“What if everyone dealing with challenges and difficulties found a place where hope was so high that it invaded their lives as soon as they arrived?”
-Casey Gwinn & Chan Hellman in Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life
This September we are kicking off our 2023-2024 justNeighbors Initiative The Year of Hope: Love Lights the Way seeks to place First-Plymouth Church in the midst of conversation and action about the many ways that we can help our neighbors flourish in the midst of a mental health crisis. We’ll learn about the current state of languishing in our community, methodologies that increase hope, and hopefully we will hear a call to a way that we as a church can contribute to an emotionally healthier city.
Stay tuned for the many ways you’ll be able to be part of this important initiative!
Sue Outson
Building Hope in Anxious Times
There’s so much in the world to be anxious about—climate change, political polarization, war, poverty, how the children and adolescents in our lives are dealing with troubling events, and more.
Join us as we learn more about anxiety and ways to manage it from Sue Outson, a licensed mental health practitioner, during three Wednesday Night Live sessions (6:30- 7:30 pm).
Jan 17—Anxiety Basics: What triggers anxiety, how it manifests, how it impacts us, how current events cause or exacerbate it, when to seek treatment
Jan 24—Addressing Anxiety: Steps to care for yourself and reduce anxiety in yourself and others in situations that don’t require seeing a professional therapist.
Jan 31—Addressing Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Children and adolescents are not mini adults. Recognize and address anxiety in children and adolescents who do not require professional therapy. This session is for adults who care for and about the children and adolescents in their lives, rather than for children and adolescents.
Sponsored by the Climate Action Team
How does the Year of Hope initiative make you proud?
Thoughts from the congregation
I am proud of our church because . . .
. . . we choose to engage in conversation about difficult things.
. . . we are seeking to end the stigma and shame often associated with mental illness and substance use disorders.
. . . we are creating avenues to listen to each other and our neighbors, knowing that the wisdom for a more hope-ful future is already present around us.
. . . we are looking for ways to raise hope among the children and youth in our Near South Neighborhood.
. . . we are willing to make hope concrete, to move beyond spoken or sung inspiration into living hope in the day to day.
. . . we are willing to go beyond Sunday morning worship and into the lives of our neighbors in the places where they work, live, and play.
As we begin the Year of Hope, help us spread the message around Lincoln by grabbing some Hope yard signs, t-shirts, and more. Stop by the table in the hall on Sundays or church office during the week. Donations welcome!
