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The bi-weekly newsletter of Barrington Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.
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Our church website is working again!
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We’re happy to report that the church website is up and running again, so our Sunday worship services can be watched either
from the website
or on
Facebook
(click on the 'posts' or 'videos' link). The website also provides access to both current and archived newsletters, announcements, pastors’ blogs and more. Find it all at
www.bccucc.org
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Make sure you see ALL of this newsletter
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Some platforms (including gmail) will only show some of this email and then provide a small link to click at the cut-off point to see the remainder. So you don't miss anything and will know that you've seen everything there is to see, the words
THE END!
in green letters are at the very end.
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Church Office is CLOSED until further notice.
There are still no in-person worship services, meetings or activities at church until further notice and both building remain closed, so please do not enter.
Some things are happening virtually as listed below:
Fri, Jul 31
Linda on call for pastoral emergencies
Sun, Aug 2
Tues, Aug 4
11 am Staff meeting via Zoom
7 pm Knitting Group meets via Zoom
Thurs, Aug 6
1 pm Moving Forward team meets via Zoom
Fri, Aug 7
Dale on call for pastoral emergencies
Sun, Aug 9
Tues, Aug 11
9:30 am Staff Calendar Planning Day
Wed, Aug 12
Deadline for the next eBridge
Fri, Aug 14
Linda on call for pastoral emergencies
Sun, Aug 16
10:30 am CEYM meeting via Zoom
Please note that with so many uncertainties as to what the future holds, the calendar is probably only accurate for events happening soon.
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Sundays, August 2nd & 9th
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Please note that during the summer, we are not preparing a bulletin or hymn sheet each week for the service. Instead, all of the information needed for worship will be shown on the screen during the service.
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We will be celebrating virtual communion again
this Sunday, August 2nd
– as is our tradition on the first Sunday of every month. We invite everyone who wishes to participate to have elements prepared ahead of time for you to join in this celebration. If you have bread and juice (or even wine) feel free to use it. However, we invite you to participate with whatever elements you have on hand. Christ is present and will not be denied if you do not have the “proper” elements. God understands and joins us however invited, if invited with an open and loving heart.
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A new sermon series begins on the Gospels!
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Thank you Linda, who just completed a wonderful sermon series on Abraham.
As we continue to move through our summer worship schedule Dale will be starting another sermon series this Sunday. We’ll be jumping from the Old Testament to the New as Dale will embark on a four week series on The Gospels. Each week Dale will discuss what makes that Gospel unique, who wrote it, and what specifically it might have to say to us.
This Sunday, August 2nd
we will focus on the
Gospel of Mark
, with Matthew, Luke, and John to follow on successive weeks. Please join us online at
9:30 am
on Sundays (or check out the later recordings if you miss it)!
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On Sunday, August 2nd
b
oth arrangements are given by Susan and Stephen Terhune in memory of Susan’s parents, Maurice and Sally Smith.
On Sunday, August 9th
both
arrangements are given by Pat Stoddard and family in loving memory of her father, Laurent N. Dion (MIA Vietnam 8-17-1967).
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Birthdays being celebrated
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In the week of August 2nd:
Henning Brieger, Andrea Bullard, Joshua Glass, Reed Bullard, and Violet Milliken.
In the week of August 9th:
Flo Fairfield, Nick McGarry, Ava Bowman, Annie Priolo, and Helen Ridondo.
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Amy Barkat (star deacon), Steve Fodor, Joe Judge, Pat Stoddard, Carol Strakosch, Jane Tonn, Nancy Arena, and Lory McCoy. In a pastoral emergency if you cannot reach either of our ministers, please reach out to one of our deacons.
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Please send prayer requests to Dale for August
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Deadline for submitting prayers to be included in worship is
8 am Sunday morning.
You can leave a message on the church’s answering machine (401) 246-0111. With Linda taking some time off in August
(see below)
, emailed prayer requests should be
sent to Dale
at
dale@bcucc.org
Please be sure that the person you are lifting up is comfortable with them reading your prayer to the whole community, and consider using first names only
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Linda will be taking vacation
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Our associate minister, the Rev. Linda Hartley will be on vacation from
Monday, August 3rd – Sunday, August 9th
and again from
Monday, August 17th – Sunday, August 23rd
.
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Ecclesiastical Council for Gabrielle Sclafani
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Please keep Gabi in your prayers as she has her Ecclesiastical Council on
Sunday, August 9th
via Zoom. Gabi grew up in our church, and BCCUCC has sponsored and supported her through seminary and during her continued journey toward ordination.
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When will in-person worship return?
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A report from the Moving Forward Team and Church Council about worshiping in-person
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In mid-July the Moving Forward Team presented a proposal to the Church Council which provided an opportunity for BCCUCC to try returning to in-person worship sometime in August. This proposal explained the requirements necessary for the church to provide a safe environment for our members and meet all current state guidelines. The Council met and discussed this proposal at length. However, in the end, the Church Council decided that opening for outdoor services was not the right thing to do at this time. There were several factors that led to this determination although oversight, compliance, and costs were the three major reasons. There would need to be significant investment of time, energy, and resources to prepare and maintain a space that met safety standards for what could potentially only be a few weeks of use. Providing portable toilets, masks, and hand sanitizer added to the complications. The high quality of our online services was also relevant to the decision. While we would continue to stream our outdoor services for those at home, the engagement, participation, and quality would be significantly diminished. In the end, the Council decided that August is not the right time to make this transition. The Moving Forward Team will continue to meet and remain in conversation with the Council about our options as me move closer toward the fall.
Signed,
Dale Azevedo
(Sr. Minister),
Linda Hartley
(Assoc Minister), and
Tom Strolla
(Moderator).
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As online worship continues we have a couple of requests
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Do you know someone in our church who is unable to watch our online worship services, but would like to?
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If so, please forward their names to the church office
office@bccucc.org
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We will then put them in touch with a friendly Tech-Support member of the church who will talk with them and see if there is a way we could help get them get connected. If you yourself are having problems watching the worship service, and would like some help, please let us know and we'll do our best to help.
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Upgrading? Donate your old iPad!
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The church would be glad to repurpose your old iPad for someone who’d like to be more active in our church-online community but may not have the equipment they need. Contact the office
office@bccucc.org
to arrange a donation. Thank you.
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Calendar information please
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Information needed for the 2020-2021 church year
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The staff is busy planning the 2020-2021 church year even though we don’t know when we'll be able to safely gather again in person. As we’ve already found out, many things can happen virtually and will continue to do so for as long as is necessary to stay safe (worship services, team meetings, interest groups etc). The staff has already decided that the key word for the upcoming church year will be “flexibilty” since the future is so uncertain – and with that in mind we will make plans for the 2020-2021 church year.
As in the past,
we’d like input from the ministry team and group leaders – and others
– who have information about their meetings, activities or events that they’d like included on the calendar. We will put together a calendar knowing that changes will be made as the year progresses – depending on when in person gatherings are once again safe to happen.
Please submit information to Christine at
office@bccucc.org
by Wednesday, August 5th or as soon as possible thereafter.
The staff are having their annual planning day on August 11th. Sorry for the short notice. Thank you.
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The
White Church Garden
has been producing fresh vegetables for TAP-IN for several years now. The garden is located at the far end of the CE building (outside the kitchen and behind the church library). It was originally built and planted by Brendan and the youth group, but in recent years has been loving planted and tended by Amanda Colby. She will be off to college soon, so the garden is in need of a few volunteers to help finish out the year. If you're interested in helping to water or harvest the garden, please email Amanda at
alcartist42@gmail.com
.
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What's happening at BCCUCC?
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A message from Andrea - our Christian Education Coordinator - who's been busy delivering goodie bags to our church school children
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“At the beginning of June, I started dropping of
goodie bags
to all of the kiddos who were registered for the 2019 – 2020 Church School year. As of today, I have delivered 43 bags to a total of 25 families. These bags contained a variety of things: God’s eye kits, Play-Doh, stickers, leis, key chains, crayons, markers, and more. I basically cleaned out the C. E. closet! I hope everyone found them fun! I hope I haven’t overlooked anyone, but if I did let me know and I’ll put a bag together. One of the other projects that I’m working on is collecting painted rocks to be placed around the Peace Pole when we plant it in the fall.
(see below.)
I am missing seeing everyone and am looking to when we will all be together again.
Peace, Andrea”
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Have you painted any rocks yet? There's a new place to leave them!
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As has been previously announced we are going to be ‘planting’ a Peace Pole on the church property this summer. As part of the reveal in the Fall, we want to have painted rocks around its base. Andrea has asked young and old alike to
please paint rocks
over the summer with sayings, pictures, slogans, etc. The original idea was that you walk the labyrinth with your painted rocks then leave them in the center for Andrea to collect from there. Because of concerns that the landscaper will run their mower over them, Andrea is now asking that you leave your painted rocks in a specially labeled container that will be on the patio behind Fellowship Hall. That way no painted rock will get damaged – and nor will any mowers! A number of rocks are needed so everyone is encouraged to get creative and paint as many rocks as they’d like. Many thanks to those who have already painted some. If you have any questions or need ideas, please contact Andrea at
andrea@bccucc.org
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Editor's note: If you type 'painted rocks' into Google Images you'll find lots of pictures of painted rocks to give you some ideas. Or
click on this link
f
or some helpful advice.
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Knitting for Others group
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No longer able to get together in person, this group of knitters has been meeting virtually each month. Their next get-together is scheduled for
Tuesday, August 4th
at 7 pm via Zoom. All knitters and crocheters are invited and new faces are very welcome – so do join in!
For security reasons the zoom information is not included in this version that appears on our website and Facebook page, but was included in the email mailed to the congregation.
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The Book Group will meet virtually via Zoom on
Tuesday, August 25th
at
9:30 am
.
They will discuss
Chances are… by Richard Russo. “Russo's first standalone novel in a decade (after
Everybody's Fool) mixes his signature themes-father-and-son relationships, unrequited love, New England small-town living, and the hiccups of aging - with stealthy clue-dropping in a slow-to-build mystery about a young woman's 1971 disappearance.” (Publisher’s Weekly). F
or more information about the group, contact Helen Schall at
helenschall@hotmail.com
or 245-4724. All are welcome to participate.
For security reasons t
he zoom information is not included in this version that appears on our website and Facebook page, but was included in the email mailed to the congregation.
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Will your youth be part of the 2020-2021 Confirmation class?
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It may only be late July, but the staff is already at work planning fall programming. If you have a youth who is interested in being part of the 2020-2021 Confirmation class that will be starting up this fall we want to know. Linda sent an email about Confirmation to those families in our church community who have a youth entering ninth or tenth grade in the fall. Just in case you were missed on that email, we would like to hear from you. If you do have a youth who will be going into ninth grade (or higher) in the fall, and who would like to be part of our Confirmation program this coming year, please email Linda at
linda@bccucc.org
, or leave a message for her at 401-246-0111 (ext. 104), or call the church office. Thank you.
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If you missed reading Linda's latest blog titled "Laughter" (sent 7-24-20) or want to read it again, you can
r
e
ad it here. It's also now been posted to our church website
at this link where previous blogs are also available for reading.
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From your Mission and Justice Team
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Our Faith, Our Vote, Our Voices Goes Digital! - updated information
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The COVID-19 pandemic is preventing the usual in-person voter registration, mobilization and education work that many churches do in a general election year. So the United Church of Christ’s
Our Faith, Our Vote
program is offering new ways to help people do that work online. One way of doing that is offered in a Summer Webinar Series. Some of the seminars have already taken place. The remaining ones are:
- Tuesday, August 4, at 3:30 p.m. EDT: Stacey Abrams, founder of Fair Fight, and the Rev. Leah Daughtry, pastor of The House of the Lord Church, Washington, D.C., on the right to vote. Host: Traci Blackmon. Register here.
- Wednesday, August 5, at 1 p.m. EDT: U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee on the Green New Deal and reparations, with panelists Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, 350.org, and the Rev. Sekinah Hamlin, UCC minister of economic justice. Hosts: the Rev. Brooks Berndt, minister of environmental justice, and the Rev. Michael Malcom, Alabama Interfaith Power & Light Register here.
- Tuesday, August 11, at 3:30 p.m. EDT: The Rev. Allan Boesak, South African activist and past president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and the Rev. Curtiss DeYoung, CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches, on “Sankofa: Reaching Back and Stepping Up.” They are co-authors of the 2012 book, “Radical Reconciliation: Beyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism.” Host: the Rev. Traci Blackmon. Register here. [NOTE: This is a new date, owing to storm-related technical problems that prevented the webinar on the original date, July 12.]
If you miss any of them, they may be available on the website for future viewing.
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An important reminder from the RI League of Women Voters
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Pay attention to the deadlines, give election officials time to do everything properly. Your vote matters."
Dates to remember:
August 9
: Deadline for registration
August 18
: Deadline to submit mail ballot application for the Primary
September 8
: Primary Election
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A reminder of changes during the summer
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In addition to the
worship service beginning at 9:30 am
the following changes are in effect during the summer months thru Labor Day:
- There will be no new bulletin or hymn sheet each Sunday. Instead all of the information needed for following along with the service will be shown on the screen (the Call to Worship and the words to the hymns).
- The eBridge is back to being published every other week and emailed out to the congregation.
- There will be a new Announcements sheet produced every other week - on the same week as the eBridge - which will be mailed to those without email.
- On alternate weeks to the eBridge, the Pastors’ blog “From the River’s Edge” will be emailed or mailed to the congregation.
- Llama Pajama Time with Andrea is taking a break over the summer. Instead we encourage children to watch the Children’s Moment during the Sunday morning online worship service. If you miss it live, you can always watch a recording at the same links listed above.
- There is no Zoom Coffee Hour after worship and no Happy Hour on Thursdays during the summer.
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A reminder that the church buildings remain closed until further notice. If you need to drop something off, or have asked to pick something up, the items can be deposited or retrieved from the white wooden “Church Mailbox” that’s located at the top of the stairs by the office entrance, next to the boiler room door. We ask that people not enter the building. Thank you.
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Stay connected with each other - and call the ministers if needed
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During this time of separation, we are all encouraged to keep in touch with each other. If there’s someone in the church you’d like to reach out to - maybe someone living alone - but you don’t have their contact information, please call the church office and leave a message (401 246-0111 x 101) or email
office@bccucc.org
Christine will then get their contact information to you.
If you’re in the hospital, a nursing home or rehab, or you’re simply staying home, but would like a visit with a minister, please don’t hesitate to call them and they’ll be happy to visit with you over the phone. Their numbers are Dale (401) 246-0111 x 103; Linda (401) 246-0111 x 104. Leave a message and they'll get back to you.
(Note: Linda will be on vacation from Aug 3 - 9 and Aug 17-23).
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Ways to watch our live-streams
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We are doing our live-streams using Zoom and 'Facebook Live' and there are two places to watch it online:
- On the church’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/bccucc
- On the church's webpage www.bccucc.org at the 'BCCUCC live-stream' link from the home page, where the feed will be embedded.
For Facebook live, simply go to
www.facebook.com/bccucc
to watch. You don't need a Facebook account to see it. If you do have an account, search for the church's Facebook Page which is 'Barrington Congregational Church UCC'. If you 'Like' our page you should then get our news feeds, and also be able to comment on our posts and the live feeds. Once on the church's Facebook page, you will need to click on 'posts' or 'videos' to find the live feed, or watch the recording later.
If you're not able to watch live, you can watch a recording later, on the
live-stream page of our website.
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The office is closed but you can still reach us
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Until further notice, the church office will remain closed. However you can still be in touch with the ministers and staff. You can either send an email or leave a message on the answering machine at the person's extension. Both emails and voice mail messages will be checked regularly. Our contact information is:
Dale
dale@bccucc.org
(401) 246-0111 x 103 (Dale will be on vacation from July 6 - 26, 2020).
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