News 04/23/2020

April 23, 2020

Please Note: The church building is currently closed due to the COVID-19 “Safer at Home” quarantine. Weekly worship services are still occurring via YouTube (see below).

Donate online!

On Sunday, April 26th, at 10am, click here for our Worship Service.

In case you missed it: 

Click here for the April 19th Sunday Worship Service 

Click here for the April 12th Easter Sunday Service 

Click here for the April 5th Palm Sunday Service  

GROW Classes Back in Session

GROW STAYS INSIDE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

For the next several weeks, FMCUCC’s GROW is hosting conversations with advocates and educators who will guide us in exploring vital moral and theological issues while we’re all stuck inside. There are still vital justice issues that require our attention and exciting possibilities for enlightenment we can pursue even though we’re staying at home! Our conversations will begin at 2:00 pm this Thursday and Friday. Please plan to get on 5 minutes beforehand. If you’ve never used Zoom before, check out the helpful guide below. Click here to view the PDF on “How to Zoom”

This week we’re excited to welcome the following facilitators:

THURSDAY – 4/23 at 2:00pm

Lupe Gonzalo (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) and Uriel Zelaya-Perez (Alliance for Fair Food) will be leading a discussion entitled “Farmworkers in the Time of COVID-19.” A discussion on the mission of the Coalition of Immokalee workers and the COVID-19 crisis. What can we do to aid farmworkers in their struggle for adequate protections as essential workers during the pandemic?

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/77912287638
Meeting ID: 779 1228 7638


FRIDAY – 4/24 at 2:00pm

Rev. Craig B. Mousin (Ombudsperson and Faculty in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at Depaul University) will facilitate a conversation about U.S. immigration law. Rev. Mousin was originally going to join us for our Lenten series on immigration, but has been kind enough to reschedule given the unusual situation. He will offer a workshop on how U.S. immigration law has changed in recent decades and how these changes have impacted the most vulnerable among us.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71832861654
Meeting ID: 718 3286 1654

PLEDGE CARDS

As we continue to forge through these new obstacles, we know that some of you have not had a chance to return your pledge card. The Finance Board is working to have a completed budge and needs to make sure your pledge has been counted.

 

If you haven’t had the chance to send it in and would like to, click here to get a new pledge card that you can print out at home and mail in.

 

Thank you to everyone who has already returned your pledge cards and for everyone faithfully helping our mission continue.

 

Click on the card below to send your pledge information electronically to our Finance Coordinator, Laura Wunderly.

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS

Over the duration of our social (but not spiritual) distancing, I invite you to email your photos to me at davidbucey@gmail.com or ofcmgrfmcucc@gmail.com.

 

We have received some photos and are thrilled to be able to put them up in the Sanctuary but we would love to get more. If you have not had the chance to send one in, please email one today. It doesn’t have to be a formal photo, a selfie works great!

 

Each day I will set aside time to pray for each person included in the March 20, 2020, Church Directory sent as a separate email. You are invited as well to take the new directory and pray for those you know AND those you do not.

 

A lot has been made of social separation in recent days. As we pray for each other and contact each other via phone, text, and email, may we strive to be closer spiritually as well as on social media. — Dave

NOW MORE THAN EVER, YOUR STEWARDSHIP IS IMPORTANT

Fort Myers Congregational UCC is accepting your tithes and offerings via our website. Simply go to FMCUCC.org and find the word “DONATE” prominently displayed on the main page.

 

Depending upon which option you choose, your donation will be processed by PayPal or Tithe.ly as a safe and secure way to underwrite the expenses of our vital ministries. Or if you prefer, you may mail your offering in the convenient, pre-addressed envelopes you use every week. Don’t forget to mail in your pledge cards if you haven’t already.

 

Don’t have giving envelopes? Place your check in any envelope and mail it to FMCUCC. That way you’ll be participating in your church’s vital ministries during our time apart.

 

Remeber: When You Give ONLINE Through tithe.ly You Can “Cover the Cost“ of the fees and save the church about $2.50 when you donate $100.00. That’s good Stewardship!
Click on the logos below to make a donation

Or, if you prefer, please mail your donation to the church

Fort Myers Congregational
United Church of Christ
8210 College Parkway
Fort Myers, Florida 33919

MANAGING GRIEF DURING A PANDEMIC

by Doreen Marshall, Ph.D.

Vice President of Mission Engagement, AFSP

 

Many of us are grieving right now. We are grieving people we have lost, in many instances not having had the opportunity to say goodbye or to be with them in their final moments. We are grieving not being able to have our in-person presence to support one another right now. We are grieving our rituals, our routines and the familiarity of our day-to-day assumptions. For those of us who have a history with grief (especially the unexpected kind), we may be having grief of those former losses stirred and awakened. This week alone, I had two separate dreams connected to previous losses (a death and a miscarriage). I had to remind myself when I woke that it was not those events reoccurring, but another, entirely distinct set of losses that I was currently experiencing.

 

Grief can be messy. It’s not linear, as in, “when I get through this particular feeling, I’m done with that.” It is cyclical and lingers around important events, words not said, certain songs, and moments captured like photographs in our minds. It is a place we can choose to visit or ignore, though it resides in the background as if waiting for us to notice.

 

If you are experiencing grief right now, here are some things you might remind yourself:

 

  1. There are different ways to say goodbye. Unexpected endings tend to bring strong emotions, often anchored in both the present and the past, when we may have felt abandoned or left behind. There are different ways to say goodbye. Write a letter to your loved one, even if you end up being the only one who sees it. If your loved one has died or is in a place you can’t visit, hold an intention for them in your mind, and say it aloud as you think of them throughout the day. One of my favorites is, “May you feel my love for you and be surrounded by peace.”
  2. “The last sentence of the book doesn’t rewrite the entire story.” Years ago, following the loss of someone dear to me, a wise person shared these words with me. It reminded me that even though I was unable to be with my loved one when he died, I had a book full of lines to draw upon that were the story of our life together and of our relationship. Many of those lines were expressions of our love, moments we shared together, conversations and memories. Remembering these feelings and these moments is how we get a sense of who the individual was; who we were with them; and what the relationship was—all of which surpasses their final moments. Right now is a good time to reflect on those earlier, better memories as best as you can, to remind yourself of the full picture of their lives and your connection.
  3. Connections can deepen over time, even after loss. My father died 14 years ago this week. In the early days and weeks following his death, all I could remember was the image of him sick, and the trauma I associated with that. As time passed, my memories of him unexpectedly became richer and more accessible than they were in those early days. The images of him being sick began to fade away. I can now more easily remember his laugh and his jokes, and recognize the similarity between my daughter’s eyes and his. I also feel more connected to how he must have felt as a parent, now that I am one, myself. These are newer, deeper connections to my father, ones I couldn’t have anticipated at the time he died.
  4. You are not alone in your grief. Know that others are also experiencing grief right now, and that there is support available. Online grief support, and grief support provided by mental health professionals, hospice centers and faith groups are all accessible to you, many via telehealth and other virtual platforms. You can learn about options for grief support by connecting to your local mental health providers, faith organizations or hospice, or through one of the following national resources: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1800 273-TALK (8255); Crisis Text Line: text TALK to 741741. If you are struggling with the loss of a loved one to suicide, even one that occurred prior to COVID-19, AFSP has our Healing Conversations program, which provides peer-to-peer phone or video contact and resources for those struggling with suicide loss.

Please know, at this time, that others who have traveled the roads of grief are here for you and can serve as guides. Look to them for hope, healing and comfort during this difficult time, and know that days are ahead of you in which the intensity of your grief will be lessened, and replaced by loving memories.


DO YOU NEED A MASK?

Have you been leaving the house with an uncovered face lately?

 

We at FMCUCC want you to be safe and so with the help of our Deacons are able to provide you a cloth mask that will protect the people you “safely “ encounter outside.

 

On Friday you will find masks inside a bright Christmas tin with a puppy on it, on the bench outside the Narthex door. Please take one for your family member who ventured beyond your home the most.

 

All masks are washer/dryer friendly and Should Not Be Microwaved. 

 

If you would to be part of this project, please contact Vice-Moderator, Carolyn Martin at 315-529-3369

This is urgent.

As one of the country’s most vulnerable populations, our community of 25,000 farmworkers is in grave danger from the rapid spread of coronavirus. Most workers live in overcrowded housing units, are transported to and from the fields in packed vans and buses, and lack access to personal protective gear.

 

If nothing is done, the virus will carve through the state’s agricultural workforce like wildfire, and in a matter of weeks, Florida will not have enough workers to harvest our crops.

 

Simply put, without farmworkers, there is no food.

 

Help protect the lives of tens of thousands of farmworkers and prevent Florida’s agricultural industry from collapsing. Click here to call Gov. Ron DeSantis now >> After you click, you’ll be redirected to instructions and talking points to make sure you’re ready to amplify farmworkers’ call for critical health care in Immokalee.

 

STAND WITH IMMOKALEE FARMWORKERS: MAKE A CALL NOW

 

The message to our country’s farmworkers is unmistakable: While your labor is essential, you are expendable. That is wrong, both morally and for our nation’s food security. We can’t treat the people who harvest our food as expendable. Like health care workers and first responders, they are putting themselves in harm’s way for the rest of us.

 

The COVID-19 crisis in Immokalee will not only threaten the lives of thousands of farmworkers but will also hurt millions of families around the country who are depending on the shelves of their local supermarkets to be stocked in the months ahead.

 

Farmworkers feed us all. No food workers, no food. It’s that simple. Make a call now and tell Gov. DeSantis to protect Immokalee workers and save the state’s agricultural industry.

 

Thank you for standing with us, first in the Fair Food Movement and now in the fight to protect the health and safety of the women and men who are harvesting our food during this unprecedented pandemic.

 

— Coalition of Immokalee Workers

PRAYER CHAIN

Would you be willing to take a few minutes to pray for people during the week? We have a group who is praying for those who have needs, be it health/medical, a family member, a neighbor or a friend. God knows the needs of those we lift in prayer to him. Cheryl Frank will accept the information and then email the request out to those who are willing to pray. If you would like to join the group who are praying, please email her with your contact information. If you have someone who would like prayer for their situation, please email her: cfrank50@gmail.com. 

PASTOR’S DISCRETIONARY FUND

Many are out of work at this time and are having trouble meeting their financial obligations. The pastor has been busy helping those in need. Because of this, the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund is getting low. Please consider a gift to this fund. Thanks.

STAYING CONNECTED WITH OTHERS IN OUR CONFERENCE

Here is the link to the April/May issue of Celebrate Florida: Click here to see what other UCC Churches are doing. See if you can locate where our FMCUCC family is featured.

THE COMFORT AND BLESSING OF A PRAYER SHAWL

If you know someone who would benefit from the comfort and blessing of a prayer shawl, please don’t hesitate to let me know and you can present it to a loved one yourself. If you would like to create and donate a shawl, we can provide printed instructions and yarn. Of course you can always use your own pattern and yarn if you would prefer! In God’s service, Kris Hurren 911kris@comcast.net 239-565-4289

RADICAL HOSPITALITY

Are you interested in helping serve the FMCUCC community by being a welcoming face before guests enter the sanctuary? Please consider serving at the Welcome Center desk or as a door opener once a month. See the sign-up sheets in the Fellowship Hall to indicate your desire.

BODY PARTS

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) Paul uses the metaphor of a human body to explain how Christians are to work together to be the body (and message) of Jesus in the world. There are lots of parts needed to make a body function. So too with the church. So what part are you? Please take some time to review the ministry opportunities and see all the different parts that are needed to make the church function. Prayerfully consider stepping out in faith and/or stepping up to leadership. Maybe your part is to host a coffee hour, or volunteer to usher. Maybe even join a committee. What part are you? Think about it.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We have many volunteer opportunities available to assist with various aspects of our Sunday worship services and around the church. Please consider signing up for one of these important jobs. Sign-up sheets can be found on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall or send an email to Lisa Riehl, ofcmgrfmcucc@gmail.com, and let her know what you are interested in doing. Thanks in advance for helping make our church so great!

THE BOARD OF DEACONS NEEDS YOUR HELP

Did Joan go on the around the world cruise she’s been planning these past several months? Do you know whether Harold is recuperating at his daughter’s home in Wisconsin? And how about Marie – she’s usually back in Fort Myers for the season by now, have you heard from her? Oftentimes, the Board of Deacons and the church staff know when a church member is homebound locally, and keep tabs on him or her. However, we aren’t always informed by family members or caretakers when a member has prolonged health issues making it difficult for them to attend church functions. Here’s where the members of the congregation can help out. If you are aware of a member that is homebound, or have noticed a member’s prolonged absence but haven’t heard it announced at church, please bring it to the attention of one of the deacons or the church office. Most times we are aware of the members who are homebound locally, but we don’t want to overlook anyone.

NEED TO REACH US?

Rev. David Bucey – davidbucey@gmail.com – 513-535-2121
Rev. Wesley Snedeker – wesleysnedeker@gmail.com – 239-297-1586
Church Office – ofcmgrfmcucc@gmail.com – 239-482-3133

    

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