Mental Health Month: A Special Service to Focus our Attention
(Posted May 24, 2020)
May Is Mental Health Month
This Sunday, all of our churches in the United Church of Christ have been given a wonderful, pre-recorded Service to share with you all instead of our usual live Zoom service. Why? For one thing this has been a period of extraordinary stress and for many, anxiety. All of the UCC Conference ministers have come together to produce and participate in this special service (which includes the Lord’s Supper) that focuses our attention on healing our worries. An important effort, especially as we resume some activities of life before the virus arrived, and we feel so tentative about it.
The second reason we’ve been given this service to watch together is that this entire month is named Mental Health Month. While the Sunday Service will primarily address living in a time of anxiety, it’s also time to become aware of that unspoken-about invisible illness: a mental health issue. Whether it’s anxiety, a bipolar disorder, a form of schizophrenia or one of the many, many ways that clinical depression manifests itself, we need to be aware, sensitive to our fellow Pilgrims on this journey.
So, on Sunday at 10 a.m., we’ll come together on Facebook on our page, for a WATCH PARTY. We’ll be together just as we usually are online Sunday, except it will NOT be on Zoom, but over at our own page of Facebook. We will watch together. You will be able to share your thoughts and prayer requests as we watch, via the chat function. I will be there live, as will Digital Angel Greg Pings. The whole service will be recorded so you can also watch it later if you wish.
How to Get to the Watch Party: You will need to have a Facebook account to do this, but most everyone I know has one already. It’s not all that complicated, and lets you share your ideas as you watch. Please look at the instruction sheet that accompanies this page. See you Sunday, and have a peaceful Memorial Day weekend. We will resume normal online services the week after on Pentecost. - Pastor Pat Kriss
How to Join Our Facebook Watch Party
1. Go to www.Facebook.com at 10 a.m.
2. Click the notifications icon in the top navigation bar. It’s shaped like a bell, and it may show a red dot with a number. (The number tells you how many notifications you have.)
3. Click on “First Congregational Church of Danbury posted an update ‘Sunday Service for Mental Health Month.’”
4. You may also “react” to various parts of the video by clicking any of the “reaction” icons, and you may enter your comments on the lower right. Rev. Pat will monitor the comments and reply as needed.
