Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for May 19, 2024
Like the rain that falls from heaven,
Like the sunlight from the sky,
So the Holy Ghost is given,
Coming to us from on high.
Upcoming services, meetings, events, and opportunities
Join us for Worship in our Sanctuary or on Zoom at 10:00 a.m.,
or watch the recording later on Facebook or YouTube
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 822 2425 2518 Passcode: 755650
Find us at Hancock UCC | Hancock ME | Facebook or
on YouTube at Hancock UCC - YouTube
Choir rehearsals are Sunday mornings at 9:15 a.m. All are welcome. Please, join us!
During the month of May we are receiving the Strengthen the Church (STC) Offering. As God calls our congregations to be the church in new ways, your generous donation to the STC offering will plant new churches, awaken new ideas in existing churches and develop the spiritual life in our youth and adults. Envelopes are available in the back of the Sanctuary.
Our meetings are open to all. If you would like to attend a meeting, please let TJ or Vicky know and they will provide the Zoom link, or you are welcome to attend in person.
Church Council meets Friday, May 17th at 11:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall and on Zoom.
Join us for a Study of the Psalms
We will meet in the Fellowship Hall and on Zoom at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Remaining dates are May 22nd, and 29th. All are welcome.
Celebration of Life Graveside Service to honor and remember Jane Preble at 1:00 p.m. on May 25th, 2024 at Simpson Cemetery in Sullivan (across from the Sumner Learning Campus)
A Celebration of Life to honor and remember Betty Lewis will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 10th, 2024 in our Sanctuary with a reception to follow at “The Big House.”
Save the Date
On May 26, 2024, at 12PM, following our regular Sunday worship service, all are invited to meet at Tidal Falls Preserve (Tidal Falls Road, Hancock) for a time of learning and fellowship. Come and experience Lectio Terra, Communion and a picnic in the beauty of God’s great outdoors. We will be introduced to ways to be with and experience the Holy in the natural world. We will interact with scripture and prayer in new ways and hopefully connect one to another and with Creation in new ways. We will share a Communion meal that will be a bit different from how we normally experience Communion and share our learning and grow with one another. We each experience and encounter God in varied ways. Across our lifespan we are in various stages and places in our lives. With sharing this experience together, we can learn from one another across the generations, and expand our faith and have fun. Please bring a dish to share if you are inclined or just bring your beautiful self.
Blessings, Sarina Brooks (Ministry Student Intern)
After Jane and Brian were received into church membership last Sunday, Jane read a poem that she wrote:
Faith
Jane Winslow Lennon
2/12/23
We all must find our beauty
Blooming flowers along the way
To lessen all the darkness
And lighten up the day
Faith rises in the sun
Our hearts and yet our souls
Blessings that we smile on
To share within the fold
I long to behold peace
And feel it warm my hand
To smell the summer flowers
And rest on golden sands
I have to trust in God
And let him rule on high
To wash away the saddest tears
Of raindrops in my eye
For then the fears will leave me
Like the birds who stretch and soar
And glide into the heavens
For this one day no more
Please note: Worship Time Change
For the past couple of years we have experimented with a 9:00 Worship Service start time the Sundays between Memorial Day and Labor Day and then meeting at 10:00 the rest of the year.
In light of concerns and following thoughtful discussions, our Deacons have opted to begin a trial period of starting the Worship Service at 9:30 beginning June 2 (the Sunday after Memorial Day). We hope that this compromise will benefit everyone. After giving this a try for the summer months we will bring the matter to a congregational vote prior to Labor Day.
Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:
Prayers for Pat’s niece Kate, Bruce’s sister Lynn, Sally’s friend, Sue Barger; and Ginny Hamm. Prayers for Orrick Damboise, Jennie, and Cathy C. Prayers for Cynthia’s Aunt Barbara, and William at Golden Acres, both receiving Hospice Care. Prayers for Ruth; Marie; Joyce; Doris; Mary Angela & Nick’s son Joshua; Ron & Kathy; Graham; Jim Snyder; Brandon Perry-Hudson; John Wood; Jonathan Holmes; Sue Davies; Nancy & John & Jonas; Sue Davenport; Austin’s cousin Danny; Liz & Jim; Debbie & Lincoln & son-in-law Aaron, daughter Ashley, and granddaughter Brielle; Kenny Stratton; Joy & David & Lori;
Sandy Phippen; Betty & her step-daughter Mollie; Debbie & Hollis & Holly and Debbie’s Aunt Linda Reed; Amy Nickerson; Tom & Judy’s son Andrew & family. Prayers of strength and healing for all awaiting diagnoses and for all recovering from surgeries & procedures. Prayers for all that are unsafe, unhoused, hungry & in need of care & compassion. Prayers for the people of our nation and of our world experiencing escalating wars, conflicts, and disasters. Prayers for all individuals and families experiencing addictions; prayers for all caregivers; and prayers for all that is in your heart…
Let’s sign up for Pilgrim Lodge! Registration is open for Family Camp, Labor Day Weekend, Friday through Monday, August 30, – Sept 2. Sign up for all 3 nights or choose a shorter stay. Let Pastor TJ know if you are interested, please.
Handy Woman for Hire!
Personal care; Food preparation and cooking; Shopping;
Gardening; Interior and Exterior Painting
Lori Stratton
BEAN SUPPER!
Franklin United Methodist
Community Church
May 18, 2024
5 to 6:30
Homemade baked beans, hot dogs, mac and cheese, cole slaw, potato salad, rolls and desserts. Eat in or take out. Admission by donation. ALL proceeds go to the fuel fund to help our neighbors in need.
From Our Maine Conference
A Letter from our Conference Minister
Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola
Pentecost in the Maine Conference in the 21st century?
Acts 2:1-21
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Such familiar words that we read and hear each Pentecost: wind and fire that caused them all to speak so they understood one another, and led them to ask “What does this mean?” Indeed, what does it mean when the Spirit fills us so much that we begin to understand one another, maybe even to the depths of our beings?
We often name Pentecost as the “birth of the church of Jesus Christ.” Why is the event called a “birth?” Many things were different after the wind and fire and deep understanding of foreign tongues. Folks began to fellowship in ways they couldn’t have imagined; folks from far and wide. Courage to spread the good news of love and fellowship and sharing and caring for one another replaced the fear that kept the disciples in the upper room; that kept so many apart from one another. Yes, we celebrate on Pentecost. But what about today? What about Pentecost in the 21st century? What re-birth can we experience?
Beloved, in my travels around our conference, visiting churches and speaking with pastors and laity, I have heard much about your lives over the last several years. I have heard good news as churches are beginning to learn that bigger is not better, that any size church can be alive and thrive. I have experienced churches being the mission center of their communities so much so that the greater community wants the church to be alive and thrive. I have experienced and seen moments of Pentecost when the Spirit loosens our tongues so we understand one another, and opens our hearts to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I have been so very grateful when churches reach out to me for guidance and consultation around a myriad of challenges and growing edges in their lives of faith, as they commit themselves to being Christ’s disciples in their corner of the world.
And yet, my heart is burdened. Having been with you a year and a half, I have heard so many voices about the pains of the past that hinder covenant, and the belief that the conference stopped caring awhile ago. I have heard stories of churches giving up on covenant, not only with the conference but with one another, going it alone because they believe it’s the only way they can go. I have heard stories of Pastors leading their churches to stop giving to OCWM because of their feeling that their needs have fallen on deaf ears and the conference doesn’t deserve their money. (And I shudder as I have learned that 43 of our 141 churches give nothing to OCWM).
I have been working hard to turn that tide, to be available, to show that this is a new day and I am a new kind of Conference Minister who is available and responsive, actively working to turn the tide. But, I am just one person. Recently I have been reaching out to Associations and Committees on Ministry, and the Board of Directors to join me to help, so that faith communities can recovenant with the conference and with one another
The bedrock of the United Church of Christ is covenant. At the conference level that is manifest through covenant between churches, covenant of churches with the conference and the conference with churches. The covenant between churches is to be there with one another at Associations meetings and the Conference Annual meeting, upholding one another with prayer and support. The covenant of the conference with each church is to provide all of the support and guidance needed to be all that God has called you to be. The covenant of the churches with the conference is to attend the Annual meeting, serve on Conference committees, and provide financial support, without which the conference will not survive.
I also have heard that folks aren’t sure where their OCWM (Our Church’s Wider Mission, Basic Support) dollars and dues go to support the conference. I am asked “if I give, what do I get in return?” I am happy to share with you, and I hope it helps.
Dues are for associations to run smoothly. The conference part of the dues contributes to the office staff salaries and benefits. OCWM basic support assures that ministries of each and every faith community are supported in tangible ways by judicatory staff (CM and ACM) as well as conference committees. This is a long list, but not exhaustive: Just some examples include:
• Search and call for small and large churches
• Consultation for churches that need support: leadership struggles, bylaws and
governance challenges, financial challenges
• Education for pastors and laity, boundary awareness for pastors and laity,
• Ministerial support and guidance, consultation to Committees on Ministry for
ministerial authorization and excellence; coordination of communities of practice
and interim ministers’ support group;
• Social justice endeavors, outreach ministry beyond our conference such as Honduras.
Dear Beloved, thank you for reading this longer than usual letter. I hope it has been helpful as we look to celebrate Pentecost one more year. I am open to anyone who wishes to have a conversation. I deeply pray every day for each faith community, each minister, each lay person, each musician, so that one day we can know our own Pentecost, our re-birth where the Spirit will fill us with wind and fire and our language will be soothing and inviting to each one of us; when hurts will be healed and covenants will be renewed. It may take a couple of years, but I believe in my heart of hearts that the Spirit is longing to fill us afresh and anew just as at the birth of the original church. I pray that we can covenant together— one conference, unified and diverse—filled with the Spirit of Pentecost.
I am your servant; your partner in the unending love of our God,
Marisa
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