Spring 2023

Volume 14, Issue 3

View more photos from church events via our website: upcbgm.org/programs-and-events/photo-gallery
Our worship services are livestreamed on our YouTube channel: upcbgm.org/youtube

10 Years Together: Pentecost Celebration, June 4

We have done a lot of really cool stuff together since Pastor Kimberly arrived in June of 2013! And we’re going to celebrate! We’re going to gather outside for a Pentecost celebration on June 4, featuring a slide show, a roving microphone during joys and concerns for folks to share their favorite memories and their hopes and dreams for the future, a potluck picnic (featuring Phil’s Chicken), a craft table, and vision boards to share ideas about where the Spirit might be leading us into the future. Everyone is invited to join the fun — we’ve even invited the new presbytery leader, Rev. Greg Garis, to worship with us and get to know the congregation. If you have an idea for something you’d like to add to the worship and the celebration, speak to one of the pastors or to the music staff about getting involved.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses — here are ten years’ worth of memories from our newsletters 2013–2022:

Pastor Kimberly’s first service as our pastor, June 2013

Spiritual gifts painting, May 2014

“Heart of Christianity” conversations, Eastertide 2015

Pentecost crafts with the kids, May 2016

Picnic worship at Otsiningo Park, June 2017

The Poor People’s Campaign, October 2017

Spiritual Formation retreat at Stony Point, October 2018

Sviatovid at the LUMA Festival, September 2019

Worship services recorded at home and streamed on Facebook and Zoom, fall 2020

Reception of new members recorded outdoors, May 2021

The summer of seven baptisms! Summer 2022

We’ve Suspended Mandatory Masking for Sunday Worship Starting May 14

The session voted on May 9 to ease the requirement to wear a mask on Sunday mornings, recognizing that the CDC tracker has reported low risk and low hospitalization rates since April 2. If the reported rates move back to “high”, we will revisit the question and may ask you to return to masking.

We recognize that many in our community will continue to wear masks and we fully support those who are choosing this way to protect themselves and others.

We will continue to have masks available, and if you have any symptoms of a potentially contagious illness, we ask that you put on a mask to protect those in our congregation who have compromised immune systems.

You can monitor the CDC reports at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home. It is currently updated weekly.

In this issue:

View previous newsletters

Annual Congregational Meeting, Sunday, June 25

Our annual Congregational Meeting (Part 2) will be on Sunday, June 25, immediately following the worship service. After having celebrated 10 years together on June 4, we will gather on this Sunday to conduct the ongoing business of the church for this year, knowing that the Lord of love and light goes with us every step of the way! We will elect the session class of 2025 and the Nominating Committee for 2023–2024, and receive the team and project reports for the program year.

This will be a “hybrid” meeting, both in the Zoom room upcbgm.org/zoom and in person at the church. It would be good to have you with us, either in person or online.

Our mission is to follow Jesus Christ by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.