NEWS @ FIRST

December 2, 2022

Third Sunday

of Advent

This Sunday . . . 

will be the Ordination and Installation Service at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. for our recently elected elders and deacons. Come and show your support for these--and all our faithful leaders--for their service to our church. Let's keep them in our prayers!

See THIS Sunday's 11:00 am Worship Service
See THIS Sunday's 9:00 am Worship Bulletin
See THIS Sunday's 11:00 am Worship Bulletin
December 11, 2022, Bulletin Announcements

Tonight, is our special musical program. Come early!

You are invited to continue the celebration of A Celtic Christmas at a

reception in the Fellowship Hall immediately following the performance.

You are welcome to bring a plate of cookies or treats to share with others if you are able.

Blood Drive THIS Sunday

8:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Walk-ins welcome. Free T-shirts for donors.

Save the Date

Sunday, Dec. 25 - Christmas Day

One service at 11:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hal (in person and live-streamed)


Sunday, Jan. 1 - First Sunday of Christmas

One service at 11:00 a.m. in the sanctuary


Sunday, Jan. 8 - Epiphany Sunday

9:00 a.m. NewSong and 11:00 a.m. traditional worship services

Order Poinsettias This Week

Please click on the link to the printable form to order poinsettias in memory of, or in honor of, a family member or friend. These lovely plants will be displayed on Christmas Eve. You may indicate on the form that you will pick up your plants after the 7:00 p.m. or that you would like them delivered to homebound members.

Poinsettia Order Form

Stewardship

Thank you to those who have stepped forward in faith with your 2023 pledge. If you have not made your pledge, it’s not too late! All pledges are needed—you can return your pledge card to the church office or pledge online through the church website:

www.FirstPresSarasota.org and select member login.

View this year’s stewardship video by clicking on the link below:

Stewardship Video Link

Advent Devotional Booklets

Attending to Advent: Poetry, Prose, and Prayer

This daily devotional, which includes submissions from poets you have read in the pages of the Presbyterian Outlook, invites readers to pause and reflect on narratives in the Christmas story. Each week, the devotions address a different theme. Daily readings take us deeper into the scriptural story of the birth of Christ and explore contemporary subjects that include the many ways God’s incarnation can be experienced.

 

Advent booklets are available at church in the sanctuary narthex or the Fellowship Hall foyer. They can also be printed at home with the link below:

Advent Devotional Booklet

Thoughtful Giving Booklets

Each year we look forward to giving financial gifts in honor of our family members or friends to one or more of our mission partners. These booklets are available as you enter or exit the services or click the link below to print at home for you to consider your giving opportunities.

Thoughtful Giving 2022

THANK YOU for bringing your gift cards for Brentwood Elementary School families in need!

This Sunday is the last day to return these cards which will make such a difference in the lives of these families.  

Thank you, too, for responding to the invitation to join the families at the Celebration Dinner on Sunday, December 18, 4:00-6:00 p.m. There will be fun activities for the children and a delicious dinner and Christmas program for all. You may sign up at the Blessing Trees if you would like to attend, or call the church office by Wednesday, December 14.  


Please pray for the families, the Invest in Children steering committee and their helpers who are preparing for this event. What a blessing the culmination of this project will be—to the families and all those who have supported this unique effort. Thank you!

Blessing Tree Flyer

Read this week's Family Newsletter!

Family Newsletter

Family Christmas Eve Service

Saturday, December 24, 4:00 p.m.

Our children and youth have begun planning for our Family Christmas Eve Service. This service will have all the elements of the Nativity service that our church family has cherished for years, coupled with bright stars, traditional Christmas music, and participation by the children and youth of our congregation and preschool. 

 

During the Sunday school hour this past week, we made cards for homebound congregation members and assigned parts for the Family Christmas Eve nativity service. The older youth helped stuff stockings for the Brentwood Blessing Tree families. The spirit of giving was all around!


This Sunday, we will meet in the Fellowship Hall at 10:00 a.m. and head upstairs together. Here’s what to expect:


-Any children interested in singing at the service will practice “Go Tell it on a Mountain." 

-We will rehearse each scene separately. 

-We will begin to select and organize costumes (Thank-you, volunteer parents!).

-During wait time, we will have Christmas crafts available. 


If you have been assigned a part in the nativity pageant and cannot make it this Sunday, please let Emily or Leah know. 


See you this Sunday!

Presbyterian Women

PW Bible study meets Wednesday, December 14, at

10:00 a.m. on Zoom. Anna Bedford is leading the fourth lesson in the Horizons Bible Study, "Celebrating Sabbath.” This lesson from Exodus 16 is titled Sabbath and Surrender. The “manna” story, with its emphasis on only gathering as much as we need and not gathering on the Sabbath, is a call to trust God to provide for our needs. It is a call to surrender our unhealthy striving for more wealth, more stuff, and more success. It is a call to recognize when it is time to say, “Enough.” The study guide is not necessary to join, and all women are invited! Contact Elaine Barnett at ewbarnet@me.com for the Zoom link.

The Sarasota Music Club will be presenting its December program in the Fellowship Hall next Friday, December 16, at 10:30 a.m. Andrew Kapsar, an outstanding baritone, will be performing “A Classical Holiday Morning” concert of music sure to please everyone at this festive time of the year.

 

Andrew is a voice major at FSU and the recipient of the 2022 Florida Federation of Music Club’s Collegiate Competition. The Sarasota Music Club’s concerts are free and open to the public, so we hope you’ll join us on Friday for a morning of uplifting music by a young, rising star in the music world.

Cuba Trip Update

In a few weeks (February 8–14), thirteen First Presbyterian Church members will head to Cuba to visit our partner church, Juan G. Hall in Cárdenas, and visit the seminary in Matanzas. Cuba is in the grip of dire shortages of food and medicine, and power outages occur daily. COVID has greatly worsened the situation.



The travel team asks for your abundant prayers for their trip and the situation in Cuba. More details will be coming. Thank you for supporting the partnership! 

Salt Shakers

One wonderful way for members and friends of First Presbyterian Church to get to know each other better is to break bread together. Groups of 6-8 people,

(couples or singles) meet once a month from February through April or May.

 

Each Salt Shaker group decides whether they want to have a potluck at a member’s home, dine at a restaurant, have a picnic, or brunch or something

else, groups are encouraged to be creative! Sign up through the end of January.


Questions?

Diane Bittner: (941) 755-2268 or

Marcia Schaper: (941) 922-5245


Pick up a registration form this in the narthex or in the Fellowship Hall foyer.

FPC's Weekly All Faiths Food Distribution 

We have expanded our food offering and are now averaging over 100 families per week!


Join us on Thursday mornings to volunteer. We start packing food at 8:30 a.m. and serve from 10:00-11:30 a.m.

Cowden-Smith Library Hours
Library open Monday – Friday
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sundays, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

The library book cart in the narthex offers a varied selection of our newer books from which you can choose, including some children's books. No due dates; simply return when you finish with them. A sign-out sheet is on the cart.

Ushers Needed

Please contact Denise Landers by calling (941) 587-7992 or emailing: davidanddenise@tampabay.rr.com if you are interested in being a part of the new rotating team of ushers. Training will be provided. It’s a great way to serve!

Prayer List

Click on the link below for the prayer list. Thank you for praying for healing and encouragement for these dear ones.

Prayer List
We Care Poster-Card Recipients
We appreciate our team of We Care poster artists who creatively design poster-cards for our church members when they are hospitalized. Special notes, prayers, and well wishes are written on the cards by our congregation on Sunday mornings, and the cards are mailed out.

On the link below is a list of those who have recently received a We Care poster-card. Consider how you might support them through a prayer, a card, or a phone call. Thank you for being family for one another!
We Care Recipients


First Presbyterian Preschool

firstprespreschoolsarasota.org

Preschool News

Our preschool students, teachers and parents care for the preschool’s vegetable, herb, and butterfly garden. Recently, they harvested tomatoes, peppers, and germinated beans to grow at home with their families. The students are also caring for butterfly plants to fuel their spring butterfly project of watching their caterpillar friends nibble their way through the caterpillar lifespan and change into butterflies which are then released.


The preschool garden parents are collecting compost materials for the school’s compost bin. If you enjoy coffee, please save your coffee grounds; or vegetable or fruit scraps. We’ll gladly take those off your hands! Compost scraps need to be free from meat, dairy, fat, and nut products. Please place coffee grounds and fruit or veggie scraps in a Ziploc bag. If you have an interest in helping our preschool parents in the garden, or you have compost donations, please contact the preschool office at (941) 366-2000, or email preschool@firstpressarasota.org.

 

Our preschool children are inviting all the church family to the Christmas Performances Thursday, December 15 and Friday, December 16, from 11:40 a.m. - 12:00 noon. Excitement is growing to celebrate our preschool’s 75th anniversary in February 2023.

2023 Offering Envelopes - available THIS SUNDAY

Continuing this Sunday, December 11, through Sunday, December 18, there is a table for you to pick up your 2023 offering envelopes. To save on the cost of mailing, please make every effort to pick up your envelopes.

Consider a Year-End Gift

to Support First Presbyterian Church

This Advent season as you prepare for and anticipate the Christ child, we invite you to consider making a year-end gift to First Presbyterian Church. You may make:

  • A cash donation
  • A gift of appreciated securities
  • A direct to charity transfer from your IRA (if you are over 70 ½ and have not given more than $100,000 from your IRA to charities this year)
  • A gift from your donor-advised fund or private foundation
  • The gift can be directed in two ways:
  • To First Presbyterian Church to be added to the current operating budget
  • To The Foundation for the First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota to be added to the endowment to ensure/support our missions into the future


Your gift may be specifically directed to scholarships, youth programs, building funds, or to mission and ministries of the church. Or you may leave the best use of the gift to be decided by the session with the assurance that church leadership is devoted to careful stewardship of your funds.


Discuss these opportunities with your tax advisor to see which may be best for you, as these can be used by many as deductions office for income tax purposes.


If this is not the right time for an over-and-above donation, please consider joining the Covenant Society by making a pledge to include the Foundation in your will or estate plan as a legacy of your faith that will impact generations to come.


Contact Lisa Garcia at the church office for more information on making a year-end donation. A Covenant Society pledge form can be accessed by clicking on the link below:

Covenant Society pledge form

The Rev. Dr. Timothy Boggess to Preach on ‘Day 1’® Radio Program

(Article published by ‘Day 1’)

 

The Rev. Dr. Timothy T. Boggess, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, Fl, is the featured preacher December 25, Christmas Day, on “Day 1” with host Peter Wallace, the nationally broadcast ecumenical radio program also accessible online at Day1.org.


His sermon “In the Dark” is drawn from the beloved nativity story found in Luke 2:1-20. “It’s been 34 months and we’re still in the dark about when this pandemic will finally be over. Over these past few years, we have lost many whom we loved,” says Boggess. “Which is why we need to hear the message of Christmas now more than ever.”


Before coming to Sarasota, he was pastor of Northwest Presbyterian Church in Atlanta for 13 years, having earlier served churches in Madison and Cartersville, Ga., and Perry, Ok. Boggess is a graduate of Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., and earned an M. Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a D. Min. from McCormick Theological Seminary.


The program includes interviews with Boggess conducted by Wallace, who is also executive producer. “Day 1” has been broadcast every week for 77 years, formerly as “The Protestant Hour.” Featuring outstanding preachers from the mainline denominations, “Day 1” is currently distributed to 200 radio stations across America and overseas. The program is produced by the Alliance for Christian Media, based in Atlanta, Ga. "Day 1"® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Alliance for Christian Media, Inc. For more information, check the program’s website, http://day1.org

Care Notes are short, 5–6-page inspirational booklets aimed at helping people in a wide variety of difficult life situations. In addition to the narthex, parlor, and office hallway, there are booklets for youth and teens in the fellowship hall. The entire collection of over a hundred different booklets are also available in the library. These are for you to keep, but can be returned to the library if no longer needed. During the holiday season please see the selection of Care Notes that are unique for the season.

 

Pastoral Care

When you or a loved one is hospitalized, it is important that you contact the church or one of the pastors to inform us directly and inform the hospital that you are a member of our congregation and would welcome a visit by one of our pastors. Hospitals will not contact the church. We have also discovered that some will no longer even list a patient as our church member on their internal records unless the patient is careful to note their relationship with our congregation. Thank you for your assistance.


We’re Here for You!

The FPC care team, Stephen Ministers, deacons, elders and church staff continue to be available for you. Please feel free to reach out to Cheryl Track, Faith Community Nurse (941) 320-3828 or call the church office (941) 955-8119 if we can be of support to you.

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