ATTENTION! Do you have a recurring online donation to Plymouth set up with your bank account or credit card? Because Plymouth is moving to a new giving platform, these automatic payments will end by December 31. If you wish to continue with automatic payments, you will need to enter your bank/credit card info on the new platform by following this link. If you wish the payment to be posted to your 2023 pledge, please choose the Operations 23 fund and a start date of 1/1/2023 or later.

Thank you for your patience with this transition. This new giving platform provides you as a donor greater access and control over your giving and streamlines the recordkeeping for the church staff, so it's a win-win! If you have questions or need assistance, please call the office at (260) 423-9424 and ask for Tina Puitz, Office Manager or Stephen Cook, Financial Administrator.

For all those who have pledged for 2023, thank you! For those who have yet to pledge or fill out the time and talent form, there is still time. Just visit this link to set up your pledge. Every bit helps as we prepare the 2023 budget and look forward to a new year of community-building, service, and sharing the good news!

On Sunday, December 11, Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals will conclude her series on the prophetic message of the mystics. Mysticism is a thread that weaves throughout every major religion and is often a small, alternative movement of those unwilling to acquiesce to the powers that be. Many of the mystics throughout history resisted control by the hierarchy of the church and offered prophetic ideas that were ahead of their time. Over the course of this series, we’ll hear about how the mystics of many times and places have resisted empire, patriarchy, ecological abuse, economic injustice, materialism, and violence. Join us at 9:00 am in person or on Zoom. The passcode to attend via Zoom is 063060.

By popular demand, there will be a Film and Faith for those 40 and over on Sunday, December 11. We will be watching the 2006 film Children of Men. It is a rated R dystopian sci-fi drama about the rebirth of hope in a world that has lost it. Rev. Murphy thinks this is thematically a Christmas movie. Is he right? Has he lost his senses? Find out! We will gather at 2:30 pm and have a discussion afterwards. Please enter through the Folsom Room side entrance. Folks are encouraged to RSVP to Rev. Murphy at tcm@plymouthfw.org.

The Help Not Handcuffs Coalition will be having a rally on Monday, December 12 at 6:00 pm at the Destiny Life Center at 3601 Warsaw Street to update the community on its goals around preventing a larger jail project and instead invest in community-based services to help avoid over-incarceration in Allen County. It is also a rally meant to encourage people to show up for the next federal court hearing on Friday, December 16 at 10:00 am, which will be located at 1300 S. Harrison Street. Come join this growing organizing effort at either or both events and make your presence known!

Indiana Center for Middle East Peace presents An Advent Conversation from Bethlehem with Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh on Wednesday, December 14 at 1:00 pm. Register here.

Michael Spath interviews Mazin Qumsiyeh, founder/director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History, and the Institute for Biodiversity & Sustainability at Bethlehem University. Visit the Institute’s website for some background info in advance of the interview here.

Mazin has previously taught at the University of Tennessee, Duke University, and Yale University. He has published 130+ scientific papers on topics ranging from biodiversity to cancer. Mazin’s books include Mammals of the Holy Land, Sharing the Land of Canaan, Human Rights and the Israeli Palestinian Struggle, and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment.

There will be no chapel class on Sunday, December 18. Instead, all are invited to gather in the Folsom room at 9:00 am for an hour of carols and cocoa before worship. Those with instruments are invited to bring them along to share a tune, and we will be taking carol requests! Hot chocolate will be available, as will the regular donuts, coffee, and tea. Hope to see you there!

Please join us for services of celebration and anticipation on Christmas Eve night at either 4:00 pm or 10:00 pm. The 4:00 pm service will be a family-friendly service featuring carols, communion, and a special time for children, and the 10:00 pm service will be a service of lessons and carols by candlelight. All are welcome as we celebrate God’s incarnation in the world. Childcare will be available at the 4:00 pm but not the 10:00 pm service. Both will be livestreamed if you are unable to be here in person.

Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. For Sunday worship, folks are invited to wear Christmas sweaters or any other appropriate Christmas attire, and we will have an extended time of carol singing as part of the worship experience along with poems and reflections.

Wednesday night book study resumes on January 11, 2023 with the book Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace, by Osheta Moore. Written in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Dear White Peacemakers draws on the Sermon on the Mount, Spirituals, and personal stories from author Osheta Moore’s work as a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus, this book is a challenging call to transform white shame, fragility, saviorism, and privilege, in order to work together to build the Beloved Community as anti-racism peacemakers. Wednesday night book study is part of Wednesday Night Live activities, and meets from 6:45 pm to 7:30 pm, following Wednesday Night Live dinner. All are welcome!

Plymouth's Women's Book Study will not be meeting in December, but it's never too soon to start reading for January! Our next book will be Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann and we will meet on Tuesday, January 17 from 12:00 pm to 1:15pm in the Amistad Room. It describes how In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off and virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery.  

As always, anyone who self-identifies as a woman is welcome to drop in for one or more of our sessions if the chosen book interests them. We meet on the third Tuesday of most months from 12:00 pm to 1:15pm in the Amistad Room.

Tickets for the 2022 Boars Head and Yule Log Festival will be distributed on Sunday, December 11 and 18. Please stop by the Folsom Room and get your tickets. Just a reminder all church members are entitled to 6 tickets for this years Festival. You may also get 6 tickets as a Festival Patron, so if you’d like to become a Patron, we can get you set up at that time. We look forward to seeing you! 

The Knit & Kibitz and Standish ladies are asking for the entire congregation to be included in the collection for Crossroad. Here is a list of “wishes”:

• Art supplies (coloring and sketch books, colored pencils, markers, paints). No spiral notebooks.
• Toys and Games (cards, board games, Legos, DVDs (G or PG rated movies), DVD players).
• Clothes (boys and girls ages 9-18 varied sizes clothes, shoes, underwear, socks, hats, coats.) No drawstings on any clothing item.
• Gift cards or cash (envelope in office).

There is a bin in the Folsom Room for donations. Items will be delivered on December 12. If you have a question ask Anne Hughes or Becky Hollingsworth.

Thank you in advance for being the church!

Now – January 1

During this season, we will be collecting unopened canned/boxed food items. From what is collected, we will work to help keep the community pantry in the parking lot stocked during the winter. Please ensure cans have “pop tops” so they can be opened without a can opener if necessary. Canned meats and beans, hearty soups and pastas, and potatoes are treasures! Peanut butter, shelf-stable microwave meals, and instant oatmeal are easy for kids to prepare! Canned fruit, canned veggies, and condiments really complete a meal! Shelf-stable milk is a miracle!

The pantry gets used quite a bit. Any time you are here and notice that it could use some restocking, feel free to grab a few things from the collection bin and put them out for people to use.

The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival is December 29 and 30, 2022. Between the 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm services, the kitchen crew serves food to the cast, orchestra, and crew. The kitchen crew is always looking for additional volunteers to spend a few hours or the entire afternoon/evening in the kitchen preparing food. A big thanks to those kitchen crew members who return year after year. We also gladly welcome new crew members. Between making sandwiches and cutting fruits and vegetables, there is a lot of lively banter and conversation. We usually get started early in the afternoon each day. If you would like to be part of the kitchen crew on one or both days, please send an email to Diana Bauer at dcb1120@gmail.com. Boar's Head is a huge part of Plymouth and the kitchen crew makes an important contribution to the overall production!

The Indiana Kentucky conference of the UCC is hosting General Synod in June 2023, and it has been a tradition for the hosting conference to provide prayer shawls for delegates and others in attendance. Would you be willing to help by knitting or crocheting one or two shawls? Let Rev. Sara (smo@plymouthfw.org) know if you would like to commit to making one (or three!).

The following links can be found on our Linktree:

• Donate
• Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Sign Up
• Chancel Flower Dedication Sign Up Form
• Study Connection Volunteer Sign Up
• Plymouth Google Calendar
• Plymouth's Social Medias