Please mark your calendars and sign up to join us right after worship on Sunday, August 28, in the Folsom room. Brett Bloom from Dirt Wain will be enlightening us with a quick and painless way we can all compost-- one small way to enrich our soil and cut down on waste. This event will be livestreamed and available for viewing on our YouTube Channel. Hope to see you there!

Monday, August 29, is the last Monday of the month, and that means it’s time for Tapping Into Faith! This is a fun and casual gathering of Plymouth folks and community folks, enjoying some snacks and sharing good conversation about different topics in faith and spirituality. We would love to have you join us – the more the merrier!

We meet at Mad Anthony brewing, on Taylor and Broadway, at 7:30pm in the party room. E&M will buy some appetizers for sharing, and you are more than welcome to order dinner or drinks as you wish.

Starting on Sunday, September 11 and continuing through October 9, Rev. Murphy and Rev. Ofner-Seals will be offering a six-week series on progressive Christianity, which can serve as either an introduction or a refresher. Whether you are a new Christian, new to Plymouth, or have been here a while but want to learn more, this series is for you! This Chapel Class series will have a livestream option for those who want to learn but are unable to be there in person. Topics will include orthopraxy vs orthodoxy, how we interpret the Bible, inclusivity and a preferential option for the poor, ways of understanding God including pantheism and panentheism, how we approach other religions from an interfaith perspective, and non-dualism, among other topics.

There will be a Safe Church training at 6:45pm on Wednesday, September 14, following Wednesday Night Live dinner. This training is required for all staff and volunteers who work with children and youth. The training should last about an hour, and childcare will be provided.

Our next WELCOMING GROUP will meet Sunday, September 18, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. If you have been attending Plymouth for six months or longer, and your faith journey is leading you to explore becoming a member, this is a one-time required session. Whether you are confident, confused, or curious, our time together is focused on orientation, conversation, interpretation, and exploration. It is an opportunity for you to ask questions and to meet others who are considering affirming their formal relationship with Plymouth Church, UCC. Please contact Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals at [email protected] or 260-423-9424 x322 to register. An accurate number is needed for the light lunch that will be provided by Congregational Life Board.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 18 at 1:00pm as the E&M Board is organizing another litter pickup outing, open to all ages! Our Spring Cleaning pickup resulted in a shocking number of full trash bags, and we received thanks from folks in the neighborhood where we were working. It’s a rewarding way to spend an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s an easy way to lean into our Earthwise covenant while offering visible evidence of our care for our neighbors.

Karen, our eagle-eyed litter scout, is determining a good location for the day, so keep your eye out for updated information closer to the date. We hope you’ll join us!

For our next Wednesday evening book study, we will be reading and discussing the book Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village, by Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes. In this book, Dr. Holmes takes a deep dive into the contemplative practices of non-white, non-western European communities to expand our vocabulary around what constitutes spiritual practice. Published in 2021, Crisis Contemplation is a deeply relevant salve to the anxiety so many of us feel amid multiple global crises, and masterfully bridges the illusory gap between social action and contemplative spirituality.

We will begin our study on Wednesday, September 21 and continue for six weeks. We will meet in the Amistad room after Wednesday Night Live dinner from 6:45 pm to

7:30 pm. Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village can be purchased on Amazon or directly through the publisher at Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village – CAC Bookstore. If assistance with the cost of the book is needed, please speak with Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals to have the church purchase a copy for you. Please consider joining us this fall!

You may remember the wild success of last year’s RIP Medical Debt campaign, which ended up forgiving a little over $3.8 million in medical debt for folks in Ohio and Michigan. Perhaps you also remember that our friends at Peace UCC and First Congregational UCC in Angola joined us in the campaign. Well, the folks in Angola were so excited by the results of the campaign, that they’ve decided to do it again this year! Their campaign started August 1. Plymouth is not officially signing on to the campaign this year, but if you feel moved to chip in, you may do so at the link below. Every dollar donated relieves at least $100 in medical debt, which is an astonishingly good deal.

Merry Christmas! Wait! It’s only late summer, but orders need to be placed for wreaths now. St. Joe Tree Farm is graciously working with Standish Circle to keep the tradition of selling wreaths for you to order and receive in time for the Christmas holidays. The profits are used to assist those in need in our community. Wreath pickup will be at Plymouth on both Sunday, November 20 and Sunday, November 27 at the porte-cochere entrance before and after church. 

Orders and payment must be received no later than Sunday, September 18. To complete an order form, either click the button below to print off the form and return it to the Plymouth office or pick up an order form at the front office on Sunday mornings. Order forms will also be available at the Plymouth Resource Faire at the Standish Colony table. Checks should be made payable to Plymouth Church and include a notation stating "Standish Wreaths" on the memo line.