Here are some actions you can take to help keep everyone safe as we gather for worship and other activities:
This list was created at the end of December 2021. If you're reading it at a later time, things have almost certainly changed. You can also read our full COVID policies here. Thank you for loving like Jesus and doing everything you can to care for your neighbor. All members of our boards and committees are invited to attend the 2022 Leadership Kick Off on Wednesday, Jan. 12th at 7:00 p.m. UPDATE: Due to rising COVID numbers, this event will now be happening via Zoom ONLY (no in-person gathering). We will use the same Zoom room that we use for Sunday Worship. Visit uccmanhattan.org/online for the link. The purpose of this gathering is to share tips and wisdom for the upcoming year and provide an opportunity for those who serve in leadership to meet one another and spend time connecting. For most boards and committees this will replace your regular January meeting (we will NOT be breaking into individual boards for meetings after as in previous years). We look forward to gathering with you! Please contact Craig Weston, incoming moderator, or the church office if you have questions. The official name of the final UCC Denominational offering of the year is The Christmas Fund for the Veterans of the Cross and the Emergency Fund. The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ for over 100 years, providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “Thank You” gift checks each December to our lower-income retirees.
United Church of Christ congregations and members have blessed the Christmas Fund with their generosity for many years. This year, your care and compassion will be especially appreciated by those servants of the church who are facing a time of need. We will take the offering at our Christmas Eve Service on Dec. 24, but if you'll be out of town or otherwise occupied on Christmas Eve, you can send your offering donation to the church office. Thank you! Donate via PayPal "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." Inspired by a visit to Bethlehem, Phillips Brooks wrote these words for a children's Christmas pageant in 1868. All these years later, Advent is still a time of gathering our hopes and fears and sharing them with God. Please visit 700 Poyntz between Dec. 1st - 25th to share your Christmas prayer. Hopes, fears, and everything in-between are welcome. Paper and pens are available for you to write your prayer and add it to the growing prayer chain.
Fall 2021 Voting Information for Manhattan, KS
Election dates: 8am October 13 - noon Nov 1 Advance voting in-person (link for location/days/times) or by mail October 26 - Last day to apply for advance ballots by mail (link to application for advance voting ballot, more details linked above) November 2 7am-7pm - General election polling locations Sample Ballot: https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView (Registration Information Look Up) Candidate information: League of Women Voters' https://www.vote411.org/ballot has links to candidate pages and written responses to questions League of Women Voters also hosted candidate forums Sunday, recordings available: USD 383 School Board candidates City Commissioner candidates People's Forum: tomorrow 10/13 at 7pm in person at the Staley School of Leadership Studies Town Hall also on Facebook Live and KMAN (radio) More info on voting and elections: https://guides.lib.k-state.edu/breakingyournewsbubble/voting Remembering the Victims of the Residential Schools: A Worship Service of Lament Sunday, October 24th, 5:00 p.m. at the Leadership Studies Amphitheater (rain location: LS 126)
With everything going on in our world, our congregation roots my life in many ways: worship, friendship, service, justice, prayer, support, love. Our church is that stream of water which nourishes the soul and keeps us connected to something deeper within ourselves.
What keeps you rooted right now? Is it family? Is it prayer? Yoga? Sunday worship? Please take a minute to help us with a church project by completing the statement “I am rooted in _______” or “We are rooted in _______”. Be as creative, serious, or silly as you wish. Take a photo of you with your statement and submit photos online at http://www.uccmanhattan.org/upload-portal. Photos will be compiled into a church montage to be shared during our stewardship campaign. You can print the pdf sheets, or you can create your own. Fill out the blank either individually, as a family, or both! We will also be taking photos after worship on Sunday, September 19 and Sunday, September 26. Look for Kendra Kuhlman on the front lawn and take a moment to write down your response and let her snap a photo! Thank you! The Board of Mission has concentrated its activities on food insecurity and encouraging COVID vaccinations during the summer months. Our Second Helping numbers are higher than they were a year ago, and we are continuing to serve meals on a take-out basis. We seem to be seeing more families with children. Our participation in Common Table continues, and Board member Martha Mather represented our church as part of the Common Table display at the Every Body Counts event at the Douglass Center on August 8.
At the encouragement of our own Kendra Kuhlman and the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, we applied for and received a $2000 grant from the Kansas Beats the Virus initiative to incentivize COVID vaccinations at our Second Helping meal. We advertised that folks receiving the Johnson and Johnson shot would receive gift cards from Walmart at two separate events. The Riley County Health department administered 6 vaccinations on August 8, and 11 vaccinations on August 22, for a total of 17 vaccinations to previously unvaccinated folks. We would have liked more, of course, but that is 17 people who are now protected against the virus who were not previously protected, and that is a good thing! Thanks to the Riley County Health Department for sending nurses out on a Sunday evening. Thanks also to Second Helping Meal Coordinator Linda Thurston, who provided ice cream bars and lemonade as a further incentive. I would also like to add a heartfelt thank-you to the Mission Board itself. Shari Tedford, Jean Steiner, Mary Ellen Titus, and Carolyn Hodgson represented us in person at the vaccination events, and Martha Mather would have been there had we needed her. Everyone worked hard to publicize the event, as we needed to guarantee at least ten vaccinations for the second event. Thank you! Gretchen Lewis, PO, Board of Mission |
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