ADULTS
Sundays, 9:15 – 10:15   Bible Workbench
          Materials for study are  provided each month by e-mail.
                                 Child Care available upon request
April 22  Noon – 1:00 p.m. Nurture with Felix Carrion
May 6    Noon – 1:00 p.m. Spring Congregational Meeting 
                                   Child Care provided
May 20  Noon – 1:00 p.m. “Heeding God’s Call” Adult Nurture on gun control
               More Details
May 27  Noon – 1:00 p.m. “Growing in Age, Grace, and Wisdom” Adult Nurture
               More Details
June 3   Noon – 1:00 p.m. “Growing In Age, Grace, and Wisdom” Adult Nurture
               More Details

AFFIRMING OUR FAITH (12+)
Each Sunday Youth aged 11+ meet with Adult Leaders in our new Youth Room
July 1-7,  Potomac Youth (above 8th grade) Service Week in Franklyn, West Virginia

WEE EXPLORE and EXPLORING OUR FAITH (Ages 4-10)
Each Sunday Wee Explore and Exploring Our Faith gather in worship and after “Sharing Our Faith” continue upstairs in the CE Suite.

Read more in at http://www.firstuccdc.org/newsletters/

Good conversations require folks to speak honestly and listen openly. Holy conversations require the same. Yet, they call us to listen for God speaking in the midst of the conversation as well. Pray. Speak. Listen. Discern. Act. All those verbs are vital to holy conversations that we are invited to participate in during this month and into the summer.

Holy Conversations are essential to moving ahead in our transitional and future ministry. Together we will listen to one another’s hopes. We will discover the voices of others in the community around 10th and G. Listening to the past and for God’s future for us, together we will determine our mission in this new day.

So speak up and join the Transition Team in listening during a series of Holy Conversations. During the conversations, we will explore questions such as these:

1. When you consider all your experiences at First Congregational UCC, remember a time that has been most powerful and helpful in fostering faith. What happened? Identify a strength or characteristic of First Church that conveys that experience.

2. In your experiences at First Congregational UCC was there a particular tough time or time of conflict for you? Does something still linger? What happened? What hope and or learning came out of that experience?

3. What is your prayer for First Church’s future? What is your wish? Imagine and describe what First Church would look like if these were fulfilled?

Join with other friends or members on

Saturday, May. 19, at 1:00 pm (conversations with newcomers)

Saturday afternoon, May 19, at 3:00 pm

Sunday evening, May 20 at 6:30 pm.

Wednesday, May 23, at 6:30 pm (conversations among former moderators)

 During July and August, in worship and in conversations after worship, we will explore “Who are our neighbors?” with people and organizations from outside First Church.

At the fall planning retreat on September 11 & 12, we will work together on a mission statement that draws from all our Holy Conversations. If you have questions or comments, please contact Sid Fowler or members of the Transition Team: Marian Drake, Dwight Davis, Kim Darling, and John Marsh.

Heeding God’s Call is an Interfaith Movement dealing with the elimination of hand gun violence at the grass roots level. We
cooperate with the Brady Campaign and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, but they take the legislative route while Heeding God’s
Call is striving to be active at the grass roots level.

Heeding God’s Call supports rifles for hunting, but with the USA experiencing 10,000 hand gun deaths annually, we have to acknowledge that we live in a “gun culture” where gun shop owners are consistently selling to straw purchasers buying guns on behalf of someone else who can abuse them.   This has been documented by the police and the Washington Post, which carried a featured article confirming the misuse of hand guns.  There is not another country that has as many as 200 annual gun deaths.

On every Monday afternoon from 5:00- 6:00 P. M. Heeding God’s Call in Greater Washington recognizes the many deaths that have occurred that can be linked to Realco Guns by staging a protest in front of the shop.  Over an 18-year period 2,534 guns found at crime scenes including 86 murders were traced back to Realco. During that same period, one out of 8 guns Realco sold became a crime gun, the highest ratio of any gun store in the state and one of the top ten in the entire country.

            

Growing in Age, Grace, and Wisdom
                           for
       EVERYONE

Most of us do not intentionally consider our own aging; but like it or not, we are!

                  May 27 and June 3, 2012

Many of us are accompanying loved ones, parents, and other family
who are in the process of planning and decision making
regarding the last third of the life journey.

 In order to bring light to the shadows of aging and illness,
we invite everyone to
join us in frank one hour discussions
with expert speakers
about the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges
of aging: self and other.
The first two discussions will begin this spring, 2012.

Growing in Age, Grace, and Wisdom:
Central Life Issues Heightened with Age

On May 27 from noon to one o’clock p.m.
Dr. Anthony Tambasco*
will discuss spiritual aspects of aging
for self and other.

*Anthony J. Tambasco is Associate Dean of Graduate Liberal Studies and a Profess of of Theology at Georgetown University. He also served two terms as chair of the Department of Theology. He has advanced degrees in both Bible and Christian ethics, including degrees from the Jesuit universities in Paris and Rome, and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is the author of five books and three edited volumes, all in biblical studies and the relationship of the Bible to Christian ethics. Prof. Tambasco was also part of a video taped series, The Life and Times of Jesus, which aired on the Learning Channel, and was in a video on The Apostle Paul: The Man Who Turned the World Upside Down on the History Channel. He has lectured widely in adult education, including the Resident Associates Program of the Smithsonian Institution, programs of Jewish-Christian dialogue, and regional and local programs, both Catholic and Protestant.

Growing in Age, Grace, and Wisdom:
Putting Your House in Order

On Sunday, June 3 from noon to one O’clock p.m.
Elizabeth L. Wildhack**
will discuss the importance of making legal and care decisions
before someone has to do it for you.

  **Elizabeth L. Wildhack has an established reputation within the legal community for providing exceptional representation to her clients. She currently serves as Assistant Commissioner of Accounts in Arlington County, a position of trust where she assists the court in determining and resolving issues that arise during the course of an estate administration. Elizabeth L. Wildhack, PLC specializes in trust and estate, elder law, probate and trust administration matters. Elizabeth is a member of Rock Spring, UCC in Arlington, VA.

Click here for a one page Aging Series Flyer to share with others.

On June 7 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Enjoy a different kind of happy hour
. . . an extravagant welcome awaits you!
. . . a place for neighborhood families (offering free child care)
. . . a commuter rest stop on the way home
. . . a time to unwind with music, art, drinks and conversation

This Month:
Fairfax Chamber Ensemble

Sextet in G Major, Op. 36           Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
I. Allegro non troppo

Octet in Eb Major, Op. 20           Felix Mendelssohn  (1809-1847)
I. Allegro moderato ma con fuoco
II. Andante
III. Scherzo. Allegro leggierissimo
IV. Presto

Harriet Vorona, Wendolyn Olson Posner, Jennifer Wade, Laura Tait Chang, violins
Helen Fall, Elizabeth O’Hara, viola
Jeffrey Van Osten, Daniel Shomper, cello

For more information about the ensemble, visit http://fairfaxchamberensemble.com/

Michael Joseph, UCC and Disciples missionary to Columbia, will be the recipient of our Second Sunday offering on May 13 and will be our preacher on June 17.  Working on human rights issues and peace as well as providing pastoral care to victims of violence, Joseph is now serving in his 4th year in Columbia. He travels all over Columbia where violence has occurred and finds his work challenging and rewarding. The churches there tend to be Pentecostal, concerned traditionally with personal salvation. As they have become more aware of the violence toward them and their ministers–many have been killed or have had to flee–they have begun to realize the need to also preach on social issues. Despite many disheartening acts of violence out of the political turmoil in Columbia, the protestant churches are vibrant and growing. They send us a message of hope and want to share in a partnership. A member of FCC, Michael values his association with First Church. Our financial support greatly aids his peace work. We are looking forward to his preaching on June 17 when he can share information about his work directly.

Take a look at this interview with  Michael Joseph.

Members of the ad hoc Colombia Task Force of the Central Atlantic Conference UCC and the Connecticut Conference UCC advocated for this missionary position.

http://globalministries.org/resources/multimedia-resources/videos/video-mission-moments/colombia-joseph.html

A Taizé service is based on chanting.  A simple tune sung in unison or harmony is combined with a short scriptural phrase and repeated for an extended period of time. This chanting allows the participant to shed the concerns of the world and enter into a spiritual place where a calm certainty of God’s presence infuses the participant.

Enjoy a different kind of happy hour
. . . an extravagant welcome awaits you!
. . . a place for neighborhood families (offering free child care)
. . . a commuter rest stop on the way home
. . . a time to unwind with music, art, drinks and conversation

This Month: EcoVoce (pronounced eekoVOcheh)

EcoVoce  is Denise Freeland, soprano; Susan Hayes, flute’ and Narciso Solero, piano. They combine a passion for music and nature to create their acclaimed concert programs for all ages. The “Eco” part of the name comes from the word ecology and “Voce” is the Italian word for voice. The name reflects a commitment to serving as a musical voice for ecology, performing music about birds, trees, water, animals, and other aspects of nature.

Join the EcoVoce Ensemble for a spring concert celebrating Splendors of Nature.  A trio of soprano, flute, and piano, EcoVoce performs music about nature and the earth, inspiring audiences to see our natural world in new ways.  EcoVoce is one of ten artists and groups featured on a new Smithsonian web site which showcases visual and performing artists from across the country who draw on nature for inspiration.  Let EcoVoce take you where the water flows and the birds soar!

The diverse musical journey goes to the wetlands with Irving Fine’s “The Frog and the Snake,” expresses peaceful reflections of wild things in Aaron Blumenfeld’s “Haiku Miniatures for Soprano and Piano,” touches on climate change in an original work called “Icebergs” by Jane Tavernier, and offers practical advice with the “Recycle, Replant, Reuse” aria adapted from a well-known opera.

EcoVoce is deeply committed to performing new works by American composers and engaging new audiences with its innovative concert presentations. Since 1998, EcoVoce has performed in diverse settings from nature centers and classrooms to outdoor amphitheaters and concert halls both in the U.S. and internationally.

For more information about the ensemble, visit EcoVoce at www.ecovoce.org.

Next Month:
June 7, 5:30 – 7:00
Fairfax Chamber Ensemble