Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for November 9, 2025

O love of God, our shield and stay Through all the perils of our way! Eternal love, in Thee we rest, Forever safe, forever blest.

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

Meditation continues every Friday morning at 9:00 am at the Union Congregational Church until next July, when it moves back to the HP Chapel. Reach out to Pastor TJ or Alison Boden with any questions. (aboden3321@gmail.com, 609-865-3236) All are welcome! 

Supported by:           

Considering Matthew Shepard

Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 3 p.m.

Collins Center for the Arts

Tickets $20 | All fees included

The University of Maine Singers and the Maine Gay Men’s Chorus in collaboration with UMaine’s Collegiate Chorale and Acadia Choral Society present Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard.

About the piece: Deeply moved by the murder of a young gay man, acclaimed conductor Craig Hella Johnson composed an evocative and compassionate musical response that leaves audiences hopeful and joyous. This three-part fusion oratorio speaks with a fresh and bold voice, incorporating a variety of musical styles seamlessly woven into a unified whole. Johnson sets a wide range of poetic and soulful texts by poets including Michael Dennis Browne, Lesléa Newman, Hildegard of Bingen and Rumi. Passages from Matt’s personal journal, interviews and writings from his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard, newspaper reports, and additional texts by Johnson and Browne are poignantly appointed throughout the work.

(Several from our Congregation and Community will be performing in this presentation.)

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.

Cedar Shake Farm at 732 East Side Road has opened a Little Free Food Pantry.

Please take what you need and let others know of this community resource.

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.

Jack Lacey, pastor at Milbridge asked that I share this with you all. A special program about incarceration in Maine. Here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88529661060?

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P.S. If you'd like a good book to read related to this topic, you might want to try: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. It is also a movie.

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

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. James B, Marie, and Jane of Golden Acres. Prayers for Graham, Joey and Morgan; Yvonne; Logan & Charlie & Miranda; Mike & Carol; Pat & Mike’s daughter, Tracy; 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…

Our meetings are open to all. If you would like to attend a meeting, please let Vicky know and she will provide the Zoom link, or you are welcome to attend in person.

Deacons will meet Friday, November 14th at 4:00 pm

Christian Ed will meet Wednesday, November 19th at 12:00 noon on Zoom

Trustees will meet Wednesday, November 19th at 4:00 pm

Outreach will meet Thursday, November 20th at 4:15 pm

Council will meet Friday, November 21st at 11:00 am

November Birthdays

14: Johanna Bazzolo       16: Marcia Nowell       16: Erin Shaw    17: Cookie Thelen            20: Kathy McGlinchey          26: Clint Ritchie          30: Arthur Ashmore

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)

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, plus a $10,000 matching donation offer, and other donations that have brought us to our current balance of over $25,000. Please give what you can, when you can to help us reach our goal. Thank you in advance!

From Our Maine Conference

Peace is not an only child. She is a middle child,

really the second-born of triplets.

Her big sister, Love, opens the way of surrender.

Peace follows behind, mirroring everything Love does.

Joy is the playful littlest sister, full of pranks to shake

things up and wanting more than anything to dance.

3. Tina Datsko de Sanchez, Dancing through Fire

I know that I am premature in saying this to you all but, Happy New Year! For the record I know that New Years Day is officially 57 days away, but that is not the new year tidings I bring. I am talking about us being 25 Days away from the new liturgical year. The First Sunday of Advent is November 30th. By the liturgical calendar, we get to shelve Luke for two years and pick up Matthew. But every liturgical year begins with Advent. I love the way we unfold the coming of Christ by anchoring ourselves in what we believe the coming of Christ will mean for the world. Hope, peace, joy and love are how we prepare ourselves for the promise of Christmas.

This year while I was at the General Synod I was able to attend a workshop about integrating poetry in worship. One of the presenters was Tina Datsko de Sanchez. I bought several volumes of poems that she has written. In her collection Dancing through Fire, she focused on wisdom, passion and peace. The poem at the beginning of this is from that volume. What I love about this poem is that it takes three of our Advent hopes and links them as triplet sisters. I love playing with old ideas to help us reconnect again. Our new year can be familiar and yet ask us to play with new constructs and ideas.

As you and your churches prepare for the coming time of centering and renewal, I wanted to hold you all in my prayers and intentions. I know that this year has been challenging for many of us. Peace, love and joy might feel so distant still. I want us all to remember we always embrace hope as our starting point. In our prophetic books of scripture, hope was always the resting place for the soul. Hope asks us to look beyond the clamor, the fires, the tribulations and captivity to see God waiting for us. It is from that place of seeing that I can wish us all a Happy new year. I anchor myself in our renewing hope.

I will leave us all with a prayer offering from Paul. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in God, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. May that hope build your bridges to peace, joy and love. And by chance if Joy, the last of the triplets asks you to dance in the new year, do not hesitate to be shaken free…

Rev. John Fiscus, Associate Conference Minister

Pastor TJ encourages everyone to consider joining her on the journey of learning about our relationship to colonization and our Indigenous neighbors by signing up for the Maine School of Ministry (MESOM) two-week mini-course titled “Decolonizing and the Role of Faith Communities” or the semester long course titled “Organizing for Relationships and Repair.” Scholarships are available for those wishing to attend. Please let TJ know if you are interested in attending either one or both courses.

 Register

As led by Wabanaki REACH, part of this course will feature “Decolonizing and the Role of Faith Communities” – a 6-hour experience split between two Saturdays, Feb. 28 and March 7. Any and all church participants in Maine are welcome and encouraged to attend! (Fee: $50) The semester course continues with sessions utilizing the “Sacred Reckonings” curriculum for organizing faith communities in response to issues of historic injustice, drawing on the Open and Affirming model. Presenting Sponsors: Church of Universal Fellowship (Orono), Wabanaki Allies Working Group of First Congregational UCC (South Portland)ONLINE Saturdays: Feb 28 / Mar 7 (9:00-12:00)  Mar 21 / Apr 25 / May 16 (9:00-3:30)Tuition fees range from $375-400. Partial scholarships available.To sign up and share information with others, please see: https://www.maineucc.org/mesom/

A Poem

God,

We all must find our beauty.

Blooming flowers along the way

To learn to help each other

Live the best for one more day.

Faith rises in the sun.

Our hearts and yet our souls

Find blessings to smile upon

And share within the fold.

I long to behold peace.

And feel it warm my hand.

Breezes yet to rest awhile.

And live on golden sands.

I have to trust in God.

And let him rule on high.

To wash away the saddest days

The tear drops in my eyes.

Then the fears will leave me,

Like the birds that stretch and soar,

And glide into the heavens

For this one day, no more.

–Jane Winslow Lennon

November 2025

Hurricane Melissa Relief Efforts

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28th, 2025 as a category 5 storm. With sustained wind speeds more than 175 mph, Melissa is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Jamaica since records began being kept. As of October 30th, most of the island remains without power, telecommunications and other basic utilities. Presently, 13,000 people in Jamaica remain in shelters across the island and 34 fatalities have been reported – a number that is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue.

After making its way across Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa made a second landfall on Cuba’s southeastern shore as a Category 3 storm and inflicted significant flooding and wind damage across the southeastern part of the country.

In Haiti, heavy sustained winds from Hurricane Melissa’s rain bands and significant storm surge led to severe flooding and landslides. Authorities in Haiti report 25 fatalities, with that number also expected to rise in the coming days.

The United Church of Christ is issuing an appeal to support the immediate and long-term needs of affected communities across the region. The primary needs at this stage of recovery are shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, and food. In the coming days and weeks, the focus will shift to debris removal and restoration of access. Long-term support for reconstruction of homes, recovery of livelihoods, and restoration of community services will be essential in the days, months, and years ahead. 

Through ACT Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund and our long-standing partnership with Church World Service, the UCC is already working to get resources for those that need them across the region. Through Global Ministries, we are also in contact with our partners in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti and are working quickly to accompany and support their response efforts. 

All donations will be deposited into the International Emergency Fund designated for “Hurricane Melissa Response.” Your generous financial support will be used by our partners in the areas of greatest need, for relief and long-term recovery. 

Your generous financial support will be used by our partners in the areas of greatest need, for relief and long-term recovery. If you prefer, you may mail a check payable to the United Church of Christ, PO BOX 71957 Cleveland, OH 44194. Please be sure to note “Hurricane Melissa” in the memo section. You may also text UCCDISASTER to 41444.