PLYMOUTH UCC (FORT COLLINS, CO)
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • This Week at Plymouth
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Worship Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
      • Memorial Services
    • Labyrinth
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • Transitional Ministry
    • e-News
    • Ongoing Announcements
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Mobile Calendar
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
    • News Archive
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Youth
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board
      • Climate Action
      • FFH
      • Grocery Card
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Jobs
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring >
        • Faith Community Nurses
        • Stephen Ministry
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Email Lists
      • Church App
      • Text Responses
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu >
      • Budget & Financial Ministry
      • Forms & Resources >
        • General Forms
        • Constitution & Policies
        • Newsletter Submissions
        • Emergency Contact Form
        • Zoom Resources
        • Kitchen Videos
        • Mission Statement
        • Strategic Planning
      • F1Go
      • Weddings & Funerals
      • Library
    • New Members

2/26/2019

It's Not about Giving up Chocolate Anymore...

Read Now
 
PicturePurchase the 2019 UCC Lenten Devotional at church from the Deacons
...unless you really want to, of course. But it's not the only option for Lent.

​The opportunities below can help you GO DEEPER in your spirituality this Lent (with or without chocolate):
  • Take Nothing With You, the UCC Lenten Devotional for 2019 (copies available for purchase on Sundays)
  • Ash Wednesday, March 6 - 6:15 p.m. soup supper and 7 p.m. service (childcare provided for service)
  • Lenten Art Weekend Retreat, March 8 and 9, with the Rev. Linda Privatera (click to learn more and to register)
  • Lent Photo-a-Day Challenge from Rethink Church
  • Bread for the World online devotional (click the link)

Find the event or practice that allows you to make Lent a time to deepen and connect with God and community. And, of course, see you at Sunday worship, March 10 through Easter Sunday, April 21.

Share

2/19/2019

Going Deeper: Putting Down Soul Roots

Read Now
 
Picture
Dear Plymouth,
 
Spring and Lent are coming! Even though as I write this to you it is snowy and 21 degrees according to the thermometer on our deck! Still deep under the frozen ground, the roots of our trees and perennials are growing and the seeds we scattered in the fall are germinating. There is life deep down! 
 
Life is always stirring deep in our souls as well, no matter the outer state of our lives. This Lenten season (which begins Ash Wednesday, March 6, with our annual 6:15 p.m. soup supper and Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 p.m.) we are “Going Deeper.” As a faith community, I invite you to join with me and with one another as we put the roots of our faith deeper within the soil of God’s love in all our worship, formation, outreach and fellowship activities. 
 
To further your Lenten journey, please join your Plymouth family in a time of reflection, creativity and fellowship at our first Plymouth intergenerational art and spiritual retreat, Going Deeper: Putting Down Soul Roots, March 8-10.  We will explore and follow the life of trees through art projects for ALL ages and ALL art experience levels, reflection on poetry and scripture, prayer, fun and fellowship. Friday evening, 3/8, from 6:30-8:30 and Saturday, 3/9, 9:30-11:45 and 1:00-3:00, led by our artist/theologian-in-residence, the Rev. Dr. Linda Privitera.
 
Do you know what trees and people have in common? The “giveaway” answer is that both function much better in community. The recent NY Times best-seller, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, tells us that isolated or solitary trees do not live as long as those in a forest. Sustenance comes from a network now being studied by researchers about how trees communicate, warn of danger, feed, sustain and nurture even the weaker members of the forest. 
 
With this background knowledge from the science of creation, our retreat time with Linda will function on the assumption that making art is an intuitive and concrete way of knowing. Engaging in a variety of art experiences around the theme of trees, all designed for fun, we will also engage reflective processes to help us listen to the journey of the soul, deepening our understanding of how God’s Spirit is working within us individually and communally. 
 
Our artistic and spiritual retreat journey this weekend will be grounded in Jesus’ time in the “wilderness,” which is the traditional gospel lesson for the beginning of Lent. Expanding on the traditional view of wilderness time as a time of trial, we will journey with Jesus in a soul-enriching time, thinking about what he might have gained from his time in nature. It is no surprise to us here in Colorado and particularly in our community, rich in environmental scientists, that God’s creation has so much to teach us about what really matters in this world. 
 
Our artistic and spiritual work will culminate with an Lenten art installation of trees, roots, and connections created by YOU under Linda’s leadership and direction. The plan is that together, adults, youth and children, will create a network of roots connecting our individual art pieces of trees and roots, and linking it all to the base of the cross in the sanctuary which will “grow” a large system of roots joining everything together. Come and see what you can create with zip ties, twisty wires, braided heavy twine and raffia! How will hot glue guns, stencils highlighting the work of Gustav Klimt, rocks, and your own creativity shape a forest of spiritual connections that deepen the roots of our faith community? Come and find out!
 
Sign up now by clicking this link.........or registering at the “Going Deeper” Art Weekend table in Fellowship Hall, February 23 and March 3 before and after worship times. 

College students, youth, and kids are free! (But please register so we know you’re coming.) Adults, $35.00 and Families with two adults, $60.00. Don’t let finances get in the way...assistance is available...just talk to me or send me an email.
 
Blessings on our journey together deeper into God’s love,
Jane Anne

Picture

Author

The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate, Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Learn more about Jane Ann here. 

Share

2/12/2019

G-O-O-O-O-O-O-A-A-A-L!

Read Now
 
Picture
Have you ever heard Argentinian-born sportscaster Andres Cantor call a soccer match and when one team scores, he lets out a minutes-long cry of G-O-O-O-O-A-A-A-L? It is a fantastically memorable sound. And we did something memorable last night… At the first meeting of our new Leadership Council, we passed a set of goals for Plymouth in 2019. (By the way, it’s an amazing group of Plymouth folks who form this year’s Council!)

I shared these goals in our staff meeting this morning and met with a strong positive response from my staff colleagues, as well. Different ministry teams, boards, staff, and the Leadership Council itself will be tackling these goals during 2019. So, with no further ado…

Plymouth Goals for 2019
  • Improve worship attendance (309 in 2018; aim for 320 in 2019). This is a goal for ALL of us who form Plymouth: if you’re in town, come to church! When you aren’t here, we miss you…and you miss out on the gift of Plymouth!
  • Increase pledging and fulfillment of pledges. The Stewardship Board will be working this year to reach folks with the ways your giving to Plymouth helps change lives. 
  • Improve visitor welcome experience. What is it like to walk into Plymouth on a Sunday? Are you greeted in worship and coffee hour? Welcomed at the Visitor Information Desk? Engaged in conversation if you are using a blue mug?
  • Evaluate and update Building Use fee structure & fees for weddings and funerals. We need to ensure that we are covering costs for things like utilities, deferred maintenance, and custodial care and building.
  • Drive leadership development and nominating process. We are in the process of recasting the Nominating Committee as a Leadership Development Committee that will work year-round to help develop new leaders and identify the right person for the right ministry.
  • Glean and use results from Adaptive Challenge Task Force on Age-Related Engagement. A new task force is looking for ways to engage folks in their 20s and 30s more fully.
  • Integrate new Business Manager into Council/Treasurer/Budget & Finance processes. As we look toward filling this new half-time position, we’ll need to work to help him or her mesh well with Plymouth.
  • Evaluate current strategic plan and identify key areas needed to complete the plan. Take steps toward next process. We still have some work to do with the 2015 Strategic Plan, and we’re due for a new process soon!
  • Getting members to sign on to F1Go and use it. If you haven’t used our new F1Go database, you have a treat in store: a great smartphone app and an internet-based site make getting information really easy…wherever you are!
  • Identify congregational theme for 2019 (“Go Deeper”) and drive it. 
We haven’t had a congregational theme for several years, and you may have heard me use “Go Deeper” at the Congregational Meeting in January. All of us can Go Deeper in our faith, whether that means engaging in a volunteer ministry at Plymouth, digging deeper into your spiritual journey, attending the Art Weekend (March 8-10) to kick off Lent, stretching yourself to increase your generosity, or ...

I look forward to working with YOU to help engage these goals as we delve into an exciting year at Plymouth when together we will Go Deeper!

Shalom!
Picture

Author

The Rev. Hal Chorpenning has been Plymouth's senior minister since 2002. Before that, he was associate conference minister with the Connecticut Conference of the UCC. A grant from the Lilly Endowment enabled him to study Celtic Christianity in the UK and Ireland. Prior to ordained ministry, Hal had a business in corporate communications. Read more about Hal.

Share

2/5/2019

A New Ordinary Time

Read Now
 
Picture
Photo credit Michael Rathwell, Ottawa Tulip Festival
“You will seek me and find me, where you seek me with all your heart.”
- Jeremiah 29: 13

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? Is it higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you do? Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.”
- Job 10: 7-9
Today is the State of Union and, by every measure, our sense of union across difference, politics, and even faith traditions, is under more extraordinary pressure than in recent memory. We find ourselves evaluating the national and even humanitarian “State of the Union” in terms that are anything but ordinary. It does make me ask myself if there is really greater disunion or if we are conditioned by our media outlets of choice (on either end) to look for and observe (celebrate?) discord more than the love that still unites people across difference in ever more extraordinary ways? Just a thought… 

Lucky for us, we are facing these extraordinary times with the safety and security of a Christian faith tradition grounded first and foremost in the idea of eternal hope—both for this Realm and the next. We are, if we do Christianity right, embedded in a culture and even a Savior of hope. Moreover, somewhat ironically, this liturgical season between Epiphany (anything but normal) and Lent (certainly strange) is actually a short month of “Ordinary Time” in the midst of liturgical seasons of great instability. This is, whatever truth we find in it, technically Ordinary Time in the Church Year. 

As we all grapple to find and remember our collective Baptismal Call to Hope and to seeking God in all things and in every time, I would like to invite you to join me in a new practice. Our Baptisms call us to look forward in hope to a better day rather than backwards towards how it was before our current perceived state of disunion. Hear me on this: Things will never again be the way they were before or how they were when you were a kid, so our greatest hope lies in God and in uncovering the immense potential of a New Ordinary Time. Hope isn’t a thing of the past. Hope is the way of seeing the gifts of now. It is trusting that God can make good come from even the worst imaginable and then acting and working to do our part to make that envisioned future of union possible… come tomorrow or come three lifetimes from now. 

Here is a short tale I want to tell from my Canadian history that is a small floral example of what I mean. All of our families bring stories with them from the places we were before. My maternal family happens to be Canadian and has a trove of stories similar to but nuanced from our American narratives. Here is one of my favorites that, while simple, always gives me hope in the face of global disunion: 

If you ever visit the stately Canadian Capitol City of Ottawa, you will be surrounded by a deep sense of history, civic pride, and beautiful grounds. If you visit in the winter, you will see that the canals throughout the city are used as linear ice rinks to form a public transit infrastructure for ice-skater commuting to class or to work. It gives being late for work and speed skating practice a nice overlap! If you visit in the early summer, when the canals are melted and form more of a calming backdrop, you will be surrounded by the largest tulip gardens in the world. Tulips, tulips everywhere in every color! It is like Pella or Orange City, Iowa or Holland, Michigan multiplied by the tens of thousands. “Where did these Tulips come from,” you may well wonder, “and why Ottawa?” 

As the story goes, on May 12, 1940, when the tulips were still blooming, the future Queen Juliana of the Netherlands boarded a ship for Ottawa for safe keeping during the ravages of World War II. In Canada, she met an unmatched sense of hospitality, care, and true national mutuality. The Canadian government even went to the lengths to declare the hospital room where Queen Juliana gave birth to Princess Margriet to be official Dutch Territory so as to make the birth completely Dutch. 

In 1945, when she finally got home, Queen Juliana sent 100,000 bulbs to the City of Ottawa and then another 20,000 plus bulbs to the hospital that had shown such understanding and went to such lengths during the birth of Margriet. Every year, for the rest of her life, Queen Juliana sent tulip bulbs over the North Atlantic to the Ottawa as a sign of union and connection. That is the story, as I have heard it, of the Tulips of Ottawa. 

Why does that matter today? The New Ordinary, after a time of great darkness and international disunion like we have never seen before in history, still has signs of flowers, or relationship, and of hope. The uncertainty and disunion in the world today cannot even begin to be measured against 1940, but still the sense of despondence and pessimism, particularly in the Mainline Progressive Church, is concerning. We cannot start over from 1957.* We can only start over in hope from today. 

This is our New Ordinary Time with which we have to work and create anew. At the end of WWII, the people of the Netherlands and Canada couldn’t wish away the pain and the loss, but they could see what God was leading them to in a “new ordinary” with new potential for good, for connection, and for tulips. 

This spring and summer in Ottawa Canada, and probably forever into the future even after the origin story is forgotten by human memory, tulips will bloom along the canals and in the parks and every public place. 

The Realm with which we have to work and within which we are called by our Baptisms to plant bulbs of hope will never again be 1957, 1992, 2007, or even yesterday. The only place where we can plant flowers of union, is today. It is your Baptismal Covenant to look for any ground that might be ready for flowers of union between people even in unexpected times.  

In Hope and Tulips,
Jake 

*1957 is the date of creation of the United Church of Christ 

Author

The Rev. Jake Miles Joseph ("just Jake"), Associate Minister, came to Plymouth in 2014 having served in the national setting of the UCC on the board of Justice & Witness Ministries, the Coalition for LGBT Concerns, and the Chairperson of the Council for Youth and Young Adult Ministries (CYYAM). Jake has a passion for ecumenical work and has worked in a wide variety of churches and traditions. Read more about him on our staff page.

Share

Details

    Archives

    March 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2016

    Categories

    All
    2020
    9/11
    Abundance
    Adult Formation
    Advent
    All Hallows'
    Alli Stubbs
    Alternative Giving Fair
    America The Beautiful
    Ancient Future Church
    Animals
    Annual Report
    Anxiety
    Apocalypse
    April
    Art
    Ash Wednesday
    Bach
    Back To Church
    Back To School
    Bees
    Being Church
    Being The Body Of Christ
    Being The Church
    Beloved Community
    Benediction
    Beng Alive
    Better Angels
    Birthday
    Black History Month
    Black Lives Matter
    Blessings
    Book Studies
    Boulder
    Breath
    Brooklyn McBride
    Bruce Ronda
    Buffalo
    Calling & Caring
    Campus Ministry
    Candle Lighting
    Carols
    Celtic Christianity
    Chancel Choir
    Change
    Children
    Choices
    Choir
    Chrismtas
    Christian Formation
    Christian Formation For Youth
    Christian Fornation For Children
    Christmas
    Christmas Blues
    Church
    Church Buildings
    Church Governance
    Claudia DeMarco
    Climate Action
    Coffee
    Comma Faith
    Community
    Compassion Camp
    Consecration Sunday
    Covenant
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    COVID Update
    Creation Justice
    Creed
    Cross Generational Worship
    Cross-Generational Worship
    CSU
    DACA
    Darkness & Light
    Database
    David Bowie
    Deacons
    December
    Delaney Piper
    Devotional
    Diana Butler Bass
    Discipleship
    Earth Day
    Easter
    Easter Season
    Education For All
    Egg Hunt
    Election
    Embodied
    End Of The School Year
    Environmental Justice
    Faith
    Fall
    FAQ
    Farewell
    Fear
    Fences & Bridges
    FFH
    Finance
    Fire
    Flexibility
    Flora Cash
    Flower Boxes
    Folklore & Wisdom
    Fort Collins
    Forum
    Forum Series
    Friends & Family Sunday
    Gareth Higgins
    Gender
    Generosity
    Getting Settled
    Giving
    Goals
    Go Deeper
    Godspell
    God Time
    Goodbye
    Goodbyes
    Graduation
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Guest Author
    Gun Violence
    Habitat For Humanity
    Hadestown
    Halloween
    Healthy Congregations
    Heartbreak
    Hobbies
    Holy Week
    Hope
    Housing
    Impermanence
    Inauguration
    Independence-day
    Intentionality
    Interim
    Interruptions
    Interterm
    Introduction
    Italy
    January
    Jazz
    Jesus Has Left The Building
    John Philip Newell
    Joseph
    Joy
    Jubilee Sunday
    June
    Kindred
    Known & Unknown
    Labyrinth
    La Foret
    Lament
    Laura Nelson
    Lay Ministry
    LC Moderator
    Leadership Council
    Lent
    Lessons Learned
    Letting Go
    LGBTQ
    Light
    Liminal Space
    Listening
    Liturgical Year
    Longest Night
    Love
    Magi
    March
    Mark Heiskanen
    Marta CE 2024
    Martin Luther King Jr.
    Mass
    Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Comm.
    Matthew Shepard
    Ministerial Transitions
    Ministry Highlights
    Ministry Match
    Mission Trip
    Moderator
    Moving
    Music
    Musical Diversity
    Music Director
    Music Ministry
    Music Program
    Myth
    Nationalism
    Negative Energy
    New Eyes Village
    Newness
    New Staff
    New Year
    November
    ONA
    Online Worship
    Optimism
    Ordinary Time
    Organ
    Outdoor Worship
    Palm Sunday
    Pandemic
    Parable Palooza
    Parables
    Parking
    Pastoral Care
    Pastors
    Peace
    Pendemic
    Pentecost
    Phil Braudaway-Bowman
    Pilgrimage
    Plastics
    Plymouth Grounds
    Plymouth Reads
    Plymouth Ringers
    Plymouth Text Connection
    Polarities
    Popular Culture
    Prayer Of Jesus
    Prayer Service
    Psalm 126
    Psalms
    Racism
    Radical Hospitality
    Rebirth
    Reformation Sunday
    Releasing
    Reopening
    Rep. Joe Neguse
    Reproductive Justice
    Retirement
    Rev. Carla Cain
    Rev. Dr. Marta Fioriti
    Rev. Dr. Pam Peterson
    Rev. Hal Chorpenning
    Rev. Jake Miles Joseph
    Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
    Rev. J.T. Smiedendorf
    Rev. Mandy Hall
    Rev. Mark Lee
    Rev. Marta Fioriti
    Rev. Ron Patterson
    Ring Lake Ranch
    Risk
    Ritual
    Rocky Mountain Conference
    Roe V Wade
    Rooted
    Rosebud Episcopal Mission
    Sabbath
    Sabbatical
    Sabbatical Blog
    Search Process
    Seasonal Music
    Share The Plate
    Signage
    Silence
    Singing
    Sleepout
    Social Media
    Solstice
    Song
    Soul
    Spiritual Growth
    Spiritual Practices
    Stephen Ministry
    Stewardship
    Stewardshp
    Stories
    St. Patrick
    Stranger Things
    Strategic Planning
    Students
    Suicide Prevention
    Summer
    Summer Events
    Taize
    TARDIS
    Teacher Appreciation
    Thanks
    Thanksgiving
    The Church Organ
    The Magnificat
    The Sower
    Three Sisters
    Threshold
    Thrive
    Top Ten
    Touch
    Transfiguration
    Transformation
    Transparency
    Trauma
    Travel
    Tricia Medlock
    Trump
    Truth
    Tulips
    UCC
    Uncertainty
    Unexpected
    Values
    Vespers
    Video Reflection
    Virtual Balcony
    Visiting Scholar
    Voting
    Waiting
    Wanted
    We Are Plymouth
    Weird & Holy
    Wholeness
    Wilderness
    Wisdom
    Work
    Worship
    Yendra Tencza
    Youth
    Youth For Change
    Youth Retreat
    Zoom For 7

    RSS Feed

916 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins CO 80526

​Members,
log into F1Go here

Sundays

9 a.m. Education Hour
(Sep. to May)
10 a.m. Worship
11 a.m. Coffee Fellowship

Contact Us

Threads
Bluesky
970-482-9212

Subscribe to our eNews

* indicates required
© 2025 Plymouth Congregational UCC Church. All rights reserved.
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • This Week at Plymouth
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Worship Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
      • Memorial Services
    • Labyrinth
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • Transitional Ministry
    • e-News
    • Ongoing Announcements
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Mobile Calendar
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
    • News Archive
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Youth
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board
      • Climate Action
      • FFH
      • Grocery Card
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Jobs
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring >
        • Faith Community Nurses
        • Stephen Ministry
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Email Lists
      • Church App
      • Text Responses
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu >
      • Budget & Financial Ministry
      • Forms & Resources >
        • General Forms
        • Constitution & Policies
        • Newsletter Submissions
        • Emergency Contact Form
        • Zoom Resources
        • Kitchen Videos
        • Mission Statement
        • Strategic Planning
      • F1Go
      • Weddings & Funerals
      • Library
    • New Members