To conclude our weekend seminar on the theme of “What Is Truth,” we have two guests helping to lead Sunday morning activities. First, at 9:00 am, renowned storyteller Valerie Tutson will lead an intergenerational education class up in Rooms 204 and 205. This is for all ages, so please stop by and experience it! Then for worship at 10:00 am, the Rev. Traci Blackmon, Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the UCC, will be our guest preacher. We are honored to have these amazing leaders with us!

Wednesday Night Live programming continues this Wednesday, May 10. Those who want to join the Bible study virtually can join via Zoom at 5:15 pm. The passcode to join the Zoom is 805552.

There will be no Wednesday Night Book Study on the evening of May 10. We will resume on Wednesday May 17 with chapters 4-5 of Everything Belongs.

Indiana Center for Middle East Peace welcomes you to, "An Evening with Philip Farah" on Thursday, May 11 at 6:30 pm at Plymouth Church.

Philip Farah is a Palestinian Christian born and raised in East Jerusalem. He immigrated to the US in 1978 at age 27. He has lived, studied, and worked in several countries in the Middle East and is now a natural resources economist in Washington DC. He is a founding member of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace and co-founder of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace. Free, open to the public. Masks encouraged.

Click the button below to view the event on Facebook.

Congregational Life Board will be hosting a Euchre Tournament on Saturday, May 13 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm here in the Folsom Room. Euchre is one of those games where it's not always easy to find four people who play, so,this will be a fun opportunity to play euchre, in a friendly, competitive environment. The winner gets the official Plymouth Euchre bragging rights for the entire year. The cost to enter the tournament is one of the items listed below. All proceeds go to the Positive Resource Connection:

We are also asking everyone to bring items to fill bags for Positive Resource Connection clients. The items include: 

• Individually wrapped snacks
• Non-perishable food items
• Clothing
• Toiletries

Click the button below for the full list of accepted donations.

This will also be Family Game Night, so as usual, please bring a light snack to share and your favorite game to introduce to others. Coffee and water provided. 

Our final chapel class for the program year will be led by Rev. Murphy. It is a two-week series on theories of atonement. How are we reconciled with God? What happened on the cross? We will look at some of the dominant ways Christians have tried to answer these questions, including options including Christ as a ransom, satisfaction, penal substitute, example, victor, and others. Chapel Class begins at 9:00 am on Sunday morning and is available in person or on Zoom. To join via Zoom, the passcode is 063060.

You are invited to join Plymouth's next Women's Book Study meeting on Tuesday, May 16 at 12:00 pm in the Amistad Room. We will be discussing Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred by Victoria Loorz. You may even see in the book some attitudes reminiscent of those fostered by Celtic spirituality down the ages. We welcome anyone who self-identifies as a woman. 

"With a spiritual and nature-loving lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it--and calling it church. Through mystical encounters with wild deer, whispers from a scrubby oak tree, wordless conversation with a cougar, and more, Loorz helps us connect to a love that literally holds the world together--a love that calls us into communion with all creatures."

To celebrate all the volunteers who give of their time to make our programming happen throughout the year, Congregational Life Board will be serving up ice cream with lots of fixings following the worship service on Sunday, May 21.

Congregational Life invites you to join Plymouth for an evening with the TinCaps on Saturday, June 17! First pitch is at 7:00 pm and there will be fireworks following the game. For this annual outing for Plymouth we have reserved a section for seating. Sign up in the Folsom Room by May 21 to help us know how many tickets to purchase. Starting Sunday, May 28, purchased tickets will be available to pick up in the Folsom Room. ⚾️ LETS GO TINCAPS! ⚾️

If you attended chapel class on March 26, you already know that our neighbors at Amistad, Pastors Martin and Sandy Garcia, do incredibly important work with new migrants settling here in Fort Wayne. These individuals and families, starting new lives in a new country, often arrive with little more than what they can carry. The good people of Amistad Presbyterian offer intentional outreach that helps provide the necessities of setting up house and settling into a new home.

In the tradition of former Mother’s Day Special Offerings, the Evangelism & Marketing Board invites you to participate in a supply/gift-card drive, April 30 – May 14.

Most versatile and helpful items: Gift Cards to Kroger, Wal-Mart, Meijer, $25.00 +

If you’re feeling more shoppy, team up with a few friends and assemble a focused “supply bundle,” such as:

• A bathroom bundle: bath towels, hand towels, and wash cloths, toilet brush, bathmat, wastebasket.
• A kitchen bundle: skillet(s) & pot(s), maybe a basic stock pot, basic set of kitchen utensils, manual can opener, kitchen towels and hot pads, measuring cups & spoons
• A dining bundle: basic set of bowls & plates, cutlery, glasses/cups
• A cleaning bundle: 13 gal trash can, trash bags, bucket, broom, dish soap, toilet cleaner, all-purpose cleaner (Fabulouso, Pine-Sol, etc), glass cleaner, sponges/cleaning cloths/etc.
• A laundry bundle: laundry basket, laundry bag, detergent, stain remover, softener or those silicone anti-static balls that are neat

Items should be new and unused.

Please place your donations in/around the bins in the Folsom Room. If possible, wait until Sunday, May 14, to bring your “bundle” donations, so the space doesn’t get too chaotic.

As an Earthwise Church, Plymouth folks have taken on the role of being a recycler both at home and at church. While this is a great thing to be doing, it has come to our attention both from Matt Gratz, Solid Waste Director for the city, and and John Hoelderle, our Maintenance Manager, that often the recycling is unacceptable and therefore contaminates the whole batch. This costs the church, as well as our trash and recycling provider, a lot of money.

As Earth Day 2023 approaches, let’s review the guidelines so we can be successful recyclers at home and church.

1. Recycle, reuse, or repurpose everything you can.
2. Know the recycling guidelines wherever you live (in Fort Wayne, outside Fort Wayne in Allen County, or elsewhere) as different companies have different policies.
3. NEVER place recycling items in plastic bags before tossing them into the recycling bin.
4. NEVER place containers with liquids in recycling bins. Everything should be empty, dry, and clean.

This year the Bell Newsletter will focus on one of our four covenants each quarter. Our first issue covered the Just Peace covenant. The next Bell will be published on May 19 and will focus on Plymouth Church's Open and Affirming covenant. "We are an Open and Affirming congregation (2001), welcoming members of the LGBTQ community. We find strength in our diversity and a greater understanding of God's inclusive love." This is a great opportunity for your Board/Committee/Task Force to inform Plymouth members and friends of the work you are doing that aligns with this covenant. If you'd like to submit an article to the Bell, your article is not required to be geared toward the Open and Affirming covenant. The covenant is just a framework for your article and the overarching theme of the May issue. 

The submission deadline for the May Bell is Wednesday, May 10 at 11:59 pm. The Bell will be published Friday, May 19. If you'd like to write an article for the Bell, please submit it to Elizabeth Pruitt by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, May 10 to edp@plymouthfw.org.

If you have extra greeting cards, you can donate them to nursing home residents. You will find a container in the Folsom Room. Thanks for your help with this new mission sponsored by pastoral care.

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!).

While masks remain optional in worship, we encourage wearing them whenever possible. A high-quality mask provides good protection against infection even if others around you are not wearing one. We will continue to offer livestreamed and recorded worship services if you find yourself at risk of being around groups or otherwise unable to attend services in person.

Plymouth Church is looking for volunteers to cover the 1:00 pm Staff Meetings on Tuesdays. If you would like to assist, please sign up with Jake in the office or sign up by clicking the button below.

The following links can be found on our Linktree:

• What is Truth Seminar Registration
• Chancel Flower Dedication Sign Up Form
• Donate
• Past Chapel Class Series
• Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Sign Up
• Study Connection Volunteer Sign Up
• Plymouth Google Calendar
• Plymouth's Social Media