First Church

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
20 January 2008

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

“Growing in God’s Love”

Announcements
Call to Annual Meeting
Calendar
Food for Thought from Rev. King

Join us for the Adult Forum at 11:15am in the Chapel.  Today Nancy Mann will introduce the Enneagram as a tool for personal and spiritual reflection and growth.   All are welcome.

Deaconess for January is Pamela Dear (458-6040).  Please notify her of births, adoptions, or anyone who may need a note of sympathy or encouragement.  For information about our Prayer Shawl Ministry, please call Pam Welch (458-2340.)  Audiotapes of Sunday worship services are available to sign out in Spencer House.

Deacon for January is Charlie Peluse (453-5517).  If you have questions, compliments or concerns, please speak with Charlie.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Enneagram Workshop:  Come on a journey of self-discovery on Sat. Jan 27th to discover your Enneagram personality type. It's fun and informative. This awareness leads to greater self-acceptance and an expanded capacity to honor the differences in others.  Led by Nancy Mann, the program will be held in Griswold Hall from 9:00am – 3:00pm with a charge of $10 for lunch.  Our lunch break will be at 1:00pm for those who wish to attend the Memorial Service for Debbie Braun.  For information, call Penelope at 453-5249.

Book of Reports for Annual Meeting Available in the Narthex and Spencer House beginning today.  As the Call to Annual Meeting stresses, please take the time to read the appendices before the meeting as there will not be time to respond to questions answered by the reports.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Important Cancellation:  The Shrove Pancake Supper originally scheduled for Monday, February 5 has cancelled for this year.

Good News from the Stewardship Committee:  Although we have not achieved our stewardship goal of pledges for 2008, we have good news to share.  Due to our holding costs down as much as possible for 2008, we seem to be very close in pledges to support the 2008 budget.  We currently need $14,056 more in pledges to meet the budget ($4,637 for Current Expenses and $9,419 for Community and World Concerns).  This would be an excellent time to send in your pledge if you have not done so.  Thank you to all who faithfully support the work of our church.

House Committee Request:  Please check Fellowship Hall kitchen for dishes that may belong to you.  P.F.ers and their parents especially need to pick up dishes, pots and pans.  Thank you!

Music and Transformation Classes continue Tuesdays 11am-12:30 pm in the Choir Room.  Grow with your Spirit through music, drawing of mandalas, prayer, meditation and group discussion.  No music/drawing experience needed.  For more information call Mary Morreale in the Music Office at 458-9701.

Alpha Club meets on Tuesday, January 22nd at 7:30pm in Fellowship Hall.  Joel Helander will speak about Guilford history.  All are welcome!

Church School Family Breakfast - Families of Church School children (& their teachers!) in grades 1, 2, and 3 are invited to a potluck breakfast social on Sunday, January 27th, at 9:00AM in Fellowship Hall.  This is another opportunity to get to know the families of your child's classmates!  Coffee & juice will be provided; please bring a dish to share.  Supervised activities will be provided for children.  Call Geoff Fix (458-0438) or Daphne Stitt (453-5249).

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OFFICIAL CALL TO ANNUAL MEETING 2008

To the members of the First Congregational Church of Guilford, Inc.:

The Annual Business Meeting of the First Congregational Church of Guilford, Inc., will be held on Sunday morning, February 3, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary, directly following the 10:00 a.m. service to:

1.  Receive and act upon the reports and recommendations of the Ministers,

2.  Receive and act upon the reports and recommendations of Boards, Committees, and organizations of the church,

3.  Act upon the proposed 2008 Budget for Current Expenses and Community and World Concerns as submitted by Church Council,

4.  Act on the proposed Bylaw revisions submitted by Church Council,

5.  Act on the proposed agreement between Linda and Peter Carleton and the First Congregational Church submitted by Church Council,

6.  Receive the report of the Nominating Committee and act upon their recommendations for Officers and Members of Boards and Committees of the Church.

Note:  The 2007 Book of Reports and the Bylaw revisions will be available in the narthex on Sunday, January 20, 2008.  Because of time constraints at the Annual Meeting, we encourage everyone to be familiar with the Bylaws Change Summary in Appendix A and the Overview, the Proposed Agreement and related documents in Appendix B.

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CHURCH CALENDAR

(FH-Fellowship Hall, GH-Griswold Hall, CSB-Church School Bldg,
CR-Choir Room, ML-Minear Library, SHK- Spencer House Keeping Room)

Sunday, January 20:  Kendrick preaching
                     8:30am  Worship - Chapel
                   10:00am  Worship/Nursery/Church School (Pre-K- Gr. 8)
             11:15am  Adult Forum: Enneagram – Chapel
Monday, January 21: Offices Closed – Dr. M. L. King, Jr. Day
                      6:15pm  Confirmation 2 - GH
                      7:30pm  Business Committee – SHK
                      7:30pm  Peace, Affirmation & Justice - ML
Tuesday, January 22:
                    11:00am  Music & Transformation - CR
                      7:00pm  Melita House Committee - ML
                      7:30pm  Alpha Club - FH
                      7:30pm  Human Resources – SHK
Wednesday, January 23: 
         3:00pm  MSYG – FH
                      4:00pm  Junior Choir- FH
                      4:00pm  Cherub Choir - GH
Thursday, January 24:
                     6:00pm  Beginning Bells – Sanctuary
                     7:00pm  BSA – FH
                     7:15pm  Choir Rehearsal - CR
Saturday, January 26:
                      9:00am – 3:00pm  Enneagram Workshop
                      1:00pm  Memorial Service for Debbie Braun - Sanctuary
Sunday, January 27:  Susan  preaching
                      8:30am  Worship – Chapel
                      9:00am  Choir Rehearsal-CR
                      9:00am  Welcoming & Inclusion Breakfast (see announcemt)
10:00am  Worship/Nursery/Church School (Pre-K- Gr. 8)
             11:15am  Adult Forum – Chapel
             11:15am  Confirmation 1 Students – Grade 4 Classroom
               6:00pm  PF Parent Meeting- Sanctuary

12 Step Meetings at First Church This Week:
AA:  Sunday, 7:15am – GH             Alanon:  Tuesday, 7:30pm – Chapel
         Tuesday, 7:30pm – GH                               Wednesday, 10:00am - FH
         Friday, Noon & 8:00pm – FH        NA:  Sunday, 12:00noon – GH
         Saturday, 7:30am – GH     Alateen:  Tuesday, 7:30pm – CSB#9
Young People’s AA:  Wednesday, 7:00pm – FH

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Some quotes from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as chosen by the Peace, Affirmation and Justice Committee

And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.  All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends....  History is replete with the bleached bones of nations and communities that failed to follow this command.
Martin Luther King, Jr., "A Christmas Sermon"  24 December 1967


At Oslo I suggested that the philosophy and strategy of non-violence become immediately a subject for study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict, including relations between nations.  This was not, I believe, an unrealistic suggestion. World peace through non-violent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Non-violence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion.  We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built. Racial injustice around the world. Poverty. War. When man solves these three great problems he will have squared his moral progress with his scientific progress. And more importantly, he will have learned the practical art of living in harmony.

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Dreams of Brighter Tomorrows" (March 1965)


A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be changed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.  Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo, we shall boldly challenge unjust mores, and thereby speed up the day when "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

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