SPRING SCHEDULE for Youth & Families with Jackson Community Church
Spring youth and family schedule: Friday fun nights, service opportunities, Sunday morning activities and lessons, Sunday afternoon hikes, end-of-year Youth & Children Sunday plus summer camps for families and work camps/advocacy trips/retreats for high school youth.
APRIL
- Sun, April 8 – 9am • Road to Emmaus activity & walk: Meet at church and wear outdoor clothing for a spring walk. Focus on people who met God on their walk and didn’t recognize their companion. How do we see and meet God in our world? Walk includes lessons on shared meals, communion, and breaking bread together. Also it’s Holy Humor Sunday … bring a joke to tell!
- Sun, April 15 – 9am • Planting Activity with Lisa White at JCC. Preparation for Mother’s Day and anticipation of Earth Day. Meet at JCC for this activity.
- Sun, April 22 — 10:30am • Worship
service includes presentation by Lauren Orsini from Starting Point about being aware of domestic violence and ongoing initiatives for safety for local children and families - Sun, April 22 — 1pm • Afternoon Earth Day Hike – Intergenerational outdoor hike to be led by church youth. Bring proper equipment; route to be announced. Allow 2-3 hours for this activity.
- Fri, April 27 — 5:30-7:30pm • Friday Fun Night
Spring Fling with Pizza & Games at JCC. - Sat, April 28 — 9am-Noon • Spring Cleaning at JCC
Come prepared to work inside or outside. We’re organizing closets, cleaning windows and hard-to-reach areas, touching up spots inside and outside the church, changing light bulbs, and sprucing up the church grounds. Wear old clothes, sensible shoes, and bring work gloves. We’ll add more info about any tools or equipment you should bring from home, such as buckets or rakes or brooms. - Sun, April 29 – 10:30am • Worship includes traditional Sunday School. Parents may attend worship and children will have interactive lesson during portion of service.
Continue reading “SPRING SCHEDULE for Youth & Families with Jackson Community Church”
This Week: Tue, April 3 – Sun, April 8
Highlights: community events include Wed’s Feast of the Valley and Fri’s Stage Adventure with the grammar school. Church events include Wednesday’s Tune Up fitness with Laurie McAleer and two Thursday yoga classes. Youth environmental summit takes place Saturday. Sunday resumes 8am outdoor ‘gazebo’ interfaith gathering and 9am family activity based on walking the Road to Emmaus.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES for Youth & Families at Jackson Community Church
THURSDAYS, Mar 15 & Mar 22
- Soup & Ski with Family & Friends
5pm • Parish Hall of Jackson Community Church. Gather with members and friends for soup supper.
5:30/6pm • Meet at church parking lot for evening XC ski. Optimal starting point to be determined. For those who able and interested, if weather permits, come on a ‘night ski’ on Jackson XC Center’s trails. Donations will be collected for Jackson Ski Touring Foundation. Bring your own head lamps, ski equipment, layers, and be prepared for outdoor conditions. Ski at your own risk. Bring friends! Open to everyone. All ages welcome.
FRI, MAR 23
- Film Screening of “404 Not Found” & Soup Supper: Bowls for Homeless Teens in Mt Washington Valley
5-7pm • Gibson Senior Center, North Conway. In collaboration with Clergy of the Eastern Slope and First Church of North Conway’s Missions Team, screening the film “404 Not Found” that highlights the homeless youth in NH. Check out the film trailer @ 404notfoundfilm.com. Held in collaboration with Governor Sununu’s “Sleep Out”. This is a valley issue and will take a valley solution. -
“Sleep Out” (Stay-Up-Late or Sleep Over at Church)
8pm, Mar 23 – 9am, Mar 24 • Jackson Community Church
For youth & chaperones. Stay late at church. Or spend the night. To be held in solidarity with Gov Sununu’s “Sleep Out” event to raise awareness about homelessness. We will stay up late at Jackson Community Church with games and worship, learn about homelessness in the valley, make civic engagement posters. If some people stay overnight, we will wake up to have breakfast together. RSVP and permission slips required.
WED, APR 4: MLK Remembrance Bell Ringing
- 6pm. • Front door of sanctuary, Jackson Community Church.
Help ring the bell 39 times in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. This is a national vigil; learn more at www.MLK50Forward.org.
SAT, APR 7: New England Youth Environmental Justice Summit
- 9am-4pm • Brookside Congregational Church, Manchester, NH
-
To learn more: download the brochure or visit the registration website.
- Jackson Community Church will cover the cost of registration and attendance. $20/day. RSVP to the church asap if you plan to attend, so that we can register you. Or let us know if you register separately, but plan to attend, so we can coordinate rides and reimbursement for attendance.
- Rev Gail will attend summit and provide rides.
- The Summit is open to all middle school, high school and college students; as well as teachers, mentors, pastors, lay leaders and advisors: and anyone interested in acquiring tools for facing the pressing moral issue of climate change.
-
Keynote Speakers:
- Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Massachusetts Conference Minister, UCC
- Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt, UCC Minister for Environmental Justice
-
Afternoon Breakout Sessions include:
- Pam Arifian, Director, UCC Northeast Environmental Justice Center
- Marla Marcum, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center
- John Ungerleider, Professor, School of International Training
-
Jehann El-Bisi, PhD and Film Director, and Art Desmarais
-
Representatives from 350.org and other groups will lead a workshop on activism in climate change issues
SUN, APR 8: Road to Emmaus Hike
- 9am • “Road to Emmaus” Walk. Meet at church for family hike if weather permits. Indoor activities available if weather turns
Note: Additional spring youth & family schedule to be announced. Expect outdoor youth & family activities every Sunday at 9am, beginning April 22.
FRI, APR 20-MON, APR 23: Ecumenical Advocacy Days
-
1pm, Fri – 5pm, Mon • DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Washington, D.C.-Crystal City, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA.
A WORLD UPROOTED: Responding to Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Peoples. A weekend of faith-rooted worship, learning and advocacy in our Nation’s capital – will focus on the uprootedness of our world. We will analyze current policy and envision ways to more fully and justly respond to the global and local needs of displaced communities. Together we will seek policy changes that advance hope and overcome the devastating impacts of conflict, climate change and corruption on God’s people. Ends with congressional advocacy day.- REGISTER – Early-bird registration rates available through March 17th. Register now.
- SCHOLARSHIPS – Justice and Witness Ministries has designated funding for UCC young adults (ages 18-35) to attend Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) in 2018. Learn more and apply by March 23rd.
- Travel costs and hotel accommodations are separate expenses.
- Additional scholarships, such as Bushee-Thorne Scholarship, can be applied to this conference!
FRI, MAY 19 – SAT, MAY 20: Middle School Retreat
-
3pm, Fri – 6pm, Sat • Ipswich, MA
Spend weekend on retreat with Ipswich Middle School youth group. Stay overnight in sleeping bags at the church on Friday and return to Jackson on Saturday evening. RSVP to church by April 15, 2018 if interested.
through the UCC
- More Info
- Application Deadline: May 1
- More Info
- Application Deadline: March 15
- Rev Gail & Chris Doktor will be deans of family camp.
- Our youth can come for one day or an overnight!
- Registration available here:
- Scholarships such as Bushee-Thorne (for which applications already being considered as of April) can be applied to this camp.
- Additional camp weeks are also available with focus on different skills such as archery, rock clibing, etc. Full schedule available here.
July 19-22, 2018
California University of PA, California, Pennsylvania
(grades 7 through 12 )
- Join us as we worship, play, pray, learn, serve, sing and dream at the 2018 Eastern Regional Youth Event.
- Stay up-to-date on event details through the event website or contact Ann Desrochers.
- Scholarships from Bushee-Thorne (applications already being considered as of April) can be applied to this experience.
Sampling of the workshops that will be offered at ERYE. Each participant will be able to attend 3 workshops. (Workshop list subject to change.)
- Authentic Faith: The Wisdom of Not Knowing All the Answers
- Becoming a Transgender AllyBuilding a Team – Playing a Game
- Disabled God, Queer God: Understanding the Divine Through Identity
- Disabled in Church: Struggles and Triumphs
- Earth Avengers: Superheroes for the Planet
- From Barbie to Wonder Woman!
- How An Orphan In Mexico Inspired Thousands – And How He Can Inspire You.
- How Can I Help My Community Prepare For And Respond To A Disaster?
- Identity Bowling: Intersectionality through Music
- Our Gender & Sexuality: Confusions and Questions and Wonder
- Praying with Color, Clay, Beads and Ribbons
- Praying with the Body
- Sacred DanceStorytelling for Social Change
- The Conflict Skills That Nobody Got (but everybody needs)This Is Really Happening
- Tie-Dyed Faith: Revealing Your God-Colors
- Walking the Labyrinth to Rejuvenate Your Spirit
- Watershed Management
Meditations on walking toward freedom from bondage
A refugee from Belief seeks a cell tonight.
… And I … only am escaped to tell thee—
God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight.
The courage to shed the familiar walls …
Freedom Walk:
From Slavery to Something Else
Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it. — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage. — Presbyterian Church USA, Confession of 1967
When author Madeleine L’Engle was asked, ‘Do you believe in God without any doubts?’ she replied, ‘I believe in God with all my doubts. — Bruce Epperly, Christian Century 1-26-10
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death. — Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. — M. Scott Peck
We make the road by walking. — Paulo Freire
if you can’t run then walk,
if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do
you have to keep moving forward.
― Martin Luther King Jr
This year is also the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.
Prayer — Martin Luther