Pastor Letter 
Rev. Rob Mark, Pastor
The church takes to the road!
It was such a joy for a large group of our congregation to take worship on the road on Sunday, May 26, 2019, as we went up to Concord, New Hampshire to worship with our dear Elsa and Reine Abele.
Since Elsa's diagnosis with brain cancer in August, 2018, the Abeles have not been able to take their usual 1 hour 15 minute weekly pilgrimage to Boston to join us in worship. And we have missed them tremendously. It was so gracious of them to host us in their wonderful home setting at Havenwood Heritage Heights continuing care retirement community. In traveling together on the charted bus to be with them, we sent the messages that every member of our community is an essential part of who we are. When one part of our body suffers, we all do. When one part of our body is joyous, we all are (1 Corinthians 12:26).
And in pilgrimaging together to New Hampshire, in body or in spirit and prayers, we all conveyed the point that our church is more than location. We are the body of Christ wherever we are when we show compassion, when we strive to embody justice and love in the light of Jesus. It was a powerful witness to the wider Havenwood community, the Abele's children, Elsa and Reine, and all of us that love is worth the extra effort and going the extra mile.
This month, may each of us in our own way, go the extra mile with others who need some love - remembering that every part of the body is precious. And in so doing, may we be the body of Christ as light in all places.
Coming summer blessings to you all,
Rob
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Building Committee News
by Lucy Williams
We are delighted to announce that we have received funding to restore the Cornelius and the Angel Window, between the Madonna window and the St. Augustine window on the Newbury Street side of the sanctuary. This window has holes in it and was destined to fall out if we did not do something quickly. We received $63,000 from the Amelia Peabody Foundation that adds to the $40,000 that we received from the Henderson Foundation at the end of last year.
The window will be removed in the summer and plywood will be inserted where the window has been. It will take almost a year for the restoration to be completed.
The Building Committee would like to tell you a bit about the process we went through to get to this good news.
The Building Committee works from master plans developed in 2009 both for the building as a whole and for our Tiffany windows.
In case you think otherwise, the work of the Building Committee often is based on high wire juggling and prayers, and the prayers are not always answered in the affirmative. We put in many grants that are rejected. We continue to persevere and sometimes we are able to give you great news.
In this case, we received a $40,000 grant from the Henderson Foundation at the end of last year toward the total cost of $135,500 to restore this window. We did not announce that to the Congregation then because we did not know how we would be able to fund the rest of the project. We looked at the Amelia Peabody Foundation, knowing that they only fund a project when over half of the money had been raised-in other words, they want to "finish" a project. So we put together a package with two internal church donors who pledged $22,250, a small Tiffany window account that people had given to over the years, and a donation from the Covenant Boston Preservation Project (our parallel 501(c)(3) organization). Then, and only then, did the Peabody Foundation give us the $63,000 and that meant we had the full amount to restore this window. Great News!!
Special thanks to Betsy Groves and Charlene James for work on both grants, and to Phyllis Galt for working on the Henderson Grant.
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In This Issue
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Moment for Mission:
Pentecost Offering June 9
By Caitlin Vest
On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate God's gift of the holy spirit. COTC will be collecting a special offering on June 9th on behalf of our two denominations to demonstrate the holy spirit's power to transform the world and each of us.
The Strengthening the Church offering supports the growth of the UCC church by investing in new ministries as well as youth and young adults.
The PCUSA Pentecost offering is used to invest in young people through programs like Young Adult Volunteers and providing aid to at-risk children.
Please consider investing in the future of our two denominations by giving to the Pentecost offering.
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In This Issue
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Parking Discounts
Tickets for two kinds of parking discounts are available on Sundays for
Back Bay Garage, with vehicle entrances at 113 St. James Avenue and 199 Clarendon Street. When returning to your vehicle, enter at 500 Boylston Street and take the elevator.
Ask an usher for a ticket as you enter the sanctuary. The yellow tickets are usually displayed on the small table by the Narthex entry before and during the service..
The
yellow ticket is issued only to Back Bay churches and gives up to three hours parking for $5 on Sundays. The
green ticket gives up to 11 hours parking for $10 on Mondays- Fridays
after 5 pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays. (Both tickets are white on the bar code side, where the hours are printed.)
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News from the Pews 
Compiled by Linda Pursley
Nancy Ammerman traveled to Notre Dame University in late April to receive the Andrew M. Greeley Lifetime Achievement Award in the Sociology of Religion. The award is named for a famed priest/novelist/sociologist and is presented in conjunction with the Center for the Study of Religion and Society's Younger Scholars Conference. She gave a plenary address and was "roasted" by colleagues, but mostly she enjoyed seeing how the study of religion is flourishing among the younger scholars.
Nancy with award presenter Prof. Kraig Beyerlein
Appreciation and congratulations to all performers and organizers at Covenant's Cabaret. The opening act was offered by the
Mark-Evans Family Singers, shown below.
News Updates
Donald Denniston shared the following update: "
I will be having knee surgery (right knee) on June 21 at New England Baptist. Plan to be home on the 24th. Will be on medical leave from BU until August 23, but expect to be back to work much sooner than that. I am a very FAST healer!! A brief visit on the Vineyard the last week of August."
Wendy Woodfield's granddaughter, Avery Woodfield (age 3) of Alameda, California, gave her Gam-Gam (Wendy) four running torpedo hugs at the end of Wendy's recent vacation trip to visit.
Covenant Diaspora
Mocky Day and Kay Olm visited Mount Auburn Cemetery for a farewell visit before Kay moved to Oregon in May and now joins the Covenant Diaspora. They bumped into Bob Sparling, active at Covenant from the mid 1970s to mid '80s, who volunteers in the cemetery visitor center, and took the photo below. The other photo, taken on a church outing to Crane's Beach the Summer of 1977 or '78, shows Bob as some may remember him, with Covenant members (L to R) Evelyn Kimber, Bob Sparling, former Covenant Administrator Irma Wagner (now deceased) and former Covenant Organist David Schermer (now deceased), with a choir member, Catherine.
Bob Sparling, Mocky Day, Kay Olm at Mt. Auburn Cemetery
Evelyn Kimber, Bob Sparling, Irma Wagner, David Schermer, Catherine
on church outing to Crane's Beach,
vintage photo
Bob Sparling sends along an update on his life, with references to memories of Covenant people and Covenant happenings from the 1970s. While walking Mount Auburn Cemetery, he has
found the resting places of former Covenant staff members and choir directors Larry Hill and Martin Mullvain. To read it,
click here.
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News from VIP in Malawi
By Trudi Veldman
Church of the Covenant recently made a commitment to be a partner church to Villages in Partnership (VIP). Liz Heinzel-Nelson, VIP's executive director, who preached at Covenant in February, expressed her delight with Covenant's commitment.
People in Malawi were hard-hit by the cyclone and heavy rains in March. Some houses literally melted away as they are built with mud bricks. There are no government resources to respond to disasters and people just have to cope.
This man and his pregnant wife were sleeping when their house collapsed.
VIP works closely with village leadership teams to assess their highest priorities. Access to water is often at the top of the list. Last weekend, VIP held it's annual Water Walk, a fundraising event that netted $73,000. VIP's goal this year is to drill 10 wells in the remote villages of Malawi in addition to 2 wells for nearby schools.
VIP is hosting two medical trips this year. The first team of 19, which traveled in March, was composed of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, medical students, and a support team. Together, they paired with Malawian medics and VIP's Malawi staff serving 4,389 patients in just three days.
VIP is also hosting "Friendship Trips" in July and August. These trips provide an opportunity to meet and work alongside the Malawian villagers and learn about VIP's work. Speak to Trudi Veldman if you are interested in learning more.
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Environmental Action
By Barbara Darling for Consumption & Justice
In May, Wendy Woodfield and I both, along with many other concerned folks from Mothers Out Front and the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor, attended a hearing at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to show our opposition to the gas compressor station proposed for North Weymouth. Then the Environmental Ministries Task Team of the UCC Mass. Conference [click here for website with Barbara's photo!] recently came out with this statement opposing the proposed compressor station:
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Who We Are:
Rooted in the grace of God, the mission of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ is to nurture local church vitality and the covenant among our churches to make God's love and justice real.
As the largest Protestant denomination in Massachusetts (370 churches and 70,000 members), we are also the Commonwealth's oldest denomination, with roots going back to the Puritans and Pilgrims.
Our Calling: In 2017 the UCC General Synod representing
5,100 churches and 1.1 million members passed a
Resolution of Witness
that declares
THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S - NOT OURS TO WRECK
Furthermore, for more than thirty years the UCC has worked and advocated for environmental justice.
To be true to this calling the MACUCC Environmental Ministries seeks to protect God's Creation through education, advocacy and direct action.
Our Statement:
We strongly oppose the siting of Enbridge'sproposed compressor station in the Fore River Basin. That location is already overburdened by industrial pollution. Two adjacent communities, Quincy Point and Germantown, have been designated Environmental Justice Communities which should be protected from further pollutants. Also, the 2002 Environmental Justice Policy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts calls upon our state agencies to "preserve and protect the natural resources of the Commonwealth, community-by-community, watershed-by-watershed." And it mandates that "all communities must have a strong voice in environmental decision making." Siting at this location also violates Title VI of the Civil Rights.
We oppose this compressor station due to concerns about health impacts on the surrounding communities, particularly since this is such a densely populated location; and also because of our calling to protect God's Creation. We also fear the devastating results to humans and nature if there were to be a catastrophic accident, as has happened in other cases.
For all these reasons we call upon Governor Baker and the Department of Environmental Protection to fulfill their mission to protect a healthy environment for all Massachusetts residents, to revoke the Air Quality permit, and to deny further permits to Enbridge's compressor station proposed for the Fore River Basin.
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Under the Mango Tree 
by Tim Groves
Note: This column will be a monthly sharing of stories from our sister church community, Dulce Nombre de Jesus, in northwest Nicaragua.
Under the Mango Tree will return next month!
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Council Report
By Trudi Veldman for Council
May Meeting Report
Council members
met with Tom Reid who is approaching his annual review with the Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) scheduled for June 11. Council reviewed, discussed and endorsed Tom's application to become a Candidate. Council appointed Nancy Hollomon as Liaison for Tom in his process and requested that she draft a letter explaining the rationale for the Council's action in light of Tom's "suitability for ordered ministry."
Council took care of the following business:
- Based on a recommendation from the Presbytery's COM to change our Interim Associate Pastor position to a Transitional Associate Pastor position and limit the job description to two pages, Council approved the revised position description for a Transitional Associate Pastor.
- Received a request from Joe and Meghan Celli for the baptism of their daughter Elena Celli. Council fully supports the baptism and if possible would like to meet with the parents prior to the baptism on June 23.
Received a report from CBPP that we received a $63,000 grant from the Peabody Foundation, which will be used towards window restoration.
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3
EJ Huston, Christine Reinders
5
Shelly Rambo, Betsy McAlister Groves
17
Calvin Sutcliffe
24
Ed James
25
Kathy Bull
27
Enid Watson, Simone DeVito
30
Alicia Bull
Note: If your June birthday does not appear on this list, please notify Hillary in the church office so we can include you next year!
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June  2019
Calendar
most up-to-date church calendar.
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About This Issue
June 2019 Covenant News
Editor and Graphics: Evelyn Kimber
Template: Harry Forsdick
Deadline for the July 2019 Covenant News is Monday, June 24. Please email your submissions to Evelyn Kimber at
[email protected]
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