Category: News - Page 2 - Christian Fellowship Congregational church

COVID-19 and Online Worship

Sisters and Brothers,

There is so much to say this week with all that is going on. As concerns about the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) escalate globally, we want you to know that we are thinking about you and praying that you remain safe and healthy. This is both an unprecedented and unsettling time for us, and we must constantly remind ourselves that:

“God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble. That’s why we won’t be afraid when the worlds fall apart, when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea, when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. Selah.” (Ps 46:1-3)

As we continue to remain prayerful and proactive in protecting the safety and well-being of our entire congregation–we have made the decision to suspend our in-person worship services and all other meetings/activities at the church, until further notice. Over the last several days, as you will note from our previous communication, we received guidance from the leadership of the Southern California Nevada Conference, our Associate Ministers, as well as San Diego City and County Health experts regarding the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in our community.

Instead of gathering in person for worship, we will gather online and by telephone via ZOOM for a time of prayer, worship, readings, and music. See instructions below for video or telephone access. We will have two 30 minute online digital worship opportunities available on Sundays at 11AM and 5PM, and the diaconate and pastor will continue to develop online worship experiences until we are able to safely gather together again as a community.

Christian Fellowship UCC Digital Worship
To join our Digital Campus for Worship please email info@christianfellowshipucc.org

A rebroadcast of the digital gathering will be available on the Christian Fellowship YouTube Channel, please subscribe and join us!

In addition, also know that a number of sermons are available on our church website:
https://christianfellowshipucc.org/publications/sermon-audio/

Lastly, if you are sick or self-quarantined and wish to be added the Prayer List, and/or need food or medicine brought to you, please contact the pastor at jhill@christianfellowshipucc.org or via cellphone/text 619-940-6828 or you may contact the diaconate at deacons@chrisitanfellowshpucc.org or by calling the church directly at 619-262-8095.

If you are available to volunteer to help support the pastor and diaconate in maintaining community and connections as we practice responsible “social distancing” please let us know.

During this time, those who wish to share their financial gifts and offering with Christian Fellowship should either mail their contributions to the church office or use our secure online giving platform GIVELIFY.

Please watch your email and our website closely over the next several days. We ask that you help share this information, especially the changes to our weekly worship with those who do not regularly check email.

Most importantly, please take care of yourself. Remember to wash your hands. We remain open to suggestions, and appreciate your grace in understanding as we navigate these times together. We join with Christans around the globe in praying for the health and wellbeing of our first responders and all of us who are impacted, directly and indirectly, by this global pandemic.

Yours in Christ,
Dr. J. Lee Hill, Jr., Senior Pastor
Randy K. Jones, Esq., Moderator

Prayer in the wake of the Coronavirus

Out of the Depths We Cry Out to You in the Face of the Coronavirus

BY: ANNE & JEFFERY ROWTHORN

Creator God of the universe, God of a thousand names and faces, divine source of health and wholeness, whose compassion embraces the entire community of Earth: behold your fearful people all over the world as we confront the coronavirus. Out of the depths we cry to you, O God. Holy God, hear our voices. Let your ear be attentive to our cries (Psalm 130:1-2, adapted) as we pray for all who may be affected by the virus:

For all health caregivers – nurses, physicians, aides, EMTs, paramedics, technicians and therapists; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For hospital and nursing home medical staff, assistants, and housekeepers who have close contact with patients and for the patients themselves; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For all who travel for their daily work over land and sea and through the air—flight attendants, pilots, ship captains and sailors, bus drivers, passengers and long distance truck drivers; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For all who handle money—bankers, supermarket, village market and convenience store cashiers; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For all who pump gas and serve customers at Interstate rest areas; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For restaurant workers—bartenders, coffee shop baristas, cooks, servers, chefs, and dishwashers; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For hospitality workers–hotel and motel receptionists, servers and housekeepers; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For daycare center staff who cuddle and comfort children and for all children; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For teachers and professors, coaches and cafeteria workers at schools and universities across the world and students everywhere; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For the homeless huddling for warmth over steam grates and under urban bridges; out of the depths, O God–
We cry to you. Protect them.

For the poor, the lonely, the vulnerable, migrants, and the isolated elderly who have no protectors; out of the depths, O God–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For clergy and people who eat the bread of life, drink from the common cup and pass the sign of peace; out of the depths–
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For all who have tested positive, all who are waiting for test results, and all who are quarantined; out of the depths—
We cry out to you. Protect them.

For all who have already died of the coronavirus, now free from pain and suffering. May the God of hope carry them all the way home, and comfort their families and friends; out of the depths—
We cry out to you. Protect them.

Loving God, hasten the day when the virus will have run its course; quicken scientists to develop medications and vaccines; call out the best instincts of your people—love, neighborliness, compassion, and a sense of caring for every member of your beloved community on Earth. We pray out of the depths to you, O God of hope, whom we call Jesus, YHWH, Divine Mystery, Great Spirit.

Amen.

Coronavirus Protocols & Preparedness

Wednesday, March 10, 2020

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Over the last few weeks our city’s public health officials asked schools, churches, and organizations that serve and gather the public to begin taking extra precautions in the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in our community. We have been following the protocols many other churches are putting into place, especially the recommended guidelines from the United Church of Christ and the Center for Disease Control.

At Christian Fellowship, we will continue to be calm, prayerful and prepared. As a sign of our hospitality and our care for all people, especially children, seniors, and friends with compromised immune systems, we are taking the following steps effective immediately:

1. Hand Sanitizer is now available at the entrance to the sanctuary and fellowship hall, and throughout our buildings. Please help yourself as often as you would like. We have stepped up the cleaning and disinfecting of our church by wiping down pews, hymnals, offering and communion trays, door knobs/handles and we invite you to join us in being a little extra tidy to help support our overall work. The most important thing we can do is to remember to wash our hands for at least 20 seconds, that’s about the length of time it takes to pray the “Lord’s Prayer.”

2. The Passing of the Peace will continue to be a verbal greeting rather than a physical one. As a sign of our forgiveness and an assurance that we are God’s people, we will turn to one another offering cheerful words. You may find it helpful to clasp your own hands together in a prayerful position, or place your hands over your heart and over a slight nod to one another, or be more inventive perhaps with a foot tap. Please refrain from our usual handshakes, hugs, fist-bumps and high-fives. At the close of the service, the pastor and deacon/liturgist will continue to greet you in the back of the sanctuary, though we will also refrain from extending hugs and handshakes.

3. Communion will continue to be celebrated with the pastor and deacons using gloves immediately before serving the meal. We are strongly considering the use of individualized pre-packaged communion, however in the meantime we ask that you please be mindful to only touch the bread you intend to eat and the cup you intend to drink when you are served.

4. Wednesday’s Community Meal & Sunday’s Morning Fellowship Hour will continue and hand sanitizer will made available before our community fellowship meals, and those who gather for our shared meals will be encouraged to wash their hands.

5. First Friday Food Bank will continue to serve members of our community in need on the First Friday of the month, and implement protocols and procedures suggested by the San Diego Food Bank as they become available to safeguard both our volunteers and guests.

6. Pastoral Care remains a high priority for the pastor and the Diaconate and Evangelism Board, and a system has been developed and implemented for Deacons to touch bases with every member of our congregation, especially those who have noticeably absent from worship and fellowship for several consecutive weeks and regular attendees of the Jazz Vespers.

Most importantly, do what you need to do and take care of yourself. We remain open to suggestions, and appreciate your grace in understanding our need to prayerfully take these precautions.

Faithfully,

Rev. Dr. J. Lee Hill, Jr., Senior Pastor
Randy K. Jones, Esq., Moderator

Ash Wednesday Fellowship and Worship

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

UCC La Mesa (5940 Kelton Ave, La Mesa, CA 91942)

A Service of Ashes, Communion, Song, Prayer, and the Word

Fellowship Meal begins at 6:00 PM
Worship Service begins at 7 PM in the Sanctuary
Combined Choir of the Partnership Churches will offer a special Anthem. (Rehearsal begins at 6:15 PM.)

Supervised Childcare will be available for younger children and infants. Children in 3rd Grade or higher are invited to stay in the sanctuary for the service.

God, Disability, and the Church

“The primary problem for the church is not how to “accommodate” disabled persons. The problem is a disabling theology that functionally denies inclusion and justice for many of God’s children. Much of church theology and practice—including the Bible itself—has often been dangerous for persons with disabilities. The prejudice, hostility, and suspicion toward people with disabilities cannot be dismissed simply as relics of an unenlightened past. Christians today continue to interpret Scripture and spin theologies that reinforce negative stereotypes, support social and environmental segregation, and mask the lived realities of people with disabilities.” – Nancy Eiesland, PhD, author of The Disabled God

In her book The Disabled God, Nancy Eiesalnd works to advance a theology for people who are differently abled—in mind and in body, without loosing sight of the God who God is not hungry for power and control over creation but invites creation to create and share what Michale Welker calls “overlapping spheres of interdependence and creative responsibility.”

She writes to those who are not simply people waiting on God’s miraculous hands to make straight limbs that have grown weak; but those who struggle everyday with ability—and those who love them.

She writes to those who are not simply people waiting on God’s miraculous hand to bring sight to eyes that have never beheld a rainbow in the sky; but those who struggle everyday with sight—and those who love them.

She writes to those who are not simply people waiting on God’s miraculous hand to allow melodious sonnets to awaken ears that have never heard sound; but those who struggle everyday with hearing—and those who love them.

Eiesland proclaims the emancipatory presence of the disabled God, and encourages communities of faith to imagine wholeness and justice for every single person. She writes, “Like a faithful Jew who had conscientiously opened the door for Elijah each Seder and spun images of the majestic beauty of a Messiah who would shout out an order and the universe would tremble, I had waited for a mighty revelation of God. But my epiphany bore little resemblance to the God I was expecting or the God of my dreams. I saw God in a sip-puff wheelchair, that is, the chair used mostly by quadriplegics enabling them to maneuver by blowing and sucking on a straw-like device. Not an omnipotent, self-sufficient God, but neither a pitiable, suffering servant….I recognized the incarnate Christ in the image of those judged not feasible, unemployable, with questionable quality of life. Here was God for me.”

——-

“As a community of Christ we believe that all persons are children of God, created in God’s image, and affirm the inherent value, worth and dignity of all races, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, and gender identities, without regard to one’s marital status, family structure, faith and educational background, economic and social standing, mental and physical ability, military or civilian status. No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

In the prophetic tradition of the progressive United Church of Christ, we extravagantly welcome all people into the full life, membership, leadership, mission, fellowship, worship, and sacraments of this church, and invite all to bear the responsibilities, blessings and joys of membership, ministry and life in this church. Recognizing that we are an increasingly diverse culture and that there are differences among us in private belief and interpretation of sacred scriptures, we covenant, as the community of Christ, to work and serve the Lord together in this church.”

–Christian Fellowship Congregational Church, ONA/A2A Statement

COVID-19 and Online Worship

Prayer in the wake of the Coronavirus

Coronavirus Protocols & Preparedness

Ash Wednesday Fellowship and Worship

God, Disability, and the Church

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