EVERYONE is welcome at Smithfield United Church of Christ!
Ours is an inclusive congregation, committed to oneness in Christ across all boundaries
of race, social class, culture, gender, sexual identity, and disability.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
We celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Our table is an open one. All in attendance are invited to commune.
Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m. in the 3rd-floor Sanctuary
Elevator access
Reading from Mark 6:1-13
Sermon: Figuring Out Your Family
Rev. J. Douglas Patterson
Liturgists: Rev. Dr. Susan Cherian, Rev. Liddy Barlow
We look forward to worshipping with our Smithfield kids during the months of June, July, and August. Following "A Time with the Children," children three and older will remain in the sanctuary with their families for the full worship service. Children can be full participants in the worship experience. They can stand and sing hymns, join in the Prayer of Our Savior, follow along with scripture readings in the pew Bibles, come forward to share the sacrament of Holy Communion, drop a few coins in the offering plate, and bow their heads to pray. Worship activity bags will be available for the children to use during the service. Each week the bags will be filled with books, coloring pages, activities, games, and toys to help children engage with the theme of that week's worship service. Parents: Please be sure the activity bags are returned.
The third-floor sanctuary is open for meditation and prayer Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
 Each June Smithfield joins with other churches of the Downtown Ministerium to present Camp Downtown, a collaborative Vacation Bible School. LIddy Barlow is one of the directors. The "campers" spend the mornings exploring stories of God's nurturing care for creation and for all peoples and the afternoons exploring all that the city of Pittsburgh has to offer. This year, on the final day of Camp Downtown, Smithfield Church hosted the group for a pizza and watermelon lunch before they headed for Station Square and a JustDucky tour that was "just ducky." See the photos here.
Take a look too at the photo story of the stay-over at Smithfield Church
of a team of "Bike & Build" folks.
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Everything flows; nothing stays still.
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The just-published Smithfield Church cookbook – Inspired to Cook – is replete with inspired and inspiring recipes. The cookbook is available for purchase every Sunday. You can also print, complete, and submit a cookbook order form (.pdf format).
The July 2009 Spire Keep in touch with what's happening or about to happen at Smithfield Church.
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Smithfield School notes
A Whale of a Tale: The April 26th Pilgrim Adventure included a very close encounter with a whale as our pre-K through 2nd grade children learned the story of Jonah.
Learning the meaning and rituals of Holy Communion:
An intergenerational learning experience (March 29, 2009)
Church-wide Ministry Opportunities
Learn of the many ways you can support the ministries of
Smithfield Church with your time and your talents.
Weekly opportunities
 UCC Coffee Project –
Our congregation participates in this program, offering coffee (ground and beans, regular and decaf), tea (black and green), cocoa, and chocolate (regular, dark, mint) at reasonable prices and guaranteeing fair compensation to growers in developing countries. These "Equal Exchange" products are available through Connie Connelly. For more information about the project, see http://www.equalexchange.com/ucc
Wednesdays, from 12:10 - 12:30 p.m., we offer a brief service for business people, shoppers, and passers-by who may want to spend part of their lunch hour in a restorative and spiritual way.
Thursday mornings, Women's Fellowship meets in the Blue Room to sew, knit, and crochet blankets for Project Linus, a national nonprofit organization that gives the blankets to seriously ill and traumatized children. All are welcome. Unable to attend weekday meetings? You can be among those making blankets at home.
Monthly opportunities
Smithfield's Lunchtime Book Club resumes in the Fall.
Thursdays: Smithfield Drum Circle meets at noon with Jim Donovan leading. The cost is $10 per person and drums are provided. Accomplished drummers as well as beginners and all those in between participate. Specific dates will be announced in this space as it is known.
Community and Outreach opportunities
Regrettably the Bach's Lunch Concerts series is a victim of the economic downturn. Concerts scheduled for 2009 have been cancelled.
Check monthly for updated statistics of our food pantry's ministry to the downtown community. And stay informed about hunger in America and about related policy and legislative issues – both nation wide and state-related.
Anyone needing emergency food, should be advised to call the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank "Get Help" line at 412-460-FOOD, ext 456 (412-460-3663 ext 456)
From the Pittsburgh Food Bank newsletter: "School is out, so we know that parents who have counted on school breakfast and lunch are now struggling to put more food on the table. In this recession it is quite possible that some of those parents themselves will be home in the daytime instead of at work if they get laid off. In response to these tough times, the Food Bank has been distributing a record 2 million pounds per month for the past couple of months."
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Why do state and national policy and budgeting issues matter to Smithfield Church?
Here in Pennsylvania the State Food Purchase Program enables the state's private charitable food distribution network, which includes our Walk-in Ministry, to provide nutritionally balanced food packages to low-income families, children, seniors, and those with disabilities.
Nationally, funding for the Emergency Funding Assistance Program helps make up for the erosion in commodity purchasing power and the loss of bonus commodity donations to local food banks. World-wide shortages of such vital staples as wheat and corn products, milk, and rice and the economic crisis are making it increasingly difficult for many to make ends meet.
View our UCC video: Here's the Church and Here's the Steeple.
New to Smithfield? Parked in the garage?
Make the Hospitality Center your first stop.
Access
- Bulletins and hymns for the day are available in large print.
- Portable listening devices are likewise available.
- The worship service is recorded and saved to CDs. Copies are available through the church office.
- An elevator by the church's front entrance makes our second floor sanctuary accessible for anyone who has difficulties with stairs.
Parking
 We're at 620 Smithfield Street. If you park in the public garage across from the church, bring your parking ticket with you, have it validated at the Hospitality Center when you enter the building, and be charged only $1 for parking.
Please note: if you exit the garage onto Smithfield Street, a one-way street, you must turn left into the middle lane.
The lane nearest the parking garage is a bus-only lane headed in the wrong direction.
On Sundays, limited on-street parking is available on Smithfield Street.
Directions to the church
SITEMAP (Index of pages)
Many pages about past events are no longer directly accessible, but they may still be available. Check the Sitemap for them. For example, it is still possible to read the pages about the aftermath of the January fire, newsletters back to September 2008, and the special events of 2008. The sitemap is also a good place to start if you want to go directly to a particular page.
Guide to Church Registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths.
Note: All cemetery records are held by the Smithfield East End Cemetery (415-422-8691).
We are committed participants
in the United Church of Christ's
God is still speaking initiative.
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma."
Gracie Allen
Questions or concerns? Call us at 412-281-1811
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updated 7/3/09
Copyright © 2006-2009, Smithfield United Church of Christ. All rights reserved. |
