T H E B E A C O N. First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

Transcription

1 First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ T H E B E A C O N F E B R U A R Y Deadline for the next BEACON is Saturday, February 18. Send entries to beacon@fccucc.org L o o k i n g A h e a d i n W o r s h i p PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE For those who live without sufficient food, water, shelter, or safety; for veterans and those in active service; for peace and peacemakers; for areas in strife around the world. Prayers for Karen Ellis; Prayers for Ed Saxby; Prayers for Jim Ekedahl; Prayers for Thatcher Lord, brother of Debbie Riley; Prayers for Sharon & Rich Brobst; Prayers for Debbie Conlon, wife of our sexton Tom, as she is undergoing dialysis and awaits a kidney transplant. February 5 Fifth Sunday after Epiphany 8:30 a.m. Chapel Worship with Communion 10:00 a.m. Sanctuary Worship with Communion, Meetinghouse Choir and Sunday School. Bob Morse will give the message. Fellowship time follows. February 12 Sixth Sunday after Epiphany 8:30 a.m. Chapel Worship 10:00 a.m. Sanctuary Worship with Meetinghouse Choir and Sunday School. Cindy Maddox will give the message. Fellowship time follows. February 19 Seventh Sunday after Epiphany 8:30 a.m. Chapel Worship 10:00 a.m. Sanctuary Worship with Meetinghouse Choir and Sunday School. Cindy Maddox will give the message. Fellowship time follows. February 26 Last Sunday after Epiphany/Transfiguration 8:30 a.m. Chapel Worship 10:00 a.m. Sanctuary Worship with Meetinghouse Choir and Sunday School. Cindy Maddox will give the message. Fellowship time follows. STORM CLOSING NOTICES will be listed on the following TV stations: WCSH Channel 6, WMTW Channel 8, and WGME Channel 13. Phone: ; Fax: office@fccucc.org Web site:

2 MISSION GLOBE, ALTAR FLOWERS & STEEPLE REMEMBRANCES STEEPLE DEDICATION: February 5-11 In loving memory of Virginia May Skillin, from her daughter Stephanie Ambra and Family For Steeple dedications, please call the church office. To remember or celebrate loved ones with flowers on the altar or light the Mission Globe, please contact Dana Wiggins at LOOKING AHEAD TO LENT Ash Wednesday is on March 1 this year. We will have two services: one at noon and the other at 7:00 p.m. Please join us for a reflective, quiet time together. We also hope to have a special study during Lent on the UCC curriculum called White Privilege: Let s Talk. Stay tuned for details. FOOD PANTRY Thank you to all who have donated to the food pantry. Please remember to check the expiration dates on the food before you donate to the Food Pantry, as we are unable to use expired items to fill the bags for the needy. SENIOR ADULT MINISTRIES ACTIVITIES Thursday, February 2 SAM meeting at 1:00 p.m. in 2nd/3rd grade classroom above the church office. Wednesday, February 8 Join us at the church at 11:00 a.m. to go to lunch at The Egg & I in Scarborough. You should find good food and great company there. If you need a ride, contact Kathy Sahrbeck at , #112 and please RSVP by February 6. Thursday, February 16 We will have a Lunch and Fun day at noon in the Laity Room. Bring your lunch (a sandwich or whatever you enjoy) and beverages will be provided. We hope you will stay for a friendly game afterwards or, at least, stay and chat a while. It s good to be able to get out of the house in the winter, and we hope you do just that. SMCC is supposed to be back from break but their answering machine is still accepting reservations for Fall 2016! We ll keep at it to have a date soon. Thursday, March 2 SAM meeting at 1:00 p.m. in 2nd/3rd grade classroom above the church office. PRAYERS AND PROVISIONS We have a care program to assist congregation members during a demanding time (a surgery, birth, illness, etc.) by providing 1-3 simple meals. If you would like to cook a meal, you can sign up on the bulletin board in the connections corridor or Sue Ross at susanross.me@gmail.com. If you know of anyone who may benefit from this program, please do not hesitate to reach out to Rev. Cindy Maddox or Rev. Bob Morse. LOST AND FOUND Have you lost your glasses, keys, sweater, one earring? If so, our Lost and Found shelf is pretty full with many different items. Call or stop by the office to see if your item has been found. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. ~ Proverbs 11:25. Page 2

3 A REMINDER IF YOU ARE IN THE HOSPITAL Once upon a time, community parish clergy were permitted to see hospital patient listings at Maine Medical Center and could learn if one of their members had been admitted to the hospital. Those days are gone. This means that if you (a family member, friend, etc.) has not informed your pastors that you will be in the hospital, or are currently in the hospital, you will not receive a pastoral visit. Please call the church office, or contact either Cindy or Bob directly. We are always glad to visit you in the hospital, but can only do that if we learn you are there. FCC UCC MISSION TRIP 2017 Dust off your paint brushes and favorite hammers! We re starting planning for this summer s return trip up to Cherryfield, Maine to help the Maine Seacoast Mission s Home Rebuilding Program. Sign-up sheets are available after the 10:00 a.m. service each Sunday at Coffee Hour or contact either Scott Berry or Karen Westerberg. Our first informational meeting will be Sunday, February 26, at 11:30 a.m. in Davidson Lounge. We hope to see all our veterans and a lot of new faces! You CAN Get There From Here Whoever said, You can t get there from here was wrong. Yes, you can! Quickly and easily! Any time you want! Your church has taken care of everything for you. Here s how it works. Our church has a contract with ITN (International Transportation Network). You simply call them up, tell them where you want to go, and they will make it happen for you. A couple of limitations: You must be at least 65 years old. You must wish to go within about a 15 mile radius. Enormous advantages: Any trip related to the church is totally free for you. Any trip, anywhere else, is much cheaper than a taxi would be. Getting everything started is really easy: Call Rev. Bob Morse, , and he will help do everything to make it happen. ~ Mission Trip 2017 Planning Team SAVE THE DATE F0R FAMILY GAME NIGHT AND POTLUCK, Saturday, February 11, 6:00-8:30 p.m. If you like to play games or would like to learn some new ones, please join us. We have some groups that love to play Cribbage and Scrabble among many others! Bring your favorite board game or use one from the Game Room. Please sign up with Jess Proctor (jessdeeproctor@gmail.com) or watch for the new sign-up genius ed to you. Page 3

4 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL NEWS We have a Winner! The youth volunteers have voted and the 2017 Vacation Bible School Theme is: Rome: Paul and the Underground Church. VBS will be June 20-24, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Registration will begin in February. Part of preparing for VBS is getting the set designed and volunteers lined up for each workshop area. There will be project days and afternoons for anyone who would like to help. Times and dates will be posted this spring. IN MEMORIAM Bernice Carter Graham, a member of our church, recently died at the age of 103 1/2. She grew up in South Portland, spent the greatest part of her professional life in the upper Midwest, returned to South Portland later in life, and lived for the last number of years at Piper Shores. Among many other accomplishments, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Biochemistry. A family decision was made that there would be no funeral, and a private interment only. On the day before Bernice s death, Ann P. Hammond, A published poet and resident of Piper Shores, passed Bernice in the hallway and wrote the following poem. Ann has given permission to put it in The Beacon as a tribute to Bernice. Born July 29, 1913 She walked down the carpeted passage way with small deliberate steps, not leaning on her walker, instead pushed the metal frame as if it were of no consequence. Perhaps assurance to reach her final destination. And I thought how lovely she looked in her red slacks with knife edge pleats, her fuzzy top white as a polar bear. Our meeting took place one day before she died. How quietly she left us, her smile fresh in my memory, posture so easy I thought perhaps she once studied ballet. Who was she you ask? Her name was Bernice and her age was one hundred and three years. [We will miss you, Bernice.] Page 4

5 WARM YOUR HEART WITH FRIENDS, WARM YOUR FEET WITH SOCKS, AND FILL YOUR STOMACH WITH PIZZA! The Care and Connections Team invites all church members and friends to a Valentine s Day SOCK SWAP, which will be held after the 10:00 a.m. worship service on Sunday, February 12, in Guptill Hall. Bring new socks (regular or Valentine s socks) filled with homemade goodies, nuts, candy, snacks, markers, stickers, pen and paper, trinkets, a favorite children s poem, etc. (no more than $5 worth). In the very top of the sock place a note with a little known fact about you (I have 6 pets, I like to jump rope, I don t like , I ride a motorcycle or whatever). You can fill both socks and tie them together, or fill just one sock and tuck the other one inside. After the person chooses a sock (that they keep) they have to find you (the person who stuffed that sock) by asking questions of the people there. We will serve pizza after the swap as you will now have made some new church friends with whom to eat lunch. Please RSVP to the church office by February 9, and tell us your favorite kind of pizza so we know how much and what kinds of pizza to buy. CHRISTMAS ISN T OVER UNTIL THE MAGI GIVE THEIR GIFTS TO THE BABY JESUS AND THE MISSION OUTREACH TEAM ANNOUNCES OUR OFFERINGS The UCC Christmas Fund supports retired Ministers with money to meet some of their needs their pensions do not cover and support for their families. This offering is always collected on Christmas Eve and $1,432 was given with love by you. The Christmas Offering is usually collected on Christmas Sunday. This year we had two opportunities to receive these gifts Sunday the 18th and the 25th. The recipients were our Church to assist in outreach to our community and beyond, and Family Promise a traveling shelter for homeless adults and children supported and hosted by Churches throughout the Greater Portland area. It is in the process of being organized to operate and your offering will help very much toward that end. FCC UCC and Family Promise will each receive $2,028. Thank you for your gifts this Christmas season passed. Your generosity is a measure of the love you have for those in need in our community. Bless you all. ~ The Mission and Outreach Team ENVIRO-MINISTRY On January 8, there was a meeting of members of the congregation interested in environmental issues where we brainstormed ways that our church can continue to be green and become carbon-neutral as well as to represent our commitment in the community. Some ideas included having alerts of upcoming activities that we may want to become involved in, leading a service with an environmental stewardship theme, and green actions that we can take to reduce our church s carbon footprint. There will be another meeting on February 5, in the Laity Room after worship at 11:30 a.m. Nicole LeClerc has the contact list and has inspired our renewed interest in environmental issues. Please join us if you would like to be involved in any way. THE HILLTOP GUILD will hold its next meeting on February 9 at 2:00 p.m. in Davidson Lounge with dessert to follow in the Laity Room. We will be dipping strawberries and other fruit for Valentine s Day. If you would like to join us, please contact Debbie Rideout at Page 5

6 SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AT FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ATTENTION: All graduating seniors and students currently enrolled or any church member pursuing post-secondary education. Your church supports your continuing education and awards several scholarships each year. You are encouraged to apply for one of those listed below. The General Scholarship Fund is available to any church member who is either a high school senior enrolled in, or intending to study at the college, university, or graduate level, or any church member pursuing post-secondary education. Applicants need to have been accepted or are attending a college or university in order for the funds to be awarded. Award considerations include church involvement during and after high school. The Loretta Thompson Pond Scholarship was established in 1995 and is for graduating high school seniors who are members of this church. Criteria for the Pond Scholarship include service to the church and the community, involvement in church activities, academic achievement, and financial need. Applicants need to complete both the Loretta Thompson Pond Scholarship Application and the General Scholarship Fund Application. Three letters of reference and two essays are also required. Scholarship Applications will be available for downloading by February 1, from our website ( under the GROW heading, or by calling the church office at Completed applications need to be returned to the church office by Monday, March 13. If you have questions after reading the applications, direct them to scholarship@fccucc.org or the church office. Comments from recent scholarship recipients: I would like to thank you for your amazing generosity. You all have opened many doors for me with this gift and I truly cherish it. I am a proud member of this church and am blessed to be a part of this community. I want to thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. Throughout my life this church has been a safe place, giving me love and support and it means so much to me that you ve contributed $3,000 in a scholarship toward my further education. This gift will really help ease the financial burden of school, and your continued support means the world to me. Scholarship Committee: Jeri Sides, Sally Sutton, Jane and Lee Taylor, Judy Kimball, and Cindy Maddox Page 6

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8 FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 301 Cottage Road South Portland, ME (207) Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Portland, ME Permit No. 944 Post Office Time Sensitive Newsletter