Ash Wednesday is March 1st

Worship at 6:30pm
Ash Wednesday is a Christian tradition that prepares us for the Lenten season before Easter.  The reasons Christians receive ashes on the forehead are twofold: 1. As a call to grieve and repent from the ways they have become separated from God and Neighbor and 2. As a humble reminder of the dust from which we came and the dust to which we’ll return. To remind us of our life season’s cyclical nature, we use the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday to create the ashes.

Ecumenical Ashes to Go, 11:30-1:30pm
For those who are unable to attend the evening service, Caela, Sean, and our campus pastor, David Jones, will join with other area clergy to offer the imposition of ashes in public spaces. Just as Jesus did most of his ministry outside the walls of the religious buildings of his day, we delight in offering tangible signs of God's grace in public as we begin this holy season. You will find clergy outside Radina's in Aggieville from 11:30-1:30pm and inside the K-State Student Union from Noon-1pm on March 1st.

​Facebook event for Ashes to Go

​On Tuesday, March 14, from 7 – 8:30, the Vitality Committee invites members and friends to a Social Justice Write-In, a casual event for people to spend time together reading and writing or just sitting quietly in community. You might write to local policy makers, a neighbor, a close or estranged family member, or in your diary. We will provide coffee and tea, as well as writing materials and stamps. Feel free to bring your supper or snacks. Contact Rachel Gintner for information or suggestions.

Facebook event to share

​Did you know we have a church library? Our circulating books are located just outside the doors of Blachly Hall and our Biblical reference library is in the Conference Room upstairs. We are currently sorting through the books in the circulating library to ensure they are relevant and in good condition. We need your help! Please visit the library shelves before March 1st and see if there are any books that we’ve marked “give away” that we should consider keeping. There is a space there where you can put any books you think are “keepers” (and you can add a note explaining your rationale). Once we’ve determined which books should be given away we will invite folks to go through them to take home any books they’d like to keep and will take the rest to the Public Library and Dusty Bookshelf. 

​The Board of Deacons has been working with our staff and we are pleased to announce a picture directory will be arriving this Spring. Won't it be great to finally be able to put faces with names? Even better, our new directory will also have an online component that you'll be able to access from www.instantchurchdirectory.com AND a free app for your smartphone or tablet. We hope to begin rolling out the online directory in March and new print copies should be available in early April.

You can help us prepare for this new directory in two important ways:
1) Please begin thinking of a photo of you/your family that you'd like to use in the directory. Once the online version is launched, you will have the opportunity to upload the photo. If you do not have access to a digital photo, there will be other options available.
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2) Please check to see if the contact information we have on file is correct. If you wish to use the online directory or app, please ensure we have your correct e-mail address, as it will become your username. You can check our current records by viewing the sample directory hanging on the office door.

Lent comes from the word "lengthen." As the days get longer, God invites us to stretch, lengthen, grow as we send our roots down deep into the soil of our faith. Do you find it difficult to pray? Are you clueless when it comes to reading the Bible? Would you like to be more grounded...but don't know where to start? Join us and "choose your own adventure" this Lent.

Caela will be using the document "Spiritual Practices that Sustain" as a jumping off point for a conversation on how to find a sense of peace and connect with a solid center in the midst of a rapidly-changing world. These brief stand-alone classes are meant to help you deepen, begin, or reignite a spiritual practice.

TWO OPTIONS - COME TO ONE OR BOTH
You can find her on Thursday, Mar. 2 (join us for Taize at 7pm and then walk down to Tallgrass Taphouse by 8pm) or on Saturday, Mar. 11 at 9:00am here at the church (continental breakfast provided, contact [email protected] if you need childcare).
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The Vitality Committee is planning some meaningful and exciting activities for church members and friends in 2017.  We started off with Dinner and Decorating on February 11.  About 25 showed up for pizza, making love decorations and decorating (and eating) heart-shaped cookies. A big thanks to Sue Gerth, our Craft Queen, for providing materials and coaching for all ages to make cards and banners.  Many cards were made and left for the church to use for those who might need a message of love during the year.
 
March 6 – 12 is Stand By Our Muslim Neighbors week and we will kick off the week with a joint gathering with some of our Muslim neighbors here in Manhattan on Sunday morning, March 5. Caela is working with Haroon from the Islamic Center and Sajid from the Muslim Student Association to plan the sermon. They will bring other guests, so we will have a substantial and extended Fellowship Hour. Keep an eye out for more details.  In addition, we will have signs that say “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor” in Spanish, English and Arabic for you to put in your yard or window.  On March 13 is an advocacy event in Topeka organized by Kansas Interfaith Action.

On Tuesday, March 14, from 7 – 8:30, the Vitality Committee invites members and friends to a Social Justice Write-In, a casual event for people to spend time together reading and writing or just sitting quietly in community.  You might write to local policy makers, a neighbor, a close or estranged family member, or in your diary.  We will provide coffee and tea, as well as writing materials and stamps. Feel free to bring your supper or snacks.  Contact Rachel Gintner for information or suggestions.
 
April is our annual Easter Potluck Brunch. The next Dinner and Discussion will be about Fair Trade, with the owner of the new Fair Trade store on Poyntz (no date yet). June is sexual diversity month and we’re working on something for June.  Also in the works is an Underground Railroad Tour for families, to which we will invite our Bethel neighbors. The church has a copy of the documentary (“Dawn of Day”) made by the K-State College of Education about the local underground railroad, or you can download it from the college website. We’re also getting more Black Lives Matter buttons, as well as some of the other favorites.
 
If you have suggestions for the committee, and if you’d like help out with any of these planned activities, we would love your input! Let any of us know - Linda Thurston, Craig Weston, Rachel Gintner, Sue Gerth, Andrew Wymer, Rita Henry.
            

Did you know we have a whole big building beyond our Sanctuary? We do! We thought we'd snap a few photos to encourage you to take a look around at some of our other spaces the next time you're in the building. Enjoy!

A message from our Ministry Intern, Sean Weston:
Here are First Congregational UCC we’re blessed to have great Christian Education opportunities to help people of all ages along their faith journeys. Building on these opportunities, Pastor Caela, Sue Zschoche and I are starting to gather information to help plan future offerings for Adult Christian Education, looking for ways to meet the diverse needs of people in the congregation. To do this, we need your help! 

Can you take 10 minutes to fill out this survey by March 1st? You can access the survey online or you can pick up a paper copy from the table by the office and return it to me or the office. Your feedback will be reviewed closely and taken seriously. 

Thank you,
Sean