Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for November 3, 2024

Praise in the common things of life,

  Its goings out and in;

Praise in each duty and each deed,

  However small and mean.

The Sunrise Association will have its Fall Gathering & Annual Meeting at the Monroe Community Church UCC on Saturday, November 2nd beginning at 8:30 a.m.. All are welcome to join Pastor TJ and our delegates for the morning.

Fall Back this weekend. Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, November 3rd at 2:00 a.m.. Turn your clocks back an hour before you go to bed on Saturday night so that you are not an hour early for church on Sunday morning.

DOLLY'S COFFEEHOUSE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2024

 at BLUE HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Greetings Music Lovers,

The last Dolly's Coffeehouse of 2024 is coming up this Saturday. We don't have one in December, so the next will be January 4, 2025.

Those of you who have heard Geoff Warner at any of his previous Dolly's Coffeehouse engagements, either in his solo capacity or with his group, "Birds on a Wire", will be happy to know that he returns to us as this month's featured performer.

Geoff, a singer, songwriter, guitarist and fiddler, will perform a mix of original songs and roots covers on guitar and will give us a few fiddle tunes for good measure. Blues legends, Reverend Garry Davis and Mississippi John Hurt and the 60's rock and roll he grew up with are

influences on Geoff's fingerpicking style.

Nature, love, sailing, dogs, birds, local and global problems and solutions and the island life of Deer Isle, Maine, where he lives, have all ended up in Geoff's songs in one way or another. "The best songs are like paintings. You find the perspective, capture the light, and then know when to stop." He often introduces or ends his songs with a good story. Geoff considers his performances to be a musical conversation with his audience, a conversation that invites intimacy.

As always, the first hours of the coffeehouse, from 7:00-8:00pm will be open mic, in which everyone is welcome to perform music, dance, mime, story telling, poetry, or other talent. If you would like to perform for us, please come a few minutes before 7:00 to sign up.

After a refreshment break, we will hear a full set of Geoff's music until 9:00pm.

Admission to Dolly's Coffeehouse is free but donations are happily accepted and help to support the Dolly Fisher Emergency Fund. The fund provides heating fuel, food and power for those in need on the Blue Hill Peninsula. We also appreciate any snacks you might want to contribute to

the refreshment break at Saturday night's coffeehouse.

All Saints Sunday ~ November 3

On Sunday, November 3rd, we will be marking All Saints Day (Nov. 1) during worship. If you have a loved one who has died during the past year who you would like to be remembered, please let Pastor TJ know their name/s. Call TJ at 207-323-6743 or send an email to revtjmack@gmail.com .

Election day is Tuesday, November 5th. If you haven’t done so already, please vote. Rides are available if you need a lift to the polls.

The Union Congregational Church of Hancock, United Church of Christ will conduct its 2024 Annual Church Meeting on November 10th, 2024, immediately following the 10:00 AM Worship Service for the following purposes:

1. To Elect Church Officers, Board and Committee members;

2. To receive Board and Committee Reports;

3. To vote on the Proposed 2025 Church Budget

4.  And to hear any other business to come before the congregation.

Jeanne Edwards, Clerk

October 27, 2024

We need a quorum of 25 voting members to conduct business. Please plan to attend!

Our meetings are open to all. If you would like to attend a meeting, please let TJ or Vicky know and they will provide the Zoom link, or you are welcome to attend in person.

The Board of Deacons will meet Friday, November 8th at 3:00 pm in person and on Zoom

Church Council will meet Friday, November 15th at 11:30 am in person and on Zoom

John Bapst Memorial High School Players present

Friday, November 8th and

Saturday, November 9th, 7:00 pm

Amelia Ashmore will be playing Harriet Roeder

All seats are $5

For tickets go to:

The “Claiming Your Call for a Climate-Changed World” team – Amelia Ashmore, Alison Boden, Nick Davis, Pat Summerer and Pastor TJ invite you into a congregational conversation on Sunday Nov. 17th after our worship service. Help us to discern our “small project with radical intent.” Thank you in advance for your participation.

Information about the journey these five have begun on behalf of our church can be found at https://thebtscenter.org/claiming-your-call-for-a-climate-changed-world

In preparation for the post-service meeting on November 17 regarding opportunities for the church to respond to climate change, members who attended a BTS Center program in June on this subject are providing brief reflections for the next few weeks.  The first one, below, is from Pat Summerer.

Love of Nature

At our “Claiming your Call in a Climate Changed World” retreat in July, I was very impressed by our Native American guest speakers. One was an Elder of the Penobscot Nation here in Maine, the other, came from the Shoshoni Nation out West.

 With their calming demeanor and gentle voices, through stories, traditions, legends, and musical chants, we learned some of the history of our native people. I was most moved, however, by their connection to nature. We were encouraged to touch, listen and look for everything from the smallest ant, leaf or lichen patch, to the power of the ocean, the vastness of the forest, and all the “more than human” population within them.

 We are all connected.

I thank them for their teachings of our past, our present, and hope for the future.

From our Student Ministry Intern, Sarina Brooks:

Peace and Prayer Vigils

Union Congregational Church of Hancock, in solidarity with other local UCC churches, will be holding peace and prayer vigils during the months of October and November. Come, bring yourself, whoever you are, however you are feeling. Bring your worries, anxieties, hopes, and prayers for peace. This will be a time of quiet; for prayers, meditation, reflection or any other ways you seek to use this time and space. We will have printed prayers you may take; candles you can light for your prayers, and quiet music for reflection. Come and stay, for a minute or the entire hour. All are welcome. Please extend the invitation to others that you know. We will offer the following times in which our sanctuary will be open:

Monday November 4th @ 1-2PM

Monday November 18th @ 1-2PM

Sarina’s home church is also offering Peace and Prayer Vigils

Centre Street Congregational Church Machias

Tuesday November 5th @ 12-1PM and 6:30-7:30PM

Monday November 25th   @ 12-1PM and 6:30-7:30PM

All are invited to join a meditation group 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…

November Birthdays and Anniversaries  

   03: Mike Summerer           14: Johanna Bazzolo      

16: Marcia Nowell       16: Erin Shaw    17: Cookie Thelen

          20:  Kathy McGlinchey         24:  Jimmy & Liz Awalt       

                     26: Clint Ritchie                   30: Arthur Ashmore

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 Ron’s brother, Joe; Kathy’s brother, David; both receiving radiation or chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Prayers for Donald B. and Kenny V. and Orrick of Golden Acres. Prayers for Sally M.; Xyerra;

Everett’s sister Libby; Judith C.; Don and Heather; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Sally’s friend, Sue Barger; Dr. John; Yvonne; Herbie Lounder; Ira; Cathy C.; Jane; Ruth; Marie; Doris; Ron & Kathy; 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; Debbie & Hollis & Holly and Debbie’s Aunt Linda Reed; 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…

From the Maine Conference

Now and Not Yet

A message from Lydia Hoffman, Pilgrim Lodge Assistant Camp Director

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

(Ecclesiastes 3:2-8)

This week at Pilgrim Lodge, we have been preparing our beloved camp for the weather and wear of the coming winter season. We have been packing away life jackets, cleaning out the ice cream freezer, tucking away porch rocking chairs, mopping floors, and closing up cabins. The firewood has been stacked, the boats are all on shore, and the songbooks are quietly resting indoors. This is a season of putting away and packing up, of shutting off and shutting down. And yet, in the midst of all the cleaning and the packing, many new projects have emerged. The boardwalk has gained strong new planks, the chapel stairs have new railings, many cabins have received bright new paint, screen doors have been joyfully replaced, and cracked pipes have been carefully sealed.

At the very same time that we have been preparing for the close of winter, we have also been preparing for the opening of spring! Tending to this sacred space requires the many hands and hearts that do this holy work to exist in the now, and the not yet. To tend well to the common space of Pilgrim Lodge, a space that belongs to all who come down the camp road with love in their heart, our work is never truly done. The seasons change, the weather changes, the world changes, we change. The work that is required of us in the summertime is different from what is needed in the fall. The trees and the leaves remind us of this, offering us shade at one moment and teaching us about letting go during another.

Every season looks different at Pilgrim Lodge. Perhaps for you in your life and in your church, and in your community, every season looks different too. Sometimes we hear the call of the loon and the buzz of the cicadas, and other times we hear the silence of a snow fall, or the call of the crows. Sometimes we work hard, and other times we rest and we renew. Sometimes we celebrate, and other times we mourn. Sometimes we sing praises of joy and other times we are silent, while the evergreen trees stand in witness.

Many times, we feel all of these things all at once.

As the world around us changes, as the seasons change, we too are always changing. We are always existing in the now and the not yet. We carry our inner child within us, even as we age. We carry the beliefs we had as a teenager with us even as we come to believe in new and different ways in our adulthood. We cherish communities that once were, while we look to the people who we call family now. We move from one season of life to the next, and we hold and carry with us all that has been and all that is to come.

What a gift it is to take part in and bear witness to this ever-changing world, even as we can count on our ever present God.

While I hold the summertime at Pilgrim Lodge so dearly in my heart, I am excitedly waiting for the seasons to change, and to see what comes next for this special place. As we close up the boardwalk and prepare for the snow, I am already imagining the campers who will walk along its planks come next season. The work of closing camp will soon come to an end, but the work of this community is never finished. We will continue to live in the now and the next. Before we know it, it will be time to pull the ice cream back out, put the boats back into the water, sing from the songbooks, and rock in the rocking chairs once again.

The summer season has ended, and we wait. Soon enough the warm days will return. Yet as the fall weather sets in and winter pokes its head around the corner, change becomes inevitable.

May this season be a time of dreaming and growing for all communities moving through transition. May this season be a time of brave renewal for all living in the now and the not yet.

May this change in the season remind us that like the trees who drop their leaves and the loons who migrate until summer returns, we too are ever-growing creatures, ever changing with the seasons, and it is good.

Thanks be to God.