Community Dinner a Wonderful Success!

Sunday's Community Chicken Dinner was a great event! About 90 people from the community and the congregation joined us for an afternoon of friendship and fellowship. Special thank you to the Girl Scouts for helping with this event!

Help Syrian Earthquake Survivors

Due to the devastating earthquake, NuDay Syria is looking for donations to send from their warehouse in Derry to those in Syria.

We are serving as a collection hub for donations. Donations will be accepted at HCC through the rest of February. **We currently have plenty of clothing.

Their highest priority needs right now are:

• Monetary donations for shipping costs
• Hygiene Items
• Baby Formula
• Blankets
• Dried beans, rice, and lentils

Please drop off in the collection bins in the foyer in Hadley Hall. For any questions, or to give monetary donations, please contact the office or see https://www.nudaysyria.org/. We thank you for your generosity!

“What does the Lord require of you?

What does the Lord require of you?"

       "Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.

To seek justice and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.”

For the past few weeks we have been singing/learning this hymn at worship. This week we are hoping to try singing it as a simple round. Below is a link to a small group singing it in this way. You can click on the link below and listen to it – and perhaps even sing along! S

What Does The Lord Require of You (The Micah Song) | FirstPresMV Church Choir | June 2020 - YouTube

Fuel Assistance Donation

The cost of heat has increased for us all, and HCC is no exception. Between this past December and January, our fuel bills have totaled over $4600!

We graciously ask you to consider a heat donation if you have not already done so.

Thanks for your consideration.

Operations Team

Worship This Week

Please join us in Hadley Hall

at 10am on Sunday for the

First Sunday of Lent

Please join us for coffee hour after the service.

We hope you will join us in person or online.

The service will be live streamed through

Facebook Live here

or on 3CX here.

artwork: "Ancient Presence" © Mary Southard

www.ministryofthehearts.org. Used with permission.

Lenten Reflection Booklets

Available

Lent begins today.

We have a wonderful daily Lenten devotional booklet available to anyone who wants one. Those who used this resource in the past have really enjoyed it.

This Living Compass devotional focuses on practicing compassion for ourselves, others, and all of creation.

Please consider using the booklet this Lent. Copies are available in the foyer of Hadley Hall, at worship services, or contact the church office and we can send one to you.

Lenten Discussion Groups

All are invited to join our Lenten discussion groups. We will be meeting for six weeks beginning March 2nd

on Thursday mornings in the Davis Room at 10:00am.

The booklet "Living Well Through Lent 2023" will guide our discussions on how to live compassionately.

No prior experience in groups is needed. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Pastor Kathy.

Wednesday Bible Study On Hold

The Wednesday Bible Study will be on hold through Lent during Pastor Kathy's Lenten study. The Wednesday study will resume on April 12,and will be held at the church at 9:30am in the Youth Room.

The study will be on the book Bible Women.

A Word from Peace and Justice

Reminder of our ongoing and upcoming opportunities:

"The Jesus Revolution" movie is based on a true story of a church opening its doors and hearts to “others” and seeing how the spirit moves in them in new and different ways. See the trailer here.

The Peace and Justice Team would love to get a group to go see the movie together. It is showing at the AMC cinema in Londonderry on this Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1:00. Tickets are $5.49 for the matinee. The theater is right around the corner from Kari's house and she is inviting us to gather there for an afternoon snack with discussion after the movie.

If you are interested, let Kari know, kariallard1@msn.com.

The BHTNH Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks:

There are three more talks in the series held live in person or virtually. Recordings of earlier talks in this series are also available. The full calendar of presentations with descriptions and registration information along with links to watch previous talks is here.

Protecting yourself from misinformation: 

Also here is an article about fact-checking in the age of misinformation as social media becomes a main source for information. This shares good social media practices and fact-checking tools for all ages.

HCC Teams

Open Positions at HCC

Our congregation is looking for someone to fill the position of clerk--they take notes and participate at the monthly Ministry Oversight meetings and at the annual congregational meeting. This is an essential position in our church that we need to get filled by March 9.

We are looking for an at-large member who can serve the church by participating in Ministry Oversight. It is a small time commitment but gives you an active role in the life and decision making of our church.

We are also looking for people to serve on our Operations Team--those who take care of our building and grounds. Chris McCune has served as chair of Operations for several years and is stepping down, so we are in need of someone willing to chair this important team. Thank you Chris for ALL the time and energy you have spent in ministry to our church these past years.

Of course, anyone who is interested can join our teams or groups at any time. Looking to get more involved in Missions, Worship, Discipleship, Stewardship, Operations, Peace and Justice, Fundraising, or Hospitality? If so, there is a place for you!

Interested? Let Fred Malcolm, Pastor Kathy, or a member of the team know.

Music Corner by Herb Tardiff

Classical Composers and Their Medical Challenges

Beethoven suffered from gradual hearing loss from 1796 until total deafness in 1984. He tried several hearing aids such as ear trumpets and conversation books.  This deafness did not deter Ludwig from composing most of his famous works. His final, unquestionably the most famous, Ninth Symphony was directed by the composer himself and he did not hear the thunderous applause of the audience at its conclusion.

Many other composers have suffered from many different maladies but were able to overcome these obstacles to produce magnificent works that we enjoy today.

Steeple Lighting

February 26 - March 5

The HCC steeple is being lit

in loving memory of

Bob & Lois Chase and their son Gary Chase.

Lighting being offered by family members

Lauren Chase Stuck & Scott Chase.

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.

2/22/2023 Newsletter

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

Food Drive to Support

Saint Anne Ecumenical

Food Pantry



 Grated cheese, salad dressing, pasta sauce, quick bread/muffin mix,

hearty/meaty soups (Chunky, Progresso), boxed crackers, hot cocoa,

cereal (Cheerios & Multigrain Cheerios).



Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Please, no expired items.

Thank you for all your support!

"Thank You" From Project Linus NH

to Volunteers

This thank you from a local blanket recipient was posted by the Project Linus Southwest NH Chapter and we wanted to share it with you as a reminder of how your gifts of time, money, materials, talents, and small acts of kindness are making a big impact. The Missions team is so grateful to all those who respond to our appeals and support all our events and causes!

"This is why we do what we do. . .an email we received earlier today (edited for length):

A simple reminder from our family to yours. Our daughter loves your blanket.

I want to stop and take a moment to truly thank you for the most beautiful quilt blanket for our teen daughter. Recently, she has been hospitalized, and had been transferred to four different hospitals after a ruptured appendicitis. The fear upon our daughter's face as well as the excruciating pain she was in told us we were in a lot of trouble you see she had been to Franklin Hospital and then transferred to Laconia hospital, but they decided to transfer her one last time to Concord Hospital, upon arrival, at Concord Hospital, she was greeted by the most beautiful Madeline traveling, blanket quilt. It sat neatly at the foot of her bed. My daughter looked up at me with the most beautiful blue eyes of hers, and was just astonished at the quality and the thoughtfulness.

My husband and I are both 100% disabled veterans and I have a brain tumor as well and we were planning to go on vacation to complete my bucket list before things progress but sometimes God has other plans. You see we spent nearly $7200 in flights and tickets in the last year to purchase a ton of experiences as I had planned to travel Germany, Rome, Italy, and Venice. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel, and there are no refunds so our daughter was so heartbroken, but it was as if God was wrapping us in love, because the blanket was the most beautiful Madeleine travel adventures blanket and she said to me, mom look, we can travel and have this as our memory. She has since been transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital in critical condition, unfortunately she had been held at hospitals for too long and they had transferred her to a total of four different hospitals before realizing she was septic. My husband and I have lost complete trust in people. We tried to get our baby girl help over and over. . . and my baby girl nearly died. We would end up having to go in emergency again, and more drains placed as well as a colostomy bag.

We still have an uphill battle but I want to tell you just how much something so simple as a blanket really, really put things into perspective for us. God is good and people are good and my daughter wanted me to tell you that you have restored her faith in humanity.

How can that be? You don’t know us and we don’t know you, but your simple act of kindness really opened up our daughter's heart at a time when they told us she shouldn’t be here and she was just so stuck on the kindness of you and your blanket and she held on. When we didn’t know if she was going to make it through the night, we wrapped her up in a blanket and just sobbed. We made it through the night and then another. We have a long road ahead of us but please don’t you ever stop doing this. You don’t know how much it helps some of us. We are so prideful and private. But your generosity really changed how my daughter perceives humanity.

Thank you for doing the right thing when no one’s looking..." (Posted on Project Linus Southwest NH Chapter Serving the Monadnock Region Facebook page on February 11th, 2023)

Scam Emails & Texts

Emails and Texts are often sent, saying they are from Pastor Kathy or another staff member. She (or the HCC staff) will never send out a generic email/text--she'll address it to your name. She will never ask you for money/gift cards over email nor via a text.

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.