Posts from 2022 (Page 2)

Posts from 2022 (Page 2)

A sun with the words children 's sunday written in it.

Children’s Sunday 2022

Hi families!I am excited that we will be having the first in-person Children’sSunday in two years on June 12. Practice for this will be taking placein church school during regular class time on May 29 and June 5.The kids have anxiously been waiting to show you their creationsthat they made for the Christmas pageant which we will beincorporating into our children’s day skit. Please join us afterwardon the side lawn for our annual ice cream social following theservice.June 12 will…
A woman in white shirt and red scarf sitting on the floor.

CE Update

When looking up the definition of a Pastor in the dictionary it tells us that it means “a clergyperson serving a local church or parish.â€Â  When I read that line it seems like such a standard description for such an important person.  A basic and even boring statement that could be used to describe anyone that has even the most basic of knowledge of the Bible or just any simpleton who can lead a group of people.  However, with conviction, I…

From The Pastor’s Pen

Maintaining healthy boundaries is an important part of every minister’s vocation. Ministers are entrusted with intimate details about parishioners’ lives. Appropriate boundaries at the time of a minister’s departure are also important. It is essential for the health of the congregation that they are able to devote themselves to forming a relationship with the incoming Pastor without the shadow of the departing Pastor getting in the way. The Ethical Code for Ministers defines what healthy boundaries should be adhered to…
A cross surrounded by tulips on a blue table.

Happy Spring!

Hi Families! I am happy to announce that we are officially mask-free at church school!  Families have the option of doing whatever works best for their children, (either in masks or without masks) but now the masking is optional.  We will still continue to keep the windows open to allow for fresh air circulation and we will still social distance whenever possible as well as sanitize all items regularly. This year we will be celebrating Palm Sunday together as a…
A picture of the sun setting behind two crosses.

From The Pastor’s Pen

Jesus had a knack for never being where you would expect to find him. What could be more unexpected than a child who was conceived in the womb of a virgin? As an adult, he always seemed to be found among the people who were considered to be forsaken by God. He died on a Cross, which was the last place anyone ever expected to look for the Savior of humanity. After they took his dead body down, they laid…
A woman in red dress standing next to trees.

One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing is one of four special offerings of the United Church of Christ.  This Lenten Offering supports the disaster, refugee, and development ministries of the  United Church of Christ within Wider Church Ministries. When you give to One Great Hour of Sharing, you deploy resources to people in need all around the world, and in our own communities.  When man-made or natural disasters strike, love responds.  Not just for the immediate future, but for the long…

Update from CE

The days are getting longer, the sun is feeling warmer and we are starting to plan for our annual Holy Week and Easter activities at church!  This year we hope to be able to do the Easter egg hunt outdoors (weather permitting) and while keeping socially distant, we hope to all be able to hunt at the same time!  Although we don’t know what the Easter service will look like at the time I am writing this, we are having…
A person writing on paper with a fountain pen.

From The Pastor’s Pen

In January of 2013, I was called to serve as Pastor and Teacher of this congregation. Sometime after that, a Service of Installation took place to celebrate our covenant relationship with each other and to “make it    official.†It has been a blessing and a privilege to have spent the last nine (plus) years since then as your pastor. Together, I believe we have been faithful stewards of what has been passed down to us by those generations who preceded…
A bunch of presents are sitting on the floor

A message from the Christian Outreach Committee 

Re: Giving Tree 2021 Unfortunately, the Outreach Committee was faced with another year of being unable to do things “the way we used to†and we had to pivot our annual giving tree project into an online event.  Fortunately, our congregation is used to pivoting at this point and our call for gifts was still answered in abundance. We used the power of Amazon to make this as smooth a process as possible, using a gift registry to share with…
A group of children reading a book together.

Hello church families!

Hello church families! As we continue to make our way through these unchartered covid waters, I want to thank you all for bearing with us and allowing us to continue to be flexible with our programming. We are working hard in these ever-changing times to continue to provide accommodations for classes and Spiritual learning for our littlest members of the church. At this time we have decided on meeting in person. Please Continue to follow the church school Facebook page…
A girl standing in front of a wall with colorful designs on it.

Girl Scouts

A big thank you goes out to the Girl Scout Troop 64651.  A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last past summer in the Community Room, which used to be our Thrift Shop. The Girl Scouts cleaned the room, redid the floors, and painted and decorated the room.  Their biggest job was resurfacing the entire floor. Here are some pictures from the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Thank you again!
A person writing on paper with a fountain pen.

From The Pastor’s Pen

As we approach our third Lent since the onset of the pandemic, we will once again face the challenge of adapting our traditional pre-Easter observances in order to mitigate the risks that persist with large gatherings.  While that may feel like a burden and an intrusion upon this sacred season, Lent and quarantine actually have more common than one might realize. We all know that Lent lasts forty days (not including Sundays). What is less well known is that during…
A group of people in costumes standing around a nativity scene.

CE Update January 2022

Hi families! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas with your families. Keep an eye out as we are still going to have the pageant as planned before! The kids are continuing their work on the nativity animals during church school. We will plan to have a Christmas pageant after the start of the new year. It will be later than planned, but I don’t want to rush it and the children deserve their time to shine.  We will…
A group of people holding hands with the word " pledge " spelled out in blocks.

In This Season of Giving

In this season of giving, we wanted to wrap up our Steadfast Hope campaign. As of this writing, we’ve had over 75 pledges, and they are still coming in. If you have pledged and shown your support, the church community is grateful! If you haven’t pledged yet, you can still send in your pledge card. Thank you for your steadfastness in this season, and here’s to everlasting hope for the new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Generous Giving…
A statue of an owl with its head turned to the side.

From The Pastor’s Pen

The month of January gets its name from the ancient Roman god, Janus. Janus was the god of beginnings and endings. He was a two-faced deity. One face looked back to the past. The other face looked forward to the future. Honestly, from the vantage point of January 2022, neither view looks all that rosy. 2021  began with the hope that the race to develop and distribute COVID vaccines would prove to be the solution for subduing the disease so…
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