Congo Beat - October 8, 2020

CONGO BEAT

October 8, 2020

First Congregational UCC

1000 S. Cooper St.

Memphis, TN 38104

www.firstcongo.com

Keeping up:

‌

A Note from our Senior Pastor,

Rev. Cheryl Cornish

We’ve got several special worship services to look forward to! This Sunday, we’ll share in the baptism of Ingrid, Miriam and Rosemary Lammers! It’s really a heartwarming experience to welcome children into the church and your presence with us, even via Zoom, will make the service even more meaningful.

On October 25^th, we’ll install Rev. Dr. Lillian Lammers and Rev. Tony Coleman as Associate Pastors at First Congregational during our morning service, joined by friends from the St. Louis Association.

And on November 1^st, we’ll have a very special opportunity to celebrate the ordination of Steve Garcia, our Minister of Children and Youth. Steve’s ministry among us is well-known and loved, and we’ll be joined by St. Louis Association representatives and Conference staff for this beautiful event!

Blessings, Cheryl

www.firstcongo.com

Church Calendar

Season of Creation:

Blessing our Pets!

Thanks, God, for our beloved pets - they are cherished gifts and super cute!

Faith formation:

Sunday Morning Online Worship

Worship begins at 10:30 a.m.

Send your prayer requests to Pastor Sonia

Here's a video of last Sunday's service if you weren't able to attend:

Sunday Worship, October 4th

No Bible Study with Pastor Cheryl during October

This class, which usually meets on Tuesday mornings at 10am, is NOT meeting this month while our pastors are attending a special training.

Walkin' the Talk:

Conversations about Anti-Racism

Join Pastors Sonia and Lillian on Thursdays at 3 pm

We're finishing up discussions on White Rage

Adult Forum

Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m.

Faith and the Election

Our Faith and the Election series continues this Sunday with a focus on Gender Inequality and LGBT+ Issues. Jami Woods will facilitate this two-week discussion as we look at the historical and present challenges our nation faces as we struggle with finding justice for those often kept on the margins. We’ll specifically explore the social and systemic barriers at play, as well as the stance of the UCC.

Please plan to join on Sunday at 9:30am:

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86597741575

Children & families:

Children’s Sunday School

Make plans for your children to join Ms. Marsha each Sunday for lessons and discussions that are essential to their spiritual formation and coping in the world. Plus, on the last Sunday of each month, children spend their time practicing yoga – a healthy way for them to come to know their bodies as a source of wonder and joy as they move around in the world; and as a way to establish a practice of balance, of stillness, of listening to one’s own body, that will serve them well in the future.

· When: Sunday at 8:30am

· Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84247232535

This Halloween (Oct 31, 2pm to 4pm), First Congo is partnering with other midtown churches to offer a socially-distanced Trunk or Treat. It’s going to be a wonderful time…with costumes, decorations, music, and just the right amount of candy! The idea is to have families throughout the community drive from one church to the next, collecting treats and enjoying the exciting of the day. For First Congo, the goal is to have about twenty decorated cars in our parking lot, forming a “spirit tunnel” for cars to drive through. At the end of the tunnel will be a station where we will hand out goodie bags. If you would like to participate by being part of the spirit tunnel, or donate toward the good bags, please email Pastor Lillian at [email protected].

Social justice:

We are an active partner congregation in Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH). We are busy preparing for a virtual rally on Sunday, OCTOBER 25 at 4:00. There’s stiff competition among the 63 partners to see who can turn out the most viewers. So mark your calendars now!

Expect to hear:

city officials challenged to budget for services in the SCSchool system
youth asking for a voice in chief-of-police hiring
district attorney asked to stop the transfer of children to adult court
if First Horizon has lived up to its promise of loans in underserved neighborhoods

Tennessee is considered one of the most difficult states in which to vote. Only those over 60 or with COVID-related issues may request mail-in ballots. Here are some key dates:

Last day to register has past: Monday, October 5
Absentee ballots must be requested by Oct 27
Early voting runs from Wednesday, Oct 14 to Thursday, Oct 29, 2020, but dates and hours may vary per polling place.

For more registration information, go to https://www.shelbyvote.com/

Dedicated Gifts for October's

Food Justice Ministries:

Buddy Maroon & John Garza

matched all monthly gifts for community lunches.

The Compost Fairy is being provided all year by Carla Peacher-Ryan.

Community lunches for October, serving more than 500 guests per week,

have been given in memory of Andy Winemiller, by his family.

The Food Pantry for October, serving more than 225 households,

has been given in memory of Andy Winemiller, by his family.

Desperate for BOXES to fill every week for our Food Pantry!

We constantly need more boxes as we are delivering to over 200 Food Pantry clients each week. Bring them any time to the yellow doors off the back parking lot - leave under the canopy and we'll get them inside ASAP.

Here's Steph Rollen, our Director of Food Justice Ministries, holding one of our lunch sacks with a very important message! Pastor Sonia had some rubber stamps made for our sandwich bags at Cafe Congo. Last two weeks we used the "get registered to vote" stamp and now we are using this "VOTE" stamp. Thanks for the great idea, Pastor Sonia!

Look who came by to give a donation on behalf of our neighbors who don't have homes! Jack Uhlhorn, Joy Winkler's grandson, felt an urge to ask passersby for donations for homeless people. He said people were really nice and helpful. How wonderful! Thanks so much, Jack!!

Congo Community:

Thanks to Alan Herbers, Bryant Wilhite, Keith Norman, Joy Winkler, Jo Kee, Mark Allen, Julia Hicks, Rahn Marion and three of his able-bodied friends for helping resettle our Sanctuary for virtual worship again! We have three weeks of special services coming up!

Keith Norman and Alan Herbers replacing the vent covers!

Joy Winkler dusting the railings

Jo Kee cleaned the pulpit

Weekly yoga classes with Eric Swartz every Monday night at 6pm.

You may join at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/482251584

Celebrations:

Happy 80th Birthday

on October 12th

to our very dear

George Grider!

Shown here with his loving wife,

Marsha Moyers

Our amazing Office Manager, Brenda Nichols, was highlighted in this article about how Memphians are coping with the affects of the coronavirus pandemic: Daily Memphian article about Brenda Nichols

We believe:

That God created the world, and that every single one of us has good work to do in life.

Our "good work" has to do with living in ways that reflect God's agenda of love, joy, compassion and hope for the world and all its creatures, even in the midst of struggle.

Jesus showed us how to do this. He had radical trust in the Goodness of God and our ability to share God's agenda of life for the world. We can have this trust and share this agenda too, by following in his way.