During this COVID-19 quarantine period, many families in our community have been finding it difficult to put food on the table due to the loss of income from all the business closures. Several of our members have begun donating food products to the Vista del Camino food bank in an effort to ease some of these problems. Others have increased their donations to the Healthy Packs program. You can find some photos showing these efforts in the “Community Activities” photo album.

All donations are welcome and appreciated. You can drop your donations off at the church where they will be collected and delivered to Vista del Camino. Thanks!

Friends,

Grace and peace to you in this uncertain time.  Be assured that God is with us and can continue to grow us in times of insecurity.  We hope you are listening first and foremost to recommendations from the CDC, scientists, and our medical community for good and reliable information.  The United Church of Christ also put out good information, which we used as a bulletin insert on 3/8/20.  You can access it online by clicking here.  As individuals and as a church, we need to stay flexible as the situation changes daily.  Yesterday Arizona had 12 confirmed cases of CoVid-19, and as of the latest update we have 18.  The numbers are expected to rise.  We realize there is great value in social distancing as it protects the most vulnerable among us, our medical workers, and it helps to reserve our critical hospital resources for those who most need them.  Your co-pastors, the leadership of this church, as well as the leadership of the Southwest Conference of the UCC indicate it is best at this time to heed the new federal guidance of gatherings of no more than groups of 10.  Therefore, we are also canceling Sunday worship, at least through April 12 (Easter), which has been our conference’s recommendation.  Recall that Easter is a moveable feast day on the calendar, so there is no reason that we cannot celebrate Easter later together!

Your moderator and others are working on a way for weekly sermons to be available to you.  We plan to videotape the weekly sermon, create a YouTube link, and send that link to you via email blast as well as post the link to our website (www.myccov.com).  You can expect that email sometime Saturday evening or early Sunday morning.  If you haven’t explored our website, this might be an excellent time.  We maintain an archive of all sermons under the “Sermons” tab on the top of our home page.  Please enjoy this resource!  We have already encouraged you to sign up for daily email devotionals through our denomination by clicking here or for Richard Rohr’s daily meditations (by clicking here.).   

One thing we want you to know is that we can continue being the church!  We live in a time when communication can be instantaneous through our phones and computers.  Let’s check in on each other.  PLEASE let your pastors and fellow parishioners know if you need anything we are a phone call, text, or email away!  We can get meals to you if you are sick, we can run to the grocery store for one another, and we can pray with you.  Just keep us informed.  We will be checking on all of you by phone, text, and email.  We can even Facetime!  At this time our conference is discouraging face-to-face pastoral care. 

Also, your treasurer reminds you that the church continues to have bills to pay.  If you are accustomed to putting your offering in the plate on Sunday, consider sending a check in to the church office or paying via credit card.  Many already tithe automatically and monthly by keeping their credit card on file with Michelle in the church office; this is an especially helpful way of giving.

Remember that God is always with us even when events seem to say otherwise.  This Sunday, I will preach and publish a sermon on the 23rd Psalm, the most comforting of all of them.  Stay tuned and we will send out access directions later this week.  We hold you in our hearts.

In Christ’s Love, Co-Pastor Sandi

Join us on March 1st for some beautiful music from Phoenix Symphony violinist Karen Sinclair. She and Larry will play a program including pieces by Bach, Schumann, and Mendelssohn. Larry’s harpsichord will be front and center, and you’ll hear Bach like it was supposed to be heard! Please join us for this very special Sunday. 

Please join us on February 2nd, when our soloist will be Phoenix Symphony horn player Shelby Nugent. Shelby and Larry’s program will include selections from concertos by Mozart and Strauss.

Shelby joined The Phoenix Symphony as second horn in 2017. Prior to that she played in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and attended Northwestern University. During the summers Shelby can be found anywhere from Des Moines, IA to Jackson Hole, WY playing in music festivals. She loves living in Phoenix and hiking around the desert with her dog, Jovie

The purpose of this important meeting of the congregation is as follows:
• To hear the report of the Church Council and staff;
• To elect officers and vote on the slate of candidates for officers and boards;
• To act upon the budget and to appropriate funds for necessary expenditures during the upcoming year;
• To take any action that may properly come before the meeting.

All church members and associate members are reminded that they are eligible to vote on all matters that come before this meeting.

We always need 3 – 5 individuals to serve dinner at this United Methodist Outreach Ministry (UMOM) event and we welcome families with teenagers 14 years old or older to join us. We leave CCOV at 4 PM and are usually back around 7:30 PM.

“Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” 

This is your invitation to live and love as our faith calls us to do.

Plan to meet at CCOV and then carpool to Halle Women’s Center, 3424 East Van Buren.

Contact: Janet at 480-391-3905 if you have any questions or need more information.

Phoenix Symphony Principal Violist Mark Deatherage will be our guest soloist for the service on Sunday, January 5th. He and Larry will play a program from the Romantic period including compositions by Mendelssohn and Schumann. Please join us to hear this highly gifted musician.

Mark Deatherage joined The Phoenix Symphony as Associate Principal Viola in 2008, and as Acting Principal Viola in 2009.

Born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri, Mr. Deatherage has been professionally engaged by many orchestras in the midwest including the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2007-2008 he was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Mark Deatherage received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Indiana University, from Mimi Zweig and Alan DeVeritch, respectively. While in Indiana, he was a student of  Michael Strauss, Principal Viola of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

During his downtime, it may be difficult to find Mr. Deatherage, as he will likely be out exploring the back roads and jeep trails of Arizona.