First Congregational United Church of Christ, Santa Rosa

Remember to bring your flowers to our church anytime today to help decorate our Easter Cross! While you are there, take a blessing from our Easter Basket. We have two Zoom Easter service opportunities tomorrow. For more information look in this week's email from the church office or contact us at [email protected]. PS - thank you to Jeff Wilson for building the new cross.

Please bring your flowers to help decorate the Easter cross on Saturday, April 3rd from 10 AM to 4 PM, in our church parking lot. An image of the decorated cross will be used in our Easter Zoom Service on Sunday, April 4th at 10:30 AM. The worship link is always in the weekly email, but if you are not on our email list, contact the church office at [email protected].

Labyrinth If you're up for a walk... you might consider heading over to the church parking lot. Gina Williams and her crew of young helpers created a walkable labyrinth in our parking lot. Signs will be out next week to help direct foot traffic. Until then, you have the chance to be the first to walk and pray. Please allow one family pod/group to pray at a time.

One Great Hour of Sharing We are proud to be a 5 for 5 church, giving to each of the five special offerings of the UCC. One Great Hour of Sharing is typically observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but your gifts are welcome any time. One Great Hour of Sharing channels resources for international programs in health, education and agricultural development, emergency relief, refugee ministries, and both international and domestic disaster response, administered by Wider Churc...h Ministries, Global Sharing of Resources. There are several ways to give to One Great Hour of Sharing. You can mail a check to the church, writing OGHS on the memo line. Alternatively, you can go to the Giving page of the church’s website (https://fccsr.org/giving/) and choose Givelify or PayPal. Givelify lets you choose whether your gift is for offering, tithe, or other. If you choose other, you’ll have the opportunity to enter a message. Here you can type OGHS. There is also a Givelify app, available from the App Store or Google Play Store. To use the app the first time, you will need to specify that the donation goes to our church. Look up First Congregational UCC Santa Rosa. Then you create an account with your bank or credit card information. After you have done it once, it’s a very simple click for subsequent donations.

Free emotional support Warmline offered through our Sonoma County Public Health Department during the pandemic. Feel free to share.

Want to catch up on FCC news? Check out our newsletter! https://fccsr.org/newsletters/

Join our church as we move through the season of Lent together, even while distanced. Below is a calendar of events. Participate as your time and schedule allows. 1) Ash Wednesday - February 17th - ashes for the service are in your Lenten bag, along with other resources to be used during Lent. 2) Daily Lenten Devotional - (copy of Lenten Devotional is in your bag.) There is also a Church Facebook Lenten Devotional Private Group - to discuss the Lenten Devotional, led b...y our own Gina Williams. Request to be added to this group by posting a comment below. All are welcome. 3) Tuesday Mornings - Contemplative Prayer - 9:00 AM on Zoom* 4) Thursday Mornings - Bible/Book Study - 10:30 AM on Zoom* led by our own Reverend Rebecca Schroeder. Our book is Entering the Passion of Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine. Request to be added to this group by commenting below. 5) April 1 - Maundy Thursday - At Home Worship no Zoom* - Lentil Soup Recipe and Worship resource in bag. 6) April 2 - Good Friday Service - @ 7:30PM - Worship via Zoom* *Links to all services are provided in your Lenten bags and in church emails. If you are not on the church email list, contact us at [email protected]

Have you heard? Our own member and friend, The Reverend Rebecca Schroeder plans to lead a Zoom book group about Holy Week! It will begin on Thursday February 18th at 10:30 AM and will continue on Thursdays at 10:30 AM through Lent. The book we're reading is Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to Holy Week by Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish scholar, professor, and wonderful writer whom Rebecca highly respects. Email the church office if you're planning to participat...e at [email protected]. You can get your copy of the book on Amazon (Kindle or paperback) at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Entering-Passion-Jesus-//1501869558

Teri McClanahan, a former member of our congregation, has written a book about her challenge with her cancer diagnosis. She has offered to join us to talk about her book and her faith journey. Her book, in paperback and Kindle formats, can be purchased on Amazon. Let Winnie Hogoboom know if you want to join our yet-to-be-schedule meeting with her. [email protected]

JUST COFFEE Tuesday, February 9th 8:30am on Zoom... Join Pastor Diana for your morning coffee (or tea.) All are welcome! We will pose 3 questions (to be determined at the beginning) and invite everyone to share their thoughts (if you'd like.) Come, bring your questions and your curiosity and let us appreciate being together. For the Zoom link email [email protected] or use the one in your weekly Mailchimp.

In honor of Veterans Day here’s a photo taken today of a veteran in our congregation, Jack Farmer. Other member veterans include Bill Gibson, Jim Duckett, Sam Walker and Earl Holtz. We thank them all for their service to our country. (Please add names we may have missed and we’ll update.)

Does anyone have a pop up canopy that the church can use for a few days in early December? If so let us know here or contact the church office at [email protected].

Your smile for today:

One way to donate to our church during COVID is through our church website. We’ve provided direct links to send your donation, tithe or offering via PayPal and Givelify. You can also set up automatic giving.

October 25th is Stewardship Sunday. Members and longtime friends will be receiving letters in the next few days regarding pledging for 2021. The theme this year is Beloved, Love. Our tithes and offerings are love messages we give our church and our wider world. Come join in the Love. Love is needed more than ever.

NEW FOOD DISTRIBUTION SITE! We will have a Senior Basket and Groceries to Go distribution at Fulton Community School & Farm (1225 Fulton Rd, Santa Rosa) the 2nd & 4th Saturday of the month from 9a-10a. Anyone in need of food assistance is welcome! Questions? Call (707) 523-7903.

The start of our get out and vote campaign. If you would like to do a sign, let me know!Thanks Maureen Taber and Charlotte for your help.

Check out our church website. That’s where you’ll find an introductory video by our soon-to-be settled pastor, The Reverend Diana Bell-Kerr. She begins with us on December 1st. We are looking forward to beginning a ministry of faith and action together.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go a virtual performance by our Chancel Choir. With special gratitude to our Music Director William O’Neill and audio production and video editing by Maureen O’Neill.

Vote! Then visit our church website for Secure Ballot Drop Box locations in Sonoma County. https://fccsr.org/mt-conte//2020/10/election-2020-info.pdf

By unanimous vote at our congregational meeting on Sunday, October 11, 2020, The Rev. Diana Bell-Kerr was invited to become our settled pastor! We look forward to her arrival on December 1st. We also want to acknowledge the fruitful work of our Search Committee, church leadership, and Interim Pastor Anne Hoffmann, with much appreciation.

The UCC reminds us that October is Clergy Appreciation Month. It’s a good time to say thank you to clergy for the essential work they do or have done in the past. Their spouses deserve our gratitude also. We’re especially mindful of Anne Hoffmann, Bob and Judy Cramer, Sandy Hulse, Rebecca Schroeder, Marilee Kreml, Sandy Rosen, David Parks, Charlotte Asher, Paul and Jan Chaffee, Margaret Rouse, Jean Davis, and others.

From the UCC Daily Devotional The Morning Watch Kaji Douša October 4, 2020... My soul waits for the Lord. More than the keepers of the morning watch. More than the keepers of the morning watch. - Psalm 130:6 (adapted) Sometimes when I read the psalms, I skip over the laments. Psalms like 130 begin with sadness that can feel like buzzkill on a good day. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. But what if we are not in the depths? Psalm 130 acknowledges the rhythm of life that includes moments of joy and moments of difficulty. In either place, we will find that our soul waits for the Lord. There is always a part of us that needs God. On a sleepless night, in moments of loneliness, in the swirl of complicated emotions, in any of these places, we need God close. Our discipline of prayer comes directly out of this waiting on God, this sense of anticipation. We enter our prayer lives knowing that as we divert our attention from our usual routines to a deeper time of prayer, God will be there. Of course, we might also be in the depths. And if we are not today, some day we will be. The practice of acute engagement with God, no matter the circumstance or feeling of the day, will always, always be worth exercising. This could be as simple as remembering to say thank you to God when something goes well. Maybe our souls are in the holding pattern of endless night, waiting, waiting as the psalm repeats for the dawn of a new day. Or maybe all we see is daylight. Psalm 130 reminds us that life will always include night and day. But, as another psalm reminds us (Psalm 139), night is not night to God, who is always, always awake with the response to our most fervent prayers. Prayer When shadows spend the night, Holy God, please bring us the joy that morning promises. Amen. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.

MAKING GOD'S LOVE MORE VISIBLE Guess What? Our new church website is now up and running! You can check it out for yourself at https://fccsr.org. If you have content you'd like posted to the website (events, etc.) please forward it to the church office at [email protected].