| | | The Life-Giving Gift of Sabbath |
| Hue City, central Vietnam: girls in traditional dresses float candles in the river in prayer for loved ones who have passed on (National Geographic). |
| Greetings First Church Brooklyn Family and Friends, God has the best sense of humor and the most impeccable timing… when I titled this week's sermon weeks ago, I was feeling so pleased with the way I was knocking things off my to-do list. I had no idea I would hit the wall two weeks later. But here I am at the wall! The effects of the Capitol riot and several other stressors caught up with me last week and are showing up in my body as an inability to fall asleep and stay asleep. With the help of clergy colleagues that I love, I realized I must take a pause…so I am. I will be away from the church for some sabbath rest from February 1-14. When I return, I will be ready to begin our Lenten journey and to anticipate Easter from a place of rest and rejuvenation. I am keenly aware of my privilege in being able to stop working, and I am grateful to Elders Patrick Tirino and Barbara Cummings in supporting my decision and helping me to think through the details. If you have the privilege of taking a break and need one, please take care of yourself. Nothing is worth your mental and emotional well-being. Please keep our community of faith in your prayers. We are all going through it, but we will come out together on the other side. See you in a couple of weeks. You are loved, |
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| The Annual Meeting of the Congregation and Corporation of the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2021 immediately after 11:00 AM worship via zoom. The Annual Meeting Report can be found here. |
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| | | | Sunday, January 31st NOTE: You can find the Bulletin for Sunday's worship online here. 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM Power Hour Power hour participants are sharing scripture to focus their thoughts and efforts in 2021. All are welcome! Zoom Meeting ID: 608 557 2880 Children's Choir For info email Victoria Goff Kid's Church For info email Rev April 11:00 AM Worship Rev. Adriene Thorne preaching: "The Life-Giving Gift of Sabbath" Scripture: Psalm 92 and Luke 6:1-16 Worship with us at FirstChurchBrooklyn.org or Facebook Following Worship Annual Congregational Meeting Zoom Meeting ID: 810 8115 1376 Passcode: 103715 You can find the Annual Meeting Booklet here. Monday, February 1st 12:00PM - 12:30 PM Monday Meet-Up with Elder Simon Bogigian Zoom Meeting ID: 863 9710 5794 Wednesday, February 3rd 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Men's Fellowship Book Discussion Discussion of Rutger Bregman's Humankind: A Hopeful History For invite info contact Adam Wright (See information below regarding a churchwide book discussion in March) 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Bible Study - The Bible & Race with Conor Foley Zoom Meeting ID: 842 1213 6172 Thursday, February 4th 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Food Pantry For information on how to volunteer contact the church office |
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| | Congregation and Community News |
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Regardless of who's in power, we need to take action in support of the agenda of the poor and low-wealth people across this country. Recent events only embolden our resolve to put an end to policies that leave out the poor and to challenge at every turn the narrative that blames poverty on the poor, a narrative with bipartisan support. As we've said since launching this Campaign, this is not about right versus left, but about right versus wrong. Join us on Feb. 1 at 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT to launch Moral Mondays during the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration. *This event will be ASL interpreted and captioned.* 
On February 1, the anniversary of the launch of the sit-in movement in Greensboro, NC in 1960, the Poor People's Campaign will launch a new series of Moral Mondays to push Democrats, Republicans and Independents to pass bold and historic legislation to relieve the suffering of our people. Please tune in for an important teach-in on the current political moment, a roll-out of the 100-day action plan and for a massive call-in action targeting Schumer and McConnell, demanding immediate action on Covid relief. |
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Food Pantry 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM On Thursday, January 29th, our pantry served 150 clients with the help of 6 volunteers. We will maintain the bins on the church steps to support the food insecure and the homeless population who have benefitted from the offering. If you need food, please help yourself. If you have food to share, thank you for dropping off. Please contact the church office to inquire about volunteering. PLEASE DO NOT ARRIVE UNSCHEDULED as we must manage the number of personel on site. Can't make it to the First Church Brooklyn? Text FOOD to 877-877. No questions asked, food for kids. Use your zip code to see if there is food available in your area. |
| Worship service video is streamed live over the internet. We provide the worship bulletin on the website so that you can follow along. Tune in to worship at 11:00 AM Eastern time. If you have access to a screen of any size, try our Video LIVE Stream on firstchurchbrooklyn.org/watch-listen/ and our Facebook page. Want to hear a Sermon again? We have a podcast of Sermon audio! Click the "Sermon Podcast" icon, below, to subscribe. |
| Reminders and Looking Ahead |
| On Hiatus until February 21st 
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| Men's Fellowship Book Discussion 
FPC Men's Group enjoying a recent discussion via Zoom First Church's Men's Group meets virtually each Wednesday morning from 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM to discuss what they are reading and, if time allows, solve as many of the world's problems as possible. We are currently discussing: Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore, Elizabeth Manton 
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Utopia for Realists comes "the riveting pick-me-up we all need right now" (People) which offers an "extraordinary" (Susan Cain) argument that humans thrive in a crisis and that our innate kindness and cooperation have been the greatest factors in our long-term success on the planet. When we think the worst of people, it brings out the worst in our politics and economics. But if we believe in the reality of humanity's kindness and altruism, it will form the foundation for achieving true change in society, a case that Rutger Bregman makes convincingly with his signature wit, refreshing frankness, and memorable storytelling. Contact Adam Wright if you would like to join our Wednesday morning discussion. ALSO Since there was so much interest in our last churchwide discussion of the book "Caste," we are scheduling another churchwide book discussion on Saturday, March 13th, at 10:00 AM of Bregman's Humankind, A Hopeful History. Please consider reading the book prior to that event. |
| Prayer Requests "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." (1 John 5:14 NIV) Our world is changing daily, and yet we still believe in the power of prayer. We still desire to pray with and for our community. If you have a prayer request – a joy or a concern, please send your prayers to us at info@firstchurchbrooklyn.org. We will add prayers to our worship bulletin each week and keep your prayers in our hearts and on our lips for the week to come. |
| Wednesday "Flash" Text Devotionals Sometimes the weeks are long, right? Our Wednesday morning "flash" text devotional is meant to help give you a boost in the middle of the week. Simply Text the word DEVOTIONAL to 66599 to sign up. Every Wednesday, a super-short, thought-provoking piece will be texted to you - written by a different First Church member each week! A history of the devotionals can be found here, also on Twitter and Facebook. |
| A full calendar of church events can be found on the church website. |
| This week's eNewsletter was edited by Christina Adorno. |
| Online Donations: Set up a recurring gift to the church through a secure online account. To set up an account or to edit an existing gift, go to First Church Brooklyn's website. Appointments with Ministry Staff may be arranged by calling the Church at 718-624-3770, or via email. |
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