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© 2021 Nick Rochowski |
| Greetings First Church Brooklyn Family and Friends, It's Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer. The city is reopening. Mask mandates have been lifted for vaccinated people. There is excitement and a rush to return. There is also trepidation and glee and grief and anticipation. We are a complex mix of emotions including feelings we can't yet name. We've learned so much and lost so much and are still figuring so much out. We are at the threshold of summer and reopening and returning, and no matter the actual day we see each other again, returning, in all its forms, is going to take a L-O-N-G time. As we all stand on the threshold of whatever this new thing will be, guest preacher, Dr. Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas has something to share with us for these complex times. Praying rest for you on this weekend of remembrance. You are loved, |
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| READ some history about Memorial Day. Did you know that some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865?
FOLLOW @lyneezy on all your socials for brief, entertaining and thoroughly researched history lessons from a Black female former educator's point of view. Her perspective on all things current and historical will inspire your own deeper research.
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| GUEST PREACHER 
Dr. Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair in Ethics and Society and teaches the Black Church Studies program at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. She was baptized and raised in the Black Baptist Church tradition and is an ordained pastoral counselor in both the Progressive National Baptist Convention and American Baptist Church, USA.
As a theologian, scholar, professor, pastoral counselor, and child of God, she takes seriously Luke 4:18's clarion call to speak the gospel to the poor; heal the brokenhearted; bring sight to the blind; give deliverance to the captives; and set at liberty those that are oppressed by laboring diligently in God's vineyard to liberate people spiritually and socially. As Executive Director of the nationally-acclaimed Black Religious Scholars Group, Inc. and CEO of Strategic Ethical Expert Systems, LLC, her scholarly research, business acumen and social activism have been dedicated to examining the effects that institutions such as the church, higher education, family, and government have had on defining marginalized group's undertaken tasks to define their own identities and destinies as those who are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
Whether you engage her through her books, hear her sermons, study her lectionaries online, enroll in her Black Church Studies classes, receive her pastoral counseling or life coaching, or attend the many workshops, seminars, and lectures she gives, it is blatantly clear, as one scholar has said, "Stacey Floyd-Thomas is accessible to any woman or man of good will who is committed to justice-making in church, academy, and society."!" It is because of this reputation that she has received numerous honors and awards as a leading scholar and is a highly sought after lecturer and scholar who has taught and lectured throughout the United States as well as in West Africa, Brazil, England, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. |
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| | | | Sunday, May 30th 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 Youth Choir For info email Victoria Goff Kid's Church For info email Rev April 11:00 AM Worship Sermon: "Let Go and Press On" Dr. Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, preaching Scripture: Isaiah 43:18-19 and Philippians 3:13-14 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM The Church Thing For info email Rev April Monday, May 31st 12:00PM - 12:30 PM Monday Meet-Up with Pastor Adriene Zoom Meeting ID: 863 9710 5794 Beginning April 19th we will be joined each week by one of eight candidates running for City Council in the church's 33rd district. This week: Victoria Cambranes. Join the conversation. Wednesday, June 2nd 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Men's Fellowship Book Discussion Discussion of Heather McGhee's The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together For invite info contact Adam Wright 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM Bible Study with Rev. April Zoom Meeting ID: 842 1213 6172 Thursday, June 3rd 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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This is a critically important issue for children and families with incarcerated parents. We have until June 10, 2021, to press our State legislature to pass legislation that would ensure the continued right for children and families to make in-person visits. |
| Virtual Endowment Investment Presentation
Date: June 9, 2021
Time: 5:15 PM
Our Financial Advisors, Kevin Nolan and Sean Flynn, from Essex Financial will provide an overview of the investment strategy and answer questions.
If you would like to attend, please contact the office for WebEx meeting information. |
| Volunteer for Pride Brooklyn Pride 5K -- Saturday 6/12 , 10 AM - 12 noon Help support participants for this in-person Pride event in Brooklyn. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Patrick Tirino: tirinop@gmail.com. Claim Our Space -- Saturday 6/26 , 9 AM - 3 PM Support our own elder Dimitri Moise at the Rally for Freedom. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Patrick Tirino, tirinop@gmail.com. Pride Fellowship -- Sunday 6/27, 11 AM - 2 PM Calling all LGBTQ+ folks as well as allies, friends, supporters! Come and join us for a picnic and celebrate the inclusive and sacred love that Pride seeks to honor and spread! If you would like to attend, contact Patrick Tirino, tirinop@gmail.com. |
| RENEWABLE RIKERS Tell Mayor de Blasio: We need a down payment on the Renewable Rikers Plan; start the transfer of unused land now! Click here to send a message today. 
Communities impacted by mass criminalization and environmental racism have joined forces to develop the Renewable Rikers Plan, which passed this winter. Under that legislation, the first opportunity to transfer land from the Department of Correction to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services is coming up on July 1st, and we are calling on the Mayor to transfer the maximum amount of available land.
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Newsletter Editor Needed Ever wonder how the weekly newsletter is created and the work that goes into it? Join the editing team for a chance to join the team and edit the newsletter. As an editor you will be responsible for one week a month with a dedicated team of editors. Fear not! CO-Chair, Elder Christina Adorno, will show you how the editing process works until you are comfortable editing solo. Once you get the hang of it, editing the newsletter takes about two to three hours a week. If interested, please email Elder Christina Adorno. |
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Food Pantry Serving Thursday, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM On Thursday, May 27th, our pantry served 156 clients with the help of 9 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. |
| COVID-19 Vaccine Resources |
| Reminders and Looking Ahead |
| On Hiatus Memorial Day Weekend - May 30, 2021 
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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: 
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee From the publisher -- "Heather McGhee's specialty is the American economy - and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common root problem: racism. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for White people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism's costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including White supremacy's collateral victims: White people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than zero-sum." Contact Adam Wright if you would like to join our Wednesday morning discussion. |
| 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) May we pray for peace in Jerusalem.
The Bible states FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD....
He did not favor one group over another. The apartheid in Jerusalem is not aligning with Biblical teachings. 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, Twitter and Facebook. |
| A full calendar of church events can be found on the church website. |
| This week's eNewsletter was edited by Ben Cosgrove. |
| 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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