Life@First

Easter Gladness Leads to Pentecost’s Creative Spirit

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:50:23 +0000

The early weeks of May find us in the season of Eastertide, when we hear anew the teaching of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with the God made known in Jesus.

On May 13th, the youth of the congregation will lead us, as we see and hear how God continues to do amazing things — from the mouths of our middle and senior high school students. The youth are working with CE Director Bryce Wiebe and Youth Group Advisors, Sharon and Anthony Damelio, to write and lead the liturgy for the morning.

On May 20th, we will take time during our worship service to congratulate the graduates of our congregation. This will also be the last Sunday before Co-Pastors Bill Goettler and Maria LaSala leave for their summer sabbatical.

On Pentecost, May 27th, The Rev. Dr. Nora Tubbs Tisdale, Clement-Muehl Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School, will be the guest preacher. Nora will have just returned from her Spring sabbatical and months spent in South Africa. She plans to share stories of how the winds of the Spirit are at work in that country.

The Pentecost Special Offering will be received that morning. This special offering will go to support programs that work with children at risk here in New Haven and around the country.

Annual First Presbyterian Arts and Craft Show – May 13

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:30:55 +0000

Calling all artists and crafters! Come and display your work for all to see. The annual arts and crafts show will take place during the Friendship Hour on Sunday,
May 13th.

If you would like to set up a display, please talk with Beth Aura Miller. A special Children’s Art Corner will be set up this year. Bring your favorite drawings and sculptures!

Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial, April stone, Monday, May 7

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:19:57 +0000

Remember that the war in Iraq is not over for the Iraqi people. Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice will again be marking the cost of the continuing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan by placing the April stone on the Memorial Cairn at the intersection of Broadway, Elm and Park streets in New Haven on Monday evening, 6 p.m., May 7.

This stone will be inscribed with the April death total of US military personnel and the approximate documented numbers of Iraqi and Afghani civilians killed during that same period of time.

May 2012 Bible Study Texts

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:17:57 +0000

May 6: Acts 8:26–40; Ps. 22:25–31; 1 John 4:7–21; John 15:1–8
May 13: Acts 10:44–48; Ps. 98; 1 John 5:1–6; John 15:9–17
May 20: Acts 1:15–17, 21–26; Ps. 1; 1 John 5:9–13; John 17:6–19
May 27: Acts 2:1–21 or Ezek. 37:1–14; Ps. 104:24–34, 35b; Rom. 8:22–27 or Acts 2:1–21; John 15:26–27; 16:4b–15

Feinstein Anti-Hunger Challenge

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:33:21 +0000

For the 10th year in a row, Christian Community Action (CCA) will be participating in the nationwide $1-million Alan Shawn Feinstein Foundation Anti-Hunger Challenge. This means that the Feinstein Foundation (www.feinsteinfoundation.org) will make a financial donation for each food item/cash donation made to the CCA Food Pantry during March and April.

The more donations received from March 1st to April 30th, the bigger the donation from the Feinstein Foundation. These donations can include cash, checks and food items (valued at $1.00 per item or pound) or pledges.

CCA’s food pantry is one of the largest in the region, serving more than 600 people a month, 50 percent of them children. It is available to families with children, senior citizens and people with disabilities in the Hill section of New Haven, and over the years the agency has served more than 40,000 people. Starting in 2001, they have offered a “Client Choice” program. Food pantry participants are given the opportunity to “shop” for their food items rather than receiving a pre-made bag. CCA maintains membership with the Connecticut Food Bank but relies on others for donations.

First Presbyterian Church has a green wheel barrow parked in the Copeland Room to collect food items for CCA. On the last Sunday of each month, a volunteer packs up the bags and delivers them to the CCA food pantry at Davenport and Asylum Streets. If you would like to join in this effort, please contact Jane Hindenlang at jane.hindenlang@gmail.com.

March and April are traditionally periods when donations to food pantries are low, which is why the Feinstein Foundation picked these months for their campaign. Please consider making an extra effort to fill the green wheelbarrow during this time.

The Billboard from Bethlehem: The Story of the Combatants for Peace

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:08:09 +0000

April 15th, 2012 6:30pm
First Presbyterian Church of New Haven
704 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06511

Speaker: Bruce Barrett, the film’s director and Founder of IWagePeace

Combatants for Peace Flyer
Combatants for Peace Poster

The Billboard from Bethlehem, an award-winning documentary film stars The Combatants For Peace, a coalition of former Israeli Defense Force Fighters and Palestinian Resistance fighters in the Holy Land who have renounced violence and committed themselves to a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It also tells the story of Bruce Barrett, an American billboard company owner, who convinces The Combatants For Peace to recruit Israeli and Palestinian children to paint a giant peace mural billboard inside the West Bank of Palestine.

The documentary weaves the tale of billboard design with eight Combatants’ stories of personal transformation from wielders of violence to combatants for peace.

The Billboard from Bethlehem is winner of

Mondavi Award for Peace and Cultural Understanding at Napa Sonoma Film Festival
Best Long/Short Form Documentary at Reel Art Film Festival
Best Humanitarian Film at Bushwick Film Festival
Documentary Star Award at the Indie Gathering

“I watched this [film] shedding tears both of sadness and of hope.” Rabbi Herbert Brockman, Ph.D., D.D. Congregation Mishkan Israel, Hamden, CT.

“By bringing together Palestinians and Israelis, Barrett provides an opportunity to break down stereotypes and to foster human community across borders and across cultures.” Dr. Peter E. Makari, Executive, Middle East and Europe, Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

About the event speaker/ director of the film
Bruce Barrett, a Connecticut billboard company owner-turned-peacemaker created www.IWagePeace.org as a primer on active non-violence peace-making in 2006. He received the Living Waters Award from the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ for working with youth and promoting peace and diversity. IWagePeace’s work includes organizing The Combatants for Peace Tours, I Wage Peace Walks and the painting of peace billboard signs which it then posts on the interstate highways of Connecticut.

Youth Group – Stations of the Cross – Good Friday

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:01:20 +0000

The Stations of the Cross, or Way of the Cross, is a traditional Christian devotional practice involving a series of stations, usually fourteen, that represent the Passion of Jesus Christ, from his condemnation to his body being laid in the tomb. Each station is typically depicted by a work of art, which are often permanently installed in some Roman Catholic churches. During Lent, usually on Good Friday, congregations will walk the Stations of the Cross together with an accompanying litany of prayers and responses.

Given our Presbyterian heritage of rejecting icons, we historically have not had these stations installed in our sanctuaries or walked the Stations during Lent. This year, youth group advisers Sharon and Anthony wanted to involve the youth in the devotional life of this worshiping community at this holy time. Artistic renderings of a the station were designed by youth group members.

This Good Friday, the youth will help lead the litany of prayers as we walk the Stations of the Cross. We will meet at 6:45 p.m. in the Sanctuary to walk the path with Jesus from trial to tomb. We hope you will join the youth and many other members of the congregation in this
powerful Lenten devotional practice, uniting ourselves in prayer and action with Christians around the globe.

The Tenebrae service will follow at 7:30 p.m.

April 2012 Bible Study Texts

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:37:26 +0000

April 1: Liturgy of the Palms Mark 11:1–11 or John 12:12–16; Ps. 118:1–2, 19–29;
April 8: Acts 10:34–43 or Isa. 25:6–9; Ps. 118:1–2, 14–24; 1 Cor. 15:1–11 or Acts 10:34–43; John 20:1–18 or Mark 16:1–8
April 15: Acts 4:32–35; Ps. 133; 1 John 1:1–2:2; John 20:19–31
April 22: Acts 3:12–19; Ps. 4; 1 John 3:1–7; Luke 24:36b–48
April 29: Acts 4:5–12; Ps. 23; 1 John 3:16–24; John 10:11–18

Maundy Thursday’s Foot Washing on the New Haven Green

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:03:36 +0000

Chapel on the Green, sponsored by Trinity Church, is hosting a foot care clinic on Maundy Thursday, April 5th, from 1-3 p.m.

Volunteers are needed to help provide a caring attentive presence to the homeless and others in need of foot care. Set up for the 1 PM service and the foot care clinic begins at 11:00 AM.

Tents, ground coverings, tables, chairs and alter will need to be moved outdoors, arranged and set up. There’s water to boil and set in large multi-gallon thermoses; and foot care supplies to be made ready and accessible for health care volunteers.

Ushers and greeters are needed to direct any and all Chapel on the Green parishioners and foot care clinic guests to the appropriate stations.

New white “extra durable cushioning” crew or tube socks are especially needed; clean, dry feet clothed in fresh, warm socks along with this caring ministry of presence help feed souls and are a clear morale booster for those whose average day begins with little to no access to hygiene, may be diabetic and/or walking in poor (and maybe wet) shoes an average of 8 miles a day.

Women at the Well returns this month – April 18

admin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:59:39 +0000

All women of the congregation are invited to the well for a simple meal and a time for prayer and reflection on what it means to live as women of the Resurrection.

Listening again to the Easter good news, and the role women played in spreading that good news, we will take time to share our own understandings of where we see resurrection hope. We will gather on Wednesday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m.

Please sign up at the Welcome Table, and indicate if you are able to make a pot of soup or bring a loaf of bread or dessert.