Congregational Church of Marlborough, United Church of Christ An Open and Affirming Faith Community 35 South Main Street – PO Box 57 Marlborough, CT 06447 marlcongchurch.org office - 860.295.9050 Office email ~ [email protected]Senior Pastor’s line – 860.295.0432 email ~ [email protected]The Rev. Bob Faulhaber Jr…..…………Senior Pastor Val Seaver…………….…………………Pastoral Intern David Mulligan…..……….…….…………Choir Director Gwen Lawson………….…Christian Education Director Alice Rowley..... “Echoes” Editor/Church Administrator Scott Reid….Senior High Youth Director (Grades 8-12) Gwen Lawson….….Junior Youth Director (Grades 5-7) Pam Mosdale/Marion Spaulding/Teresa Odoy………… Finance ([email protected]) Sunday Worship and Sunday School at 10 a.m. Sunday School for ages 3 to grade 8 Confirmation class for grades 9 and 10 Child care every Sunday downstairs in the nursery. Address Correction Requested No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Volume 63 February 2020 Number 2 Welcome ~ Enter as a Stranger ~ Leave as a Friend
Transcript
Congregational Church of Marlborough,
United Church of Christ
An Open and Affirming Faith Community 35 South Main Street – PO Box 57
Office email ~ [email protected] Senior Pastor’s line – 860.295.0432
email ~ [email protected] The Rev. Bob Faulhaber Jr…..…………Senior Pastor Val Seaver…………….…………………Pastoral Intern David Mulligan…..……….…….…………Choir Director Gwen Lawson………….…Christian Education Director Alice Rowley..... “Echoes” Editor/Church Administrator Scott Reid….Senior High Youth Director (Grades 8-12) Gwen Lawson….….Junior Youth Director (Grades 5-7) Pam Mosdale/Marion Spaulding/Teresa Odoy………… Finance ([email protected])
Sunday Worship and Sunday School at 10 a.m. Sunday School for ages 3 to grade 8 Confirmation class for grades 9 and 10 Child care every Sunday downstairs in the nursery.
Address Correction Requested
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.
Volume 63 February 2020 Number 2
Welcome ~ Enter as a Stranger ~ Leave as a Friend
2020
Community Sing Friday, February 14 at 7 p.m. Upstairs in the Thienes Lounge
Bring your sweetheart and sing along to a night of love songs!
You are welcome to bring a healthy snack to share.
Carolyn Brodginski hosts this monthly, fun-filled no cost event.
Carolyn will play the guitar and invites other
musicians to join her.
Dorcas Women’s Fellowship All Women Invited
Fri., February 14 at noon
upstairs in the lounge
Please bring a “brown bag” lunch. Dessert, coffee and tea provided.
(No reservation needed)
Program
Tapestry of Lies a new book by guest author Tracy Popolizio
More Information? Call Evelyn at 860.267.4642
Evening Women’s Group
Wednesday, February 12
6:30 p.m.
All women are invited to join Pastoral Intern
Val Seaver upstairs in the lounge.
February 26
7 p.m.
Ash Wednesday Service Holy Communion
and distribution of ashes
9th & 10th graders
February
Read the Passion Story (refer to handout)
SECOND
BLESSINGS
New items every week EVERYTHING PRICED TO SELL The shop is newly decorated for
Valentine’s Day and spring! 20% off everything February 7, 8, 9, 14
rev-el-ing (rev´el ing) to take great delight in and occasional boisterous merry-making
Sometimes I feel like one of the characters in The Masked Singer….
It’s the #1 show on TV now. For some reason, Americans are fascinated with “big reveals”. I can’t understand it, but I like cooking shows where people get yelled at a lot, so who am I to complain. I guess who we are behind our masks and our many disguises matters to people. A few weeks ago, I was invited by our CE Director Gwen to join her and our Jr. High Youth Group for their trip to see a movie in Colchester. I’m a big fan of movie theaters, and an even a bigger fan of kids. I figured I’d surprise all of them by not RSVPing and just showing up. Surprising them was a lot harder than I thought it would be. When I got to the theater as close to the starting time of the movie [Dr. Doolittle by the way] I hadn’t factored in two things. First, the guy selling the tickets was no help in letting me know whether a group of church middle school kids were actually there. Apparently middle school kids look pretty much like any other group of kids going to the movies. Secondly, I hadn’t anticipated [once the lights went down] that it’s a little hard to see in there, and calling out Gwen’s name in the middle of a preview wouldn’t be appreciated. And boy was it dark in there. I doesn’t help that at my age, seeing in the dark isn’t as easy as it used to be. It takes a little while before your eyes get acclimated. It didn’t help that on my first attempt, I came down the wrong aisle on my first try, and adding insult to injury, I sat on the aisle seat, tapped the hand of some woman I thought was Gwen and said, “Surprise!!” Turns out it wasn’t Gwen at all, and I think she was reaching for her pepper spray when I said something about being sorry and that it was my mistake. So I got up, walked out into the hallway and came back in through the other door. Once again, going from a bright hallway into a dark theater didn’t help. Fortunately for me, I only stood in THAT aisle for about 5-7 minutes longer, scanning the dark cinematic landscape and getting distracted by the previews [I love previews!!] before Gwen [who has much younger eyes spotted me standing right next to her aisle seat. Word spread fast down the aisle that a surprise guest was there. And the excitement grew…especially when I started tossing popcorn at the kids. The problem was, that I was wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. The kids thought a stranger at the end of the aisle was throwing popcorn at them. Luckily, none of the kids had pepper spray or I would have been a dead peppered duck! After the movie, we all filed out into the hallway and one of the kids said to me, “I didn’t know it was you Pastor Bob. You were in disguise!!” And she was right I guess. The kids seldom if ever get to see me dressed in street clothes, and never get to see me in my Batman pajamas. So I was very much out of “character” for them. To be honest, it’s not easy for a pastor to be “in character” all the time. Clergy all recognize that we represent our church in the community, but no one can play that role 24/7 without eventually having an identity crisis. And though I’m not always a pastor [especially on the golf course] I’m still always a “follower of Jesus”, and so are you. Christians don’t just “punch in” and then “punch out” on a Sunday morning. More is required of our faith than that. And to be honest, our actions [as people of faith] should speak louder than our words. So, I guess the question is, “What disguise do YOU wear between Sundays?” And do others know that you are a follower of a long haired radical socialist Jew? Lent is coming….take off the mask. In the Spirit,
Bob Faulhaber Jr.
CARE MINISTRY
Reflections on the
Quote…. A monthly column from church
member Ruth Jones. Ruth is a
retired elementary school teacher.
The whole earth had one language and one speech. Genesis 11:1
The Lord confused their speech and scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:9
Everyone heard them speak in their own language. Acts 2:6
The scriptures above mark the two places in the Bible where language is mixed up or confused by God.
The confusion of languages at the tower of Babel marks the start of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. Those constructing the tower to make a name for themselves—a vanity that caused God to scatter them.
There were crowds at the small gathering of apostles for Pentecost from other nations. The apostles spoke in tongues praising God and each person heard in the own language.
“In our world today an estimated 6,800 languages die every two weeks. About 80% of the world’s population speaks one of only 83 languages.” Mark Sappenfield, ed., The Monitor.
So much more is being lost than words. We write and worry about the extinction of species, both plant and animal, and say “so what” when the last person to speak Eyak (an Alaskan tribal language dies). We certainly have no need to describe the space between our nose and upper lip by wrapping our tongue around siniikadach’ uuch. Along with that language a whole culture has vanished, its words, customs, dress, beliefs, and so much more with no record of there ever having been those people.
In Greenlandic words contain whole concepts like sentences. The word isersarneg means a wind in the fjord that comes in from the sea and it can be hard to get home, but once you get out of the fjord, it’s nice weather. I guess in that language you could be quite descriptive and still be a person of few words.
It surprised me to learn that the most linguistically diverse neighborhood in the world is in the New York borough of Queens. Jackson Heights is called the Noah’s Ark of Languages. There is a diversity of tongues and dialects (800 or more) unprecedented in human history.
I wonder how all this effects our individual futures. Will we all speak the same language and be the same color and some day worship the same God? My study Bible says, “There will be one day be an end to all divisiveness. The peoples of the earth will become the people of od. All languages will speak together in praise of the lamb.
In the meantime, keep your siniikadach’uuch clean and be aware of the isersarneg next time you are in Greenland.
O Lord, our lives and all that moves around us rests in your hands.
Help us to appreciate it and move with grace in your wonders. Amen
Our heartfelt prayers go out to the following families over the passing of a loved one who entered into the
more immediate presence of their Lord and Savior
to Larry Zarrella and his family over the passing
of his mother from Connecticut January3rd.
to Steve and Jessica Pozzato and their family over
the passing of his father from Connecticut Jan. 20th.
to Linda and Jim Garrett and their family over
the passing of her brother from Rockport, Maine,
January 28th.
Our Care Ministry has four Care Ministry
Visitation Correspondence
Meals Transportation
Are you or someone you know in need?. If so, please contact either
Pastor Bob Faulhaber at 860.295.0432 or
Coordinator, Edi Dole at 860.267-8543
Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet
is fighting
some kind of battle.
SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS
a note from Gwen Lawson
Christian Education/JR YG Director Any questions, please contact Miss Gwen
