MEETING HOUSE CHIMES First Congregational Church, PO Box 350, Wiscasset, ME 04578 (207) 882-7544 www.uccwiscasset.org fccw@myfairpoint.net Minister: Rev. Josh Fitterling Acting Organist/Choir Director: Linda Adams Church School Teacher & Coordinator: Colleen Crowley Sexton: Mary McKinney Office Administrator/Editor: Janet Leonard May 2018 Worth Remembering And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20b As the month of May begins, the celebration of Easter continues! For 50 days, from Easter to Pentecost, we proclaim the glories of the resurrection and dwell deeply in the powerful love of God which overcame the grave. We have heard the stories of what happened after the resurrection and will continue to hear about how the disciples and the early church began to live their Easter faith. We know it was not always easy (which is still true today), and that challenges were faced (also true). Yet, they were not alone (yet, we are not alone). Whenever life is hard and struggles are faced, I find a lot of comfort in the very last words of Matthew. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. This reminder, spoken by our Risen Lord to his disciples is so beautiful and bolstering. However, these words are not only powerful because they are moving, elegant words of comfort and companionship. They are powerful because they come not just from Jesus, but from the Risen Jesus. God s love, revealed in Christ, which is so great is with us forever. Resurrection hope is with us forever. Jesus is with us forever. Nothing, not even death, can keep us apart. Our Risen Jesus said, And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. These are words certainly worth remembering! In Eastertide Celebration, Josh Rev. Josh Fitterling
May Update The weekend of May 19-20, special activities are planned at Pilgrim Lodge: Saturday, May 19, 9am-3pm Day of Visioning The Interim Director and Rev. Deborah Blood, Main Conference Minister, will report on observations about Pilgrim Lodge and the search for a settled Director. Pilgrim Lodge supporters will have a chance to ask questions about the Pilgrim Lodge Sustainability Plan, give feedback, and offer suggestions. Meet & Greet with Interim Director, Melinda Trotti, 4-6pm Designed for adult conversations. Youth activities will not be provided. If you plan to attend or have questions, email Ruth Choate at: assistantdirector.pilgrimlodge@gmail.com. Sunday, May 20, 1-4pm Open House An opportunity for new and returning campers and their parents & for members of new retreat groups who have not yet seen Pilgrim Lodge to get a taste of camp! Tours will be given throughout the afternoon. 1:30-3:30 the waterfront will be open for boating 2:00-3:30 field games, music, and craft activities will be offered 1:00-2:00 & 3:00-4:00 The camp store will be open for Pilgrim Lodge items and ice cream! For more information, visit http://www.pilgrimlodge.org/camps/openhouse/ May 15 is the deadline for Pilgrim Lodge Scholarship Applications. Check out the information here. Church Scholarships also Available! As always, our church is happy to support children & youth going to Pilgrim Lodge! We will pay directly to Pilgrim Lodge HALF of your registration costs. This offer is good for 1 camp, per camper each year. Simply submit your registration form to the church office and enjoy PL!
To our May Coffee Hosts: Nominating Pentecost & Covenanting Sunday May 20 th at 10am As we gather to celebrate Pentecost and the birth of the church, we will be welcoming several new members into the covenant of our church! Join us as we make promises together to serve as Christ s disciples here in this place! Are you interested in joining our church but were unable to make the informational gathering last month? Not a problem! Simply contact Rev. Josh at 207-882-7544 or joshfitterling@myfairpoint.net to express your interest and to learn more. Notes from the Diaconate The Diaconate would like to thank Ron Sanchez and Tom Cramer for the brunch they provided on Easter. It was a very kind and generous gesture and we appreciate their thoughtfulness. Linda Adams has agreed to serve as our organist and choir director until June 17 when the choir recesses for the summer. We appreciate her willingness to continue to do this. To recognize the sacrifices our emergency personel make on a daily basis, we have decided on one way to honor them. When one of them dies, a flag will be placed on the altar and their names will be read during our time of prayer. In the fall we hope to have one of our services centered around them. Work Day Saturday, May 5, 9am-Noon Please collect your clippers and loppers and rakes and work gloves and join us on Saturday, May 5, from 9 to noon. We will be trimming bushes along the Courthouse side of the church, and cleaning up along the other side of the sanctuary. Landscaping expertise is not necessary, just willing hearts and hands. Thanks in advance from the Board of Trustees.
May 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 Healthy Kids 10-12 2 Organ Society 9:430am 3 Garden Club 10:30am Chase Point Service 10:30am Choir 4pm 4 5 Work Day 9am- Noon 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Family Worship & Communion 10am Spring Midcoast UCC Assn 3-5pm Bible Study 7-8pm (FH) 13 Game Night 6pm 14 HK 10-12 Clergy Cluster Mtg 1pm (parlor) Pastoral Relations 4pm 15 Organ Society 9:30am Bible Study 11:30am- 12:30pm 16 Choir 4pm 17 Paint Party for Feed Our Scholars 7pm,-9pm, St. Philip s Church Vitality 4pm @ Sarah s Rev. Josh Wiscasset Speedway Opening Prayer 18 19 Worship & Church School 10am Summerfest AW Bible Study 7-8pm (FH) 20 Game Night 6pm 21 HK 10-12 22 Organ Society 9:30am High School AP Testing 7:30am- 12:30pm Bible Study 11:30 am-12:30pm 23 Choir 4pm 24 Maintenance Work Session 9am-noon Feedback Session 10am 25 26 Pentecost & Covenanting Sunday 10am Diaconate AW Bible Study 7-8pm (FH) Strengthen the Church Offering 27 Church in Society 4pm Trustees 5pm Game Night 6pm 28 HK 10-12 29 Organ Society Luncheon Bible Study 11:30am- 12:30pm 30 MS Support Bike Ride overnight stay in FH Choir 4pm Council 7pm 31 Worship & Church School 10am Youth Group 7pm No Bible Study MEMORIAL DAY OFFICE CLOSED Wiscasset Green Coffee 9-11am Game Night 6pm HK 10-12 No Bible Study Choir 4pm
Join us on May 6 to celebrate these birthdays! Linda Adams Ellery Downing Ann Dunlevy Kimberly Hatt Steve Hatt Jackie Lowell Frederic Pease Audrey Robertson Wally Roby Rocks of Positivity and Hope In April, the Church School children painted rocks containing positive words of hope to share with our community. These rocks were then placed around Downtown Wiscasset to spread the message of faith, hope, kindness, love, and more! What a gift our kids have offered us and the town! Focus Group: New Names, New Faces The Pastoral Relations Committee invites you to our next focus group on Saturday morning, May 19, 2018 at 10am. We will be exploring your experiences as either a new member or new face in the congregation. Folks who have been attending services for less than two years might best remember how they felt upon entering our church and why they continue to come back. Feedback from all areas of our Christian life will help us as we continue to grow together in love.
NEW BUILDING MAINTENANCE TEAM Are you handy? Do you enjoy working with your hands? Do you have a gift, talent, or special skill that you received from God, that you could share with others? If this sounds like you, the Church Trustees need your help. Beginning this year, the Church Trustees are starting a new approach to fixing and repairing items around the church building. We want to know what things you have seen that need to be fixed, and we want to know if you have an interest in helping to fix some of the items that we will identify. Beginning last month, Brian Adams and Steve Hatt, the current Church Building Managers, have begun developing a list of all the items that need to be fixed, as well as capturing the names of all the volunteers within the congregation that want to help. Once we have all the items, we will then start to schedule mini-work sessions. A work crew on April 20 tackled 8 of the identified projects: plumbing and electrical items in the bathrooms, adjusting the hot water temperature, installing a new fire extinguisher in the lobby near the elevator, repairing railings, and cleaning up access to the electrical panel in the basement. If you are interested in joining the new Maintenance Team, please contact Brian Adams or Steve Hatt. Brian can be reached at his cell phone 207-458-8644, or his email badams@cfed-ne.com. Steve can be reached at his home phone 207-882-6712, his cell phone 207-751-4057, or his email stevehatt@roadrunner.com. There will be regular announcements and updates on this new approach to building maintenance over the next few months. So, stay tuned, and thank you all for helping improve our church facilities. The Church Trustees CHURCH WORLD SERVICE Thank you all so much for the fantastic response to this year's CWS Kit program! Several people donated many multiples of school and hygiene kits as well as the Doughty family donating three entire emergency clean-up buckets. This year we are donating 11 hygiene kits, 31 school kits, and 8 emergency clean-up buckets! Thank you for your generosity and support!
SUMMERFEST 2018 Plans are moving along nicely for Summerfest on Saturday, July 28th, from 10am to 2pm. We have Captains for all the areas and soon will have a sign up poster in Fellowship Hall for you to volunteer in the area that interests you. Now that Spring is finally here and you are spring cleaning, remember we are gratefully accepting items for the Yard Sale, Treasures, Books, Toys, Jewelry and accessories; and the Woodbutchers would really appreciate any handmade wooden items. This is our 35th annual Summerfest and all proceeds are donated to local outreach programs. Come and join the fun! And a Jewelry Donation Plea from Linda Adams Do you have jewelry you don t wear anymore? If so, why not donate it for the jewelry table for Summerfest? We would appreciate any and all donations. Check in with friends and family and ask if they would like to donate to this worthy cause. Donations can be left with Janet at the church office Monday-Thursday between 9am and noon OR contact Linda Adams at 207-844-1070. Items can also be dropped at Linda s house on 6 Union Street in Wiscasset. Thank you in advance for your help! Spring 2018 Directory! The new directories will be available on Sunday, May 6! If anyone would like a copy mailed to you, please contact the office: Phone 207-882-7544 or email fccw@myfairpoint.net And do please let the office know if there are errors in your listing. We will be publishing Directory revisions and additions in the monthly CHIMES so you can keep your own personal copies updated. One copy per family please.
PhotoVoice Sponsored by Healthy Lincoln County Healthy Lincoln County has partnered with four local schools to conduct PhotoVoice with students from grades 6-12. Students spent several weeks critically examining factors about themselves, their friends, family and community that either encourage or discourage the use of drugs or alcohol. The photos will be displayed across Lincoln County throughout the month of May in an effort to create awareness and conversation about areas for change in our community. Check it out! Pie Crust Demo Report The Organ Society Pie Crust Demonstration last month was a delicious success! Many thanks to Brad Adler for sharing his secrets and leading the demonstration! AED Defibrillator Installation and Training Thanks to a generous donation to the Ladies Organ Society, an AED Defibrillator unit will be installed in the church building soon. This is the same model as is in Town Hall and the Wiscasset Community Center. It is being purchased through the Wiscasset Ambulance Service and will be maintained by them yearly at no cost to the church. We will be scheduling training for this unit soon. Once you are trained on our unit you will be able to use the units in other town buildings. Please contact Beth Maxwell if you are interested in participating in the training.
SPRING MEETING OF THE MIDCOAST ASSOCIATION Bouyant Hope: Telling Stories of Faith, Joy & Hope in Hard Times Sunday, May 6th, 3-5pm Come to listen, or come to tell! All are welcome to an afternoon of storytelling in the chapel of the Carpenter s Boat Shop, a UCC mission partner dedicated to building boats, nurturing lives, & helping others in Pemaquid, ME. Sacred Story Session After a few hand-picked tellers, we ll have an open mic. (Guidelines: stories should be true from your own life, match our theme, and be 5 minutes or less.) Boatshop Director, Rev. Kim Hoare, will give us a glimpse into the unique ministry of the Carpenter s Boat Shop, which builds lives & communities, as well as beautiful wooden boats. Contact Rev. Josh if you are interested in registering. Carpooling appreciated! Location: 440 Old County Road, Bristol, Maine (potluck refreshments welcome) Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars Backpack Program Paint Party FUNraiser Friday, May 11th, 6pm-8:30pm Paint a scenic canvas with instruction from Cre8tive Events Maine! A great way to unwind with friends and/or family, create a beautiful painting just before Mother s Day, and support a local food initiative program. All proceeds raised benefit Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars Backpack Program St. Philip s Church, 12 Hodge St., Wiscasset Tickets: $25 per person (which includes canvas & supplies, instruction, desserts and non-alcoholic beverages) To order tickets call Sharman at 687-8258 Or St. Philips at 882-7184 Or see/call Nancy Roby at 882-6441
Meeting House Chimes First Congregational Church, U.C.C. P.O. Box 350, 28 High Street Wiscasset, ME 04578 May 2018 First Congregational Church United Church of Christ 28 High Street, PO Box 350 Wiscasset, Maine 04578 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.