Next Week: new members welcomed! As a family of faith committed to boldly and creatively embodying the life and ministry of Jesus, we would like to join with YOU. We’d like to be a context and inspiration for your own spiritual path, and work with you to make your heart, your world, your life more peace-filled and joy-full. Next Sunday, and every second Sunday of the month, there will be an opportunity to covenant together. No prior action on your part is required, but if you have any questions at all, we’d like to help. Working together, we want to make God’s love visible and real to all.
Sabbatical News: The Sabbatical Replacement Team has been hard at work. We’ve had five applicants for the interim position, and the Team has chosen to interview three. This will happen in the very near future. Rev. Kent’s sabbatical will begin July 1, and in his absence we, as a church, will work on plans and projects in service to our 3 Great Loves.
Ramadan Begins today! Our Muslim friends and neighbors will start the holy season of Ramadan at sunset which will last for four weeks until Tuesday, June 4. The festival is considered to be the holiest month in the Islamic calendar and is a time of reflection, prayer and fasting. Ramadan celebrates the moment in which the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad, in accordance with Islamic belief. Between sunrise and sunset every day, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity. While fasting is the practice during the day, it is a time of sharing special meals with family and friends at night when the sun goes down. Ramadan is also a time to be especially generous and kind, and to refrain from all kinds of vices like lying or trash-talking. If you have friends or co-workers who are celebrating Ramadan a traditional greeting is “Ramadan Mubarek!” which means “Happy Ramadan!” We wish our neighbors and friends deep peace and profitable reflection in this holy month.
Members one of another: We know we’ve got several members and friends without immediate family in Berea. Just in case of emergency we’ve made some half-sheet Emergency Contact forms, if you’d like to fill one out. If you so desire, fill the card out and just place in the offering basket face down. The blanks will be in a couple of spots around the building, too. We’ll keep your info in a locked drawer in the office.
Summer’s coming! May 8 is the last WNL & Youth Group meeting before a summer break. May 12 is the last Children’s Church of the season. Is your group taking a break to come back renewed and refreshed in the fall? Let us know in the office—thanks!
May 8 Author Talk and Lunch with Derek Penwell. Outlandish: An Unlikely Messiah, A Messy Ministry and the Call to Mobilize. May 8, 11am-1pm. First Christian Church, 206 Chestnut Street, Office wing, basement level. RSVP to 859-986-4553 to order lunch or bring your own brown bag.
Rev. Derek Penwell is a colleague and friend of Rev. Mark and Lisa Caldwell-Reiss from seminary days. With his congregation, Douglas Boulevard Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Louisville, KY, he engages in activist and prophetic ministries that fight injustice in their city and in our state. He speaks and writes in plain language while working from an extensive academic foundation.
Help Wanted: the broadcast crew needs 6-8 people willing to commit to one Sunday per month running the sound system and video broadcast of the service. This is a two-person job and we currently have no backup when one of us is unavailable. Experience is always welcome, but unnecessary. We’ll be happy to train you. There is also the potential for income if you are willing to work special events. Anyone interested please see Marty Hensley at the sound booth in the balcony for a very brief meeting after service on Sunday, May 19, OR email him at kf4ebc@gmail.com.
Harvesting Hope: Drivers needed to pick up women in Richmond and bring them to Berea for the Harvesting Hope Opioid Addiction Job Training Program with Sustainable Berea. Morning trips are at 11:30 am on Mondays & Wednesdays, and 8:30 am Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. Afternoon return trips are around 3:30 and 4:00 pm. If you can do one or two trips per week, (or more!) that would be a great help! Contact Cheyenne at: 859-893-4590 or email: cheyenne@sustainable berea.org.
The Census Bureau is hiring now and up to the 2020 Census. You must be 18 years old or older, a US citizen, have transportation, an email address, internet access to apply (you can use a computer here). Pay is $14 an hour + 58 cents a mile driven for the job. Part time, flexible hours. Paid training for 3-5 days. 2020census.gov/jobs.
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