Join us this Wednesday evening, February 22nd, at 6:30 PM as we gather for a brief service of prayer, readings, music, communion, and imposition of ashes to mark the beginning of Lent, the six week period leading up to Easter.
Ash Wednesday Service
February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Great Chinese Dinner!
January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
We celebrated the Chinese New Year Friday night, January 20th with a fabulous meal of egg drop soup, crunchy noodle salad, sweet sour chicken, stir-fry beef, and green beans. Many in attendance proclaimed it the best church dinner they have ever consumed! Special thanks to Phil Suomu, Barbara Derryberry, Chuck Limauro, Bonnie Bennett and the rest of the crew for providing a wonderful dining experience that raised money for our weekly Lake Worth Community Dinner. We can’t wait until the next dinner on February 17th.
Healthy Choices, Healthy Life Class
January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Take care of your health and the earth by incorporating delicious vegetarian meals into your diet. Join Judi Perna for a class on
preparing vegetarian shepherds pie, salad, and green tea. The class will meet in the kitchen of Studebaker Hall at 5:30 pm on Monday, Jan. 30. Help prepare the meal and then enjoy it with your fellow chefs. The cost is $5 and you can sign up at the Welcome Table or online at meetup.com. Contact Judi Perna or Carol Lewis for more info.
Back Bay Mission Trip 2012
January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
We’re going to Biloxi again! We are preparing to once again head to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi to spend a week in work camp.
Back Bay Mission is an 89 year-old ministry of the United Church of Christ that serves the poor and marginalized in Biloxi, a community that is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina of 2005. Our involvement the week we are there includes the construction and repair of homes in the area.
We have space for 10 workers. We will leave early and drive to Back Bay (bout 11 hours) on Sunday, March 25th, be housed in Back Bay’s new volunteer dormitory, work Monday through Friday, and return on Saturday, March 31st. If you would like to go on this mission trip with us, contact Janet Lisle for more information.
For those who aren’t able to drive to Mississippi and work on construction projects, you can participate by praying for the trip and contributing financially to ease the burden on those who are participating. Stay tuned for more information!
Did you go on our last Back Bay trip? Have you been on another mission trip with First Congregational or another church? Tell us about your experience in the “comment section” below!
How Do I Meditate?
January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
We often talk about “connecting with God” or “experiencing Christ.” However, we seem to only talk about it. How do we actually do it? How do we move from God as subject of discussion to God as a relationship or experience?
One way many over the centuries have practiced the presence of God through meditation. It is the practice of being quiet and stilling the mind. In the Christian tradition meditation has often been called contemplative prayer, centering prayer or the “prayer of the heart.” Meditation differs from what we commonly think of as prayer in that instead of talking, we are listening.
Briefly, here is how many practice meditation. A period of time is chosen. 15-20 minutes is a good amount of time to start with, and a timer of some sort can be used to mark the time. Find a comfortable position in which to sit and close your eyes or “soft focus” on a spot in the room. Focus on your breathing, following your inhalations and exhalations. You may notice that all sorts of thought will fly into your consciousness as you try to be still and clear your mind of thoughts. Simply observe them and set them aside. One aid to quieting the mind is to choose a “sacred word” on which to focus. When you notice thoughts or feelings entering your consciousness, gently return to your sacred word.
This is only a brief introduction of one way to meditate. You can find more information at the websites of Contemplative Outreach (they have a great little pamphlet on contemplative prayer), and The World Community of Christian Meditation.
What has your experience of meditation been? What practices do you have? What questions do you have about meditation? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Join us on Christmas Eve for a evening of the carols you remember, glorious music by Bruce Linser and our choir along with guest artist Paul Reekie and singers from Dreyfus School of the Arts, the inspiring words of the Christmas story, and plenty of candles.
Blue Christmas Service
November 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Cries of “Merry Christmas!” and non-stop caroling contrast with the feelings of many people at this time of year. For those suffering from the recent or impending death of loved ones and for those whose families are in crisis, it can be a very isolated and dreary time. Every greeting and every song reminds the grief-stricken of how unhappy life is at this moment.
This year at First Congregational, we will be holding a “Blue Christmas” service to offer solace and hope to those in these circumstances. People who are not having a very merry Christmas and friends who support them are invited to come and sit with one another in a liturgy that speaks of the love of God for the grieving on Wednesday, December 7th at 6:30PM in the sanctuary.
This service is co-sponsored by VITAS Innovative Hopsice Care, the hospice with which Pastor Jason is a chaplain.
Mission:1 Results
November 12, 2011 By 1 Comment
Thank you for your participation in Mission:1. We collected 111 bags of food, bagged 222 pounds of rice, served 81 guests at our Lake Worth Community Dinner, participated in 111 hours of food-related community service, collected money for Neighbors in Need, and wrote letters to our elected officials raising awareness for hunger-related issues.
Of course, we are a long way from declaring “Mission Accomplished” in the eradication of hunger. However, we have ended these 11 days with a greater awareness of the issues we face and steps we can take to engage them.
Special thanks to Janet Lisle and our Mission Team for coordinating these efforts for us!
Advent Vesper Service
November 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As we approach Christmas, the days seem to get busier and lives more hectic. We invite you to join us each Tuesday night during Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas), to quiet your heart and make room for the coming of Christ in your life. We will pray, sing, and engage our senses as we come together to worship. If you would like, you can come to our Lake Worth Community Dinner and then stick around for vespers. Note that we are changing the time to 6:25 to accomodate The Community dinner Volunteers.
November 29, December 6, 13, 20, 6:25 – 6:55 PM.
Campus Improvement Fund
September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Dear Church Family,
One of the challenges we face as we continue to discern how God is forming us as a community of faith is the upkeep of our campus. At this point in our life, we still feel that the best place for our church to continue to thrive is housed here in the beautiful campus we now call our own. While we have had offers to sell our facility to other churches, our leadership believes that it holds great potential for us positively impacting our community.
However, the maintenance and upkeep of our campus comes at a great cost. In fact, routine maintenance, utilities, and property insurance make up the most significant expense of our budget. And, unfortunately, we are not able to budget for unexpected repairs. Actually “unexpected” is not quite accurate. With facilities the age of ours, major repairs and improvements should be expected. However, since we have not been able to include these in our budget for many years, any major repairs have usually been paid for out of monies out of our endowment and many needed improvements to our facility have not even been considered. This year alone, we have spent over $6,000 to repair the air conditioning in the sanctuary and over $1500 to repair leaks in the office roof.
We are pleased to inform you that a member of our church, observing this challenge, has stepped forward to provide some assistance. This person has offered $25,000 toward campus repair to be matched by other members and friends of our church. This provides us with the opportunity to raise $50,000 to be used toward the maintenance and improvement of our campus.
One of the ways this fund will be used is to place a new roof on the church office to eliminate the need for patches after many of our rainstorms. Other uses may include air conditioning repairs, landscape improvements, and facility upgrades. Having this fund from which to draw will relieve the burden placed on our general fund and endowment fund when major repairs are needed.
Please consider how you might be able to participate in this opportunity to ensure that our campus continues to provide a worthy home for the work that God is doing in our midst here at First Congregational. And remember, every dollar you give will be matched. So your gift of $10 means $20 and your gift of $2,500 means $5,000 will be made available for the continued maintenance of our campus and buildings.
Thank you in advance for how you will be a part of this great moment in the life of our church!