Next Sunday, February 3rd, is “Souper Bowl Sunday.” Bring your extra change to donate to C.R.O.S. Ministries. Who will collect the most? The Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers?

And of course, everyone is invited to join us for the famous tailgate party after the worship service where we trade our donuts for buffalo wings, chili, and nachos and celebrate together. This is always a great week to invite your friends to experience the hospitality of First Congregaitonal United Church of Christ. We will see you Sunday!

On Saturday, January 19, 2013, 10 of us participated in a Habitat for Humanity workday right here in Lake Worth. Janet, Steve, Meredith, Patricia, Carla, Craig, Ilene, Jimmy, Paul, and Nancy painted- and still have the spatters to show for it. Thank you, gang, for being the body of Christ in our community!

Steve and Patricia

Hands

Ilene Painting

Jimmy Painting

Bobbi Painting

Nancy and Carla

Paul Painting

Carla and Nancy Painting

Meredith Painting

Craig Painting

Group 1

Group 2

Founded in 1977, C.R.O.S. Ministries is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization collaborating with people of different faiths and organizations to create solutions to the unmet needs of people in our community.

C.R.O.S. is supported by churches, synagogues, community groups, and private individuals throughout Palm Beach County, all of whom share a common goal. The goal of the CROS Walk is to raise funds for C.R.O.S. programs: providing a secure food source for families and individuals struggling to make ends meet and on the verge of
homelessness. All services are offered free of charge without race, religion, national origin, marital status, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or age.

This year, First Congregational United Church of Christ is once again participating in the CROS walk. We are encouraging you to participate by walking, pledging, and/or praying. Of course, you can certainly do all three. If you would like to walk see Pastor Jason or Janet Lisle for a pledge envelope. To pledge, you can find a walker or head to our donation page to sponsor a walker.

Registration for the walk begins at 2:30 and we start walking at 3:00 from Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown West Palm BEach.

On Saturday, October 6th, from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, we will be joining other volunteers from our community to paint the home of a family in need. Through “Paint Your Heart Out, Palm Beach County” low-income residents apply to have their homes painted. The paint is recycled and provided by the Solid Waste Authority and the labor is donated by volunteers. So by participating in this project, we are

• Helping someone in need
• Helping to beautify our community
• Utilizing paint that might otherwise end up in a landfill or our water supply
• Allowing other people in our community to meet the warmest, friendliest people in Lake Worth

So you can see it is a win-win-win-win situation and a great way to share God’s love with our community in a practical, transforming way. Children must me 12 or older to participate with a parent or guardian and 15 or older to come by themselves.

Contact Pastor Jason if you are interested in participating. You can download a copy of the volunteer form here.

September is one of our opportunities to support the ministry of Christians Reaching Out to Society by bringing in food for their pantry. C.R.O.S. ministries serves the churches of Palm Beach County by helping us with our ministry of caring for the poor and marginalized.

Since the beginning of 2012, the number of people seeking food assistance from CROS food pantries has increased from 2,905 in January to 4,383 in July, an increase of 51%. However, while their pantry numbers have risen this year, their USDA food allocations and food donations have decreased considerably.

Please consider bringing some of the following items to our worship services in September to help replenish the C.R.O.S. food pantries:

Peanut Butter

Macaroni and Cheese

Tuna Fish (or other canned meats)

1 lb. bags of beans

Rice

We’re going to help cleanup the beach! Join us on Saturday, September 15th as we do our part to care for creation by participating in the International Coastal Cleanup. We will gather at Phipps Ocean Park at 9:00 AM.

The organizers need a count, so if you are planning on coming please notify Janet Lisle. Parking will be free for those participating in the cleanup.

Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t mention to me how they have been touched by their involvement with First Congregational United Church of Christ. Maybe they received a phone call from a church friend checking up to see how they are doing. Another may have moved by a conversation they had in a small group. Perhaps they received an incredible sense of satisfaction and meaning from serving a meal to someone in need. And most of us have, at least once and probably more, experienced a sense of being in the presence of the Divine during our Sunday morning worship.

There is a sense that something special is going on at our church and we do not want to keep it to ourselves. We want to share it! Over the next few months, you will be hearing about new ways that we are going to reach out and share who we are with our community. We will be needing your help!

• For those of you who are outgoing and enjoy talking to others, you might consider volunteering to help us greet visitors on Sunday morning and making our guests comfortable. Or maybe you would even be willing to call up those that visit with us and tell them that we appreciated having them in worship.
• For those of you who are a little more reserved, you could write a note to those that visit with us or who are new in our community.
• For those with a creative streak, you might be interested in helping design our float for the Lake Worth Holiday Parade in December.

What makes First Congregational Church special is how God uniquely works through each our our lives so I encourage you to consider how you are going to share your gifts with our community. I look forward to discussing with you how you will be involved!

Peace,