June 2020

Christ United Church of Christ, 1414 Ligonier Street Latrobe, Pennsylvania 15650

At this time, it is unlikely that worship and community gatherings will resume during the month of June. Until further notice, all gatherings at church are cancelled. Please check the church’s

webpage, Facebook page and weekly emails for updates. Be sure to tune in to Pastor John’s sermons on Facebook on Sunday morn-ings at 10:00 AM. https://www.facebook.com/ChristUCCLatrobe

Remember that if any of you find yourselves in need of any kind of assistance, your Church community is here for you. Please do not

hesitate to contact Pastor John at 563-357-6171 or any member of your Consistory listed

on the inside page of this newsletter.

Concerns of the Congregation Please pray for: Henry Arelt, Marcie Baker, Donna and John Brajdic, Eleanor Bridge, Ruth Burns, Kristen Disciascio, Tim Farkas Family, Sandy Gregory, Viola Helmetzi, Helen Hoover, Ron King, Stacey Klug, Zoe Klug, Leanne Lehosky, Mick Mattern, Chuck McNerny, Ben and Jane Miedel, Ruby RaeLynn Moore, Joan Musick, Bob and Evelyn Neighly, Betty Newman, Richard Porembka, Joyce Puzak, Shirley Robb, Bailey Robinson, Carrie Rosebrock; Emily, Eva, and Graeme Sautter; Ken Sible, Judith Short, Silvis Family on the loss of Dewey's Father, Laken Smith, Rick Stahl, Scott Thompson, Sara Young, Bob Zeiders

We also raise in prayer all who are affected in any way by the Coronavirus.

Praying the roll: Everyone on the church roster will have a turn at experiencing the comfort and peace of intentional prayer. We are family . . . .and families pray for one another! Please keep these families

in your thoughts and prayers for the entire week. Week of June 7 - Ted and Pam Steiner, Gloria Stevens, Nathan Stevens Week of June 14 - Bob and Carolyn Stutzman; Ryan, Brooke, Peyton and Parker Thomas; Sally Walker Week of June 21 - Judie Weyandt, Joyce Wible, Patricia Will Week of June 28 - Ken and Sheila Yost, Joan and Bob Zeiders, Amy Zomisky

Fellow Members of Christ Church,

On behalf of the Consistory and Long Range Planning committee, we would like to thank all of you for continuing to financially support our church during this unprecedented and difficult time. Your weekly offerings and additional contributions to the Repair Fund have remained fairly stable, while our expenses are basically consistent with the budget. It would be very easy for us to let our contribu-tions diminish when we can't actually attend church, but most of you are making the effort to get your offerings to the church regularly. So, again, thank you to all. We pray and hope that we will be able to physically meet together in the not too distant future.

Yours in Christ, Jim O’Connor - Acting President, Christ UCC Consistory Jim Sillaman - Chair, Christ UCC Long Range Planning Committee

Christ Church Consistory

Geraldine Boring Michelle Kutzer Kenny Repko Art Dira Harvey Noel Loretta Staruk, Secretary Rick Kunkle Jim O’Connor, Acting President

A Message From Pastor John Perhaps you’ve heard these words from Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” He said this after Britain had defeated the forces of Irwin Rommel at the Bat-tle of El-Alamein, and turned the tide of the war in North Africa. Churchill uttered these words on November 10, 1942, another year and a half would

pass before the allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, the beginning of the end. Friday, May 15th, will mark, perhaps, the end of the beginning for our strict isolation, as West-moreland County, along with Allegheny County, will move from Governor’s Wolf Red Phase to the Yellow Phase. While we might anticipate being able to throw off the shackles of “shelter-in-place,” that’s probably not going to be the case for our church and others like ours. “Re-opening” will happen slowly, over a period of time. The life of our church will not “return” to what was anytime soon, if at all. Some things may have changed forever – I don’t know what these are, I’m simp-ly allowing for this possibility. However, I will say that our use of social media, and making worship available online is here to stay, which will require upgrades to the church’s technology infrastructure. Because gatherings of more than 25 will be prohibited, worship in the sanctuary will probably not resume during the Yellow Phase. You can imagine the logistical problems, among them, which 25 people can attend worship at what time. Virtual worship will continue, as it has. Even gatherings like the weekly Bible study may have to wait until the Green Phase, according to what I’ve read/heard. Hopefully, the consistories of both Christ Church and St. John’s will take the period of the Yel-low Phase to talk about how both will proceed, together and separately, as Pennsylvania and Westmoreland County particularly move from the Yellow to the Green Phase. We’ve never done this before. So, it won’t be easy. And I’m sure there will be fits and starts. So, let’s try to be patient with each other. Blessings and peace, Pastor John

PLEASE NOTE:

For those of you who were following the Scripture Challenge for the month of May in the last newsletter,

May 17 read Jeremiah 22: 10-11.

The correct reading for the 17th is Jeremiah 33: 10-11

A Note from Julie As I read the daily devotion for Sunday, May 17th, taken from the Upper Room devotional book, I was struck by the timely significance of the opening scripture: This slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure........2 Corinthians 4: 17 (NRSV)

I have no doubt that when this May-June publication went to press, the publishers had no idea the extent and length of time that we would be living with Covid-19. I hope that all of you reading this are trying to fill your days with activities that make you happy. I for one, am working outside, putting in gardens. I started planting perennials this past week and as I continue to add to those plants, I am going to get started on my vegetables next. I am going to try something new ( for me ) this year and plant my tomatoes and zucchini in burlap bag pots. We'll see how this works! I'll let you know! I also wanted to wish all of the women of the church a very happy and belated Mother's Day. I know that it was difficult not to be able to spend some face to face time with your families. I would also like to wish a Happy Father's Day to all of the men of Christ Church, too. My dad was my hero and knowing so many of you guys at church, I know that you are heroes to your children, too! My prayer is that with God's guidance, we will be back together as a congregation soon. We will be wearing masks and sitting scattered in the pews, but if that's what it has to be, I'll take it! I miss all of you! I will close with the prayer that closed the devotional I referenced at the beginning of this article. Dear Father, help us to lift our eyes to you in challenging times. Remind us that our earthly troubles will seem small when we stand in the presence of your glory! Amen Love to you, my friends at Christ United Church of Christ!

Julie

A Little Laughter While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, a minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that the proper burial should be performed, they secured a small box and cotton, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister’s son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with dignity intoned his ver-sion of what he thought his father always said: “Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son, and into the hole he goes.”

A Message to Christ Church from Penn West Conference Minister David Ackerman

Dear friends at Christ Church, Marsha & I hope you are all doing well and miss seeing you on Sunday mornings. Since the pandemic began, it has been a time of real grief for so many, and I know it is compounded by the feelings of isolation that we feel. Please know that we miss you, we share in your grief, and we join you and others throughout our Conference, church, country and world in the hopes that we might find relief from the present crisis and healing to move forward into the future. I have been trying to keep in touch with as many people in the Conference as possible dur-ing this time via our e-newsletters and snippets. If you haven’t signed up to receive these, please do so by visiting www.pennwest.org, keying your email address in the box at the right, and responding to the confirmation email (check your junk box if it doesn’t arrive in your inbox). Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter or Instagram. We want you to be informed on updates from our office. Here are some links to some updates that I’ve given in recent days: http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=517543&f=22861&s=26548&m=890976&t=fc3aa86c1266d185c05da64c0b856e8f6a47b0249d62d0f9f87f5a0c23164667; http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=517543&f=22861&s=26548&m=891450&t=fc3aa86c1266d185c05da64c0b856e8f6a47b0249d62d0f9f87f5a0c23164667; http://www.pennwest.org/content/covidvideos.html. Some of these, including the video on the homepage (www.pennwest.org), offer guidance to churches in PA counties that have entered Gov. Wolf’s yellow phase. Also on the homepage, there is information about our Conference Annual Meeting, which will be held on June 13, from 9 AM to noon by Zoom. There is also information about a Workshop Day on June 6, offered via Zoom. Please look this information over, as we are thankful for the opportunities that are before us, even in this difficult time. Last, but certainly not least, I want to say a word of thanks to Pastor John, the staff, and the Consistory of Christ Church for your important leadership during this time. Marsha & I have been seeing the video services that the church has been producing and they are very well done. It is not easy providing leadership during this time, but I am grateful for the lead-ership Christ Church has been giving. And please remember, if you are able, I ask that you continue to support Christ Church with your gifts during this time. Your help in supporting the church’s ministry, especially during this most unusual time, is making a huge differ-ence. Thanks to all of you for the ways in which you continue to bear witness to the good news of the Gospel in your lives, and may God give each of us the encouragement and strength that we need to face the challenges of these days. Grace and peace be with you, David

A Fun "History of Favorite Hymns”

Happy June everyone! Since there really isn't any Adult Choir or Bell Choir news to write about, I was sitting pondering what I could say that might be interesting.......something that we all have in common when we come to church on Sunday's to worship. I hit on the idea of hymns. We sing them at every worship gathering. We listen to them on podcasts from churches here and churches miles away, but what do we really know about them? Why were they written? Who wrote the words and the music? I want to share two hymns with you today. The first hymn is, "Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart". I chose this one because we are in Pentecost and the hymns of the Holy Spirit will be very prevalent in the weeks to come. The hymn tune used as the music for this hymn is Morecambe, written by Frederick C. Atkinson in 1870. The next time you turn to a hymn during worship, look at the very bottom of the written hymn and you will see on the right side, the name of the hymn tune in capital letters. The words to this hymn are attributed to George Croly, 1780 - 1860. He was an Irish priest who lived to be 80 years old. The original title to this hymn was " Holiness Desired." It is interesting to note that any ten- syllable tune is adaptable to this hymn. The comforting words and reassuring faith, stressed especially in the second and third verses make this hymn a favorite. " I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies, no sudden rending of the veil of clay. No angel visitant, no opening skies; but take the dimness of my soul away! Have you not bid us love you every way, All, all your own soul, heart and strength and mind; I see your cross, there teach my heart to stay, O let me seek you and O let me find. The second hymn I have chosen is, "Blest Be the Tie That Binds". The hymn tune is Dennis S.M., melody by Johann G. Nageli (c. 1768-1836) and adapted by Lowell Mason in 1845. The drama of this famous hymn centers around a loving congregation, a woman who spoke her mind, and a Baptist minister who refused a call to one of the largest churches in England. In the summer of 1772, the Rev. John Fawcett, whose family had "increased faster than our income," was overjoyed with the receiving of a "call" to the famous Carter's Lane Baptist Church in London. Im-mediately, preparations were made to transfer to the greater opportunity. A great loyalty and devo-tion had developed between Pastor and people, and although they gave their time and strength will-ingly to help him pack, they did not hide the reluctance about letting him go. When the final day of moving came, the wagons arrived early and the loading of boxes and bundles began. Finally, only one box remained, in the middle of the dining room. Rev. Fawcett noted that his wife stood near it in deep thought. "What's the matter," he asked. Her reply was slow and thoughtful, "Do you think we are doing the right thing? " she asked. "Where will we find a congregation with more love and help than this?" The minister was silent for a moment, then he replied, I think you are right, dear. I have acted too hastily. I was so overjoyed to think that I would have a better home and a larger sala-ry for you and the children, that I did not really pray about it." Together they walked to the porch and told the people that they had decided to remain. Pastor Fawcett wrote most of his hymns to follow his sermons. He remained at Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire for his entire ministry. Submitted by Julie Sexton

SENIOR FOOD DISTRIBUTION is scheduled for Tuesday, June 16. Volunteers will be needed that day at 8:30 A.M. Thanks so much for your help as always.

ARTICLES FOR THE JULY NEWSLETTER ARE DUE ON

MONDAY, JUNE 15 Please send to cocoakitty2001@gmail.com or give to Loretta Staruk

July/August is usually a two/month issue but because of COVID 19 and it being

difficult to plan, there will be an issue in July and another in August.

Christian Education Committee Update Sunday School for Children and the Adult Sunday School Class will resume in September. Wednesday morning bible study which meets on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 AM is on hiatus until further notice. The Christian Education Committee has decided not to have a VBS program this summer. Information about other VBS programs in the Latrobe area will be given to families if and when available.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Men of the Church When we return to church small gifts will be given to the ladies and the men of the church to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Hope it won’t be long until we can be together again in our beautiful house of worship.

MANY THANKS to those who continue to provide Love Cards for our shut-ins each month. If you would like to be a part of this important ministry or have questions, please call anyone on the Lay Life and Mission Committee or you can leave a message at the church office and someone will get back to you.

Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary! June 9 Rosella Nessmith June 13 Wayne and Ellen Sautter June 11 Blaise Pezek June 13 Bob and Joan Zeiders June 14 Dorothy Facemyer June 23 Charles & Dorothy Facemyer June 17 Dewey Silvis June 24 Ken and Sheila Yost June 18 Rich Baker June 26 Rich and Marcie Baker June 26 Dorthy Paulovich

CONTACT US Newsletter Editor, Loretta Staruk - 724-879-8631 - cocoakitty2001@gmail.com

Administrative Assistant, Caryn Dettling Church Email: christchurchucc@verizon.net

Church Office Phone: 724-537-4901 Christ UCC Website - www.ucclatrobe.org

Pastor John Cofield - 724-537-4901 (office) or 563-357-6171 (cell)

HOW TO PLANT YOUR GARDEN

First you come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…. For the garden of your daily living, plant three rows of peas:

Peace of mind, Peace of heart and Peace of soul. Plant four rows of squash:

Squash gossip, Squash indifference, Squash grumbling, Squash selfishness. Plant four rows of lettuce:

Lettuce be faithful, Lettuce be kind, Lettuce be patient, Lettuce really love one another. No garden is without turnips:

Turnip for meetings, Turnip for service, Turnip to help one another. To conclude our garden, we must have thyme.

Thyme for each other, Thyme for family, Thyme for friends. Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in your garden be-

cause you reap what you sow.

Submitted by Ellen Sautter

A Book Review - Brilliant Blunders by Mario Livio I understand that not everyone has enough interest in science to wade through a book like “Brilliant Blunders,” by Mario Livio. I say “wade” because the author does take us somewhat into the deep end of the water as he discusses some of the twists and turns taken by five or six renowned scientists as they developed their unique, world changing theories. Beginning with his review of Darwin's astute ob-servations of living creatures around the world which led to his theory of evolution and ending with Livio's discussion of Einstein's theories of specific and general relativity, the author explores how these remarkable people used their brilliant thought processes to expand our knowledge of the world and the cosmos. Perhaps the most interesting chapters are those involving the people and ideas which resulted in the final discovery of the physical structure of DNA, the famous “double helix” chemical strands which are the basis for the structure of the genes which define living things. In the centuries before our current understanding of how life reproduces, there were many ideas about how living things came into being. Some people thought that the more simple life forms could just spontaneously gener-ate. Even when people accepted that new life always generates from preceding life, there were many ideas about how the offspring of one creature often showed different characteristics than its parents. For a long time, it was thought that there was just some sort of “blending” of parental features in the offspring, but that theory didn't always fit with what was seen. Then, in the 1800's, a monk living in a monastery in what is now the Czech Republic, Gregor Mendel, did some experiments with pea plants, some yellow and some green, and carefully recorded the patterns of color which were passed along to succeeding generations when he crossbred the two types of plants. He realized that there was a more complex pattern of inheritance of some type of “factor” (later called genes) which made offspring in-herit characteristics in patterns related to “dominant” or “recessive” traits. Mendel published his find-ings in an obscure journal, so it took a while before others working on this problem found his data and realized that he had, indeed, explained the basis for inheritance. From there, it was a long and winding road to modern scientists in the 1900's trying to discover the actual physical structure of the chemical (DNA) that was the basic building block of the gene. Par-ticularly intriguing is that Linus Pauling, who was considered one of the world's leading chemists in the middle of the 20th century, developed some interest in this while he was working on other bio-chemical projects. At the time, not everyone agreed that DNA played such a key role in genetic infor-mation; many scientists thought that proteins were the likely transmitters. Although Pauling did figure out that the DNA structure was probably a spiral shape, he was unable to configure it in a way that would allow it to be a transmitter of genetic codes. The author attributes Pauling's “blunder” (i.e., not figuring out the DNA structure) to a combination of working on too many other projects at one time and to overlooking a basic chemical precept about acids. It finally fell to Watson and Crick in Eng-land, with the help of Xray diffraction images from Rosalind Franklin, to confirm that DNA consisted of two spiral strands wrapped around each other with the amino acid codes in between that could ex-plain how genetic information is passed along through biochemical molecules. Each of the other stories of the twists, turns and false passages of science are equally, fascinat-ing. But besides the actual science parts are the very interesting stories of the relationships among each of the scientists in their generations. Mario Livio is a brilliant man (astrophysicist), but he is also a wonderful writer, making these complex stories very understandable. I'm anxiously looking forward to his most recent book, “Galileo and the Science Deniers.” Jim Sillaman

Penn West Conference Annual Meeting

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person Annual Gathering & Meeting originally planned for California University of Pennsylvania on June 12-13 has been cancelled. Instead, there will be a shorter virtual Zoom meeting that will be

held on Saturday, June 13, from 9 AM to noon. Normally, Christ Church is officially represented by 2 Delegates, a Youth Delegate, and, of course, by our Pastor. Others may attend as visitors as well. There is a fee of $10 to attend and registrations are due by May 29. If you wish to attend as a Delegate or as a Youth Delegate from our church, please contact Jim O’Connor at jp.oconnor@lhtot.com or 724-238-2578 as soon as possible. Further information is available on the Penn West web site at http://www.pennwest.org. A sched-ule is available here, and the Call to the Meeting is available here. Registration may be completed by filling out the form here\ and returning it with payment to the Conference Office, or it may be completed online by visiting this link. There are two other events that are separate from the Annual Meeting, as well. One is a technology test (for those who are new to using Zoom) on June 12 at 6 PM followed by a discussion on the budget at 7 PM. Registrants will receive Zoom information for this closer to the time. Another event is a “Workshop Day.” These are many of the workshops originally planned for the in-person conference and that will now be done via Zoom. The “Workshop Day” will run from 9 AM to 9 PM on Saturday, June 6. Further information is below.

Annual Gathering and Meeting Workshop Day June 6,

2020 from 9:00am to 9:00pm

Just as the 2020 Penn West Conference Annual Meeting will be held virtually via Zoom, so too will the workshops normally offered during the conference be held virtually and via Zoom.

The difference is that this year, the workshops will be held on a single day and on a different date from the Annual Meeting, and they will all be free of charge!

Thus, anyone who wishes to attend any or all of the workshops may do so, regardless of wheth-er you have signed up to attend the Annual Meeting. The “Workshop Day” will run from 9

AM to 9 PM on Saturday, June 6. A full schedule with workshop descriptions for the Workshop Day may be found on the Penn West web site at http://www.pennwest.org/Final_AM_Workshop_Day.pdf.

A shorter list of the workshop times, titles, and leaders is provided on the next page. Zoom in-formation for the event will be sent closer to the time in a snippet to everyone who is on the

PWC e-newsletter list and in an email to Conference pastors. We will also publish the Zoom information in our weekly Monday Announcements before Workshop Day, or you may call or e-mail the church office to obtain this information. When you have the Zoom information, you

may just Zoom in for any workshop at any part of the day that you wish, either with full video and audio, or with audio only via telephone. You will be able to leave at any time and come into any of the workshops at any time.

(CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE)

Annual Gathering and Meeting Workshop Day June 6,

2020 from 9:00am to 9:00pm

9:00 am-10:00am Jill White Repurposing Workshop 10:00 am – 11:00 am Joseph Hedden Sustaining Ministry in the Long Run 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Bobbie Hineline What do we do about climate change?

Noon – 1:00 pm Break for Lunch 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm George Steffey Fresh Visions of Church 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Dave Mears Find Your Why - (based on the book by

Simon Sinek) 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Melissa McLean Imagining Penn West Youth 3.0 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm John Titus Clear the Clutter & Listen for the Spirit

7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Tom Croner Cultivating a Vision for Future Annual

Gatherings & Meetings: A Gathering of Prophets

8:00 pm – 9:00 pm Ryan Lucas & Keith Grimm Philippines Trip

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Break for Dinner

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Deirdre Hainsworth Mapping our Boundaries: Using

Technology for Ministry with Youth

June 2020 Prayer Calendar

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Loving God, thank you for your faithfulness, day by day and season by season. Help us to trust you always in all circumstances and to be faithful in prayer each day. Amen.

Continue to pray for all whose lives have been impacted by the coronavirus.

1 Pray for students who are learning at home.

2 Pray for those who serve as our elected officials.

3 Thank God for music makers, those who compose and those who play.

4 Pray for those who are lonely.

5 Pray for those having marital difficulties.

6 Ask God for forgiveness for bad tempers and angry words.

7 Pray for those making their living on the sea.

8 Pray for those without a church home.

9 Thank God for those who make us laugh.

10 Pray for the health and well-being of all refugees.

11 Lift up all those in our community and throughout the world who are going to bed hungry.

12 Praise God for the beauty of the seasons.

13 Pray for public utility workers.

14 Remember former pastors and their families.

15 Lift up women and men who have been impacted by incarceration.

16 Pray for those whose lives are paralyzed by fear.

17 Pray for farmers and gardeners who grow our food

18 Thank God for fruits, vegetables and all that we eat.

19 Pray for those who transport our food.

20 First Day of Summer Thank God for wild flowers and the flowers we grow in our gardens.

21 Happy Father’s Day! Pray for fathers and all men of the church.

22 Pray for children without families.

23 Ask God to help you use your gifts in God’s service.

24 Pray for organ donors and recipients.

25 Pray for families affected by suicide.

26 Thank God for writers, journalists, program makers and cameramen who enlarge our understanding.

27 Praise God for the amazing universe.

28 Thank God for storytellers, playwrights, and poets.

29 Thank God for the fellowship of other Christians.

30 Pray for those who have trouble sleeping.

Creator of the universe, watch over us and keep us in the light of your presence.