Greetings! we are pleased to present your 2021 March
First Presbyterian Church of Green Bay newsletter!
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Lent Book Study--It's Not Too Late to Join!
We’ve only just begun…please come join us for a conversation and prayer each Wednesday evening or Thursday morning in Lent. Our book is called Lent in Plain Sight and is written by Jill Duffield, a Presbyterian pastor who previously served as editor of The Presbyterian Outlook magazine. The readings take us through the six weeks of Lent by focusing our attention on an everyday object in our lives each week, with a short devotional reading for each day of the week. We started with dust last week, and will work our way through bread, coins, shoes, oil and more. The book is accessible and engaging; our conversations will be a way to connect and keep one another accountable in this spiritual discipline; and our prayers are from the heart! Wednesdays are 6:30-7:30 p.m. and Thursdays are 11:00 am-noon. Check with Pastor Katie or the church office if you need the Zoom link to join us online.
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A New Feature
Questions & Answers by Committee
The Communications & Marketing Committee have determined a new feature for our newsletter. In the format of three questions and answers from a particular committee, we hope this will give everyone a bit more insight into each of our committees. We are starting with the Communications & Marketing Committee here:
Q #1. What is one of the most important (or urgent or vital?) tasks the committee has set for itself this year?
- First and foremost, we need to find a successor to Connie. She has been a real stalwart, especially in the last year, when our newsletter and other output, both electronically and otherwise, has increased greatly. We are reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates and hope to make a decision soon.
- Second, in cooperation with other committees, we want to take full advantage of our new media capabilities, both in terms of providing quality virtual services to our congregation and taking full advantage of the production capabilities of our new screen and projector. (More on that below.)
Q #2. What has been/is different for your committee because of the pandemic?
- Like everyone else, almost all of our meetings have been virtual. The newsletter and other electronic communications with the congregation have increased exponentially. We’ve been part of the effort to bring First Pres into the 21st century regarding remote services. In short, our committee, along with the Task Force that selected the media upgrades, and other key congregation members have been really busy.
Q #3. What would you like to say to/ask of the rest of the congregation?
- First, we need your help! It’s a big job producing a virtual Sunday service, and currently Amy Wittman and Lisa Olson are taking that on. We need more trained volunteers to help out once a month or so. Please let the office know if you are interested. It’s not a big job, but it’s really important.
- Second, we need volunteers to learn how to use our new media equipment ( the projector and screen) and to help put together presentations. Camera Corner/Connecting Point will be providing training in the next few weeks. Again, It’s not a big job, but it’s really important, and as they say many hands make for light work. Please contact the office if you are interested.
- Finally, we need to pay for all this stuff! Session approved paying for the new equipment out of Endowment funds with the understanding that there would be a campaign to raise funds to pay for half of the cost. We are currently short about $15 thousand dollars. Please consider making a generous contribution to these important steps to ensure a vibrant future for our church!
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Coming Soon in Worship
The Worship committee is working hard to include both in-person participants and those who worship online via our livestream in our worship services each week. This “new normal” for our congregation is made possible by increased use of technology and some new equipment in the sanctuary, as well as volunteers stepping forward to help make it all work. If you could help out, contact Amy Wittman for simple training. It’s fun!
This month in worship on March 14th we have the opportunity to ordain and install a new ruling elder for the congregation. Get ready for a new way to participate in the “laying on of hands” for this service! And the following week, on March 21st, we will be receiving new members into our congregation. The pandemic does not keep us from any of these regular elements of our worship life in this community of faith.
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Holy Week Preview: YOUR Contributions Needed!
Holy Week begins on March 28th with Palm Sunday, continues through Maundy Thursday, April 1st, Good Friday, April 2nd, and comes to its glorious conclusion on Easter Sunday, April 4th. While that may seem too far away to mention, we want to give you plenty of time to add your contributions to our worship planning.
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Our Maundy Thursday service will be held in person and via livestream at 6:30 pm and will immerse us in the story of the Last Supper. To that end, we are asking for your photos of yourself and your family at the dinner table together. We’d like to have as many of our members and friends represented as possible in a slide show of family dinner table pictures. Please email a picture to Amy Wittman or the church office by March 22 to be included. Don’t worry about what’s for dinner—the people at your table are the point! Just you alone, or as many as can crowd around your dinner table, we want them all.
Good Friday will feature a worship service at 6:30 pm in person and online. This service will be the ancient ceremony known as Tenebrae, which means “darkening.” We will read through the portions of the passion narrative that took place on that Friday, interspersed with special music of the season from members and friends of the church and the extinguishing of a series of candles to keep us focused on the growing darkness of that night. We conclude this service in darkened silence and leave worship to meditate on our own complicity in Christ’s death.
Plans for Easter Sunday and the celebration of Christ’s resurrection are still forming, but we are looking for children, youth, and families who are willing to share in a brief part of the service by recording themselves reciting a line or two of a script which will then be put together by our masterful editing team. If you could make a quick videotape (think TikTok, without the dancing!) for us, please let the church office know. AND we need more photos, this time of you or your family from an Easter past. Do you have that sweet old picture of yourself as a child at Easter, complete with basket and gloves and bonnet? Or of you and your siblings all decked out in Easter finery? It could be a picture from last year or from ten years ago or from 60 years back—any and all are welcome! Again, please submit photos to Amy Wittman or the church office by March 22 to be included.
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Presbyterian Pantry
March Needs
For March, the Pantry volunteers are again requesting donations of canned chicken and canned tuna. You can place them in the shopping cart in the narthex at your convenience. Don't forget, the Pantry can always use monetary donations as well! The March dates of the Pantry are Tuesdays on 3/9 and 3/23 from 10 am to noon.
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Cozy Kids Thank You
Thank you very much from the Tank kids! On February 1st Stephanie delivered a Jeep full of beautiful items that will keep the Tank Kids warm and cozy for the rest of winter. There were many handmade items & some of everything they need: hats, boots, scarves, mittens, socks, jackets, lip gloss & Kleenex. The Outreach Committee thanks all who helped make this such a beautiful venture. Thank you to all from the Outreach committee and from the kids! God bless you all.
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Prayer Baskets
Thank You
The Outreach Committee extends a huge thank you to all who helped make the Prayer Baskets happen for the three families from Tank School! As you know, we adopted three families who received a complete Christmas including dinner! Our church is awesome in supporting this mission. A very special thank you to the Mott family, the Nelson family, and Ken Sann and his helpers who volunteered to be the family coordinators. God bless all who donated, wrapped, and organized the baskets for these grateful families.
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Connie's Good-Bye
March 5 will mark my last day at FPC - I started in 2016 with very little knowledge of the Presbyterian religion, and you all were very welcoming and willing to help me as I learned.
The people at First Pres have become a big part of my life, and I shall miss my interaction with you all–as little as it has been this year with the pandemic. I am very glad to have had the opportunity to be a part of what is a very welcoming and loving group of individuals dedicated to the missions of First Pres, as well as Inspiring All to Love and Serve with Christ. I will always be proud of the time I have spent with you, and appreciative of the kindnesses that have been offered to me here.
Thank you also to those who have provided me with feedback, encouragement, and support over the past four and half years. The knowledge that I have been an asset to this organization is important to me, and I appreciate that I have gotten that input from you. I look forward to spending more time with my 92-year old Mom, and the possibilities for travel that retirement will bring. I thank you for the opportunity to work with such a fine group of individuals – it has been informative and enjoyable and you have brought joy to my life. You all have chosen well when you asked Pastor Katie to minister to your needs, and she and the other staff have all become very dear to me.
Once again, thank you very much for your friendship, and I hope to see you when I can properly hug you again!
Warmest regards,
Connie
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1st - David Solper
2nd - Mary Ginnebaugh,
Marilyn Van Langendon, Tyler Weise
3rd - Harland Merrell, Lisa Solper
9th - Thomas Halloran, Jean Maes
12th - George Hubbard
14th - Loni McCormick, David Young Jr.
17th - Michelle Erickson, Lori Jansen
18th - Barry Siewert
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19th - Fern Kelley
21st - Harrison Christensen,
Malia Christensen
22nd - Roberta Brand
24th - Asher Early, Jessica Laughrin,
Jennifer Rowell
27th - Gary De Laruelle
28th - Lisa Olson
31st - Julie Johnson
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