Next Week atFirst Church

ANNUAL WOMEN¡¯S RETREAT

November 16, 17, 18

This year¡¯s retreat theme is Down by the Water: Refresh and Renew and is being held at the Mercy Center in Madison, CT.  Our experienced retreat leaders are Loretta Symons and Anna Aramini. Women can attend the entire weekend from early Friday evening until Sunday at 11:30 a.m. for $196 double occupancy room or $237 for a single room. Cost includes Saturday meals and Sunday breakfast. If you would like to only attend the program on Saturday the cost is $40 with lunch; $50 with lunch and dinner. Retreat participants may also make a ¡°life bracelet¡± which will cost $20.00. If you are interested in attending for the whole weekend or Saturday only contact Judy Robertson at 225-1124 or judy1rober@sbcglobal.net. Full payment is due by November 1^st.

WOMEN¡¯S DISCUSSION GROUP BAKE SALES

Please support our upcoming bake sales being held on October 28^th and November 11th. Proceeds go to scholarships to enable women to attend our annual women¡¯s retreat. 

YOUTH NEWS 

Last Sunday was a beautiful day for the fall church picnic! BIG thanks to Lefty the clown from Salem, CT, who entertained the children young and old with his balloon making expertise. Lots of colorful fun was had by all. Lefty¡¯s visit was a gift from the Youth group with funds coming from the bottle and can fund.

Sunday October 21, at Second Hour in Fellowship Hall there will be a bake sale to benefit our sponsored child Damu, from Ethiopia. We just received our annual report from World Vision, with her report card from school, as well as her health report and the community report. Stop by to buy a brownie and see the latest pictures!

Rock the Sound Concert in Bridgeport is coming

November 3, 2007.

Tickets are $25

Ticket deadline is October 21!

We will be leaving First Church at 5 pm sharp and returning by 12 midnight

Get your tickets fast, not many left! 

We will be having a lock-in that night at First Church.

For more information contact Paula Bartlett at 561-8557

Upcoming Dates;

October- Snack Prep- Flythe Family

10/21- No evening Youth meeting

2^nd hour Bake sale for Damu- Flythe Family

10/28-Haunted Fireside Manor- Halloween Party 7-8:15

11/3- Concert in Bridgeport

SUNDAY LIGHT NEWS

FAMILY SUPPER NIGHT

Sunday Night October 21 at 5PM

Free will donation gladly accepted

Service starts at 6 pm with Red Letter Day¡¯s toe tapping worship music

Join us for some great food and fellowship!

Help us welcome back the Rev. Sue Prichard from her journey abroad!

Upcoming dates for October

10/21- 5 PM FAMILY SUPPER NIGHT

- Music of Red Letter Day/ Sue Prichard

10/28- Music of Soulmates/ Sue Pritchard

OVER 75 LUNCHEON
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23^RD AT NOON

Come enjoy a beef or fish dinner (your choice), the pleasure of the company of your peers, and a ¡°Trip Down Memory Lane¡± with John Kaestle.  Back before the highways split New Britain apart, architect John Kaestle took photos of most of that area that is no more.  We will adjourn after lunch to the chapel to view this slide program.

Be sure to call Carol North (612-0692) or the church office (229-3709) with your reservation by Sunday, October 21^st.

Carol  

~What¡¯s In a Name?   ~

Lots of times Moms and Dads name their babies for someone else in the family, like Uncle Joseph or Grandma Sophie. Sometimes they select a name because of what it means, like Emily, which is Latin for hardworking and ambitious. Or Timothy, which is Greek for give honor to God. Last Sunday, we began learning about Moses - a very interesting character from the Bible. We found out that Moses¡¯ Mom (who was Hebrew) put him in a basket and set him in the River Nile to hide him from the Egyptian King - he wanted to destroy the Hebrew people. The King¡¯s daughter found Moses, took him to the Palace and raised him as her own son! After meeting Moses in Chapel, I decided that I wanted to find out what Moses¡¯ name means. I looked it up in a book of baby names and discovered that Moses is Hebrew for ¡°drawn from the water¡±! How perfect. You might want to check on your own name and where it comes from. It can say a lot about you!

This Sunday we will begin 4 weeks of rotation workshops about Moses. The schedule showing which grades will go to what room will be posted in the Narthex. Hope you¡¯ll be there to learn more about the Nile River, the burning bush or the 10 nasty plagues!

The children in Chapel received UNICEF boxes last week. They were told that with their parent¡¯s permission they may take them along when they go out to Trick-or-Treat. The other option is to collect spare change in them for the next couple of weeks. They are due back to church on Sunday, Nov. 4^th.

Last year our church school children raised $163 for UNICEF. If you would like to know more, or you need a collection box for your children just let me know!

The BOO-BABIES are coming!

Children from birth through kindergarten are invited to put on their costumes and come to church at 9:15 am on Sunday, October 28^th, for some Halloween fun! There will be crafts, snacks, games AND a parade through the sanctuary when the worship service begins. Hope to see you there!

Sharon Chamberlain

Coordinator of Christian Education

First Church of Christ                              New Britain, CT

October 17, 2007

Dear Friends,

I had a wonderful trip and zillions of great experiences that will take me months to process. It has taken me the better part of a week to be fully grounded in this time zone, as I came back with jet lag and a cold. But I saw what there was to see, hiked or climbed what needed to be climbed and came back with a head full of trivia. Did you know there are about 250 steps that have to be climbed to walk through the Vatican and Sistine Chapel? Or, did you know that the Acropolis is over 600 feet high? Well, I made it through the Vatican, but only two-thirds of the way to the top of the Acropolis.

We went to cathedrals and grottos, chapels and museums, gift shops and marketplaces. My camera broke after two days, but my aunt is making me duplicates of her photos. I bought postcards from everywhere we stopped (it makes scrapbooking so much easier because you don¡¯t have to punch out all those letters if you have a postcard with the names already spelled correctly). I did my part to help out the local economies. And just so you know, the ice cream in Italy is much better than the ice cream in Greece. I didn¡¯t find any in Turkey, but we weren¡¯t there very long.

While we were hiking and climbing, I met many other pilgrims who were looking for holy places amid all the gift shops and restaurants. People who felt called to visit ancient ruins and great cathedrals; places very different from their own places of worship. We were all searching for echoes from the past and hope for the future.

Keep the faith,

Sue

FIRST CHURCH NEWS

Vol. 55, No. 49 

From Your Anniversary Committee: