May 2008
Dear Friends,
On the road to Emmaus, shortly after the death of Jesus, the disciples meet a stranger who listens to their confusion and grief and helps them through scripture to make sense of their experience. They feel a great burden lift. They ask him to stay for supper. When the “stranger” breaks bread, their eyes are opened and they recognize the Risen Christ.
The sacrament of communion, the sharing of the bread and cup represents the banquet of heaven where all people are welcomed and embraced by God’s love. We celebrate this meal to remember the nourishment God provides in the spiritual food of Jesus’ life and teachings, and also to remind us that as we feed and welcome one another to the table, we welcome Jesus himself.
You all welcomed Jesus with your generosity in responding to the special appeal for food for the First Fruits pantry! Thank you! We collected an additional 175 pounds of food from our usual first Sunday of the month collection as well as $178 in donations. Catherine Robertson, the director of the pantry sends her heartfelt “thanks!” on behalf of the families and children the pantry serves. As we all know, times are tough and the pantry is making a big difference for many families in our community. She let me know that the following items are especially in demand: tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, pasta, pasta sauce, crackers.
As I shared this past Sunday, 11 percent of households in
the
Such dire hunger is something hard for most of us to imagine. Yet, I am sure recent trips to the grocery store have given us sticker shock. If you would like to learn more about the issue of hunger, you may want to explore these web sites:
Bread for the World: http://www.bread.org/
“As Christians, we are
called to love and care for our neighbors in need…By raising our voices together
prophetically in support of those who are hungry and suffering, we make a
significant difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters throughout the
world.” (Rev. John Nunes,
President, Lutheran World Relief)
As we often say, we are a small church with a big heart! Thank you for all the ways you respond to the needs of our church family and beyond with such love and commitment in so many ways!
I look forward to breaking bread with you soon.
Faithfully,
Patrice
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
BELFRY REPORT
On
Responses were spread over a broad spectrum, from
Conference-wide Youth events/retreats, to the reinstatement of the CE Directors
Certificate Course, Teacher Training Sessions, Viable Adult Programs, Book
Discussions, and Bible study for CE Directors.
Other topics on the agenda were NEAUCE, “Our Whole Lives”
curriculum and “Gather ‘Round’ curriculum, Children’s Sunday, and
NEAUCE
(New England Association of United Church Educators) is having a CE Conference on Christian
Education at the
Two Partners in Education, Emily Clement from the Laconia
church and Deb Moore from the Wolfeboro church, offered a workshop on “Gather
‘Round” curriculum at Wolfeboro Congregational church on
Sunday,
On May 3rd, the Christian Education Committee, along with the Peace & Justice Committee is having a Family Fun Night. A spaghetti dinner will be served, a video for adults along with a video for children will be presented, many games based on being earth friendly will occur. We have had a great response and we are looking forward to a relaxing fun evening. The event begins at 4:00 p.m. and will end approximately at 6:30 p.m.
Our church school year is rapidly expiring. The last day for church school will be May 18th, at which time music awards and bibles will be presented. This will be a “Bring Your Own Picnic” day. Hopefully we will be able to eat outside, but if not, we will use the undercroft. Flowers will be given to the children and we will have ‘make your own sundaes’ for dessert. Everyone is looking forward to this event!
Submitted
by
TRUSTEES
The Trustees met on
The Trustees formally accepted the membership decision to repair the steeple spires and to maintain the Church building on a regularly planned schedule until any building expansion plans are determined.
The following items are being
fixed or researched to determine the best solution:
- Dennis and Phil corrected the door drag in the sanctuary and repaired pews.
- Dennis will contact Will Ellis regarding ceiling lights and kitchen outlets.
- Liz Merry has looked at water filters for the kitchen. She will bring results of her search to the next meeting.
-
Frank Baker proposed an estimate of $588 for a handicap
ramp to the undercroft. The grading
codes for the ramp will meet
The Church and the Parsonage have a number of items that
need repair and paint. Liz Merry will
connect with
Liz Merry
DEACONS
Recently while sitting with
my husband's grandmother, I explained to her that for quite some time now when
I make a macaroni & cheese, I try to make two and put one in the
freezer. She then asked "why go to the extra work"?
I explained that it was nice to have an extra one on hand so that
when a friend had a baby or a death in their family, I could
quickly deliver it to them (it's real comfort food!) She
said that she didn't want any of my mac & cheese,
as she wasn't planning on having any babies or dying (my husband's Grammie is hilarious!) I now have a new purpose
for my mac & cheese, through the “Called to Care”
program. Do you make extra for your freezer? Would you be
willing to share it with a parishioner in need? If so,
please consider volunteering. In addition, there are home based
parishioners who would enjoy a visit or a phone call. It's Called to Care - please spread the word!
Our hymnal drive continues,
as we are looking for many more orders to fill up our church with
hymnals. Please consider giving this wonderful gift in honor of a friend
or loved one, or in memory of one. Order forms are in the back of the
sanctuary. Thank you.
After this CRAZY Winter,
I'm sure that you all are looking forward to summer as much as I am. Of
course with summer, comes our summer worship schedule. Starting
on Sunday, June 15th, worship will begin at 9:30 AM. Now please
don't be embarrassed if you show up at 10:00 for the first couple of
weeks. I've done it more times than I care to admit! We'll
also be looking for summer music, so please consider sharing your musical
talents - our congregation is so lucky to have so many gifted musicians &
singers!
Happy Spring,
Michelle Chapman
For the Deacons
MODERATOR'S
MUSINGS
The "
A major topic at the last several Council meetings has
centered on putting together another "planning" session for the
church community. Over the past year we
have celebrated in several ways, the accomplishments of the Vision 2008
program. Following our discussion
regarding "fund raising" and the desire to put our many talents to
work in building a stronger, more spirit-filled church family, your Council
feels that bringing together our members and friends could produce some
marvelous ideas and actions we could undertake!
We are putting together a task force to plan and organize what will be a
fall event. My personal thanks to those
who have agreed to be part of this planning team.....stay tuned.
As I mentioned last month, three of us had the privilege to be part of
the Back Bay Mission work in Biloxi, and we have decided to make our
presentation to the church family a combination of "Moment for
Mission" and the "Children's Message" on May 11th! We "might" just teach you the
spiritual during the church service in Beloxi! A reminder--if you can plan ahead, the
Conference mission trip in 2009 will be in October. It will be an unforgettable experience.
Peace, Wally
Strauch
PEACE & JUSTICE
The luncheon speaker on
Sunday,
Before you read this, the
FAMILY FUN NIGHT, co-sponsored by the Peace & Justice and Christian
Education committees, will have occurred. With its made-for-children video
about recycling, and its forum for adults about the CARBON CHALLENGE and how to
get started and what its benefits are, an "Honor the Earth" (or in
popular parlance, "Green") theme was showcased. The forum
was moderated by Marty Merry, with panelists from the GREEN TEAM and visuals
from Patrick Miller's presentation.
When Wally Strauch,
moderator of our church, announced last December that the Church Council had
accepted a proposal that our church become a
Our church has also been
encouraged to have more programs for families - from youngest to older!
The Family Fun Night, with games for different age levels, a spaghetti buffet,
AND a Green Theme, seemed to present a wonderful opportunity for our church to
accomplish these good goals.
We want to express our thanks
to pastor Patrice for faithfully crafting our worship services around the idea
of honoring our earth, and to
Our Committee has started a
lending library. Elaine Raynos is working on
this. We are accepting gratefully, books on social justice, economic
justice, PEACE, and environmental topics. We need to grow our inventory!
Inspect, borrow & donate, please. The library is in the back of the
sanctuary, on the counter on the south side, in a little wooden bookshelf.
Lee Hart, for the Peace and Justice
Committee..........with help from Wally Strauch (quote) and
BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
I've been asked to write a
few words about the Book Discussion Group here at church. Eight months ago an invitation went out to
readers and book lovers to gather around and "let’s all read the same book
each month and then get together to discuss the read".
Book clubs/discussion groups
are everywhere and have been popular for many years. I have even read of
such discussion groups in the Victorian era. Women who love to read just love
to share their excitement about the books they have read. Sound boring to you?
Even if you are not an avid reader you will find yourself anxiously waiting for
book group meeting night to roll around each month, once you join us in reading
a good book.
Our group has fourteen to
fifteen members on the roster with at least ten venturing forth thru all kinds
of weather to attend book night meetings. Car-pooling adds
to the excitement, especially when all in the same ride you find yourself
bouncing from one frost heave and pot-hole to another, then
narrowly escaping colliding with a rather large doe. "Well she seemed
large to me when she appeared on the yellow line of the road, out of
nowhere," filling up the window on the rear passenger seat side. After we
recovered our breath from that encounter we proceeded on our way and we arrived
safely where I had left my vehicle parked. I managed to slip on the ice
exiting the car and found I could not get my feet under me to stand upright
again. Susan and Barbara managed to set me firmly back on my feet and steer me
in the direction of my car. My thanks to them.
Oh, I digress here; the
purpose of our evening out in the car pool was Book group meeting. What can I
say about the Book group? We have a
rousing discussion of the chosen book of the month and always, always come away
having learned something about ourselves, about our neighbors, our friendships
at church and about our society as a whole, worldwide.
Some of our reads have been
as follows. Two titles from the past month’s selections really stand out in my
mind. The first was “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortenson,
which tells of his remarkable adventure which led him to decide to build
schools in the wildest parts of
Last month we read three
articles from the New Yorker, "Field
Notes from a Catastrophe," by Elizabeth Kolbert.
That didn't sound like the most exciting reading to me but I did vote for that
subject, and I was enthralled with the entire set of documents, reading them
from a printed copy off the Internet, instead of reading in book form.
The “Climate of Man” delves into the reason for disappearing islands and
land mass, thawing permafrost, and how it affects the animals and humans who
live on the tundra. The melting of polar ice affects not only the animals
but the humans who hunt and fish on the melting ice and the dangers encountered
daily. These people have used this land for many years and now it is collapsing
and melting all around their homes, and affecting their very method of
existence and livelihood. The earth is changing around us daily and in
the last few years, more rapidly than we might imagine. We have been discussing
this, and "going green" here in Sanbornton in the past few
months, probably with the wake up call when the Al Gore movie about global
warming was shown here.
Some of the other titles
were, “The Friday Night Knitting Club,” by Kate Jacobs,
“A
Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini, and another by
the same author, “The Kite Runner.”
And to think I might have
missed reading them if not for someone in our group not putting them up for
discussion as a selection. Every book we have chosen to read is not
always everyone's, "cup of tea," but somehow once we start to read
them, they manage to appeal to us in some manner.
You have heard the expression
"So Many Books, So Little Time." That is probably a description of our
discussion as we ponder over what to read next.
Come join us, why don't you - we miss you. We meet every third
Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
Location of the meeting and book of the month are announced in the
bulletin.
Ann Emerson-Knott
TAKING THE CARBON
CHALLENGE
For some 600,000 years, greenhouse gases emitted from the
earth totaled 280 parts per million in earth’s atmosphere. Today the figure is 384 parts per
million. 85% of that is carbon dioxide;
7% is methane. UNH Professor Patrick
Miller, speaking at a Peace and Justice sponsored program at the church on
According to the latest scientific projections, he told us,
if we do nothing to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases,
Professor Miller urged each of us to go to the
Diane Farrell
AN ANCIENT
HISTORIC TIDBIT FROM OUR HISTORIAN, MILLY SHAW
A four-inch-long clay cone, pictured in the
Lee had inherited the objects from her grandfather,
E.R. Johnstone, who acquired his small collection of
Babylonian artifacts from the noted archeologist Edgar J. Banks, in the
1930’s. His typewritten letter described
and translated Libit-Istar’s cone and notes its value
as the most significant artifact yet found from the era and civilization of the
biblical patriarch Abraham, who was born close in both time and place to the
cone’s burial in
Our thanks to Lee for sharing this.