April 13th Weekly Word
Passion in the Palms
a meditation on Holy Week
by Rev. Deb Vaughn

Where You walked, I followed — until the road was too steep and the burdens too many.

Where You prayed, I listened — until my mind wandered and I focused on myself, not You.

Where You acted, I watched — because I was afraid of criticism from other watchers

Where You preached, I listened — and then did as I pleased.

Where You loved, I judged — and forgot that You asked me to love others.

Where You suffered, I worried — but let my inaction stop me from offering comfort.

Where You died, I panicked — because I was not ready to commit my all to You.

And yet… Where You rise, I too will rise — because Love and Grace are not earned or deserved, but given freely.

Blessed be.
Service of Shadows

At 7 pm tomorrow, April 14th, we will hold a reflective Service of Shadows in person and online. We will hear scripture and music, and will reflect on Jesus' final days through the perspectives of those closest to him. Join us for this deeply meaningful and important service.

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

If you can't join live, please take some time on Good Friday to watch the recording on Facebook here and reflect.

artwork: Mary Meets Jesus On The Way To Calvary © Mary Southard
Easter Sunday
Sunrise Service - 6AM

Please join us for our annual sunrise service at
Sunset Lake Shore, Camp Tel Noar
 167 Main St, Hampstead, NH-please no parking on the grass

Immediately following the Sunrise Service, 
please join us for a breakfast in church social hall!


The Sunrise Service is only provided in-person.


artwork: Circle Of Life Spring © Mary Southard
Easter Sunday
10AM Service

Please join us in the sanctuary
or online at 10am for a joyous and festive
Easter Sunday Service

Please join us for coffee hour after the service.


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




 artwork: Here Comes The Possible © Mary Southard
Breakfast after Easter Sunrise Service

Following the sunrise service at Camp Tel -Noar, we will be inviting the community back to Hadley Hall for breakfast.

We will be serving breakfast casseroles and pastries. We are looking for volunteers to make casseroles as well as people to donate muffins, scones, hot cross buns, and the like. Donations of butter, jam, juice, and coffee creamer would also be appreciated.
And we are also looking for helpers to set up, serve and/or clean up.
You may drop your goodies off on Saturday, 4/16 or prior to the sunrise service.

Kari will be coordinating this event--contact her @603-425-4799 with questions/concerns
Hospitality Volunteers Needed

One of the ways our congregation offers hospitality is by helping host a lunch for the family after a congregant's memorial service.

Many of you have helped with these luncheons in the past. It is time to update our contact list.

If you might be willing to help with future memorial lunches, please contact the main office and let Suzanne know. When a need arises, Ellen McCune will reach out to you to see if you might be available.

Thank you for helping our congregation provide this important ministry.
HCC Capital Campaign Survey
Your Help is Needed by April 23rd!

The Capital Campaign Team has created a survey - please consider participating by Saturday, 4/23.

You can participate by clicking here OR you can call the office and we will provide you with a hard copy of the survey.

Please contact the office with any concerns/questions.

This is an anonymous online survey unless you fill in the optional name field.

Please note: You do not need a google ID nor do you need to "sign in" nor create any ID to participate in the online survey. If you already have a google account, you may notice the following information on the google survey regarding switching accounts (see print screen below). You can just ignore this message and still participate in the survey, and it will be anonymous.
2022 Q1 Statements


On Thursday, 4/7 we sent out the 2022 Q1 Donation Statements.

Where we had an email address, we emailed your statement. If we didn't have an email address, we USPS mailed your statement.

If you didn't get your statement, please contact the office and we will work on getting your copy to you.
Split Those Perennials
For
The Strawberry Festival

Fellow gardeners, now that the spring weather is upon us, it is time to dig up and divide those perennials!

We will be having the plant sale at the Strawberry Festival and perennials are always a good seller.

If you dig your perennials now while the tops are small and the roots are strong, pot them up and care for them, you can avoid the stress and wilt that digging just before the event can cause. By doing this now, we will have nice, full, healthy-looking plants for the Strawberry Festival!

Please label your plants with as much information as you know: Name, variety, and color.
Thank you, from the plant table team!
A Word from Peace & Justice

Here is a devotion from Witness for Justice, United Church of Christ. It seems so pertinent in our current time.

Sustained Attention
by Rachel Hackenberg | published on Mar 31, 2022
Managing Editor, The Pilgrim Press and Faith-Forming Publications

A dinner was held for Jesus in Bethany, the home of Lazarus. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus. Mary took a pound of costly perfume—its fragrance filling the whole house—and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, then wiped his feet with her hair. Judas Iscariot watched disapprovingly and said, “This perfume was worth 300 denarii! I’m sure the poor would be dismayed if they knew good money was being wasted in this way.” Of course, Judas didn’t really care about the poor. (John 12:1-6, retold)

To love is to give attention to, to focus in on, to commit energy to, to desire the best for another. To love is to understand the power of selflessness and support. To love is to give and to receive, to reach out and to invite in. To love is to hope. To love is to bless and honor not only someone’s esteemed head but also their calloused feet.

And not just once, but continually. Love repeatedly guards the well-being of the other, the self, and the community. Love knows and drinks from an eternal wellspring of hope. Love is not a fleeting affection; it is an undistracted commitment.

Love is sustained attention.

If my soliloquy on love is six weeks too late for Valentine’s Day, its challenge is daily:
  • The 24-hour news cycle and the media’s scattered focus on marketable headlines have the impact of dividing and diminishing our attention span.
  • The ploy of Oppression Olympics undermines focused, impactful attention to injustice by pitting all injustices against one another on a scale of least-to-most worthy of attention.
  • The anti-homelessness laws implemented across U.S. cities obstruct our attention to the crises of housing and poverty by removing unhoused people from public view.
  • The display of outrage, racism, sexism, and grandstanding from the Senate Judiciary Committee last week was an event defined by interruption, disallowing sustained attention to the well-being (and dysfunction) of the judicial system.

With so many distractions and disruptions every day, the question begs to be asked: Is sustained attention even possible? Do we possess the wisdom, the peace, the love to be unrushed in attending to one another? To be undistracted as we wrap our perfumes, our hair, our blessings around each other’s well-being?

Do we know how to serve one meal at a time, like Martha? To listen to one teacher at a time, like Lazarus? To love on one dying man at a time, like Mary?

For the sake of Love, I pray we do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Rev. Rachel Hackenberg is the Managing Editor for The Pilgrim Press and Faith-Forming Publications for the United Church of Christ.
View this and other columns on the UCC’s Witness for Justice page.
Donate to support Witness for Justice.
The Food Truck Festival Needs Your Help
April 30, 2022

The vendors and the entertainment are all set for our 2nd Annual Hampstead Eats Food Truck Festival. If you can help in any way on Saturday, 4/30, it would be greatly appreciated.

Things you can do on April 30:
Help with Setup starting at 10AM
Help with Ticket Sales - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM
Help with Parking - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM
Help with the HCC Table - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM
Help with Cleanup starting at 5:00PM

You can sign up here or you can contact the office at 603-329-6985 and we will help get you signed up.

Let’s make this event a huge success! As always, thank you for your support,

Your Fundraising Team
Barbara Wallack, Ellen McCune, Roxanne McGaffigan, Lora Manning, Nancy Cheyne
April Birthdays

Happy Birthday to:

Debra Sawyer 4/8
Peggy Favorat 4/11
Ken Gilson 4/24
Linda Tilden 4/29
Ellen McCune 4/29
Missions Opportunities:
Food Drive to Support
Saint Anne Ecumenical Food Pantry




The New needs for the Food Pantry are:
canned ravioli (or similar)
coffee
salad dressings
cans of grated cheese
pasta sauce
flour
sugar

Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Thank you for all your support!
This month we help serve on Wednesday, April 27. If you are interested in volunteering contact Jane DeRosa via email
janederosa@comcast.net.
Volunteer @ Soup Kitchen
The Sonshine Soup Kitchen needs volunteers to prepare and package the food for "To Go Meals." We partner with Atkinson Congregational Church once a month on the 4th
Wednesday of the month to help out from 3-6pm.

Blankets for Project Linus

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!
Connect on Facebook
Are you on Facebook? Do you follow Hampstead Congregational Church? Please like our page to know about all the great events in the church. Liking also supports our church when people check us out. If you are already connected, share our good news!

We are now on Instagram!
If you are on Instagram, please follow us, and let your friends know about us by sharing our posts! Click this link
Scam Emails

Emails 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--she'll address it to your name. She will never ask you for money/gift cards over email.

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

If in doubt, please call the church or send an email to pastorkathyucc@gmail.com.
Want to get the word out about what’s happening at HCC? If you want to publicize your event or remind the congregation about something, please email the office (hcc1752@gmail.com) by Wednesday at noon so that your information can be included in that week’s Weekly Word. Feel free to send in information up to three weeks in advance of an upcoming event. We want all of the congregation (not just the Team leaders) to be empowered to get the word out about all the activities that are happening at Hampstead Congregational Church!
Our Mailing Address:
61 Main Street
Hampstead, NH 03841
Church Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 9:00am to 3:00pm
Hampstead Congregational Church Website