Notice of Malware

 We greatly appreciate all of your patience and understanding while we deal with this immensely frustrating issue. We understand your concerns regarding your computer’s safety when visiting our site and they are quite justified.  Until we get the site 100% clean and Google approved, my recommendation is that you stay clear of the www.rmcucc.org website.  Rest assured it will be fixed by the end of the week.
Thanks again for all of your patience and concern with this matter.
Check back with www.rmcucc.org in a couple days and everything should be functioning and clean again.

Thank you,

Chance

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Encounters of our Campers (IV):

La Foret as Catharsis

               The sun at La Foret is unrelenting. With respect for the few clouds that gather in the afternoon sky, the sun shines on and on. The forest at La Foret does not move, once off a trail there is but undergrowth and pine trees. The altitude of La Foret messes with campers - dehydration, stomachaches, headaches. No matter where campers go they cannot break out of the location of La Foret. They feel beset behind and before.
           
Fugitives in the soulscape of creation find no place that affords rest. Where can one escape the eye of God? It isn’t only that they have willfully and intentionally eaten forbidden fruit, but all humanity is marred by forbidden indulgence. These insightful campers are well aware that all of society’s “goodness” is but an illusion of human duplicity. Vanity! All is vanity!

Such campers resonate with Paul when he states, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom 7:15). This sentiment in the hearts of these campers is a confession of fear. Turncoats to the depth of their being, such deeply sensitive campers feel the only alternative is to run. But where does one flee the presence of God?

Crisis becomes catharsis, however, as the camper experiences not judgment but forgiveness. When campers realize that no matter what has been done to them they are loved by God, La Foret is catharsis. When campers realize that no matter what they do God still accepts them, La Foret is catharsis. When a life of guilt and fear is calmed by the grace of God, La Foret is catharsis. At La Foret the experience is that we are forgiven our sins, “as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Playing Ultimate Frisbee in the meadow we may stop and ponder, “The sun is relentless: how much more is God’s tenderness relentless in seeking me out?” Hiking a trail we may stop and ponder, “The forest will not give way to my wandering: how much more will God’s kind watchfulness follow me all my days” Stopping to grab a drink we may ponder, “As much as this location throws off my body: how much more does God unmerited joys enthuse my life?”

Harmonizing our lives with the Gospel does not lead everyone to face a sense of shear sinfulness before the face of God. For those who do, it is catharsis.

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Justice and Witness Ministries Awards!

Justice and Witness Ministries solicits nominations from individuals across the life of the church for JWM Awards presented at each General Synod. At General Synod XXVIII in Tampa, Florida, TWO of the four awards will be given to an individual and a congregation in the Rocky Mountain Conference!

- JWM Social Prophet Award: Rev. Malcolm Himschoot, Parker UCC, Parker, CO
Malcolm's nominator stated: "Malcolm is the true embodiment of a 'social prophet.' Without his example and leadership on the issues of transgender equity and equality, particularly within the UCC, I believe that the UCC would not be where it is today on this issue. Malcolm continues to be a person who is not afraid to challenge policies regarding transgender clergy equity and, at the same time, is a committed ally to persons of color. The most beautiful thing about Malcolm is that he approaches the work of justice with complete humility and compassion."

- JWM Local Church Award: Gunnison Congregational Church, Gunnison, CO
Gunnison Congregational Church created a high school lunch program for students who qualified for free and reduced lunches, as the school possessed an open campus policy with no provision for lunch meals. The nominator wrote: "The Social Justice Ministry of the church saw this as a needed community program and agreed to start a low-cost, nutritious lunch program three days a week and open to all students with special arrangements for anonymity for eligible students." The program has grown in scope, with a variety of civic and church groups working to operate the program from Gunnison Congregational Church; and at the beginning of the school year 2010-2011, the School Board assumed all costs for the lunch program's operation. The program now operates in the new Commons Room five days a week. The nominator concluded: "Thus, a program established to assure that low-income students received lunches for which they were eligible had far-reaching effects on student behavior, school culture, the school's acceptance of its responsibility, and demonstrated how a church can mobilize community support and volunteer participation on a significant social justice issue."

The other awards include a Youth/Young Adult Award and Grassroots Organization Award, all of which were selected by an awards committee comprised of JWM and LCM national staff and JWM board members. Recipients will be honored at the Justice and Witness Ministries banquet on Friday, July 1 at 5:30 p.m. in Tampa, Florida.

Our conference is very proud of the Rev. Malcolm Himschoot and Gunnison Congregational's justice work and its impact on the wider church!

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