Old First Reformed UCC

Dear church,

"Holy, holy, holy
Lord, God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee..."

Old First has voted. 91 votes were cast to decide on our 'regular' (September to June) worship start time.

53% of the first place votes were for 10AM, so we will be keeping our worship at 10am, 'Early in the morning' indeed.

We recognize that while this change is desired by the majority of the congregation, some members will feel differently. If anyone would like to talk about this, the Elders would be happy to chat when church gets out...sometime after 11.

Yours in Christ,

Kathy and Jonathan,
your Co-moderators

Darla Gallo, look, another kids’ time capsule!

Philly time capsule from 1976 was unsealed as part of America250 festivities A Philadelphia time capsule sealed in 1976 was opened 50 years later by former and current students during an America250 celebration.

Extra, Extra: we have made / will be sharing tomorrow a "first try: at a revised version of the E-pistle, making it both more reader-friendly (less busy) and easier / less work to create each week. Look out for it, and let us know what you think...

Some results of our organizing efforts regarding the city’s need to better attend to the needs of its homeless citizens…

Philly should do more to help unhoused people during heat waves, advocates say In an open letter, a coalition of homeless people, advocates and service providers called for a heat response similar to how the city handles cold.

We're putting together the hardmailing list for our Sept. 27 Anniversary Sunday (worship and a German picnic!) which kicks off the yearlong celebration of our church's 300 years. We want to include friends of the church in our invitations. But they aren't always in our database or on our mailing list. And it's hard to see who you are missing!

We've got Rev. Daehler Hayes’ daughter. And the leaders of the Breakfast teams from our partner congregations in the neighborhood. We even have the plumber who shows up at any hour to save us, often without charge (because we are a church!).

Who else should we make sure we don't forget to invite? Old First "alums," neighbors, co-workers in the vineyard, those who've helped us in hard times...

It would be helpful if you just put names in the comments below or send them to Michael (with addresses if you have them).

THANKS!

Julie’s inviting us to the Memorial Service celebrating her dad, the Rev. Mark Steiner’s life — at church on Saturday, September 19th at 1 pm….

OLD FIRST VOTES: The Ballots -- on whether worship should begin at 10 am, 10:30 am or 11 am -- were sent to all members electronically on Monday, Aug. 30, as promised.

If you did not see the message, or if you are having any trouble voting, please contact the church office. Votes will be received until Sunday, Sept. 13...

And we will begin with the selected worship time on Anniversary Sunday, September 27, 2026.

Successful after church trip to Ringing Rocks Park. They really do RING.

No one (Darla, Montiese, Janice, Bruce MacK, Billi and Cole, Blossom, Michael and Leo) broke a leg climbing on the boulders! We had a nice impromptu picnic lunch / feast. Michael got to hold his High School English Teacher’s hammer (who would have expected that!?!?). Leo won the “hammer prize” for his tuningfork hammer.

And we offer a bunch of pix because Thursday night’s group (Kathy, Bruce C. and Rae, Ellie, Susana A, Toni, Shelly L., Michael and Leo) trying out the German food at Cannstater’s Volkfest Verein (reconnaisance for our German picnic that kicks off our 300th Church Anniversary after worship on Sept. 27) forgot to take any photos. That group also had a good time and the food was really good!

Tomorrow (Sunday, Aug. 23) we are ordaining Jonathan V. & Todd W. to be Elders. ALL Elders -- those actively serving and those who served in the past -- are asked to be present for the ritual of laying on of hands.. (Michael will invite you up to ordain them!)