Children's Sunday School Projects

Thanks to the bequest of CUCC member Art Eckels, the children’s program at CUCC has had a consistent component of teaching justice. The Community Outreach Ministry was given the privilege of discerning how to use Art’s gift to further CUCC’s “working for social justice” mission. In the fall of 2002, they decided to split his gift: half for a Habitat for Humanity house and half as seed money for a staff person to “encourage the growth of CUCC’s children and youth as the next generation of justice people.” (Read a story about the seed money and a thunderstorm.) The congregation acknowledged this generous gift in passing the 2003 budget.

Anne Bailey Zschau arrived at CUCC in March 2003 and has been serving as the Children’s Sunday School Coordinator ever since, building into the children’s program experiences working for justice with their talents and their money.* Through the Rotation Church School program, CUCC’s children had been involved in service projects connected thematically to each rotation, but Anne Bailey’s innovation was to invite them to vote from a short list of options to select their service projects. At first the children voted for a new project every few months. Over time, they settled into a spring, summer, and fall project rhythm. Some years the children voted to continue their support of the same service project for another semester. We aren’t sure what year the voting began, but we know it was in place by 2007.

Full document: Children's Sunday School Justice Projects
(compiled by Jane Smith, August 2016, updated October 2017)

Welcoming Sunday - 2016

Welcoming Sunday is held in early September each year. It's sort of a kick-off event for the beginning of fall and the end of summer.  Susan Maleszweski, Nancy Stoddard, and Sue Cottle headed up a magnificent kitchen crew that supplied and coordinated the food for the event. And many of the church ministries staffed information and activity tables. More than 90 people attended the event.

These photos are from September 11, 2016. You can click the little expander button at the bottom of the slideshow (4 arrows pointing outward) to view the slide show in full screen mode.

Religious Freedom and Events of the Week - July 10, 2016

Rev. Peg Williams and Karen Withem presented the sermon on July 10, 2016. Karen reflected on her Baha’i faith and integrating it into her life in Community UCC.

During the previous week there were national reported shootings by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, followed by a sniper attack in Dallas that took the lives of 5 policemen in Dallas. Pastor Peg commented extensively on the national dialog regarding this violence.

The Good Samaritan (for children)

Pastor Peg Williams shared a version of the story of the good Samaritan with the children on July 10, 2016.

Maggie Leidheiser-Stoddard ordination - June 11, 2016

On June 11, Maggie Stoddard (now Maggie Leidheiser-Stoddard) was ordained into the Episcopal Ministry in Cincinnati OH.  Here are some photos of the ceremony. Maggie grew up in Community UCC as the daughter of Nancy and Skip Stoddard.

Click any photo to browse through enlarged views of the photos

Congolese Singing

Members of our community of Congolese sang during 10:30 worship on June 5, 2016.

Sermon for Children - June 5, 1016

Anne Bailey Zschau and Bill Lamb presented the children's sermon on June 5, 2016.

Confirmation 2016

The confirmation program for 2016 was extended over two Sundays (May 29 and June 5). Erik Burkhardt gave his confirmation statement during 10:30 worship on May 29. Thanks to Paul Kiel for spontaneously making a video clip of Erik's statement, but since the audio track is a bit faint we're including a PDF version of Erik's statement as well.

Mason Atkinson gave his confirmation statement on June 5. The video below includes Mason's statement as well as Erik's. Both confirmands offered thanks to all those adults in the church who had taken the time and effort to help with their confirmation process and share from their own lives.

New Members - May 15, 2016

Pastor Peg Williams and Deacons Chair Jim Smith led five new members in joining the church on May 15, 2016.

Pentecost Sunday Story for Children

On May 15, 2016, Laurel Powell led a story for children on Pentecost Sunday.

Pentecost Sunday - 2016

On May 15, 2016, Rev. Peg Williams preached on the topic "Mission Impossible: Speaking the Same Language". Here is her homily in its entirety.

CUCC Receives Environmental Award from the City of Raleigh

In 2016 CUCC was honored to receive the US Foods Environmental Stewardship Award given by the City of Raleigh’s Environmental Advisory Board.  The award acknowledges CUCC’s work from 2007 to 2015 seeking “justice in a changing climate.”

Gary Smith of the JCC task force accepted the award on behalf of the congregation and the many people in the wider community who have joined us over the years in this shared work.  In addition to a certificate, the congregation was given a hand-carved bowl and pedestal made from wood reclaimed in Wake County (the pedestal was formerly a beam from a building in Wake Forest).

We were humbled to be included in the company of the other inspiring 2016 honorees.  (Award Ceremony program)

Special thanks to John Little for writing the application which eloquently describes our desire to be faithful to this justice work to which we feel called by God.  (Application)

A reflection on the history and traditions of our church - Marty Lamb (April 2016)

Marty Lamb wrote a brief reflection and commentary on the historical practices of Community UCC as they relate to the task in spring 2016 of forming a search committee to look for a permanent pastor.

Marty's reflection

Children's Sermon, Easter Sunday 2016

Joy Alford gives the children's sermon on March 27, 2016

Easter Sunday Sermon - March 27, 2016

Rev. Peg Williams delivers Easter Sunday sermon, March 27, 2016

Easter Sunday Videos - 2016

Processional

Anthem

Offertory

Hallelujah Chorus

The sermon and children's sermon are available also.

Youth Sunday - 2016

The annual Youth Sunday event was held on March 20, 2016. The youth of the church presented the entire 10:30 worship service. The video here shortens some of the longer parts of the service that involved little speaking, and the singing of the hymns is omitted. But the essence of the service is retained in this 34-minute film.

Special thanks to Karen Withem for help with the filming. Because of the rapid back and forth usage of the two pulpits, it's impossible to get a good video with a single camera. Karen's knowledge of how to handle such situations and her steady camera in the back of the sanctuary made this film possible. Enjoy!

-- Lavon Page

Sermon - March 13, 2016

The sermon entitled Jericho: Zacchaeus: Welcoming vs. Inviting Revisited was given by Rev. Peg Williams.

CUCC celebrates 100 years

Front lawn of CUCC.  Notice the Vaughan Wing, now three years old

CUCC celebrates 100 years of social involvement  (Raleigh Times, April 25, 1981) was written as CUCC celebrated 100 years of ministry in Raleigh.  Unfortunately, page 1 of the article is missing.

Litany of Thanksgiving for 1978 at Community United Church of Christ

This litany of thanksgiving, used January 7, 1979, provides a snapshot of the life of the congregation in 1978 -  our worship, what and how we are learning, our work for justice, the challenges we face together.

1978 was the second year of ministry with us for Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte, so the litany was written as the congregation celebrated the transition to new pastoral leadership.  1979 was the tenth anniversary of the merger of First Evangelical and Reformed Church and United Church.

Content of King's speech at the Institute of Religion

While we have several documents describing the visit by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to the Institute of Religion sponsored by United Church, this article in The Technician (Feb. 13, 1958 edition) may be the only outline of the content of his speech.

On Sunday, January 28, 2018, Joy Alford Allridge was ordained to the pastoral ministry in the United Church of Christ.  Joy had been in care with CUCC during her time in seminary, and she has been serving as pastor of Prism, a CUCC ministry and new church start in Wake Forest, NC.  The ordination service was held at CUCC and the reception catered jointly by CUCC's members at the Raleigh campus and at Prism.

These photos were taken by Prism member, Nancy Jo (Prism is blessed to have a professional photographer in their midst).

Unfortunately we can't upload the album, but you are welcome to view the photos.

Scrapbooks

The three major pieces of CUCC history are

• The United Church of Raleigh Scrapbook that was assembled around 1959. The United Church of Raleigh was the old "downtown" church which moved to the present location in 1969.
• A collection of Remembrances assembled in 1981 as part of the 100th Anniversary celebration. Church Historian Ann Elleman conducted tape recorded interviews with a large number of church members. Susie Sapp then transcribed the recorded interviews into printed format. (The location of the original cassette recordings is unknown.) 
• The 100th Anniversary Scrapbook (1981) which was made available in spring 2015 for the first time.

A Narrative of the Church

This is a film narrative about Community UCC and the various ancestral branches that have led to the present day church. It is not a history, in that it doesn't seek to explain or interpret nor is it anywhere close to being the full story of the church. It's a narrative based on church artifacts and recollections that have been collected and preserved over the years. Many of the anecdotes in the film are taken from the Remembrances available elsewhere in this archive.

A brief printed narrative of the history of the physical facilities used by this congregation was prepared by Merrilee Jacobson in October 2019.

Let me emphatically say that this is not an "official" church production. The choice of subject matter is almost entirely mine. Unquestionably, there are folks who would have selected other content. I will avoid the usual disclaimer "all the opinions expressed herein are my own", because in fact none of the opinions expressed in the film are my own. The characters selected are speaking for themselves in their own words. So the personal touch that I have provided is only in the selection of material, not in the interpretation of it.

This is not a promotional video for the church. It shows the bumps in the road along with the things we like to brag about.

You will find the newspaper clippings to be more readable if you watch the video fullscreen and at the highest resolution your Internet connection will support. Presently Vimeo sets the initial resolution automatically based on assessment of your bandwidth. But there is a manual override. And Vimeo supports fullscreen viewing. The picture to the right shows how to access the resolution settings and how to activate fullscreen viewing.

The entire film is 67 minutes long. It's broken up into four parts of varying length. All four parts are available below.

-- Lavon Page

-- January 2016

Part 1 (Length: 12 min.)



Part 2 (Length: 16 min.)



Part 3 (Length: 19 min.)



Part 4 (Length: 20 min.)

Paul Klemmer Memorial Service

A memorial service for Paul Klemmer, son of Ed and Ruth Klemmer, was held at the church on January 9, 2016. The video below shows the entire service (46 min.). This video may also be viewed at YouTube.

A brief history of the merger of United Church and First E and R congregation

On January 19, 1994, CUCC's pastor, Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte, contacted the denomination to correct an error in the UCC yearbook.  For several years, the founding year had been recorded incorrectly in the yearbook.  This one page letter gives a summary of the merger of the United Church and First Evangelical and Reformed Church, henceforward to be located at the new building of the latter congregation.

Letter regarding history of merger of United Church and First Evangelical and Reformed Church

A brief history of the relationship between CUCC and UUFR

On January 3, 1993, CUCC's pastor, Cally Rogers-Witte, spoke at the dedication of the new sanctuary of our Wade Avenue neighbor congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh.  Her address gives a history of the family relationship between our predecessor congregation - United Church - and what are now the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh and the Friends Meeting of Raleigh.  She traces some of our inheritance from the values of those heritages.

Greetings at Unitarian-Universalist Dedication of New Sanctuary

A CUCC vision statement from the 1970s

In 1989 CUCC was engaging in long-range planning.  They uncovered a vision statement which had been written in the 1970s, but had no information about what had led to the statement or if it was adopted.

1970s Vision Statement for CUCC