KETTLE FEST + SOLAR PANEL CELEBRATION. Help us celebrate the installation of the largest church solar panel array in Indiana at Kettle Fest this year, after Worship on Sunday, September 18. Along with stew cooked outdoors from Fellowship Hall in a large iron kettle over an open fire, there will be activities and fun based on the solar energy theme and an opportunity to learn about the solar panel installation.? Kettle Festers are welcome to bring bread or dessert but there will be plenty of stew-both meat and vegetarian options. For more information, contact Sam?Troxal?stroxal@yahoo.com?812-361-6172.
“WHITE PRIVILEGE. IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT, YOU GOT IT. “?This statement from the United Church of Christ speaks to the issues of racism that we are attempting to raise at First United.? Beginning?Sunday?September 18, the Sacred Conversation on Race meetings will focus on institutional racism in areas such as education, housing, criminal justice and policing, and other structural and cultural domains.? From these Conversations we hope to identify ways – as individuals and as a congregation – where we might be able to effect change in organizations and institutions. We meet in Room 6 at 9:30 a.m.? -Derek Roe and Jo McClamroch
NEW MEMBER CLASS/FIRST UNITED ORIENTATION. Are you new around here?? Interested in considering official membership in our congregation?? We are always searching for ways to help the new ones in our midst to understand what makes our congregation function.? There will be three classes that are informational in nature beginning on Sunday, September 18th and then the following 25th and October 2nd at 9:30 a.m.
WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY – OCTOBER 2. On Sunday, October 2, we will celebrate World Communion Sunday by including a variety of traditional?breads?from cultures all around the world on the?patens?(bread plates) for our Communion service.? To add to the international flavor of the day, we invite you to wear traditional clothing from other cultures (e.g., saris, Lederhosen, kilts, kimonos, Mayan huipiles) in honor and celebration of the diversity of the human experience around the globe.
COMMUNION SERVERS. “Did you know that at First United Church anyone can serve communion; members, non-members, friends, youth. ?All you need to do is sign your name and email address (or phone number) on the sign-up sheets in the lobby outside the Fellowship Hall. ?The day of communion you will be given easy to follow instructions and if you have any questions you can ask Florence Shelton or any member of the Board of Worship.”
YOU’RE INVITED TO THURSDAY PRAYER AT FIVE IN THE CHAPEL. We meet together with the intention of praying as a body for our church and community (both broadly and narrowly defined). Meetings are stewarded by a different individual from the group each week; our practices vary?at the direction of the facilitator.?We seek?to actively build up our community and one another through humble prayer together. If you can’t join us in the chapel, you’re invited to pray with us wherever you are on Thursdays at 5:00pm.
STUDENTS, JOIN US FOR LUNCH. Students are invited to join us for lunch after worship Sundays in September in Roger Williams Hall (exit through the wooden doors at the front of the sanctuary and go down the hallway to the right).
CURIOUS ABOUT SPIRITUAL DIRECTION??Spiritual Direction is a historically rooted ministry of our Christian tradition. A trained spiritual director serves as a spiritual companion to others on their faith journey, listening and discerning together. The purpose of spiritual direction is to become more attentive to God and specifically focuses on our relationship with God. It is not oriented toward a therapeutic management of life’s problems and crises even though God is very much present in all of?life’s?circumstances. It helps us to heighten the awareness of God’s presence and action in our lives and to make decisions based on that awareness. Your first session is FREE. Further sessions are based on a mutually arranged fee scale. Contact Dawna Petersen atspiritual.director@firstuc.org?or 812-272-5404 to arrange your FREE session or to arrange an informal coffee date to chat about practice and prayer or to learn more about spiritual direction.
ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING. This month of September is our One Great Hour of Sharing drive. OGHS is an ecumenical offering for use here and around the world for disaster relief, refugee assistance, and development aid. This offering began as a response to help in?war torn?Europe after World War II. Ruth 1:16, Where will I go…”? proclaims this year’s focus on the refugee crisis. Please, join your sisters and brothers across denominations to generously assist refugees and those stricken by recent natural disasters.
GET CREATIVE FOR JUSTICE. This fall you are invited and encouraged to get creative for justice. Elizabeth Busey and Donovan Walling are taking the lead on a project to develop and publish a short creative anthology on the broad theme of justice. But they can’t do it without you. Justice is a dense topic with many facets: race, environment, health and safety, sex and sexual orientation, economic, and much more. Any aspect is acceptable:
- Write a poem (long or short), a short story, or a short essay.
- Make a sketch or a drawing, a collage, or a painting.
- Take a photograph.
- Combine two or more of the above.
Contributions (you aren’t limited to one) are due by October 15. If they are on paper, you can give them to Donovan Walling or Elizabeth Busey. Electronic files (Word for text, JPG for images preferred) can be emailed to Donovan at?drwalling@gmail.com.
NARTHEX PLAY AREA – toys are set up in the?Narthax?area with a small rug so parents can bring small children out, when needed, and still hear the service. Please talk to Hopi Stosberg or another member of the Board of Christian Education if you have any questions.
GROUNDS KEEPING. Have you ever wished you had a large home with great grounds to putter in? ?You do. First United Church with its 5+ acre lot is yours and mine. ?Join me, Laura Kao of the Board of Building and Grounds, on Thursday mornings at 8:30 this growing season for an hour of yard work. ?There is always weeding, trimming, and tidying to do, and I’ll be here every Thursday morning that I am in town. ?If you let me know you’re?interested by?e-mail, I’ll know to keep you in the loop. ?laura_b_kao@hotmail.com??Thanks!
LOOKING FOR CHILDREN’S LEARNING TIME TEACHERS.? Do you like working with kids aged 3-12?? Do you have a passion for helping children learn how to live well with others?? Do you find fulfillment in teaching children about our shared faith and this amazing world we live in?? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we may have a teaching opportunity for you!? Please see Ted Wininger, Hopi Stosberg, Derek Roe, or anyone else from the Education Board for more information!
MINISTER OF CARE FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18, IS SARAH BURTON.? A minister of care is a church volunteer who visits members in their home
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