Dear Church,

If you’re anything like me, you spent much of Sunday evening and Monday watching the rain, worrying about neighbors, and looking at pictures and videos online of the flooding throughout our community.

Many in our community have loved ones who are claiming sexual orientations and gender identities that may be different than what we have understood. The focus of this session will be to learn more about a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities, since understand key terms and concepts is the beginning of understanding. We will also discuss ways to support, affirm and love those in our lives with those Identities.

Washington Listens is a free, anonymous service which provides support to people who feel sad, anxious, or stressed due to the events of this year including COVID-19 and wildfires.

All the latest from our Mission & Justice Board November 12, 2021.

Help Make In-Person Worship Happen! Sign up to be a Greeter-Usher! We need at least three each Sunday, so there are plenty of opportunities

The November Family Fun Event will be held on Sunday, November 21, from 3:00-4:00 pm at First Congregational Church. Thanksgiving week and Family Promise week coincide.

This week we return to hybrid worship, which means both in-person and online opportunities to gather for our Sunday service. While the spread of coronavirus continues, we will be cautious. That caution, along with some of the insights shared in this past summers’ Backyard Conversations, has led several boards to look at what the time immediately following worship might look like. So we’re trying some things!

I just finished an inspiring video call with Rev. Phiwa Langeni of the UCC’s Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD). These last six weeks they’ve been leading a group of clergy through something called the Exodus Experiment, in which we each look at our local ministry setting and consider what wilderness we might be wandering and where God might be leading. Part of the introduction to the Exodus Experiment read: “just as God cared for those in the literal wilderness of yesteryear, God does the same for us [now] … God has been, is still, and will yet be with us every single step of the way, wherever it may take us.”