First Congregational Church

News and Announcements

Latest Virtual Worship Service

Special Thanks

• To Phil Stepanski and Tracy Bretl for changing our Sanctuary windows for Lent.

• To members of the Fellowship Team for offering to bake cookies for Pastor Scott to deliver to houses. Special thanks to Marti DeMario, Terry Sdun and Holly Ternes for their ongoing coordination efforts and cooking baking. Thanks also to Jennifer Dimmer, Jean Hoffmann, Alice Ruffin, Jane Schwacher and Roberta Blumenburg for baking cookies at the beginning of February!

• To Savannah Anderson, Doug McManus, Kerry O'Brien, and Tom Roehrig for agreeing to become a part of the Reopening Committee, and to Brett Dimmer, Mike Spalding and Phil Stepanski for continuing their involvement. Pastor Scott is also a part of the Committee.

• To Jeanne Mantsch, our Moderator, Kathy Bretl, our Treasurer, and Jason Jacque, our Stewardship Committee Chair, for joining Pastor Scott and Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, in attending a virtual webinar hosted by the Wisconsin Conference UCC on "What’s Next: Best Practices for Financial Sustainability".

• To Peter Muehleis for putting the garbage bins at the curb each week.

• To Joe Mueller and Claude Zimmerman for conducting weekly walk-throughs of the church building and grounds.

ASH WEDNESDAY PLANS -
“DRIVE-THRU” ASHES & ONLINE WORSHIP

The Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17. You are invited to begin the season with a “Drive-Thru” Imposition of Ashes at church on Ash Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and again from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Drive up to the main entrance off our parking lot and Pastor Scott will say a brief prayer before performing the imposition of ashes. Also, a Lenten Connections packet will be handed out to each car. Amidst the pandemic, we will maintain all the usual precautions to keep everyone safe.

There is also going to be an online worship service for Ash Wednesday available for viewing anytime that day. Pastor Scott focuses his message on Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God”. Traditionally this psalm was believed to have been written by King David confessing his terrible behavior with Bathsheba and Uriah, but it still has important insight for all of us today. We can begin to prepare our hearts and minds for Easter together, even while we need to stay apart.

REOPENING COMMITTEE UPDATE & SURVEY

A few members were recently added to the Reopening Committee. Thank you to Savannah Anderson, Doug McManus, Kerry O'Brien, and Tom Roehrig for agreeing to join the Committee, and to Brett Dimmer, Mike Spalding and Phil Stepanski for continuing their involvement. Pastor Scott is also a part of the Committee. The Committee has met three times in the last month. They have created a survey; your input will help guide their work going forward. You may click here to complete the brief survey, please do so by Monday, February 22.

WEDNESDAY EVENING VESPER WORSHIP DURING LENT

“Vesper” is a Latin word that means evening. Vesper worship comes from the practice of monastic communities and their evening times of prayer and scripture reflection. The season of Lent is the perfect time to gather for a mid-week, evening worship service; and with the continuing pandemic, we will move our worship online via Zoom. Each Wednesday evening at 7:00, beginning February 24, members and friends are invited to connect via Zoom as Pastor Scott leads a brief worship service of prayer, scripture reading and reflection. We hope you will be able to participate and enjoy a “live” experience of worship each week as we move closer to our celebration of Easter.

WEEKLY LENTEN CONNECTIONS

We invite you to journey through Lent with the church and with one another! We have planned ways for each of us to connect and engage with God, our church community, and the wider community. Here is a preview of our plans:

Week 1 - UCC Daily Devotional
Sign up for the UCC's Daily Devotional, and invite family and friends to do so as well.

Week 2 - Support The Food Pantry
Drop off canned goods and other items to help support Port’s food pantry.

Week 3 - Congregational Connections
Make connections with others in our church family through cards, emails, letters.

Week 4 - Easter Gifts
Consider making a financial donation to support our local service organizations in celebration of Easter.

Week 5 - 3rd Annual Paper Goods Drive to Support Family Promise
Drop off paper goods and other items to continue the Church School’s tradition of helping to stock the shelves at Family Promise.

Week 6 - Prayers for Holy Week
Pastor Scott will offer ways in which we can intentionally pray during the days leading up to Easter.

Stay tuned for more details!

PASTOR SCOTT'S FIRST MONTH

Our new pastor, Rev. Dr. Scott McLeod, has enjoyed a full first month here at our church. Between conducting online worship services, unloading many books in his new office, starting the Confirmation program, meeting with staff and Council - one of his priorities is getting out and meeting our members and friends. Pastor Scott has delivered cookies to over two dozen homes in the last few weeks, and hopes to visit everyone in the coming months (even though the frigid weather has necessitated a pause). Thank you to the Fellowship Team for baking the cookies! Scott invites you to call or email anytime, his new email address is pastorscott@portucc.org.

If you have a chance, check out the two newspaper articles on Pastor Scott's transition:
Ozaukee Press - FCC welcomes new pastor on Jan. 1
Elkhorn Independent - Pastor takes a leap of faith

And, for your enjoyment, check out two videos that Pastor Scott and his wife, Rev. Laura McLeod, have recorded together:
Rappin' with Rev. Laura featuring Scott McLeod (Feb. 2021)
Virtual Meet and Greet with Pastor Scott and Rev. Laura
(recorded the week before Call Weekend back in Sept. 2020)

WINTER CONGREGATIONAL MEETING - SUMMARY

Our annual Winter Congregational Meeting was held on January 31 via Zoom. Thank you to everyone who attended. Jeanne Mantsch, our Church Moderator, prepared a Meeting Summary for those who were not able to be in attendance. There was a majority vote to approve the 2021 Church Budget. If you would like a copy of the 2021 Budget, please email Lorraine Halls, our Financial Administrator, at lorraine@portucc.org.

THANK YOU FROM THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITEE

The Stewardship Committee would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone who responded to our Stewardship Campaign. There were 115 individuals and families who were able to generously contribute to the Stewardship Campaign. Our 2021 pledges total almost $150,000. Even though the campaign is complete, it is never too late to make a pledge, or increase your pledge! Please visit the Stewardship page for more information and forms.

OUR CONFIRMATION PROGRAM IS UNDERWAY

You might interested to know that Pastor Scott is conducting our Confirmation program for our current 8th graders, now through the end of May. The first meeting, an Orientation via Zoom, took place on Sunday evening, January 17 for the eight new Confirmands: Brady Calder, Gabe Chandler, Hope Gilhooly, Cash Mantsch, James Mitchell, Sam Pasten, Carter Schlehlein and Mya Ternes. Please be thinking of these individuals as they embark on their Confirmation journey!

"STAYING THE COURSE" - OUR STATUS

Our traditional in-person church services continue to be suspended at this time. First Congregational Church will continue to provide spiritual guidance and care. During this time, we welcome you to call or email if you have any pastoral needs or questions.

MAKING PLEDGE PAYMENTS

Since we are not currently conducting in-person church services, we wanted to let you know that you can drop off your pledge payments by using our mail slot to the right of our Webster Street entrance. Or you can simply mail it to the church. Thank you!

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