There will be a potluck picnic 6:30 pm on Thursday for all who are in the vocal choir and handbell ensemble AND all who are thinking about joining either group! At Rev. Kent’s home, 298 Harrison Rd.. All welcome.
Nan Gravel has Monarchs to share! She’ll show anyone interested how to give the butterflies a good start in life at 11 am tomorrow, at her home at 108 Harrison Ct., and send you home with some!
Ellen Mink is recovering from knee replacement surgery and could use some meal support for herself & her husband. Use this link:    https://mealtrain.com/o397qd
Part-time ESL teachers needed to help 30 refugees from the Congo who will be working at Hitachi. Contact Richard Cahill, Richard_Cahill@berea.edu 
Note from Gabe Evans: Joseph and I thank EVERYONE for the wonderful send off notes, gifts, hugs, kisses, Liberace capes, etc. We will cherish and hold all of the wonderful memories that have been made in Berea and at Union Church! Keep being the wonderful church that you are! With lots of peace and love, Gabe.
Socks & underwear needed for kids 5– 12 year olds, boys & girls, for back-to-school. Bring to the church office and Dodie Murphy will collect and deliver them. Or write a check to Union Church with “No Child Cold, No Child Hungry” in the memo line.
New Church Directory Coming. Especially our newer folks – we may not have your info – please let us know if you’d like to be included in the new Directory! Does your Directory photo show you with a smiling toddler….who’s now driving? Ditched your land line? College student left the nest? OR are you a college student new to Berea? Or maybe you’d like to opt out of the Directory? Let us know! 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 consider-ing! 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

Time to make a Joyful Noise! Handbell Choir begins August 29, 7 pm. Vocal Choir begins August 30, 6:15 pm. Both in the 3rd floor Choir Room and YOU are very welcome to join them!
Piano keys in the vestibule. If you contributed to the piano fundraiser, thank you!! And if you didn’t pick up your keys, you’ll find them in a basket in the vestibule.
Potluck Brunch at the Berea Urban Farm 201 Adams St.  Saturday, Aug. 25, 10 am– noon. Fee St. Cleanup at 9 am Tiny Library Inauguration, Raffle, Name the Chickens … and MORE!! You’re invited!
Programs upcoming at the bell hooks Institute – all at the Institute, 300 Center St. at 4:00 pm:
· August 20 – On Family Homophobia, Sarah Schulman
· August 27 – Talks with bell hooks about his new novel, Silas House
· September 10 – Identity Politics and Feminist Studies, Beverly Guy-Sheftall
· September 27 – White Men Engage Feminist Studies, Billie Korinko & Eric Carter
Bridge Classes. The Bridge Club will hold “Bridge for Beginners” classes every Friday at 1:00 pm in the classroom. Join and learn to play! Also good for existing players who need to brush up on their skills (no charge). Then we play at 1:30!
CoCoDA visit August 29. At 5:45 pm, our CoCoDA Salvadoran friends, Ivan Villasboa and Yunior Gomez will visit Union Church. They will bring their wonderful expertise and slides to catch us up on what is going on in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the two regions in which CoCoDA works.
Especially of interest for us is the current situation in the El Roble village and its school project.  The water projects in various areas are moving along.  Student medical delegations have been learning and working in Suchitoto.  And there is always the thought of a delegation from our area going to El Salvador again and renewing our relationship with our friends there.  CoCoDA has been working on many projects. 
Food will be provided!  Bring interested friends as well as yourself for a great evening of catching up, good humor and renewal.
Berea Home Village Fundraiser Sept. 13. Berea Home Village presents “September Serenade” featuring The Jigs! Join them on September 13 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Churchills in Berea. Help them to continue to provide services for Berea Home Village members! Call Katie Heckman for more information or to purchase tickets at 859-985-0099.
Healing Arts Retreat Saturday, September 15, 8:30-5:30. Led by Donna Eder, this year retreatants will enjoy the centering and meditative movement of calligraphy, brush painting (bamboo), and Tai Chi. Chinese brush work is an ancient tradition which strengthens “chi,” while promoting sensi-tivity and an appreciation for simplicity. Advanced registration requested online at union-church.org or by calling the Union Church office, by September 5. Please bring a suggested $25 materials & lunch fee to the retreat (can be waived).  Adults only.  Limit 12.
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.
Bread,
you rise
from flour,
water
and fire.
Dense or light,
flattened or round,
you duplicate
the mother’s
rounded womb,
and earth’s
twice-yearly
swelling.
How simple
you are, bread,
and how profound!
-from “Ode to Bread” by Pablo Neruda

Believe This

BY RICHARD LEVINE
All morning, doing the hard, root-wrestling
work of turning a yard from the wild
to a gardener’s will, I heard a bird singing
from a hidden, though not distant, perch;
a song of swift, syncopated syllables sounding
like, Can you believe this, believe this, believe?
Can you believe this, believe this, believe?
And all morning, I did believe. All morning,
between break-even bouts with the unwanted,
I wanted to see that bird, and looked up so
I might later recognize it in a guide, and know
and call its name, but even more, I wanted
to join its church. For all morning, and many
a time in my life, I have wondered who, beyond
this plot I work, has called the order of being,
that givers of food are deemed lesser
than are the receivers. All morning,
muscling my will against that of the wild,
to claim a place in the bounty of earth,
seed, root, sun and rain, I offered my labor
as a kind of grace, and gave thanks even
for the aching in my body, which reached
beyond this work and this gift of struggle.
 

Bread

BY RICHARD LEVINE
Each night, in a space he’d make
between waking and purpose,
my grandfather donned his one
suit, in our still dark house, and drove
through Brooklyn’s deserted streets
following trolley tracks to the bakery.
 
There he’d change into white
linen work clothes and cap,
and in the absence of women,
his hands were both loving, well
into dawn and throughout the day—
kneading, rolling out, shaping
 
each astonishing moment
of yeasty predictability
in that windowless world lit
by slightly swaying naked bulbs,
where the shadows staggered, woozy
with the aromatic warmth of the work.
 
Then, the suit and drive, again.
At our table, graced by a loaf
that steamed when we sliced it,
softened the butter and leavened
the very air we’d breathe,
he’d count us blessed.