JUSTICE SUNDAY – THIS SUNDAY!
Our first monthly Justice Sunday is this Sunday! Last week, the congregation was asked to write personal letters to our newly elected Senator Todd Young and Congressman Trey Hollingsworth regarding the recent uptick in racist, hateful rhetoric surrounding the recent election. These letters are a way for us to come together and let our new representatives know that we are here/we exist/we have a voice and that we have an expectation that they will govern in a fair, just manner for all constituents as they launch their administrations. Please place letters in sealed envelopes with your return address and the name of the representative on the outside and bring them to church on Sunday to place in the offering plates. The church will take care of addressing the envelopes and applying postage. As you begin to receive responses, please bring those in to church so we can display them on a bulletin board in the main hallway. Questions? You can e-mail Leah Mullins at?leah.mullins2014@gmail.com?or call?812-360-8874. Thanks!
STILL TIME TO HELP: HARVEST INGATHERING
1. You still have an opportunity to donate food to Harvest Ingathering until November 19
2. November 19 10am you are invited to join us for arranging the food in the sanctuary.
3. You are invited to bring cookies for the set up crew or help make hot cocoa for the set up crew.
HANGING OF THE GREENS. Greetings good people of First United!? It is time to prepare our sanctuary for the holiday season.? Sunday, November 20, beginning at 4:00 p.m., we will hang the greens, transforming our sleek mid-century modern worship space into a wassail hall festooned with fragrant live evergreen garlands, red bows, hanging wagon-wheel wreaths, and, of course, our beautiful Advent Wreath.? We need all hands on deck to help with this transformation.? Come one, come all!? When our work is done, we will join to sup together with all contributing in pitch-in style.? The Board of Christian Worship looks forward to seeing you all there.
STEWARDSHIP 2017.? Church Council will finalize our 2017 budget in December. So, for those who have not submitted their commitment cards, the time is now. Please consider your financial support for First United in 2017 – and act.? Tim Morrison, Stewardship Campaign.
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
Reverse Advent
Outreach has an opportunity for you to celebrate Advent with an especially hopeful twist this year. Many of you are familiar with Advent calendars where you open a window each day for a treat of some kind. For Reverse Advent you give something each day.
Our theme for Reverse Advent is Cleaning and Personal hygiene Supplies. Each day (or most days, as fits for you) from the beginning of Advent, November 27, through Christmas Eve, you add a cleaning or personal hygiene item into a paper grocery bag (Verily, I saith unto thee, thy food panties always needeth paper grocery bags, III Samuel 1:1). You are invited to bring your Reverse Advent bag to Christmas Eve service (or later, if necessary) to be delivered to the Monroe County United Ministries cleaning and personal hygiene closets.
We encourage you to shop at stores like Dollar Tree, Big Lots, Dollar General, and Aldi and notice how these stores, which people on limited incomes rely on, are different from stores you may shop at more often.
Cleaning and Personal hygiene Supplies can be items like household cleaning solution, window cleaning solution, dish soap, laundry detergent, sponges, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, baby soap, deodorant, toothpaste, shaving supplies, etc, etc, etc.
PS: if you like this observation of Advent, be sure to look for Epiphany.
CANDLELIGHT COMMUNION CHILDREN’S CHOIR.All children up to age 14 are invited to sing at Candlelight Communion this year. Rehearsals will take place during Children’s Learning Time starting this week. The service will be on Sunday, December 11. Participating children should plan to be at church by 6:00 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. service. For more information, contact Rebecca Keith at (812) 325-0145 or rekeith@iu.edu.
SACRED CONVERSATION ON RACE: REFLECTION & NEXT STEPS PLANNING. Due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the Sacred Conversation on Race will not be meeting on Nov. 27th. ?Instead, our next meeting is Sunday, December 11th. ?On the 11th we will take a look back at the topics we have discussed since we began meeting, and will brainstorm what next steps we can take individually and as a group to ally ourselves with people of color.? Please bring both your practical experience and your creativity to the table during this Conversation!We hope to see you at 9:30 am in Room 6
BUDGET HEARING, DECEMBER 11. An update on the church’s projected income and expense budget for 2017 will be held in Room 6 after the service.? Please join us to learn about the budget and share your input.
FAMILY FRIDAY DECEMBER. Our next Family Friday will be on December 9 from 6-8. We will have the usual pizza dinner and games along with the general theme “Everyone Has Something to Give”. If people want to bring a canned food item for the food pantry, that would be excellent way to give. We will have paper crafts focused on a card making station where we can make welcome cards to give to Winter Shelter guests or cards to give to family and friends. Maybe if we are lucky someone special in a red suit will come along and give some things to us too! This event is a family friendly event open to all ages. It helps with food planning if you RSVP to Hopi Stosberg at hopi@stosberg.com or RSVP to the Facebook event.? Hope to see you there!
TUESDAY MORNING ADULT STUDY GROUP 10:00 A.M. After a 36 week study of evil (!) we? now have that figured out and we are now progressing forward into a 12 week course entitled Science and Religion.? We will probe the very nature of science and religion:? How are they different and how are they similar in terms of their questions, methods and sources of knowledge and certainty.? Popular opinion generally assumes an antagonistic relationship between the two, but modern scholarship increasingly reveals this a one-sided view that is not only relatively recent but also self-servingly propagated to this day by extremist voices in both the religious and science camps.
Each Tuesday morning is a self-contained unit and a person can easily come and go as schedule permits.
Come and join a most interesting group at First United as we journey, study and discuss together.? The morning is moderated by Jack Skiles.
PEW SILENT AUCTION – We have three excess pews that Council has requested that we find new homes for by means of an in-house silent auction. ?Each pew for auction?is?marked with a?numbered?label on the seat back:?1, 2, and 3. In addition, there are two alter rails that are labeled #4 and 5. ?The bid sheet is by the sign-up table by the church kitchen. ?Bids can be called in to Lisa at the office as well (812) 332-4439. ?Starting bids are $10 and subsequent bids should?go up in increments of $10. ?The items?are solid oak, original to our 1956 Mid-Century Modern church. ?Auction ends Sunday?December 4 at high?noon with the pews and alter rails to go promptly off the premises. ?Questions? ?Contact Laura at laura_b_kao@hotmail.com.
PEW REMOVAL TRIAL – Starting on December 11, we will have a trial period during which two pews midway up the courtyard side and one more pew in front of the new sound control booth are removed from the sanctuary. ?A primary goal is to provide more options where congregants in wheelchairs can sit. ?We may like the traffic flow as well. ?We will give this configuration a trial of over one month.
REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT.?? In March, Exodus Refugee will begin resettling refugees in Bloomington. There is much to do to prepare for sponsoring refugees, meetings to attend, information to share, arrangements to be made and coordinated, amongst our own congregation and with other sponsors in Bloomington. Please contact Jack Skiles or Sam Troxal if you are interested.
MINISTER OF CARE FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 20, IS JEAN PETERS.? A minister of care is a church volunteer who visits members in their home.
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