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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, February 12,
2012
Morning
Worship – 11:00
a.m.
Readings: Mark 1:40-45
Sermon: When You’re
Down on your Knees
Preaching: Rev. J. Douglas Patterson
Liturgists: Rev. Dr. Susan Cherian, Hannah Judy
Smithfield School for
adults takes place every Sunday at 10 a.m.
Pilgrim Adventures will
follow at 11 a.m.
We provide a staffed nursery for
infants through two-years-old.
Assisted listening
devices and large print bulletins are available from the hospitality team.
The
sanctuary is open for meditation and prayer Monday through Friday,
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Mid-week service:
Wednesdays, 12:10 - 12:30 p.m.
Smithfield
School is back in session!
Do you have a New Year’s resolution in mind? Are you wanting to get more physically or
financially fit in 2012? Why not make a resolution to get more
spiritually fit? Well I have the
perfect way for you to do that!
Starting Sunday January 8, we will be taking a fresh look at the
gospels using a curriculum called Gospel:
Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary by J.D.
Greear. Adults, education is a
lifelong journey, please come and join us in the blue room from 10 to 10:45
am as together with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit we embark on
that journey.
Ice
Fest Returns!
On Saturday, February 18, First
Lutheran Church will be hosting Camp Downtown Ice Fest, the annual day of
winter fun, fellowship, and learning for campers in grades K-6 and youth
counselors in grades 7-12. The theme
this winter is Marvelously Made. The day begins at 9 a.m.
with stories, activities, crafts, and music. After lunch, participants will
go ice skating at the rink at PPG Place, returning to First Lutheran for
pick-up at 4 p.m. The cost is only $15 per camper or $10 for youth
counselors. The fee includes a
t-shirt, lunch, skate rental, and skating.
We hope that all our Smithfield kids & youth, and their friends,
will participate in Ice Fest! Registration forms are available at the
hospitality table as you enter the church. Please contact Hannah Judy at
hjudy.smithfield@verizon.net if you have any questions or if you would like
to serve as an adult volunteer on the day. Registration forms must be received by February 13. See you at Ice Fest!
New to the United Church
of Christ (UCC)?
Learn more about the denomination's history, characteristics, and beliefs here.
Links to subscriptions
for United Church of Christ resources:
e-mailed Daily Devotion
Facebook version of Daily Devotion
Twitter version of Daily
Devotion
and a link to the e-mailed version of the Bible forum: Weekly Seeds
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View the December Spire
Keep in touch with what's happening or about to happen at
Smithfield Church.
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 Find us on Facebook! Become a friend.
The Smithfield Church
cookbook – Inspired to Cook – is replete with inspired and
inspiring recipes. See Regina or print, complete, and submit a cookbook order form (.pdf format).
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. 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 to sew, knit, and
crochet blankets and more that are suitable for everyone from babies to
adults. The over 100 blankets made each year are given to Project Linus,
Pittsburgh's East End Cooperative Ministry, and to Rev. Dr. Susan Cherian
(visitation minister) who takes them to hospitalized and shut-in members
and friends of the congregation. All are welcome to join in this special
mission to the community – women, men, teens. Unable to attend weekday
meetings? You can be among those making blankets at home.
  
Community and Outreach
opportunities
As
the cold and blustery wintry weather settles in each year around November and
promises to be with us through March, know that Operation Safety Net is
again managing the Severe Weather Emergency Shelter SWES) housed here at
Smithfield Church. Learn more on the Outreach page
and a separate page featuring an interview
with Operation Safety Net program director, Linda Sheets, that was
published in The Spire earlier in 2010. Wishing to support this ministry in
some way? Donations of new
men’s hats and gloves to Operation Safety Net for distribution at the
shelter are welcomed. Donations may be delivered or mailed to Operation
Safety Net, 1518 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Monetary donations may
be sent to Operation Safety Net, c/o Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Development,
101 Bradford Road, Suite 320, Wexford, PA 15090. Please indicate that
the gift is intended for individuals served by Operation Safety Net at the
Severe Weather Emergency Shelter.
Check regularly for updated
statistics of our food pantry's ministry to the
downtown community.
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)
Greater Pittsburgh
Community Food Bank and
register to receive the GPCFB's monthly
e-mailed newsletter
Pennsylvania Association
of Regional Food Banks
Pennsylvania
Hunger Action Center
Sign up
for the Feeding America e-newsletter and action alerts and
learn more about this
nation-wide non-profit organization
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.
- 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. The sitemap is also a good
place to start if you want to go directly to a particular page.
The
on-line Guide to Church Registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages,
deaths and Finding
Aid for the Smithfield United Church of Christ Archives. (a .pdf
document)
To contact the church
archivist, send an email to smithfield@verizon.net
or call the church office: 412-281-1811.
All of the services the Archives performs — including searches,
photocopies, and digital images of original records — are provided without
charge. The Archives welcomes donations, which are used to purchase such
much-needed supplies as acid-free containers.
Note: All cemetery records are held by the Smithfield East End Cemetery
(412-422-8872).
 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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