Please come tonight at 6:30pm in Hadley Hall and bring: Scissors, clippers/pruners for greens

We will be decorating wreaths and making swags and centerpieces. Kari will be leading, so even if you have never done anything like this before, come join us. We always have so much fun! Bring a friend and make it a “night out.”

If you have any pine, hemlock, spruce, holly, or any other kind of evergreen in your yard that you could cut and bring in, please bring it with you. Collect pine cones, birch branches, winterberry and any other interesting natural finds that could be used as well.

Kari will be providing ornaments, ribbons etc. for decorating. All the products we create will be for sale on Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Christmas Craft Fair.

We are sad to share the news that our friend and long-time member, Juanita Randall passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. We are so grateful for her life and legacy.

Tomorrow--Thursday, December 2nd - 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home

116 Main Street, Plaistow

Friday, December 3rd - 10AM here at HCC

Lakeview Cemetery, Hampstead, NH

After burial all may gather at the Hampstead Meeting House to celebrate Juanita.

You can read Juanita's obituary here.

May Juanita rest in peace, and may her family and all who love her be comforted.

 There are still ways you can help to make Saturday's fair a success!

Things you can do:

You can sign up at church, contact Barbara Wallack at bsw91@comcast.net or call her at 603-548-8326.

As always, thank you for your support.

Your Fundraising Team

Lora Manning, Ellen McCune, Barbara Wallack, Roxanne McGaffigan, Nancy Cheyne

The service will be live-streamed through Facebook Live here or on 3CX here.

It has been wonderful to have Coffee Hour following Sunday morning worship each week!

Now, however, the Covid infection rate is the highest it has ever been in the state and county.

So--we will forgo our outside Coffee Hour and instead offer a “Coffee-Less Coffee Hour."  Most of us like to visit and catch up with one another following worship. We will continue to offer that opportunity inside Hadley Hall each Sunday morning, but without coffee and “goodies”.

We ask that everyone please…PLEASE…wear a mask indoors during our time together out of a loving concern and respect for one another. Those who do not wish to wear a mask - or who are unable to do so - are invited to visit outdoors instead. Thank you!

Watch the VIDEO from the Hampstead Community Thanksgiving Service that was held via Zoom on 11/21/21. Our own Pastor Kathy is one of several local clergy that participated in this Service.

We will be offering a Blue Christmas Service of Remembrance, Comfort, and Hope next Sunday, December 12th at 3 pm in person and online.

For so many of us this season is a time of conflicting emotions. Given the grief and loss that we are living through now, we want to provide an opportunity to reflect and come together, knowing that we are not alone in our struggles.

Please spread the word and join us for a contemplative service of prayer, scripture and music. The service will also be live streamed and recorded.

The Missions Team will be holding our annual Christmas Gift Drive through December 12th.

This year we are partnering with the Manchester Diaper Pantry and Makeover Ministries. These organizations work to provide area families with diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, and various baby and household items.

The Diaper Pantry's wish list this year includes:

All donated items should be UNWRAPPED, and can be left in the foyer or outside the Church Office. If you would prefer to make a monetary donation, checks can made out to HCC and designated "Missions Christmas Drive 2021" on the memo line.

As always, thank you for so generously supporting our church mission activities and making the holidays brighter for some local families!

Discipleship will be delivering Christmas Baskets to two nursing homes, Colonial Poplin in Fremont and Pleasant Valley in Derry.

We are asking for donations of individually wrapped candy, and signed Christmas cards for both the nursing home residents and the staff.

Items can be left in the foyer now thru December 15th. Baskets will be delivered on December 18.

Thank you for your donations.

This year the NH Conference of UCC is sharing a series of Advent Theological Roundtables to provide content and inspiration as you prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The series will focus on:

Anticipation

Annunciation

Incarnation

Enjoy these three videos by clicking on each picture below

In the spirit of environmental justice actions that we can take as individuals here is information for New Hampshire Winter Farmers Markets.

Salem Market: Sundays from 10am – 1pm at LaBelle Winery on Rt. 111. Here is a list of their vendors and activities at the market.

Exeter Market: Saturdays 10am – 2 pm at Exeter High School. They sell vegetables, dairy, maple, meat, fish, prepared foods, and baked goods. Pre-order (by vendor) and pick up options are also available. Dates in Exeter: Dec.4, Jan 8, Feb 5, Mar 5 and Apr 23. See this site or call 207-387-0567 for vendors, details and activities. The site also lists a calendar of other markets in the seacoast area.

Here is a link for markets around the state: NH Dept. of Agriculture

Enjoy - Your Peace & Justice Team

Many thanks to the Fundraising and Missions Teams who joined together to host a Clothing Drive Fundraiser to support the Epilepsy Foundation New England (EFNE) and also raise funds for our church.

We received 100's of bags of donations. So many bags were received that they filled one of the church offices, part of the stage, part of the library, part of the maintenance room and part of the foyer.

Barbara Wallack worked diligently each week weighing and storing all the donated items. We ended up with over 3,000 pounds of clothing!

Barbara, Dave Chin and Suzanne Finocchiaro helped load the EFNE truck on Tuesday afternoon. We had so many bags that we filled the truck to capacity and EFNE had to come back today to take the remaining bags.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a success!

This week, the Bible Study group will move the day, the time and the place that they will meet.

The group is now meeting at in the Davis Room (music room up the stairs from the sanctuary).

The time is changing as well and will now go from 1:30PM - 3:30PM. However, there will be social time at 1:30 so it gives everyone time to arrive, visit with each other and start the study at 2PM.

The HCC steeple is being lit in loving memory of Jeanne & Warren Cooke who were faithful members of our church and community.

Lighting be offered by Jeanne and Warren’s children Jean Hunt, Sue Cooke, and Roger Cooke. 

Trinity Church, our Kingston friend and neighbor, has an annual service of Advent Lessons and Carols each year and we've been invited.

The service is based on one popularized at English college chapels and cathedrals. It tells the story of the Old Testament Jews and their longing for the coming of the Messiah by means of Scripture lessons and beautiful music and is done with lots of candles lighting the Meeting House where the service will be held.

Since Trinity's pastor, the Rev. Canon Mark Pearson was a chapel organist while studying for his Masters in Theology at Oxford in the early seventies, the service will have that wonderful English flavor to it. However, it's not "denominational" in flavor and people from a variety of churches participate.

Date: Sunday, December 5.

Time: 4:00 - 5:15 p.m.

Place: Trinity Church, 80 Route 125, Kingston (just south of the Saddle Up Saloon).

UPSTAIRS: Masks required, chairs at a distance, enter by outside staircase (ushers will direct you).

DOWNSTAIRS: Masks optional, closer seating, enter by the front door.

The building is six years old and was equipped with state-of-the-art air venting, circulating to the outside. The heat will be on because the windows will be opened several inches.

Questions: please call 603-571-0205.

For those of you who have been busy sewing, quilting, knitting, or crocheting, we have an new opportunity to donate those handmade items!

We located a national organization that has local chapters called Project Linus (https://www.facebook.com/projectlinussouthwestnewhampshire/). This organization's mission is "to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans". Blankets are given to children in need through NH.

*We welcome all styles of blankets made in child-friendly colors/prints.

*Crocheted, knitted, quilted (100% cotton or flannel), fleece….you don’t have to be an expert!

*Blankets must be NEW, HANDMADE and WASHABLE.

*Fabric blankets can be quilted by machine, hand or tied. If you are tying the blanket make sure the ends are trimmed to 1” and the knots are secure.

*Please do not add any embellishments to the blankets such as buttons that could be swallowed by a child.

*If you are using a no-sew fleece pattern, please be sure to trim off both selvages FIRST. Not sure what selvages are? Ask the clerk who is cutting your fleece to please show you, they’re those odd looking edges at the top and bottom of the piece you have, sort of raggy looking.

*We accept all sizes of blankets. We donate to children, infants through teen years, so any size is appropriate. Baby blankets are typically 36”X36” or 36”X42”, toddler-pre-teen are typically about 40”X60”, and teen blankets are at least 60"X72".

Blankets can be dropped off in the entry way of Hadley Hall.

Thank you for your support of this project!

If in doubt, please call the church or send an email to pastorkathyucc@gmail.com.