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
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
        • Music Series
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • 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 >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
    • Labyrinth
  • 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

6/22/2021

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is in Fact a Line

Read Now
 
PictureBy Quartl - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41600645
Recently, I and twenty or so members of the Chancel Choir gathered at Bill and Anne Thompson's home for a time of fellowship and a celebration of Michele Betsill's upcoming adventure in Denmark as professor at the University of Copenhagen. It is an awesome opportunity but she will be missed at Plymouth! And some of us have only seen each other in two dimensions these past fifteen months, courtesy of Zoom. And for others, it was a reunion long time coming. Connection and camaraderie are essential components for choral singers, the most social of all music ensembles. We don't need an instrument to express our harmonies after all— just our natural selves. This became very apparent last Wednesday evening.

These months of the pandemic have been anything but linear. As close contact could potentially be dangerous, it was always about finding a workaround: virtual choral singing approaches, prerecorded worship services pieced together throughout the prior week, livestreamed services, and more protocols than one would hopefully ever need again! Time-consuming. And often frustrating.  

But now, we can actually connect two points together...in a straight line at that! For example, you can drive from your home and pull into Plymouth for the 6:00 p.m. service and we'll all be together in real time. Soon, we can experience the 10:00 a.m. service in this same way on July 4. And the Chancel Choir will be there too...and the week after. What was once a major super spreader event (choral singing) is now laid low with these life-saving vaccines. It is an amazing transitional time now.

So let's enjoy the return of immediacy and overflowing connection opportunities we once freely enjoyed. Strangely, the ease of simply doing something without the resistance of once necessary safety protocols makes me feel like a slacker. As if, "this is just too easy, really?" Maybe you can relate to that too. In any case, we'll get over it. That I'm quite sure of.  

Mark


Author

Mark Heiskanen has been Plymouth's Director of Music since September 2017. Originally from Northeast Ohio, Mark has experience and great interest in a diverse range of musical styles including jazz, rock, musical theatre, and gospel. He is thrilled to serve a congregation and staff that values diversity and inclusion in all facets of life. Read his mostly-weekly Music Minute here. ​

Share

6/17/2021

COVID Update June 17, 2021

Read Now
 
Dear Plymouth Family,
 
The news about the pandemic in this country continues to improve. For the first time in a very long time, new cases of COVID are in the single digits in Larimer County.
 
It has been a very long road…unique in Plymouth’s 118-year history. It has been rough on congregants and lay leaders and rough on pastors and staff, but we have made it through! Thank you for your patience and continued participation in being the church!
 
I am especially appreciative of the wise counsel of our Pandemic Team:Melanie Huibregtse (chair), Barry Beaty, Claudia DeMarco, Greg Ebel, Jane Anne Ferguson, Bob Jeffrey, Judy Lane, Jim Medlock, Bruce Ronda, Nancy Sturtevant, George Theodore, and Harmony Tucker. Scientists, healthcare professionals, ministers, officers of the church, deacons, and trustees have comprised this august body, which has kept us as safe as possible.
 
The Pandemic Team met and reached some decisions about our reopening process. The team has produced detailed guidelines for building use and cleaning, but here is a top-line report of their counsel:
 
In-Person Meetings
are now available to all Plymouth groups, both fellowship groups and other meetings, so long as all members have been fully vaccinated. It is the responsibility of the group leader to ensure that all are fully vaccinated and if not, to offer alternatives. (Outdoor meeting space on the lawn is available for all persons.) You can also continue to use Zoom for any of your gatherings, which saves gas and commuting time, and it helps our air quality. You can schedule online at plymouthucc.org/cal.
 
In-Person Worship
has already resumed at 6:00 for fully vaccinated folks, and we have made masks and distancing optional, and eliminated the need for advanced sign-ups. Just come!
 
In-person worship at 10:00 has now been approved for all persons, including kids, whether vaccinated or not. Folks who have not yet been vaccinated — including young people — are asked to wear masks and to observe social distancing. Our deacons have arranged the sanctuary with an every-other pew configuration on the west (window) side of the sanctuary. The east side of the sanctuary has no social distance requirements. We will be singing and serving communion. We ask that social time following the service be outside, either on the sanctuary lawn or the north patio outside the Fellowship Hall. Nursery care will be available.
 
Our first 10:00 service will be Sunday, July 4! Independence Day will have a sweet, new ring for us at Plymouth! The Stewardship Board will be providing breakfast burritos…since we missed them on Consecration Sunday last year. The choir (all vaccinated) will sing, and we will celebrate communion. (Starting July 4, until new livestream equipment is installed later in July, we will post a recording of the live service on Sunday afternoon at plymouthucc.org/streaming)
 
Precautions are still encouraged, including the use of hand gel…new dispensers are available in the Fellowship Hall, Sanctuary, North Wing, and Narthex. Please feel free to wear a mask if you wish, and for your own protection, if you have not yet been fully vaccinated, we ask that you keep a mask on at all times.
 
Faith Family Hospitality Network guests are now with us and will be through the morning of Sunday, June 20. They are using the North and West Wings of the church and the Fellowship Hall, so those areas are off-limits unless you are volunteering with FFH through June 20.
 
Again, thank you for your patience. I know that there has been a diversity of opinion within the congregation about how and when to open, and I appreciate that we have let the Pandemic Team do their important work to make the best possible decisions on our behalf.
 
See you in church!
Picture
Picture

Share

5/18/2021

Come On Back! Wade in!

Read Now
 
“Surely the LORD your God has blessed you in all your undertakings;
he knows your going through this great wilderness.
These forty years the LORD your God has been with you;
you have lacked nothing.” 
– Deuteronomy 2.7

“Early in the morning,
Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites,
and they came to the Jordan.
They camped there before crossing over.”
– Judges 3.1
Picture
“Pilgrims crossing onto Lindisfarne,” Hal Chorpenning photo, 2017
Does it feel to you as if we’ve been wandering the in the wilderness for forty years? There are days when it seems as if it’s been that long since we’ve worshiped together in person. I have missed seeing you in the pews and in the Fellowship Hall…missed deeply the hugs and smiles and words of kindness and encouragement.
 
Even without being together physically, there is a force that has helped us maintain our bonds across these 15 months of pandemic isolation. A few weeks ago, Jane Anne preached on the text from John’s gospel in which Jesus tells us to love one another as he first loved us. My sense is that God’s love is the force that has held us together as a congregation during our pandemic pilgrimage. And as we love one another with that same love, we build community.
 
But now, we are approaching a different stage in that journey. Like Joshua leading the Israelites out of the wilderness, we are camped along the banks of the River Jordan, and we are about to cross over into a new land. I know some of us are ready to cross the Jordan today with no waiting on the bank! Others of us are nervous about what it might look like on the other side…that things will be different…that we may not know how to relate to one another exactly as we did.
 
Let’s wade through the water together…get our feet wet together…and make it across into the next stage of our Plymouth pilgrimage as we arrive home. Come on back! Wade in!
 
Some of the Israelites got really tired of the taste of manna, and I know some of us are really tired of recorded services on Sunday. (Manna and broadcast services have been life-sustaining, if not fully pleasing our palates.) So, join us for our Outdoor Service at Rolland Moore Park on June 6 at 10:00. (There is only one service that day…bring a blanket or lawn chair.) Come on back! Wade in!
 
With the new guidance from the CDC last week, our Pandemic Team (which meets again next week) will likely be able to liberalize our opening even further. Stay tuned! Our Leadership Council last week approved the installation of a new livestreaming system in our sanctuary that will enable us to stream services with worshipers in the pews! That will make Sunday morning hybrid (in-person + livestream) worship possible, once it’s installed early this summer! Come on back! Wade in!
 
In the meantime, if you are fully vaccinated, please plan to join us this Sunday evening at 6:00 in the Plymouth sanctuary as we have our first in-person service since March 8, 2020. You do need to sign up in advance…just go to plymouthucc.org/worship. Come on back! Wade in!
 
See you at church or in the park soon!
Picture
Picture
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

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
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
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program >
        • Mark's Music Minute
        • Music Series
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Special Events
    • 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 >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
      • The Missions Marketplace
      • Youth for Change
    • Labyrinth
  • 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