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!

Beginning this Sunday, November 20, Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals will be teaching a four-week 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 four weeks, we’ll hear about how the mystics of many times and places have resisted empire, patriarchy, ecological abuse, economic injustice, materialism, and violence. This Sunday, we’ll begin with an exploration of the desert fathers and mothers, and their resistance to empire in the early centuries of the Christian church. Join us at 9:00 am in person or on Zoom. The passcode to attend via Zoom is 063060.

The Benevolence Committee is holding a special Thanksgiving offering this Sunday, November 20, to benefit Miss Virginia’s Food Pantry. This incredible organization, located in the midst of the neighbors it serves, helps an average of over 900 families each week, with focused commitment to a Balanced and Nutritional Food Program. May you be moved to contribute to their good mission, sharing with joy the great abundance God has provided in creation.

Be sure to write “Thanksgiving Offering” on the memo line of your check and on your envelope. If you give online (linked below), please select "Thanksgiving" from the fund dropdown.

Please join in this interfaith service with the Fort Wayne community on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 pm. The theme is “From Mourning to Dancing.” After a three-year hiatus, it’s back! This event will take place at Congregation Achduth Vesholom, 5200 Old Mill Road, Fort Wayne. Refreshments and information tables will be available after the service. Plymouth is a co-sponsor of this event.

Plymouth will once again host a Thanksgiving Day service and meal. The service will be held in the Chapel at 11:30 am on Thanksgiving Day, followed by a traditional Thanksgiving meal (with all the fixings) in the Folsom Room at 12:00 pm. For those who would like to attend, contribute a dish to the meal, or for those who would like to help with set up, cooking, service, or clean up, please sign up at the link below. Please sign up by Sunday, November 20 if you would like to participate or attend.

Rev. Murphy will be reading and presenting his first illustrated children’s book after worship on Sunday, November 27 in the Folsom Room. It’s entitled Jesus Learns to Glow. Books will be available for sale and signing.

Family Mailings

Advent Family Packets are going in the mail this week! They are full of advent stories, a simple craft, a calendar to color, and encouragement for families celebrating advent at home. If you or a family you know would like this mailing, please contact Katie Watson.

Advent Devotionals

Advent devotionals are available for free in the Folsom Room. These booklets, titled "Now In Flesh Appearing..." include something for all ages -- scripture, readings, coloring pages, and journaling or discussion questions. Please take one for yourself and anyone who would enjoy it.

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!

November 8 – December 4 (FW Pride Christmas)

If you’d like to participate in FW Pride’s Christmas this year, but aren’t sure about sponsoring a family solo, E&M is organizing an “Angel Tree” for a larger family. Beginning November 8, you can choose one gift item to purchase (usually $25-$30), and help a family have a happy Christmas.

The tree is located in the Folsom Room, and each ornament features one gift requested. Instructions are on the back of the ornament. Please be sure to keep the ornament with your gift so we know the intended recipient.

If you want to drop off unwrapped presents early, you may do so in the bin under the tree in the Folsom Room. Again, please keep the gift and the ornament together in the bag or box you use to drop of your present.

If you’d like to join us for a wrapping party on Sunday, December 4, after service, we will have plenty of wrapping paper and ribbons and pizza! It should be a fun time.

November 8 – 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 Grants and Scholarships Committee has the pleasant responsibility of awarding scholarship grants for tuition and fees for academic credit from the earnings generated by several endowed funds.

Applications for the following scholarships are due in the church office by February 15:

• The Richard Nelson Kent Memorial Fund provides educational grants for tuition and fees for academic credit for members of the United Church of Christ in the Northeast [Indiana] Association and other qualified applicants who are at least 16 years of age and entering into or continuing ecological studies, conservation biology, or other environmentally related studies.

• The Van Gorder Scholarship is awarded annually for tuition and fees for post-secondary education leading to a degree, certificate, or license for a graduating senior who is a member of Plymouth Church.

Applications for the following scholarship is due in the church office by April 15:

• The Richard C. Hess Peace Studies Scholarship provides a $1,000 tuition and fees scholarship for a college student majoring in peace studies or a related program.

Completed applications for grants/scholarships for tuition and fees for academic credit with all supporting materials must be received in the church office by the respective due dates. Incomplete applications are ineligible for consideration.

To request application packets for these funds or to receive additional information, call the church office (260) 423-9424 and leave your name, phone number, and email address so a member of the Grants and Scholarships Committee can respond to your request.

It’s time to order your Christmas poinsettias! Ordering poinsettias is an easy way to remember, honor, and celebrate loved ones and friends, while helping to decorate our church home for Christmas. To order, please fill out the order form and return it with your check to the church office by Sunday, December 4. Poinsettias are $11.00 each. Please take your plant home with you following the 10:00 pm worship service on Christmas Eve.

To place an order, please either click the button below to print off a copy of the order form to fill out and return to the church office, or pick up an order form in the church office on Sunday morning. If writing a check, please write "Poinsettia Order" on the memo line.

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:

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