 We are participating in Grow Green Match Day through the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation on April 22. The process is working in reverse this year and it's very advantageous for organizations like ours!
Any donations given to us on April 22nd via the Grow Green website will come to us immediately to be used for our ministries. Funds will be matched at 50% and those match dollars will be deposited in our endowment fund at GMCF. (Note: individual donations must be between $25-$1000 to receive the match and total funds to an organization are matched at up to $20,000). You can donate on the Grow Green website on April 22nd or you can download the giving form at the same site and mail in your contribution. Please note: if you want to mail in a check you will need to print the form, write your check, AND ensure that your donation is postmarked on or before the 22nd. There are also several other organizations that our Board of Mission is encouraging us to support who are receiving donations during Grow Green. If you are planning on making a special donation to The Crisis Center, Shepherd's Crossing, or the GMCF COVID Relief Fund, your donation will be matched if given through Grow Green. (Note: COVID Relief Funds will be matched at 100%). Opening reflection for our Cabinet Meeting on April 15, 2020 by Sue Gerth, Moderator
You don’t need me or anyone else to tell you that we are in the midst of an extraordinary time. A scary, terrifying, challenging, sad time. Not one of us is exempt from the feelings that life will never be the same again, even when this pandemic is over, whenever that is. Some of us are working much harder than ever before, trying to do the work we used to do, but in a completely new way. That alone creates extra work. And on top of that, many have more to do. We are stressed, tired, anxious. Some of us no longer have our jobs, either just for now or because the jobs will not be back. We don’t know how we will pay the bills or feed our families. We are stressed, tired, anxious. Some of us are confined to our homes and are bored, filling the time doing puzzles or making butter sculptures. We feel guilty because we have the luxury of being bored. But still, we are stressed, tired, anxious. Some of us are working from home, while also managing the completely new way in which our children are learning. The very words “quality time” make us shudder. What is that exactly? The kids are stressed, tired, anxious. And so are we. Some of us find irony in the safe-at-home order, because we have no home. Or we are incarcerated and definitely not feeling safe. Or detained in a confinement facility. We are stressed, tired, anxious. Some of us are facing illness or loss of a loved one. We cannot gather with those we love to grieve the loss and celebrate the life. We are stressed, tired, anxious. Most of us miss the closeness of community. We miss the hugs and the celebration of being in the company of those we love. We are stressed, tired, anxious. There are so many things that we cannot do to fix this. We feel powerless. And then a sibling sets up a Zoom family gathering and we laugh as if everything is normal. And someone brings a load of groceries and leaves it safely on our porch. And our church keeps upping their game with services and meetings that almost feel as if we are together again. And we hear of local healthcare providers who give up the security and comfort of home to go to New York because they are needed. And people share funny, bawdy, silly memes and cartoons and songs, because laughter is powerful. More powerful even than laughter, is love. We see it over and over again. The love given freely from those close to us and from strangers. The love that shines as we witness daily that the shuttered buildings were never the churches. The love that shines when we see still another example of people being the church. The love that tells us that it is okay to be sad and happy, to grieve and celebrate, to embrace all of the feelings that we feel. And we realize that life never should be the same, because the way things were wasn’t very good for so many. And there was already isolation and inequity and pain. And we know now that we have the power to do better, to be better. And so we pray, Lord help us to carry the lessons of this time into the future. Let us remember the power of community, the power of love, the power of understanding the stress and the fear that so many feel every day. And help us to do what we can, when we can. Amen  A message from our Board of Mission: In these extraordinary times of world-wide and local pandemic, we all face loss. For some of us it is in contact with those we love and loss of our freedom to come and go, which is a true loss. However, many among us face life-threatening challenges of lack of a safe place to shelter, loss of income, lack of access to medical care, and food insecurity. Your Board of Mission is working hard to find ways our church can respond to the extra financial and food-insecurity related stresses. Much of our efforts have focused on our church’s food ministries, Second Helping and the Blessing Box. Additionally, at our last meeting we allocated half of our $2000 discretionary budget to immediate concerns: $500 to the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference Medical Debt fund, and $250 each to the local community ministries Shepherd’s Crossing and the Crisis Center. We encourage members and friends of our faith community at First Congregational Church UCC Manhattan to think about, and consider donating financial resources if they are able, to groups that are reaching out to people who have been deeply affected by the COVID 19 crisis. If you are among the fortunate people in our community who are still gainfully employed, or whose retirement income has yet to be affected by the crisis, please prayerfully consider donating part of your federal stimulus check, if you receive one, to one or more of these groups involved in helping our neighbors. You might also consider donating part of your income tax refund. Suggested organizations that need help include, but are not limited to:
It would be lovely for our church faith family to be able to say: together we have donated X dollars to community organizations in this time of need. We would like to invite people who are able to make a donation to notify Sandy in the church office when they’ve made a gift, including how much and to where. She could give us a total number while keeping the names confidential. If you personally are experiencing heightened financial stress, we send you our love and support, and encourage you to reach out to Pastor Caela, who can help you access community organizations that would be of help. You are also encouraged to give your loving, prayerful support for the efforts of our greater church family; in the words of the Apostle Paul, we are all a part of the body of Christ. As always, we on the Board of Mission consider ourselves blessed to be stewards and cheerleaders for our church’s mission, stated so clearly in our official Mission Statement, to (love and) minister to others locally and globally with the same fervor as we minister to ourselves. Thank you to all.
 During this time of physical distancing, our hearts long to be together in worship. Over and over again we hear from people, "It's just so good to BE TOGETHER during worship and SEE one another's faces when we can."
We are going to put together a welcome message that can be used in worship each week and we need your help. Pastor Caela has written a short script of some of those familiar things we say each week when we gather for worship (you know, the good stuff like "no matter who we are or where we are on life's journey we are all welcome here.") Now she needs YOUR help creating a montage of familiar faces and voices. Our goal is to have 20, 30, 50 people in our congregation submit brief video soundbites that will be edited into a video we use during worship each week. Kids and pets welcome (parents, please do note that these videos will be shared in a public space). If you don't have a smartphone/tablet to record you could also use a webcam on your computer if you have one. If you are willing to record yourself saying a phrase or two from the script, please e-mail the church office. We will assign you a part and tell you how to upload your videos. It will be SO GOOD to see one another's faces. Contact the church office to get started Helpful links from the announcements:
 A note from the Deacons:
In an effort to help people in our congregation stay connected to one another during COVID-19, we have assigned everyone in our congregation to a Neighborhood Group. These groups were primarily created based on geographic proximity. We believe this will be a rich time of creating and deepening connections with other people in our congregation, even as we are physically separated from one another. Each group will create their own ways of staying connected. Some groups might want to do a regular group check in via e-mail or Zoom. Other groups might find that a group text or small Facebook group works well. There will most certainly be folks in your group who prefer to connect via phone or snail mail. It is critically important that everyone follows the stay at home order....so these groups will not be getting together in person at all. Your Neighborhood Captain will make sure everyone in your group stays connected. Helpful links from the announcements:
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