You are invited to join us on Sunday mornings at 10;30 am for worship.  We offer a hybrid worship experience meaning you can choose to join us in person or online.  We use the Zoom and we also broadcast our worship services live on our YouTube channel.  When you visit our YouTube Channel, you can watch our live service on Sunday mornings and you can also watch previous worship services.  To find our channel click the blue link below:

FCCUCC YouTube Channel

Please feel free to subscribe to our channel to be notified of new videos.

Baptism of Christ Sunday

Every January, usually on the 2nd Saturday, we celebrate Baptism of Christ Sunday. This is a special worship service that welcomes everyone to reconnect with and renew their Baptismal promises. Since many of us were baptized as babies, this renewal of baptism is a way for us to continually choose to walk in faith with Jesus.

Ash Wednesday

Our Lenten journey begins on Ash Wednesday. This is the day we recognize any wrong doings we have done and welcome the taste of forgiveness into our lives. Each year, on Ash Wednesday, we offer a moving worship service at 7:00 pm. In addition to our evening worship service, our congregation offers Ashes-To-Go. Our Pastor and Deacons will greet our downtown neighbors and all who cannot attend our evening service from 8:30-9:00 a.m. and from 12:30-1:30 p.m. They will share ashes with you as well as a short prayer.

Holy Week

Our Lenten journey culminates in the events we recognize during Holy Week. So much of our faith is connected to what happens in this week of great excitement, fearful denial, painful sorry and brutal violence overcome through love and forgiveness. We warmly invite you to come on a journey that leads not only to a cross but also to an empty tomb and the wonder and joy of resurrection. Your experience of Easter will be so much fuller and richer when you participate in all the worship opportunities of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday: Join us for worship in our sanctuary on Palm Sunday at 10:30 am. We will follow Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We’ll sing, we’ll wave our palm branches and we’ll raise our voices in shouts of Hosanna (“God Saves”)!

Maundy Thursday: Our Maundy Thursday worship experience begins at 7:00 pm. This is the night that Jesus shared a last supper with his disciples, washed their feet, and experienced their betrayal and abandonment. This services includes communion and keeping watch as we listen to the story of this night unfold through a service of Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows”) with readings and a gradual dimming of light.

Good Friday: Beginning on Good Friday at 7:00 pm, this night we remember how God’s love, made flesh in Jesus endured the pain and violence of the crucifixion. Come and connect with the Way of the Cross. This service prepares us to appreciate the gift of the empty tomb. We witness Jesus’ rejection, suffering and death with sorrow and hope, knowing God will transform the joy and wonder of resurrection on Easter morning.

Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday celebrations begin at sunrise. Join us for our Easter Sunday Sunrise Service on the Walkway Over the Hudson as the light of Christ’s resurrection dawns in our lives. The gates will be open around 30 minutes before sunrise. We will meet at the center of the span near the flagpole. We’ll hear the wonderful story of that first Easter morning, we’ll sing, and we’ll celebrate with shouts of joy.

Easter Sunday Worship. Join us on Easter Sunday at 10:30 am in our beautifully decorated Sanctuary for special festive music, enjoy the sight of the glorious Easter flowers and the extraordinary good news of Christ’s resurrection. We will also offer a special Sunday School program that morning.

Join us for our beautiful Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

As night falls on December 24th, and we wait with eager anticipation for the arrival of the greatest Gift of all, we invite you to bring your friends, your family and your neighbors to our beautiful Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols at 7:30 pm. Glorious vocal and instrumental music will delight us, the readings will inspire us, and our hearts will soar as we sing beloved Carols. And then, as the service draws to an end, the lights will dim and we will share in the magnificent glow of candles as we form a huge circle of light throughout our sanctuary. We hope you will make plans to join us!

What’s Happening in Sunday School

Our Sunday School class works with two different curriculums. Depending on the make up of our class on any given Sunday, we will either be working with our Deep Blue One Room Sunday School curriculum which is Bible Story based or if we are strictly older kids, we will be using Faith Questions which answers real questions asked by real kids.

Mission Statement Adopted (October 2017)

The mission of First Congregational United Church of Christ is:

to build inclusive community,

nurture disciples of Jesus,

and be a blessing to our neighbors.

 

Vision Statement Adopted (June 2018)

United in Christ’s love, a just world for all.

Congregational Photo (November 2017)!

Movie Night

A brand new event we have begun to offer is our Monthly Movie Night! Each month, on the 4th Friday of the month, we show a different movie. The first two months of this special ministry, we showed two different Disney/Pixar movies. This month (March) we are showing a Marvel movie. Our movie license doesn’t allow us to publicize the name of the movie but I can tell you that the movie’s plot revolves around our hero avoiding bounty hunters after he has stolen an orb. He teams up with 4 characters that include a raccoon, a talking tree and two others. Ultimately this rag tag group must work together to save the universe. The soundtrack is loaded with 80’s music (sssssshhhhhhh, that’s our Children & Youth Ministry Director’s favorite genre of music…..so don’t mind her if she’s lip synching along!)

Our Movie Nights run from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (or whenever the movie ends since some movies are longer than others). We will serve a hot meal – this month we are serving baked ziti and green salad. Movie type snacks and popcorn will be available for dessert during the movie. Our event (including the meal and the snacks/popcorn) is free of charge. While donations are welcomed, they are absolutely not necessary. Our attendees can park in the back of the church behind the gate. We do ask that you reserve your free tickets so that we know how much food to prepare. We invite you to please reserve your free tickets to this event right here at this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/569806776407

As always, please reach out to Tracy in the church office at 845-454-2960 if you have any questions. We’re looking forward to watching this month’s movie with you!

Coffee Hour also known as Fellowship Hour

Coffee Hour or Fellowship Hour immediately follows most of our worship services. You are invited to linger after worship on Zoom for our virtual coffee or Fellowship Hour.  It provides a setting for our current members and friends to catch up with one another and it offers an opportunity for visitors to engage in conversation and see what kind of community we really are. but of connection and care.