Associate Conference Minister

Visits HCC This Sunday 9/24

On Sunday, September 24th we are happy to welcome the NH UCC Associate Conference Minister Reverend Sara Marean. Rev. Sara will preach as well as host a Q & A after the service about the NH Conference and wider church. Please join us for this special occasion. 

Rev. Marean is a graduate of Earlham College and Harvard University Divinity School. She was Ordained in 2001 by the Cheshire Association of the NH Conference.

Rev. Marean has served churches in Minnesota and Massachusetts and most recently as the Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Wilmot (NH), UCC. She was elected to be the NHCUCC Associate Conference Minister in October of 2022 and began her position in January.

Rev. Marean lives in Nelson with her partner Eric and her three children, Zeph, Wren and Milo.

Neighbors in Need

Special UCC Offering

There will be a special offering from September 20th - October 4th for Neighbors in Need. This is a special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States.

One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM). Two-thirds of this offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants. Neighbors in Need grants are awarded to UCC churches and organizations doing justice work in their communities. These grants fund projects whose work ranges from direct service to community organizing and advocacy to address systemic injustice.

Worship This Week

Please join us

in the Sanctuary

or online at

10am this Sunday for

Seventeenth Sunday

After Pentecost

Coffee hour will be held after the service in Hadley Hall.

We hope you will join us

in person or online.

The service will be live streamed through

Facebook Live here

or on 3CX here

Reader: Fred Malcolm

Coffee hour host: Linda Tilden &

Pam McGravey

artwork: "Illumination" © Mary Southard

www.ministryofthehearts.org. Used with permission.

Coming Soon!

Enjoy the teaser video below as we prepare for Stewardship month this October!

And...please check your mail this coming week for a special gift from the Stewardship Team.

Hope to see you in October!

St. Anne's Food Pantry In Need

The food pantry is currently running low. Donations are appreciated

 Current needs:

cereal (no Cheerios)

chunky & Progresso soups

coffee

tea bags

salad dressings

syrup

muffin mix

brownie mix

cake mix

jelly



Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Please, no expired items.

Thank you for all your support!

Rev. Kathy's Sermon

This past Sunday, Pastor Kathy shared the history of the United Church of Christ to illustrate Paul's teaching of unity in diversity. The text Pastor Kathy read was an excerpt from her ordination paper. Here it is:

The United Church of Christ is a united and uniting denomination. The United Church of Christ was formed out of a coming together of four distinct Christian traditions. The Congregational Church traced its roots to the Pilgrims and Puritans who both fled Europe in the early 17th century and formed the Congregational denomination in the mid-1850s. Out of the Congregationalist strand the UCC gets its covenantal and congregational polity. The Christian Church began in the 19th century as a frontier and revivalist movement in the US. The Christian church has brought to the UCC the primacy of Christian unity, as well as the liberty of conscience of each believer. In 1931, the Congregational and Christian Churches merged, seeing their unity as a way to remain adaptable to respond to, “the biblical Word of God in any time, in any place, among any people”. What an apt description of listening to our Still-speaking God, uniting so as to better serve those needs!

The Evangelical Synod of North America, another of the four strands which became the UCC was originally formed in 1817 by the King of Prussia, seeking to unite the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. As such, the church was formed in an ecumenical spirit, and that ecumenism shines forth today through the UCC. German Evangelicals began to immigrate to the US in the early 1800s and the Evangelical Synod was formed in 1840. And the forth strand, the German Reformed Church emerged as Germans immigrated, mostly to Pennsylvania, in the 1700-1800s. Pastor John Boehm united the people. It is said that he spent years traveling the country on horseback, 25,000 miles in all ! The German Reformed Church is known historically for the Mercersberg movement, a call for “true revival” which urged self-reflection and end to sectarianism. One can see movement towards ecumenism and unity. In 1934, the Reformed Church merged with the Evangelical Church.

God’s Still-speaking voice was heard as a cry for unity in the early 20th century. The formation of the Congregational Christian Churches and Evangelical and Reformed Churches give witness to the voice, yet God continued to speak. In the 1930s, a study of the two denominations revealed a sense of family between them, and the idea of a union began. The process was long, and fraught at points; however, the call was clear. In 1957, The United Church of Christ was formed, creating a truly united and uniting church, and the only such denomination in the United States.

Office Closed Next

Wednesday & Thursday

The office will be closed on Wednesday 9/27 and Thursday 9/28. Maria will be in the office on Monday 9/25.

If you have any urgent needs, please contact Pastor Kathy.

The New Hampshire Conference Annual Meeting is next month. It would be wonderful to have some congregants from HCC represent our church in person or virtually. For more information, head to the website below, or speak to Pastor Kathy.

A Word From Peace & Justice

Several weeks ago I wrote about the difficulties that the elderly in the United States are having with finding appropriate long-term care as they need more assistance with the day to day tasks.

There is a severe shortage of in-home care, assisted living slots are few and very expensive, and nursing homes have incredibly long wait lists.

But we can learn something from Japan which faced this dilemma twenty years ago. See this article for the full description of how Japan met this challenge.

The Music Corner by Herb Tardiff

Franz Joseph Haydn

Born: March 31, 1732 Austria

Died: May 31, 1809 (aged 77) Vienna Austria

Joseph Haydn was a prolific composer of symphonies, string quartets and large vocal works with orchestra. In fact, he composed 104 symphonies during his lifetime.

One of his most prominent vocal works is “The Creation”, a major work based on Genesis from the bible. (When I was director of the Interfaith Choir, we performed selections from it. A memorable story from one of the concerts was that the tenor sang “wagging their tails” instead of “wagging their heads”.) Whenever I see the tenor, we always have a good laugh.

Steeple Lightings

The steeple will be lit the week of

September 18th - September 24th

In Loving Memory of

Bill Lynch

From neighbors & friends

and

In Loving Memory of

Brandon Wood

Always in Our Hearts

and

Happy Heavenly Birthday

Barbara Donovan Brothers

aka Nana B

XO Your Family

New Hampshire Conference UCC Weekly News

We thought you might enjoy reading the NH Conference UCC weekly newsletter. You can read it with this link.

9/19/2023 Newsletter



Each week, we will update this section of our Weekly Word with the new link

for the current newsletter.

Scam Texts & Emails

This summer, a number of congregants received a scam text "from Rev. Kathy." This was sent from an unknown phone number, not Pastor Kathy's cell phone. The text said it was an urgent request. Those who called/texted back were asked to send gift cards.

Please know that Pastor Kathy will never ask you for money/gift cards over email nor via a text. And if there is something urgent, Pastor Kathy will reach out via phone. Scammers are often successful due to the "urgent" nature of their communication.

Also, any email from Pastor Kathy will always have her signature line on the bottom with her phone number/address.

If in doubt, please contact the church office or Pastor Kathy.

These scams are increasingly common, and many church communities are affected.