Cancelling In-Person Worship & Small Group Gatherings

Dear friends and members of Arlington Community Church,

Governor Newsom’s recent executive order, which you can read here recommends that "Gatherings of individuals who are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should be limited to no more than 10 people, while also following social distancing guidelines."

Because the core of our congregation is in the higher-risk category, we are making the difficult decision  to cancel March 15 worship, and to suspend small group gatherings (including Bible Study, Memoir Group, Choir and Bell Choir rehearsal), until further notice . 

My heart breaks at the loss of connection with these gatherings going away temporarily, but this is clearly a crucial time in the spread of the virus in our country. We cannot be certain who is infected, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep the most vulnerable among us safe.

Rest assured that church is not disappearing. I will be offering a  “virtual church video”  with a short message and prayer that will be available for you to experience from home on Sunday morning. Information on how to access the video will be in tomorrow’s Parishscope. 

ACC is also in the process of forming a “care team” that will be able to respond to people’s needs, in the event that members of our community do get sick. While respecting your privacy, I hope you will let me know (revnateklug@gmail.com) if your own health situation changes. 

During this frenetic day, two hymn lyrics have been running through my head: “The storm is passing over” and “We’ve come this far by faith.” We don’t know what the next day will hold, but we do know that one day this, too, shall pass. In the meantime, we move forward accompanied by God’s tenacious love.

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Rev. Nate Klug, Pastor

Linda Young, Moderator

Arlington Community Church Council

February, 2020 Council Summary

February, 2020 Council Summary

Greetings members of ACC, 

This is to let the Congregation know what is going on in Council.  Our first meeting of the “new” 2020 Council was on Thursday the 20th.  You have a lively bunch looking out for ACC and are welcome to visit any Third Thursday.  We regularly hear a report from Nate, summarizing his work for the month, and hear reports regarding our finances. We discuss and make decisions regarding operations of the Church, improving the building, and programming.  One recent project has been reviewing and revising all our church policies. Sara Laferte is coordinating that work, and we are nearly finished updating all policies.  When those are complete (probably this Spring), we’ll give you information about how to access the Bylaws and the updated policies. 

Many of our capital improvements are nearing or at completion including the installation of the Labyrinth, and Landscaping of the Patio.  (Plants will be mulched soon.)   Our next step in capital improvements are repairing the sidewalk above the church in front. David Hertzer is managing that project and it will be funded by a bequest and some of our surplus funds.  In the meantime, we were just presented with architect drawings of options for remodeling the bathrooms in the Narthex. We wish to expand capacity and to comply with ADA requirements. An ad hoc committee is forming to review those options in detail, narrow down options, and have a feasibility study done. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please see me.  The options are helping us think creatively about use of limited space.  Given the large groups that use our facility it Is more important that ever that bathrooms are accessible and long lines can be avoided.

Soon a new sign will be hanging on the railing above our entry with the name of our church and directions to office, sanctuary, and social hall.  The new small signs that Nate and Jacob have already put in place have been a good beginning to help visitors find their way around the church.. Nate, Joe and Elena are working on the new sign project.   

If you have questions, feel free to ask any of the members,   

Linda Young, Moderator   

Faith Able, Vice Moderator

Randy Laferte, Treasurer

Elena Caruthers, Financial Secretary

Sara Laferte,  Secretary

Joe Pratt, At Large Member

Eleanor Crump, At Large Member

David Hertzer, At Large Member

Nate Klug, Pastor

Help ACC Erase $4 Million of Medical Debt in the East Bay

Help ACC Erase $4 Million of Medical Debt in the East Bay

Inspired by other UCC congregations in Chicago, St. Louis and around the nation, nine UCC churches in the East Bay, including Arlington Community Church, are working together to erase the medical debts of our neighbors in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

What is Medical Debt?

Medical debt destroys the financial stability of large segments of America’s most vulnerable communities: the sick, the elderly, the poor, and veterans and is a primary cause of homelessness. It also targets the middle class, driving many families who are barely getting along into poverty. By forgiving this debt we strive to give struggling individuals and their families a fresh start, and prevent new cases of homelessness amongst our neighbors.

How does this work?

Our local campaign will be made possible by an extraordinary non-profit organization called RIP Medical Debt, founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives. Over the course of decades in the debt-buying industry, they met with thousands of Americans saddled with unpaid and un-payable medical debt and realized they were uniquely qualified to help these people in need. They used their expertise and compassion to create a process to forgive medical debt: they would use donations to buy large bundles of medical debt, and then forgive that debt with no tax consequences to donors or recipients.

The results have been spectacular— over $1 billion in medical debts eradicated so far, providing financial relief for over 520,000 individuals and families. The best part is how cheaply we can buy the debt: for literally one penny on the dollar. Our “stretch” goal as local churches, over the course of Lent, is to raise $44,000 together – which will retire $4.4 million in medical debt in the East Bay. 100% of this money will go to freeing our neighbors in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties from medical debt.

Who is participating?

Nine local UCC congregations are leading this effort, all of whom will come together to worship on Good Friday: FCC Alameda, Arlington Community Church, Berkeley Chinese Community Church, First Church Berkeley, City of Refuge UCC, Mira Vista UCC, First Congregational Church of Oakland, Plymouth UCC, and Sycamore UCC. Every local UCC church is raising their own collection, which we will bring together during Holy Week.

What is our goal?

Again, our collective goal is to raise $44,000 together – which will retire $4.4 million in medical debt in the East Bay. How powerful would it be, if we could announce during our joint Good Friday worship that we have accomplished much of our goal?

How can I contribute?

Here at ACC, we will be giving the entirety of our weekly “loose offering” during Lent to this campaign – that’s six Sundays worth of offerings. So, bring cash or check with the memo line “RIP Medical Debt” to worship each Sunday. We have a large goal to reach, so each week’s contribution matters!

We will also accept individual lead gifts. If you would like to make a lead gift to get our campaign underway (remember: every dollar given forgives $100 of debt!), please email Rev. Nate at revnateklug@gmail.com.

Labyrinth Installation Update

Labyrinth Installation Update

at Arlington Community Church

by Ruth Robinson

Have you seen it yet? The amazing design work by Lars Howlett is about 90% complete as I write this on Thursday, 2/6. Our wonderful work crews put in time, hard work and we all learned new skills. Plus we all had a lovely time – from the morning blessings as we began to delicious lunches and then a tired but happy goodbye in the afternoons.

We welcomed Lars on Monday with his assistant, John Horrell. On Tuesday and Wednesday and part of Thursday we had excellent ACC helpers. While we took it on faith as we started that all would be beautiful, and we so appreciated Lars’ patience with each of us as we learned, we saw the results Wednesday afternoon when the taped outline of the artwork was removed. There it was! 

At the outset, Lars put a temporary altar in the center of the Labyrinth, complete with objects from other labryinths around the world, and sacred items from many of us. We asked in simple prayers that our intentions for this labrynith would be blessed. Indeed, while chilly when we started, the sun shone on us and warmed more than our bodies.

On knees a lot and in the kitchen were: Faith Able, Anut (our visitor in worship who is here from Thailand), Ken Barnes, Katherine Boswell, Nina Dodonova, Concha Delgado, Nina Harmon, Lauren Hotchkiss, Ken Jones, Randy and Sara Laferte, Joe Pratt, Ruth Robinson, Linda Young, Javier Gonzalez. Nina Harmon organized super snacks, breakfast goodies and lunches. It kept us going. Special thanks to Larry Brookes and Nina Dodonova for being gracious hosts to John Horrell so that he didn’t need to face commuter traffic to Santa Rosa on two nights.

There will be a community and church dedication of the Labrynith on March 28th. Details will follow. 

Annual Congregational Meeting- Sunday, January 26

At our upcoming Annual Meeting, we will be voting to approve our 2020 Budget. Our 2019 Actuals and our 2020 Budget, both as a one-page "snapshot," and as a more detailed document, are available now, and you are encouraged to take a look before the 26th. Simply email our Treasurer, Randy Laferte, at rlaferte@yahoo.com , and he will send you a copy.

In addition, we will consider two proposed changes to our ACC By-Laws. Take a look at the proposed changes below.

Proposed ACC By-Law Changes

Membership Meeting: January 26, 2020

Prepared by J. David Hertzer

A.    Article IX-Church Governing Board. Section A. Church Council: Modify first sentence of Section A as follows: 

1.    Present wording: “Section A. Church Council: The governing body of the church shall be a Council made of a Moderator, Vice Moderator, Church Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, the Minister of the church, and two (2) At-Large Members.”

2.    Proposed wording: “Section A. Church Council: The governing body of the church shall be a Council made of a Moderator, Vice Moderator, Church Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, the Minister of the church and three (3) At-Large members.”

B.    Article XII-Boards and Committees. Section A. General Provisions. Modify first sentence of Section A:

1.    Present Wording: “In addition to the Church Council and the Board of Endowment and Housing Fund Trustees, the Church shall have the following four (4) standing Boards identified as the Board of Building and Grounds Trustees, the Board of Faith Formation, the Board of Missions and Social Justice and the Board of Worship and Pastoral Care.”

2.    Proposed Wording: ”In addition to the Church Council and the Board of Endowment and Housing Fund Trustees, The Church shall have the following five (5) standing Boards identified as the Board of Building and Grounds Trustees, the Board of Faith Formation, the Board of Missions and Social Justice, the Board of Worship and Pastoral Care, and the Board of Hospitality and Outreach.”

C.   Article XII-Boards and Committees. Section B. Purpose of the Boards. Add to Section B a new subsection 5 as follows:

“5. Board of Hospitality and Outreach - The primary purpose shall be to organize fellowship opportunities, including special events, for the Arlington Community Church congregation and the wider community.”

Thank You from the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano

The church received a letter from the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano in thanks of our donations to the food barrel.

Dear Arlington Community Church,

Thank you for your wonderful food drive donation of 260 pounds of food on 11/14/19 from the friends of Arlington Community Church! Your donations equate to 217 meals which brightened many faces. We are very appreciative of your continued support of the Food Bank and those in need in our community!

We serve 178,000 people each month and distribute over 70,000 pounds of food every working day. Those that receive your food donations, whether they are children, seniors, low-income or just hungry, gratefully appreciate your kindness in thinking of them. THANK YOU for providing food to feed those in need. We hope you will continue to support the Food Bank and the new families and seniors that come to us for assistance. Together we are ending hunger!

Sincerely

Neil Zarchin

Food Drive Administrator

Guest Preacher: Rev. Carol Manahan

Rev. Carol Manahan

Rev. Carol Manahan will be sharing the Word with us as a Guest Preacher on November 17 (Rev. Nate will be here to lead the rest of worship). Carol Manahan currently serves as Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco, and coordinates the Ecological Practices minor for undergraduates.

Carol served as Associate Conference Minister, Northern California Nevada Conference UCC, from 2007-2012. In addition to working with churches during interim periods and pastoral searches, she acted as conference liaison for three associations. Carol earned an MA in Art at San Francisco State University, an MDiv at Pacific School of Religion, and an interdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Ethics, Biblical Studies, and Biogeography at the Graduate Theological Union.

2019 North Richmond Christmas

2019-NORTH RICHMOND CHRISTMAS

 People have dignity when they can purchase gifts/food for their own families.      

Families of North Richmond are very grateful for the partnership that ACC has had with the Neighborhood House of North Richmond since 1960’s.  Our ACC Christmas project is part of our partnership.  Thank you for your generosity of past years and we invite you to extend the same this year from Sunday November 10th through Sunday November 24th.   

This Year we are simplifying by asking folks to make donations to the project.  A member of the Board of Missions and Social Justice will use the funds to purchase gift cards at Target and Food Max. These cards will be distributed by Corrine Sain early in December so parents can shop for their children.  She’ll determine the number of families served based on the number or cards she receives.  

As you are considering how much to give, this might help:   In the past, we have purchased Target cards worth $25 per family member, so if you’d like to support the purchase of gift cards for 4 children, then a $100 donation would do it.    If you would like to support cards for two Seniors, then a donation of $50 would work.   In the past we also provided groceries for family holiday dinner which were costing around $100 for a large family, so you may also may wish to donate money for 4x $25 cards or $100 for a family’s dinner.    

CHECK GIFTS FOR ANY AMOUNT ARE INVITED. Please make checks to Arlington Community Church and on memo line write North Richmond Christmas.    (These donations are Tax Deductible.) 

Banner: All Creatures of our God and King

Banner: All Creatures of our God and King

A Little Church History

By Linda Young

If you’ve ever wondered about the banner currently hanging behind the communion table at the front of the church, here is the story. It was designed and built as a congregational collaboration in 2014.  Pastor Tony suggested the congregation choose a favorite hymn, discuss its meaning, and design a new wall hanging that expressed our vision of the hymn.  During the summer of 2014, several “candidate hymns” (ones that might lend themselves to an artistic representation) were sung in church and considered. Late that summer the vote selected All Creatures of our God and King by William Henry Draper, based on a poem by St Francis of Assisi. 

In the Fall, Elena Caruthers and I had started collecting fabric scraps from people in the congregation. Some people brought in scraps from garments and some fabrics they loved but had not used.  Once we had materials, and the hymn was selected, we gathered to design the banner.  After a little discussion of the hymn, we each, privately set to work to sketch something visual that embodied the hymn.  No one signed their design.  The anonymous designed were turned in, shuffled and hung on the wall. Each was assigned a letter.   Then we voted on the design we each liked the best.  The overall design receiving the most votes was done by Pastor Tony.  Added to that was Darrell’s tree of life, and Alia’s singers, plus several people’s creatures.  It was a true collaboration. 

During the construction process. The background fabric hung in the social hall while we gathered for workshops.  We had a couple of sessions of drawing patterns, cutting fabric, and pinning creatures to the banner.  These were some of the people who participated.  A few have passed away. Eloise Schmidt, Jim and Linda Young, Martha Colburn, Elena Caruthers, Alia Morrison, Tony Clark and Darrell Roland.  Many more contributed materials.

Several memorable moments stick with me. Martha Colburn brought in a scrap from one of her mother’s favorite dresses. You’ll see a cluster of Autumn leaves near the singers on the banner. The rest of the fabric was made into a pillow for Martha to take home.  One day Eloise Schmidt suggested the collection of creatures must include a serpent. She happily cut out a serpent that nearly stretched the width of the banner. A few significant looks were exchanged, and gentle suggestions made. In the spirit of Congregationalism, the work was all inclusive. A modification to help it fit met with her approval and it was added. Children drew around cookie cutters to make horses, someone designed a whale, and gradually it took shape. There were interesting problems to solve such as how to represent clouds and wind.  I recall Elena spending considerable time on the Sun, and the whole banner spent several days draped over my sewing machine on the dining room table, while Jim patiently skirted around it.  The new banner made its first appearance in worship in November of 2014.

If you participated in this project and I forgot, my huge apologies!  And please let me know.  With respect and appreciation, 

Linda Young

Passing of the Corporate Transparency Act

Passing of the Corporate Transparency Act

Friends,

Together, we did it.

Thanks to your thousands of calls, petitions, postcards and messages - The House of Representatives passed the Corporate Transparency Act by a vote of 249-173, last night.

Our efforts together, also won support from the White House and the US Treasury.

Now - to win, we must move the Senate to pass the Corporate Transparency Act or one of several similar pieces of Jubilee legislation.

Please send an email to your Senators now.

Email your Senators and ask them to cosponsor legislation that reveals the true owners of "anonymous" shell companies. Tell your Senators that this legislation is vital to stop human traffickers, defend vulnerable communities and protect development aid and debt relief.

A decade ago, Jubilee USA found out that debt relief and development aid was stolen by dictators and corrupt officials by using shell companies. As we began our campaign, we saw that human traffickers, arms dealers and criminals who ran Medicare scams - all used "anonymous" shell companies to do their deeds in secret.

Thanks to our partnership and your continued efforts, our Jubilee USA legislation can now become law.

Please take a moment and e-mail the Senate so we can cross the finish line.

Gratefully,

Eric LeCompte

Executive Director