Presbyterian Church USA
United Church of Christ
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This newsletter is best viewed as a web page, or you may miss sections clipped at the bottom Please view as webpage.
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Lenten Season 2022 Sunday Bulletins |
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Pastor Letter
By Rev. Rob Mark, Lead Pastor
Dearest Church,
As May Day greets us in the midst of this beautiful spring unfolding, I simply want to celebrate our past Lenten & Holy Week journey through grottos into the practicing of resurrection. It was deeply meaningful to me to see close to 200 people gathered in person and online on Easter for the first time in three years due to the pandemic (and the first time ever in the current hybrid way we are engaging worship.) What a hopeful sign of resurrection and new life in community!
Thank you all for joining in the work of residing and resisting. I look forward to all that lies ahead for us this spring and 50-day easter season as Jubilee Jaunts, tree seedling give-aways, engaging adult eds, thoughtful bible studies, centering evening prayers, grounding Sunday worship, engaging children and youth activities, life-alive-young adult gatherings, GBIO actions, faithful mutual accompaniment between Boston and Nicaragua, the welcoming of new faces and stories into our life together, and the ongoing work of pursing justice, truth and peace in ourselves, communities and world continues.
Ready to engage??? Let’s dive in and follow the Spirit’s lead. Onwards we travel, fellow Travelers, making the road together with each step.
In the peace of the Risen & Rising Christ,
Rob
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES AND FILL OUT THIS SURVEY ABOUT COTC’s HYBRID MINISTRY:
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Easter Sunday Service: Choir and Sanctuary; Revs Kate, Joshua, and Rob |
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Supporting Our Pastors
By Nancy Ammerman for Personnel Committee
Did you know that COTC has special groups of people who coordinate and support the relationships between the congregation and our pastors? Because these relationships are so important to enhancing our work together, these “Pastor-Parish Relations Committees” serve as a regular channel for feedback, cultivating an open and creative source of communication for us. So, when you have suggestions, concerns, or kudos, these are the folks to call.
Pastor-Parish Relations Committee Members: Jack Ammerman, Selom Azuma, Barbara Darling, Mark Huston, Rachel Kirby, Diane Lauber Doherty, and Rev. Rob Mark.
Associate Pastor-Parish Relations Committee Members: Betsy Groves, Kathy Bull, Melissa Morgan, Kathryn Barry, Nancy Stockford, Jon Schwarz and Rev. Joshua Lazard.
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Update on Renew the Light Campaign to Save Our Tiffany Ornamental Windows
By Lucy Williams, Building Committee
Our Renew the Light Project to ensure that all 22 of our clerestory windows are restored is moving forward. You may not think it is moving quickly, but that is because there are many moving parts.
We are excited that the first seven of the restored clerestory windows will be reinstalled in June. The exact date is still to be determined because we want to maximize savings while using the lift to also install a fire alarm.
When Serpentino installs the first seven windows, they will take out two additional windows on the Newbury Street side. Scaffolding will remain up for 1-2 months while these two windows are restored. We expect that all nine windows on the Newbury Street side of the church will be reinstalled by the fall, and we will have a rededication in September.
We thank all of the congregational members and diaspora who have supported this project and are contributing to this and paying on their pledges. Regular payments allow us to meet our obligations as we continue to restore our windows.
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Climate Jubilee Team Update
Earth Day: Every Day
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COTC's Climate Jubilee Team has been active in the larger community! |
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Diane Lauber and son Jon Doherty (in photo wearing red) and Anne Covert (in photo with arms crossed) participated in GreenRoots Chelsea's tree planting.
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A WBUR/NPR broadcast on costly, impractical experiments feeding seaweed to cows in an effort to reduce the immense methane emissions from the dairy industry included quotes from Evelyn Kimber saying this practice treats animals like machines where you alter the fuel to alter the emissions, whereas reducing our consumption of dairy and meat has immediate benefits in reducing methane plus reducing the many other environmental and climate damages of animal ag. |
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Church of the Covenant and the Climate Jubilee Team were represented by Holly Humphreys, Anita Gram, and Barbara Darling at the April 23 event “Great Tide Rising: Earth Day at the Compressor”! We were joined by other people of faith—Jewish folks, Unitarians, Baptists, and more—as well as teachers, engineers, scientists, Mothers Out Front, and many others. We celebrated God’s beautiful earth and pledged to keep active in protecting this fragile planet from pollution, corporate greed, and other threats. See media coverage with many photos.
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Covenant Seedling Giveaway–Members of the Climate Jubilee team staffed a table outside the church on April 30 offering free tree seedlings with planting instructions to passersby.
Staffing the event were Mark Huston, Betty Southwick, Rev. Rob, and Evans Naquin. Evans described the experience eloquently as "Soaking up joy like a parched sea sponge." Thank you to Speak for the Trees Boston for this program.
Mark, Evans, Betty, and Rev. Rob are joined in this photo by Simone DeVito, greeting visitors and giving tours on the first day Covenant reopened for Open Sanctuary.
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Coming up! Join us for these events hosted by Climate Jubilee:
Sunday, May 15 - Adult Ed on Electric Cars - Stay for an after-church class (hybrid on Zoom and in Bates Hall.) Nancy and Mark, Tim and Betsy, and Betty will share their learning and experiences, both pro and con, with their electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
Sunday, May 22, 1:30 p.m. - Jubilee Jaunt in Franklin Park - Betty Southwick will lead a walk to explore this local gem, Boston's largest open space, a partially-wooded parkland in the Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston. Sign up here and Betty will email you the details on meetup spot and directions.
Sunday, June 5 - Adult Ed on Democracy & Climate - After church hybrid class. Drawing on both historical precedents and recent events, Christine James will lead a discussion of how our faith requires us to protect our democracy as a prerequisite to effectively addressing climate change and other threats to God's creation.
Sunday, June 26, 1:30 p.m. - Jubilee Jaunt in the Arnold Arboretum - Mark Huston will lead a walk in this 281-acre jewel of the Emerald Necklace park system. This botanical garden is the oldest public arboretum in North America. Sign up here and Mark will send you details.
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News from the Pews
By Linda Pursley
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Rev. Julie Avis-Rogers, her wife, Alyssa, and their son, Zeke, were welcomed back to Covenant as Julie served as a guest minister on Sunday, April 3.
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Rev. Beth Weiman retired on April 24 after 39 years in ministry. The Hyde Park Presbyterian Church, which she served for the last 15 years, celebrated her ministry, along with her family and former congregants from the church where she and Mark attended youth group as teenagers, Grace Church in Framingham, where she served as Associate Pastor. Beth served at Covenant as Minister for Children, Youth and Families, introducing Godly Play, Rite 13 and Youth Pilgrimages. A number of clergy, including former Covenant pastor, Rick Spaulding, participated in the celebration. Nancy Holloman and Mocky Day can be seen in the background above.
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Covenant Adventures away from Boston
Jack and Nancy Ammerman spent 10 days in April in Arizona (where Nancy lived as a child) and New Mexico, where several of Nancy's cousins gathered at her aunt and uncle's house in Santa Fe to catch up on too long a time apart. Besides that city's wonderful art and architecture, they enjoyed hikes almost every day, exploring canyons, pueblos, cliff dwellings, and brightly blooming cacti.
Joining the Covenant Diaspora
Enid Watson announces her retirement from the Institute for Health & Recovery and Stratford Street United Church. After decades of working two jobs, she is thrilled to retire and find volunteer opportunities. She moved to southern Rhode Island at the end of April, near family (& many beaches.) Enid shares that she has happily paid her COTC pledge and per capita. She invites Covenant friends to come and visit! watsonenid@gmail.com
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Under the Mango Tree
By Tim Groves for Nicaragua Companions
This column will be a monthly sharing of stories from our sister church community, Dulce Nombre de Jesus, in northwest Nicaragua.
In our Christian tradition, there is no season more central than Holy Week or Semana Santa. As we have participated in these holy traditions in Boston, we are accompanied by our siblings in Dulce Nombre de Jesus. For the past few years, a large contingent of these villagers have joined with their Nicaragua Sister Community, San Pablo Apóstal in the Catorce neighborhood of Managua, the capital city. Each year they have asked us at Covenant to sponsor hiring their bus for this reunion; through the generosity of Covenant's Mission & Advocacy, we have provided this transportation.
Dulce Nombre and Catorce, as the church community there is known, are two of the remaining Christian Base Communities in the country. This network of community churches has a small number of remaining members, but they are dedicated to practicing their faith by connecting the message of the Bible to the realities of their daily lives and in our world today. Their example serves as inspiration to many, in particular to us at Covenant. (Please see photos carrying palms through this neighborhood of Managua.)
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Both Dulce Nombre and Covenant are connected in relationship by our facilitating organization in Managua, Entre Culturas. In their monthly visit to Dulce Nombre in April, Eduardo Valdez and Luis Aguirre learned that a member of the community had just died. Eduardo and Luis joined in a vela or sitting vigil for Don Fransciso, husband of Yadira Betancourt. The next day on our WhatsApp group chat, we received a photo and video of the procession to bury Don Francisco in the village cemetery. (Please see photo of the truck driving his casket.) For the final meters of this journey, his casket was carried up the hill to the cemetery; along with the truck and the pallbearers, over 150 villagers processed.
Within the next year, we hope that despite the political pressures in Nicaragua and the Covid pressures, we will be able to form a delegation once again to visit Dulce Nombre and Managua. Meanwhile, we are grateful for Zoom, WhatsApp, phone calls and letters to keep us connected.
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Council Report
By Sharon Wright for Council
Meeting of April 12, 2022
Hybrid Ministry (including hybrid worship, how to build community, staffing requirements and website reconfiguration). Christine James and Guy Herman joined the April Council meeting for this topic.
- Christine, Guy and Ron Lacey shared their experiences with remote church and how it has helped them to stay or become connected
- Christine and Guy shared a document "A Call to Adapt for Hybrid Ministry at Church of the Covenant-Boston" with many suggestions for enhancing communication especially through the website
- A survey will be created to gather input from the congregation on hybrid ministry. Council members are asked to submit questions for the survey to Christine by April 19.
Fossil Fuel Divestment in PCUSA March 17, 2022, vote by email: The motion passed to Overture the Boston Presbytery to ask that the PCUSA Pension Fund to divest in fossil fuels. At its March meeting, the Boston presbytery voted to concur with this overture.
Report from the Pastor – Planning for Holy Week services will include hybrid services. COVID cases are going up again requiring continuous monitoring of safety precautions. The April 24 service will be Zoom only.
Missional Focus Update
- Congregational Vitality (Rob) - Vibrant Lenten season with outdoor service on Palm Sunday
- Culture of Compassion and Caring (Nancy) - Nancy is exploring how we can build memorials for people who have built our church over the years.
- Creative Income Generation (Liz) - The second office has been rented to La Donna Musicale
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Christian Formation for Children and Youth (CFCY) and all ages (Karen)- Rev. Kate sent home materials for families during Holy Week, with suggested reflections and activities for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.
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Climate Jubilee Centered Innovative Outreach (Betty)- The Climate Jubilee Team is looking forward to celebrating Earth Day and Arbor Day with the following opportunities:
- Earth Day Boston - 4/19, 5:30 - 6:15 p.m. In collaboration with the Boston Vegetarian Society and Earth Day Boston a free virtual plant-based cooking class will be offered.
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GreenRoots Chelsea - 4/22, 9:30 - 1 p.m. Tree planting event with our partners.
- Great Tide Rising, 4/23, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station have invited us to celebrate Earth Day by joining in their call to shut down Enbridge's Weymouth Compressor Station.
- Speak for the Trees, 4/30, 12 noon - 1:30. We will again give away tree saplings to passersby on Newbury Street.
- We will also offer Adult Education events on the following Sundays:
- May 15, Zoom after worship service. Topic - Electric cars
- May 22, 2 pm (Time being finalized) Jaunt in the Arboretum
- June 5, Zoom after worship service. Topic - Democracy and Climate
Committee Reports
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Building Committee: (Liz)
o The first set of clerestory windows will be reinstalled in June
o The "Restore the Light" campaign has received $72,000 in pledges from 44 friends of COTC in the diaspora
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Personnel Committee: (Sharon/Harry) - Motion to approve the position description for a Digital AV Manager was passed.
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Membership Development Committee: (Trudi) - The 2022 Church Directory has been distributed.
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Committee on Youth and Children’s Education: (Karen)
o We are happy to report that we have had 4 sessions of in-person activities for children at Covenant since March 20:
o April 10: Palm Sunday -- All Ages Service -- children attending passed out palms to the congregation as we left the sanctuary for our Palm Sunday procession.
o We plan to offer an Easter Egg hunt after the service on Easter. CYCE teachers and Rev. Kate will also have Easter baskets for children who attend the service on Easter Sunday.
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May Birthdays
11 Charlene James
16 Shirley Azuma
20 Sunny Davidson
21 Darcey Surette
28 Becky Evans
29 Nancy Stockford
If your May birthday does not appear above, please notify the church office so we can include you next year!
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May 2022 Calendar
most up-to-date church calendar.
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About This Issue
May 2022 Covenant News
Editor and Graphics: Evelyn Kimber
Deadline for the June 2022 Covenant News is Thursday, May 26. Please email your submissions to Evelyn Kimber at ebkimber@gmail.com.
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67 Newbury St.
Boston, MA 02116
617-266-7480
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