Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for November 23, 2025

Sing to the Lord of harvest, / sing songs of love and praise; with joyful hearts and voices / your alleluias raise. By God the rolling seasons / in fruitful order move; sing to the Lord of harvest / a joyous song of love.

Choir rehearsals are at 9:10 on Sunday mornings. All are welcome!

On Sunday, November 23rd, Associate Conference Minister, Rev. John Fiscus, will deliver the Message from our pulpit. We will have a special coffee time, where you will be able to meet and have a chance to talk with John.

Rev. John Fiscus comes to the Maine Conference after serving nearly ten years as the Minister and Teacher at Peace United Church of Christ in St. Cloud Minnesota. He was a clergy student in Colorado and offered many churches across that state pulpit supply. Prior to being clergy, John served the churches he attended in multiple ways. He has served on boards of churches with 600 members and offered the good news to four beautiful souls in a Colorado farm community. During his tenure in St. Cloud he served the community on several volunteer Boards and as a community member on the Ethics Committee of Saint Cloud Hospital. In addition to his work at the church, John served the Conference as Chair of the Open and Affirming ministry team and has just finished a six-year term on the Committee on Ministry that serves the entire conference.

John is a second career clergy person. Prior to full time ministry John served over twenty years in management roles in several companies. His experience there was multifaceted and included financial analysis, Human Resources, and training responsibilities. His educational background is varied as well. John has a BS in Anthropology and a BA in History both from Colorado State University, Pueblo. His MDiv was completed at Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He has completed the course work for his Doctor of Ministry in Prophetic Leadership from Iliff and is still working to complete his final project.

John has lived in Colorado, Texas and Minnesota. He and his husband, Rick are relocating to the Augusta area for his call. They celebrated 29 years as a couple in October of 2025. They are looking forward to a new adventure in Maine. John has made it his goal to discover the best lobster roll in Maine while Rick will seek out the best blueberry pie, muffin, or ale. John looks forward to being a part of the vision and hope the churches of the Maine Conference bring to our world.

Community welcome to free Thanksgiving dinner

The Ellsworth Elks Lodge No. 2746 will serve a free Thanksgiving dinner on

Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m at 317 High St. Takeout is also available. Anyone interested in takeout or delivery should call Leanne at 322-1728 to order meals.

Please plan on joining Pastor TJ this Advent Season for this lively study focusing on Advent scriptures and the wonder of birds. We will meet on Thursdays Dec. 4th, 11th, and 18th at 2 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall and on Zoom.

Chris Ross has a hometown show happening in our sanctuary on

Saturday, December 6^th.

Doors open at 6:30, music at 7:00. Suggested donation of $20 but all are welcome regardless of ability to pay. Invite your family and friends and come and enjoy the music.

The Wreaths Across America convoy leaves Downeast on Sunday, Dec. 7th.  It's due at the YMCA in Ellsworth at 9 am so it would pass the church in the 8:30-ish time frame. All are invited to gather on our church steps between 8:15 - 8:30 a.m. to wave them onward.

Sunday, Dec. 7, from 4 – 6 pm: People of all ages are invited to join us in our Fellowship Hall for a Pizza and Pie Party!

“Get to know you” games, like “I Wonder”; story-telling; connection; new memories…!

And, of course, Pizza and Pie!

This Intergenerational Event is brought to you by Christian Ed and Outreach! 

Mark your calendars!

Comfort Cases still need pajamas in any size. Also, crayons and coloring books would be

greatly appreciated. The Outreach Committee will continue to collect these items until November 30. For more information contact Jeanne Edwards. Comfort Cases, as you remember, provides backpacks filled with essentials and comfort items to children entering the foster care system.

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

Prayers for the family and friends of Lynne Marie Veinote who passed away November 12th. Our prayers are with Andrea and her family and friends living in Jamaica. Our prayers remain with Alex & Savannah and Andrew & Tamara. Prayers for Kate Winters, recovering from surgery to repair a broken ankle. We pray for David M, Brian S, Kenny V, Brad, James B, Marie, and Jane of Golden Acres. Prayers for Yvonne; Jeanne’s brother Clem, Mike & Carol; Dexter B.; Cynthia W.; Judith C.; Eleanor A.; the Raymonds; Hollis & Debbie; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Patrice’s step-sister Patricia; Cathy C; Kirk; Ruth; Herbie Lounder; Sandy Phippen; Jonathan Holmes; Sue Davies; Sue Davenport; Kenny Stratton & Joy & David & Lori & Melissa; Debbie & Lincoln & Aaron & Ashley & Brielle. Prayers for all in Hospice Care. Prayers for all that are unsafe, unhoused, hungry & in need of care & compassion. Prayers for individuals and families affected by addictions. Prayers for all caregivers. Prayers for those who are grieving loss or change or experiencing family conflict; and prayers for all that is in your heart…

November Birthdays

26: Clint Ritchie          30: Arthur Ashmore

December Birthdays

04: Gary Edwards       05: Sonny Mehl     15: Frank Dorsey       

16: Ashley Ehrlenbach Johnson      17: Sue Croteau          18: Barbara Reeve

20: Sheila O’Neill       21: Mary Angela Davis         27: Jennifer Ashmore

Upon the advice of our Trustees and with the approval of our Church Council we have begun a $65,000 Building and Parsonage Repair Campaign to pay for some much needed maintenance to our properties. These include: 1) the parsonage has recently received a new metal roof, 2) the sanctuary ceiling has recently been re-painted, and 3) the exterior of the church, including the belfry will be painted in the Spring of 2026. Thank you for contributions already received, which include $5000 from the Betty Lewis Memorial Fund, a $10,000 matching donation offer, plus other donations that have brought us to our current balance of over $46,000. Please give what you can, when you can to help us reach our goal. Thank you in advance!

FOOD ASSISTANCE RESOURCE GUIDE 

Good Shepherd Food Bank - promotes food security in Maine by improving access to nutritious and culturally relevant food for people experiencing hunger, building strong community partnerships, and mobilizing the public to address the root causes of hunger. https://www.gsfb.org/.

**Good Shepherd Food Bank Map  provides a robust list of food pantries and food banks throughout our state. – Find a local food bank or pantry near you. https://www.gsfb.org/food-map/

Good Shepherd Food Bank Partner Agencies - Good Shepherd Food Bank works with nearly 600 food assistance programs throughout Maine, from Kittery to Fort Kent, to help get food to Mainers at risk of going hungry. https://www.gsfb.org/get-involved/partner-agencies/

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry – Food Assistance Programs listed by town - https://www.maine.gov/dacf/ard/foodassistance/tefap/bytown.shtml

Feeding America - https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-yourlocal-foodbank

Note: If there is a food pantry, food bank, or an organization that provides regular meals to address food insecurity, send the name of the organization and contact information, i.e. phone numbers, email and website addresses to: kwoodside@gmail.com.

Hancock UCC member Rev. Joshua Fitterling was officially called by Bethany UCC Claremont NC to serve as their part-time pastor. Josh is grateful for the openness of this congregation to do a new thing and embrace him as a "bi-locational" pastor (part of Josh’s week is spent at the church in North Carolina and the other part is spent at home in Tennessee with his partner!) God is still speaking! Congratulations, Joshua! We are happy for you and your new congregation.

You're invited to join us for PL BOOK CLUB!

Pick-up a copy of the book "Reading Secrets: A Queer Inheritance of  Life & Scripture" by Malcolm Himschoot, Dean of the Maine School of Ministry, and join PL friends via Zoom in January to discuss the text. We'll be joined by the author himself, who will guide us in a Q/A discussion and will read a selection from the book. You don't want to miss this!

To learn more and purchase the book:https://www.liftupvalleys.com/

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/QWKUVvsQZrdDdxQLA (Zoom link will be sent via email)

From Our Maine Conference

A Letter from our MESOM Dean

Malcolm Himschoot

Lifelong Learning, Past and Present

In June of this year, something made sense to me that never had before. I was in the middle of Main Street in Orono, outside near my church. I was walking with a couple hundred people along a route mapped out for us by WHERE Walk artists, who lift up undisclosed stories from Maine’s multiple cultures and histories. We were walking to the Penobscot Nation tribal location known as Indian Island, one town away. On a signboard I read Chief Joseph Orono’s words from 1775:

          “Our white brothers tell us they came to the Indians’ country to enjoy liberty and life. A   

great sagamore [political leader] is coming to bind them in chains, to kill them. We must fight him. We will stand on the same ground with them, for should he bind them in bonds, next he will treat us as bears…”

All at once, I understood what my elementary school teachers had tried to make me understand years ago. Something about government and the price of tea, foreign taxation and monarchies. Something that sounded so dreadfully abstract that I was bored and yawning – yet was so viscerally important to early American revolutionaries that they fought and died to avoid it. In a word: colonization.

Perhaps the Americans 250 years ago had a flash of insight that their position as subjects of the empire was no different than the position of indigenous nations. Wabanaki and Wampanoag nations were at the time being stripped, slaughtered, and starved. Colonists knew this; some were taking part in it; but perhaps they thought the effects would not impact them. They might have wanted to negotiate colonization, but from the position of the colonizer, not the colonized. When they saw themselves on the other side, it changed everything.

It took the leadership of Penobscot Chief Orono to communicate the position of those bound and held captive by colonization as no different from the position of the bear. The chief was not talking about a live bear, but a dead bear – dismembered, skinned, and gutted.

Revolutionaries who took up their muskets against the British were perhaps fighting for the right not to be treated that way. In his 1775 speech, persuading the Penobscot Nation to become the first to recognize the nationhood of the fledgling United States and its articulated ideal of democracy, Chief Orono prophesied solidarity and unity:

“Help his ill-treated sons. They will return good for good and the law of love runs through their children and ours when we are dead. Look down the stream of time.”

In his diplomacy Chief Orono encouraged Americans to see themselves – and him – as brothers. I wonder if they heard his words of solidarity. Did those who were Christians imagine gilded Rome as a model to emulate, or could they recognize beneath the torture and oppression of Caesar, the man Jesus of Nazareth?

I am not done learning from my reflections on Wabanaki Veterans Day. Fortunately, it comes round every June 21st .

Those who join in the MESOM class Organizing for Relationship and Repair this winter will have their own chance to pursue lifelong learning from indigenous leaders in Maine. The class is led partly by Wabanaki REACH, an organization developed through the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2008. Church members throughout Maine are encouraged to sign up for a two-part workshop on Feb. 28 and Mar 7 (from 9:00-12:00 on Zoom). That workshop is called “De-colonizing and the Role of Faith Communities.”

The workshop is open to all church members, not only MESOM certificate students, with a $50 per person fee. Consider coming to the Wabanaki REACH workshop with one other person or a few people from your church. This educational offering responds to a statewide initiative from 2001 for all those educated in Maine to learn about Wabanaki heritage, history, and leadership. That law is in effect for schools K-12, but it has only gradually been implemented. Most adults in Maine need new information and understanding.

In several different parts of the country, I have worked on racial justice and the Open and Affirming movement for twenty years. The premise is that not just individuals, but communities can respond to issues of historic harm and organize to make a difference.

According to United Church of Christ minister and ethicist Rebecca Voelkel, sacred reckonings are made of truth-telling, relationships, political solidarity, wealth return, and spiritual practice. This is no linear achievement, but rather a process of lifelong learning. As we engage the work, we reclaim sacred memory to more fully remember our ancestors, and sacred hope to vivify all our descendants.