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Weekly Update for April 17, 2020

Dear Siblings in Christ,

It was a glorious Easter, even though we had to celebrate it apart! It lifted all of our spirits to see how many of you joined us for Easter worship and how so many of you celebrated the resurrection in your own special ways as well! If you missed any of the services (including Robert and Hattie Bannan’s sweet sunrise devotion on Easter), it is well worth going to the worship archives and watching them! Click the + to expand the April 2020 services, to access services more than 7 days ago.

Wednesday is the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day. As a church, we have committed to be an Earth Care Congregation, and though we cannot have the celebration we had originally planned for Wednesday, we will be thinking about God’s creation in worship and in Tom’s Wednesday Bible Study. So take some time during this week of being stuck at home to look out your window or step out your back door and enjoy the beauty of spring bursting forth around us!

Peace,
Craig Foster
Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Communications

THIS SUNDAY
In preparation for this Sunday, we encourage you to place greenery on your front door, mailbox, or another visible place in recognition of Palm Sunday. We may not be able to gather for a palm procession, but perhaps we can line the streets of our neighborhoods with branches to welcome the triumphal entry of our Savior!

8:45am MorningSong ONLINE
10:00am Adult Sunday School (Zoom)
10:00am Godly Play
11:00am Sanctuary Worship Service ONLINE
4:00pm Middle School Youth Group (Zoom)
4:00pm High School Youth Group (Zoom)
7:00pm UKirk College Ministry (Zoom)
8:30pm Young Adult Check-In

All services will be livestreamed at www.fpcspartanburg.org/live. Bulletins, scripture readings, manuscripts, and video archives can also be found on that page. Our worship livestreams also appear on Facebook and YouTube. Please sign the online guestbook when you join us for worship online and consider making your regular contributions online. Have you been having trouble with the livestreams? Check out this information on the church website.

10:00am Sunday School (Join in)
This Sunday, the Rev. Leslie Lang will explore the doctrine of predestination with the combined Adult Class via Zoom.
More information

Godly Play with Holly – Sundays on YouTube
Holly Bannan will be recording the Godly Play lesson for children each week and posting it to the church YouTube page. A link to this video is also being sent out to parents each week.

NEXT WEEK
Zoom Security Changes
To help protect our Zoom gatherings from unwelcome guests and “Zoombombing,” all newly-created events will now have a password. This password will be embedded in the link in this weekly email and in any other email invitation you get from the church. So still all you have to do is click the link to connect. However, any lins shared publicly on the church website will not include the embedded password, and you will be prompted to enter a password of you click a link on the church website. For now, the password for all events is 5834531 (the church phone number without area code or dashes). See www.fpcspartanburg.org/zoom for more information and tips on using Zoom.

Community Time is changing!
We are discontinuing our daily community time on Zoom and in its place adding two new times to gather on Zoom during the week. With this change, you all have an open invitation to join with your church family Monday-Thursday and Sunday, at different times of day to suit a broad range of schedules. See below for details and join us often!

Monday Morning Coffee on Zoom
10am on Mondays (Join in)
Grab your favorite morning beverage and join your church family on Monday mornings to reflect on the sermons and worship experiences from the day before and enjoy some good fellowship as a mid-morning break each Monday.

Calling All Parents of Children and Youth! – Mondays
4pm on Zoom (Join in)
These days without school and daycare can be trying for parents of children and youth, as you try to juggle e-learning, work, and the added messes and dishes that come with extra time at home with nowhere else to go. Join Robert and Holly Bannan online every Monday to enjoy community time with other parents and find support and inspiration for the week ahead.

Weekly Prayer Gathering with Joanne – Tuesday
Noon on Zoom (Join in)
Join Pastor Joanne on Zoom to share your prayer concerns and join together with your church family in prayer.

Tuesdays with Tom(Watch)
Follow the church on YouTube and watch your email inbox to get a weekly video devotional from Dr. Tom Evans each Tuesday.

Youth Group on Zoom
All youth are invited to join Robert, Carrie, and your friends on Zoom throughout the week. More information and links have been sent to youth families. Please contact Robert or Carrie if you have any questions
Tuesdays at 4pm – 9^th and 10^th Graders
Wednesdays at 4pm – Middle Schoolers
Thursdays at 4pm – 11^th and 12^th Graders
Sundays at 4pm – ALL Youth (MS & HS)

Weekly Bible Study with Tom – Wednesdays
6pm on Zoom (Join in)
Dr. Tom Evans is leading a “Study of the Book of Mark” via Zoom. This week Tom will have a special creation focus in honor of the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day.

Celebrate Earth Day with FPC!
FPC Spartanburg recently became an Earth Care Congregation and we are inviting you to celebrate Earth Day, April 22, 2020, by testing your knowledge of our amazing planet and how to care for it. So while you're stuck indoors, helping to flatten the curve, here's an online Earth Day quiz to help pass the time...and embrace the many ways in which we can act as stewards of God's creation. Just by taking the quiz, you will be entered into a drawing to win a Hub City Farmer's Market gift card!

To find all of the links included in this quiz go to the FPC Earth Care webpage at fpcspartanburg.org/grow/earth-care-congregation.

We also encourage you to join us on social media! Post a picture of your family doing your part to care for the Earth and tag First Presbyterian Church. Perhaps you’re getting outside and planting some flowers, picking up trash in your neighborhood, or recycling! If you’re not on social media, email your photo to Caroline Goodman at cgoodman@fpcspartanburg.org

Hangouts with Holly –Thursday
Starting at 1pm on Zoom (Get the link)
All children are invited to join Holly Bannan online for a time of fellowship and learning together.

1:00pm 3K, 4K, and 5K
1:30pm 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Grade
2:00pm 4^th and 5^th Grace

Information has been sent to parents about how to connect. Please contact Holly Bannan (hbannan@fpcspartanburg.org) if you have any questions.

Thursday Evening Devotions on Zoom
8:30pm on Zoom (Join in)
End your day on Thursdays with some fellowship and a brief devotion led by church staff. We will gather with deserts and/or the evening beverage of your choice for some check-in time, concluded by around 9pm with a brief devotion. After that, everyone is welcome to stay on as long as you want and chat.

Want to schedule a gathering or meeting on Zoom?
Other smaller groups and activities are meeting online as well Watch your email and social media for notice of smaller group activities. If you are a committee chair or group leader and are interested in how your group can meet through Zoom or other means, please contact Craig Foster.

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Farmer’s Market Food Bags
The Local Missions Committee is partnering with Hub City Farmers Market to provide meat and produce bags for 12 families in need. These bags would provide 8 weeks of meat and produce for families the Farmer’s Market has identified. The total cost to fund the bags is $2,220. We need your help to provide these healthy food bags. If you would like to donate any amount, please visit www.fpcspartanburg.org/give.

Cleveland Academy
The families of Cleveland Academy have an increased need for food right now. They are asking again for large ziplock bags with non-perishable food items, specifically boxed meals like hamburger helper, hearty soups, pastas, canned meats and cereal. These items can be dropped off at the Bridge (446 Brawley St) Monday through Thursday 9am-6pm. The principal and staff at Cleveland are directing families in need there. For more information, see the page for this opportunity in Ministry Finder.

SPIHN Needs Your Support!
During this time when houses of worship are shut down, SPIHN is having to house participants in hotel rooms and provide food that is normally provided by host churches. Please consider supporting homeless children and their families during these unusual circumstances. For more information, see the page for this opportunity in Ministry Finder.

NEW Opportunities in Ministry Finder

OTHER NEWS
Hardship Survey
As part of Tom Evan’s continuing research on how we experience God, a special committee of the Diaconate was formed to explore how people experience God in times of hardship. Look for an email on Monday with detailed instructions and a link to a survey designed to collect your stories of the experience of hardship throughout your lives.

Note that this is different from the encouraging stories we have been asking you to share on social media. Feel free to continue to do that, though, either by posting to the church Facebook page yourself or sending those pictures, videos, and stories to Caroline Goodman (cgoodman@fpcspartanburg.org).

Virtual Poverty Summit
Though our in-person Poverty Summit has been postponed, we still celebrated the first year of the Faith Initiative to End Child Poverty online! We invite you to check out the Poverty Initiative Facebook page (whether you are on Facebook or not!) for updates and inspirational videos about the Initiative’s progress and the vision for the future. There is also important information about how you can get involved in the Initiative even during this unusual time.

These Days Devotions Online (Read)
Have you missed being able to pick up a These Days devotion book at the church? Are you wondering what to use to enrich your devotional life each day once the Lent devotions are over? Westminster John Knox Press has made the April edition of These Days available to everyone for free online. Find devotions for April 1-30 here.