Our Latest News and Activities

Sunday, April 11, 2021
Second Sunday of Easter

Scripture Lessons:
Acts 4:32-35 and John 20:19-31
The Rev. Dr. Dennis Calhoun's Sermon:
"From Behind Closed Doors"

This week's worship video will be posted by 8am this Sunday.
Please click here on Sunday morning to view the service.

Please click here for a copy of the bulletin.

Zoom Coffee Hour

Join members of the ONC community for conversation and fellowship on Zoom at 11am every Sunday.

Either click here or enter this link: https://zoom.us/j/566308766
Or call this number: 
    +1 312 626 6799 (Meeting ID: 566 308 766)
Weekly Worship in the Church Parking Lot

As we continue to wait patiently for the time we can safely rejoin for in-person worship in the Old North Church sanctuary, we are happy to expand our parking lot service to a weekly offering.

We’ll gather each week at 10 am on the church parking lot for a service of worship. The service will be broadcast on the FM radio band, so worshipers can remain in the cars. As the weather warms, people are invited to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the sunshine!

We are also planning to begin our services at the Lighthouse earlier this Spring.
Stewardship Season Update

As you know, the challenge of financing our mission and ministry is ongoing, especially during the disruptions of the Covid pandemic. We are deeply grateful for those of you who have been able to sustain your financial support. If you are able and have not yet done so, we hope you will continue your support of Old North Church. We encourage you to return your pledge card to the church office, or pledge online at your earliest convenience. A letter went out this week to those who have pledged in the past, but have not as yet for the current year. Next week we’ll begin following up with telephone calls. We hope to complete our pledge drive by the end of April. As of April 6th, we have received 232 pledges for the current year, totaling $413,607. Thanks to all who have pledged your support to Old North Church!

Donate Some Stimulus Money to ONC's Mission Partners

Do you want to share some of your stimulus check with neighbors in need during this season? A group of Old North Church members are hoping to do just that. If you have some extra to spare, we'd love for you to donate it to an organization that is doing good in the world (some of the ones our Outreach Ministry Board Supports are listed below--or you can choose your own!) We'd love for you to anonymously tell us how much you donated, so we can keep track of our impact as a church--and you can do that at bit.ly/oncdonate

Marblehead Counseling Center -- https://www.marbleheadcounseling.org/
Healing Abuse, Working for Change -- https://hawcdv.org/
Marblehead Food Pantry -- send a check to ONC and designate Food Pantry in memo line.
April is Old North's Month to Stock the Food Pantry

COVID has changed our lives in so many ways, one of them being the way we support the Marblehead Food Pantry.  With all the restrictions that were put in place in 2020 we launched a campaign of requesting $ donations instead of individual bags of produce. This proved to be highly successful thanks to your generous support.  April, our month of stocking the Marblehead Food Pantry shelves, is here again and once more we are hopeful that we will be successful in feeding our neighbors who are facing hard times. Donations may be sent to Old North Church (with Marblehead Food Pantry written in the memo) at 8 Stacey Street, Marblehead MA 01945.  A team of shoppers will then purchase goods on a weekly basis, fulfilling the very specific needs of the Pantry. For further information please contact Lynda Hare (Hares8carrots@hotmail.com).
Outreach Ministry Board Update - RAW Art

Your Outreach Ministry Board encourages our church members to make direct donations to the organizations our committee funds biannually. That is especially true after a year of Covid, when so many of them are facing special needs as they adapt to a regular loss of income.

One of our organizations that depends on large public events to meet their fundraising goals is RAW Art Works in Lynn. RAW offers an exceptional program that provides free afterschool classes with art therapists for kids who often face difficult life situations. RAW provides them with the materials to inspire their creativity as well as a safe haven to meet with their
peers and teachers. Because it is still not possible to hold large public fundraisers, a special short term campaign is underway to help specific groups at RAW. I am currently supporting a group of middle school aged girls called Art 4 Girls. If you would like to help these kids whose lives are transformed by their RAW experience, please go to the link below and make a donation.

Thank you, Ginny von Rueden, Outreach Ministry Board
It's Time for an Update!

The Community Life Ministry Board invites you to help us with an update to the Church Directory. The last one was issued in 2018 and we all know that much has changed since then. Several members of CLMB will be calling or emailing the 500+ friends and members of ONC between now and the end of April to verify and/or update telephone, address and email information. We plan to gather all of the updated information by May 1, print over the summer and distribute when we, hopefully, return in person in the fall. This project is a big undertaking especially because we want to complete this update in-house in order to save on printing expenses. Therefore, we're asking everyone to be as helpful as possible by taking our calls, returning voicemail requests, and responding to email requests when asked. If you have any questions or would like to give us your information before you're contacted, please call or email either:

Linda Duvel, 781-631-1703 linda.bill.duvel@gmail.com
Lynda Hare, 781-639-0107 hares8carrots@hotmail.com.

Thanks in advance for all your cooperation.  

Old North Book Discussion Group
Wednesday, April 14th, 8:30-10:00 am
 
The next meeting of the Old North Reading and Discussion Group on Preserving our Democracy and Environment will be on Wednesday, April 14th, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM via Zoom. This is the latest of a series of meetings on preservation of our democracy and environment that have been hosted for all by the ONC Men’s Group. The discussions are supported by background reading assignments. You are invited to participate regardless of the amount of reading you have done or whether you have attended a previous meeting. At this meeting we will continue discussing the paper by Shoshana Zuboff, “The Coup We are Not Talking About”, NY Times, 29 January 2021, and Prof. Zuboff’s book, The age of Surveillance Capitalism, 4 Oct 2018. Frank Kashner has volunteered to lead the discussion of this important material.

To join the Zoom meeting on Apr 14, click on the URL

For telephone audio, dial 1 929 205 6099 (New York).
Meeting ID: 828 0900 7043; Passcode: 333465.

Nominating 2021

Recall that ONC’s formal organization structure consists of Officers, a Leadership Board, and four active Ministry Boards (Christian Formation, Community Life, Outreach, and Prudential). The Leadership Board and Ministry Boards each have 8 lay members from our congregation, all endorsed by congregational vote.  All officer positions are filled for the coming church program year (2021-2022). However, we have a few openings on the Leadership Board; and, we will likely have a few openings on the ministry boards. If you are interested in serving on any board or have questions about other service opportunities, please contact Dave Hostetter, Nominating Committee, by email (daveh.racer@gmail.com) or phone (781-631-3216).  
Anti-Racism Accountability Group

A group of Old North Church folks are committing to get together regularly to hold ourselves accountable to doing anti-racism work in our own lives. This will be a time for sharing and accountability about how we are participating in the work Jesus calls us to do in unraveling white supremacy--whether that's confronting racist language in our families and friends, supporting Black organizers in the local area, immersing ourselves in learning from people of color, or many other things. We're still figuring this out, and we'd love for you to be on the journey with us.

Join us via this Zoom Link:

Meeting ID: 886 2749 7066

We meet the first and third Monday of each month at 7pm. Our upcoming meetings are April 19 and May 3.

Contact Lindsay (lindsaypopper@gmail.com) if you have questions!
Ways to Connect With Us During the Week

So that we might stay connected, we've set up several times throughout the week to gather on Zoom. You can join from a computer, iphone, or ipad using the links below, or you can call +1 929 205 6099 and enter the meeting ID (listed with each event). 

Lectio Divina (Tuesdays 9am)
https://zoom.us/j/532654567 (Meeting ID: 532-654-567)
A time of contemplative prayer, with scripture and poetry, led by Dennis. 

Breakfast Group (Fridays 8am)
https://zoom.us/j/568995512 (Meeting ID: 568-995-512)
A time to gather with one another, with your breakfast and coffee. 
Church Building Access and Office Hours

We are limiting access to the church and office buildings to critical business needs only. Our office is closed for normal business but some of our staff are in periodically to ensure that critical operations are maintained. Please reach out to us via email at office@onchurch.org if you have any questions. Thank you for staying home and staying safe!
Do You Need Assistance? Here are some Resources.
 
We are sharing a list of resources which Gordon Lothrop thoughtfully shared with us from the Marblehead Masonic Lodge.

List of Resources
  • Swampscott Council on Aging: click here
  • Marblehead Council on Aging: click here
  • Marblehead Community Support Forum:  click here
  • Nahant Council on Aging: click here
  • Anchor Food Pantry Swampscott: click here
  • The Nahant Veteran’s Food Bank operates the first Wednesday of the month for veterans living in Nahant.
  • Marblehead Food Pantry, 80 Atlantic Ave. (781)631-5335: click here
  • Town of Marblehead:  click here
  • Town of Swampscott: click here 
  • Churches
  • Synagogues
  • Schools
Contact Us: 781-631-1244

Church Address: 35 Washington St., Marblehead, MA 01945
Mailing Address: 8 Stacey St. Marblehead, MA 01945