News and Announcements
Congratulations
Special Thanks
• To the Olson Family (Eric, Tina, Kylee and Collette) for creating a fun promo video to help encourge us all to donate to our Family Promise Paper Goods Drive.
• To Barb Olson for continuuing to help Amy Gilhooly make website enhancements. Thanks to Barb for adding PayPal buttons on the site.
• To the following people who read Scripture passages for our online worship services:
Ryan and Jodi Cowen and Bruce Laabs, Jr. on March 21
Jean and Ruby Hoffmann on March 14
Mark Pasten and Ralph Perez on March 7
Emma Jacque and Cathy Jones on February 28
• To everyone who drove to church to receive the imposition of ashes from Pastor Scott on Ash Wednesday. Click here to see photos.
• 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 cookie baking. Thanks also to Jennifer Dimmer, Jean Hoffmann, Alice Ruffin, Jane Schwacher, Roberta Blumenburg and Jeanne Mantsch for baking cookies in February. Thank you to Tracy Bretl, Sherrie Dimmer and Lorraine Halls for baking cookies in March.
Archives
March 7, 2021
February 24, 2021
February 3, 2021
January 27, 2021
January 20, 2021
January 13, 2021
January 6, 2021
December 30, 2020
December 22, 2020
November 1, 2020
October 21, 2020
October 14, 2020
PALM SUNDAY - PALMS AND CINNAMON ROLLS
Please plan to stop by church this coming Palm Sunday morning between 9:00 – 11:00. We have palm branches, warm cinnamon rolls, and a Holy Week Devotional Guide for you! Even while we are not worshiping in person at this time, we can still enjoy reminders of this meaningful season; the branches laid before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, the warmth of our personal connections and comfort foods, and a guide for walking prayerfully together through the days of Holy Week. A few members of the Fellowship Team, Marti DeMario, Jennifer Dimmer, and Sherrie Dimmer, will be on hand to assist Pastor Scott and to prepare the cinnamon rolls.
WEEKLY LENTEN CONNECTIONS
We invite you to continue to journey through Lent with the church and with one another! Check out the remaining ways for each of us to connect and engage with God, our church community, and the wider community. Click here to view the information of activities.
Week 4 starting March 14 - Paper Goods Drive to Support Family Promise of Ozaukee County
Drop off paper goods and other items to continue the Church School’s tradition of helping to stock the shelves at Family Promise. Click here for a list of their requested items and to learn more about Family Promise.
Week 5 starting March 21 - Easter Gifts
Consider making a financial donation to support our local service organizations in celebration of Easter. Click here for our 2021 Easter Giving Form.
Week 6 starting March 28 - Prayers for Holy Week
Pastor Scott will offer ways in which we can intentionally pray during the days leading up to Easter. A Holy Week Prayer Guide will be available for pick up.
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. Each Wednesday evening at 7:00, 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. A Zoom link will be emailed out each Wednesday. A recording will also be made available by the end of each week.
new! MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER
We are so excited to debut our new monthly e-newsletter! We hope you enjoy reading through it. Click here to view the entire edition, or click on specific pages.
Pages 1 & 2: Pastor Scott's Article, March Scripture Passages
Page 3: Welcome
Pages 4 - 7: Lenten Connections and Holy Week Services
Page 8: Easter Giving Form
Pages 9 - 11: Financial Info (including PayPal) and More
Pages 12 - 14: Reopening Updates
Page 15: Our Liturgy Team
Page 16: One Great Hour of Sharing
Page 17: UCC Church Camps
Page 18: Miscellaneous Updates
Pages 19 - 21: Council Minutes and a Baptism
Page 22: Ash Wednesday Photos in the Newspaper
Page 23: Lighthouse Youth Ministry - Wildfire!
Page 24: 2020 Yearbook Report
Page 25: March Calendar
Page 26 & 27: Birthdays and Anniversaries, Contact Info
REOPENING COMMITTEE UPDATES
There were 117 responses to the initial Reopening survey last month. Click here for an update from the Committee, and for the results of the first survey. The second survey, about online services and offerings, has closed. Those results will be posted in the coming weeks.
new! PAYPAL ONLINE GIVING
Good news! We have PayPal up and running to help make giving to the church as easy as can be. Click here for more information.
PAYROLL PROTECTION PROGRAM LOAN
The US Small Business Administration approved our Payroll Protection Program loan request in the amount of $34,447 and the funds were received at the end of February. After our payroll totals reach this dollar amount, we may apply for loan forgiveness by documenting how the funds were spent. In addition to spending these funds on payroll, they may also be spent on utilities. This is the same amount we received last April in the first CARES Act package and will, once again, help alleviate our budget shortfalls.
PASTOR SCOTT'S FIRST MONTHS AS OUR PASTOR
Our new pastor, Rev. Dr. Scott McLeod, has enjoyed a great start here at our church. One of his priorities is getting out and meeting our members and friends. Pastor Scott will continue to deliver cookies to everyone's houses in the coming months. 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)
OUR CONFIRMATION PROGRAM
You might be interested to know that Pastor Scott is conducting a Confirmation program for our current 8th graders with the expectation they will be confirmed on May 23rd, Pentecost Sunday. They have been meeting twice a month via Zoom but hope to be able to meet in person soon. Please be thinking of these individuals as they continue their Confirmation journey: Brady Calder, Gabe Chandler, Hope Gilhooly, Cash Mantsch, James Mitchell, Sam Pasten, Carter Schlehlein and Mya Ternes.
The church purchased a New Revised Standard Version Study Bible for each member of the class published by HarperCollins. It offers textual notes, maps and information introducing each of the books of the Bible. Special thanks to Joy Bloemer for handwriting a special nameplate inside the front cover for each student.
"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!
