Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for April 30, 2023

Jesus, shepherd of the sheep, who your Father's flock does keep, safe we wake and safe we sleep, guarded still by you.

Upcoming meetings, events, and opportunities

Choir practices Sunday morning at 9:15 a.m. All are welcome.

Join us in our Sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. or on our Sunday Worship Zoom link at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88327467219?pwd=Mis3ME4waGE1RmRBN zFXK3VUaDJXdz09

Meeting ID: 883 2746 7219 Passcode: 131738

(Posted later for viewing on Facebook and YouTube)

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

Pastor TJ will be on Study Week April 24th - 30th.

On April 30th, Pastor Jeff Jeude will be our guest preacher while Pastor TJ is away.

Meet our Congregation

Meet Peggy Karns (or, more formally, Margaret) … I am a long-time summer resident of Sullivan Harbor since my parents built our house on the shore road below the Dunbar Store in 1952! For many years, my family attended the little Methodist church on Sorrento’s East Side Road with the Rev. Margaret Henrichsen as minister. In fact, she was something of a role model for me—the only woman in a leadership position other than a school principal whom I knew growing up. In the mid-1970s, my parents started attending the Union Congregational Church of Hancock when Tom Niblock became the minister. Tom, like me, grew up in Winchester, MA and my mother had had him in Sunday School at the First Congregational Church in Winchester. His father was my high school principal! Tom was followed by Reverend Susan Davies who became a good friend, particularly after she became a faculty member at the Bangor Theological Seminary. For many years, however, I was here in Maine only a short time each summer since I lived in Dayton, Ohio from the mid-1970s until 2012. When I took on responsibility for our family house in the late 1990s that gave me the excuse to get here for more time, including spring and fall for opening and closing. I became an associate member of the church sometime in that period when the option was created for those of us “from away” and, in 2012 or 2013, I became the first seasonal member to be elected to a major board or committee – in my case, the Board of Trustees, then chaired by Kenny Stratton. I “timed out” in 2018, but was again elected in 2021 and assumed the chairship in 2022.

In my “other” life, I have been a professor of international politics at the University of Dayton where I also was the founding director of the Center for International Programs. My specialty is international organizations (IOs), particularly the United Nations, and the broader field of global governance—how countries, IOs, and other actors endeavor to deal with the many issues “without passports” as we say—from peace and security to economic development, migration, environmental problems, food security etc. I am coauthor of two textbooks which have gone through multiple editions as well as various other publications. Since my late husband and I relocated to North Andover, MA in 2012, I’ve had the great opportunity to teach students from all over the world in a doctoral program in global governance and human security at the University of Massachusetts Boston and I continue to work with a small number of those students at various stages of completing their doctoral dissertations. I like to say that my “soul” resides here in downeast Maine and I am so grateful for our small church and its members who so readily welcome those of us “from away.”

During the month of May, we will be receiving the Strengthen the Church Offering. This is one of the 5 for 5 offerings supported by the Maine Conference. The Strengthen the Church (STC) Offering reflects the shared commitment of people across the United Church of Christ to cooperatively build up the UCC. Conferences and the national setting equally share the gifts given by members and friends through their local congregations. The funds raised support leadership development, new churches, youth ministry, and innovation in existing congregations. By your generosity to this offering, you build up the Body of Christ. Envelopes are available in the back of the Sanctuary or notate it on your check.

David Wood's church on Cape Cod has started a Go Fund Me page to help the family out. If you would like to donate to this fund, please follow the following link.

Here it is: https://gofund.me/8305fff6

Or if you would like to donate in David’s memory, the family is asking that donations be sent to

Community Connections, Inc.

261 White Path, Suite 1

South Yarmouth, MA 02664-1246

This group helped him tremendously in the past. You can make checks payable to

Community Connections in David’s memory.

May Birthdays and Anniversaries:

01: Kelly Hudson

01: Erick & *Ginny* Shaw Coleman

07: *Liz* Singletary

07: *Marge* Severance

07: *Nancy* Baril

07: *Priscilla* Jones

09: *Jeanne* Edwards

14: *John* Wells

16: *Mary Alice* Alley Freeman

18: *Fran* Courschene

18:*Dick* Butters

20: *Dennis* King

22: *Brendan* Bonner

23: *Debbie* Ehrlenbach

24: *Erva* Pinkham

26: *Vicky* Espling

29: *Sally Knapp

31: *John* Holt

31: *Marty* Johnson

31: *Clint* & Eleanor Ritchie

Scholarships for Hancock residents

The Leon S. and Calista B. Thorsen Education Fund is accepting applications for funds to assist town of Hancock students or people of any age who will attend an accredited academic institution of higher education at the undergraduate or graduate level, or who will pursue learning in an accredited/certified academic or vocational program.

Applicants must be permanent legal residents of the town of Hancock who have been so for

at least the past three years (36 months).

Decisions will be based on academic achievement, personal aspirations, contributions to community, financial need, timely submission of application and supporting documents and availability of funds.

Applications must be postmarked by May 15.

Contact: thorsenedfund@gmail.com or write to Thorsen Education Fund,

P.O. Box 261, Hancock, ME 04640.

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

Family and friends grieving the death of Rob McCall, especially his wife Becky; the family and friends grieving the death of Rev. Charles Stanley; Mary Thomas; Ruth Dietze; Kate Winters; Dave Marden; Kenny Stratton; Joy & David & Lori; Gary & Jeanne’s grandson William; Gary Edwards; Kathy’s friend Amy Nickerson; Trudy Clark; Debbie R.; Samantha and her family; Mike and Cindy Merritt; Nick’s sister Susan; Denny Doucette; Sandy Phippen; Renata’s sister-in-law Joanne; Coulter Huyler; Judith Crowley; Sally’s brother-in-law Jim; Cheryl and her husband Jeff; Linda; Andrew and Tamara; Austin’s cousin Danny; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Debbie Maddocks and her Aunt Linda Reed; Liz & Jim; Renata and the women she cares for; Tom & Judy’s son Andrew and his family; baby Alexander; Betty and her step-daughter Mollie; Nancy; Cynthia; Margaret B; Eleanor’s step-daughter Holly; Cathy C.; all affected by memory loss; healing prayers for a family seeking solutions to significant mental health issues; all those living with depression and other mental health issues; all grieving losses, both ancient and new; all individuals and families experiencing addictions; all caregivers; for all victims and loved ones of violence; those impacted by laws limiting reproductive justice; those experiencing food and housing insecurity; the people of Syria and Turkey; the people of Ukraine and Russia; President Jimmy Carter and his family; all in your heart…

On May 13th at 2:00 pm there will be a service for Rev. Rob McCall who was the pastor at the Blue Hill Congregational Church for 28 years. For those who knew Rob, please know that all are welcome for the service at the Blue Hill church.

Read artist Robert Shetterly’s reflections on the life of Rob McCall and

Robert Shetterly - Americans Who Tell The Truth website attached.

Contact Us at Union Congregational Church of Hancock:

TJ can be reached by cell phone at 207-323-6743 or by email at revtjmack@gmail.com

Vicky can be reached at 207-422-3100 or by email at hancockmaineucc@gmail.com

Jen can be reached by email at treasurer@hancockucc.com

News from the Maine Conference

“How Very Good and Pleasant It Is…”

A letter from our Pilgrim Lodge Director Liz Charles McGough

Dear Kindred of the Maine Conference UCC!

I bring you greetings from Pilgrim Lodge! Spring time is a funny time at our summer camp in West Gardiner. On the one hand, those of us charged with opening up camp watch spring and new life emerge as we track the progress of the ice melting on Lake Cobbosseecontee, watch the trees bud out and hear the geese returning as they greet us in their flight path overhead. At the same time, our long row of cabins sits quiet, dormant, waiting for the energy of life among their walls. This weekend, we will host volunteers for Jump Start Work Days, the literal opening of camp and the symbolic start to the season that lies ahead. The energy of life among the trees will return with the people who come to create a community grounded in faith. The anticipation conjures up for me a verse that has always resonated for me about time at camp: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” (Psalm 133: 1)

Recently, I was intrigued to listen to a radio story about the Harvard Study of Adult Development which has been underway since 1938 for the purpose of identifying what makes people thrive. According to the current Director of the study, Robert Waldinger, the data indicated that the single variable that impacted happiness (defined as a sense of having a good, decent and meaningful life) was relationships: people “should invest in their relationships with other people. We found that the strongest predictors of who not just stayed happy, but who was healthy as they went through life - the strongest predictors were the warmth and the quality of their relationships with other people.” As a self-professed camp nerd who views life through the lens of the role that camp plays in the world, my interest was piqued. “Yes!” I thought “that is what camp is about.”

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.” What a gift we have in

opportunities to be in relationship with others. Yes, I love camp and the relationships we build

in that space. We are also blessed to have so many opportunities for relationships across our conference, within our congregations, and among our neighbors beyond our pews. How precious it is to look into the eyes of another beloved child of God and to connect. Dear Kindred, as spring emerges around us, may we be energized and filled by those moments where relationships – where the spark of the Holy Spirit - bring new life.