 Sep. 22 is Faith and Democracy Sunday and we are joining other UCC churches in blessing VOTE-ive candles during worship. Please bring your favorite candle to worship on Sep. 22 OR pick up one of the VOTE-ives we will supply (LED options, too!). After the service, we'll all take our candles home and light them each day as we pray using one of the resources below:
7 day resource (re-use each week) 40 day resource (one prayer for each day) On All Saints Sunday (Nov. 3), which is also the Sunday before the election, we will place an emphasis on those saints/cloud of witnesses who fought to win and safeguard our voting rights, and we will ask all who took part in the 40 days of prayer to return their VOTE-ive candles to place on the worship table/altar; we will light them as a sign of the many prayers that have faithfully surrounded this election. Please know that the prayer portion of this is in addition to: *making and enacting a plan to VOTE *each one, reach five efforts to help our friends and family identify their voting plans *encouraging your friends and family to check their registration status NOW *phone-banking, post-carding, letter-writing, door-knocking *engaging in challenging conversations (with a spirit of curiosity!) to help build more robust communities *checking in with newly-eligible young adults to ensure they know how to exercise their right to vote *collaborating with partner organizations to reach those who may experience obstacles to voting *volunteering at the polls Through collective prayer and action, we can experience the truth that we are not alone as we work to make a More Just World for all people and creation. Many, many thanks to the Potomoc Association of the UCC for inviting us to be a part of this effort.  Some think of curiosity as just for kids or as a negative thing in our faith journey, but curiosity is valuable for ALL of us. Being curious about the world around us is a spiritual practice. We can be curious about other people which leads to empathy, community and a desire for social justice. We can be curious about God which leads to prayer and reflection. We can be curious about ourselves, leading to better mental health and healing. In this series, Be Curious: Surviving and Thriving in an Angry World, we will explore, experiment, and challenge ourselves to Be Curious! We will follow Jesus’ example, worshipping in curious new ways and asking plenty of questions. We will connect in ways that encourage curiosity about our community. We will be compassionate for others as we recommit ourselves to Loving Every Single Other. This divided world needs more curiousity. Let’s explore together!
For more information, contact Gretchen Lewis.
Church Choir Our choir rehearses each Sunday morning in the sanctuary at 8:30, and we'd love to have some new singers join us. Please see Gretchen if you are interested. We are looking forward to singing in worship this year. We are also looking forward to participating in a late September choral workshop with well-known contemporary composer and choral clinician Mark A. Miller. Dr. Miller will be in Wichita September 27 - 29 for a United Methodist Event, and Dr. Amy Rosine, choir director at College Ave Methodist, is organizing an ecumenical song festival here in Manhattan on the afternoon of September 29. She has called our local event: Songfest, Songs of Hope, Compassion and Joy. Further information will be upcoming about the time of the local concert. If you're interested in attending the workshop, talk to Gretchen for more information. Congregational Handbells The bell choir will resume rehearsals in September. The first rehearsal is Tuesday, September 3, at 5:00 pm in the sanctuary. If you'd like to ring with us, and you're free on Tuesday evenings, please reach out to Gretchen. We aim to offer a Handbell Prelude in worship once a month. First Congregational Mini Hymnal We had some excellent congregational singing this summer. I'd love to put together a kind of First Congregational mini hymnal of hymns you'd like to sing every two or three months. If you have favorite hymns to suggest, please send me some hymn titles. If we have a good response, we can select the 15 - 20 greatest hits, and put them in a rotation. Thank you!
 The students are back, parking is harder to find, and we're ready for another year of learning and growth. Sunday School for children and adults will resume this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and the choir will be back from their summer sabbath. Guess who else is returning from sabbath? Pastor Caela will be back in our pulpit as her sabbatical draws to a close.
During worship we will also be blessing learners and educators of all ages. You don't want to miss it, so join us at 10:45 a.m. in-person or online. Kids and grown ups who are students, please bring along your backpacks to receive a blessing. Educators, please bring along your work bag or another object that represents your work. A big thank you to the Ministry of the Decorative Scissors for creating backpack tags again this year. We will be handing out backpack tags for students and educators of all ages during worship in the sanctuary, but if you worship online or are out of town, please contact [email protected] to request your tag.
This year we have TWO options for free devotionals to help guide your Lenten journey.
Devotional Booklets (hard copy or digital)
1) Our Lenten Devotional Booklets from A Sanctified Art are available for pick-up beginning Feb. 11. You can pick up in the church lobby or in the plastic box outside the office doors. If you prefer a web-based version or would like a hard copy placed in the U.S. mail, please contact the church office. (This is the devotional that the Adult Sunday School class will use to guide their conversations throughout Lent.)
About the devotional: "Beginning with the First Sunday in Lent, this weekly devotional follows the scriptures of our Wandering Heart series through the Second Sunday of Easter. Each week offers commentary, poetry, visual art, hymns, and reflection prompts. We encourage you to walk through these weekly readings at your own pace throughout the season, following the rhythm that works best for you. The devotional features biblical commentary by our guest writers, Dr. Terence Lester and Dr. Karoline M. Lewis, and art and reflections by our guest artists, Rev. Nicolette Peñaranda and Rev. T. Denise Anderson.” (from sanctifiedart.com) Daily Devotional Cards (via e-mail)
2) For those who prefer a daily devotional, we are pleased to offer Daily Devotional cards via email. Receive a daily invitation to a Centering Practice, Reflection Question, and Prayer. These cards were also created by A Sanctified Art and follow our Wandering Heart theme. If you’d like to receive one each day in your inbox, please email [email protected] and we’ll get you added to the list.
Use one or both of these great resources to guide your spiritual journey this Lent. And....don't forget about the Spotify playlist for when you need some music.
On Nov. 5th, we join with Christians around the globe in remembering our saints on All Saints’ Day. We will name those who have died in the past year who we hold dear to our hearts. Please join us for worship as we remember our saints together.   Since the late 1990’s, our faith community has held a Thursday night worship service of prayer and song, inspired by the worship tradition in the community of Taize, in southern France. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we moved this worship experience online, meeting over Zoom on Thursday evenings. We have been on a summer vacation since May, however, and as we resume, we will be making some changes. Beginning on October 19, we will resume worshipping together in person only, in Pioneer Hall. We will meet once a month, at 7:00, for prayer and song, on the third Thursday of each month thereafter. We have missed the communal aspect of our songs and prayer, and look forward to being together again. We extend a loving invitation to all of our church family to join us for this quiet, approximately 30-minute time together.
Sunday, Oct. 15 is our celebration of Second Helping volunteers. Join us as we give thanks for the hard work of the many volunteers who make Second Helping possible. Linda Thurston will present a history and current state of Second Helping as the sermon. The Mission Board is organizing a reception to follow during the Fellowship Hour. We would love to have you join us!   This week marks the beginning of the fall semester at First Congregational and we can't wait to see you!
Join us during worship for the Blessing of the Backpacks and Educators + hear from our youth about what they learned on their summer service learning trip. And....the choir is back! Plus...it's time for Sunday School for all ages to kick off again! 🎉 Kids ages 3 through 5th grade are invited to join us in the church building for Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. 💡 Adults also have Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and we meet in-person or via Zoom for this class. This class begins with a two week series on praying the Psalms. We will study some of them and then write our own prayer based on the Psalm we choose. This will be a guided activity. Come! Be like David and write a Psalm! 🍩 Youth in grades 6-12 are typically meeting twice a month - once for donuts and conversation and once for Confirmation Class. This Sunday is our first Confirmation Class at 9:30 a.m. If you're not receiving regular updates from Pastor Caela about youth events, please let us know. |
