News and Views

We are an open and affirming church, welcoming into our life, ministry, and worship people of all races, genders, ages, marital standings, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic statuses, faith backgrounds, nationalities, and mental and physical challenges.

(352) 329-2032

UCCOCALA@LIVE.COM

6140 SW 78th Avenue Road

Ocala, FL 34474

https://firstunitedocala.org/

Our service begins at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday. We hope you'll join us tomorrow for our special service to celebrate our church's 40th year anniversary.

It is hard to believe January is over, and February is upon us. It’s almost early spring for us here, and the days are filled with warmer temperatures, sunshine, the song of birds, and a time to reflect upon love. This also brings faith and hope to mind for us. Faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love, I Corinthians 13:13. I came across this poem a few years ago, by Rusty Gibson, and I pray it will encourage you in the days ahead, days filled with faith, hope, and love.

We live tomorrow the dream of today. Our hopes for the future gives us faith along the way.

Love is the river of this wakened state. It’s never out of time, it’s never too late.

It gives us life as it flows through our lives. It tears through confusion, loneliness, and strife.

Love cuts a clear path through the test of time. You can see where it has been and watch it unwind. Free as a river you can’t control. You can’t even say where it might flow.

Hope is a power that can’t be taken away, it can pull you through the toughest of days.

Hope can keep you going when everything else fails. It keeps you company on the loneliest of trails. Faith is ever daring in the face of defeat, it can bring you courage that nothing can beat.

Faith can give you the strength to face what the future brings.

Combined with hope and love you only need the three of these.

Love is like a river. Hope is like a dream. Faith is just believing with nothing to be seen.

So dream of tomorrow and love for today, hope with all your heart, and let faith show the way.

Grace and Peace,

The Church Mouse

February is Black History Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

The Board of Church Life asks for your assistance in helping us provide refreshments after church on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer where you can share your blessing with others. We also gladly accept cash donations to help offset costs.

The Board of Church Life is sponsoring two excursions early in 2025. The first is the Grandview World Nights. The second is an outing to the Kanapaha Botanical Garden.

Grandview World Nights is a competition between three different breeds of horses; Clydesdales, Belgians and Percherons. There will be Ladies Cart competition as well as 6 and 8 hitch driver competitions. Young drivers, age 12 and under will also have a competitive expedition.

This event is taking place at the World Equestrian Center on February 5-8, 2025. A small contingency of church members has already made reservations to attend on February 8. You are invited to join that group and depart from the church parking lot at 12 noon on the 8th.

Ticket prices range from $40-$80. Food vendors will be on site and parking is free.

To purchase tickets go to: GRANDVIEWWORLDNIGHTS.COM

The Board of Church Life second excursion in 2025 is planned for Monday, May 12 at the Kanapaha Botanical Garden in Gainesville.

The Garden should be greening up and warming up in May and making that outing more enjoyable an adventure. Currently in January they are having a bamboo sale. You are able to choose your bamboo and they will dig it to your order.

This is a walking tour and also has a picnic area where we can plan to have a gathering and sharing of our lunch baskets. Let’s plan to leave the church parking lot at 11 AM and carefully drive up to the Garden.

Kanapaha Botanical Garden is located at: 4700 SW 58thDrive (Archer Road, SR 24) Gainesville, FL. Exit 384 from I-75 North and turn left at the intersection. It is about 1 mile west and on the north side of the road. The garden will close around sundown which gives you time to walk and rest if necessary.

Admission is $12

We normally meet on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 10:30 a.m.

Our February meeting will be on February 5th.

With the generosity of the Congregation, we donated $6325 to local agencies as well as

$1000 to UCC Hurricane Relief in 2024!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to Breadbasket in January. Your generosity was contributed to the United Church of Christ, California Wildfires campaign. Additionally we made a contribution to READ, an adult literacy program. February's Breadbasket collection will be contributed to Helping Hands, a local nonprofit charity, helping people begin a new and better life. We primarily serve homeless, displaced, or abused people, mostly women and children … throughout Ocala and Marion County.

Thank you to the Interfaith monthly meal team! We deliver an evening meal to the Interfaith Emergency Services Homeless Shelter on the 4th Tuesday of every month. If you are interested in contributing or delivering and serving, there is a signup sheet in the lobby or contact Diane Donohue.

How can you help? Please consider preparing a dish to share with the residents. We usually organize a main dish or two, a vegetable/side dish, drinks and dessert. You can bring it to the church and we'll deliver it. There's a signup sheet in the church lobby. We also collect non-perishable food supplies for their food bank.

These activities make our presence known locally and show our church’s expression of caring and love. If you are interested in learning more about Community Outreach, please contact:

Carron Janssen carronuwe@att.net

Diane Donohue ddonohue29@gmail.com

Co-chairs

Thank you to the hearty group that came out to honor and participate in the

Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade.

We look forward to you joining us for another lively and educational PFLAG Ocala

Our Special Guest Speaker for the February meeting is a representative of the Unspoken Treasure Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to fit the needs of our TRANS community "Where every trans voice is heard."

PFLAG is the nation's largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.

February Anniversaries

15 Lester and Holly Whitt

February Birthdays

The United Church of Christ enlists the power of technology to deliver a digital experience of connection, inspiration, innovation, education, worship and more. CLICK HERE

Get CONNECTed: It is our desire to connect the people of the Florida Conference to the resources amidst the Florida Conference. Please help us connect with the members of your church by sharing this link so that they too may have the opportunities to read, contribute, and CONNECT! Please know, the Sunshine Connection is intended to be a resource for local churches, pastors, leaders and members throughout the Florida Conference generated by submissions from local churches, pastors, leaders and members throughout the Florida Conference! We invite your submissions to NWatkins@uccfla.org

The cooking class will be taught by Rachel, president of TBS. She makes Challah every week for Friday night’s Oneg. They are beautiful and very tasty. And people can call the office for the Maj Jong card sale contact information.

Challah Baking Class: Limit 10 per class. $40 per person Please RSVP to Rachel tbspresident@jewishocala.com

This class is approximately 3 hours in length.

Sunday, February 2nd - 2:00 P.M.

Friday, February 28th - 10:00 A.M.

Maj Jonggs 2025 Cards for Sale - Please contact Hillary Zeleznick or Di Michelson.

Orders are due by January 25, 2025

Small Cards - $14.00 Large Cards - $15.00

If you'd like to submit information to be included in News and Views, or to request removal from our mailing list, please contact:

UCCOCALA@LIVE.COM

We hope to receive submissions by the 20th of each month so that we can send promptly on the first of each month.