Nov 2010 Newsletter

Strawberry Hill Fair

Saturday, November 13th 9am – 2pm

It’s the final push and your help is needed!
Here are some of the tables and events offered. Take a look and
see where you can help.
Gift Baskets: Donations for gift baskets should be turned in by October 31. Please contact Marie Frascola if you have a late submission to see if she can still accept it.
Busy Fingers: is accepting anything sewn, knit or crochet. Suggested items include: scarfs, mittens, hats, baby sweaters, blankets, etc.
Toys and Games: We happily accept donations of toys and games in good condition for younger children. Anne Mulrain is looking for donations of small prizes to hand out for the on-site game she plays with the children at the fair.
Children’s Store: Help us stock this “store,” run by our Sunday School children, where they will help other children shop for gifts for their families and friends. Donations can be used, but in good condition. Remember, someone will be receiving this for a Christmas gift. Contact Chris Cathcart.
Silent Auction: Run by Judy Ivel. We invite donations of high quality items such as antiques, sports memorabilia, luxury services, fine art and quality collectibles. No white elephant-type donations please.
Holiday Decorations: Are you crafty?! Put your hands to work on Christmas decorations and ornaments.
Baked Goods: Time to pull out your favorite recipes for baked goods and plan a time for filling your home with delectable smells. Please turn in your baked donation on Friday or Saturday, Nov. 12-13.

Farmer’s Market: Donate items such as pumpkins, winter squash, etc to our Market table. We also accept homemade jams and jellies, beans and other non-baked food.
*Donations for the tables below can be dropped off at the church Monday thru Friday, 11/8-12. Make sure you speak to someone before leaving. The only exception is Baked Goods, which can be dropped off Friday, 11/12 or anytime on the day of the Fair.

Pot Luck Lunch and Family Fellowship

We will have our monthly fellowship event on November 7 following the intergenerational worship service with Communion. Please join the fun. Bring a dish to share, a favorite game, but most importantly stay and connect with friends old and new. If your last name begins with A-L, please bring a main dish. If your last name begins with M-Z, bring a side dish or dessert. But even if you don’t bring food, you are most welcome to join us.

Last call for Pick-up Choir on November 7

FCC will be having its first ever pick-up choir on November 7. All are invited to join in learning an introit and an anthem. No prior training or experience is necessary, and you don’t need to know how to read music. Please let Bob Shauris or Cindy LaPointe know by October 31 if you are interested in adding your voice.

Moments for Mission

 

Enlighten Minds          Engage Hearts            Empower Lives

First Congregational Church is full of generous people who devote themselves in many ways to making a difference in the world. We would like to spotlight some of the causes that YOU feel passionate about in Congregational Connections. Please contact Pastor Doreen if you would like to spread the word about a worthwhile ministry. In the last year we have featured the Crop Walk, the Food Bank, Worcester Fellowship, Abby’s House, One Great Hour of Sharing, and Dismas House. I’d love to hear from each of you about a service group or organization that inspires you and brings hope to the world.

Advent readers needed

 

Hard to believe, I know, but the Advent season starts before the end of the month. The first Sunday in Advent is November 28. Each Sunday during Advent we light a candle in the Advent wreath and reflect on a particular theme. I am looking for volunteers for each of the 4 weeks to come forward as a family, individual, or friends to light the candle and say a few words about a particular theme. I warn you that it involves more than reading something pre-written, but I am excited to work with you in adding your own thoughts – a few sentences – to the ritual. Please contact me, Pastor Doreen, if you are interested.

UCC Connections

On Saturday, October 3, a group from FCC travelled to Franklin to attend the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ Super Saturday Event. It was a day of workshop, worship and fellowship. Some of the workshops were extremely worthwhile, and provided tools and new insights that have been brought back to our church, such as a model for better ministry through meaningful evaluation. Other workshops nudged participants further along the path of making church more relevant and accessible to people in our community. Called “Discipleship: A Model of Church for the 21st Century,” this workshop contrasted a “membership model” with a “discipleship model” of church. The evaluation tool listed 12 spectrums on which to think about our church. We’d like to share a few spectrums at a time for you to consider. Where do you see FCC on these spectrums, where would you like to see us, how could we get there?
Consider, on a 5 point scale these aspects:
1. Our primary focus is outward: we offer radical openness to all…. to… Our primary focus is inward; we don’t embrace outsiders.
2. The goal is to help each person continually grow in their relationship with God through Christ…. to …. The goal is to get and keep members in order to fill board vacancies and increase the number of pledging units.
3. The main concern is to serve others in Christ’s name, bringing the Good news into the world… to …. The main concern is to serve our members.

Let us know what you think by speaking to Alice Kelly or Quentin Lewis who attended the workshop, or Pastor Doreen. There will be another Super Saturday event on March 5, 2011. Anyone can attend, whether you are a member or not. The cost will be paid or subsidized by the pastor’s ministry budget, so it will be affordable. Information on the details will be shared as they become available.

Prayer Concerns

 

Please continue to pray for the continued recovery of Ellie Skagerlind and Ellen Orsi following surgeries. Both are doing well. We also hold in prayer all those who have been going through big life transitions, such as the Ivels and LaPointes with Judy and Cindy retiring, and Anne Mulrain who became a homeowner. Even with happy changes, there can be stress, and we ask that God’s presence be a source of inspiration and comfort in all our life milestones.

Religious Education

Sunday school classes are in full swing, with Jim and Chris Cathcart teaching. If you haven’t seen it yet, please go on up to the classroom area to see the airplane. The grade school curriculum has the children boarding a plane each week and heading off to a different destination to introduce the lesson. We are delighted to have new children joining the classes, and can always use a few extra hands to help with crafts and activities. Come meet our wonderful children, even if it is just one week here and there that you can do. Advance planning is helpful, but even if you let Chris or Jim know on Sunday morning that you’d like to stay and help, we would jump for joy. And thank you to all who responded to the request for supplies.

Confirmation Class!

Yeah! I am so excited to be starting my first ever Confirmation class with two fascinating young people – Ricky and Cally. Neil Mulrain agreed to be my co-leader. I have never run a class like this, and am open to suggestions from people who have participated in the past. I am also very aware that faith is caught, not taught, so invite anyone who would like to share something about his or her faith with the class, to please contact me, Pastor Doreen.

Behind the Scenes

 

We really must lift up the amazing work done by Ken DeSautels for the church. He spent many, many a tedious hour working to install electrical outlets on the outside of the church. This was terrifically helpful in setting up the popcorn machine during Harvest Fair, and will be used for many town and church events. Thank you, thank you, thank you Kenny. Blessings upon you.

Food for Thought:Why Go To Church?

A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!” When you are DOWN to nothing…… God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

Humor

Did you hear about the agnostic, dyslexic insomniac? Stayed up all night pondering the existence of Dog.
Out of the mouths of babes Overheard at the church picnic: “Mommy, there she is, that nurse, you know, the one that burptized the baby.” Or the child impatient with all the baptismal ritual hooha, “Mom, when is she going to vaporize the baby!?”

Communion Visits

I was so warmly received on World Communion Sunday, October 3, when I brought Communion to people in their homes who have had trouble getting to church. People said it had been a very long time since they had received Communion. I believe it shouldn’t be this way, and so I offer to bring Communion to anyone who would like it on the first Sunday of each month. If you or someone you know might be served by this ministry, please contact me, Pastor Doreen by the Thursday before each Communion Sunday.

Lending Library

 

FCC has a wonderful book room that is open to anyone. Books can be purchased for pocket change or borrowed for free. Pastor Doreen’s personal library of books, tapes, and dvd’s is also available for lending. She has the first season of the television series Joan of Arcadia, in which a teen-ager is visited by God and asked to serve in a variety of ways. She also has a book-on-tape, Conversations with God, and the video documentary Because the Bible Tells Me So – interviews with faithful families dealing with a family member’s homosexuality. All of this, and her books, are available for borrowing just by signing your name. Please see Pastor Doreen if you are interested in exploring.

Women’s Association

Meets on Wednesdays 11/3 and 11/10 at noon the church for Fair planning and preparation. The December meeting / Christmas party will be on Wednesday, December 1 at Karen Doe’s house. There will be a $5.00 gift swap for anyone who wants to participate. All women who are connected to FCC are welcome to attend any Women’s Association event.

ORGAN DEDICATION

SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2010

Sunday 21 November will be a special day in the life of our Congregation. At 4 pm our new Rodgers Allegiant 688 organ will be dedicated to the sound of hymns, anthems, brass, organ blast and prayer. I am pleased to inform you that we will be joined by choir members from the First Congregational Church of Sutton. Erik Johnson, the music minister of this church will also be our guest organist for the event. The program will consist of two hymns for congregation and choir, two anthems for choir alone and several solo organ works. Pastor Doreen will bless and dedicate the organ to the service and glory of God. A collation will follow the program. I hope you will mark your calendar and plan to join us for the dedication. Invite your friends to come along with you. It will be a good program which should not be missed. The dedication does not put an end to the organ project. Several fund raisers are being planned to both pay back the monies the Trustees loaned for the purchase of the organ and to purchase one more amplifier for the instrument. To this end, all donations are greatly appreciated.
Plan on coming to the dedication and help us make a joyous noise to the Lord!
Robert A. Shauris
Minister of Music.

A Note from the Pastor

Today I heard someone note that Christmas stuff is being hauled out of storage and readied for display in the stores. The Monday evening bible study group has decided to break beginning November 1 until after the holidays. I attended a preaching workshop on preparing for “the season of hope – Advent through Epiphany.” Yes, the holiday season is nearly upon us. For many years I ignored the evidence of the approaching holidays until December, sometimes well into December. I can’t say I had feelings about it one way or another as I rarely checked in with myself, but moved through my days on automatic pilot. I feel blessed to be in a vocation that requires me to dig into the season to find meaning, to ponder what it is all about, to tune into how other people experience the season. And so I offer you this chance to pause before the busyness starts and reflect: How do you feel as the holiday season approaches? What energizes and excites you about it? What drains you? Where do you find meaning, and what is the meaning for you? Do you feel God with you as you go through your days? Are your memories of Thanksgivings and Christmases past mostly happy, mostly difficult, or a combination?
I am aware of people in the congregation who lost a loved one in the past year and will be experiencing their first holiday season without that person. I encourage you to check in with yourself, notice what is going on. I encourage you to make room for whatever comes up, and to reach out and share with others close to you. I would also be honored to be a support to anyone who wants to give me a call, or have a cup of tea / coffee together and talk. To all those who are close to someone who has lost a loved one in the past year, consider reaching out especially at this time, and let them know you are thinking of them. Blessings, Pastor Doreen

Church Directory

Attention!

 

Your action needed on Church Directory: Did you know that FCC currently has no central source of information on its members, friends and supporters? It was difficult coming in as a new pastor to figure out how to contact people. We have a list of names of 70 members. We have a newsletter mailing list with over 200 addresses, and a single sheet of women’s names and phone numbers, and a short list which is the start of a directory with names, addresses, phone numbers and sometimes e-mail. It would be extremely helpful as pastor to have a directory that lists for each member, friend and supporter your name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address, and names and birth dates of children under 18 living with you. Since you are receiving this newsletter, chances are you will be included in the directory. Someone may be contacting you in the next few months to confirm or fill in missing information. Also we would love to provide a copy of a modified directory to members and friends. If you wish to leave certain information out of the more widely distributed directory, or wish to be left out of it entirely, please let us know.

For your consideration:

There are photography companies that create photo directories. Families and individuals go to a photo session, are provided with one or two free photos with the option of buying more, and then the company puts together a church photo directory. Let Pastor Doreen know if you would be interested in exploring this option.

The Season of Festivities
The Season for Giving

Leicester Food Bank will be distributing to clients fixings for a Thanksgiving feast. Your donations of special meal items are greatly appreciated.

Food Bank Thanksgiving Fixings


Donations can be placed in food collections baskets in the church or dropped off at St. Joseph’s Church in Leicester form 8?30-2 Monday thru Thursday.

Contact Info

Pastor Doreen Oughton: pastorfccleicester@verizon.net 508-892-3274
Christine Cathcart, Sunday School: Christine_cathcart@yahoo.com 774-318-8057

If you have information that you would liked placed in the newsletter please contact
Rosa Nieves

Rosa Nieves – Church Secretary

at firstcongch@verizon.net

www.leicesterfcc.org