Appleseed Outreach

Please note that we will not be open this evening. Please stay home and try to stay cool!

Today we celebrate Juneteenth by giving thanks for freedom and praying for an end to oppression everywhere.

Join us on Facebook live ~ Monday 11 AM

Sending love to all those who struggle during Father’s Day weekend, for any reason. You are loved and we are praying for and with you.🧡

“Powwow 101” is tomorrow at 7 p.m. (Central)! Powwows are a way for Indigenous people to meet, dance, sing, renew old friendships and create new ones. This summer you are invited to visit a powwow near you and to join your Native neighbors in celebration. Presented by Vicar Wanda Frenchman, "Powwow 101" will help you learn more about these events and how to be a respectful guest. No preregistration is required; just visit ELCA.org/TruthAndHealing and click “join the class” to attend.

On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we pray for an end to warfare throughout the world. We remember all who have committed themselves to military service to their country. On behalf of their fellow citizens, they stepped into harm’s way, gave up time with those they love, and carried the weight of respect and duty. For their lives, we give God thanks, even as we plead for peace and justice in our time. Amen.

LITANY FOR MOTHERS DAY
original by Amy Young; adapted by Rev. Heidi Carrington-Heath and Rev. John MacIver Gage

On this Mothers Day, we honor the beautiful, hard, and messy human experience of mothering and being mothered. There is no one way to be a mother, or to relate to a mother, despite the Hallmark card visions offered us. And there is no one perfect Biblical experience of motherhood, either. So, particularly today, we sow our prayers wide and deep.

If you are like Hannah, struggling with infertility, or a miscarriage or if you are like Rachel, are counting the women among your family and friends who year by year and month by month get pregnant, while you wait,
Many: we are praying with you.

If you are like Naomi and have known the bitter sting of a child's death, or if you are like Joseph and Benjamin, and your Mom has died,
we are praying with you.

If your relationship with your Mom was marked by trauma, abuse, or abandonment, or she just couldn't parent you the way you needed,
we are praying with you.

If you've been like Moses' mother and given a child into adoption, trusting another family to love your child into adulthood. Or if you've been like Pharaoh's daughter, called to love children who are not yours by birth,
we are praying with you.

If you are watching, or have watched your mother age, and disappear into the long goodbye of dementia,
we are praying with you.

If you, like Mary, are pregnant for the very first time and waiting breathlessly for the miracle of your first child,
we are praying with you.

If your children have turned away from you, painfully closing the door on relationship, leaving you holding your broken heart in your hands,
we are praying with you.

If motherhood is your greatest joy and toughest struggle all rolled into one,
we are praying with you.

If you are watching your child battle substance abuse, a public legal situation, mental illness, or another situation which you can merely watch unfold,
we are praying with you.

If you, like so many women before you, do not wish to be a mother, are not married, or in so many other ways do not fit into societal norms,
we are praying with you.

And this year, this week in particularly, we pray for women like Bathsheba, who have motherhood thrust upon them without the just social, economic, and legal resources they need to shape their families as they would choose, and like Dinah and Tamar and countless others, whose bodies and reproductive lives are controlled and commodified by men,
we are praying with you.

If you see yourself reflected in any, all, or none of these stories,
we are praying with you.

This Mothers Day, wherever and whoever you are, we pray with you, we walk with you. You are loved. You are seen. You are worthy, just as you are. We give thanks for you, and for any and all in this life through whom we have experienced the love of our God, like the best kind of mother. And we pray that you may experience the deep, wild love of our big, beautiful God who is more than the best parent we could ever know.

Amen.
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The Congregational Church of Needham strives to be a radically inclusive, justice-seeking, peace-making, LGBTQ+ affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ in Needham, MA.

Church is the practice.
Love is the point.

www.NeedhamUCC.org

Today is the National Day of Prayer!

Dear siblings in grace,

Neither church teachings, nor Bible scholars, public debate nor legislation, nostalgia nor fear of change, can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, either. No social statements, pontifical letters, committee decisions, or argumentative board meetings, can strip you of your inherent worth and dignity in the eyes of the God who knit you together, breathed the breath of life into you, lived, and bled, and died, and rose for you.

There are many good and beautiful and important things written by our Catholic cousins in the recently published Vatican statement, “Dignitas infinita” (Infinite Dignity). From the outset, it seems hopeful, reminding us of the call “to show how human dignity transcends all outward appearances and specific aspects of people’s lives… to defend human dignity in every cultural context and every moment of human existence, regardless of physical, psychological, social, or even moral deficiencies… strives to show that this is a universal truth that we are all called to recognize as a fundamental condition for our societies to be truly just, peaceful, healthy, and authentically human.”

But when this statement lists what it calls ‘gender theory’ alongside such atrocities as war, poverty, and violence against women, we know it has more than missed the mark.

Read the full statement here: https://upstatenysynod.org/gender-justice

It’s a beautiful morning! Don’t forget to come join us for an earth day clean up of our community garden from 10 to 1 today!

Exciting news! Welcome new staff member, Wesley! Wesley is our new Master Gardener for our Community Garden! Check out his bio to learn more about him and his passion for community gardening and local produce. If you are interested in helping with the garden or joining some of our classes on container gardening and other urban gardening, send us your email and/or phone number and we'll add you to our garden list! Stay tuned for more information!

Happy Earth Day!
Don't forget to come join us today from 3 to 6pm or Saturday from 10 to 1 - to celebrate Earth day by cleaning out our community garden and getting it ready for this year's planting!

What have you learned from Peter’s journey of faith? |

God of Love, there is something about true love—deep love—that changes us. So as I move through the hustle and bustle of this busy world, center me once again in unconditional love. Remind me what unconditional love has looked and felt like in my life. Fill my cup with those sacred memories so that I might pour unconditional love into the people I meet. With a heart overflowing, I pray. Amen.

—prayer by Rev. Sarah A. Speed |

Listen to a song close to your heart as you draw, color, or collage on a page. Add the lyric that most resonates with you. |