Click here to view the full job description.

Creating this new position is part of MCC’s implementation of its “Vision for New Directions,” adopted in 2005: to serve local congregations and ecumenical groups state-wide by helping you to fulfill the social justice mission of the church, so that together, we can build a culture of justice, compassion and peace. Through this new position and the ongoing efforts of our current hard-working staff, we hope to provide you with more resources, programs, events, trainings and connections to do the work of social justice, locally and together with ecumenical, interfaith and community partners across the state. Thank you for anything you can do to help us to find the right person for this important new position.

When: Monday, December 11th @ 7:30 pm
Where: Talbot Lecture Hall inside Luther Bonney Hall, Portland Campus, USM 

"The PIER program is a grant funded research effort seeking to identify and treat young people from 12-35 yrs. old who are exhibiting "warning signs" of an impending serious mental illness characterized by potential psychotic symptoms. Early treatment in the "prodromal" or pre-diagnosable stage of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may arrest the course of the developing illness before a first hospitalization and more formal diagnosis of one of these potentially life-long disorders."

"At very least, we are able to address and help worrisome symptoms which have frightened and disrupted young peoples' lives already by the time of their referral to us. We have been successful in helping many individuals and their families understand what may be happening and how to reduce the stresses that may be triggering symptoms which have already impaired their ability to work, study, socialize and carry on day to day activities."

"We attempt to respond rapidly to calls at 662-2004, and are available to answer questions or schedule assessments quickly."

Earlier this week, our weekly email and this site announced we’d been given several large boxes of compact fluorescent light bulbs that we wanted to give away free to churches for your own use or to share with needy families in your town. The response was amazing – in less than 24 hours, all the bulbs were claimed (several hundred)! 

We’ve been told they are being used for more efficient, environmental-friendly lighting in church buildings (one church, which has no building of its own, is giving them to its “landlord” the local town hall); as a visual enhancement to a worship service on the theme of eco-justice; to neighborhood families who couldn’t otherwise afford them; and as alternative gifts at a church holiday fair. 

Though it will be a long time before you need to dispose of your CF bulbs, here is some information on how to acquire them and how to do dispose of them properly (to avoid adding to the problem of mercury contamination), shared with us by the Allen Avenue UU Church in Portland:

Efficiency Maine, a program administered by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, is a statewide effort to promote more efficient use of electricity, help Maine residents reduce electricity costs and protect the environment. Coupons from Efficiency Maine for the purchase of CFLs are available at local hardware stores. More information about Efficiency Maine, how to save on electricity and where to purchase ENERGY STAR rated bulbs is available at www.efficiencymaine.com or call 1-866-376-2463.

Efficiency Maine is currently working with the Department of Environmental Protection to get out information about the importance of recycling compact fluorescent light bulbs. Compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) contains mercury as does all fluorescent lighting. Mercury is a toxic substance that must be disposed of properly. At the end of their long lives, CFLs should be recycled so the mercury and phosphors contained in the CFL can be reclaimed and re-used.

Estimates are that efficient lights purchased through the Efficiency Maine program just last year will avoid the annual release of 4,100 pounds of nitrogen oxides, 11,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 3,400 tons of CO2 for each year of the bulbs life which is estimated to be five years. Additionally, data provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that the mercury emissions from power plants that are avoided over the life of the efficient bulb are two and a half times the amount of mercury contained within the bulb. According to this data, Efficiency Maine's program provides a net benefit by avoiding more uncontrolled mercury emissions at power plants than it introduces through the lights. If we can also get these bulbs recycled properly, we will reclaim and re-use their mercury, phosphorous, and glass and be making an even greater environmental contribution.

More information on locations that will safely dispose of mercury containing products can be found at the following web site: http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/hazardouswaste/uwtran.htm or by calling the Maine DEP at 1-800-452-1942.

Additional "Green" info:

Holiday Fair "Greenery"/Coffee Hour Money Makers * Holiday Fair season is upon us. The Maine Council of Churches wants you to know about some new initiatives that can help save energy and provide green alternatives for healthier and sustainable living in our communities, while helping you to raise money.

Efficiency Maine, a program of the Public Utilities Commission, offers energy programs to small businesses and churches. Recently, Efficiency Maine launched a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) sales campaign that will allow schools, churches, and youth groups to buy quantities of these
energy-saving light bulbs from a local supplier and resell them for a profit that the group can keep. Dick Bacon is the EM staff working on this project and can be reached at 866-376-2463.

*Efficiency Maine is also offering a $2 instant coupon for LED (Light Emitting Diode) Holiday Light Strings through December 24. The LED lights
use significantly less electricity, are cool to the touch and long-lasting-- making holiday decorating safer and more energy efficient. To learn about
local outlets for the CFLs and holiday lights, go to EM's website: www.efficiencymaine.com 

For churches/youth groups from Sagadahoc County and south: Looking for a way to raise funds and raise awareness about environmentally-friendly living in Maine? Sell the SunriseGuide at your holiday fair or coffee hour and earn up to half of the $20 cover price for each book sold.

The SunriseGuide is a brand-new resource guide and coupon book for healthy and sustainable living in southern Maine. Developed by a long-time Maine resident (with input from the Council's Environmental Justice Program staff), the guide includes more than 50 pages of useful information and
local resources, and more than $4000 in coupon value from local merchants. For more information about the guide and fundraising sales, contact Lynne Rowe at 232-8377 or 221-3450 or email her at lrowe@thesunriseguide.com.

The Maine Council of Churches became an endorsing member of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) in March, 2006. Now the NRCAT offers a new resource for concerned individuals and congregations: Questions for candidates for the U.S. House and Senate that you can use during this campaign month.

These questions were designed to help you, members of your faith group, and other friends learn where your candidates stand on important torture issues. A cover letter provides several options for using the questions. Download the cover letter and questions (in PDF) or view on the NRCAT website.

We hope you find them helpful and that you can use them in the next important weeks. Let us continue to work together to abolish U.S.-sponsored torture now, with no exceptions.   National Religious Campaign Against Torture: www.nrcat.org

Part of my morning routine is to read one Psalm each day, rotating through the 150. Almost every day, some phrase leaps out and stays with me through the day. This morning, the 5th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks happened to bring me to Psalm 7 and this verse: "O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God." 

This is no place for a mini-sermon on good and evil (both the kinds we saw five years ago today and the kinds that are within and among us every ordinary day), but clearly these have been times of testing for each person on the journey of faith as well as for our nation and the global community. One idea that has grown in importance for me, as for so many of us, is that we are called to respond to this test by uniting across the boundaries that separate us to create a more hopeful, more compassionate, more just and peaceful world, to become what God promised we might be -- "repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets to live in." (Isaiah 58:12).

One way to do this is by seeking and practicing economic and environmental justice, in ways small and large, in our own lives and neighborhoods. This week's email from the MCC is about a major conference we are sponsoring on October 21st on this very idea.  Consider giving one day to being inspired, informed and equipped to practice "eco-justice" in your own part of the "post-September 11th world." Bring a team from your congregation. And remember that in all circumstances we can still say, with the Psalmist, "O God, my God, in you I take refuge." (Ps 7:1)

Shalom, Jill

REGISTER NOW Call Maine Council of Churches (207-772-1918) or Download the Registration Form by clicking here

3 Examples of the Project at Work

• The Congregational Church of Phippsburg UCC brought in a bare "tree" and members have covered it with their "apple" pledges, each one signifying a commitment to purchase local foods. Some members there are interested in pursuing a survey on food security and accessibility on that peninsula near Bath.
• Neighboring First Parish Church UCC, Brunswick, handed out pledge cards during an Earth Day Sabbath worship service and reports have come back to the EarthCare Team that congregation members are shopping at the local farmers market, joined Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, and asked the local supermarket to carry and identify more local products.
• First Universalist Church of Rockland, as part of its pursuit to become a designated Unitarian Universalist "Green Sanctuary" congregation, has focused on food and faith this spring and in the upcoming year. Fourteen households there have purchased shares in a new, local CSA farm, and the congregation as a whole purchased a farm share for the local food pantry, so that poorer neighbors would also have access to fresh, local produce this summer and into the fall. First Universalist also is in conversation with a local fishermen's co-op to explore how congregation members could assure a market for fresh fish and seafood for their local fishing community.

A Thought for the Week

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk suggests that Jesus woke up his disciples to the true daily bread when he invited them to share the bread and know it was him. The Maine Council of Churches believes that our Be A Good Apple! project and World Communion with Local Sacraments (Oct. 1, 2006) are meaningful ways that we can be awakened to the economic and environmental justice impacts of our daily food choices.

For more information about how your congregation can participate in these programs, please contact our Environmental Justice Program director, Andy Burt at adburt@gwi.net or 882-6848. 

Download and Print the Pandemic Response Summit brochure, or Register for the Pandemic Response Summit by mail, fax, or online at www.neias.org/maineflu.html.  For more information: 800-886-3933 or 207-626-3615, or e-mail at adcare@neias.org