This Week at FCCLW 6/7/15

Published: Thu, 06/04/15

 
June 7, 2015                                                                         
 
Lay Woman of the Year              


Our own Nancy Lydon was voted Lay Woman of the Year for 2015 by the United Church of Christ Florida Conference Women. She, Carol Lewis, Ruth Sells, Carolyn Ludwig, and Ginny Somerville spent the weekend at the annual meeting "Sisterhood of the Traveling Faith." You can read more about their experience on our website.
 
Kids, Religion and Spirituality
There is a great article over on Salon.com about children and religious pluralism. 
 
"Children come to understand that diverse spiritual traditions share common themes and often have parallel ideas and observances: the rhythm of the seasons, the birth of a baby, ceremonies of commitment, or rituals around death and mourning," Lisa Miller writes at Salon.com. "Having your own spiritual or religious orientation but being able to hear and understand others doesn’t only make it easier to engage with other people; it also enhances your own access to sacred experience by making these universal inner connections available to you wherever we go. A child who is conversant in the 'many names, many faces' of spiritual practice can find the sacred in others— engage more meaningfully with other people in our diverse global culture. 'The biggest mistake people make when first beginning to look at unfamiliar perspectives is immediately to make comparisons between the familiar and the unfamiliar,' writes Buddhist feminist theologian and author Rita Gross. 'The power of the comparative lens comes not from making positive and negative comparisons; rather, it comes from seeing each perspective clearly, in its own right. In other words, one gets a deeper understanding of one’s own perspective by understanding how others understand their own perspective.'"
 
Discussion Group
 
 
We have been having a rich time together discussing Richard Rohr's book, Breathing Underwater, and discussing the spirituality of the twelve steps.

Last week, we explored the second step, "Came to believe that a Power grater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." We discussed the importance of opening up our head, our heart, and our body to God's healing presence.

"If we are to come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, then we will come to that belief by developing the capacity for a simple, clear, and uncluttered presence."  Father Richard Rohr

You can join us each week as we watch video, discuss each step, and pray together.
 
 
Coffee & Conversation

Join us on Thursday mornings from 10:00 - 11:30 in the parlor for coffee and fellowship. 
  
Celebrate Florida
The June/July edition of Celebrate Florida is available to read online. Celebrate Florida is the newsletter of the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ. This issue contains information about our recently held state meeting and exciting news from other UCC churches in Florida. You can read it here.
 

 
Online Giving
Have you explored the opportunity of electronic giving? You can choose to have a set amount taken from your bank account on a regular basis or you can make a one (or more) time gift by checking account or credit card on our website. Your regular electronic giving means that your gift is available for ministry even when you are away (or forgot your checkbook!). Thank you for your continued support of the ministry of First Congregational Church!
 
 
 
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Facebook
If you are on Facebook, you can keep up with what is happening "between Sundays" on our Facebook page. First, go to our page and "Like" us. However, just liking us does not mean that you will see everything we post. Each of our Facebook posts only goes to about 2% of the people who like our page. To make sure you see everything, after you like us, go to the pull-down menu on the "Like" button and click "Get Notifications." This way everything that we post will show up on your own Facebook wall.