Newsletter Feb 6

Proceeds of the Bake Sale will benefit our sponsored child, Damu, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our funds have helped her go to school, get regular medical updates, help with community agricultural programming and training, as well as clean water programming. Damu is 10 years old and in 5th grade. Her favorite sport is volleyball and her favorite class is language class. She does not like math! She helps her Mom by taking care of animals (we helped to buy them goats in past years) as well as fetching water at the town's new well!

Our funds over the past 3 years have helped with community development as well as the building of a veterinarian facility centrally located for easy access to villagers. Funding has also helped with the building of new huts with a more permanent roofing system, as well as helping to supply the local church with Bibles!

Not bad for 3 years of Bake Sales!! Please stop by the bake sale table this Sunday and buy a brownie (or two)!

Thanks to all who helped make the grinder sale a success! The adults who supervised were Dan Bartlett, Pete Gacek, Sarah Flythe, Nancy Cook and Scott Mangan. I also want to thank all the youth who showed up to help as well!

This is always an important fundraiser to bring much needed funds for the New Britain Food Collaborative. We raised $230 and we hope you all enjoyed the Grinders!

Fasting starts at 12 noon on Friday February 22. Arrive at Church at 6 pm for a fun weekend of Service, Mission and FUN!!! 2 Sleepover nights with movies and games! Mark your Calendars.

We want to do something different this year by having a pot luck supper on Saturday, February 23rd at 6 pm. The congregation can show their support to the participants by breaking the fast with them! Hear stories of our experiences and feel the importance of this fundraising event for World Vision. World Vision sends money to refugees in Darfur, famine ravaged Sudan, and much needed monetary help to other countries that are in desperate need.

We learned this past Sunday how Red Letter Day got their name. Did you ever see a translation of the Bible that had Jesus' words in red on the page? Or hear the expression ?Having a red letter day'-meaning you are having a great day!

Did you also know the core three people in this band have been singing together for 18 years!! (Wow). They closed with an acapella version of the Halleluiah Chorus that would've melted your heart. So sorry if you missed it!! They bring such JOY!

Join us this Sunday Feb. 10^th to enjoy the music of Shawn Mangan ~ I will save you a seat.

If you would like Rev. Cook to visit you in your home, office, or wherever?or if you know of someone who would like a visit--please call the church office to arrange a mutually convenient time. Jack is especially interested in meeting folks who are unable to make it to worship, but he would enjoy this ministry of pastoral visitation with any and all who are interested. We look forward to your call!

Hats, mittens, and gloves collection for Isaiah 58 Ministry in downtown New Britain. Find the Box in the Narthex!

Thanks to the people who ordered grinders, made the grinders, carried around the giant soup pots and put the dollars in the "souper" bowl pots. First Church will be sending a check for $288.65 to the New Britain Food Collaborative! What a team effort!

Last Sunday, we spent some time talking about Lent and the events that will take place during the next 7 weeks. Be sure and ask your children how many days there are in Lent and what some of the special days during Holy Week are.

Check the schedule in the Narthex to see where your child will go following the Children's message.

Visiting the sick and/or shut-ins gives as much pleasure to the visitor as to the visitee, if not more. The Visitation Team needs a few more people willing to become friends with church members who cannot get out very often.

We will be meeting at the church on Wednesday, February 20^th at 2 pm. If you are working, or otherwise unable to come at that time, but are interested in helping out, please call Ted Duncan at 229-4164 to let him know of your interest.

As I write this message on the very brink of the beginning of Lent, my thoughts turn to this new liturgical season and its meaning for us Christians. I thought it might be helpful to remind us all about how and why we observe this time of the year as a very special time in the church calendar called "Lent."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent?a penitential time of self-examination, prayer, and fasting that concludes with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. In the Western church, this season consists of forty days, excluding Sundays. Sundays technically are not a part of Lent, because each is a "little Easter." So, unlike the season of Advent, when we refer to "Sundays of Advent," in Lent, we refer to the "Sundays in Lent." The term "Lent" itself is derived from roots that mean "to lengthen." The Lenten season points to the spring of the year and to the increasing daylight hours which spring brings.

In earliest days, for some, this was not only a pre-Easter period of discipline and fasting, but also a season of intensified preparation for those who were to be baptized on the eve of Easter. The initiates, called "catechumens," who we might call "confirmands," would go through forty days of hearing Biblical stories and learning the faith in order to prepare for baptism, which would mean becoming a Christian, becoming a "church member." That's the reason why a generation ago (i.e., in the early years of my ministry) in traditional Congregational churches, confirmation instruction occurred only during the weeks of Lent; and we confirmed our youth on Maundy Thursday, which also became their "first communion."

For us Christians, this penitential season of Lent leads to Easter when we celebrate with joy the gift of salvation through Christ, and the assurance of our return to paradise?to live in God's realm which has no end.

Throughout the history of the United States, First Church members have answered the call to serve their country, from the first John Paterson, who fought in the French and Indian War, to Maj. Gen. John Paterson, one of George Washington's top commanders during the Revolutionary War. Moses and Lydia Andrews sent six of their nine children to fight in the revolution. Col. Gad Stanley was a participant in Washington's retreat from Long Island and it is said he led a regiment safely past the British forces. Josiah Andrews was a light horseman and bodyguard to Gen. Casimer Pulaski. When New Britain residents and First Church members were called to serve in the Civil War, they signed their enlistment papers on the communion table that is still in our chapel today. One of those enlistees, George Warren, became the personal bodyguard of General and former President Ulysses S. Grant. The names of many First Church members who died in the Civil War may be seen on the monument in Central Park.