The outdoor service will be held in the

 BACK PARKING LOT 

as we did last summer and fall.

Please plan to bring a chair, social distance, and wear a mask.

The service will also be live-streamed through Facebook Live here or on 3CX here. We hope you will join us in person or online.

Next Saturday, June 5th, our church will be hosting the Strawberry Festival.

Volunteers are still needed to make this a successful church event.

Our greatest need is during the hours of 1PM - 3PM.

We also have a great need for people to take orders and payment at the grill.

You can sign up for a few hours, or more or less...whatever you are available.

And here are some other ways you can help:

--Make a raffle basket. Ideas: Children’s Beach Fun, Gardening, Cookout, Carwash, etc.

--As your perennials come up, separate and pot them for the plant table.

--Get Baking for our Bake Sale Table.

Do you have a popup tent you would be willing to loan us? We are looking for some tents to help keep some shade on the tables. Contact Ellen McCune if you have any.

Sign up here or call Ellen McCune at 603-329-5811 or email ellen.mccune@cgmtech.com if you have any questions. Your help is needed and appreciated!!

Leadership has been following UCC Conference guidelines as they relate to Covid-19 and indoor worship. With things rapidly changing, members of the team thought it was important to secure the thoughts and feelings of our members as we consider next steps. To that end, we have created a simple two-question survey that we would like you to fill out by May 31st.

Results of the survey will be used for informational purposes only and are not binding in any way. 

If you are a member of HCC, please click here to fill out the survey online. Please make sure you hit the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the survey to ensure your answers are submitted.

Please Note: We will continue to broadcast the Sunday services via Facebook Live and thru the link on 3CX regardless if services are outside or inside. We have no plans on stopping the streaming of services.

The funds raised through this offering support leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. By your giving, you build up the Body of Christ. The STC offering will be for the rest of May. You can bring a STC offering with you any Sunday or send it to the Church office. Checks can be made out to Hampstead Congregational Church with the memo line designating "UCC Strengthen the Church Special Offering".

As always, thank you for your continued generosity and support of our UCC special offerings!

Hi there… It’s Judy D. with a brief update on my recovery from the fall I took over three weeks ago.

The cast is off…and the real work has begun. I did some interesting damage to my left elbow and the surrounding area so it will take some time before I can be out and about again. In the meantime, daughter Amanda and her cat Cotton have been staying with me for well over two weeks and will remain until at least the beginning of next week. She has helped me maneuver my way through the countless little tasks that have to be done differently right now…and has completed many wonderful projects for me inside my home and around the outside as well. What a blessing! Daughter Rachel and her family are available whenever I need them…and the Visiting Nurses have been angels.

I want to sincerely thank all of you for your cards, calls and encouraging words. You and our church mean the world to me! Hopefully, I will see you sometime in the month of June – that’s the plan. Please know that I am thinking of you with gratitude and love!

We are saddened to pass on the news that Bernice Moore has died. We ask that you hold her family in your prayers. To read her obituary, click here.

May she rest in peace.

Finally, the warm weather is here. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, and to many of us, thoughts turn to fresh vegetables!

Personally, I have a nice little garden where I can grow my own herbs and vegetables. I love knowing where my food is grown. Understandably though, not everyone can have their own little patch of goodness in their backyard, but the next best thing just maybe our local farmers’ markets.

We are lucky to have three markets close by, open on either Sundays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. These little hyper-local food hubs are a win-win for all involved. Small, local farmers enjoy a customer base for their products and customers get the freshest produce available, apart from our own backyards.

By directly supporting our local farms, we are supporting our local economy, enabling a more healthy and diverse food supply, permitting the continuing of local open space, and reducing the energy needed to ship food from the other side of the country. You may even consider it a homeland security issue.

Many local farms produce heirloom varieties of food that may not ship well but have superior flavor. Some may raise rare breeds of animals, which helps ward against livestock monoculture and the problems that come with that. You may find food from different cultures AND people to explain how they cook and serve them. At my work, we custom grow saved seeds for a group of African refugees who participate in a cooperative farming effort in Goffstown. To them, it is a way of participating in community and continuing to grow food from home. It is also a way to support themselves in their new home.

I encourage you to visit one of our markets. Go alone or with friends. It is a fun thing to do with the bonus of coming home with new, fresh, and interesting food. If the market times do not work for you, consider stopping at one of our local farm stands before your trip to the grocery store. Enjoy locally produced meat, milk, eggs, and vegetables. Meet your farmers. Enjoy the open space the farms provide.

Open year-round on Sundays from 10-2

Located at 12 Via Toscana Dr. (Lake Park in Tuscan Village)

Beginning in June on Wednesdays from 3-7 In the Pocket Park by Benson’s.

Beginning in May on Thursdays from 2:15 - 5:30 on the Swasey Parkway, Exeter

Submitted by Kari Allard, Peace and Justice Team

Sunday, June 20^th (Father’s Day)

Please join us right after Service for an Ice Cream Social. The Missions Team will be serving Ice Cream Sundaes with all the "fixins" outside of Hadley Hall.

Donations will benefit Isaiah 58 NH.

Polish composer Frédéric François Chopin was, like Beethoven, a childhood prodigy that was given accolades at a very young age.

Chopin only ever played the piano in the dark, even at the 30 concerts he performed in his

lifetime, it was always in the dark. You might think this is because he was goth before it was cool, but he was actually just quite shy and preferred to hide in darkness while performing his masterpieces.

He suffered difficulties with love and failed to have any long lasting relationship in his lifetime. Lover’s quarrels and breakups often coincide in time with Chopin's most famous works. All of this tumultuous drama and heartbreak made Chopin the Poster Boy of the Romantic Era - a period of music and art that took hold of Europe in the first half of the 19th century.

Chopin died in poverty at the young age of 39 of a mysterious illness, which many believe to have been tuberculosis.

Once again, we are thankful for your giving as we continue to be a 5 for 5 Church supporting the UCC special offerings.

Our church received $145 for The Christmas Fund offering and $1,325 towards the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

Your giving changes the futures of people and communities most in need.