Neighbors in Need Offering on October 2nd!

The Neighbors in Need offering, which we will receive on October 2, supports the UCC’s ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries to fund a wide array of local and national justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects. One-third of the offering supports the UCC’s Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM). CAIM is an invaluable resource for more than 1,000 individuals from dozens of other tribes and nations who are members of other UCC congregations in the U.S.

In 2022, the Neighbors in Need “BEHOLD!” offering focuses on economic justice. With inflation impacting all of our households, we wanted to provide a way to discuss this through a faith lens. Please see the bulletin insert below for more information on economic justice. 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour… Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

- a portion of Romans 12, we encourage reading the entirety of the chapter

Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

- James 5:4

It is possible to contribute in one of three ways: 

1. By mailing a check made out to The First Church in Oberlin with “NIN” in the memo line to the church office, 
2. By using the offering envelopes on the Welcome Table and depositing your donation in the wooden donation box in the Narthex at the top of the steps leading to the Gallery, 
3. Or, by going to our First Church website, scrolling down and clicking on "Donate Online" and then going to the “Neighbors in Need” section. Alternatively, click here and it’ll bring you to the page.

See the attachment below for more information on how you can help. More information can also be found on the UCC website. Let your gift help to put prayer into action.

Please Sign-up to Host Coffee Hour

The Fellowship Committee would like to try a new approach to our Coffee Hour after church on Sundays. We invite all of you to sign up to host on a Sunday of your choice. Families or couples can sign up, or sign up with a friend. Now that we are once again able to gather, we know that those in the First Church family are eager to socialize. The recent coffee hours hosted by the Fellowship Committee and the Slocums have been well attended and much appreciated. All that is required is coffee (provided by the church) and a beverage for children (usually lemonade). Anything in addition to that (such as hot tea, iced tea, cookies, coffee cake) is completely up to the host. Remember, the food and drink is just an excuse to see one another! Please call Sarah Colson with any questions at (440) 774-2538. The sign up chart will be in the gallery.

Facilities Committee Update

In the month of September some preservation maintenance will occur on our trees.  The deadwood (large limbs) will be removed.  This is a safety issue.  In addition, the 'squirrel highway's' will be trimmed back. Specifically, these are the limbs that overhang the roof and give critters access to the roof where they can do damage or take up residence in the attic. The focus is on ensuring that our trees will continue to be healthy and grow for many years.

Another couple have donated $40,000 to pay for sewer repairs between the Meeting House and James Brand, a generous gift for an unglamorous project.

Another member sent a retirement check, more than enough to cover her pledges, and donated the rest. This gift will inaugurate the First Church Enterprise Fund for unanticipated expenses.

There are many ways to support the church! We are thankful for donors of all kinds!

Thank you to Norm and Ann Craig!

First Church has been honored to receive a substantial bequest from the estate of Norm and Ann Craig. Their generosity will allow us to prepay a large portion of the debt incurred as we renovated and rejuvenated the Meeting House and the rest of the First Church facility. The interest saved will more than double the value of their gift. Through this gift, the Craigs have extended their long commitment to the ministry and mission of First Church well into the future. Thanks Ann and Norm!

There Are NEW Requirements for Making Submissions to our First Things First eNews!

In an effort to make our eNews more readable and shorten the length, we have created new guidelines for submitting posts! The guidelines are as follows.

1. As usual, the deadline for submissions for the upcoming First Things First is Wednesday prior to 10 AM.
2. We will not be putting in any non-First Church job postings.
3. We will not be putting in any full flyers as the submission (however, we will put in a button that links to a PDF of the flyer).
4. There is a word limit of 100 words for the text of a submission.
5. You may insert links into the text post for more information, either by button or hyperlink in the text.
6. You may insert PDFs (accessible by buttons) for more information, a flyer, or anything else that would be helpful for the post, but the document must be in PDF format. Any other document format will not be included in your submission.
7. You may send one picture that you have the rights to use (i.e. a picture that is not subject to copyright, we suggest using the site pexels.com).
8. The submission will run for a maximum of 2 weeks in the eNews. These 2 weeks do not have to be consecutive.

When sending in your submission, you must have

• The title of the post
• The text of the post (maximum of 100 words)
• Which 2 weeks you'd like for your submission to run

When sending in your submission, you could have

• If you'd like, one picture
• If you'd like, PDFs (and what you'd want the title of the button that links to it to be)
• If you'd like, the links for spots in the text post (and which word(s) you'd like to be the hyperlink or what you'd want the title of the button to be)

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we try to make our eNews experience more manageable for our readers!

Open and Affirming Committee Openings

June is Pride Month and a perfect opportunity for growth. (https://openandaffirming.org/ona/why/grow/). The Open and Affirming Committee (ONA) has openings. What is the ONA Committee you ask? It is a committee without meetings. It is a team of committed people supporting the ONA Statement of The First Church in Oberlin adopted in 1995 and amended in 2013. If you want to help make sure our congregation is living up to the welcoming and affirming spirit of the following statement, please contact Marty Buck @mbuck@oberlin.net or 440-225-7160 or a member of the Outreach and Service Committee @ outreach@firstchurchoberlin.org. Let us make the ONA Committee an ONA Team!

We know that as the Church we are many members but are one body in Christ. Each bringing individual pieces and gifts, only together do we find completion. With Christ we affirm that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that we are called to act as agents of reconciliation and wholeness within the world and within the church itself. Recognizing the presence of ignorance, fear, and hatred in the wider church and in our culture toward specific members of Christ’s body:

We pledge to welcome people of all races, ages, genders, gender identities, gender expressions, abilities, socioeconomic levels, and sexual orientations into the full life and ministry of the church.

We seek actively to include and support those who because of fear and prejudice find themselves in exile from a spiritual community.

We commit ourselves to caring and concern for all.

A Progress Pride Flag now flies over the east entrance of The First Church in Oberlin. 

The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society.

“The arrow points to the right to show forward movement […] and illustrates that progress [towards inclusivity] still needs to be made". 

- Daniel Quasar, the flag’s designer.