Last Sunday, we began our observance of advent and our new series, "How Does a Weary World Rejoice?"  Over the next few weeks, we will engage some practices to help us facilitate joy even in the most difficult of situations. We began our series by taking time to acknowledge our weariness and notice the space and abilibty we have to hold more than one emotion at a time. You can watch the service here.

This Sunday, we were reminded of the story of Mary and Elizabeth from Luke 1 and we engaged connection as a way we can nurture joy even in difficult circumstances. You can watch this Sunday's service here.

There is a devotional booklet that goes along with the series. You can pick one up on Sunday morning. You can also read the digital version here.

We often post short excerpts from the worship service and reminders of our weekly theme on our Facebook page and Instagram. If you aren't on either (or even if you are!), you can access the same on our own church messaging app. You can sign up for the "How Does a Weary World Rejoice?" group here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Lake Worth Beach Holiday Parade December 9th

The 57th Annual Lake Worth Beach Christmas parade will be Saturday Evening, December 9th. This year, we are going all out to represent our church to the community. We will be embracing the "Hollywood" theme with a larger-than-life Clarence (from It's a Wonderful Life) puppet. We will need as many hands on deck as possible for this to walk with the puppet, carry our banner, and hand out candy canes and invitations. If you will be walking in the parade with us, please register here so we know how many will be joining us and so we can get information to you about where we will be meeting on Saturday. 

We will also meet at the church office on Friday 12/8 at 6:00 PM to finish assembling the puppet and attaching candy canes to invitation cards. We would love for you to join us!

Acknowledging Our Sorrow

John Hines has been making his way through The Matter With Things by psychologist and writer Iain McGilchrist. He offers this quote in response to our engagement with the idea of allowing ourselves to feel our sorrow:

Something noticeable has happened to our emotional range, which also illuminates how our values have been corrupted. It strikes me that, as a culture, we are losing the capacity for sorrow. This might sound like a good thing, but it’s far from being so. Indeed, it may even be a sign that we are losing our humanity. Sorrow is a normal part of life, and nothing like anxiety and depression ( in which, contrary to popular belief, a capacity for sorrow may be diminished). We have lost that sense of deep connection and communion, eliciting feelings of longing, tenderness, and compassion, and which is more prevalent than any other sense in the musical traditions of the whole world. Music, like great works of tragedy, unlike the rites of a religion, acknowledges sorrow and redeems it by taking it up into something with the capacity to heal. In our world, in place of sorrow or sadness, we have anger, resentment, and self-righteous indignation. Sorrow and sadness depend on connection; anger, resentment and self righteous alienation. Sorrow leads to insight; anger to blindness. as the reader will know a capacity for sorrow is closely connected to a capacity for empathy, and both are heavily dependent on the right hemisphere; whereas anger, like denial, is heavily dependent on the left hemisphere.

Given this rhetoric, it is hard for us to realize how how much we close the door on, when we are too brutal to allow ourselves to remain open to life as it is, not as we imagine It ought to be. In the face of all that we are destroying, we have lost, it seems, the capacity to mourn. Perhaps, acknowledging the loss would be, for many of us, simply too painful.   p. 1332

The season of Advent celebrates the coming of Jesus over 2000 years ago.   Is Jesus coming again?  When?   How?  The book “Second Thoughts on the Second Coming” by two Disciples of Christ pastors, Ronald Allen and Robert Cornwall, tries to provide some in these questions.  Don’t expect a definite answer, but they look at Biblical texts and church history regarding these issues.  As noted in the introduction “…what we believe about the future and its possibilities affects how we live in the present.”   The book study will meet on Thursdays beginning November 30 and then December 7-14-21 at 7:00 p.m. in person and by zoom.  Books are available in the office ($10) or by Amazon.

Advent and Christmas Offering

Our church's tradition is that we direct our Christmas offering outside the walls of our church. This year we will be supporting the Dollars for Scholars program at Lake Worth Community High School and the UCC Veterans of the Cross Christmas Offering.

The Lake Worth Dollars for Scholars chapter is a nonprofit foundation that supports academic success in our community. It is part of Scholarship America's national network of locally based, volunteer-driven Dollars for Scholars chapters.

The Lake Worth chapter promotes post secondary education success for Lake Worth students in order to achieve their educational goals by raising scholarship funds, establishing endowments, providing assistance with college readiness and the financial aid process, and distributing scholarships each year.

The scholarship program, administered by the Lake Worth High School Alumni Foundation, has been raising money through fundraisers and donations since 1999 (lakeworth.dollarsforscholars.org).

Next week, we'll share more about the UCC offering.

You can contribute to both offerings here.

PEACE Research Meeting With Sheriff Bradshaw

On Thursday evening, December 14th at 6:00, we will be meeting with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to hear reports as to progress in his commitment to collect data on all traffic stops made by sheriff deputies. This meeting will take place at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. We want to demonstrate our people power to the sheriff who is attending a PEACE public meeting for the very first time. Our goal is to have 20 people in attendance. You can register and let us know if you would like a ride that night here.

This month's Gather potluck Lunch will be on December 17th. We are looking forward to the opportunity to share a Christmas meal together!

We Have a New Address

We have a new mailing address:

First Congregational Church

PO BOX 1253

Lake Worth Beach FL 33460

For the past 13 years our church has hosted a community meal on Tuesday evenings.  As we have been in the process of discerning how we might best serve God and God's people in the future, we feel our Communtiy Dinner is an important part of that work. In addition to a meal, we provde showers, laundry, hair cuts, toiletries, and food pantry. As we begin our dinners again in August, we need to replenish our pantry. You can help by picking up the following on your next grocery run: Pop-top Canned Fruit, Pop-top Canned Meat, Granola/Snack Bars. You can also donate funds here.

If you would like to help with this ministry by setting up, serving, or cleaning up, see Susan Peterson.

Practicing Faith, Mercy, and Justice in Community? 

There's an App for That!

Our new church app has been released in the Apple App and Google Play stores just for our church. You can stream our worship services, keep in touch with friends, keep up with events, and financially support First Congregational Church all in one place. We have also just added a gaIlery of pictures and a section just for "Minute Messages." If you are an iphone user, you can download the app in the App Store, if you have an Android phone, you can download from Google Play.

• Grocery Bags
• Peanut Butter
• Pouches of Tuna and/or chicken
• Canned Vegetables (tab top and/or single serve sizes are best)
• Ravioli, Spaghetti, Beefaroni (tab top)
• Canned Soups/Stews (tab top)
• Single serve ready to eat meals

We are in desperate need of the following mens' clothing items: 

• T-Shirts sizes L & XL
• Socks
• Boxer Briefs sizes L & XL
• Athletic shorts sizes L & XL
• Backpacks 

Dan Hecker, Mark Stanford, Barbara Forsyth, Harvey Littlefield, Gary Sitler,  
Terry Ralston, Victor Stanley, Brigitte Ermansons, Barbara Derryberry,  Bob Lily, Kathy Parent, Michael Jegabbi
 

Thursday Morning Chat & Fellowship

Join us on Thursday mornings at 10:00 for virtual chat and fellowship in our “virtual parlor.” 

You can join us by clicking here. The password, if you need it, is fcclw. If you join us by computer, clicking the link will download the necessary software and take you right into the “parlor.” If you are joining on your smart phone or pad, you will need to download the Zoom app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. You can also call 646-558-8656 and enter Meeting ID: 718 419 400 and then Passcode: 839769.