty in bread
Beauty of sun and soil, beauty of honest toil
Winds and rain have caressed it,
Christ often blessed it
Be gentle when you touch bread.  
–David Adam
 

Bread

BY W. S. MERWIN
for Wendell Berry
Each face in the street is a slice of bread
wandering on
searching
somewhere in the light the true hunger
appears to be passing them by
they clutch
have they forgotten the pale caves
they dreamed of hiding in
their own caves
full of the waiting of their footprints
hung with the hollow marks of their groping
full of their sleep and their hiding
have they forgotten the ragged tunnels
they dreamed of following in out of the light
to hear step after step
the heart of bread
to be sustained by its dark breath
and emerge
to find themselves alone
before a wheat field
raising its radiance to the moon