This Week at FCCLW 3/12/17

Published: Thu, 03/09/17

March 12, 2017

Easter Lilies

Easter lilies will once again be available for purchase in honor or memory of a loved one. The cost is $15.00 per lily. The proceeds from the Easter lilies will go to the UCC offering One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS). This ministry responds to disaster and needs in the United States.

Please pay for your order by March 25^th.

Spring Forward- Don't Forget! Pride and Parade We will once again be participating in Palm Beach County's Pride Fest this year. If you would like to take a shift at out table, please see Barry Nicholson. We are also considering having an entry in the parade on Sunday morning the 26th. If you are interested in working on a float and/or walking, please indicate your interest on the Connection Card. Renewal Book Club The book selected for our March 21st meeting is Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase, a novel by Louise Walters. And for those of you who are reading ahead, the selection for the April 18th meeting is Balm: a novel by Melissa DiCarlo. Please join us in the parlor at 6:30 pm. All are welcome. Gleaning Mark your calendars for a Family Gleaning Day on March 18th. See our website for more information. Nehemiah Action On Monday, April 3rd at 7:00 PM we will gather with 3,000 people of faith from 22 other churches all over Palm Beach County to hold our public officials responsible for the problem of homelessness in our county. Our goal this year is to turn out 90 people (our average worship attendance). You should be invited by one of our Justice Ministry Network Members. If you need a ride, we will be car pooling from the church. We are looking forward to doing justice together! Watch this week's sermon As part of Jesus’ – and our own individual – spiritual journey, Jesus goes into the Spirit wilderness, where he’s tested. It’s during this time that Jesus chooses who he will be and whose he will be with his responses to the tempter’s suggestions. The decisions we face about how we live our lives today are no different. The choices we make about what will feed us and sustain us physically and spiritually can reflect God’s love in our lives. This week, choose a “wilderness” area in your life – perhaps a place where temptations (physical or spiritual) seem to creep up on you. Invite God into this wilderness and depend on God when you are tempted. CLICK HERE. 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!		Chime Choir If you are interested in participating in our newly-forming chime choir, please see Lynne Serratore. Five Wishes Last Sunday we had a great conversation regarding end of life issues and care using the Five Wishes. If you were not able to be there and would like a copy of the Five Wishes booklet, please see Pastor Jason. Collecting Bags Vickie Grimes' church in Atlanta, Virginia Highlands, has begun a new ministry of crocheting sleeping mats for the homeless out of plastic grocery bags. Each mat takes many many bags so we are going to send some up to help. You can bring your Winn Dixie, Target, Public, Walmart plastic bags to church and we will send them up to Virginia Highlands. If you would be interested in starting a ministry like this here, see Vickie. 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.