EPIPHANY OBSERVED

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2024

IN THIS ISSUE . . .

Pastoral Letter

Holiday Schedule

Joys / Concerns

Worship

Faith Formation

Fellowship Events

Service and Mission Opportunities

LINKS and SIGN-UPS

Online Giving

Online Calendar

Phishing & Spoofing



Ways to Give

Sign up to deliver worship flowers

Office volunteers - open dates

Pastoral Letter

Dear friends,

The award-winning and beloved television series Ted Lasso is full of quotable quips and one-liners. One of my (many) favorites comes when Ted, the American football coach who now coaches European football in Richmond, near London, first walks into his team’s locker room. He takes a few steps in, pauses, takes a deep breath, and says, “I do like the smell of a locker room. It smells like potential.”

I have been thinking about that quote this weekend, as we move from 2023 into 2024. Not the stinky locker room part, but the way a new year is an invitation to stop and smell the possibility before us. I love the freshness of a New Year. It smells like potential. This turn of the year invites us to consider what we have learned in the months that have passed. We have an opportunity to give thanks for the ways we have grown, to grieve our losses, celebrate our accomplishments, confess, and ask forgiveness for our missteps, and embrace the possibilities of life and living that lie ahead of us.

We do this as individuals, but we also do this as people of faith in community with one another and in relationship with the world. Therefore, at the turn of the year, as we enter into 2024, I invite you to take a deep breath and smell the possibilities that lie ahead of us:

1. The possibility of peace - In a world torn by war and violence, we can never stop believing that peace can be a reality. As Christians who follow Jesus, the Prince of peace, we must live our lives as peacemakers, calling for peace and an end to violence, war, hatred, and oppression in any home, city, state, or nation. Bombs, guns, swords, and weapons do not belong in God’s kin(g)dom and we have an obligation to work toward peace in every way possible, until peace in the world becomes the reality God intends for us all.
2. The possibility of a healed creation - Our human actions have devastated our earth and changed our world. Our local, national, and global decisions continue to cause irreparable damage to land, air, sea, sky, and creatures. As those who worship the God of all creation, we are called to care for the earth that has been given to us as a gift. How can we explore together the deeper and harder questions of creation care, repair, and sustainability? What are we willing to give up individually and collectively to save our planet?
3. The possibility of a beloved community - As followers of Jesus, we are called to live together not in judgment of one another or in competition, not in blaming or shaming, and not in breaking people down to make ourselves feel better. We are called to love one another because every human bears the image of God. Every human creature is beloved and chosen by God. We are called to see the beauty in the other and called to find connections with one another that lead to deep and meaningful relationships. What are we doing that will lead us to be bearers of the reality of love into the world, one relationship at a time?

In this New Year, how will you, how will FPC, embrace the possibility of peace, a healed creation, and a beloved community and how will you/we live that possibility so that it becomes a reality?

Thank you for what you have done, what you continue to do, and what you will do to move us closer to this reality God intends for us. I pray this potential reality, God’s vision for us all, is on our hearts, minds, and spirits every day of this coming year. 

Dear friends, may peace, love, and wholeness be with you all in 2024 and beyond.

Mindy

COVID on the rise . . .

Note: The number of people with COVID has increased in Durham and in our FPC community over the past two weeks. We are taking precautions among our staff and encouraging those with any symptoms to work from home (or to wear a mask while working at the church), even if not testing COVID positive, until this wave passes (of course, a positive test requires full isolation). I encourage our FPC community to be aware of the increased presence of COVID in Durham and to consider wearing a mask in communal spaces for your own safety and for the safety of those around you.

With gratitude,

Mindy

BOOK GROUP

The Things That Matter Book Group is scheduled to meet at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 9 to discuss “This Here Flesh” by Cole Arthur Riley.

Nora Tisdale, herself an author of nine books and former homiletics professor at Yale, and all-round fun person will lead the discussion.

Contact Kathy Parkins (919-451-5300) before leaving home as this gathering at Kathy's home may be postponed or even cancelled if COVID remains on the rise.

A Call for Ushers

 If you are interested in serving as head usher or being on-call for ushering duties, especially on the first and second Sundays of the month, please contact Esther Hethcox (e.hethcox@firstpres-durham.org or 540-316-1548). Instructions are available.

FPC’s Racial Equity Task Force invites everyone at FPC to mark Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday this year with a week of special events involving Ms. Rosita Stevens-Holsey. “Ms. Rosita” is the president of Preserving Pauli Murray, LLC, which she founded to enhance the legacy of her aunt, Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray. Durham knows Pauli Murray as our saint, who demanded justice and equal treatment in her work as writer, activist, attorney, and an Episcopal priest. Her work literally helped launch the civil rights and women's rights movements. More about Rosita Stevens-Holsey here.

You are invited to meet Ms. Rosita Stevens-Holsey at all of these events:

·       Sunday, January 14 after worship -Join in greeting Ms. Rosita at a reception sponsored by FPC’s Racial Equity Task Force. There will be books on sale and for signing.

·       Tuesday, January 16, 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Durham Congregations in Action will have a Lunch and Learn with Ms. Rosita at Epworth United Methodist Church,  3002 Hope Valley Rd, Durham. For information or reservations, call DCIA at 919 688-2036.

·       Wednesday, January 17, 7pm to 8:30 p.m. -  FPC is co-hosting a conversation about Pauli Murray with Ms. Rosita Stevens-Holsey and Angela Thorpe, Executive Director of the Pauli Murray Center. It will be at Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 4907 Garrett Road in Durham.

·       Thursday, January 18, 1:00 p.m. – There will be a conversation with Ms. Rosita at Durham Center for Senior Life’s auditorium, 406 Rigsbee Ave, Durham.

Please bring your friends and join us in these special opportunities to hear unique insights from someone who was closely connected to Pauli Murray and her importance in the history of the USA and Durham in fighting for equality for everyone!