Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for November 24, 2024
O measureless Might, unchangeable Love, whom angels delight to worship above! Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze, in true adoration shall sing to your praise!
P.E.O. Thanksgiving Pies
Wednesday, November 27nd at Reny's in Ellsworth
9:00am to 11:00 am (or until sold out!)
Delicious homemade pies! Choose from many different varieties. (Gluten-free pies may be available upon request.) Call Kathy at (207) 570-3539 by November 23rd to place your order. Pies starting at $25 & up.
Pre-Ordered pies must be picked up by 10:30am
P.E.O. is a Philanthropic Educational Organization; where women celebrate the advancement of women; educate women through scholarships, grants, awards, loans and the stewardship of Cottey College; and motivate women to achieve their highest aspirations. To learn more about P.E.O., call Ann Dederer at (207) 266-5563 or visit our website at www.peointernational.org
Thank you to the many individuals who stayed for a conversation after church last week and then voted unanimously to begin the process of becoming a Creation Justice church. We look forward to what lies ahead of us.
Join us for lightly guided meditation at 9:00 a.m. on Fridays in our Sanctuary. In the spirit of the sessions led by Angela Absher at the Hancock Point Chapel we will begin with a lightly guided non-denominational meditation followed by a few minutes of discussion and ending with another 20 minutes of meditation. The program will be led by novices Alison Boden and TJ Mack. Now and again we may have guest speakers. Our goal is friendship and happiness. No experience is necessary. We leave in silence. Do come.
The Wreaths Across America convoy leaves Downeast on Sunday December 8th. It's due at the YMCA in Ellsworth at 9 am so it would pass the church in the 8:45am-ish time frame. All are invited to gather on our church steps between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. to wave them onward.
November Birthdays and Anniversaries
24: Jimmy & Liz Awalt 26: Clint Ritchie 30: Arthur Ashmore
From our Student Ministry Intern, Sarina Brooks:
Peace and Prayer Vigils
In solidarity with other local UCC churches, Sarina’s home church, Centre Street Congregational Church in Machias is offering Peace and Prayer Vigils on Monday, November 25th from 12-1PM and 6:30-7:30PM. All are welcome. Please extend the invitation to others that you know.
Help Keep Grammar School Kids Healthy and Focused - Bring your returnable beverage cans
and bottles to the church and support our campaign to provide snacks for students at the Hancock Grammar School. It's an easy and painless way to collect lots of nickels which will add up to a meaningful contribution for the snack program and help the kids stay focused, healthy and thriving. Call David Wildes at 422-3739 with any questions. He will pick up your bottles/cans upon request.
Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:
Prayers for Debbie Maddocks and family at the passing of Debbie’s Aunt Linda Reed; Prayers for Ron & Kathy and their brothers Joe and David; both receiving radiation or chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Prayers for Donald B. and Kenny V., Orrick, Brian, and Jane of Golden Acres. Prayers for Sally M.; Xyerra; Everett’s sister Libby; Judith C.; Don and Heather; Eleanor A.; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Sally’s friend, Sue Barger; Yvonne; Herbie Lounder; Ira; Cathy C.; Ruth; Marie; Doris; Jim Snyder; Jonathan Holmes; Brandon Perry-Hudson; John Wood; Sue Davies; Sue Davenport; Liz & Jim; Kenny Stratton; Joy & David & Lori & Melissa; Debbie & Lincoln & son-in-law Aaron, daughter Ashley, and granddaughter Brielle; Sandy Phippen; Betty & her step-daughter Mollie; Amy Nickerson; Tom & Judy’s son Andrew & family; Kevin and Vanessa & family. Prayers of strength and healing for all awaiting diagnoses and for all recovering from surgeries & procedures. Prayers for all that are unsafe, unhoused, hungry & in need of care & compassion. Prayers for all caregivers; and prayers for all that is in your heart…
Photo Directory — Have you ever heard anyone say “I know the name but don’t know the face” or “I know the face, but am not sure of their name?” Well, over the next few weeks, Sarina will be taking pictures so that we can begin to put together a photo directory. If you absolutely don’t want your photo to go with your name and address, your info will appear as it always has. Thanks in advance.
Each month on Communion Sunday we gratefully accept donations for the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry. All donations are welcome, but here is a list to consider before purchasing for any food bank.
1. Boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese are a common donation. It requires milk and butter which is expensive. Consider purchasing the type of mac-n-cheese that needs no additional ingredients.
2. Boxed milk is a treasure, as kids need it for cereal.
3. Pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles are another very common donation item.
4. Every once in a while donate a can opener to the food pantry for those picking up canned veggies and soups. Or donate canned food with pop-top lids.
5. Oil and butter are luxuries but may be needed for Rice a-Roni, another common donation.
6. Spices or salt and pepper would be a greatly appreciated donation.
7. Tea bags and coffee are thoughtful donations.
8. Sugar and flour are treats.
9. Fresh produce donated by farmers and grocery stores are appreciated.
10. Consider donating seeds in Spring and Summer because some will gratefully grow their own gardens.
11. Tuna and crackers make a good lunch.
12. Hamburger Helper goes nowhere without ground beef.
13. Food pantries receive peanut butter and jelly but usually not sandwich bread.
14. Butter or margarine is nice too.
15. Eggs are a real commodity.
16. Cake mix and frosting makes it possible to make a child’s birthday cake. (need eggs?)
17. Dishwashing detergent is very expensive and is always appreciated.
18. Feminine hygiene products are a necessity often overlooked.
19. Everyone loves Stove Top Stuffing.
20. Yes, pet food.
From the Maine Conference
Justice Leadership Program
4 month cohort starting in January
Do you feel called to work for justice? This online program is for adults interested in weaving social justice into the fabric of their faith in a meaningful and transformative way. Deepen your understanding, learn practical skills, and gain the confidence to take meaningful action through this foundational program. Participants meet weekly. Apply by December 15th.
Scholarships available for UCC members from FaithINFO (inquire upon applying)
Maine School of Ministry
“theological education for the life of the church"
Last 2 weeks to Register for UCC Polity
January Term class in UCC History, and Polity is filling up. Registration deadline: Dec. 4. All welcome. This real-time Zoom course satisfies, with the permission of a Committee on Ministry, the requirement for a Member in Discernment or a person seeking Privilege of Call toward authorized ministry in the United Church of Christ.
Spring Semester Announced
MESOM classes are offered for anyone who wants to learn more about theology, history, culture and ethics, and the spiritual practices that build up the church. Register by Jan. 10th for the Spring Semester.
Our Feb-May classes via Zoom will be Intro to Islam, a global religions course taught by Aida Mansoor, and Building Up A Thriving World: Applied Ethics for Christian Churches, taught by Anne Dunlap.
Tuition fee for each course is $350. Scholarship assistance may be available, so don’t hesitate to reach out to Malcolm Himschoot, MESOM Dean, mhimschoot@maineucc.org.
To register or find out more: https://www.maineucc.org/mesom/
A Letter from Associate Conference Minister,
Rev. John Fiscus
Dante’s Third Canto of Inferno is about standing in a space of liminality. Dante is between the world he knew and the yet unknown hell that loomed before him. In his liminal state, he looks above the gates to hell and reads “abandon hope, all ye who enter here”. He faces an unknown next and words that fill his mind and eyes are to abandon hope. In our current world, and in my current call, I find myself stepping into spaces of great unknowing. I am surrounded by fearful friends, fearful churches in transition, and pastors trying to balance all of this unknowing. I would ask any of you in a liminal state of mind to fight the good fight and to not abandon the one thing that is always liberating. Never abandon hope, hope abides.
Over recent years Dietrich Bonhoeffer has become an ever-popular model of resistance in the face of evil and the unknown. He is the subject of a new Bio-pic that people are excited to see. There are just two problems with that film. It was funded by Christian Nationalists and denounced by the Bonhoeffer estate. His concentration camp experience and execution make his martyrdom a noble template that few of us will be willing or able to duplicate. This direct resistance model is not where my heart is in our liminal spaces these days.
In contrast I have always been drawn to the theology and words of another German theologian with a Prisoner of War story. That story belongs to Jurgen Moltmann. Born and educated in Germany, when World War II happened he did like so many other good Germans boys and joined the Army to preserve their way of life. As the war progressed and his awareness grew he became troubled. He eventually laid down his arms and surrendered to an English soldier who took him into custody and sent him to a POW camp. He spent the next two years there. Over this time, he became more and more aware of the atrocities in Germany. He experienced the pain of knowing his role in the suffering of others. His complicity and sorrow lead him to turn to the only thing he could hold onto in the moment, hope. Hope became his anchor and the foundation of every theological idea he would hold going forward.
His vision is that God was present in the suffering of humanity. He sees a God crucified on the cross to understand the pain, suffering and hopelessness of human existence and offers resurrection as return to hope and rebirth. Moltmann’s theology is often seen through a liberation lens. God is present in the lives of the suffering most often framed as the poor or marginalized. But in Moltmann’s theology of hope the promise of resurrection is also for those who have contributed or caused the oppression. Hope can reconcile the oppressors and the oppressed simultaneously, if not reconciliation would not be enough.
I recently reread an article by one of my favorite authors, Brene Brown. She talks about hope not as an emotion but as a way of thinking. Hope is seeing a possibility and working toward that goal. These hopes and goals are not grand like changing the world overnight but small actions to bring things into right relationship. These little hopes align with Moltmann’s hope which always sees us yearning and reaching for the Kin-dom of God. Brown offers one more bit of advice about embracing hope now. See asks us to micro-dose on hope. Her exact words were “Doing the smallest next right thing is hard… but sometimes it's all we’ve got.”
My prayer in this moment is that none of us abandon hope in this wide patch of unknown. I pray that we embrace hope, look toward resurrection, and so the smallest next right thing… because sometimes that’s all we’ve got… Amen.
John Fiscus
The following was printed in the Ellsworth American Thursday, November 21, 2024.
Hancock church hosts peace vigil
By William Tracy
HANCOCK — In collaboration with other spiritual institutions in the region, the Union Congregational Church of Hancock held a peace vigil Nov. 18, giving locals a space of reprieve post-election.
It was the third peace vigil held by the church since its participation in a joint initiative to host a silent venue for those seeking to pray, reflect and contemplate in contrast to the rapid pace and information overload of the modern world.
“We are living in a time of high anxiety for so many people,” said Sarina Brooks, a student ministry intern who organized the Hancock event. “Whether it be worrying about their rights, bodily autonomy, wars or what others think of you, there is just a lot of stress and polarization going around.”
This was the last vigil scheduled for UCC Hancock. The next coordinated peace vigil will be at the Centre Street Congregational Church in Machias Nov. 25.
Brooks said she and other spiritual leaders designed the peace vigils to give people a pause button. UCC Hancock is operating the vigils in solidarity with other local United Church of Christ churches, including the aforementioned Centre Street Church and First Congressional Church of Cherryfield.
“The vigils came out of a need for me, other leaders and people at the church to do something to promote peace and give people a place to be still and pray,” she said.
During the service, visitors had the option to take papers with sample prayers, light and blow out a candle, and read affirming statements set against soothing, soft music.
Brooks said the service is not just oriented towards Christians. The church welcomed all backgrounds and religions to participate, emphasizing that the need for quiet and reflection is universal.
“No matter who you are or what you have going on, whether you’re secular or religious, everybody can use a place for peace,” she said. “It’s important for us to offer something to the wider community.”
David Wildes, a Hancock resident who attended the service with his dog Apple, said they both appreciated the soothing silence.
“I woke up this morning, and before I had my coffee, I read a headline that stressed me out,” Wildes said. “Then I remembered this vigil, and I figured I might as well see if it helps. I don’t regret doing it at all. In a hectic day, sometimes a period of peace and quiet goes a long way.”
He advocated for others to give themselves a break in the high-paced modern world and seek the peace he found inside the church.
“If the opportunity is there, I encourage everyone to take it,” Wildes said. “It could really help.”
Brooks said those struggling do not have to sit in solitude.
“If someone comes in and they’re in distress, I offer the opportunity to talk,” she said. “We want them to know they are not alone in their struggle.”
According to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, stress levels skyrocketed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and have remained high since, further accelerated by inflation. It can be debilitating — the study found that 27% of American adults said that most days they are so stressed they cannot function, with 37% reporting when they are stressed, they can’t bring themselves to do anything.
Stress also comes with serious health consequences. It can age a person and lead to frequent higher heart rates, which can result in future cardiovascular issues. People with higher stress levels tend to self-medicate with drug use and overeating and suffer from sleep issues. The study found adults with a higher average stress level were more likely than those with lower average levels to report changes in sleeping habits (53% vs. 12%), constant worrying (53% vs. 9%) and using alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to relax (30% vs. 5%).
Brooks hopes the vigils helped. She welcomes anyone struggling to pay the church a visit. “Our doors are always open,” she said.
Nov 20, 2024 Updated Nov 20, 2024
A large candle flickers next to assorted items for use during the Union Congregational Church of Hancock peace vigil Nov 18.
ELLSWORTH AMERICAN PHOTO BY WILLIAM TRACY
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