Month: March 2021

Go on a Joy Hunt!

Make a “Joy Spotter” to look for things that bring you and your family JOY!

Download a PDF of these directions here!

You Will Need:

• An empty paper towel or toilet paper roll OR a piece of cardstock for each family member
• Crayons, markers, or paints
• OPTIONAL: stickers, ribbon or yarn, colored tape, etc.

Directions:

1. Decorate the tube. You can cover it with paper, or color it with crayons, markers or paint.
2. If using cardstock: decorate the cardstock. Roll it into a tube. Tape the seam
3. You are ready to use your God Spotter to look for things that bring you JOY!
4. Go on a JOY HUNT in your home, outside or on a walk.
5. Later, try to remember all the things you found that bring you JOY!
6. Say a prayer of thanks- include the things that bring your family JOY:

Loving God,
We have so many joys in our life
Thank you for: [list your joys]
On days when things are hard,
Help us remember the joys you have given us.
Amen.

Make Your Own Joy Jar

Here is a way for your family to identify the joys in their lives!

Download a PDF of these directions here!

What you need:

• A jar or container
• Paper
• Pencil or pen
• Markers or crayons

Say a prayer of thanks:

Loving God
I am having a hard time.
Thank you for the Joy(s) of ________________.
Help me think about my Joys when things are hard.
Amen.

Plymouth Church Health and Safety Task Force Return to In-Person Sanctuary Services Recommendation for Church Council (March 23, 2021)

CHAS recommends the return to in-person sanctuary services starting May 2, under the following conditions:

Timing:

• Indoor, in-person worship to begin at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, May 9. There will be an in-person service on May 2, but this service is for Confirmation only. This will give Plymouth staff who participate in liturgy the opportunity to be fully vaccinated before indoor services restart

Compartmentalization of and Access to the Building

• Includes access to Narthex, Sanctuary, Gallery Hallway, and Bathrooms. Other access areas will still be roped off.
• Open doors include those from both parking lots and the Ingersoll doors.
• Doors open 30 minutes ahead of each service and 15 minutes after service. Deacons will encourage people to come and go from the sanctuary promptly.
• Deacons will dismiss each row in order to ensure a distanced departure.

Details:

• Masks and social distancing required.
• Messaging sent out ahead of time detailing expectations around participating.
• Seating capacity: 70 family units, with seating areas pre-marked. Total capacity: 100 people
• Pre-registration required (online or call church office)
• Office staff will monitor sign-ups to ensure variety of participants across Sundays.
• Deacons will keep track of who is present/absent using pre-registration lists in case of the need to contact-trace.
• Time limit of each service: 45 minutes.
• No singing in for now.
• Staff will not stand at doors to greet people before or after the service.

What could be more joyful than giving and receiving compliments? These sharable compliment pages will hopefully give you plenty of the inspiration to spread the joy of a good compliment!

Download here!

On April 24 and 25, 2021, Plymouth will celebrate Immigrant Rights Weekend, sponsored by the Welcoming Migrants Committee. The United Church of Christ has designated Immigrant Rights Sunday as an opportunity to lift up immigrants: to learn about their concerns, honor their contributions to our country and communities, hear their pain, pray for their well-being, and listen to hear where God is leading us regarding issues of immigration.

Congregations are encouraged to include stories about immigrants in their worship service and explore avenues to advocate for immigrant justice.

Welcoming the stranger among us as native born is part of our faith tradition, for we too were once strangers (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33, Deuteronomy 10:17-19). However, too often the immigrants among us are rejected, treated as outcasts and placed on the margins of society.

On Immigrant Rights Weekend, Plymouth will welcome Reverend Dr. Randy Mayer, to deliver the sermon for the Saturday night/Sunday services. Dr. Randy Mayer is the Senior Minister at The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ (Sahuarita, Arizona), where he has served for the past 19 years. When Randy began to look for a church to pastor, he and his wife Norma dreamed of being as close to the US/Mexico border as possible. Randy has carefully blended his love of church camp and mission work into a very unique ministry of action, compassion, and inclusion of all. Randy is known in the Santa Cruz Valley as a musician, community organizer and a steady, progressive voice. He is a founding member of most of the border humanitarian groups and seeks to follow and teach about a “God That Is Still Speaking.” Randy and Norma reside in Sahuarita with their two boys, a dog, a cat and a yard full of packrats.

The Saturday night/Sunday services will also feature music from a border musician, as well as photographs taken by members of the Plymouth delegation (led by Pastor Nikira Hernandez-Evans) that participated in the Faithful Witness at the Border in 2018. Reverend Dr. Randy Mayer will also join Plymouth for the April 25 Fellowship Forum.

Leading up to Immigrant Rights Weekend, the Welcoming Migrants Committee co-sponsored a three-week book study of The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cant. with Plymouth Faithful Readers Book Group, and sponsored the I Was a Stranger 40-Day Challenge as part of the Practice Makes Plymouth Lenten Guide. The latter involves daily reading and reflecting on a short Bible passage that relates in one way or another to the theme of immigration. The Welcoming Migrants Committee also advocates on an ongoing basis at the state and national level supporting bills and policies that improve the lives of immigrants and refugees, and opposing those that discriminate or are punitive towards our Latinx neighbors.

The Project:

Stories are catalysts to create and share meaning and grow community. During Eastertide (the season immediately following Easter), Plymouth is exploring JOY. When Jesus told the disciples he would make their joy complete, he had some notion of both how important and how fleeting joy can be. So. From the silly stories when you laughed so hard your stomach hurt, to the challenges that have taught you to savor joy when it appears, we want to hear your stories about JOY.

Question/Prompts:

Joy found me when… Can you finish this sentence? If so, go for it! If that feels too broad or you need help homing in, take a look at the prompts below and choose one that speaks to you. See if you can fill in the blank in two sentences or 35 words or less. What else do people need to know to really get it? Growing out from this kernel will be easier than trying to cut down a bigger story.

• I laughed so hard my stomach hurt when…
• I felt joy when I least expected to when…
• I thought I’d never feel joy again when…
• I knew my joy was NOT complete when…
• I jumped for joy when…

Coaching & Directions:

• Prepare a three-minute video sharing your story. (It’s best to record in landscape mode)
• Three minutes is approximately 350-400 words if it’s written out, but we hope you will practice and film your video without using notes. (or with minimal notes)
• Share it with Lindsey Braun for support and feedback!
• If you don’t know how to start, try starting in the middle of your story (drop us right into the middle of the action)
• Imagine your story on a storyboard or as a comic strip. What three main scenes or images do people need to see and understand to “get” it.
• Think about your senses in the moment (or period of time). What could you smell, feel, hear, see? Set the scene for us and help us be there with you.
• What’s at stake?
• Make sure there’s a beginning, middle, and end.
• Check to see that the “end” really is the end to the story you just told. (Sometimes our desire to wrap things up with a nice bow leads us to tack an ending on that doesn’t belong to our story)
• When your video is complete, please upload it to the Dropbox link here: dropbox.com/request/wyDN94CUUtVOHSQPxwen

This summer at Plymouth we will celebrate a faith in which we are invited to talk to God about our joys, our fears, our doubts, our anger, and all of our questions. In fact, we would like to use your questions to organize a summer sermon series titled, Living the Questions.

We need your help! We are inviting you to share with us: Your questions for God. Your questions about our Faith. Where you struggle with doubt. What questions you have about being a part of the Plymouth community.

Please prayerfully and faithfully offer your questions here by Sunday, May 2. Fill out the form here.

Thank you so much!

We invite you to join us on Sundays for Outdoor Worship from 9-9:45 a.m. on the upper-level parking deck. Registration is not required, but encouraged to reserve space for your group. Bring some camping chairs and join us for outdoor worship this spring! Masks are required at all times (pending new CDC-informed procedures). Music is lead by the Children’s Music Staff on first & third Sundays and a trio from the Saturday Night Band on second & fourth Sundays.

To protect Plymouth’s A/V equipment, if there is any rain, the outdoor worship service will be canceled (announcement will be made at 8 a.m.). You can check our Facebook Page for updates. When indoor worship begins May 9, if there is rain, the outdoor service will be moved into the Sanctuary for inclement weather. We look forward to worshipping with you in-person!

Click here to register for our upcoming services. Service registration opens at noon on Sunday, two weeks prior to each indoor service. We will also have our Plymouth yard signs available at all in-person services while supplies last. Just ask one of our Deacons if you’d like one for your home!

The senior minister search committee wants to hear from you! The congregational survey is ready for your input. Participating in the congregational survey is your chance to offer valuable insight with the committee. Information gathered from the survey will help create Plymouth’s UCC church profile during the search and call process. Learn more about this important piece of the senior minister search and share your opinions by clicking here.

Surveys will be accepted through Monday, April 5. Please direct any questions or concerns to: PlymouthSeniorMinisterSearch@gmail.com.

Plymouth’s RENEW Adult ELL program is one of the few Adult ELL programs in Des Moines to continue meeting after the pandemic caused the building to close in March of 2020. At the time, we surveyed our teachers and students to determine if they wanted to keep their classes going with online/distance learning. About half said yes while others chose to wait until the building reopened and they could meet in person. Our classes involve a one-to-one or small group tutoring approach for learning English or studying for the Citizenship test.

There were challenges since many had no internet service or computer. We were determined to make it work which included some students having class using only the telephone and some meeting with zoom on their smart phone. We even gained new students during the closure. Our fall session from September to December 2020, logged 532 class hours with 29 students and 15 teachers. However, like everyone, we look forward to the time we can meet in person again.

Questions? Email: plymouthrenew@gmail.com.