Belleville Congregational Church

Transcription

1 Belleville Congregational Church An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ December 2017 News and Views December 2017 News and Views MISSION OF BELLEVILLE CHURCH Centered in the inclusive love of Jesus Christ, we seek to be a welcoming, affirming, and healing congregation. Led by the Holy Spirit, we are inspired to grow and be renewed through our sharing of our gifts. Strengthened by God s love and guidance, we strive to serve with compassion those in need, both near and far. Ponderings 1 Calendar 2 Women s Coffee a& Conversation Men s Fellowship Dinner 3 Christmas Eve Service 4 Acoustic Christmas Concert 5 Concert: For the Love of Music 6 Happy Birthday 7 Adult and Youth Choir 8 Service Club & Thrift Shop 9 October, 2017 News & Views Newburyport Choral Society 10 Coffee Hour Volunteers 11 Dear Friends, It is that time of year again... where everything seems to speed up, and schedules can get full to the brim. And... sometimes the church events can add stress, especially if you are involved in the planning various events or worship logistics. No wonder that "smart" ministers, not me this year, plan vacations for the week after Christmas! If you ARE one of the planners, hopefully we can make planning time enjoyable, adding seasonal snacks! If you can partake, please note the wonderful MUSIC offerings this year! Belleville is living up to its reputation as being a wonderful MUSIC venue. We have THREE weekends in a row of great music! On Sunday December 3, we celebrate 150 years for the Meetinghouse and the Organ. While we are highlighting the organ, with guest organ solos, we have world-class soprano soloists also, some classical guitar, and visiting choir members to help raise the rafters with our favorite choral songs! On December 9 and 10, the Choral Society will once again treat us to an amazing orchestra, huge choir, children's choir again, and seasonal sing alongs! Then on Saturday December 16 a Folk/acoustic concert from the spirited group "Christmas in New England" that just gets better every year. Their passion is to bring fun and joy to the audience, with famous and original songs, and they do not disappoint! Back to reducing stress... no Santa visit this year; we can't plan and do everything. We need to make time for relaxing over the holidays as well! I submit that attending worship, and the various concerts CAN indeed be relaxing... we can even close our eyes with much of the music, just soak it in! I confess it took me awhile to learn not to be annoyed by foreign languages in famous songs. But now I realize, even if I don't understand all the words being sung, great voices have a way of penetrating to the soul; yes, we can "soak in" all the vibrations while meditating on the theme. We can truly RECEIVE, and isn't that what Christmas is all about? Receiving the light and love of Christ's spirit? Receiving goodness and love... and why not through the beauty of music? OK, enough sermonizing. Hope to see you for a relaxing time at the concerts or at worship. And I won't tell anyone if you nod off while closing your eyes to focus on the music, because I may be doing the same! A joyous and relaxing Christmastime to you! Ross Ushers & Scripture Readers 12 Coffee Fellowship 13 1 Contacts 14

2 2017 CALENDAR Sun Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Thrift Shop 3 10am Worship in the Chapel 11:15 Youth Choir rehearsal 4pm For the Love of Music Concert in the Meeting House 10 10am Worship in the Chapel 11:15 Youth Choir rehearsal 1:30pm NCS Concert 17 10am Worship in the Chapel 11:15 Youth Choir rehearsal 4 7pm CODA 7:15pm NCS 11 7pm CODA 7:15pm NCS 18 7pm CODA 7:15pm NCS pm Bible discussion 7pm Choir rehearsal 12 1:30pm Service Club Thrift Shop 7:30pm Board of Stewardship & Finance Thrift Shop 14 6pm Bible discussion 7pm Choir rehearsal 21 6pm Bible discussion 7pm Choir rehearsal Thrift Shop 8pm NCS Concert Thrift Shop 9am Women s Coffee & Conversation 7:30pm Acoustic Christmas with Rick Lang Thrift Shop 24 10am Worship in the Chapel 5:30pm Christmas Eve Candlelight service in the Meetinghouse pm Executive Board 28 6pm Bible discussion 7pm Choir rehearsal

3 Women s Coffee and Conversation Saturday December 16th from 9 10:30am, in the parlor Wednesday, Decmber 6st Gather at 6pm, dinner at 6:30pm Topic: Spiritual learnings and practices from other cultures with guest speaker John Pasquina 3

4 Sunday, December 24 th at 5:30pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Service in the Meetinghouse Join us as we celebrate the gifts of hope, peace, joy and love, brought into our world through Christ s birth. We welcome everyone to the warmth and joy of this candlelight service. 4

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6 Don't Miss Sunday 12/3 at 4 pm Special Concert in the Meetinghouse For the Love of Music and Community Featuring: The best of Belleville's choir with additional community members led by Andrea DiGiovanni! Soloists Taylor Levesque and Alexandra Cedolin! The Newburyport Children s Chorus! And performances on our historic, one-of-a-kind Williams Stevens Pipe Organ by our own Ryan Overbeek and Andrea DiGiovanni! FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC AND COMMUNITY Newburyport--A concert for the entire community will be held in the historic Belleville Meetinghouse Sunday, December 3, at 4 pm, 300 High Street, Newburyport. Area musicians, guest soloists, and the Greater Newburyport Children s Chorus will perform an afternoon of music to benefit the restoration of the historic Meetinghouse and one-of-a kind William Stevens organ which are celebrating 150 years. This event is free and open to the public. Andrea DeGiovanni, music director at Belleville, formed a community choir for the one-time concert featuring extraordinary choral selections, two premier soprano soloists, a premier organ performance, and the Greater Newburyport Children's Chorus. This fundraiser is being held to benefit the Belleville Meetinghouse building fund For the Love of Music and Community. After 150 years as a premier gathering space, time has taken its toll on this historic building and the William Stevens organ. The ceiling needs restoration and the organ needs crucial repairs which will cost more than $200,000. The Belleville Roots Music Concert Series hosts Grammy award winning artists for community concerts here to raise money for the historic building. The Meetinghouse is also the long-time home of the Newburyport Choral Society s beloved annual concerts. Christmas Eve candlelight service, weddings and Sunday gatherings are long-treasured events in the Belleville Meetinghouse. This concert is one of many special events planned to help with the goal of restoring the Meetinghouse and organ, said Marcia Samuelson, member of the fundraising committee. We are making a broad appeal for financial support to any and all who enjoy making and hearing great music in this unique, historic space. For more information about the December 3 concert or the Love of Music and Community fundraising efforts, please call or visit our website at 6

7 December January 1 James Marshall 1 Bob Locke 6 Cathy Morrow 5 Kip Tyler 10 Jennifer Allard 10 Caden Allard 10 Tyler Jay 12 James Guyette 11 Scott Smith 16 Jennifer (Locke) Donovan 20 Jean Kirkpatrick 23 Robert Crofts 21 Michael Allard 23 Nicole Samuelson 21 William DeGiovanni 26 Jim Samuelson 25 Norm Hansen 26 Andrea DeGiovanni 26 Joe DeGiovanni 7

8 Youth Choir rehearses Sunday mornings after the worship service. The adult choir rehearses Thursday evenings at 7pm 8

9 Service Club Our Tuesday, December 12 will be in the Banister Room at 1:30. Steve Wiswell will be presenting another video presentation for us. Refreshments will be served. Hope to see a lot of you at the meeting Come by and see what s new! The thrift shop is Open every Wednesday and Saturday 9am noon. The Christmas Room will be open November and December. We need volunteers!! If you can spare a few hours on Wednesday or Saturday please speak with Sue Wolfendale. 9

10 Newburyport Choral Society 2017 Winter Concert: The Rose and the Night Star The Newburyport Choral Society will perform its 2017 Winter Concert entitled The Rose and the Night Star on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m. at Belleville Congregational Church in Newburyport. Over 180 singers, soloists and professional orchestra members will perform Camille Saint-Saëns beautiful Christmas Oratorio, various musical settings of Lo How a Rose E er Blooming, and an exciting multi-cultural piece from South Africa entitled, Hope for Resolution. The Greater Newburyport Children s Chorus will also perform a selection of light-hearted holiday pieces. The audience will be invited to join with the chorus and orchestra in singing familiar carols. Tickets are $22 Adults, $20 Seniors/Students; $25 at the door. Visit for information and to purchase tickets, or call

11 The board of Fellowship and Outreach are working on the coffee hour list for the coming year. It has been requested to have coffee on the holiday weekends too. We are looking for volunteers for those weekends. The biggest weekend that we are looking to fill is Easter. At this time we have 1 person. More are needed to pull off this busy day. People can sign up to donate for coffee hour and that will be a big help. We do however need more than one person for set up and cleaning up.. We understand this is a busy weekend for families and many people are traveling. It will be helpful to have a response as soon as possible. The list will be done by the end of November. Please contact any of us on this committee. Committee members are: Jean Kirkpatrick, Carolyn Kyle, Lynn Varney, Martha Kelleher, Sue Wolfendale and Audrey Clarkson 11

12 USHERS Communion is the first Sunday of each month December January 3 The Dean Family 7 The DeGiovanni Family 10 Ben Heersink & Joe DeGiovanni 14 Hans Erwich & Ron Schmidt 17 Audrey Clarkson & Jean Kirkpatrick 21 Jean Kirkpatrick & Carolyn Kyle 24 TBA 28 Shirley & Bob Locke 31 `Peggy Utterback & Kathy Raywood December 3 Joe DeGiovanni 10 Ben Heersink 17 Lynn Varney 24 Michelle Anderson 31 Gail Gandolfi SCRIPTURE READERS 12

13 December 3 Marcia Samuelson, Mardee Beauparlant & Audrey Clarkson 10 Sue Wolfendale, Norma Dean & Lynn Varney 17 Audrey Clarkson, Diane Crofts & Janet Woodman January 7 Sue Heersink, Dorothy Williamson & Carolyn Kyle 14 Nancy Canali, Gail Gandolfi & Carol Beauparlant 21 Shirley Locke, Karen Conway & Marcia Samuelson 28 Mary Lou Tyler, Diane Crofts & Jennifer Allard 13

14 Belleville Congregational Church An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ 300 High Street Newburyport, MA bellevillechurch.org Newsletter Submissions Church Staff & Contact Information Pastor Ross Varney Office hours: Tuesday 11 AM 12:30 Wednesday & Thursday 10:30 AM - Noon; or by appointment. Do you have an article that you would like to include in the monthly newsletter? If so, please submit your article to the church office by the 25th of each month. Thank you! Church Office Valerie Gates, Office Administrator Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Church bcchurch@worldpath.net Website: Andrea DeGiovanni, Organist & Music Director James Gorman, Sexton Church Officers Moderator: Kelly Burke-Anderson Clerk: Kathy Raywood Treasurer: Jim Samuelson Collector: Norma Dean Memorial Fund Treasurer: Auditor: Members-at-Large (Ex. Board) Shirley Locke & Ben Heersink Contact Persons Board of Fellowship & Outreach: Martha Kelleher Board of Worship & Education: Gail Gandolfi Board of Stewardship & Finance: Hans Erwich UCC Delegate: Sunday School Coordinator Flower Coordinator Hospitality Coordinator Audrey Clarkson 14