THE CHRISTIAN CALLER

United Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)
499 East Malden Drive
Coal Center, PA 15423
724.938.2098 | office@uccdoc.org

Amory Merriman, Pastor

724.322.8220 | pastor@uccdoc.org

May 2024 To be and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Congregational Meeting: June 9th, after worship.

Election of board members and 2024-2025 budget.

IN THIS ISSUE • Finance and Stewardship

• Pastor Amory’s Message • Mission and Outreach

• A Word from the Church Moderator • Laurelview

• When Pentecost Happens • Disciples Women

• Young Disciples • Disciples Men

• Hospitality Ministry • Upcoming Events

• Christian Education • Serving Schedule New! Click links to

•
navigate through
• Worship and Spirituality Birthdays
our newsletter!
• Ministry Team News & Events

Pastor Amory’s Message

Church camp. My first experience was Chi Rho Camp in 1975 at
Lake Barbee in northern Indiana. My best friend, Jane, came
with me. So did Joe – the coolest athlete in school. He went
home day two, homesick. Jane and I went to camp knowing
“Pass It On,” because the high school kids at our church sang it
in their band. During the last verse, when they reached the part
when they sang “I’ll shout it from the mountain top” – all the
high school kids would jump to their feet and shout “PRAISE
GOD!” And the song continued:
I want my world to know
The Lord of love has come to me
I want to pass it on…
I promised Jane that if she would stand and yell “PRAISE GOD!” I would, too. Of
course, I chickened out, and Jane jumped to her feet, pumped her fist in the air,
and shouted with all her might. And I sat there on the bench beside her, watching
the light from the campfire light her face – I was amazed by her courage and spirit.
The next night, we sang “Pass It On” again around the campfire. Jane would hard-
ly look at me she was so mad. When we got to that spot in the song, the entire
camp of Chi Rho kids and all the adults jumped to their feet, pumped their fist in
the air, and shouted “PRAISE GOD!” Jane and I wept with joy.
I went to camp for two years – both to Chi Rho camp. In high school, I had a job
and a boyfriend – no time for church camp. Sigh. I did not go to church camp
again until 1984, when Associate
Regional Minister Rev. Wayne
Warren recruited me to counsel
for Conference I – 9th and 10th
graders. Laurelview changed my
life – for the better. The friend-
ships formed: Rich Graham,
Jayme Graham, Sonny Wilson,
Judy Greer, Rebecca Hale, Sarah
Webb, Lou Krukowski, Paul
Bowers… The campers have
since returned to counsel for me:
Pat Covert, Lisa Greer Winters.
And some of those campers have married and send their kids to counsel: Erin
Confer-Staggers and Jim Staggers send their son, Ben.
One of the things that drew me to ministry here at United Christian Church is
your commitment to Laurelview. The hours that have been spent volunteering by
people like Lisa Buday, Dave Boehm, Rachel Neil, Lisa Hajdu, Bev Constantine,
Shawn Tunney, Patrick Tunney, Randy Tunney, Tom Hartley, Julie Constantine,
Danielle Knox, Emma Andre, Elise Adams, Elek Buday, Jeff Buday, Dave Hixon,
Diana Michael, Heath Hollowood, John DeRosa, Kent Neil, Ashley Neil, Jacob
Beckinger… The problem with listing names is you no doubt leave someone out.
But here I sit at Jefferson Hospital waiting for a church member to have a proce-
dure done, and off the top of my head, I came up with 22 names. I suspect some of
you can name up to 20 more.
Camp matters, church. It is where faith is formed and nurtured. It is where some
campers feel truly safe – perhaps for the first time. It is home for more than you
can imagine.
Camp is where we understand deep inside what it means to sing:
The Lord of love has come to me – I want to pass it on.
Do not hesitate. Send your children to church camp. Send your grandchildren to
church camp. Send your neighbor’s children to church camp. Sponsor them. Help
pay their way.
Do not hesitate. Be a counselor. Be a di-
rector. Help in the kitchen. Lead crafts
or singing. Be the staff nurse or life-
guard.
Church camp is life changing – for the
camper and for the adult volunteers.
And this Sunday, May 5th, we are cele-
brating Cinco de Mayo by having a CIN-
CO DE SIGN UP PARTY! Every person
who registers is automatically entered
into a drawing for a $50 scholarship towards camp fees. There will be Mexican
yummies to eat. There may even be a Mexican Hat Dance! Plan on staying after
worship to celebrate Cinco de Sign Up and Camp Laurelview!
I’ll see you on the mountain, campers and volunteers!
Shalom/Salaam,
Pastor Amory

A Word from the Moderator

Welcome to the very, merry month of May. We had a busy April. Our Rummage
Sale held April 11–13 was a success and thank you to everyone who helped set it
up, worked it, and tore it down. Penn West students helped us with set up on Sat-
urday, April 6, as part of the University’s Big Event. Despite lower foot traffic dur-
ing the sale days, we were able to raise close to a thousand dollars.
We still have items in our garage that need to be taken to Goodwill and we need
some volunteers to help with that project.
We hosted the community on the Tuesday, April 23rd Primary Election Day voting.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the food and bake sale. Thanks to you
we were able to raise approximately $800 and provide great-tasting food to those
who stopped in.
We have received a letter from the Alpern Schubert law firm that Frank Kurtik has
offered $70,000 to purchase the remainder interest in the Peggy Pepper estate. At
the General Board meeting we decided to have the Board of Trustees meet to dis-
cuss the offer and to look at our Living Will Endowment policy as concerns the dis-
tribution of funds provided by former members. I will call together the Trustees in
the coming days.
We had a fun, music-filled night of singing in support
of the Camp Laurelview Farmhouse Project when we
took over the J.D. Winery in Eighty-four as David
Hixson gave a solo benefit show. He raised $700 for
Camp Laurelview with guest singers Pastor Amory, Li-
sa Buday, and the golden-throated warbler, David
Boehm. Speaking of Laurelview, we will have a Cinco
de Sign-Up Day on May 5th after church to sign of
campers for the summer camping season. If you know
a potential young camper, I tell you truly, they will
love their time at
camp. I know from experience.
We approved our nominating committee at
the April Board meeting. The committee con-
sists of board members, Jeannie McCory
Fox, Debbie Carnello-Fisher, Dan Adams,
and non-board members Midge Kennedy and
Sheryl Ruffing Jones. My thanks to all of
them for agreeing to serve. The committee
will meet to bring forth the names of mem-
bers willing to serve as deacons, elders, trus-
tees, and other officers. If you are willing to
serve as an officer for this congregation,
please contact one of these people. I can’t
stress enough how important it is for you to
agree to serve if you are asked. None of these
positions are difficult. What becomes difficult is when everyone we call says no, I
can’t. We need you to help run this congregation. All of us have talents that we
need. Do not hide your talents under a bushel, use them for the glory of God and
Jesus and UCC.
It is with regret that I must announce that our administrative assistant, Nancy
Heft, has resigned her position. We must start a search again to fill the position. If
you are aware of someone who you think would be capable to help us out, please
let Pastor Amory or myself know.
May God Bless You and Keep You Close Always,
David Boehm
Rev. Ed Rawls has been my pastor and friend for many, many years. He is retiring
from ministry at the end of May. He has served the First Congregational Church in
Statford, CT for at least 20 years. My first visit to their worship service was his trial
sermon. He has kindly invited me to participate in his last worship service on May
26th. I am honored and privileged. I learned a great deal about ministry from him. Ed
wrote this article eight years ago for his congregation (which is United Church of
Christ). It is a powerful word about Pentecost. Read on. — AM

When Pentecost Happens

I was taken back when the Rev. Cass Shaw quoted me last Sunday, when speaking
about the ministry of the Bridgeport Council of Churches. Honestly I think that
was the first time I had ever heard anyone quote me. I never thought I’d written
anything worth quoting. But she reminded me of what I found so powerful and so
profound as a member of the United Church of Christ. That we are a “pilgrim peo-
ple,” a “covenantal people.” That our membership doesn’t hang so much in believ-
ing the right things about God, (creedal), but rather in our promises to walk with
each other in following Christ.
This may sound heretical, but I have met people of other religions that I have felt
more of an alignment with than those who adhere to my own faith. What I find we
have in common goes deeper than any confession, and that is a desire to love oth-
ers as God has loved us.
You can use the name of Jesus Christ all you want but if it is used for hate or
prejudice or violence, it has nothing to do with Jesus or the Christian faith.
As we move towards Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy
Spirit, I feel that the primary sign of the Spirit’s coming on Pentecost was not hav-
ing the right religious beliefs or even a lot of religious exuberance, but rather that
people from every nation that came to Jerusalem and heard the disciples speaking
to them in their own native language. God thought it important that everyone hear
the good news of God’s love in their own language.
We have sometimes confused culture with Christianity. Even some of our own ear-
ly missionaries forced the children in other cultures to speak English and forbade
them from speaking their native language. One of my professors called this the re-
ligion of empire. When religion is used to impose its own values on another nation
or culture, it is neither mission nor evan-
gelism but empire building. Read Mich-
ener’s Hawaii again.
That tells a dark story of our own denomi- “God has done
nation. The Roman Church thought for everything possible
over nineteen centuries that the only true
to reconcile all people
language that one could worship in was
Latin. There are still some Greek Orthodox to God’s self,
who feel the same about Greek. Muslims and to reconcile us
believe that real prayers are be done in Ar- to each other.”
abic. But the God of Pentecost speaks eve-
ry language and relates to every culture
the wonderful works of God.
God then calls them in their own language to create their own style of worship that
helps them best express their love for God. God has done everything possible to
reconcile all people to God’s self, and to reconcile us to each other. I find the reign
of God looks more like a circle than a line with who’s first and who’s last. All of us
gather around the living Christ together. We all come to glorify God and to worship
Christ. This is the result when Pentecost happens.
Peace,
The Rev. Ed Rawls
Ministry News & Events

Young Disciples Youth Group

!! Meeting on Sunday, May 5 from 4-6pm !!

Bring your calendars so we can plan
some summer fun!

Above: Sarah Fox, Valedictorian, Charleroi Area High School class of 2024
Right: Adeline Hatfield and Norah Shen, inducted into National Junior Honor
Society
Hospitality Ministry

Mother’s Day (May 12th): Social Hour

after worship.
Home baked goodies by Bobbie Hixon.

California Historical Society is

sponsoring Wanda Qiu, the Man-
dorin teacher at California Area
Schools, for two events to be held
in our Social Hall. She will be
hosting a Chinese Tea on Tues-
day, May 14th at 5:30 pm and a
Dumpling Cooking Class on
Monday, May 20th at 5:30 pm.
Cost to be announced.
Christian Education
LOL (Live Out Love) has been a great success for all involved! Our children have
become friends while playing together, making crafts, learning Bible stories that
teach us about how much God loves us – and how much we are to love others
and God’s creation. We are grateful to those who have prepared meals, taught us
great crafts, and shared their gifts with us! We have two more sessions coming
up in May: May 1st and May 17th. We will take the summer off. All children and
youth are invited to LOL!

Worship & Spirituality

• May 19th – Pentecost Sunday – Baptism of Mark and C.J. Null.
• June 2nd – Graduation Sunday – We will honor all pre-school graduates, high
school graduates, college and graduate school graduates, trade school gradu-
ates, etc. Please send in any pertinent information so we can share in the bul-
letin and our June newsletter, as well as the regional newsletter.
Finance and Stewardship
Blessing Box Sunday!
After a few years, we are returning to celebrate our annual Blessing Box Sunday.
This year we celebrate on Mother’s Day, a great day to give thanks for all our many
blessings, including those who have given us nurturing love and faith formation.
Our church has traditionally been one of the top Blessing Box churches of our Re-
gion. However, the amount isn’t important. For those who participate, it is a spir-
itual discipline even more than a fi-
nancial one. As we taught our chil-
dren recently during the children’s
sermon, we need to keep a focus on
gratitude to God and count our
blessings as well as share them with
others.
The amount is not nearly as im-
portant as the discipline of regularly remembering God’s goodness through the
acts of dropping in coins and praying prayers of thanksgiving. If you want to start
the discipline for the coming year with a Blessing Box, they are available in the
Narthex. You can also donate online with our church giving app under “other”.
This offering supports Women’s Ministries nationally and around the world, the
Disciples Mission Fund and our own Pennsylvania Region.

Pentecost Offering
Received in many congregations May 12 & 19, 2024.
The Pentecost Offering supports Disciples new church development. Planning,
nurturing and sustaining new congregation is part of the Disciples’ vision. This of-
fering supports the specialized ministry of new church development through both
regional and general programs. Gifts for this offering are divided equally between
the region in which they’re given and the New Church Ministry.

Restore and Rewind

When it comes to church, we have a lot of negative tapes playing in our heads:
“Church is judgmental.”
“Church is hypocritical.”
“They think they’re better than everyone else.”
It’s time for restoration. Time to rewind the tape.
New Church Ministry is dedicated to fostering faithful communities marked by
deep Christian spirituality and a passion for God’s love and justice.
Like our ancestors, we’re going back to the beginning, when new Christian com-
munities gathered together and shared all they had, organizing everything around
the Spirit’s dreams for their lives and their communities.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, God is singing a new song: not a song of judg-
ment, but of welcome and forgiveness; not a song of superiority, but of humility
and grace; not a song of hoarding, but of sharing everything we have!
God’s movement for wholeness is already underway. Our job is to listen, and
learn, and follow – supporting leaders and communities as the Spirit calls them
into being, laying down a new song for a new generation.
Church as a place of generosity and justice. Church as a movement for wholeness
in a fragmented world.
Your gifts to the 2024 Pentecost Offering are divided equally between your region-
al ministry, which supports local new churches, and New Church Ministry, which
trains, equips, and assists emerging leaders to be “movement initiators.”
Stewardship by the Numbers
April 2024

CASH AND OFFERING DEPOSITS $ 7,078.23

ONLINE GIVING & CREDIT $ 1,620.13
TRANSFERS IN $ 8,006.00*
TOTAL GIFTS/INCOME $ 16,704.36
EXPENSES $ 21,303.38
TRANSFERS OUT $ 1,595.63*
DIFFERENCE -$ 6,194.65

*Transfers in: New Guardian system. Transfers out: Capital and Mission accounts.

You may give online at our website or send your gift to:

United Christian Church

499 East Malden Drive
Coal Center, PA 15423
Mission and Outreach

Relay for Life: UCC will have a sign at the

event set for May 24th supporting our own
Adeline Hatfield and Norah Shen’s team.
We will be raffling off another hand pieced
quilt made by Diana Michael. See Diana
Michael for tickets.

Laurelview
Disciples Women
We had a wonderful time together at our Ladies Tea Event held at The Gathering
Place in Washington.
Disciples Men
MAY 2024
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4
LOL Yoga for Yoga with
4:30pm Weight Loss Brenda –
– 6pm 9am
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Worship Hearts & Hands Worship & Spirit- Yoga with
10am; Cinco Missions uality Ministry Brenda –
de Mayo sign 9:30am; Yoga Team – 9am
up (church for Weight Loss
6:30pm; Pastoral
camp registra- – 6pm
tion) after Relations Com-
worship; Pas- mittee – 7:15pm
tor’s Last
Class after
Cinco de Sig-
nup; Youth
Group 4-6pm

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Mother's Day; Hearts & Hands Chinese Tea & Last LOL of Tri-County Yoga with
Worship 10am Missions Mah Jong the school Men’s Fel- Brenda –
9:30am; Yoga 5:30pm – spon- year – lowship at 9am
for Weight Loss sored by Califor- 4:30- Connellsville
– 6pm nia Historical So- 6:30pm Christian
ciety Church –
5:30pm –
RSVP by
May 12
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Pentecost Hearts & Hands Elder Prayer Relay for Yoga with
Sunday Wor- Missions Gathering Life @ Brenda 9am
ship & Bap- 9:30am; Dump- 6:15pm; Board CAHS
tism 10am ling Night – Meeting 6:30pm
sponsored by
California His-
torical Society.
5:30pm

26 27 28 29 30 31
Worship 10am Memorial Day
Serving Schedule
May 5 – Elders: Lisa Hajdu – W; Beverly Constantine – B
Deacons: Clint Hajdu, Tom Hartley – W; Lloyd Shawley, Jacob Kotchman – B
Jr Deacon – Jenna Fox
Worship Leader – Emma Andre
Greeter – Dave & Beth Boehm

May 12 – Elders: Beverly Constantine – W; Sherri Lacey – B

Deacons: Lloyd Shawley, Jacob Kotchman – W; Jeff Buday, Beth Boehm – B
Jr. Deacon: Zoey Andria
Worship Leader: Beth Boehm
Greeter: Larry Kotchman

May 19 – Elders: Sherri Lacey – W; Lois Gayman – B

Deacons: Jeff Buday, Beth Boehm – W; Tina Finley, Bobbi Hixon – B
Jr. Deacon – Aidan Clark
Worship Leader: David Boehm
Greeter: Linda Hartley

May 26 – Elders: Lois Gayman – W; Diana Michael – W

Deacons: Tina Finley, Bobbi Hixon – W; Sherry Bizozzero, Heather Nicholson - B
Jr. Deacon: Norah Shen
Worship Leader: Sarah Fox
Greeter: Sheryl Jones

Please let the office know if you have someone replacing you. Thanks!
Birthdays

05/02 - Dawn Kitelinger

05/05 - Caydence DeRosa
05/06 - Ginny Hunt
05/09 - Lisa Adams
05/10 - Shannon Jankowski
05/11 - Olivia Nicholson, Jeff Tuday
05/16 - Gene Knight
05/17 - Daniel Little
05/19 - Danielle Knox, Jenna Fox, Sarah Fox
05/20 - Jacob Kotchman
05/21 - Paul Hotz, Jr.
05/26 - Stephanie Hotz
05/30 - Kent Neil