Join us on Sunday, December 5
for education, worship and fellowship
* * * * * * * * * * *
Adult Education at 9:00 am
All are welcome! Join us via zoom at 9:00!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Youth Education at 9am.
Join us via Zoom at 9:00!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Children's Education at 9:15am
Pre-K through 5th Graders:
Join for singing, Bible story, conversation and prayer.
Join us via zoom at 9:15!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Carol Singing outside on Willett Street
at 10:10am, prior to worship.
Songsheets available - please wear your mask!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Worship Service at 10:30am.
In-person and livestreaming!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Please plan to arrive early
so you can be checked in
at the one entry door on Willett St by the ramp.
If you are handicapped, please park in the church lot,
and check in at the elevator door.
* * * * * * * * * * *
We continue to live stream on Facebook.
Click here to connect on Sunday.
You will find the bulletin for Sunday here.
Offering of Our Gifts
You can mail offering to: FPC, 362 State St, Albany, NY 12210
Or go on line to donate (www.firstpresalbany.org/donate/)
Thank you for your continued support of FPC ministries.
* * * * * * * * * * *
After the service, join us for Fellowship Time
on Willett Street, weather permitting, or in Assembly Hall.
Come & enjoy conversation with one another!
* * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * *
Wondering what to expect on Sunday?
Click here to view a video
Session members created
to give you a sense of what to expect
coming back to in-person worship.
* * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
First Pres, through the Social Justice and Peacemaking Committee, has been working with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Here are opportunities for education and advocacy
************
DATE CHANGE - Tuesday Dec 7, 6pm - Hunger, Housing, and the 3rd Reconstruction, a Capital Region Truth Commission - Join us on December 7th to learn from the plight, fight, and insight of Capital Region community members who are engaged in struggles around food and housing insecurity. In recent years, New York has passed transformative legislation to meet the needs of poor and marginalized communities relating to food and housing. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the extent of these crises and thrown millions into poverty and precarity. RSVP here.
************
Capital Region Poor People's Campaign Organizing Call Tuesday, December 14, 6:30pm Join us at our monthly organizing meeting! We'll reflect on recent actions, have breakouts with our working groups, and plan upcoming events.
In keeping with best practice to protect our community, we will NOT be holding an in-person meeting. Instead, we'll have a Zoom conference call meeting for the Capital Region PPC. RSVP and you will receive the call info. You'll be able to call in with just a phone, but if you have access to a computer with a camera and microphone, it is highly recommended. Please reach out if you have any technical questions.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is bringing together people across the country who are organizing to build a broad and deep national moral movement — led by the poor, impacted, clergy and moral agents and reflecting the great moral teachings — to unite our country from the bottom up.
Continue Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s work confronting the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, militarism, and ecological devastation. RSVP Here.
|
|
|
|
A Message from Social Justice & Peacemaking Committee
|
|
|
Gift giving time is here! It is also a time to think about all that wrapping paper, bags and bows. The December issue of Real Simple magazine offers several easy ideas for recycling: Avoid buying bags, balloons, and bows made of polyester film, do the quick scrunch test-if you crumple paper and it bounces back, it likely cannot be recycled and think about buying wrapping paper that includes recycled materials. Click here to find more information about recycling during the Christmas season.
The little things we do are just as important as the big ones.
|
|
|
High school youth - don’t miss out!
Gatherings for youth in high school on Sunday evenings 5-7pm!!
This could be the best part of your week!
Food - Friends - Fun
Youth will enter from the parking lot door & sign-in each week (for contact tracing + attendance purposes). We will follow safety protocols including masking and distancing while in doors. We have new air purifiers to further mitigate risk. If/when we eat, it MUST be distanced. We will meet either in the 2nd floor youth room OR one of the larger 3rd floor Upper Rooms. This is for high schoolers only at this time.
Please text or email Molly (518-810-3158) if you can join us Sunday 5-7pm! And pls indicate your pizza preference (cheese or pepperoni).
We look forward to seeing you soon!
************
Text @mdowellb to 81010
To sign up for text alerts about youth events and info!
|
|
Would you like to help run the audio-visual systems during the church service? You would control the soundboard, which broadcasts the audio throughout the sanctuary and the Internet broadcasting software that delivers the Facebook livestream. And, of course, you'd receive full training.
Our team shares these duties so that your commitment would be between 8 - 12 Sundays per year.
If interested, please contact Dwight Cheu at dwightcheu@gmail.com. We also welcome high school students too -- this would be a great introduction to audio and video broadcasting.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Would you like to sponsor a poinsettia plant to decorate the  sanctuary in Advent and Christmas this year? You may do so in honor or memory of a loved one, and that dedication will be noted in the worship bulletin on December 19, 24, 25 & January 2. There are two ways to make your dedication. 1) By mailing a check to the church for a minimum of $16 per poinsettia, along with a note that spells out the dedication as well as name of the dedicator. It MUST arrive at the church by December 12. 2) By emailing the church office a note that spells out the dedication as well as name of the dedicator. Then visit the website and make your payment online.
Deadline is December 12.
Our goal is to have all the flowers sponsored as well decorate the sanctuary for our celebration of Jesus’ birth and the 12 days of Christmas.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Finger Labyrinth Walks and Meditations occur each Thursday in  December at 12:30pm via Zoom. Pastor Miriam, Certified Advanced Labyrinth Facilitator, leads each session. and our time together is 30 minutes. This time is open to all, whether you’ve walked a labyrinth in the past or not. Register here for Thursday, December 9, to receive the zoom link. Please have a Finger Labyrinth available - you can download a paper version if you don’t have your own or Jamie in the church office. Join us!
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Youth are updating their space on the 2nd floor! We are looking for donations of gently used items to update & refresh the space. Please contact Molly or 518-810-3158 if you have any of the following to donate:
Large TV to hang on wall (that works with Roku),
Roku,
wall mount for large TV,
Area rugs,
Plants and/or hanging contraptions for plants,
Individual seating (bean bags, gaming chairs, comfortable arm chairs),
Cushions for floor sitting.
|
|
|
Thurs., 12/2 7:00am Men's Bible Study (Rose Room)
12:00pm Presbytery Meeting
12:30pm Finger Labyrinth Walk and Meditation
7:15pm Soloist/Choir Rehearsal
Saturday, 12/4 9:30am Officer Training
Sunday, 12/5 9:00am Adult Education via Zoom
9:00am Youth Education via Zoom
9:15am Children’s Education via Zoom
9:45am Soloists Rehearsal
10:10am Carol Singing on Willett Street
10:30am In-Person Worship Service and
Live Streaming Worship Service on Facebook
11:30am Fellowship Time
5:00pm High School Youth Gathering
Tuesday, 12/7 9:00am Men’s Bible Study via zoom
5:30pm Membership Committee Meeting
5:30pm Outreach Committee Meeting
5:30pm Property Committee Meeting
5:30pm Worship Committee Meeting
6:00pm Poor Peoples Campaign -Hunger, Housing,
and the 3rd Reconstruction
7:30pm Christian Education Committee Meeting
7:30pm Social Justice & Peacemaking Committee
Meeting
Wednes., 12/8 5:00pm Finance Committee Meeting
6:30pm SWAT Team
7:00pm Dads' Small Group
Thurs., 12/9 7:00am Men's Bible Study (Rose Room)
12:30pm Finger Labyrinth Walk and Meditation
7:15pm Soloist/Choir Rehearsal
Sunday, 12/12 9:00am Adult Education via Zoom
9:00am Youth Education via Zoom
9:15am Children’s Education via Zoom
9:30am Choir Rehearsal
10:10am Carol Singing on Willett Street
10:30am In-Person Worship Service and
Live Streaming Worship Service on Facebook
11:30am Fellowship Time
5:00pm High School Youth Gathering
Tuesday, 12/14 9:00am Men’s Bible Study via zoom
11:30am Clergy Meeting
1:00pm Staff Christmas lunch
7:00pm Joint Session-Deacon Meeting
Wednes., 12/15 10:00am Woman to Women Small Group
Thurs., 12/16 7:00am Men's Bible Study (Rose Room)
12:30pm Finger Labyrinth Walk and Meditation
6:30pm Blue Christmas Service
First Church of Albany
7:15pm Soloist/Choir Rehearsal
* * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
|
|
