Welcome to MCC United Church of Christ in the Valley!
Watch Us Live on YouTube5730 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601
Last Sunday’s Broadcast: November 10, 2024 – Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly – Rev. Dr. Pat Langlois
For this week’s Spotify Podcast, click here
Read our Newsletter from November 10, 2024, which begins with its opening Pastor’s Letter.
If not already subscribed, send an email to info@mccuccv.com asking to be put on our mailing list so you’ll receive each week’s newsletter the moment it is available.
Congregational Meeting Sunday, November 17, 2024
What Happened To My Sunday Morning Texts from The Church???
Our text messaging service, Breeze, recently changed privacy policies making it necessary for you to text START to 87447 in order to receive our text messages regarding live broadcasts and zoom meeting invites.
Weekday Zoom Meetings: Staying Close, Staying Connected: Weekdays, Monday through Friday from Noon to 2 PM (PST). A Zoom Room so we have a place to “Stay Connected” Email revpat@mccuccv.com to receive the link
November 24, 2024: 4th Sunday Potluck after 10:30 AM Worship Service
Blessing of the Animals
When: Next Sunday, November 24, 2024
Where: Here at church (outdoors), 5730 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601
Bring your creatures, great and small
All animals must be under your control.
NO fish (for their safety)
Can’t bring your pet? We will bless their picture.
Thanksgiving Feast
When: Thursday, November 28, 2024, from Noon to 3:00 PM
Where: At the church, 5730 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601
RSVP to info@mccuccv.com or 818-762-1133
Worship Sundays 10:30 AM Pacific Time
Come join us in person, watch our live broadcast with chat on YouTube or Facebook, or enjoy our live broadcast in online community together via Zoom.
- No computer? Join by Phone:
- Dial: 669-900-6833.
- When you are asked to enter a Meeting ID, enter: 879 4583 1699 followed by #
- When you are asked for a personal ID, select #
- When asked to enter a password, enter: 374829, press #
CoffeeTime Sundays 11:30 AM Pacific Time
- Join on Zoom https://tinyurl.com/yxbj7m3a
- Meeting ID: 879 4583 1699
- Password: 374829
Food Pantry Sundays
When: Every Sunday from 12 PM – 2 PM
Where: Garden Area (behind the church) MCC UCC in the Valley, 5730 Cahuenga Blvd, North Hollywood
About: Free groceries for those in need
Join the Choir! Mondays 7:30 PM See Blue Lewis Perez or Dr. Michael Crane
Singers of ALL LEVELS wanted! Join the fun & fellowship, and help make the music!
Tuesday Nite Study 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time via Zoom
Financial Donation Thank YOU for your Support!
Next Sunday: November 24, 2024: 4th Sunday Potluck after 10:30 AM Worship Service
Praise Party with Apostle Lyrik Every 2nd Sunday of the Month at 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Upcoming Dates: December 8, 2024
Breeze Alert! Our text messaging service, Breeze, recently changed privacy policies making it necessary for you to text START to 87447 in order to receive our text messages regarding live broadcasts and zoom meeting invites.
See Our Video Archives:
A Little Bit About Us
Here at MCC United Church of Christ in the Valley we are Living Compassion, Loving Creation and are a Caring Community of Christ…and we are honored that you found us! We opened our doors and our hearts in 1972 when we became a part of a worldwide movement of churches founded by Rev. Troy Perry. Our roots within the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) were grounded in Rev. Perry’s vision of an inclusive and united church. This foundation led us into a discernment process to become even more inclusive by joining the United Church of Christ. On May 10, 2014, we were accepted into the United Church of Christ as a dually affiliated church; both MCC and UCC.
We believe strongly in making a difference in people’s hearts, minds, and lives, to help make this world a better place. Whether it is bringing Easter baskets to senior citizens, toys to children at Christmas, food to those in need in the city, or helping an AIDS Hospice in Tijuana put solar panels on their facilities to decrease their expenses, we try to live our faith of compassion.
We are also an
inclusive and green Christian community of faith. We have made the Earth a member of our church, and we actively work at reducing our carbon emissions that impact climate change — that affect us and other life. We have a deep reverence for all life and the Earth, and we know that “For God so loved the world as to give the only begotten Child that whoever believes may not die but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) The world includes more than humanity, but all life, our planet, and the universe. All life is sacred, indeed
Our vision is to practice God’s radically inclusive love as modeled by Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit coloring outside of the lines. To better understand us, take a look at our mission, vision, and values that we hold important because we are a house of prayer for all people — becoming an immigrant welcoming and spiritual community, believing in social and environmental justice. We subscribe to the UCC’s wider Mission of extravagant welcome as part of our vision and values: There is a place for everyone in our church, and together we make a difference in this world.
We are Bible-based not Bible bound. We take the Bible seriously not literally. Jesus was neither a fundamentalist nor a literalist: Jesus spoke in metaphor, parable, and story to reveal shockingly abundant love for all of us.
This Week’s Pastor’s Letter – November 10, 2024
“Keep my anger from becoming meanness.
Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.
Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking.
Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.
Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love.
Keep me fiercely kind.”
~ Laura Jean Truman
Greetings, friends!
In the early seventies, a handful of folks who lived in the Valley and who had been attending the then four-year-old Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles, decided to start a small study group at one of their homes. The gathering grew and before you knew it, fifty-two years ago they decided to take a leap of faith and officially formed Metropolitan Community Church in the Valley.
During those early days you could still be arrested for dancing with your same-gender partner in the bar, you could lose your job afterwards when your name and photo were put in the papers, livng in the closet was a way of life. In that time, our church became a safe place to dance with Pride without prying eyes nor risk of being busted. Women still couldn’t get credit in their name. Only five years earlier could heterosexual people marry someone of another race. The Vietnam War had not come to an end. Women didn’t have the right to abortion. Richard Nixon was president of the United States. It was into this that this church was born.
Decades unfolded and so did we. While we were praising God and building community, becoming a safe place for the LGBT community to heal their relationship with God and scripture, AIDS came on the scene. We didn’t know it but saying our final farewells to our friends and colleagues was about to become commonplace. But we stayed true to our calling to be present and make lives and this world a better place, even in the midst of death and despair. We opened a drop in center blocks from our building that offered services and support for those living with AIDS before there was any other assistance.
Years went by and we continued to be of service anyway we could…we helped those in need; housed the unhoused during the winter months; supported Cuban refugees; fed the hungry; threw parties; helped to heal the Earth with solar and gardens; marched for our rights; married loving couples; endured (and thrived) through COVID; and the list goes on and on…we showed the world what it meant to be the Hands, Feet, and Heart of Christ in the World.
And here we are today. We’ve seen countless advancements over the years. Bars are no longer raided and Lesbians and Gay folk aren’t automatically arrested for being Queer. AIDS is no longer a death sentence. Same gender couples have the right to marry, but it again threatened. RuPaul’s Drag Show is a hit, yet libraries are protested when they have Drag Queens read at story time. Roe v Wade was passed, but now it has been overturned and over a third of women in the US can’t make health decisions about their bodies. Women have broken countless “glass ceilings,” yet girls and women are now taunted with “Your body, my choice” by boys and men. We’ve had an African American President, and yet this week texts are being sent to African American youth and adults that say, “You have been chosen to pick cotton at your nearest plantation. Be ready at 10 am with all your personal possessions because you will never see them again.” I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
But through all this MCC UCC in the Valley has persisted. We have loved. We have lost. We have cried. We have laughed. We have fought. We have won. And we fight again. And in it all, we have never wavered from our faith in God…in Divine Love. We have stayed and will continue to stay committed to the teachings of Jesus, and nothing will ever take us off that course.
This week has been very difficult for many of us. Feelings of exhaustion, despair, sadness, futility, betrayal, anger, fear, and for some joy have been experienced by our community. And we ask, what do we do with all this? I say that we remember what brought us together in the first place and that is our calling to community, to service, to justice, kindness and most importantly to God. The road ahead is long, but we are not alone…we have one another and most of all we have Jesus at the Center of it all.
So join us in the morning as we allow ourselves to “just be,” to cry, to laugh, to praise, to pray, to be in community and to be of service. We have also invited (and they accepted) some folks from Free Mom/Dad Hugs to remind us all that we are loved beyond measure!
I look forward to being with you to bring you a message as we are reminded to Do Justice. Love Kindness. and Walk Humbly with our God! You can join us onsite or online at 10:30 AM (PDT) or, of course, visit with us during the week on our YouTube or Spotify channels. The links to our FaceBook and YouTube to watch us live are below, along with our Spotify channel.
Don’t forget, you can find us:
– on the church’s YouTube Channel: MCCUCC Valley or
– on our Facebook Page MCC United Church of Christ in the Valley
– – our SUNDAY ZOOM LINK: Email info@mccuccv.com if interested in joining us on Zoom
– on Spotify https://tinyurl.com/wjbb6kwe
With a heart full of blessings and possibilities,
Rev. Pat