We Begin with the Basics (for Sunday 10/9/11)

The Israelites get out of Egypt. And then..... they were stuck in the desert with no food, no water and no place to go! No wonder they wanted to go back. Even slavery came with food and shelter! So, God began with the basics food: manna that arrived every night and quail (on occasion) and water: crashing froth from the rocks.

We certainly can relate to the 'water from the rock' image - after all, Ithaca is Gorges! We also know that you can't even begin to think about a journey to the Promised Land (much less go on one), if you are stuck in the desert and are hungry and thirsty. 

We know that the basics of food and clean water are essential. We are a church that is dedicated to supporting clean water projects, so that disease can be prevented, so that women and children do not have to spend hours each day just collecting water, so that communities can flourish. We are a church that is dedicated to making a difference for people who are hungry in our local community through support of local food pantries, Loaves & Fishes, Friendship House, CROP Walk and others. And, through Feed My Starving Children, we are helping our church and our whole community make a big difference in the lives of hungry children.

On Sunday, we begin two parallel journeys that focus us on the 'basics':

• Our annual Stewardship Campaign gives each one of us a chance to provide for the basics here - electricity, snow plowing, heat, staff, office supplies....... and,  to enable us to continue on the journey to the Promised Land of the 'Church We Are Becoming'.   
• Mission:1 helps us join over 6,000 other UCC churches in a wonderful focus on hunger designed to help us 'boost' our support for local pantries; advocate for hungret people here and around the world through a letter-writing campaign and to help feed hungry people in the world (especially in West Africa) through our 'Neighbors in Need' offering.

I hope you will all participate enthusiastically in these efforts, I am certain you will be blessed greatlly, when you do! In preparation for our October focus, I encourage you to read the story of the Exodus. What you may not know is that variations of this story are found in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua. It is interesting to read one of the less familiar versions, so why not begin with snooping around the 30th Chapter of Deuteronomy? You may discover many things you didn't learn in Cecil B. DeMille's movie!

I am looking forward to our journey of stewardship and mission in October and hope you are, too!

Hoping to see you on Sunday - Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

+Psalm 78

*Exodus Chapters 16 & 17

Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.