February 2013 Newsletter

Transcription

1 Rockland Congregational Church February 2013 Newsletter A Long Time Dear Congregation of God, Rockland Congregational Church P.O. Box Limerock Street Rockland, ME Tel: (207) congregationalchurch.org Worship at 10 a.m. Member NACCC & CCCME ********** Pastor Rev. Seth D. Jones revsdjones@ne.twcbc.com Office Administrator Liz Glover rccoffice@ne.twcbc.com Minister of Music Richard Einsel reinsel@midcoast.com Parish Nurse Nancy Lewis nklewis7@gmail.com Maintenance George Manson Rick Grimes rgrimes1@roadrunner.com ********** Last week, I was thrilled that RJ and Kate got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. I envied their experience, but even though I have seen the Grand Canyon a couple times as a child, nothing prepares you for the incredible vastness and depth of the beauty and power of it. Millions of years of erosion, change and persistence stretch out for miles in either direction. Way down at the bottom of the canyon, if you are in the right position, you can see the Colorado River flowing and still doing the constant, unending work of cutting through the many levels of rock, shale and sediment. As one stands above the canyon, time becomes strange. When we first saw it, we were hungry, so we were measuring time between meals - only a few hours. We were gone for a week. RJ was out of school for a month. The season of a year. The passage from Easter to Christmas. The last year. Kate worked on her textbook for several years. RJ is 15 years old. We have been married for 21 years. I think about the passage of time from when I was a child in Ohio, Indianapolis, Virginia, North Carolina and Wisconsin. My parents, my parents parents. My ancestor Ethan Allen in the Green Mountains. My Welsh fishermen ancestors. Back and back into the haze of the past. And then we come to the geology of the Grand Canyon, and the 350 or so years of family history are like the leaf that has fallen from the ancient tree that grew in even older soil on even more ancient sediments covering rocks from millions of years. The Grand Canyon is a good place to get a sense of the eternal mindset which inspired Thomas Chisholm to write in his hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness, Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above; Join with all nature in manifold witness, To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! God is faithful in the natural world and in the human world both, and we only begin to see the vastness and depth of God s love when we can see it in our own lives and also in

2 creation itself. In that eternal mindset, the rise and fall of things takes on a more divine hue. We begin to see, in our very limited and temporary way, with the eyes of God and begin to get a taste of God s faithfulness. In March, we will be celebrating a sliver of time in the great eternity of God s faithfulness when we gather for our 175th Anniversary celebration. On the weekend of March 8-10, we will gather around pictures, memories, reflections and, of course, food, as we honor our history as the Congregational Church of Rockland, Maine. I hope you will join us as we stand together to see the vastness and depths of God s great faithfulness in this church, our ministry to the community and Jesus work in the world. Peace! Pastor Seth ~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~ -The 175 th Anniversary Task Team is asking everyone for their favorite recipes to make a All Church Recipe Book. Please yours to Marlene Groves: magroves1@myfairpoint.net or Sharon Sallinen: rsallinen@roadrunner.com or bring them to the church office and we will make a copy for you. The deadline is May 1, 2013 I NO LADIES GUILD THIS MONTH LOOK FOR INFORMATION IN THE MARCH NEWSLETTER!! WE RECYCLE AT RCC!! Cell phones, ink cartridges, eye glasses, pull-tabs, and bottles and cans. Please call the church office for details Page 2

3 SCRAPBOOKING Group will be held Saturday February 16th from 8:30am to 5:30pm. Share creative energy in the company of others. Can t stay all day that s ok. Don t scrapbook, come knit draw or what ever you like. FUN FUN FUN!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CIRCLE SUPPER Monday February 25th An Old Church Favorite STICKY CHICHEN!!! 180 Limerock St 5:30 pm Page 3

4 Boar's Head & Yule Log Festival 2013 This year's production was a hit! We accomplished what we set out to do. To bring the good news of Christ's birth to the community and feed our own souls in the process! This year's Boar's Head boasted a few changes (we try to change it up a little every year). Those changes included: The Renaissance Banquet, which helped raise funds for the animals. Village folk dined with King Geary and Queen Kim, Lord Jones of Willow and Lady Drolett of St. George, Sirs Brian and Maxwell, The Fool, and Beefeaters Brian and Aaron. Entertainment was provided by the Choir of Monks, singing favorite carols. Served by wenches and cooks, the feast of limb of turkey, roasted root vegetables, cheeses, dates, nuts and bread were enjoyed by all. Cider and spiced wine kept the merriment and conversation rolling. Many thanks go out to Liz, Aaron and Julie Glover, Nate and Brian Pitts, Seth, Kate and Rhiannon Jones, Kim Fletcher and Geary Smith, Denise Drolet, Judy Waterman, Dick and Grace Einsel, Martha Majunka, Sue Pedretti, Dick Gardner, Brian Trask, Nancy Lewis. A special thank-you to Aaron Glover for preparing such a wonderful feast! We were asked by all participants to PLEASE repeat this evening of frivolity! I think we shall... The Petting Zoo Tent. This year's petting zoo was outside in a large tent. This allowed more folks to see the animals and for the llamas to join in. Also, the draft pony, May, who would not have fit comfortably in the building. The tent lent a festive air to the church and surely made clean-up easier. Just two shows and both at 2:00p.m. For the ease of the many Boar's Head actors, we have dropped our two 4:30 shows. This of course means we would not make as much money, but all seemed to appreciate the change, were more willing and able to participate, and allowed us to fill both shows with eager festival-goers. The preliminary figures are as follow: 144 possible general tickets, 2 shows 103 sold 41 general seats, unsold 230 possible reserved tickets, 2 shows 227 sold 3 reserved seats, unsold I place myself at the door after each performance to invite the audience downstairs for refreshments and to the petting zoo. Every year I hear how wonderful the festival is, and get requests to do it again next year. People are so joyous and tearful about their experience, both audience and actors alike. This makes all the hard work and brief inconveniences well worth it. I cannot begin to thank everyone for all their hard work, for fear I will leave someone out, yet I will say in general...thank you to all who participated so willingly, thank you to The Team for all the long hours, and thank you to this church for having the vision to see how this festival is a gift to ourselves and the community and for your continued support. In His service, Susan Baines Page 4

5 NEWS FROM THE Our Healthy Living Group has resumed on Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m. This group is for both women AND men! Joining this get-together is a great way to find out what foods are good for you, exercise tips, ideas to stay healthy, and answers to your questions. Finding a healthy approach to life is important, so join Nurse Nancy on Thursday mornings! February Birthdays Feb. 6 Marilyn Trask Feb. 7 Grace Einsel Feb. 13 Sari Mauro Feb. 15 John Root Feb. 16 Judy Post Feb. 18 Joan Foote, Alden Mason Feb. 21 Jane Hennings Feb. 23 Jane Yates Feb. 26 Signe Gardner Feb. 27 Seth Jones IMPORTANT DATES IN Feb.8 Setup for Vandersloot Event Feb.9 Vandersloot Event Feb.10 Snow Date for Vandersloot Event Feb.10 Feast, Faith & Film Feb.13 Ash Wednesday Feb.16 Scrapbooking February Anniversaries Feb. 7 Jerry & Signe Mather Feb. 14 Michael & Barbara Bibro Feb. 22 George & Carol Manson Feb.25 Circle Supper Page 5

6 175 Years in His Service One hundred and seventy-five years ago, a group of local Congregationalists decided to form an independent church here in Rockland, then known as Shore Village. With a donation from Mr. Iddo Kimball, they secured the building and hired Mr. Samuel Fessenden, a religious teacher, who gave the very first sermon to the new church's members on March 8, The Rockland Congregational Church will celebrate its 175 th anniversary throughout The first event will take place on Friday night, March 8, with a dinner to which all past and present members will be invited. On Saturday morning, a short film documenting the church's history will be shown continuously in the church theater, plus there will be a presentation on church memorabilia rescued from the original Congregational church, which was destroyed by fire in The weekend will conclude on Sunday, March 10, with a special worship service and a reception afterward featuring the church's beautiful silver tea service. Anyone who has had a connection to the Rockland Congregational Church weddings performed, children baptized, special occasions honored is urged to bring relevant photographs to the church to be scanned and added to the anniversary display. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 4:30, Friday from 8:30-12:30 or can be reached by calling ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Feast, Faith & Film Superman Returns 11:30 Sunday,2/10/13 11 He is an only son, possessing great power, sent to earth to be raised by simple country folk and then, after disappearing into the wilderness for a while, reappearing at age thirty with miraculous displays of selfless heroism and a message of hope. ( Page 6

7 Rockland Congregational Church Officers and Ministry Teams Officers Moderator: Martha Majunka Associate Moderator: Phil Anderson Clerk: David Pier Treasurer: Cathy Lawrence CCCME Delegate: Brian Harden Ministry Teams Worship and Pastoral Care (WOPAC) Cindy Feely Peter Smith Signe Gardner Susan Baines Michael Collins William Maddox Building Administration and Maintenance (BAM) Rick Grimes Brian Harden Aaron Glover Finance Barbara Noyes Jo Talbot Wayne Meserve Stewardship Larry Beck Jean Brookwell Al McNeilly Community Presence and Outreach Elane Sprague Karen Pier Laurie Smith Christian Growth Kate Jones Liz Glover Membership, Fellowship& Hospitality Grace Einsel Judy Howlett RoseAnn Chaisson Council Member-at-Large Margaret Phillips David Harden Martha Bouchard Page 7

8 An Opportunity to Make a Difference during Lent February 13 is Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent, a period marked by penance and reflection as we prepare for Christ s crucifixion and glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. As we approach this season, we ask that you reflect on those in our community who struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. For several years now, a number of churches and organizations have been focusing attention on the issue of homelessness in our community. Our church s involvement with K.I.T.S. (Knox Interfaith Teen Safe-havens) was part of this movement. The Knox County Homeless Coalition evolved out of this effort to help provide emergency and temporary housing and other support. The need is great the Coalition served almost 100 individuals and families last year! Homelessness takes many forms from the person living in a tent, to the mother and child sleeping in a car, to the child without a safe home couch surfing at friends, to those taking shelter in a safe house. It can affect anyone. The Knox County Homeless Coalition has been given the opportunity to revive Hospitality House, the only shelter in our community, and we are looking for your support. In the spirit of Lent we ask that you consider making a daily sacrifice to assist your neighbors with a donation to the Knox County Homeless Coalition. A dollar a day, ten dollars a day whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated. On February 17, the first Sunday of Lent, we will provide little piggy banks for every family. We ask that you place these on your table not only as a reminder of your commitment to make a daily financial sacrifice for those in need but also as a reminder to pray daily for those who are homeless and hungry in our community. You can place your donation in the bank daily if you wish. We will collect all the banks and any other donations on Palm Sunday. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deeds. (Proverbs 19:17) Karen Pier, Elane Sprague, Laurie Smith Page 8

9 The Membership, Fellowship and Hospitality Ministry Team The first responsibility of our ministry team is one that is vital to the growth of our church. We are charged with seeing that all those who are new to our services feel welcomed because someone has made contact with them. Each member of the congregation is part of the Task Team that can make this happen. If you will welcome new attendees, visit with them at Coffee Hour, invite them to some of our ongoing programs, and check on them as they choose to continue to join us in worship - they will feel part of our wonderful community of worshipers. Coffee Hour is so important. But doing Coffee Hour can be very expensive, especially if only one or two people have signed up. We are recommending that four or more people create the coffee hour each week. Men, women and youth can be part of this vital ministry. Providing food, setting up and cleaning up are the main components of putting on the Coffee Hour. If you cannot help with one of these components please sign up to help with the other two. We will have the sign up sheet upstairs on Sundays, then moved downstairs during Coffee Hour. Our team has been meeting at 10 o'clock on most Monday mornings. This gives us a chance to look at the pages from the Attendance Registers that are passed down each row on Sunday. We write down the names of visitors, along with their contact information, so that Pastor Seth can contact them and we can send them information about our church and our upcoming events. Please start passing the Attendance Registers along your row before the service starts. Check with those who come later, so that they can also sign in. Another focus of our team is to help with the new member classes. We are hoping that the new member classes in May will be full of friendly faces because the Council has removed the by-law that prohibits someone from joining our church if they keep a membership in another church. Several individuals, who are active participants in our church, hold sentimental memberships in churches from their past. We feel that this should not exclude them from becoming members in this church that they already attend, serve, and financially support. Happily serving on this Ministry Team are RoseAnn Chaisson, Grace Einsel and Judy Howlett. {~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~}~{~} Lending Library Finds Winter Refreshing The Lending Library has been refreshed with many new books. Some have come as donations from our readers and some have come at bargain prices scouted out by our acquisition team. Two new non-fiction books were donated. Each has to do with events in our country's history. A Secret Gift is the story of one amazing act of charity, offered through a newspaper Add just before Christmas, 1933, in Depression ravaged Canton, Ohio. The amazing letters were saved, so that the accuracy of the events is complete. The number of lives touched by this gift, the Thank You letters, and the remembrances of the children of that time who are alive today make this a book that anyone can use to learn about the very human, every day side of life during the Great Depression. The second new non-fiction book is Isaac's Storm. It is the story of the hurricane of September 8, 1900 that hit Galveston, Texas with a brutal blow that even Isaac Cline, the resident meteorologist for the U. S. Weather Bureau, could not foretell as the hours before the devastation passed by. Isaac lived in Galveston, he checked the sky and the air pressure readings and he watched the wave activity. But he had received telegraphed information, from Washington, D.C., that the tropical storm had crossed over Florida, going east. Many of the homes, near the beach in Galveston, had been rebuilt up on stilts just so that the buildings would be safe when waves came onshore during an especially high tide This time, none of these preparations had any effect on the saving of lives. The science of hurricanes and the human struggle to survive come together in this book.

10 Rockland Congregational Church Responsibilities of Membership...I am responsible for the strength and vibrancy of my church and for my own participation in worship and church life. Brian Harden. January...expressing my faith in words and actions to others. David Pier February...the financial support of my church. Larry Beck March...inviting others to join us. Signe Gardner April...the care and support of our faith community. Martha Majunka May.. my own spiritual growth using my gifts and talents Susan Baines June...contributing to the spiritual growth and learning of others. Kate Jones July...greeting and welcoming people I don't recognize. Rick Grimes August...supporting our pastor and staff. Cathy Lawrence September...treating others with respect, honesty, integrity, and love. Karen Pier October Approved by the Congregation, May 6, 2007

11 RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEMBERSHIP This is the first of several articles concerning the responsibilities of church membership here at the Rockland Congregational Church. In 2007 our Congregation adopted a set of ten basic responsibilities of membership toward which we can all strive and through which membership in the gathered Church can become more meaningful both for ourselves and for others who worship and fellowship with us. Each of the short phrases of responsibility direct us toward some aspect of church life which helps provide the strength and vibrancy of the Church and the individual growth in membership of each of our members. If possible, I hope the whole list can be published in this newsletter, so that each of you can digest the list and follow the articles through the year to help all of us with understanding and practicing each particular aspect of Church membership. Each article will be individual to our own experience and each is preceded by a short explanation of the same topic at a morning worship service. My topic for you is our first responsibility *"...my own participation in worship and church life." *2013 marks the fiftieth year of my membership in the Rockland Congregational Church, a membership which is and has been very important in my life. I was raised to attend worship and participate in church life from an early age. My distaste for large baked beans comes from Circle Suppers sixty years ago. My ability to sit through long and boring meetings comes from attending church with my dear grandmother, Mabel Bowley, back in the days when pastors preached for a full thirty minutes whether they had anything to say or not. And much of my own life value system was forged here at church and in Sunday school. My sense is that the essence of church membership comes down to the passage in Matthew 22 when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment. Jesus replies "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind'...(and) 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself..." For me that passage in Matthew establishes the benchmark to which we must all aspire. Both my attendance at worship and my participation in church life over the years have both been sporadic. My Church has always been available to me and ready to help me through the ups and downs of life's paths, but I am not always there for the Church. Many of us know the time-worn phrase that you should give of your time, talent and or treasure. Usually we posses one of those more than the other two. Some have a good pension, but cannot cook; others run a mean rummage sale but are not wealthy in material goods. Over the years I have been a member of this Church, I have served as Moderator and on several other Boards and committees, and sometimes when our pastors have been away, I have preached a morning worship service. I can organize like crazy and I can monitor what others are doing, so I have served on our Finance Team and have participated in three reorganizations of Church governance (so far). I do not feel that I give all I can, but I do feel like I belong and like I participate. Think about what you do in different areas of church life. Do you come to worship and share with your fellow members when you can? Do you share your talents or your treasure? Remember, we are Protestants, so our responsibilities of membership are both self imposed and self enforced. That is how we want it to be. But, if the Rockland Congregational Church is to survive and thrive, and if we are to survive and thrive in it as it's members, we must sometimes examine our participation and try to follow the Great Commandment for the benefit of ourselves and our Congregational Way. Brian Harden

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