Winter Sunday Hours:

8:15AM Adult Choir 9AM Sunday School

10AM Service of Celebration

Look Inside….

Anniversaries & Birthday’s 2

Mission Minute & Pastor Greg’s Gandering 3

4

Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests 5

6

January & February Calendar & Notes 7

January 2019 Monthly Newsletter

Pastors: Michael Blackwood & Greg Garland 825 Kohl Street, Broomfield, CO 80020 303-466-8355

broomfielducc.org

an Open & Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ

Forgive the past so we can embrace the future

It is a new year. There is so much I want to say to you, to motivate and profess the greatness that YOU are because of the greatness that is God. The future is hopeful, so let us not allow any mistakes or negativity hold us back or dissuade

us from doing good and being merciful, to ourselves and others. As we go forth, I am inspired by my maternal muse and offer a poetic prayer by Anne Porter.

Forge into 2019 with care, love and purpose.

Our Mission Statement

Whatever harm I may have done

In all my life in all your wide creation

If I cannot repair it

I beg you to repair it,

And then there are all the wounded

The poor the deaf the lonely and the old

Whom I have roughly dismissed

As if I were not one of them.

Where I have wronged them by it

And cannot make amends

I ask you

To comfort them to overflowing,

And where there are lives I may have withered around me,

Or lives of strangers far or near

That I've destroyed in blind complicity,

And if I cannot find them

Or have no way to serve them,

Remember them. I beg you to remember them

When winter is over

And all your unimaginable promises

Burst into song on death's bare branches.

Daniel Clark & Chad Steinbeck

1/3/2009

Tom & Heather Ottem

1/10/1998

Pat & Laura O’Kelly

1/12/1980

2 January 2019 Monthly Newsletter

Worship Service Volunteer

Sign-Up If you'd like to sign up to volunteer as

Liturgist, offer a Kid's Time message or host after service snacks, we have a new way to do so. Just click here: Worship

Help and simply follow the directions to sign up. It's easy and we appreciate all

your volunteer efforts. And don't forget that you can put pen to paper and still

sign-up on the sheets on the table in the Narthex.

Your2018ChurchLeadershipMichaelBlackwood‐LeadCo‐Pastor

GregGarland‐Co‐PastorJennieBelval‐ModeratorCoreyHill‐ViceModeratorMaryBethJones‐Clerk

BrianConn‐FinancialSecretaryGaryMcKee‐TreasurerCarolBliss,JanFausset‐MembersatLarge

- -

Commi ee Chairs Larry Bliss/Nancy McKee ‐ Trustees

Alice Kidney ‐ Worship Kathy Wathen ‐ Spiritual Care

Carissa Fralin ‐ Chris an Educa on Tom O em ‐ Mission Desi Hill ‐ Fellowship

If we missed your b’day please contact the church office.

8 Emily Joo

9 Nancy McKee

10 Kara O’Kelly

19 Jeff Belval

20 Steve Brecheisen

21 Glen Hopson

24 Ed Bunetta

26 Tom Ottem

28 Tom Belval

29 Rachel Vorwerck

31 Rhonda Davis

3 Nov 2012

Monthly Newsletter

3 January 2019 Monthly Newsletter

Live Dangerously and Save the World This is a follow-up on the sermon that I gave following the UN Climate report that said we must do something fast and dramatically if we are to stop an

apocalyptic catastrophe.

I mentioned that Shelly and I had decided to think of ways that we could reduce our carbon footprint. One thing we came up with that wasn’t drastic, but we could easily do immediately, was to no longer buy beef or pork. And I suppose after looking at the graph below we should also give up buying lamb.

So, where does the living dangerously come in. Well, thinking about more things we could do, it suddenly occurred to me that I could do something really radical like – drive the speed limit. I usually drive about 10% over but I thought maybe I could reduce my footprint by just obeying the law. I have found in the couple weeks that I have been doing this that I think it could make a huge difference since clearly 98% of people do not drive the speed limit (the living dangerously part). If everybody started driving 5-10 miles per hour slower, it might really have a significant impact. So, is slowing down a worthy cost to pay to save the world?

Another really simple change we made that we could do immediately was to increase how much of our energy bill comes from “Windsource. ”

So, if you can think of other things that we can do, please share them with me and everyone else you meet.

Please help insure that our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc…. will all continue to have a Merry Christmas and many Happy New Years.

Pastor Greg

THANKS AGAIN!

Thank you once again for the very gracious Christmas gift. It is always a wonderful Christmas surprise. In a short time, I hope you will see and hear what the gift went

to. May God bless all of you.

Welcome to 2019! January is a bit of post-holiday lull for Mission Ministry efforts. But it provides

a nice time to reflect on the past year. Here is a (mostly but not fully complete) list of efforts we supported in 2018: a full year of first-Sunday collections for FISH, two blood drives, three nights of supporting Holy Comforter's efforts to host families Growing Home, the Mission Meal to benefit A Precious Child, Crayons to Calculators school supply drive, special school supply drive for Nate Bean's class, Youth Group volunteer day at A Precious Child, FISH karaoke fundraiser, Thanksgiving food drive to benefit the food pantry at Henderson UCC, Christmas gift drive to benefit A Precious Child. (That last effort - the gift drive for A Precious Child - culminated in a donation of $1,575 worth of gift cards plus a trunk full of other gifts plus a $238 donation from the Gathering Circle. Amazing! Thank you!)

That doesn't even count all of the ways that UCB folks contribute to the community on their own. We are a very active congregation and we support a lot of great efforts. Which really means that YOU support all of these things. Thank you again to the UCB congregation for your generosity and commitment to our community.

PS - Please do come to the committee sign up event on January 13th!

4 January 2019

Monthly Newsletter

DID YOU KNOW!!! Darla, our excellent new KSK Director is doing a great job and reports that on January 7th when the school reconvenes from the Christmas break, they will have 51 kiddos enrolled. If you know of anyone looking for a great preschool experience, be sure to point them in our direction as this is an amazing service we provide for the community. We are welcoming a new teacher, Kate Booth, after the first of the year.

I realize few people want to hear the church talk about money or ask you to give, but without your generous contributions, we wouldn't be able to keep the lights on and provide all the services we do. Council is working on the 2019 budget for presentation and approval by the congregation at the Annual Meeting on January 20, 2019. For everyone who has returned their pledges, THANK YOU. For those who are still considering, it would be greatly appreciated if you could get them in as soon as possible so our treasurer is able to more accurately make the needed adjustments and finalize the

budget. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!

The Mission Committee reports that we had a record year with our generous giving to FISH and A Precious Child (APC). In December we donated 40% more items than we typical do. The Christmas collection for APC resulted in $1,575 in gift cards, $238 in cash and a trunk full of gifts. This congregation is amazing with hearts of pure gold!!

SPIRITUAL CARE was busy during the holidays baking and delivering cookies to some of congregants who are not able to get out and about as much as they would like. They also had a busy year tending to memorial services and other visitations last year.

Trustees installed a new keypad entry on December 27th. By now you have probably received your key code and seen this new technology outside the door. This new keyless entry will give us the ability to better control who has access to the church as it will record each code and when it was used to provide much better security for the Church. This will also alleviate our long-standing problem with missing and unaccounted for keys. There was also a final workday for 2018 on December 29th. The Trustees have had a very busy year and made a lot of improvements and maintenance to the Church.

I hope you were able to enjoy one of the Christmas Eve services. Attending one of the services has always been a beautiful experience and after all the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations a way of reminding us what Christmas is all about; The Birth of the

Christ Child.

Our Youth Group did a wonderful job participating in worship service on December 9th. They each did various scripture readings, songs by our youngest member and violin solo by one of our newest members. As I've said in the past and can't say often enough, we have a GREAT group of young people in our midst. Thank you for sharing all your talents and all you do for the Church and in the Community.

The cookie exchange sponsored by the Fellowship Committee was a HUGE success with cookies, cookies and more cookies. Thanks to everyone who baked and participated as they brought some and went home with many. What a fun event.

Our very own Paul Shinn once again delighted us with a magnificent performance at the Church on December 13th. This remarkable young man spends hours every day practicing and is constantly fine tuning his talents to higher and higher levels. He and his band shared those talents with us, giving us an evening we won't soon forget. To everyone who came - I know you enjoyed it as much as I did. We’re hoping that since we’ve had Paul here two years running, this will become an annual event for him and our church. THANK YOU, PAUL FOR SHARING WITH US. Also thank you to our Fellowship Committee for providing

refreshments and community time after the performance. Your hard work and planning for all these events is always appreciated.

Be on the lookout for the Committee Fair on January 13, 2019, after worship. This is our annual event where you can learn about the various committees at Church and hopefully sign up to participate in one where you can share your time and talents. These committees provide a great service to our church and the community. I hope you will be able to enjoy participating in one (or more) of them in the coming year.

The annual Polity & Planning Meeting is scheduled for January 26, 2019 8:30-11:30AM, starting with a pot-luck breakfast. This is where each of the committees will hold their first meeting with new and old members, and select chairpersons for each of the committees, and participate in calendar planning for the coming year.

Respectfully – Carol Bliss

Upcoming Events

5 January 2019

Monthly Newsletter

Please keep Matt and Rhonda Davis in your prayers. Matt's brother, Mark, died unexpectedly from a heart attack. He was only 59 years old. Matt and Rhonda will be traveling to Missouri to be with family and help plan the services.

Please keep Kevin Jacob's sister, Sandie, in your prayers. She fell at work and broke her left elbow. She was at Swedish Hospital undergoing elbow-replacement surgery. The family is thankful her injuries weren't more severe, but it is unclear as to what recovery will look like. Let us please pray for support and healing.

Please keep Bev Hopson (and Glen) in your prayers. Bev went in for emergency appendectomy surgery. Let us pray for graceful hands by the medical team and a speedy recovery. Glen advised that Bev's surgery went well and she's home now resting comfortably. Keep sending those prayers for a quick recovery.

Gathering Circle

will meet

Sat. Jan 12th at

8:30am at the

Broomfield Village Inn

We have decided to for-go reporting

financials for the church in the newsletter each month. This information is reported & approved at

the Church Council meeting each month. If you are interested in an update please contact one of our church officers

or pastors.

Attendance

Dec 2 = 76 Dec 9 = 93

Dec 16 = 75 Dec 23 = 80

Dec 24 = 112 Dec 30 = 59

March 2017

Monthly Newsletter

4

Pat’s Adult Class The Adult Sunday School class

that meets in the front part of the Steele Commons Room will

continue their study on "Harmony of the Gospels", studying the

parables and miracles of Jesus. For more information, please

contact Pat James.

January 2019

Monthly Newsletter

6

Men’s Fellowship will meet

Sat. December 1st 7:30am @

iPie

Book Club Update:

Friday, January 25th at 7PM at the home of

TBA. We will be discussing “A Well Behaved Woman: a novel of the Vanderbilts” by Anne Fowler

January 2019

Monthly Newsletter

7

If you see something on our website, Facebook, newspaper that you like - please tell others … ‘like’ a Facebook post … forward to your friends, neighbors. Help more know why you like our church.