photo by Bill Kenny, 2022

May 2023

A Note from Alyssa

It’s May, and I still am wishing people a joyous “Happy Easter!” I love the fact that Easter is not just a single day in the Christian tradition, but an entire 50-day season that stretches between Easter Day itself and Pentecost (May 28 this year). Over the course of the Easter season, we celebrate narratives of resurrection, listen to stories of a risen Jesus appearing to disciples in unexpected places, such as locked rooms (John 20:19-31) and the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). and watch as Jesus’ apostles and messengers begin to take his messages of death-defying hope and love out into the world.

Over the course of the very first Easter season, Jesus’ friends and contemporaries were forced to move out from the past (a time period in which they enjoyed Jesus’ physical presence and companionship) and into a future marked by their teacher’s absence. According to the Biblical narrative, Jesus ascended to heaven (Acts 1) – and in the aftermath of his departure, his followers needed to figure out who they wanted to be, and how their community of kindred spirits could best spread Jesus’ wisdom without the daily benefit of his personal advice, instruction, and counsel.

Accepting the reality of their spiritual mentor’s absence and adapting to new “post-Jesus” circumstances must have proven emotionally wrenching and difficult for the disciples. But in the end, Jesus’ physical departure, together with the gift of the Holy Spirit that he offered as he left, encouraged them to grow and change in positive ways. When Jesus’ followers could no longer rely upon him for leadership, they themselves were forced to lead, and they became increasingly independent, courageous, and confident over time.

I like to imagine that they also felt freer to take risks. Liberated from the prospect of disappointing their beloved leader, they could compile the best of what Jesus had taught them, innovate upon it, and use their own unique skills and gifts to translate his transformational wisdom into language and ideas that possessed the power to speak to diverse individuals and communities in new places and settings.

Like Jesus’ earliest followers, we too are called to be disciples in a new era. Just as Jesus challenged his friends to bring messages of love, justice, and compassion out into a wider world in sore need of these attributes, God challenges us to do the same today. How will we become spiritual entrepreneurs? How will we innovate? How will we develop new ways of embodying and living into the call of the Holy?

A few weeks ago, on April 16, members of our community of faith visited the grounds of the Bradley Meeting House site, where the idea of founding Woodfords Church first took flight. Five intrepid Woodfordians kicked off the afternoon’s exploration of Woodfords’ roots by taking a historical pilgrimage. After worship, these explorer-adventurers stepped down off the sanctuary steps and walked a route our spiritual ancestors would have taken from their homes to the Bradley Meeting House. Over the course of the journey, Pam Meader and Pam Barrows offered historical insights and identified points of interest. (Pam and Pam, I hope you’re up for leading some additional group walking tours at some point!)

Unfortunately, I couldn’t walk with them, because I needed to run over and pick up a key to the historic schoolhouse that stood next to the Bradley Meeting House. As I waited for the Woodfordian pilgrims to arrive, I reflected upon this past year’s anniversary celebrations. April 14^th marked the 151st anniversary of the dedication of the original Woodfords Church building, which means that our 150^th anniversary year has officially ended. I am confident that we will never stop exploring and appreciating Woodfords’ rich history. But after we shared a liturgy of remembrance and thanksgiving on the Meeting House grounds, when the pilgrims turned to leave the site and walk back to Woodfords and into the future, I found myself looking forward to turning our sights toward our beloved community’s next 150 years.

Like Jesus’ earliest circle of friends, our community of faith is being called to move out from the past and into the future – into a world filled with over 50 new neighbors living in the Parish House apartments … into a world where Woodfords Church serves as a community hub that is filled with the energy of mission partners and farmers’ markets and neighborhood gatherings and groups. You’ve done such good work, Church! It seems fitting that in the congregation’s 150^th anniversary year, you made some big, historic decisions about buildings and property that will allow new energy and Spirit to invigorate our congregation and benefit the wider community long into the future. You are innovating. You are courageously doing new things. I am proud of you, and I hope that you are proud of yourselves, as well! The world that we’re moving into – the world that you are helping to create – is very exciting. As we embark upon strategic visioning conversations in the upcoming months, I can’t wait to see where else our future journeys take us – together, with the Holy by our side. 

With (continuing!) Easter hope and love,

Rev. Alyssa

Woodfords 150th Anniversary Comes to a Close

***Photo Essay***

April 16 Visit to the Bradley Meeting House Grounds

The intrepid explorers who made a walking pilgrimage from Woodfords Church to the Bradley Meeting House site and back.

The Bradley Meeting House (on the right with steeple) no longer stands, but the schoolhouse does.  This dates to 1880.

Current exterior of the 1852 schoolhouse that stood next to the Bradley Meeting House

Current Interior of 1852 schoolhouse. Leonard Chapman was a local historian who chronicled and preserved artifacts from the Bradley Meeting House when it was torn down in 1902 to make room for the brick building that currently stands on the grounds.

1880 image of the church's pulpit. Note the pilasters that were saved.

The church relics that Chapman saved were incorporated into the old schoolhouse building, which was transformed into a chapel after the Meeting House was demolished. The building’s wainscotting was made of pew doors from the Meeting House. The square blue pilasters (pillars that stick out from the wall) on the northern wall of the 1852 schoolhouse also stood in the Meeting House.

To see these photos larger and for additional historical facts from the visit, please click the link below for Rev. Alyssa's walking tour gallery.

Council Updates

WCC Council Update:

The Council met on 4/18:

• We are in the process of contracting with Convergence and Gregg Carlson, the organization that helped us 4 years ago to plan for WCC’s future. More to follow when we have everything in place. We have the good fortune of the Cushman bequest to provide this guidance for Woodfords at this pivotal time.

•We are committed to providing monthly updates on the Council work to be sure everyone is kept up to date with our work for the church.

•Family Promise: as most of you know, FP folks – all 40 of our current guests – are now going to be with us downstairs until June 30^th. As our new furnace for the church will begin installation on July 1, we cannot have them stay beyond that date. We are pleased that WCC has been able to host our guests during this time and will continue support of FP into the future.

•Stewardship for FY’23 is coming along and you will be hearing more from them soon.

•Finance: we have a new bookkeeper/bill payer – Sheryl Glidden. Marc was a big help in transitioning our bookkeeping to our new software bookkeeping system. Sheryl will be working primarily off site and doing all the services Marc provided. She is very excited to be working for WCC.

•Building: 

-The new chapel windows are well underway – hopefully done this week.

-The CHOM agreement has been officially signed and the $5k option payment received. CHOM will begin construction as soon as they have all their permits etc. in place, approximately 12 to 18 months from now. That is when we will receive the rest of their payment for the property.

-a security door will be installed between Seely Hall and the Stages area and this summer there will be re-sealing of the foundation on a section of the church building – a smaller project than anticipated but still significant work.

•Creating Community had a successful concert with Adam Swanson w/nearly 100 in attendance and raised over $2k for Family Promise. Another concert is planned for next year. This team will also be providing the reception for Alyssa’s Installation on June 19^th.

•Championing Justice is studying how to do “Giving Done Right’ – a book to help us better manage the donations we make for WCC. CJ will do worship on June 26^th and many are volunteering at Preble St. on the 3^rd Saturday each month – a great program to feed the homeless.

Please feel free to speak to Council members if you have questions or suggestions and thanks for staying informed about our work for the church.  

New Chapel Windows

Next time you're in the building, take a look in the Chapel and you will see brand new windows.

Thank you to Anne Bencks for a generous donation which helped make this project a reality!

Stewardship

Dear Fellow Church Members,

Although our stewardship campaign is getting off to a late start, we haven’t forgotten!

It is time to remind all of us that the work of the church can happen because of the generous financial and volunteer support of our community. Because of you, our congregation changes lives. Generosity in all its forms comes because of our gratitude for this community. We hope you will join us in making a commitment to give this coming year. While there are many ways to support the congregation, we ask everyone to think in a particular and prayerful way about the choices we make with our money in support of the Woodfords Congregational Church, UCC.

We have been very busy with programs and projects at Woodfords – wonderful work for those we are helping and for ourselves – to name a few: Family Promise hosting at WCC, Preble Street meal preparation, final work for CHOM’s purchase to create needed new lower-cost apartments for those over 55, helping with music and worship and Sunday school, the return of Coffee Hour and, of course, improvements and repairs to our buildings. 

We are busy, folks! And that has been a large part of our delay in this campaign. We apologize for any confusion or disruption this has caused.

God has done and continues to do remarkable things through us and with us – things that matter in our community! Gifts to our congregation make this possible. We hope you will join us in completing the online form (or turning in the commitment card you will be receiving soon in the mail) with your estimate of giving for this year.

Blessings, The Stewardship Team

Amy Johnson, Kristen Crean, John England, Mary Ann MacMath, Joanne Bartlett

Events and Opportunities

May 7: Ecumenical Youth Service Corps Event

Help Pack Food for Good Shepherd Food Bank

Portland’s ecumenical youth group/youth service corps invites all teens in middle and high school to gather at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portland (580 Forest Ave) at noon on May 7 to help pack 3,000 meals for Good Shepherd Food Bank. Join us in fighting hunger right here in Maine!

Please RSVP to Rev. Alyssa if you know of youths who would like to participate. Thanks to one and all!

Woodfords collaborates with other churches in the region – including HopeGateWay, St. Luke’s, State Street Church UCC, Trinity Episcopal, and Williston-Immanuel United Church in Portland and First Parish UCC in South Portland – to offer an ecumenical youth group for teens in middle and high school.

Pilgrim Lodge Offerings

It’s spring and time to think about signing up for Pilgrim Lodge!

In case you are not familiar with it, Pilgrim Lodge is the UCC Maine camp on Lake Cobbosseecontee in West Gardiner. It has programs for people of all ages, family camps, grandparent/ grandchild camps, and Pride camps. A new offering this year is a Pride camp for all ages. Our own Hannah Louise Smith- Erb will be deaning a Grandparent’s camp again this year with her grandfather. 

For more info go to www.pilgrimlodge.org. Scholarship aid is available through Pilgrim Lodge and also through Woodford’s Championing Justice committee. There are also many opportunities to volunteer as a camp counselor, and during spring and fall work weekends. Promotional cards and a schedule have been put up on the bulletin board outside of the Sunday School room. 

Like many other organizations these past three years, Pilgrim Lodge has suffered financially after being closed for two years and now is trying to welcome people back. They would certainly appreciate a donation to help them out, if you feel called to do so. 



If you have never been there, Pilgrim Lodge is a beautiful place, filled with love where everyone can be themselves. That type of setting can be rare in our daily lives. To me and many, it is a sacred, thin place where the Spirit is easily felt as the boundary between heaven and earth is more porous than other places. 

Joanne Bartlett

Notices

Reminder for WSP Steering Committee

Next meeting Friday, May 5 at 10 am

Contact Karin Wetmore at church with questions.

A Post-Easter Reminder:

Spammers and Phishing

A UCC pastor in another state recently notified Rev. Alyssa that the other pastor’s church had received an email asking for the church’s directory. The sender’s email address had been designed to look like the note was written by Alyssa.

We therefore are taking this opportunity to offer a semi-regular reminder: When you receive emails or texts that appear to be from the Rev. Alyssa (or anyone from church, for that matter), please take a close look at the addresses they are being sent from. Here’s the long and the short of it: if an email purporting to be from someone at the church doesn't end in woodfordschurch.org (spelled correctly) it is not legitimate. And nobody at Woodfords will ever ask you to send money or gift cards.

HAPPY MAY BIRTHDAY

Susan Clark 05/01

Michael Wolfe 05/01

Darcy Ross 05/02

Isabel Walter 05/02

Benjamin Fries 05/03

Gordon Thomson 05/03

Gregg Ritter 05/05

Donald Hamilton 05/07

Cara Cookson 05/14

Nancy Goodspeed 05/14

Laura Ochoa 05/15

Barbara Thomson 05/15

Bob Carten 05/17

Josslyn Philbrook 05/21

Erin Segal 05/22

Jae Brown 05/23

Judy Blanchard 05/26

Phyllis Campbell 05/26

Cedric Porter 05/28

Kurt Graser 05/29

Catherine Walter 05/29

Elaine Haskell 05/30

HAPPY MAY ANNIVERSARY

Bill & June St. Lawrence 05/06 62

William & Robin Carter 05/04 60

David & Lana Johnson 05/27 56

Stephen & Ellen Smith-Erb 05/18 27

Zachary & Camille Nelson 05/29 19

Have Something on Your Mind?

Want to Talk about a Joy or Concern?

Have a Prayer Request?

If you would like to schedule time for a pastoral care conversation with Rev. Alyssa, do not hesitate to be in touch (alodewick@woodfordschurch.org). She would be happy to talk via Zoom or the phone, or to have an in-person visit.

Also, Alyssa is always open to receiving prayer requests. Drop her a line with a description of what you’d like her to pray for – and don’t forget to indicate if you would also like your prayer request to be added to the Woodfords prayer list. (Alyssa’s default is to consider all prayer requests she receives confidential, unless the requestor explicitly says otherwise.)