THE CHIMES. Pastor Rob s Message. October 2015 THE BAR HARBOR CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST AN OPEN & AFFIRMING CHURCH

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1 THE CHIMES October 2015 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAR HARBOR CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST AN OPEN & AFFIRMING CHURCH 29 Mount Desert Street, Bar Harbor, Maine Office Hours: Monday, Tues., & Friday, 9am-3pm Pastor s Hours: Tuesday 11:00-1:00 and Thursday 12:00-2:00 (207) office@barharborucc.org Facebook: BarHarborCongregationalChurch Pastor Rob s Message Crossing the Border Recently I got detained at the border on my way to a liturgy conference in Canada. Either it was random, or... something about a concern that I would be paid to go to the conference. After twenty minutes I went on my way. Crossing the border - especially into Canada - shouldn't be any big deal. But I found out differently. Over the weekend twenty of us explored how we shape our worship services in light of today's diversity of thought, faith expression, and life experiences. One other person was from "the States," an Episcopalian, and the rest were from the Atlantic Provinces, all in the United Church (of Canada). When we signed up to help compose our Sunday worship, I signed up for music. Pretty safe, I thought. Turns out we didn't know the same hymns. The United Church hymnal (Voices United, which came out about the same time as the UCC's New Century Hymnal) and also its recent supplement, More Voices, contain both well-known classics and hymns that reflect contemporary worldviews and different cultures, with sensitivity to God's call to care for our fragile earth, along with inclusive expressions and expansive images for God. They were great - neither bad music nor bad poetry; many were engaging, earcatching and spirit-captivating pieces worthy of the present and future of our Christian faith. But what we quickly realized was that we had to work together to express our faith - to sit beside one another and sing the hymns we knew back & forth. It took time but it was worth it. The United Church has an intriguing history. In 1925 (30+ years before the birth of the UCC), the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational denominations in Canada essentially disbanded and formed a new denomination, the United Church. Like the UCC, United Churches have a wide diversity of theological perspective and worship practices; like us they are a `non-credal' church, welcoming the engagement of each person along their faith journeys, and like us they struggle to articulate a common faith (see "A New Creed" and "Song of Faith" on their website: In the United Church, talking about faith and worship - what is meaningful, and what is a barrier to participation - is an important part of living a dynamic and engaging faith - seeking that balance between the comfort of what has been and the Spirit's inspiration of what is yet to be. At the conference I learned that just recently the UCC and the United Church entered into what is called full communion. We are now bound up together in this pilgrimage. I'm excited to see how our coming together might encourage and inspire us - especially as we are so close to New Brunswick. 1

2 What surprised me most about the weekend was learning the extent to which the United Church is involved in refugee resettlement - and that the Canadian government is working closely with congregations to fund and host Syrian refugees through both refugee sponsorship by congregations, and government matches of private contributions. While it's easy to idealize things from the outside, I couldn't help but imagine that the unique history of the United Church helped make possible this extravagant welcome and this outreach to desperate and suffering people. They weren't consumed with denominational in-fighting but instead were freed to devote their time and resources to helping others. That was impressive. I wonder for us - for each of us, for the UCC, and for Christians in the States - what we might need to let go of to move toward a future rich with great possibility & enriched through great service. What expressions in our worship create roadblocks for others seeking God's holy, loving presence? What distractions shift our gaze away from the ways that - together - we can do God's work of loving our neighbors? In my heart and mind I brought back lots for us to consider as we live together in faith - both here at home, and with our new brothers & sisters across the border. Blessings and peace, Rob Outreach Board News for October Here is this month s news from your Outreach Board. Thanks as always for your powerful prayers and hands-on help with our church s outreach projects. Here are updates on our October Bar Harbor Food Pantry shifts, the Backpack Program, our Haiti Dinner and Caribbean Festival held last month, Coffee Sales, the Harvest Festival Coffee Hours, Thanksgiving Basket program, the YWCA Christmas project, and the Window Insert project! So many opportunities to participate. How can you help? OCTOBER IS OUR CHURCH S MONTH TO SERVE AT THE BAR HARBOR FOOD PANTRY. BRING A PAL! The shifts are Tuesdays 9 AM to 12 noon, and Thursdays 4-6 PM. We need four people for each shift in week one, and three people for each shift for the rest of the weeks of October. This is a great opportunity to buddy up with someone you d like to know better from church or to bring a neighbor or a friend from work. Go together and have fun re-stocking shelves, assisting customers, etc. PLEASE SIGN UP IN THE CHURCH PARLOR. Thank you! THE BACKPACK PROGRAM HAS RESUMED. Please prayerfully consider a donation of food or cash. Note: Because of the opportunity to buy food at cost from several sources, cash donations are particularly helpful. For example, for the cost of an 8-pack of juice boxes from the supermarket, we could purchase DOZENS of juice boxes wholesale. This effort comprises collaboration between the Bar Harbor Food Pantry, local schools, churches, and our community-at-large. Please clip and save this shopping list. Bags are assembled at our church on Friday mornings; please speak to Pastor Rob if you d like to help. You may also write a check to the church or to the Bar Harbor Food Pantry with Backpack Program on the memo line. Thank you! Snack size boxes of raisins Individual serving sizes of applesauce Granola bars Mac and cheese (both individual bowls and reg boxes) Canned fruit individual serving sizes only Cracker sandwiches with peanut butter or cheese Chicken noodle or vegetable beef canned soup Microwave popcorn Boxes of individual packets of oatmeal 2

3 HAITI MISSION TRIP 2016 UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who attended and prepared our Haiti Dinner / Caribbean Festival in late September. It was a huge success and terrific fun. A very special thank-you to Robin Ann Barron who led the effort with planning, shopping, cooking, and providing music. Our team of mission trippers (from both Bar Harbor and Falmouth) is coming together in late October for a retreat to plan and train for our work in Ouanaminthe. The team will join for a meal on Friday evening, and plan / train on Saturday morning. What a great opportunity for the team to get to know each other while we learn more about our journey to Haiti. We are open to whatever God has in store for us! GOT COFFEE? Overheard at Coffee Hour and at Board meetings this past month: Wow! That coffee is really great! I can t believe how affordable this coffee is. For the price of a few cups at my local coffee shop, I can drink coffee for weeks at home! As we travel back to Texas for the winter, we re bringing a bag of coffee to each of our hosts along the way. So glad to support your mission trip. We continue to sell Singing Rooster Haitian Coffee during coffee hour each week. We will have special gift bags of coffee available for purchase beginning in late October / early November. They make hostess and holiday gifts and great stocking stuffers! CORNUCOPIA of SHARING & SERVICE: HARVEST FESTIVAL SUNDAYS: The Harvest Festival coffee hours have been tremendously successful so far. We ll celebrate the Pumpkin on October 18 th, and the Cranberry on November 15 th. Bring out your favorite recipes or search out a new one to try! Contributing to Harvest Festival Sundays is a great way to help with coffee hour in a manageable and meaningful way. Thanks in advance for your delicious contribution. THANKSGIVING BASKET PROJECT GEARS UP... GOBBLE, GOBBLE! Be sure you ve got Sunday, November 22 nd on your calendar as Food Sorting Day. We ll be sorting hundreds of food items as we prepare to build hundreds of Thanksgiving baskets on Monday, November 23 rd. Many hands make for light work and this is a HIGHLIGHT of our church s annual outreach programs. And it s a community effort. As always, we welcome your donations of cash and food items. See you there. Look for signups in late October / early November. As it gets closer to the holiday season, keep Saturday, December 5th in mind! The YWCA always needs extra hands to help local children select, purchase, and wrap gifts for their families. 3

4 IT S TIME FOR THE MDI COMMUNITY BUILD! Volunteer anytime, Monday thru Friday, October Hundreds of window inserts have been ordered and now it s time to build them. There are morning (8:30-12:30) shifts and afternoon (1-5) shifts, and room for 12 volunteers for each shift. This is a community-wide effort. Pastor Rob is coordinating the volunteers; please speak to him directly, call him at , or mdiwindowdresser@gmail.com Wouldn t it be fantastic to have a great representation from OUR church? Consider a group you re part of (a church board, book club, garden club, men s group, craft club, etc.) and then invite them to come to volunteer just four hours. The work is easy and quickly learned. Please come to help keep our neighbors warm this winter! 4

5 CHILDREN, YOUTH, & FAMILY MINISTRIES As the school year gets underway and families return from their busy summers, you ll notice that we are changing things up in Sunday School. To start, we have changed the name - we are now calling our time Children s Church. Why, you ask? We are structuring things to resemble more closely our `upstairs service so our children become familiar with the rituals and traditions of our church. The first few weeks we have followed the lectionary, and explored the Scriptures and issues related to our daily lives. Children also spend time sharing their thoughts, prayers, and concerns with one another. This time spent in fellowship has solidified bonds of caring among our children that began many years ago. Our hope for Children s Church is that they ll continue to grow and learn together. If you d like to help out (we still need helpers!), please see Amanda. We also are looking forward to our first CONNECTION SUNDAY when various groupings (friends, families, peers, neighbors, etc.) will come together to lead the elements of our worship service. From kids to adults, families & singles anyone and everyone will have the opportunity to express their faith. Contact Amanda, the CE Board, the Deacons, or Rob to indicate your interest. We re also planning CONFIRMATION for young people in grades 7 through 9, and for any older youth who have not yet been confirmed. If you or your son / daughter might be interested, please see Pastor Rob. We ll pass along more information soon, as plans firm up. Finally, the MDI Youth Group (students in grades 6 9) welcomes local youth from many denominations and traditions. It s where kids can share their faith, help address local needs through service projects, and just have fun! Our first get-together is Saturday, October 17 th at Camp Beech Cliff. Contact Pastor Rob for more information. Rock-A-Thon Our youth, feeling nostalgic for younger days, wanted to host a Rockathon, harkening back to days ago at our Bar Harbor Congregational Church! Originally Rockathon was a fundraiser for Pilgrim Lodge Scholarship funds. Then we switched it up once the PL funds were secure. So this year we gave our kids a vote! It s important for their voices to be heard. Here is our vote: 50% going to our Haiti Mission trip; 25% going to the Sea Coast Mission; and 25% going to the Bar Harbor Food Pantry. We raised $610 at last count! So that s $305 to the Haiti mission trip, $ to the BH Food Pantry, and $ to the Sea Coast Mission. Thanks everyone for participating in our Rockathon! I know Kincaid and I had a blast. Eleven of us spent the night! Debby Hammond made us Pizza! Ms. Gurtler made us breakfast! We have hopes for repeating this next year. It was lots of fun! - Kathy MacCulloch 5

6 FROM THE TREASURER Now that fall has arrived it is time for the treasurer to get back to the business of the church. I hope you had a good summer. I know I did! Part of my job is to update the congregation on the state of our finances. Though it can be uncomfortable to talk about, a dynamic ministry in our congregation and our community entails costs. For the last couple of years we have been fortunate to run a budget surplus. We used part of the surplus to pay ourselves back for the church renovations by adding it back into the endowment. The balance in the church checking account had also grown, giving us some reserves. But unlike these last few years, through September 15, we are now running a $16,000 deficit. Part of this was anticipated as our expenses have risen with our new settled pastor, but unfortunately our income has not kept pace with our budget. While pledges are in line with our budget, we typically receive more than half of our weekly funds from loose offering, and here we are falling short. We budgeted to receive $73,000 for the year and so far we have only received half of this amount. So if you are behind in what you intend to give this year, or if you have been away much of the summer, please consider catching up by contributing just a little more. Speaking of pledging, stay tuned for the fall stewardship campaign and contact Rob or me if you would like to help. We are busy establishing goals and are eager to solicit your gifts of time and talent in addition to financial pledges for next year. Please contact me at or scott_hammond@hotmail.com if you have any questions. Faithfully, Scott Hammond, Treasurer Announcing the First Annual Piggly Wiggly Cider Press Festival! Saturday, October 24 th, 12-3pm At BHUCC Bring your friends and family! 6

7 I grew up on a small farm in south Jersey. Our social life, beyond my immediate family, was centered on our church. Its members were largely of German descent, and many were related to each other. Although my family did not have many relatives in the congregation I viewed them all as part of my extended family. It was a stable, safe, and positive environment. I still have fond memories of Sunday School plays, of covered dish suppers (I ve never eaten better!), of church picnics by a lake in the summer, hayrides in the fall, caroling at Christmas, and Easter sunrise services. And I also remember the adults who guided me. I have forgotten most of what they said, but I will never forget their strong faith and character, and that they loved me. I knew what they believed by the way they lived their life. We should never stop seeking answers to questions about life in order to be a better Christian. Every day I read my Bible and think about how it might apply to me I find answers that help me. But my questions have changed over time. As a child my faith was very simple. I had simple questions, usually about the who or what in some key Bible stories, and simple answers satisfied me. But as I grew into an adult I began to ask more complex questions, with clear answers harder to find. Especially why questions. And verses in one part of the Bible that seemed to conflict with those in other parts. And I learned that what people say or write can have multiple interpretations, especially as the context changes and the years go by. Anyone who has ever tried to understand what our country s founding fathers might think about today s world knows this! So now when I come across some aspect of my faith journey that I don t fully understand I step back and ask if this is a question that I should even try to answer. As it says in 1 Cor. 13, For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. It s OK to not have the answers to all our questions. Some things we will never know for sure in this world; only God can know everything. But such questions are not central to my belief as a Christian, and can become a distraction from what is really important. Jesus taught, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Now that s a simple teaching that I can understand! A simple child-like faith is a better model for me now than making it complicated. Recognize what is important and what is not. And think back to those who guided us in our youth, and remember that by our words and actions we all guide others. I hope we do as good as job as those who came before us. - John Fehlauer ALONG THE JOURNEY 7

8 B I R T H D A Y S C O N T R I B U T O R S B I B L E R E A D I N G S October Birthdays 1 Ann Lee 5 Kristie Rechholtz 6 Robert Sanderson 10 Emma Stanley 16 Charles Benore 16 Fred Olson 21 Evan Beals 22 Deborah Dyer 24 Michael Bonsey 24 Kathy Kief 25 Edwin Soule 29 Eva Bonsey 29 Florence Ames 29 Caroline McMinimy About Chimes Devotional writings The Deacons are hoping that we can get twelve people brave enough to contribute a devotion or just talk briefly about why church is important to them. So, if you are willing to submit an article once a year or just once, please contact me or any of the Deacons. Let s work together to make the CHIMES reflect how God is at work in our lives! - Cindy Fox Sunday Worship Contributors Liturgists- 4: Scott Hammond 11: Doug Lee 18: Betty Bryer 25: Betsy Higgins Flowers 4: Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Spurling 11: Marion Dyer 18: Marjorie Beam and Greg and Crystal Dow 25: Carolyn Miller Coffee Hosts - 4: Fall Birthday Cakes 11: Wendy Fehlauer 18: 25: Home Bible Readings 4 Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 8 Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 Mark 10: Amos 5:6-7 Psalm 90:12-17 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10: Isaiah 53:4-12 Psalm 91:9-16 Hebrews 5:1-10 Mark 10: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126 Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:

9 This calendar is current as of Sept. 25. For the most current information, click here. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sat. 4 Birthday Cakes! Worship Service 10:00 AM HS Youth Group to Donnell pond Audit Committee 5:00PM 7 Music Committee 11:00AM Blessing of the Animals 11:00 (church lawn) MDI Book Festival 10am 3pm Worship Service 10:00 AM 18 Worship Service 10:00 AM Harvest Festival - Pumpkin 25 CONNECTION SUNDAY 10:00 AM Council on the Sunbeam, 2-4PM Window insert build week begins 19 Outreach 6:00PM CHIMES ARTICLES DUE Pack 89 mtg. Deacons 6:00PM 7:00 PM Council? 7:00 PM Trustees 5:30PM MDI Youth Group Event Camp Beech Cliff) Haiti team BHUCC Piggly Wiggly Cider Press Fest 12-3pm 31 Haiti team BHUCC The family of Florence Ames would like to thank all who helped them through this difficult and heartbreaking time. A special thank you to Rev. Rob Benson for his many visits to our mother while she was in hospital and at Sonogee, and for his kind and caring support. Thank you to Cas Dowden, Cindy Fox, and church members who organized and provided food for the reception, and to Robin and the choir for singing at the service. We deeply appreciate the gracious support of so many members of our church family. 9

10 Bar Harbor Congregational Church United Church of Christ 29 Mount Desert Street Bar Harbor, ME, UPCOMING EVENTS Blessing of the Animals Saturday, October 3, 11:00AM HS Youth to Donnell Pond Sunday, October 4 th Window insert community build Monday Friday, October MDI Youth Group (6 th -9 th graders) Sat., October 17, CBC Harvest Festival, Pumpkins Sunday, October 18 Piggly Wiggly Cider Press Fest Saturday, October 24 th, 12-3PM Connection Sunday Sunday, October 25 Please check the Calendar on page 9 for church meetings, and the BHUCC website and Weekly Messenger for updates and current listings. Bar Harbor Congregational Church: Love in Action 10