Jan 2010

New Website Feature!

Sermons are now available for viewing on our website. Go to www.leicesterfcc.org

Worcester Fellowship Schedule

Quentin and Pastor Doreen will continue to worship with the Fellowship on the last Sunday of each month behind Worcester City Hall at 1:00 p.m. There are no lunch provider slots available until February 28, but we will be bringing donations of socks, gloves, hats and scarves throughout the winter.

We will also provide lunch on May 30 and June 27, so those who want to wait for warmer weather to attend have something to look forward to.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of our Oct event. Thanks so much for all your enthusiastic support for this ministry. One of the pastors of Worcester Fellowship, Rev. Liz Magill will be leading worship at FCC on January 24, when Pastor Doreen is away.

To learn more about Worcester Fellowship and their mission CLICK HERE to connect to their website.

Weekly Bible Study Groups

We will be exploring the letters of Paul in this 6-week series. Group meets Wed at 10:30 except the 2nd Wed of each month, and Mon evenings at 7:00. All are welcome to attend as many sessions as you like. Please contact Pastor Doreen for location and schedule details.

BAPTISM

On Nov 29, 2009 Spencer Gerard Avoglia, son of Alyson and Jeff Avoglia was baptized by Rev. Doreen Oughton.

His godparents are Brielle MacDonald and Charlene Arsenault. Grandmothers, Debbie Arsenault and Judy Avoglia, his brother Anthony, and all of his aunts, uncles and many cousins attended this blessed event.

For more pictures of Spencer’s baptism and other recent baptisms, CLICK HERE.

Moment for Mission

Abby’s House By Nancy Tashjian

Abby’s House is just one of the charities the Women’s Association donates to each year. Abby Kelly Foster lived in Worcester in the mid 1800s and devoted herself to eliminating slavery and advancing the cause of Women’s Rights.

In 1976, in Worcester, an emergency refuge for women, with or without children, was suitably incorporated as the Abby Kelley Foster House, better known as Abby’s House. This was the first overnight emergency shelter for women in the United States.

What started as one building has now grown to 78 units of housing in three locations near downtown Worcester. About 300 women and children stay in the emergency shelter and over 100 women and children live in long-term housing. Abby’s House joins with many other community organizations to provide housing, legal services, mental and physical health services, and education.

Eighty-nine cents of each dollar donated gives directly to programs for homeless and battered women and children. I hope you’ll agree we chose wisely with our yearly donation to Abby’s House.

For more information CLICK HERE for a link the Abby House web site.

UCC Connections

We are so blessed to be part of a united and uniting body such as the UCC. Pastor Doreen has taken advantage of several offerings from the Association and Conference in the past few months and look forward to more.

On November 10, Pastor Doreen attended a workshop on how churches can reach out to families with members serving or returning from service in the military. There was a panel of veterans and parents of young men who died, who spoke movingly and powerfully about the faith struggles that came with the war. All agreed that the most helpful thing that clergy and lay people can do is to be a caring presence, without a religious agenda. She also attended a talk by two clergy authors, Rev. Lillian Daniel and Rev. Martin Copenhaver, about their book, A Strange and Wondrous Calling, filled with wonderful reflections on the lives of clergy. That same day she met the people who are in the New Clergy Community of Practice Group that she will start in January. The Massachusetts Conference has been a leader in the movement to ensure that new clergy get the support they need for this important work. We meet monthly with an experienced minister specially trained in facilitating these groups, and expect it will have a very positive effect on my ministry and overall well-being.

In January, Pastor Doreen will be attending two workshops. On the 7th the Conference is holding a workshop on planning for the seasons of Lent and Easter. She will also be attending a workshop on Appreciative Inquiry, a way of exploring the strengths of churches and people and figure out how to use those strengths to facilitate growth. If anyone is interested in attending with her on Saturday, January 9 in Needham, please let her know. So if you ever wonder if the dues we pay to the UCC are worthwhile, they are! Pastor Doreen so pleased to be part of a congregation that takes seriously this covenantal relationship.

Offerings

Nov 1 $642.00

Nov 8 $348.00

Nov 15 $7,987.61 This includes $7,103.61 in cell tower income

Nov 22 $611.00

Nov 29 $1,483.00

Total $11,071.61 (Offering Envelopes for 2010 will be available shortly)

All Ordained, Now to Install!

Thanks to all for the generous support and warmth surrounding my ordination. Your presence and presents warmed the heart. We look forward to hosting the service of Installation here at FCC Leicester on April 25, 2010. Details on who to contact to help will be coming.

For more photos of the ordination CLICK HERE.

A Note from your Pastor

Happy New Year! At press time, I am preparing for our first Christmas worship together, and the process has gotten me right into the holiday spirit. But now I need to project ahead a bit and think about January. I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions. With all my years of schooling, fall is the time that resonates as a new beginning for me. January just seems like the wrong time to start something new. It is a time I want to curl up, tuck in, and wait for the thaw of spring. It is a time that my heart holds more worry for others, those who don’t have a cozy place to curl up, such as my friends from Worcester Fellowship, or those who have a roof, but keep the thermostat way down. I don’t know if it’s true, but I worry that giving to those in need may decrease in the cold weather, and think about the people who need to make that trip to the Food Bank. I want to make it worthwhile for them, so I resolve to bring in plenty of food donations this month. The Food Bank also can really stretch financial contributions, buying a pound of food for just 16 cents. If you get out to the supermarket less often, it could be so worthwhile to drop a few dollars into the Food Bank collection.

In searching out what others had to say in reflecting on the new year, I came across a blog that recommended new year’s reflections rather than new year’s resolutions. Here are some of the questions posed:

What was the single best thing that happened this past year?

What was an unexpected joy this past year?

What was an unexpected obstacle?

What were the best books you read this year?

With whom were your most valuable relationships?

In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?

In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?

In what way(s) did you grow physically?

What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?

What was the best way you used your time this past year?

What was the biggest thing you learned this past year?

Create a phrase or statement that describes 2009 for you.

I’d love to hear your answers, or even questions for reflection that occur to you. Talk with your families, with one another. Does this time of year hold more worries for you, either for yourself or on behalf of others? If so, I am here to share the burden, and my office is nice and cozy. Call or drop by for a cup of tea and some conversation. And if you can’t get out, call and invite me to come see you. I know I depend greatly on the warmth of fellowship to get through these cold and worrisome months. That, and God’s loving and steadfast companionship, the one I turn my worries over to, and from whom I receive my strength and perseverance in doing what I can to help in God’s name. Blessings of warmth to you all.

Trustee News

As part of our agreement when we hired our new Pastor, she will not be moving into the Parsonage while her children are going through High School as they would like to continue their education in Westford and we certainly can understand this. This time period is expected to be between 2 and 3 years. The Pastor will be available at our church office 4 days a week if you wish to see her and available by phone anytime.

To compensate for the absence of Parsonage use and the payment of a living allowance we have entered into a rental agreement for the Parsonage beginning January 1st, 2010, although we have allowed the renters to move in to settle for the Christmas holidays. Don’t be alarmed if you see activity within the building. The compensation for the rental will cover our living allowance expenses to our Pastor and Parsonage utilities. We will be issuing yearly rental agreements with the ability to renew as necessary. We have rented the building to Pastor Christopher and Frasiah Kamau. Christopher is the Pastor of the Divine Gospel Ministries in Worcester. If you wish to find out more about them you may go online to www.divinegospelministries.org. They are fully aware of our commitments to our Pastor and that she would like to move into the Parsonage as soon as her children have graduated.

We would like to thank all those that helped remove debris from the Parsonage to get it ready. We would like to thank Neil, Lenny, Ron L, Ron E for all their time and effort into fixing many items that needed repair (i.e; Vent fans, floors, plaster, wiring, light fixtures, windows, etc.). We have also purchased a new refrigerator and placed the old one in the garage. The old one worked but was very discolored and rusted. We have also placed the stove in the garage as the renter chose to use their own. We will determine what to do with these appliances. We would like to thank Linda Mandella for her assistance in recommending us as a possible rental opportunity to other realtors.

Don’t forget to check out www.leicesterfcc.org for photos from December’s events.