Lunch and a Visit Down Under

The Women of Wit and Wisdom will meet for lunch at the church at noon on Tuesday, May 23. Diane Rogers will share pictures and stories from her recent trip to Australia and New Zealand.

Women of Wit and Wisdom gatherings are open to all women (and occasionally men!), although we may be more available to retired women as we often plan programs during the day. And you’re always welcome to bring a friend!

Please let us know if you would like to attend by emailing womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org, and we will be so glad to hear from you. We hope you can join us!

Virtual Lunch

The Women of Wit and Wisdom will “gather” on Wednesday, November 11 at noon for lunch and conversation. It will be an opportunity for us to re-connect, to share updates and stories with each other, and, with care, to voice our hopes and concerns post-election. Please join us! RSVP to Diane Rogers at womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org to receive the zoom link information.

Please join us for a program marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.  Our guest is Mary Walton, a longtime journalist who wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the author of A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot.  Ms. Walton will speak about Alice Paul, the young Quaker from Mt. Laurel, New Jersey who was a brilliant leader and strategist in the women’s suffrage movement and a women’s rights activist. We’ll learn how the National Woman’s Party, led by Paul, virtually invented the tactics of nonviolent civil disobedience that later protestors would use. Paul was also the author of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923, which has yet to be adopted. This timely program will give us an opportunity to consider how the suffrage movement’s voices for civil rights have echoed through the decades to our society today.

This is a Zoom event; registration is required. Register below:

Zoom is a free video-conferencing tool that you can use from any computer or mobile device.  You can also participate using audio-only by dialing in with a standard telephone.

Virtual Lunch

The Women of Wit & Wisdom will meet via Zoom for fellowship and to catch up. Contact womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org for information on how to connect.

MANNA Tour

On Wednesday, March 18, the Women of Wit and Wisdom will visit MANNA, where Rob Saxon, Director of External Affairs for the organization, will give us a private tour of the facilities. Kay Keenze will share with us informally about MANNA’s early days and her involvement in its founding, which happened at First Church in 1988. Following the tour Jeannie Boehner has invited us to her home (a short walk from MANNA) for lunch and conversation!  The tour begins at MANNA, 420 N. 20th Street at 10 am. Please RSVP by Monday, March 16 via email at womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org.

On Saturday, March 14, the Deacons are hosting the first Game Night in Old Buttonwood Hall.  This new fellowship event is a time to bring together our two worshipping communities (Celebration & Traditional) and our various fellowship groups to socialize for a fun and relaxed evening at the church.  We will have games for all ages!  Please plan to join us!

Brown Bag Lunch

The Women of Wit & Wisdom will meet for fellowship and to discuss topics of current issues in our social and political life together. Attendees are encouraged to submit articles and topics beforehand to womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org.

Brown Bag Lunch with the Pastor

The Women of Wit & Wisdom will kick off the new year with a brown bag lunch with pastor Baron Mullis on Wednesday, January 8 at noon in Old Buttonwood Hall. We’ll enjoy a lively discussion about our life together, and have the opportunity to raise questions and share issues of mutual concern. RSVP by January 7 to Diane Rogers.

The Women of Wit and Wisdom will meet to write Christmas cards to those on the congregational care list, as well as recent visitors and new members.  Please join us—many hands make light work!  Let Diane Rogers know at coffee hour or via email at womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org.

Join us in Old Buttonwood Hall for the screening of the acclaimed documentary “Sisters in Freedom,” which addresses the timely issues of racism, feminism, white supremacy, and gender. It presents a look back almost two hundred years, and gives us the opportunity to see how far, or whether, we have advanced as a society which extends full citizenship to all. It is a fitting introduction to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the Constitution next year.

The film’s creative team, History Making Productions describes the film in this way:

“Sisters in Freedom” tells the story for the first time of pioneering black and white women in the 1830s who defy social, economic, and cultural norms to come together to agitate against slavery, white supremacy, and inequality of race and gender. The film reveals how the resistance work of these pioneering women leads directly to the meeting at Seneca Falls and the launch of American feminism. 

Join us for the screening and lively discussion! RSVP to womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org. 

Women of Wit and Wisdom will gather in Old Buttonwood Hall for an evening that will explore poetry as a carrier of spiritual wisdom.

Joy Harjo, our first Native American poet laureate, calls poetry “soul talk.” Poems can connect us to the earth, to the world of the Spirit, and to each other. Poems can carry our dreams and help us reimagine ourselves, create community, and change the world.

Barbara Chaapel will lead us in exploring the wisdom within poetry, looking at poems by Joy Harjo, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda, David Whyte, John Donne, and others—and through the poems we will look at ourselves.

All women of the church and their guests are warmly invited to this evening of wine, women, and poetry—and community!  RSVP by October 14 to Diane Rogers.  Parking and child care will be available.  Please bring an hors-d'oeuvre to share.  We look forward to seeing you!

Women of Wit and Wisdom will hold their kick-off lunch on Wednesday, September 11th, at noon in Old Buttonwood Hall.  This will be a catered luncheon introducing this year's theme "What Does it mean to be Presbyterian Women in 2020?”  Please RSVP to Diane Rogers by Monday, September 9.

Join the Women of Wit and Wisdom for our final event of the 2018-19 season!  We'll be going to dinner at LaScala's (615 Chestnut Street) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12.  Free parking for the restaurant is available on 7th Street!  Please RSVP by Wednesday, June 5!

Please join us on May 4th at 12 noon in Old Buttonwood Hall to celebrate spring and our Christian sisterhood! You are welcome to come on your own, bring a family member (mother, daughter, niece, sister, etc.), invite someone from our church community, or a friend! Lively music will be provided by the Vance Camisa Jazz Trio as we mix and mingle and share family stories with each other. After our meal, the Reverend Margaret Somerville will speak on Holding Hands, Opening Hearts and Minds:engaging with neighbors of different faith traditions. Details about what to bring, questions, and RSVPs can be directed to Diane Rogers. Childcare will be available in the nursery, as well as on-street parking with placard.

Lunch and Hot Topics!

Join the Women of Wit and Wisdom for a brown bag lunch and invigorating discussion on Thursday, April 11 at 12:00 noon. Bring lunch and a stimulating topic you'd like to share.  RSVP by Tuesday, April 9.  Beverages will be provided.

It’s Movie Time!

We Women of Wit and Wisdom will view the movie What They Had on Wednesday, March 13, 1:00 p.m., in the MacColl room. Join us in viewing this award-winning (Heartland International Film Festival), thought-provoking movie and discussion. Not to be missed! Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by Monday, March 11.

Philadelphia Museum of Art Tour

Please join us at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) on Wednesday, February 27th at 10:50 am, or come to the Museum’s cafeteria at 10 for pre-visit coffee and conversation!

We’ll be led on a special tour for a special tour of the museum by Jean Witmer.

Please RSVP by Friday, February 22nd, and be sure to let us know if you have a PMA membership so that non-members could benefit from a $10 entrance fee.

What does Baron Think?

The Women of Wit and Wisdom will find out at our brown bag lunch on Thursday, January 10th at 12 noon in Old Buttonwood Hall. Our new pastor, The Rev. Dr. Baron Mullis, graciously has agreed to a Q&A session. Topics of discussion may range from the depths of doctrine to tiresome tasks and everything in between. This event is not to be missed—an excellent opportunity to get to know Baron better, along with his theology, both practical and spiritual, and to express whatever thoughts, ideas, and matters of interest we may have. Please email to RSVP. Bring your lunch and beverages will be served. Join us for this enlightening experience.

Please join us on Tuesday, November 27, 1:00 pm, in the MacColl Room, to write welcome and Christmas greetings to those in our congregation who are recent visitors and new members. They are indeed members of our First Church Family! There’s no need to RSVP; just come! This will also be a time of Christian Sister fellowship. Coffee and tea will be provided. Please note there will be no December event.  A joyful and blessed Holy Season to all!

The Women of Wit and Wisdom are hosting a fun family dinner for women on Friday, November 16 @ 6 pm in Old Buttonwood Hall. We invite you to come on your own and get better acquainted with your First Pres family, or bring a family member (mother, daughter, niece, sister, etc.), someone from our church community, or a friend.

Lively music will be provided by the Vance Camisa Jazz Trio as we mix and mingle and share family stories with each other. After our meal, the Reverend Margaret Somerville will share highlights from the 2018 Parliament of World Religions, where she will be a presenter. She will reflect on interfaith relations and there will be opportunity for questions. For those of you who do not know Margaret, not only is she a “cradle Presbyterian”, she’s a cradle First Presbyterian!

Please bring a photo or two of a family member or members to share with others so we can enjoy hearing about each other’s background. (You can bring a picture of a woman outside of your family who has inspired you, if you prefer.) We are also asking that each of you (or you and your guest together) bring something to share for the meal. The main course and beverages will be provided, and we’re asking you to provide appetizers, salads, and desserts. More details will follow so watch your emails and letter boxes!

Join us for this autumn potluck social, and go into the holiday season inspired and invigorated! For information email womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org.

For our October event, Women of Wit & Wisdom will be showing the movie “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in Old Buttonwood Hall, followed by discussion and light refreshments.  The film features the well-beloved Fred Rogers of the TV series, “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and takes us into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination. Rogers was a musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister whose sweet-tempered idealism influenced the world.

Don’t miss this treasure of a film. And, yes, you may bring a friend!

Please RSVP by October 16 to womenwitwisdom@fpcphila.org.