ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome To First United! It is a joy that you have chosen to enrich this worshipping community with your presence this morning. We hope you find a spiritual home here, a place of love, support and service. Following worship, you are cordially invited to gather with the community for a time of refreshment and conversation in Fellowship Hall.
AROUND TOWN AND AT FUPC!
POTLUCK – Feb. 19 after service in celebration of Jackie Pinkowski’s service at FUPC. Please bring your favorite dish to share with the FUPC family and to wish Jackie and Ron blessings. A special basket or money tree will be available for individual well wishes, cards, etc.
Look for the sock basket in the sanctuary and fellowship hall again during February and March. We are collecting all sizes (mens, womens, childrens) new white socks for guests at Joseph's House. If you are a person who is homeless and walking around all day, socks can get worn out very fast!
Last year we were able to top 200 pairs of socks. Maybe this year we could top 300!
Music News
Albany Symphony’s Compose Yourself
First United has been selected to host the Albany’s Symphony’s Compose Yourself program. This is a series of Friday evening composition seminars with world-renowned composer, George Tsontakis. The dates are: Feb. 17, Mar. 16, Apr. 20, and May 18. The workshops will be held from 6–7:30 pm in the Rose Room. On May 19, there will be a composition recital. While there is ordinarily a fee to participate in this program, the fee has been waived for all First United members. This program is not only for accomplished musicians! Anyone is encouraged to participate. Reserve your seat by contacting Kate Gigliotti, Education Coordinator, at 465.4755 or KateG@AlbanySymphony.com
Faith Education News
Thank You to everyone for your contributions to the “Souper Bowl of Caring.” $300 was collected last week to go to the Troy Larger Parish Food Pantry in our community.
In February, classes will be held on the 12th and 19th. We will have Godly Play classes for the younger children (stories from the New Testament) and the older children will continue learning about Jesus feeding the five thousand and the problem of hunger in the world. We have been invited to join with others in helping at the Regional food bank and preparing and delivering meals to Joseph’s House this winter.
Session has approved the Faith Ed Committee’s request for the children to be involved with Heifer International’s “Read to Feed” program. Children will ask people to sponsor them for each book they read (or have read to them) during a designated time frame. At the conclusion of the program the funds are collected and donated to Heifer International toward the purchase of an animal to assist a family in need. Heifer assists millions of families around the world feed their families and reach self-reliance through the gifts of livestock and training. “Read to Feed” offers global education opportunities and helps foster a passion to help others and help create a better world.
Adult Education
“Sharing Faith Stories” began in January. If more small groups are interested in forming please call me at the church or contact me by email at leslie@unitedprestroy.org Through sharing our stories we become aware of God’s presence in everyday life from the mundane to the extraordinary.
Feb. 12 – Please join us for Adult Education after worship today in the Rose Room. Dana Parker will present a program on “ Bible Verses that have Empowered Leaders Throughout Black History”. Below is an excerpt from one of the resources Dana will be using titled “THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS,... IS JESUS STILL RELEVANT FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS TODAY? “
The black community found refuge in the church. Although there were exceptions, like the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, the church provided some protection from those who would harm black people. And in the church our people found the peace, comfort and strength previously cultivated in the hush arbors. The vibrancy and progressive power of the black church is well documented. It was in the churches that the black colleges were conceived, given birth and prayed for. It was in the churches that a young and vibrant NAACP carried on its membership drives. It was the clergy who often provided the leadership for the black community at large. The powerful building effect of the African-American church cannot be disputed. And it was the church that gave us our drum major for justice, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Those who suggest that Christianity has been a debilitating and pacifying force in the African-American community are ignoring the evidence. The God of the Bible has always been a source of comfort, strength and hope for our people. Faith in Jesus Christ has not created passivity but rather activism in thousands of African Americans.
Feb. 26 – Beverly Bardequez will present a program on “The Black Community in the Pinebush on Rapp Road.”
The Rapp Road Community Project began in the late 1970’s when Emma Woodard Dickson, a Rapp Road resident became interested in the history of her community. The community was established in the early 1930’s by a group of African American settlers. Rapp Road is an example of a rural chain-migration which led these settlers from the South during the Great Migration. Most of the eleven families currently living on Rapp Road can be traced back to Shubuta, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Nestled in the Pinebush Area near Crossgates Mall, the community went unnoticed for many years until developers became interested in building on land surrounding this small enclave.
In 2003, the Rapp Road Community was added to the list of State and National Historic Districts. Today though surrounded by many businesses including Crossgates Commons, Daughters of Sarah, Teresian House, Atria and Time Warner, the community still remains intact. The residents who reside in the homes on Rapp Road are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generations. This presentation will tell the story of a group of African Americans that had the courage to leave behind life in the South to seek a new life in the North.
Black History Month Events
For children and the “young at heart, We Are the Ship: the Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson is a book and the name of a current exhibit at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This exhibit is “the perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century.” This exhibit runs through June 10. For more info visit www.carlemuseum.org
The NY State Museum exhibition “Shadow and Substance: African American Images from the Burns Archive” runs through March 31.
A free public program “Catalyst-Conflict-Conclusion: From Tubman and Brown to the US Colored Troops, New York’s African American Civil War Legacy” will be presented the morning of Feb. 18 from 10-12 in the Huxley Theatre in the state museum. “This program will include a dramatic presentation by David Anderson from Nazareth College, highlighting the US Colored troops followed by a panel discussion about the important roles of African Americans in their quest for emancipation. For more info go to www.nysm.nysed.gov
Gospel Choir Extravaganza at the Bush Memorial Center at Russell Sage College, Friday, Feb. 24 at 7pm
“For Colored Girls” by Ntozake Shange at the Sage Schacht Fine Arts Center, Art Room A/B on Sat. Feb. 25 at 8pm and Sunday Feb. 26 at 2 pm. “A series of 20 poems collectively called a “choreopoem” takes us on a journey through the many struggles and obstacles (rape, betrayal, abandonment) seven women faced.” Recently adapted as a film by Tyler Perry “For Colored Girls” has and will continue to touch the hearts of many.
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