First Congregaonal Church Camden, Maine March 2017 Vol. 33, No. 3 One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday, March 26 When you make a giſt to One Great Hour of Sharing, you acvely parcipate in tending God’s flock throughout the world. Your giſt brings shelter, food, water, and medical supplies to disaster survivors. You help refugees find safe shelter and begin to build new lives. You aid impoverished communies in securing dependable sources of food and clean water. And you help provide medical care and educaon that strengthen bodies and minds and create brighter futures. Watch for your envelope in the mail very soon! Last SOUP’S ON! Wednesday, March 29! Come join us and say goodbye unl the end of October, when we begin our 13th year!!!
Transcript
First Congregational Church Camden, Maine
March 2017 Vol. 33, No. 3
One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday, March 26
When you make a gift to One Great
Hour of Sharing, you actively participate in tending God’s flock throughout the world. Your gift brings shelter, food, water, and
medical supplies to disaster survivors. You help refugees find
safe shelter and begin to build new lives. You aid impoverished
communities in securing dependable sources of food and
clean water. And you help provide medical care and education that
strengthen bodies and minds and create brighter futures.
Watch for your envelope in the mail very soon!
Last SOUP’S ON! Wednesday, March 29!
Come join us and say goodbye until the end of October, when we begin our 13th year!!!
Since Easter, 2016 the congregation in worship has been receiving communion – the Lord’s Supper – by coming forward, receiving the bread, and then dipping it into the cup to partake. This way of receiving communion is called “intinction”, and is in keeping with a centuries-old tradition in Christian churches of people coming forward to receive either the bread by itself, or the bread and wine together. This is different from receiving communion as it is passed in trays to people, who remain in their pews. Receiving communion in the pews is a practice in protestant denominations that has its origins in the Women’s Temperance movement in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when protestant churches begin to use grape juice rather than wine. People tend to prefer one way or the other based usually on personal experience with the traditions they grew up with, or with what moves them as they engage in the worship life of the church. For some, receiving communion passed to them as they sit in their seats is experienced as a sacred, individual, private moment communing with God. For some, receiving communion by coming forward is an experience of community and intimacy with fellow worshipers that evokes their relationship with God. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to receive communion, or even to understand it. But the way we “do” communion is not simply a matter of personal preference. It is important to understand that the ways we worship are a reflection of how we seek to live our faith as a community gathered and called by God. At many times in church history the Christian Church has divided over the “right” way to receive and understand what it means to receive communion. As a Pastor I can’t help but think that there is something profoundly amiss when the Church of Christ down through the centuries divides itself over the Practice of Table Fellowship in the presence of God as revealed by Jesus to his disciples. I suspect that by taking what was the ordinary stuff of meals – bread and wine – and inviting his followers to give thanks, remember, and know that He is with them, Jesus may very well have
THOUGHTS FROM PASTOR DEB
been saying that whenever we share a meal with one another, share hospitality with one another, we can experience and share God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, healing, and salvation. In God’s presence through the sharing of a meal we become God’s presence for the world. In a sense I believe we need to experience things before we can understand them, and realize that we will never fully understand. (This has implications for having children participate in communion and I will reflect on this at another time.) I encourage folks to share your thoughts and questions with me, and with the deacons. We hope to engage in discussion of communion and other issues related to the spiritual life of the church in various ways as the congregation moves toward calling a settled pastor. __________________________________________________________
UPCOMING – A LENTEN/EASTER DISCUSSION SERIES “Inward Spiritual Life – Outward Faithful Action:
How Do We Embrace Both?” As we have engaged in discernment discussions in preparation for calling a settled minister, two perspectives emerged of how people engage their faith:
An inward focus on spiritual growth, and An outward focus on social justice and action.
The language we use around these two aspects tends to see them as exclusive of one another; either one is engaged with their faith in an interior way, or one is engaged outwardly as a doer. This series will explore how these two aspects are dynamically related and how we can embrace both, as individuals and as a congregation. We will do this by discussing excerpts from two books: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer. By Richard
Rohr. Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics
Worthy of the Human Spirit. By Parker J. Palmer. Copies of the excerpts for discussion will be available, but please feel free to purchase the books for yourselves. We will meet at the church for six sessions on Tuesdays, beginning March 21 and running through May 2. (Skipping Holy Week leading to Easter.) Sessions will be from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, beginning with a shared, pot-luck meal. A sign up sheet will be on the Opportunities Table along with the readings as they are available. Please come and join the conversation. You do not have to be able to come to every session to participate.
Fourteen and a half years ago I wrote my very first Beacon article, and today I write my very last. My, how time has flown by. How affirming is it of us as a Christian community that the Shields Mission Project is still offering financial assistance and hope to our fellow residents of Knox County. It is only because of your belief in the work we do and because of your ongoing support (both financial and emotional) that our work continues. In that first Beacon article back in 2002 I spoke of a quote that reminds us of who we are and what we do here:
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others remains, and is immortal.
As I think of that bit of wisdom my mind wanders back to all the peo-ple that we have touched through Shields and of the impact we have had on their lives. Hear what some have said to us over the years: “You have been so kind and helpful and I don’t know what would have happened to me and my daughter if you hadn’t helped us out.”
“It never ceases to amaze me how someone, such as yourselves, can reach out to a complete stranger, and make their life easy, even if only for a short time. I will never be able to tell you how much I appreciate your kindness.”
“Thank you to the Shields for helping me to be able to receive help in regards to my partials. I am so humbly grateful. To be able to chew my food proper and even smile again will be wonderful. They say that God works in mysterious ways. Yes, he does.”
“Thank you so much for the gift. It was good of you to do it for us. You could of just not of bothered with us but you did, so thank you again.”
“Thanks for giving, knowing the only thing that you will get is a thank you note expressing my gratitude!”
Shields Mission Project Committee A Ministry of
The First Congregational Church of Camden
Debbi Hitchings
“It is people like you who remind me how much God is still at work touching hearts and lives.”
And one final thank you: To Audrey Post who recently left Shields (and the church) a significant bequest. She was a believer in Shields from day one, a cheer leader, a committee member, a woman who lived her faith every day of her life. Because of her generosity Shields will be able to continue to impact the lives of others in the years to come. What a gift, what a legacy.
I leave this job humbled and happy. Humbled because every day in this job I am reminded of how fortunate I am in life. Happy because I know that through Shields we have given both hope and help and have done it in a way that honors and respects those who seek our assis-tance.
Thanks and God bless. Debbi
Would you like to become more involved in church but don't know where to start?
Three wonderful opening opportunities would be to join a Fellowship Team, to become an Usher, or to sign up as a Liturgist. You may do ALL of them if you wish. Please contact Nan in the church office at(207) 236-4821 or [email protected], and she will direct you to the appropriate person. Thank you in advance for your help. It will be most welcome.
Very little new information for you this month, so I
will simply list a few particulars to keep in mind as we proceed into the Lenten season:
I will be giving a half-hour organ recital after the service on Sunday, March 5th. Have some coffee and refreshments and then head back into the sanctuary around 10:45 to hear two Mendelssohn organ sonatas. The first is based on the tune "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", and the second based on "Out of the Depths of I Cry to Thee".
Our Friends of Music concert series line-up is available on the church website and on bulletin boards around the church. Be sure to mark your calendars! And a big thank you to Amy Rollins for all her wonderful promotional work!
We are still in need of at least one more handbell ringer. If you've ever wanted to try handbells, let me know, or stop by any Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the sanctuary. No experience needed, nor immediate commitment necessary –- just give us a try to see if ringing is for you!
We still have "Rachmaninoff in Rockport" tickets left! The
concert will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 11th at the Rockport Opera House, and we will sell any remaining tickets at the door. To ensure you don't miss out, call 410-227-9359 to purchase ahead of time! A big thank you to Susan Weber and family for their extremely generous donation that allowed us to bring this exciting opportunity to fruition! I would also like to thank everyone who eagerly purchased tickets and ad space in advance—every one of you helped to make our fundraising efforts a success.
That's all for now! Hope everyone is enjoying the snow —seeing as a love of snow was a huge draw for me in moving up north, I was pleased to see Maine hadn't given up the traditional altogether! I was getting worried there for a while ...
From Matt Mainster Director of Music
From Elizabeth Lally Director of Church School
Hello and goodbye February! That went fast.
As we are moving towards Spring we are entering a time of change in our Sunday schools classes, but one that brings us back full circle. After careful thought and consideration, we have decided that the younger grades will all proceed with the Cokesbury curriculum that we have previously used. We have realized that with a combined class of Pre-K, K, and 1st graders that a lot of the concepts from the lectionary curriculum were over their heads and geared more towards readers.
As we approach Lent, we are hoping to have some of the children help design the bulletins for Lent and Easter. Look for them! Have you seen those reverent children lighting the candles on Sunday morning? Who knew they could walk so slowly!
I want to thank Amy Rollins who has been working with the children on a chime piece for Palm Sunday. The younger children are providing the chords for the piece on the junior bells.
You may heard at the annual meeting that we are reforming our Christian Education Committee and we have room for more. Please remember that this committee addresses all of Christian education and not just the Sunday school program. We will be working on mapping out what we would like our children to learn during the course of our the program and implementing more educational opportunities for adults . We would love to have you join us!
As always— I would like to thank the teachers who give of their time each Sunday to work with our youth. Thank you Terri Mackenzie, Carol Spinney, and Ursula Crosslin for the care and attention you give each week.
Our Priceless Volunteers
For every month, in every Beacon, we will be printing the names of our very wonderful volunteers who have signed up for the tasks below. Check your calendars. If Ushers & Fellowship Team Members are unable to assume the duties on that day, please find a substitute and alert Nan so she can make the correction for the Sunday Bulletin. Many thanks!
DATE LITURGIST USHERS FELLOWSHIP
March 5 Debbi Hitchings Bob Garcia, Kim Young, June Fryer, Betsy Perry
Church School youth
March 12 Scouts Charlie and Dorothea Graham, Jeff and Ellen Stanclift
Amy Rollins, Jean Silva, Bob Garcia & Kim Young, Linda Strout, Flora SHorey
March 19 Bruce Cole Jean Forest, Doug Laliberte, Greg & Vicki Worden
John & Jinx Hufnagel, Craig & Mary Wells, Jan Kelsey, Anne Smart, Nan Haid
March 26 Deb Endl Dave Jackson, Melvin Achorn, Scott Achorn, Louis Regnier
Jean Forest, June Fryer, Gary & Roberta Walker, Loel Kline, Sharon Walker-Spencer
From Heavenly Threads Melissa Chapman & Beth Gerrish Managers
The February snowstorms did not deter our regular customers from stopping in! We are very grateful to our loyal shoppers!
We also love it when someone new stumbles upon us. This month a gentleman from Lisbon, Maine, stopped in on the advice of a friend. He was looking for a tuxedo for his wedding this summer. Due to limited funds he had visited several thrift shops with no luck. How excited we all were when the ONE tuxedo (including suspenders, cummerbund & bow tie) we happened to have in the shop at that time, fit him exactly!!
I'm still not sure who was more excited, the groom-to-be or our staff!
So please remember, you never know what you might find at Heavenly Threads Thrift Shop!
We are open Tuesday-Saturday 10-4.
Starting April 3rd we will be open on Mondays also.
March Birthdays
3/3 Lorna Page 3/5 Madeline Shields 3/7 Nancy Thompson 3/8 Rita Elliott Michael Lally 3/10 Henry Hanscom
3/13 Ward Wickwire 3/18 Nancy Akers 3/23 Kathy Jex 3/24 Bob Carter 3/25 Deb Endl 3/31 Hal Forney
Please sign up on the FLOWER CHART in the Pilgrim Room
to dedicate altar flowers to your loved ones, or to commemorate an event.
LOTS of available dates.
Women’s Potluck hosted by Debbi, Beryl, and Nan
March 16, 6-8pm Sign up on the Opportunities Table. Join us for some great food and good conversation.
