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January 17, 2021

1857 photo of First Congregational Church; the church building is at the center of the picture. (Photo held by the MN Historical Society)

To join worship this morning via zoom app, click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83928727469?pwd=WFhzWkJFQjBhTlp4UEUvdWRhS2lKdz09 (if you are asked for a password, it is: 890967). To dial in by phone call 1 312 626 6799. When prompted, enter 839 2872 7469#. Next, you will be prompted to enter your participant ID or to push #; simply push # again. Prelude: Welcome

If you’re new to First Church, we’d love to get to know you better. You can sign up to receive our email communications on the home page of our website, www.firstchurchmn.org (scroll down to the heading “stay connected” on the right side of the page). You find us on Facebook by searching for “First Congregational Church of MN, UCC.” You’re also welcome to introduce yourself in the chat or comments.

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Gathering Chant: Together by Julie Flanders and Emil Adler (© 2015 Flanders/Adler)

Gathering Words: “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost; “The Theft Outright” by Heid Erdrich

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Hymn: We Are Not Our Own, NCH 564

Scripture: Leviticus 25:1–2, 8–13, 23–25, 28; Leviticus 27:24; Luke 4:14–20 Sermon: “The Land of Promise and the Year of Jubilee,” Melissa Harl

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Hymn: Out of the Depths, O God, We Call, NCH 554 Prayers of the People

To share a prayer concern with the community today, please share your prayer in the chat on the zoom call or comment on the livestream. To honor the privacy of those you pray for, please seek their permission, and pray for them using their first name only. Please respond to each prayer with the words: “Hear our prayer.”

Lord’s Prayer

A commonly used form is printed below. Please use the version most meaningful to you. Let us pray with words and in the spirit of Jesus: Our God, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.

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Reparations Reflection: Hannah Kuether Offering Invitation

We invite your financial gifts to support our ministries within and beyond First Church. January’s Special Offering is for ISAIAH—congregations, clergy, and people of faith acting collectively and powerfully toward racial and economic equity in the state of Minnesota. You can give by going to our website: firstchurchmn.org, and clicking on the “Support Us” link. You can also give by texting 612-255-4109: “$(amount) Special” (for the monthly offering) or “$(amount) General Fund. If you give by check, please make it out to First Church with “ISAIAH” in the memo line. Thank you!

Offertory Anthem

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Offertory Response: Thuma Mina, NCH 360 (sing verse 1 in Zulu, then verses 1–3 in English)

Prayer of Dedication All: Creator, Spirit, and Christ, we commit ourselves to your vision of beloved

community. Fill us, lead us, guide us. We will follow. We will confess and repent and repair. We will care and believe and hope. We will plant seeds of life and health for generations to come. Amen.

Announcements

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Hymn: Arise, Your Light Is Come, NCH 165

Benediction Postlude Thank you to those who led our worship today! Reader: Jean Anderson Tech Support: Maggie George, Greg Hubinger, Annie Schenck

Coming up this week Today Sunday, Jan. 17 10a: Worship, Melissa Harl preaching 11a: 2nd Hour reflection on sermon (stay on Zoom call) noon: Worship Team meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85838998086?pwd=OEpCMU0vZm91eHArWXczbDVhbFl0Zz09

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Monday Jan. 18 8p: Praying hymns with Sandy Johnson https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87337381871?pwd=cytncDhPS2UrbUlvOGE2d1VoV2ZKUT09 Tuesday January 19 Noon: Kundalini yoga with Vicki Snowden https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84028373184?pwd=bk43bk02eXF3N2FGV3NzUzlMT21FQT09 Wednesday, January 20 11a: Elder luncheon 7p: Chancel Choir online gathering (contact Byron for zoom info) 8p: Lectio divina with Jane McBride https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82073060366? Thursday, January 21 10:30a: Guided meditation with Jean Chagnon https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88639389172?pwd=L2htYitwcU1yMXlZUk9IalVna2pGdz09 Sunday, Jan. 24 10a: Worship 7p:Parent Gathering https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83642179985?pwd=WExJSHBldzFEMkNiRE5ySEFSeXpDQT09

Contact Us First Congregational Church of Minnesota, UCC • 500 8th Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414• 612-331-3816; office@firstchurchmn.org; www.firstchurchmn.org Ministers The People of First Church Principal Minister Jane McBride: jmcbride@firstchurchmn.org; ext. 304; cell: 612-598-2432 Minister of Music Byron Almén: balmen@firstchurchmn.org; cell: 512-809-9789 Parish Administrator Sarah Tittle: office@firstchurchmn.org; cell: 612-205-9870 Facilities Manager Brad Schumann: bschumann@firstchurchmn.org; cell: 651-357-8082 Moderator Greg Hubinger: hubinger5@comcast.net; cell: 612-384-2631

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Music is reprinted and permission to podcast/stream the music in this service under OneLicense.net A-704086.

Announcements 2nd Hour today. Please stay on the Zoom call today for small group conversation about this morning’s sermon. These conversations will provide space for us to share our responses so that we can continue to learn and to discern our vision for reparations as a congregation. Small groups will be facilitated by members of the Racial Justice Working Group. Elder Luncheon Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 11a. If you define yourself as an elder—no matter what that means—please join us for a lunch meeting via Zoom. You can join the meeting by clicking or copying this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82839390299?pwd=QzAyR3RxUzFRbmt4MzRMUFk2V1BhZz09 Lenten Small Group: What does justice look like? As part of our conversation on reparations, the Racial Justice Working Group is offering a Lenten book study of What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland by Waziyatawin, a Wahpetunwan Dakota scholar. The book discusses the relationship between Dakota people and white settlers throughout Minnesotan history, describing the violence wrought upon the Dakota nation by colonialism. Waziyatawin makes a clear case for reparations by speaking to the historic injustices faced by her community, and suggests pathways toward reparative justice that white settlers in Minnesota might take to forge ethical coexistence with Native nations. The book is a productively challenging read, as it prompts questions about the responsibilities settlers have to the original stewards of the lands on which we live. According to Birchbark Books (a Native-owned and operated bookstore), the book “offers the further opportunity to explore what we can do between us as Peoples to reverse the patterns of genocide and oppression, and instead to do justice with a depth of good faith, commitment, and action that would be genuinely new for Native and non-Native relations.” The study will be offered at two different times:

• Wednesdays, February 24, March 10 and 24, at 7p, led by Carey Seeley-Dzierzak • Saturdays, February 20 and 27, March 6 and 13, at 2p, led by Sarah Pawlicki

Sign up to participate by contacting office@firstchurchmn.org. Please consider ordering the book from the publisher (rather than from Amazon). You can find it here: http://www.livingjusticepress.org/index.asp?SEC=%7BC77C5426-031A-4F37-A7A4-09B76B8B3C5B%7D

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Lenten Small Group: How do we know what music means? Byron will be offering a small group with this theme during the Lenten season. His group will meet Tuesdays February 23, and March 2, 9 and 16 at 7:30 pm. Contact the office to sign up (office@firstchurchmn.org) We Make Minnesota. On Sunday, January 24, from 2–5p, ISAIAH is holding their biennial celebration—and you are invited! At this statewide public meeting 3,000 people will come together to celebrate the work ISAIAH has done in the last four years and lay out plans for the next two years as a multi-racial, multi-faith political community. Among dozens of churches and mosques, ISAIAH’S partners include the Barbershop and Black Congregation Cooperative; the Latinx Coalition; the Muslim Coalition; Young Adult Organizing; Kids Count on Us Childcare Organizing; and One Body Catholics. This is an opportunity to build power with our elected leaders and talk about a game plan to make sure we have a government #WhoCaresForUs. Invitations have gone out to our top elected leadership, including Governor Walz, Champions of the Safety for All on the Minneapolis City Council, and the Mayors of St. Paul, St. Cloud and Rochester to address the stakes of moving forward with ISAIAH’s faith agenda, and see what co-governance can look like in 2021. To register, go to: https://tinyurl.com/isaiahsummit First Church participates in COVID Memorial. On Tuesday January 19, The Presidential Inaugural Committee will host a nationwide memorial honoring those who have died from the coronavirus. We will ring our church bells at 4:30p on the 19th, in coordination with a “national moment of unity and remembrance.” “Building Back Hope: A Service of Release & Renewal.” On Tuesday January 19, at 2:30p, at the close of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations and on the cusp of the 47th Inauguration, the United Church of Christ will worship together bearing witness to this past year and pouring hope into the future. Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger; Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Pastor of Middle Collegiate Church; and Rev. Dr. Chris Davies, Minister and Team leader for Faith Education, Innovation and Formation, UCC ,will join the officers and staff as we build back hope, followed by a sermon by Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity UCC–Chicago. Register for the webinar here: https://ucc.zoom.us/webinar/register/7216097928862/WN_yqhMydXYS7CqdgGtOiVJgw?inf_contact_key=78fb8da1024e9e4bda407526b681176b842e902fbefb79ab9abae13bfcb46658 2nd Hour January 31: “Repentance and Reparations” by Kate Poole. Join us immediately following worship to discuss this brief article, which you can find here: http://comicsbykate.com/project/repentance-and-reparations/.

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February/March Pantry sponsors needed. Please contact Sarah Tittle at office@firstchurchmn.org and let her know if you/your family would like to supply food for our Little Free Pantry. We are full through January—thanks so much to all who have stepped up! If you have questions about what’s involved, you can ask Sarah, Jane or Brad Schumann.