This Week at FCCLW 2/12/17

Published: Thu, 02/09/17

February 12, 2017

Souper Bowl of Caring

Thank you to everyone who participated in Our Souper Bowl Tailgate party and Chili Cook Off last Sunday. We raised over $300 for CROS Ministries. Congratulations to Christopher Lepard who created the winning chili! Many thanks to our Men's Fellowship for hosting another fun event!

Gleaning Mark your calendars for a Family Gleaning Day on March 18th. See our website for more information. Letting the Light Through Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, we do not have a video of the sermon this week. However, you can watch the full service, including wonderful music from our choir and soloist Avery Sommers on our Facebook page. In today’s focus scripture Jesus says that the disciples are salt and light in the world. These symbols of life (salt – preserving and even seasoning life; light – nurturing and sustaining life) are meant to call us to remember the importance of God’s covenant with God’s people. God wants us to remember God’s law as it will preserve our community (like salt), and God wants us to show the message of God’s love to the world (like light). The use of two familiar substances that we encounter daily reminds us our of role as Jesus’ disciples in today’s world. This week, think of someone who you would characterize as being salt and light to the world. What one thing might you do this week to emulate her or him? Book Discussion Group Richmond Schmidt will be leading a three-week discussion group on the book *Three Days in Damascus* by Kim Schultz. While traveling to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to interview Iraqi refugees and hear their stories, Kim never expected to fall in love. But that is exactly what happened. This book is the story of an American woman and an Iraqi man set against the backdrop of the Iraqi refugee crisis and the brewing Syrian civil war. The group will begin on Sunday February 12th and will be held for three weeks at 9:30 in the parlor. The author herself will join us at our last session on Sunday, February 26th. Facebook Live As much as we love gathering together on Sunday mornings, there are times when we are out of town or otherwise unable to be there in person. You can now watch our worship service live on Facebook right on your computer, tablet, or smart phone. At 10:30 on Sunday just head over to our Facebook page and join us!		Youth Outing On Saturday, February 18th, our kids will be going to Gumbo Limbo nature center and park. We will meet at the church at 10:00 AM. Bring a sack lunch. See Marilyn Stone if you would be able to drive. Memorial Stones Sunday, February 19th, we will place memorial stones in the garden for Miriam McIlvaine and Cliff Rowe following our worship service. Children's Choir Our kids will be singing in our worship service on February 19th. They will be rehearsing during Sunday School for the next few weeks. See Heidi DaCunha or Meredith Button for more information. Year-End Statements Year-end Contribution Statements were mailed this week. If you did not receive yours or have a question regarding the content, please contact Janet Lisle. 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! Hey, Thanks! You're sharing this newsletter with your friends! More people read (or at least opened) our newsletter than we send out. If there is something here that interests you, it may interest someone else. If a friend sent this to you and you would like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe on our website. Facebook 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. If you are on Facebook, you can keep up with what is happening "between Sundays" on our Facebook page.