First Congregational Church, PO Box 350, Wiscasset, ME Church School Teacher & Coordinator: Colleen Crowley

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1 MEETING HOUSE CHIMES First Congregational Church, PO Box 350, Wiscasset, ME (207) Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:45am-12:30pm Minister: Rev. Josh Fitterling Organist/Choir Director: Linda Adams Church School Teacher & Coordinator: Colleen Crowley July 2018 The Ten Commandments Then God spoke all these words Exodus 20:1 When and how did you first become aware of the Ten Commandments? Did you learn them in a Sunday School classroom as one of the first things taught to you or which you had to memorize? Did you hear about them in a passing cultural reference like in a movie, book, or song (they are rather present in the secular world too)? Or was it through the controversies over public monuments displaying these Hebrew Scripture laws? No matter how you came to learn of the Ten Commandments, there is no denying that they are indeed among the most well-known pieces of scripture in our world today. They too are often elevated and held in highest regard as a cornerstone for a good moral compass in life. But what do these laws given to the Israelites in their 40-year wilderness journey mean for the modern day Christ follower? Throughout the months of July & August, I will be leading a sermon series exploring the Ten Commandments. Using the ministry and teachings of Jesus as our lens, we will consider how the good news of Christ effects our interpretation of these ancient commands and their application to our life as Christians today. In Exodus 20:1, we learn that God spoke these words. In the United Church of Christ, we have a saying that God is still speaking. May the Holy Spirit continue to make new the old and lead us into a deeper understanding of the words spoken which still speak anew into our lives today. Peace, Josh Rev. Josh Fitterling

2 From the Diaconate... The Diaconate would like to thank Janet and Paul Cappers for filling in as organist/ choir director while Linda Adams was recovering from a fall. We appreciate their willingness to help us on such short notice. Even though many of the church s activities slow down or even stop for the summer, there are two that continue. Each week ushers and flowers are needed for the service. There are sign-up sheets for each of these in the Fellowship Hall. Please check them out and see where you can help out. For those of you who may never have ushered, there is an instruction sheet at the back of the church or you can ask any member of the Diaconate to help you out. Also if you have no one to usher with, feel free to sign up and someone else will join you. Thank you for helping out. Bible Study Update Due to our visiting mission groups in the first two weeks of July, there will be no Bible Study until the week of July 15. From Margot and Emily... Have you been doing some spring-summer cleaning? It's not too late to contribute a wonderful like-new item you think others would like to bid on to our Summerfest Silent Auction. If you can get it to us by July 15, we can include it. Please speak to or call Margot or Emily in advance. Also, we are looking for a couple of people who would like to man the Silent Auction tables, so we can take turns and have fun at Summerfest too! Let us know if you can help! Let us know!!! Margot Stiassni Emily Adler Free Summer Meals for Ages 0-18 Wiscasset Recreation Center Sponsored by Healthy Lincoln County July 2-Aug 17 (M-Th) Breakfast 7:30-8:30am Lunch 11:30-12:30pm For more information, see flyers on Church in Society bulletin board in Fellowship Hall.

3 Welcome to our Organist/Choir Director, Linda Adams! After Leela Koilpillai's resignation as our Organist/Choir Director at the end of February, our very own Linda Adams stepped in and continued this important music ministry through the end of the choir season in June. With further discernment, Linda felt a sense of calling to continue this work! After meeting with a Diaconate Subcommittee and then receiving the full approval of the Diaconate and Trustees, Linda has officially been hired as our Organist/Choir Director. We look forward to her continued ministry among us and look forward to choir resuming in September, under Linda's leadership! We are blessed by her gifts and blessed by her ministry! FCC Wiscasset to Host Two Mission Groups! In the evening on Sunday, July 1st, 4 mission trip members from St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Fleetwood, PA will be arriving at the church to spend a week serving in our wider community. This group will staying at the church all week and working with Stepping Stones in Damariscotta. They will depart on Saturday, July 7th. A second group of 27 mission trip members will arrive in the evening on Sunday, July 8th, staying through Saturday, July 14th. They will be working with Bath Housing Authority. We are grateful to be able to house these groups as they do some wonderful work in our area! If you are interested in helping to plan a meal for each group's arrival on July 1st and July 8th, please talk to Rev. Josh! Spring 2018 Directory Update One more try to get Kent Wusterbarth s phone correct (so sorry, Kent!!): Cell and main phone

4 July 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Worship & Communion 10am No Bible Study Dinner 8 Game Night 6pm 9 Healthy Kids 10am-12pm 10 OFFICE CLOSED No Bible Study 11 Chase Point Service 10:30am 12 William Cumming s Memorial Service 2pm 13 Mission Group #1 Leaves 14 Worship 10am Summerfest AW No Bible Study Game Night 6pm HK 10am-12pm Communications 9:30am No Bible Study Mission Group #2 Dinner Leaves Worship 10am Bible Study 7pm- 8pm Game Night 6pm HK 10am-12pm Bible Study 11:30am- 12:30pm Chase Point Service 10:30am Rev. Josh Wiscasset Speedway Opening Prayer Worship 10am Bible Study 7pm- 8pm Trustees 5pm Game Night 6pm HK 10am-12pm Chair Yoga 4pm Bible Study 11:30am- 12:30pm WISCASSET ART WALK SUMMER- FEST Hymn Sing Worship 10am Noisy Offering Game Night 6pm HK 10am-12pm No Bible Study Rev. Josh at Camp Pride Rev. Josh at Camp Pride Rev. Josh at Camp Pride

5 Introducing Flocking! Are you celebrating a milestone or event in the life of a friend? Do you just want to spread some cheer to a friend or neighbor? Then why not have them flocked! Our church s herd of sheep (pictured here), along with a personalized note from you, will be delivered by our shepherd and placed on the recipient s front lawn for 3 days (but can be removed earlier if requested. No problem!). During that time, the sheep will be a reminder of your and our love and care for them! This is a FUNdraiser and FUNDraiser for the church. There is a suggested, minimum donation of $25 for the one arranging the flocking. All recipients must be approximately 10 miles or less from the church and all flockings must be done in good fun (no ill-intent allowed!) Do you have a friend you would like to flock? Contact the church office for more details or to schedule your flocking today (there will be one flocking per weekend)! To our Coffee Hosts for July: The Choir Join us on July 1 to celebrate these birthdays! Kendra Bellefleur Fred Butler Ben Doughty Joshua Doughty Laura Whitney George LaBar Becky Lenz Nancy Schilke Beth Maxwell Carrie Roberts Shirley Roth Doc Schilke Roger Whitney And belatedly, Sandi Ballard (June)!

6 BUILDING MAINTENANCETEAM UPDATE The Church Trustees Building Maintenance Team met for their 3rd miniwork session on Saturday, June 16 th, from 9am - 12 noon. Five brave souls worked in the heat of the sun on the following items: Power washed the railings, decks, stairs and ramps on the outside of church Scrapped and sanded hand railings Painted handrails and balusters on the ramps, stairs and deck Repaired or replaced broken or missing parts of the steps and hand railings Special thanks go out to Glenn Milley, Art Ballard, Jim Nelon, Oscar Wallace, Steve Hatt, and Jon McKinney whom helped the Team coordinate paint colors, paint, and painting supplies. Although they didn t accomplish all the work, the railings look awesome, and the ramps, stairs, and decks will too when the team resumes for their next work session in the fall. If you are interested in joining the new Maintenance Team, or helping in any way, pleasecontact Brian Adams or Steve Hatt. Brian can be reached at his cell phone , or his badams@cfed-ne.com. Steve can be reached at his home phone , his cell phone , or his stevehatt@roadrunner.com. Thank you all for helping improve our church facilities. THE CHURCH TRUSTEES the Tom Cramer for his hard work rebuilding the stone wall next to the parlor windows facing the Courthouse Linda Winterberg for decorating our front porch with flowering window boxes We are blessed to have so many gifted people in our congregation and appreciate your willingness to step in when you see a need! 5 th Sunday Hymn Sing Sunday, July 29th at 10am Join us as we will once again host our 5 th Sunday Hymn Sing Service at 10am on July 29 th. We will worship our God through the familiar tunes and powerful words of our favorite hymns. Invite your friends and neighbors, bring your hymn requests, and come as we raise our voices in praise! We will also learn how much money was raised at Summerfest! The next 5 th Sunday Hymn Sing will be in September.

7 NEXT CLASS: Tuesday, July 24, 4:00pm, Fellowship Hall, FCC Wiscasset Pam Dunning is offering another round of chair yoga classes at the church! These classes will engage a gentle form of yoga, completed while sitting in a chair or using a chair for support! WHEN IS IT? Chair yoga will be offered every Tuesday from July 24th until the end of August! Tuesday, July 4:00pm Tuesday, July 4:00pm Tuesday, August 4:00pm Tuesday, August 4:00pm Tuesday, August 4:00pm Tuesday, August 4:00pm WHERE IS IT? Fellowship Hall of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset WHAT MUST I BRING? Come dressed in comfortable, loose-fitting clothing and be prepared to be barefoot. Bring your sense of humor too! HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? By donation (These classes are being generously donated by Pam Dunning and all monies raised will go to support the ministries of the First Congregational Church UCC of Wiscasset. Thank you Pam!) DO I NEED TO SIGN UP? Nope! Just show up - and bring a friend too! (For your first time, you may want to arrive a few minutes early to sign your liability waiver) IS THIS REALLY FOR ME?: Chair yoga is great for people of all ages and of varying ability. You do what you can do, so come and try it out! For more information, contact Pam Dunning at or pjld@roadrunner.com

8 SUMMERFEST 2018 Summerfest 2018 is almost here! Saturday, July 28 th from 10am to 2pm the Wiscasset Common will come alive with music, with Jeff Grosser s Jazz Rascals opening the fair at 10am followed by the Clarinotes with our own Beth Whitney and Brad Adler playing shortly after noon. The Dog Parade will be around 10:30am so tell your friends and family to come and bring their dogs to parade around the Common. The whole day will be so much fun as we work together to raise funds to donate to many local outreach programs; this year some of these groups will be exhibiting in front of the Court House to explain their missions. We need YOU! We need everyone s help to make this day a success. We need all able bodied persons to be there at 7am to work with the Roustabouts to take all the tables and equipment out of the church basement and set them up on the Common. This is so important nothing can happen until the set-up is completed. Next they will bring all the sale items Yard Sale, Treasures, Toys, Books, Wood Butchers, etc out from the basement to the Common. Everyone working at the various tables should plan to be there after this 7am set-up is completed so you can get all your items displayed and everything ready to sell by 10 am. You can bring your car close to unload, but after you have unloaded, please plan to park in the lower Court House parking lot so the upper parking lot and the street along the Common leading to High Street is kept clear for our many visitors and customers. Again, we need Roustabouts and everyone able to stay around at 2 pm to help clean up and get everything back to the basement. Many hands make light work! We still need volunteers to help at the Silent Auction, especially after 2pm to call winning bidders, etc; the Greenhouse also would appreciate more help. We always also appreciate people to be floaters to go around and give workers a break. We appreciate anything.you can volunteer for all day, for the morning or the afternoon, or for an hour. Please try to get all your items (except goodies for the Bake Table & plants for the Greenhouse) in soon; any Yard Sale items, Toys, Treasures, Books, Jewelry & accessories, handmade wooden items; and if you have any items to donate for the Silent Auction All these things should be in at least 2 weeks prior to the Fair. And on the day of the Fair, we hope you will bring some of your favorites for the Bake Table and plants if you have them. Remember the new Selling Policy: all tables, except Treasures and Jewelry, may start selling when they are set up and ready. Treasures and Jewelry will not begin selling until 10 am. The next meeting for Summerfest is after church Sunday, July 8 th. Everyone is welcome. Thank you so much for all your hard work and donations for this wonderful event. Any questions, please contact Nancy Roby or Ed Peele.

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10 Meeting House Chimes First Congregational Church, U.C.C. P.O. Box 350, 28 High Street Wiscasset, ME July 2018 First Congregational Church United Church of Christ 28 High Street, PO Box 350 Wiscasset, Maine We welcome you to the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset. We are an open and affirming congregation and are open theologically, growing spiritually, and concerned socially.