Rivers NY NJ UCC

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Rivers of Living Water NY NJ United Church of Christ (UCC), is a Christ Centered, radically inclusive, open & affirming, Non-Denominational Spiritual Family.

11/10/2026

✨ WHILE WE ARE STILL HERE ✨
An Eight-Week Virtual Formation Series

While we are still here, there is room for honest reflection, healing, and a different way forward.

Rivers of Living Water, together with A Time For You, invites you to a journey through Truth, Ownership, Repair, and Release—making space to reflect on how we show up for ourselves and one another.

📅 November 5–December 22, 2026
🕖 All sessions begin at 7:00 PM Eastern
💻 Join us virtually on Zoom

🔗 REGISTER IN ADVANCE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ntp983DvSJO1vkpLnBHm2Q

OUR SERIES SCHEDULE

• TRUTH — Pastor Tonya D. Jackson
November 5 and November 12

• OWNERSHIP — Bishop Vanessa M. Brown
November 16 and November 24

• REPAIR — Pastor Lucien Washington
December 3 and December 10

• RELEASE — Pastor Kim Wylie
December 17 and December 22

HOW TO REGISTER AND JOIN

Click the registration link above or scan the QR code on the flyer to open the Zoom registration form.

Complete and submit the form to register in advance.

Check your email for your registration confirmation and information about joining. If you do not see it, check your spam or junk folder.

Save your confirmation email and follow its joining instructions on your session date.

Meeting ID: 865 0491 4460
Passcode will be provided with registration.

Come ready to reflect, participate, and make room for the work of healing. Share this invitation with someone who may want to join us. 💛

10/10/2026

With heavy hearts and deep love, we invite you to join us for the Viewing and Celebration of Life for our beloved Grace Detrevarah, a member of our Rivers of Living Water family. 💜🕊️

We will gather to honor her life, share our memories, and hold one another through grief. There is room for our tears, our laughter, and the love that continues beyond goodbye.

October 30, 2026 | 4:00–6:00 PM
St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street
New York, NY

Please share this invitation with those who knew and loved Grace.

09/10/2026

There is room for every heart in God’s presence.

We gather with our stories, our questions, our gratitude, and our hope trusting that God will meet us exactly where we are.

Come as you are. You belong here.

07/10/2026

When our strength runs out, God’s grace continues to reach us. 🙌🏾

We don’t have to carry every burden alone. Even in our weakest moments, God is still present, still moving, and still holding us.

Let this worship moment remind you: His grace will always meet you where you are. 💙

07/10/2026

There are moments in life when you do not just celebrate another birthday. You stop, look back, give God thanks, and honor the stories that made you.

On Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 12:30 PM, I am inviting you to join me at The Riverside Church for a very special birthday celebration:

THE STORIES THAT MADE ME
A Birthday Celebration in Story & Song

This will not be a traditional birthday service. We are creating an experience of testimony, music, memory, gratitude, and becoming. Through the voices of people who have walked different parts of this journey with me, we will tell some of the stories, sing some of the songs, remember some of the moments, and give thanks for the people, places, lessons, losses, love, and grace that have helped shape my life.

Helping bring my story to life through music will be an extraordinary gathering of gifted voices: Bishop Mary Freeman, Rev. Dr. Dominique Denman, Dr. Eric B. Turner, Alexandria Crichlow, KJ Song, and Minister David. In addition to sharing their musical gifts, Bishop Mary Freeman and Dr. Eric B. Turner will also serve as storytellers, alongside Pastor Tonya D. Jackson and Bro. Press Canady, offering personal reflections, cherished memories, and meaningful moments from different chapters of my life. Together, these six vocalists and four storytellers will weave a beautiful tapestry of music, testimony, laughter, love, and gratitude, celebrating not only the stories that made me, but also the person I am still becoming.

Some stories will make us laugh. Some may make us cry. Some will take us back. And I believe some will remind all of us that none of us became who we are by ourselves.

This celebration is not simply about where I have been. It is about giving thanks for what God has done, honoring those who helped me along the way, and making room for who I am still becoming.

📍 The Riverside Church
91 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY 10027
📅 Sunday, October 25, 2026
⏰ 12:30 PM | In Person

Bring your love. Bring your memories. Bring your praise. And come ready for an afternoon of story and song.

All are invited. I would love to celebrate with you.

06/10/2026

Worship lives here.

We gather with open hearts, ready to receive, ready to grow, and ready to experience God together.

Come as you are. There is a place for you here.

03/10/2026

Beloved Rivers Family & Friends,

As we prepare to gather tomorrow, I am mindful that we are carrying a lot right now.

The sudden passing of our beloved Grace DeTrevarah has touched us deeply. When someone transitions suddenly, there is often no time to prepare our hearts. We are left trying to make sense of what happened while simultaneously trying to hold the weight of the loss. For some of us, Grace’s passing has brought fresh grief. For others, it has awakened grief we were already carrying.

And then there is everything else.

Some among us are caring for aging parents. Some are dealing with health concerns. Some are navigating financial challenges, family matters, relationship changes, disappointments, transitions, and private battles that others may never know about.

So I want to remind us: this is a time to love one another intentionally.

Check on each other. Call somebody. Send the text. Give the hug. Extend a little more grace. Be slower to judge and quicker to love. We never fully know what someone else is carrying.

Tomorrow, I especially want us to be together.

We will gather for worship at 12:30 PM. We will come to the Table for Communion, and afterward, we will sit down and eat together as family.

There is something sacred about gathering when life is heavy. We do not gather because everything is alright. We gather because we need God, and sometimes we experience God most clearly through one another.

I am also asking each of you to bring two people with you tomorrow. Bring someone who needs community. Bring someone who needs encouragement. Bring someone who needs to know there is a place where they can breathe, worship, eat, laugh, cry, and simply be.

In the wake of Grace’s sudden passing, let us not take one another, or the gift of being together, for granted.

Love one another now.
Call one another now.
Show up for one another now.

Tomorrow at 12:30 PM, let’s fill the room with love.

Come to worship. Come to the Table. Come eat together. And bring two people with you.

We need God.
And beloved, we need one another.

With love,

Bishop Vanessa M. Brown
Senior Pastor
Rivers of Living Water UCC

03/10/2026

Congregational Announcement

It is with heavy hearts that we share the transition of our beloved Grace DeTrevarah.

We ask the Rivers family to keep Grace’s mother, her family, chosen family, loved ones, and all who are grieving this tremendous loss lifted in prayer.

May God surround them with comfort, strength, and peace in the days ahead.

Service details will be shared as they become available.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” — Matthew 5:4

Address

Opening Hours

	10:00 - 12:00
	14:00 - 16:00

Website

http://www.riversnynjucc.org/

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