First Congregational United Church of Christ The Tower Madison, Wisconsin LXVII January 9, 2011 No. 1 Prison Ministry Celebration In worship on Sunday, January 9, we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Prison Ministry Project. Our guest preacher will be the Rev. Joseph Ellwanger, director of the Treatment Instead of Prisons project of the ecumenical community organizing group, WISDOM. Rev. Ellwanger is much admired for his work on prison reform issues in Wisconsin, but this is only the latest stop in his career as a leader in the fight for social justice that began with Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1958, Rev. Ellwanger, a Lutheran minister, became pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Birmingham. While in the city, Ellwanger led the interracial Birmingham Council on Human Relations and the Concerned White Citizens of Alabama. Ellwanger was one of the few white Southern ministers who supported the Civil Rights Movement. He helped plan the Birmingham demonstrations in 1963 and the 1965 march on Selma. When Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by white racists, Ellwanger was leading a service in his church a mile away. He would later speak at the funeral for three of the girls killed in the blast, one of whom was Denise McNair, daughter of Ellwanger's parishioner Chris McNair. Ellwanger was chosen by Dr. King, along with 14 other ministers, to meet with Governor George Wallace following the Selma march. He was part of a nation-wide delegation of 15 clergy that spoke with President Lyndon Johnson on March 12, 1965 about the necessity for the Voting rights Act. After he and his wife Joyce moved to Wisconsin, he was the pastor of Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee for 34 years before his retirement in 2001 at the age of 68. The service will be followed by a catered lunch and program honoring the Prison Ministry volunteers. A free will offering will be received to support the project. Rev. Jerry Hancock, Director, The Prison Ministry Project Ecclesiastical Council, January 16, 2011, 3:00pm An Ecclesiastical Council will be held in our Sanctuary for Patricia Campbell. Patricia joined our church almost 9 years ago. In 2004, she started seminary in Chicago: first at Garrett Seminary in Evanston, and then Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago. She has graduated from seminary, and her ordination paper has been accepted by the Southwest Wisconsin Association UCC. This Ecclesiastical Council is her last step before she is approved for ordination, pending a call to a ministry position. This council is traditionally held at one’s church of membership, and anyone in our association may attend. It will be held in our sanctuary at 3pm on Sunday, January 16. I encourage you to attend, ask Patricia any questions you would like or just listen, and watch the church at work as it thinks and prays about approving a candidate for ordination. Curt Anderson Join Us For First Cong youth Morning Service Youth Musical Auditions Sunday Morning, January 9, 2011 Sunday, January 9 Worship at 10am in the Sanctuary 11:15 am Chapel Scripture Readings: All Youth (gr. 6-12) are welcome! Matthew 3:13-17, Acts 10:34-43 Nothing to prepare! Both of the texts for this morning deal with the act of baptism. In Matthew it is the baptism of Jesus Movie Meditation by John the Baptist and in Acts it is the baptism of Sunday, January 9 the gentile Cornelius by Peter. The act of baptism Noon – 3pm Youth Room has had a long and contentious history in the church. As our late friend and great Calvin scholar Confirmation Class Meeting th Bob Kingdon pointed out, during the Reformation, For 8 Grade and Older Protestants fought and died over the issue of infant Parent/Student Meeting baptism versus adult baptism. Sunday, January 16 Thankfully after six hundred years those issues 11:15 am Youth Room have faded. In our tradition we happily and regularly baptize babies in the sanctuary. It is a recognition All Youth Winter Retreat that they are loved by God and welcomed into the January 28 – 30 care and community of the congregation. But this Pilgrim Center morning’s texts deal with the baptism of adults (Registration Deadline Jan 16) which is a rare occurrence in our sanctuary. But we have done adult baptisms as part of our prison FAMILIES AND children ministry. In prison, baptism takes on a different meaning. The men are deeply serious about how they Towering Totem of Toilet Tissue experience the love of God, the fellowship of Jesus The Jan/Feb Sunday School Mission Project will be a Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their collection of toilet paper for the Ronald McDonald lives. For them baptism is a recognition of the House of Madison. Drop off donations on the third second chance offered by God’s grace. It is also a floor. chance to join, or rejoin, a caring community both inside and outside the walls. FiGS February 5th Family & Friends Fun Fest! These texts are particularly appropriate this Mark your calendars for an afternoon of family fun, Sunday, as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the great music and awesome food! Crafts and games at Prison Ministry Project. Hopefully, like the dove 3pm, David Landau at 4pm, and a potluck dinner at 5. descending from heaven at the baptism of Jesus in Bring the whole family, bring your friends! Watch for the Jordan, our ministry is a sign of God’s love, care more info. and concern for those in prison. ALL CHURCH Would you like to save some trees, copier All Church Ice Skating Party toner, and staff time, with the advantage of receiving Meet on the Ice at Tenney Park from 1 – 3pm on the Tower promptly and in full color, anywhere in Sunday, January 23. Bring your skates or rent them at the world? Just email Jill Farnsworth at the shelter. The Kanitz-Wygocki family will again play [email protected] and ask to be put on gracious hosts providing rink-side snacks and hot the list for the e-Tower. (Separate copies can go to cocoa along Marston Ave. ALL are invited! Bring your multiple email addresses in the same household.) friends! Newlywed Game Sunday, February 13 After Worship ANNOUNCEMENTS Call for Church Event Photos First Community Congregational's website is being re-designed. We are Meals Day is looking for digital images of people in church events Thursday January 6. that we could use on the new website. If you have Please have your photos of ...Bell choir, Chancel choir, Cherub choir, donated items to the The Gathering, Fellowship time, Pew Warmers, Parent pink kitchen before groups, Sunday School, Youth events, Baptisms, 10:00am on that day. Outreach projects, Thanksgiving Meal, Lay Ministry, Thank you! Back pack drive, etc. The list is endless. Please send photos (digital only please) to Liz Michaels Shelter Gifts Once again we will be assembling ([email protected]). If your photos are on a gifts for guests at the Salvation Army Homeless disc, leave it in the Deacons mailbox outside the office Shelter. We are seeking colorful scarves or jewelry and alert Liz that it's there by sending her an e-mail. from your own collection; please bring them to church marked “shelter gifts.” Bus tickets, which College Scholarships Available Members of enable the women to get to First Congregational UCC are invited to apply for jobs or medical college scholarships for 2011-2012 appointments and to look from the Frank E. Page for more permanent Scholarship Fund and the Dr. housing, will be included in Alfred E. Swan Memorial the packages. If you would Scholarship Fund. Page applicants like to donate toward the should be planning to begin or cost, please send a check made out to the church, continue education at any with “Shelter gifts” on the memo line. Always accredited 2- or 4-year college or appreciated: warm hats, scarves, and gloves, bed university; Swan applicants must linens, towels, duffel bags, suitcases, and small be attending or planning to attend toiletries. Questions? Call Mari McCarty, 238-8837. the UW-Madison. All applicants should have a record of academic achievement and service to church and community, as Musical notes well as demonstrated financial need. The application deadline is February 15, 2011; contact the church office No choir rehearsals until January 9. All choirs at 608 233-9751 or [email protected] resume their usual practice schedules beginning for an electronic application. Questions? Contact Mari Sunday January 9, with Cherub Choir at 11:15am. McCarty, 238-8837. Pledge Envelopes For those members who requested pledge envelopes for 2011, they are available on a back table in the Sanctuary. A Memorial Service for Bob Kingdon will be Chancel flowers The poster to sign up for held on Saturday, January 8, at 10:30am in our Chancel flowers in 2011 in is in the back of the Sanctuary. There will be a reception in the Dining Sanctuary. The 16th of January is still open, Room following the service. please add your name! Church Calendar January 9-16, 2011 Sunday, January 9 Wednesday, January 12 BBQ ~ Mid High Bible Study 10:00am Sunday Worship ~ S 9:30am Worship Planning ~ MS Big K ~ Big Kitchen 10:15am Sunday School 10:30am Staff Meeting ~ MS BOUNCE ~ Mid High Youth Group 11:15am Cherub Choir ~ Room 301 6:30pm Coventry Ringers C ~ Chapel 11:15am Prison Ministry ~ Room 301 DR ~ Dining Room FIGS ~ Families Including God and Luncheon ~ DR 7:30pm Chancel Choir ~ Chapel Stuff 11:15am Youth Musical Auditions Thursday, January 13 FR ~ Fellowship Room ~ Chapel 5:30pm Women’s NA ~ Room 303 GAS ~ Sr.