Brecksville

Based on recent CDC guidelines and rising numbers, we are revising our instructions when you join us in the BUCC Sanctuary on Sundays at 10:00.

PROCEDURES DURING SERVICES – Per CDC guidance for meeting indoors in larger groups, we will be asking all participants attending services to wear a mask starting 8/8/2021 (regardless of vaccination status). Free masks are available at the church should you forget yours. Thank you for your understanding and support. You also have the option to live stream the service via YouTube if that is more comfortable for you.
We are going to continue to encourage congregants to sit in the socially-distanced pew areas, and to bring your own communion (BYOC). Collection plates will remain at the entrance doors. For the time being, our traditional closing circle and coffee hour remain suspended. Thank you for helping us to mindfully ease back into worship!

Some things will be the same and still wonderful:

• We will be together, worshiping.
• We will share live music from our talented Music Director.
• We will hear the Word, read and preached from the altar.
• We will be reunited with old friends, at last.

Download and print Re-Opening Details for your reference.

For those that choose to join us virtually, we will be streaming our service live on YouTube.

Now that we are back in the sanctuary, we recognize that many people would still like the ability to view our services from home (or from another state).

Each Sunday we will Live-Stream our Worship Service on our YouTube channel.

Here is our live stream:

Here is our playlist of recorded services:

As of June 13, 2021, we are celebrating in-person worship. We are suspending our use of Zoom on Sundays.

In the future, should we ever receive guidance from our UCC Association and the Governor of Ohio, that we suspend our in-person services, we will return to Virtual Services.

Should that happen in the future join us by:

• Pressing this button to launch the service on your computer or smart phone:
• Clicking on this link or pasting this address into your browser… https://zoom.us/j/4780705901
• Dialing (our new phone number) 1-929-205-6099, then enter meeting ID 478 070 5901 followed by the # sign.

If you wish, you can download and print the BUCC Zoom Instruction Sheet

You can go to our Sunday Bulletins Page or Upcoming Services Page to print out a copy of the bulletin to follow along at home.

Since we cannot “pass the plate” during our virtual service, please see our Giving page to explore and consider other methods of giving to BUCC.

On June 3rd, we will begin discussing our next book, Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women that a Movement Forgot, by Mikki Kendall. We will be meeting most Thursdays at 7:00 PM on our regular Zoom Link.

“With poise and clarity, Kendall lays out the case for why feminists need to fight not just for career advancement but also for basic needs and issues that often plague women of color, including food security, educational access, a living wage and safety from gun violence. In expertly tying the racial justice and feminist movements together, Kendall’s is one of the most important books of the current moment.”

—Time, “100 Must-Read Books of 2020”

We encourage you to purchase your book from a local bookseller if possible! Please reach out to Kate Klonowski by calling or texting (216) 534-3498, or by email at keightykay@gmail.com, with any questions.

At last!

After months of waiting and careful deliberation, it is time to come together and worship in person.

Please join us in the BUCC Sanctuary on Sunday June 13 at 10:00, and every Sunday after that.

Some things will be different from the last time we met:

• Masks are recommended but optional for adults. Children 3-12 should wear them at the discretion of the parent(s). Brecksville School systems was still requiring them.
• We will still work to spread people out in the sanctuary.
• Time with young worshipers will be suspended initially.
• Choir will be suspended (it is Summer anyway).
• The congregation will not be singing hymns (for now).
• We will implement “Bring Your Own Communion” for the next week.
• We will not pass the collection plate – they will be at the entrances of the sanctuary.
• There will not be a coffee hour. People are welcome to gather outside of church as desired, but we will not be meeting in Pilgrim Hall.

Some things will be the same and still wonderful:

• We will be together, worshiping.
• We will share live music from our talented Music Director.
• We will hear the Word, read and preached from the altar.
• We will be reunited with old friends, at last.

Some things may change, as we go forward:

• We will be flexible and caring as we see how things work when we are together.
• We will reassess singing hymns together and the choir in the Fall.
• We will bring back singing hymns, shared Communion, Time with Young Worshipers and Coffee hour, as soon as safe and practical.
• However, if there is a spike in COVID cases, we may institute other precautions (temperatures, pre-registration, go back to virtual services etc.).

Download and print Re-Opening Details for your reference.

For those that choose to join us virtually, we will be streaming our service live on YouTube. More information to follow!

To address a growing number of issues the performance of our SBCglobal.net email addresses, we are making the switch to gmail. Please see the following list of new email address for the BUCC staff:

• General Office (Anne Melfo): buccoffice23@gmail.com
• Pastor (Allan Lane, Interim): buccpastor23@gmail.com
• Donations/Expenses (Joy Garapic): buccfinance23@gmail.com
• Music Ministry (David Debick): buccmusic23@gmail.com

The “23” comes from our address “23 Public Square”, where we have been for over 200 years.

Please make this change to the information in your email contacts, or email groups.

We’re excited to announce our next book in the Social Justice Book Club series Dear America Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas.

We will begin on Thursday, April 8 at 7 00 pm, on the BUCC zoom. Skipping 4/15, we will continue on Thursdays until done.

It is written in a narrative, autobiographical style. Warning you may have a hard time putting it down!

Feel free to direct any questions to Kate Klonowski at 216 534 3498 or email keightykay@gmail com

All are very welcome!

The people who pickup the paper from our recycle bin in the parking lot, have offered to pay double for anything they collect during that week.
So let’s make sure we fill up the bin during that week:

• Save your scraps & boxes
• Contact your friends & family

Questions? Contact Jim Duffy 216-644-2784 or jmorganduffy@gmail.com

The cooking is done and the meals served and delivered!

Brecksville United Church of Christ teamed up with culinary arts students at Cuyahoga Community College for a Friday Fish Meal. They prepared over 300 individual meals which we served as a hot, take out lunches as well as 4-pack take-home and reheat packages. We had orders from 37 people.

The best news is that we were able to donate over meals for over 40 families to St. Augustine Hunger Center in Tremont. We also shared our excess ingredients, which they will use in future meals.

Thank you to all who: promoted our event, planned & ordered supplies, prepared meals, answered the phones, ran meals out to the parking lot, delivered donated food, cleaned up, and most of all purchased meals!

See the pictures, below of our exciting, fun and rewarding day:

So sorry, the order deadline has passed. If you have already ordered, we thank you and can’t wait to see you next week when you pickup up your meals.

Brecksville United Church of Christ has teamed up with culinary arts students at Cuyahoga Community College for a Friday Fish Meal. Interested in donating a meal to someone in need? Read to the end of this note.

Offering Pollack (fried with a panko crust or baked) the choices are:

• Lunch (Curbside Pickup 11:00 to 1:00):
  • Hot Fish Lunch – Baked $15.00
  • Hot Fish Lunch – Fried $15.00
  • Take-Home and Reheat package (serves 4) – Baked $50.00
  • Take-Home and Reheat package (serves 4) – Fried $50.00
• Dinner (Curbside Pickup 4:00 to 6:00):
  • Take-Home and Reheat Packages only

All include Coleslaw, Mashed Potatoes, Cornbread Muffin, Tartar Sauce and Lemon Wedge).

Deadline for orders is: Friday, February 26, 2021 at Noon.

Meals for those in need:

If you would like to help the mission of St. Augustine’s Hunger Center in Tremont, you can select one or more “Donation Meals” when ordering tickets. We will prepare and deliver your donated meals to St. Augustine’s for distribution, as part of the several hundred meals they serve daily.