Thank you Rev. Susan Moore for leading us in worship on May 18th. If you missed her wonderful message on Wrestling With God, you can listen to it here.

This Sunday, we pondered our liberation and why we often, as Eric Fromm observed, seek to escape from it. You can watch the service here. And you can watch the story of how Zalmay "Zee" Niazy was liberated with the help of his community here.

Join us next Sunday as we continue the theme of freedom as Stacey Harter shares with us "Legions of Purpose, Not Pigs."

And on June 8th, we will celebrate the birthday of the church, Pentecost!

Room Needed For Two Weeks

Flavio Rapaio, our percussionist for the past few months, will be moving to Tampa in July to begin a Master's Degree program. His lease here ends at the end of June. He will be working as an instructor. with the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County summer camp the first two weeks of July and needs a place to stay, which means we will have him for worship for three more weeks! If you have a room he can use, please let Bruce or Jason know. Thanks!  

We have expanded our discussion of Parker Palmer beyond the four weeks we originally planned, because the conversation has been so rich!

You are invited to join us onsite in the office or online here at 7:00 PM.

This article on Yale University's website is a good introduction to Palmer's life and work.

Between now and Pentecost, June 8th, we will be collecting for the United Church of Christ Strengthen the Church offering. The Strengthen the Church (STC) Offering reflects the shared commitment of people across the United Church of Christ to  build up the UCC cooperatively. Conferences and the national setting equally share the gifts given by members and friends through their local congregations. The funds raised support leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. You build up the Body of Christ with your generosity to this offering.

As God calls our congregations to be the church in new ways, your generosity will plant new churches, awaken new ideas in existing churches and develop the spiritual life in our youth and young adults. You can give here.

Building Soulforce Workshop (Beta!)

On Saturday June 7th, from 12:00 - 3:00, Jason will be leading a new workshop. Soul force is that ineffable quality, the inner power that allows us to meet the demands of life and make a difference in the world. 

In this workshop, we will:

• Gain clarity on your most important goals for the next six to twelve months, as well as a vision for the future you're excited to move towards. 

• Develop a personal protocol and process to achieve those goals, with easily
accomplishable daily steps. 

• Gain greater confidence in your capacity to move through challenges, do hard things, and be who you're capable of being. 

• Know who you are at your best, the qualities that the best version of yourself embodies, and—most importantly-how to express that best version of yourself more consistently every day. 

• Cultivate the ability to respond intentionally to life with a simple, repeatable process: stepping into the gap between stimulus and response and closing the gap between who you're capable of being and who you're actually being. 

• Create a valuable collection of prior successes, and learn how to leverage your prior successes as fuel to create a better future. 

• Know what it means to flourish, and how to live with more wisdom, discipline, courage, love, gratitude, hope, curiosity, and zest. 

This will be in person at Jason's house in Palm Beach Gardens. You can register here. We will be able to accomodate a maximum of 5 this time, but will offer it again in the near future.

We are collecting jars of peanut butter for our food pantry! You can bring them to church on Sunday 

The Fikas Continue!

Richmond Schmidt's Epiphany Star Word was the Swedish word, fika. He has taken it to heart and has been holding fikas all year. You can see a phot of his latest, just Sunday, here. Richmond will be taking his fikas in Sweden for part of the summer, but plans to facilitate more in the future. You can watch Richmond talk about the meanings of fika here. How have you engaged with your Star Word so far this year - you can reply to this email and let us know!

New Series Beginning June 15th!

Jesus was clear that "out of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45 and Matthew 12:34.) Might we also change our hearts by being intentional about how we speak? Complaining and criticizing can keep us in a loop of despair and apathy. Practicing positive constructive speech shifts how we view the world, and if enough of us practice it, it might could change the world!

Soul Care for Weary Activists

"For those of us whose activism and faith are woven together, the temptation to turn to a safer “inner life” can be compelling. Why take on what we cannot solve in this lifetime? The present historical moment seeks to split our faith from our activism. Residing in our faith alone would be a defensive retreat, a surrender to denial and exhaustion. Activism alone would never offer a complete answer either."

Our friends over at Sojourners Magazine ran a great article on soul care for activists. A great read for our faithful activist community! 

• Grocery Bags
• Peanut Butter
• Pouches of Tuna and/or chicken
• Canned Vegetables (tab top and/or single serve sizes are best)
• Ravioli, Spaghetti, Beefaroni (tab top)
• Canned Soups/Stews (tab top)
• Single serve ready to eat meals

We are in desperate need of the following mens' clothing items: 

• T-Shirts sizes L & XL
• Socks
• Boxer Briefs sizes L & XL
• Athletic shorts sizes L & XL
• Backpacks