Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for September 28, 2025

O God, your creatures fill the earth with wonder and delight,

And every living thing has worth and beauty in your sight.

So playful dolphins dance and swim; Your sheep bow down and graze.

Your songbirds share a morning hymn To offer you their praise.

You made the pets we welcome in--They're wondrous blessings, too.

With paws and whiskers, wings and fins, They offer praise to you.

O Lord, you call us to embrace These creatures in our care.

May we show kindness, love and grace To all pets everywhere.

You made the creatures on each farm; You know the things they need.

May they grow healthy, safe from harm, And safe from human greed.

Just as a shepherd loves the sheep, You know their joy, their pain.

Lord, bless the animals we keep; May all farms be humane.

Your creatures live in every land; They fill the sky and sea.

O Lord, you give us your command To love them tenderly.

We're called to have dominion here--To care for them always.

By loving creatures you hold dear, We offer you our praise.

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!

During the month of September we will be receiving the Our Church’s Wider Mission collection. OCWM provides funding from congregations for conferences and the national ministries of the United Church of Christ (Wider church Ministries, Local Church Ministries, Justice and Witness Ministries, General Ministries and Pension Boards). Envelopes are available at the back of the Sanctuary. This is one of the 5 for 5 offerings supported by the Maine Conference.

The Minister’s Discretionary Fund helps people in need whether members of our church family or people in our communities. It is a minimal church budget item, supported mainly by donations made to this specific fund. If you would like to donate, envelopes are available at the back of the Sanctuary, or notate your desired donation on your check. Thank you!

Community Blessing of the Animals

10am Service – Sunday – Sept. 28

Hancock Town Monument Lot

Corner of US Route 1 & Point Rd.

In the spirit of Saint Francis

Hosted by the Union Congregational Church of Hancock

All types of pets are welcome!

Children invited to participate.

Outdoor Service.  Dress for the weather. Bring your chair.

In case of rain, service will be at the church.

If your pet does not play well with others, you may use a carrier or bring a picture.

For more info: 207-422-3100

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

Our prayers remain with Alex & Savannah and Andrew & Tamara; and Tyler Crabtree and his family. We pray for David M,; Brian; Kenny V.; James B.; Marie; and Jane of Golden Acres. Prayers for Dexter B.; Cynthia W.; Judith C.; Eleanor A.; the Raymonds; Hollis & Debbie; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Sally’s friend, Sue Barger; Patrice’s step-sister Patricia; 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; those who are grieving loss or change or experiencing family conflict; and prayers for all that is in your heart…

September 30: Rachel Umphrey

October Birthdays

01: Gina Tansey           02: Sue Bonner           03: Everett Espling    

05: Brandy Brooks          06: Judi Crowley         07: Jaimie Wood Harrell      

08: Richard Lewis      

 St Andrew Lutheran Church               

September 26:

Public Supper   5-7 pm

175 DownEast Hwy, Ellsworth

– Beans, Hotdogs, Rolls and Desserts–

Donations Graciously Accepted

Proceeds to benefit:

Filter of Hope & Thrive Ministries

Mission Trip Team

https://filterofhope.org/             https://experiencethrive.org/thrive-maine-home/

The Sunrise Association annual Fall meeting will be held on

October 4th, at 9:00 a.m.

At the First Congregational Church in Cherryfield.

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC - TRINITARIAN CONGREGATIONAL PARISH OF CASTINE

The Trinitarian Congregational Parish of Castine is seeking a Director of Music to provide service music and direct our church choir.  Our sanctuary has a Steinway grand piano and a Rodgers model 805B classic organ; we would welcome applications from organists, pianists, and musicians comfortable on both instruments. Our church choir is small, but enthusiastic, and our community is home to a number of gifted musicians who regularly provide special music.  Compensation is $300 per week, plus $300 for additional special services (e.g., Christmas Eve, Holy Week). A full position description can be found here.  Start date is negotiable, but we are hoping to have a new person in place no later than November 30. To apply, email a cover letter, resume, and names/contact information for three references to our Church Administrator, Debbie Morehouse, at debbie@tcpoc.org.  For more information about the position, please contact the search committee chair, Kristi Carter, at kpratt.la@gmail.com. To learn more about our church and our music ministry, please visit our website at www.tcpoc.org.

Official Call of the 2025 Annual Meeting

 of the Maine Conference

of the United Church of Christ 

The 94th Annual Meeting of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ (successor to the Congregational Christian Conference of Maine); it being the 114th Anniversary of the Congregational Conference and Missionary Society of Maine; the 200th Anniversary of the State Conference, the 215th Anniversary of the Maine Missionary Society, the 193rd Anniversary of the Maine Congregational Ministerial Relief Society, and the 55th Anniversary of the Maine Conference as a Conference of the United Church of Christ), will:

Convene in person at Pilgrim Lodge and via Zoom at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, October 18, 2025.

Connection details to be provided pending registration.

Items to be voted on at this year’s meeting will be:

  Proposed 2026 Conference Budget

  Slate of Officers Elect and Committee Appointments

  2026 Clergy Compensation Guidelines

  Proposed changes to the Bylaws

Susan E. Burgess, Conference Clerk

Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ   

If you would like to join this in-gathering called Annual Meeting learn more and register here. If you would like to stay the night at Pilgrim Lodge, you can sign up here.

From Our Maine Conference

Words of Truth and Life

Rev Dr. Malcolm Himschoot, MESOM Dean

Sometimes pastors are called to public theology as well as pastoral theology. I recently wrote a memoir about my father’s life and death, part eulogy, part memoir, and part manifesto: Reading Secrets – A Queer Inheritance of Life and Scripture. Says reader Scotty Hargrove: “This book is the best integration of biblical understanding and personal experience that I have read. I wish I had read it years ago.”

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I have a confession to make. White nationalist ideology recruited my father. This was a few decades ago. I grew up with the toxic aspects of supremacist theology, purity culture, gender violence, and homophobia, that my fundamentalist Christian father passed on to me. I do not know how I survived, but paradoxically I know my journey toward Love had something to do with Jesus. My ongoing spiritual journey exposed a struggle between me and my father. As it turned out, those aspects of harm he bought into didn’t just affect other people – they also killed him.

If my father were alive as a young man in America today, and I could speak to him as the person I am now, I would warn him. Beware recruitment messages that appeal to narrow pride amidst prevalent scorn – a superiority/inferiority dynamic different from self-respect. Beware anti-immigrant and anti-indigenous agendas; whatever you let them do to others is what they will be capable of doing to you. Beware a focus on street crime instead of elite crime, masking crimes against humanity. Beware threats and intimidation that conflate masculinity with authoritarianism. Beware violating others’ sacred boundaries, in relationships and in public. Beware genderpolicing, and gay-bashing, and the targeting of trans people; beware “protecting” women more than keeping men accountable.

I would tell my devout and faithful dad: Beware theocracy, because it has nothing to do with the Beatitudes. The goals of white nationalism will profit only a few predatory people. Their goal is not discipleship, and it is not church; it is colonialism for a new century.

He might not believe me. A new white nationalist agenda has recruited large parts of US Christianity, by promoting a crass and fragile brotherhood. It tells people a certain political ideology comes from God, and all who bow down will receive their reward in this life. But this is a false promise, a deception.

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One of the things that keeps me up at night is the ideology of white nationalism, and the way it recruits people by deceiving them. It recruits men by promising to make them powerful – but really it takes something from them. The White House, having formed a new federal militarized police force, is currently paying the Proud Boys big money to enlist in ICE. So maybe we think (and they think) they are profiting from their paramilitary employment. However, this manipulation of men to gain a paycheck by severing other people’s families goes deep! It causes a kind of moral injury that interferes with their future and gets in the way of their children’s future.

In the United Church of Christ, although my father never heard about it, a prophetic reformation has been unfolding for centuries. We strive to read the Bible toward theological confession away from any patriarchal, racially defined exclusion. We reject white supremacy and gender suppression, in favor of practicing a living and mutual faith. We have church meetings where Hawaiian descendants and Dakota descendants and descendants of Caribbean missions now put faithful language to Christ’s church: for decolonizing, for repair.

Our church has as many female ministers as male ministers, and a growing number who repeat the catechism of Galatians 3:28: “There is no male or female, slave or free.”

This may be a clarifying time, a historic time. I believe the presence of Jesus makes a difference at the cross and at the table, at the font and in the tomb. I believe Jesus is no mere artifact of our tradition, but the very one whose body absorbs trauma and still breathes a word of “Peace.” May the words we speak in his name be words of truth and life.