Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for May 31, 2026 

Within the dance of Trinity before all worlds begun

We sing the praises of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son

Let voices rise and interweave, by love and hope set free,

To shape in song this joy, this life: the dance of Trinity.

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

We welcome our Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola to our pulpit this Sunday morning. A great morning to be in the pews or online and then stay for Fellowship Time and conversation!

Sunday, June 14 our Sabbatical Minister, Hannah Mondrach will join us. Please plan to stay after church for Coffee Time. We will all have a chance to say hello to Hannah in the Fellowship Hall and start to get to know one another. Her first official Sunday with us is July 5^th!

The Meditation Group meets Friday mornings, at 9:00am in the Fellowship Hall. Reach out to Pastor TJ or Alison Boden with any questions. All are welcome!

(revtjmack@gmail.com, 207-323-6743 or aboden3321@gmail.com, 609-865-3236)

Our meetings are open to all. Please let Vicky know if you want the link to attend via ZOOM. Upcoming April meetings:

Christian Ed will meet Friday, June 5 at 12 noon.

Deacons will meet Friday, June 12 at 4:30 pm.

Outreach will meet Thursday, June 18 at 4:30 pm.

Trustees will meet Wednesday, June 24 at 11 am.

Council will meet Friday, June 26 at 11 am.

Your Returnable Bottles and Cans Provide Easy Help for Hungry Students -

Although the school year is coming to an end, the Backpack Food Program at the Hancock Grammar School will continue to provide assistance to food insecure families throughout the summer and into the coming school year. Please continue to save your cans and bottles so we can continue this easy support of this critical food assistance program. Call David Wildes (422-3739) if you would like a bottle pickup or just bring them to the church whenever you can. A few 5 cent and 15 cent cans and bottles can add up to a significant donation to support this very worthy cause. Thank you for your participation.

2026 Graduates

Eamon James Tansey – son of Jamie and Gina Tansey, grandson of Sally Knapp, will graduate from North Yarmouth Academy. Eamon will attend Bentley University in the fall majoring in Finance.

Sophia Kane, daughter of Jackie Kane, granddaughter of Bobby and Lori Kane, will graduate

from the Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus.

Brielle Johnson, daughter of Aaron and Ashley Johnson, granddaughter of Lincoln and Debbie Ehrlenbach, will graduate from Hancock Grammar School.

Mersedes Kane, daughter of Jackie Kane, granddaughter of Bobby and Lori Kane, will graduate from Hancock Grammar School.

Mackenzie Lounder, daughter of Harry Lounder III and Sarah Lounder, granddaughter of Annabelle Lounder, will graduate from Hancock Grammar School.

There are currently six of us signed up for our retreat to Pilgrim Lodge for Lighten Up Loosen

Up (LULU)

camp for adults, June 17-20. Join us!

Register on the Pilgrim Lodge website or ask

Vicky or TJ for more information.

On Friday, June 5, at 7:00 pm the Historical Society and Hancock Women’s Club will present a program about the two cabarets held in the 70’s and 80’s. A film of the later group will be shown. Participants from both cabarets will be present. Myrna Coffin will lead the panel discussion. You do not want to miss this!

Hancock Grammar School Mitten Tree

The mitten tree project is still going strong after 40 years. Sue Croteau is its longtime coordinator. Thank you, Sue. Each student in grades K-3 as well as Life Skills students get to choose a pair of mittens from the tree. Each year approximately 125 pairs are given. It's never too early to start knitting for this project. Any pattern is acceptable. Sue has patterns for those who need them. She or Linda Cunningham will  teach whoever wants to learn to knit. Kathy McGlinchey and Linda Cunningham have some extra yarn if anyone needs any. There will be a collection box in Fellowship Hall for completed mittens. Please label with your name so we can thank you.

June Birthdays

02: David Wildes       05: Debbie Riley           07: George Connor     

08: Doug Kimmel       09: Brad Bamford         10: Catherine Genn   

12: Eleanor Ritchie       13: Bob Schmid         14: Clancy King        

15: Roslynne Lowry   17: Ginny Shaw Coleman   17: David Mack   

19: Ron Schwizer      19*Sandy* Phippen      21: Herbie Lounder

25: Kenny Houghton           26: Pat Shannon

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

Prayers for all God’s creation, that peace may prevail here and around the world. Our prayers remain with Aaron & Ashley, Lincoln & Debbie, Alex & Savannah, Andrew & Tamara, Tyler Crabtree and all of their families. We pray for all those who live and work at Golden Acres. Prayers for BJ and the Raymonds, and for Bobby, recovering from a stroke. Prayers for Tracey Arsenault and Joe MacKay as they both await test results. We pray for all those who are saddled with grief, ancient or new; and for Charlotte and others struggling with depression. We pray for Sonny & Gerry; Sarina’s dad James, Scott; Dean; David; Don; Dexter B.; Cynthia W.; Judith C.; Hollis & Debbie; Ira & Ginny; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Kirk; Ruth & Peter; Patrice’s step-sister Patricia; Herbie Lounder; Sandy Phippen; David Mack; Sue Davies; Sue Davenport; and James B. Prayers for all in Hospice Care and for all caregivers. Prayers for all that are unsafe, unhoused, hungry & in need of care & compassion. Prayers for individuals and families affected by addictions. Prayers for those who are experiencing family conflict; and prayers for all that is in your heart…

MESOM Celebrates the Year…

By Looking 50 Years Into the Future

Rev. Dr. Malcolm Himschoot, Maine School of Ministry, Dean

This past academic year for the Maine School of Ministry saw high interest in our classes and perceptive, passionate participation by lifelong learners. Since one goal of the school is to contribute to leadership development through theological education for the life of the church, we continued to offer courses that students can take to reach a certificate (or more than one) in Christian Studies and Leadership. Many use this certificate in Maine alongside place-based livelihood as they serve and equip UCC congregations for rural and remote ministry. This past year our curriculum covered courses in Bible, Preaching, Pastoral Care, Church History and Christian Ethics. Specifically, MESOM offered or co-offered Hebrew Bible Psalms, Wisdom Literature, and Prophets; Preaching as Prayerful Communication; Intergenerational Spiritual Care and Nurture; and a Wabanaki-aligned educational workshop and course in Organizing for Relationships and Repair.

It was a fantastic year. Looking back at it, within the spirit of springtime commencement speech nostalgia, I might wax eloquent about achievements this year represents. At the same time, the whole point of education is to grow something forward. In West African mythology, the Sankofa bird is one who flies ahead while its head is turned back, taking forward from the past all that matters for the present. How fascinating that this spring, some of our alumni who are now United Church of Christ authorized ministers were able to attend a recent Maine Conference retreat focused on the future! Mid-May colleagues met together to imagine what the world looks like 50 years hence. Based on trends, horizon-scanning, forecasted collapse, and “troubling the assumptions of the present,” we lost a bit of sleep. But the next day we were called back together to play with our own dreams and visions, values and desires. Together we fashioned an imagination for the year 2076 that shapes and strengthens our commitments in the present.

Intergenerational community-building among real human beings was a core feature of spirituality in that future we desired, past disasters and cataclysms. Scripture and sacred stories inspired true edification – honest, open, deep – and gathering for worship meant paying attention to all our non-human kindred. Places to heal from violence, sing lots of kinds of music, share resources, and meet hunger – where things that might be lost could get found again. Prayer and sacrament and the words of Jesus, along with science fiction characters in the shape of Christ’s living, showed up in the little Lego and Play Doh zones that we were creating. Interfaith realities too, as we summoned up what mattered to us, even beyond all disasters and cataclysms, beyond death itself. The purpose of gathering was in part to be sent out for discipleship in the world, living out what has been practiced of God’s love and care. We imagined some of the rituals and some of the faith spaces to be portable, and leadership to be diverse across many places.

Apocalyptically speaking, how well do MESOM’s recent courses play out in that crucial holy calling in the future?

Reaching back to the lore of ancient scrolls of wisdom and prophecy has never been more relevant, thank you Hebrew Bible instructor Dr. David Cleaver-Bartholomew. (Not least among those prophets is Joel, whose future-casting showed up in last Sunday’s disruptive and eschatological Pentecost story from Acts 2!) And thank you Dr. AbbyLynn Haskell, whose narrative understanding and invitational approach to Preaching means we – all of us – can participate in sacred imagination shaped by scripture. The fact that more rather than fewer of us are becoming steeped in these texts and in interpretive tradition indicates no shortage of meaning-makers in the future, whether it be time for collective gladness or for grief. Both are occasioned throughout individual lives, as Rev. Debbie Gline Allen’s course in Pastoral Care disclosed, with gifts of the Holy provided for the whole life-cycle – especially in community, in exchange with other humans to adapt to and promote new belonging. Relatedly, where there is injustice, to which History attests, the Spirit moves toward wholeness. Thank you Rev. Chrissy Cataldo and Wabanaki REACH for holding space for examining in our era reckoning with colonialism through moments of truth, healing, and change.

MESOM’s love of learning serves well in the present, but not only in the present. Essential building-blocks of theological education in the life of the church will be generative components of the age to come. May we have what we need to proceed with boldness and resilience, joy and gratitude.