| | | Juneteenth: The Promise of Green Pastures |
| Greetings First Church Brooklyn Family and Friends, This Saturday we mark Juneteenth – the commemoration of the end of slavery in these United States. This week also ties with the anniversary of the Charleston 9 massacre. In other words, this is one of those heavy weeks. Protect your heart. Do what is needed for your your own exquisite care while continuing or briefly pausing your work of love and justice.
If you are in the city, join me Saturday for a Juneteenth Celebration in Cadman Plaza at 12 noon. I have been invited to bring a blessing for the Juneteenth Grove created last year and will take the stage at 12:30 pm. AG Tish James and Borough President Eric Adams are scheduled to join me. Looking forward to being with you on Saturday and Sunday.
You are loved, |
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| Starting Sunday July 4th, we will be switching to our summer worship time of 10:00 AM. |
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| | | | Friday, June 18th 7:00 PM Paris is Burning Watch Party Zoom Meeting ID: 320 510 6472 Password: 115027 Saturday, June 19th 9:00AM - 5:00 PM Church Beyond The Walls: Self-Guided Visits To Places of Calm Throughout The City Contact the church office Sunday, June 20th 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: 853 2522 6456 Passcode: 491954 Youth Choir For info email Victoria Goff Kid's Church On hiatus while at Family retreat 11:00 AM Worship Rev. Adriene Thorne, preaching "Juneteenth: The Promise of Green Pastures" Scripture: Psalm 23 and John 10:1-4 Monday, June 21st 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: Toba Potosky. Join the conversation. This will be the final meet-up for the year!!! Wednesday, June 23rd 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Men's Fellowship Book Discussion Discussion of David Brooks' The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life For invite info contact Adam Wright 7:00 PM Queer Healing Space Zoom Meeting ID: 320 510 6472 Passcode: 115027 Thursday, June 24th 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Food Pantry For information on how to volunteer contact the church office |
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| | Pride Month at First Church Brooklyn |
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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. |
| Congregation and Community News |
| In case you missed it... it is our pleasure to introduce the new Minister of Intergenerational Culture and Children, Youth and Families Rebecca Stevens-Walter 
Rebecca Stevens-Walter is a Renaissance woman with expertise as a musician, theologian, teacher, coach, and pastor. She was born and raised in western North Carolina, and trained as a classical musician throughout childhood and college. Since moving to New York City in 2012, Rebecca has crafted her musical education and pastoral sensibilities into a ministry that serves a diverse and dynamic community. Using story, song, and prayer, Rebecca teaches that worship can and should be for all people, and can be intergenerationally engaging without being heady or simplistic.
Rebecca graduated from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York in 2017. Having studied under the late Dr. James Hal Cone, her academic work culminated in the first-ever academic text and corresponding liturgy that addressed the study of children's liberation theology. Intended as an addendum to black liberation theology, children's liberation theology holds the assessment that God is on the side of the oppressed and seeks to liberate those whom society has placed in mental, emotional, or physical slavery.
As a musician and recording artist, Rebecca uses the arts as a connective entity in all of her work to inspire the liberation of all generations. She wholeheartedly believes that everyone has a beautiful voice, and people need space and freedom to sing in all the ways that allow them to feel closest to the Holy Spirit. She brings the arts into a space to connect and to learn, empowering folks to hear the Good News of Jesus through his message of radical love.
Rebecca is a cradle Presbyterian and is certified for ordination in the New York City Presbytery. Through her writings, livestreams, and recordings, she serves a digital community of folks who are seeking liberation through healing and hope. Rebecca has two beautiful children, Wren (4) and Story (2). Her husband, Zachary is a music producer and Franciscan Friar in the Progressive Catholic Church. After fleeing the pandemic almost 16 months ago, they have returned to NYC and are getting to know their new neighbors in Midwood, Brooklyn. |
| Social Action Committee Action Item
WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENABLE PEOPLE IN CUSTODY PRETRIAL HAVE THE ABILITY TO VOTE IN OUR CITY'S ELECTION?
This coming Monday, June 21, a small group of volunteers led by The Color of Change and the Legal Aid Society, is meeting at 9:00 AM, at the Bulova building in Queens, to be transported to Rikers Island. They will spend a few hours providing forms and information, and helping people there to prepare Absentee Ballots for the upcoming election. For many, if not most people there, this will be their only way to exercise their right to vote. I have been working with this volunteer group as representative of First Church. Please contact me if you might be interested for this opportunity and/or possibly another date. -- Jane Ehlke |
| Tell Mayor de Blasio You Expect to See Portions of Rikers Transferred from DOC to DCAS on July 1 as the First Phase of Renewable Rikers! Social Action Committee, Time Sensitive Item Please click here to see how we can all help to encourage the City to fulfill its obligation to transfer control of currently inactive parts of the Rikers Island land. Initial transfer is to be accomplished by July 1, 2021, and will help to ensure that the Island will gradually be turned over for uses that will benefit our communities. Thank you! |
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Food Pantry Serving Thursday, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM On Thursday, June 17th, our pantry served 180 clients with the help of 7 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 while at Family retreat 
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On June 21, 2021, poor people, low wage workers, moral and faith leaders and advocates will gather online from across the nation simultaneously with a socially-distant rally in Raleigh, NC at the state legislature for a mass assembly. The hybrid online/in-person National Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly will raise a chorus of voices demanding a moral revolution that puts the suffering of the 140 million+ and low-income people in the U.S. at the center of every policy debate. 
On June 21, 2021 at 5:30 pm ET/ 2:30pm PT we will gather online from all 50 U.S. states and territories, and from across the world. Many of us in North Carolina and from the nearby region will join in person for a socially distant rally at the General Assembly in Raleigh, but wherever you are, we need you to be a part of this historic event! One year after the largest ever online gathering of poor and low-income people in this nation's history, the Poor People's Campaign will launch our organizing drive towards a massive and generationally-transformative in-person Moral March on Washington on June 18, 2022, where we will flood the streets of DC and create a national stage for the voices and leadership of people directly impacted by poverty, racism and their interlocking injustices The event comes one month after the introduction of a congressional resolution for a Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low-Wages from the Bottom Up. Emerging from the pain and organizing power of the 140 million people living in poverty or with low wages in this nation, the congressional resolution reflects an omnibus vision for a fundamental restructuring of society that lifts from the bottom. This newest congressional effort comes as a response to years of movement-building to create the collective resolve necessary to implement real and transformational legislative action. Join us for this powerful launch event on June 21, 2021, commit to joining us in D.C. in June 2022, and take part as we build our campaign to realize a Third Reconstruction. |
| 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 Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life In The Second Mountain, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.
In short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it's also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighborhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In The Second Mountain, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the center of our lives. 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 Mark Elsenheimer. |
| 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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