Hancock UCC Weekly Messenger for July 30, 2023

You are the seed that will grow a new sprout; you’re a star that will shine through the day;

You are the yeast and a small grain of salt, a beacon to glow in the night.

Go, my friends, go to the world, proclaiming love to all, messengers of my forgiving peace.

Upcoming meetings, events, and opportunities

Our Monteux student musicians for this Sunday, July 30, will be … Allion Salvador (violin) and Laura Salgado (cello). Mr. Allion Salvador (5th year, violin; 4th year, conductor) is the 1st prize winner of the 2021 Music International Grand Prix, concertmaster of Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, associate concertmaster of Yakima Symphony, guest concertmaster at Seattle’s Paramount Theater, and a member of the Spokane Symphony and the Missoula-based String Orchestra of the Rockies. He is a regular guest artist with the Yakima-based Sempre Chamber Music series and SMCO Secret Chamber Music, collaborating with artists including Nathan Chan, Maria Larionoff, Jorja Fleezanis, and Denise Dillenbeck. As a conductor, he is the founding music director of the Seattle Philharmonic Strings, a chamber orchestra bringing rarely played string repertoire to new communities. Mr. Salvador graduated with degrees in Violin Performance and Neurobiology from the University of Washington. He is currently completing graduate work with Peter Winograd and Lisa Kim at the Manhattan School of Music. His principal teachers include Hal Grossman and Ronald Patterson in violin, and Michael Jinbo, Adam Stern, and Ludovic Morlot in conducting. Festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival, Round Top Music Festival, and the Pierre Monteux School. Cellist Laura Salgado (1st year) born in Mexico City, began her cello studies at an early age before studying with Monica Del Aguila and graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Performance with Mastery in Cello. From an early age, Laura was introduced to chamber and orchestral music. She was part of the Carlos Chavez Youth Orchestra and the Eduardo Mata University Youth Orchestra of UNAM. As part of the Eduardo Mata Youth Orchestra she performed at the Auditorium Parco della Musica of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and participated in the Emilia Romagna festivals in Imola and Music Weeks in Merano Italy, also performing with the violinist Massimo Quarta (winner of the 1991 Paganini Prize). Laura has appeared in masterclasses with Denis Parker, Jesus Castro Balbi, Steve Doane, Hans Jensen, Alan Rafferty, Sarah Kim, Johannes Moser, and Alban Gerhardt, among others. She has actively participated in national and international festivals such as Morelia Music Festival, SA’Oaxaca, Cello Fest in Dallas Ft. Worth, and the Santa Catarina Brazil Music Festival, performing actively as a chamber, orchestral, and solo musician. Laura now performs as a guest musician in the major orchestras of Mexico City, and is a cello instructor in the Delegation Orchestras of Mexico City Program.

Join us in our Sanctuary at 9:00 a.m. oron Facebook Live for the summer months.

You will be able to watch the service on Facebook Live in real time

or watch the recording on Facebook or YouTube .

Find us at Hancock UCC | Hancock ME | Facebook or

on YouTube at Hancock UCC - 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.

The Monteux Scholarship Concert will be in our Sanctuary, on Thursday, July 27th at 3:00

Donations will be accepted at the door.

The Council will meet Friday, July 28 at noon in person and Zoom.

The Choir will meet Sunday morning at 8:20 a.m. to rehearse for our Joint Service with HPC. Let Pastor TJ know how you would like to participate in this service. We will be taking a collection for MESOM, Maine School of Ministry, at this service. Envelopes will be available.

CHURCH FAIR & YARD SALE, August 5, 8:00 AM-2:00 PM. The side door will be unlocked this next week for those dropping items off and working to set the fair up. PLEASE, leave the door unlocked! It will be locked early evening. Thank you!

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY PRESERVATION-RESTORATION PROJECT 2023

The Hancock Riverside Cemetery Association (RCA) has hired Joe Ferraninni of “Gravestones Matter” again this year to continue our long-term restoration project. We made some major improvements last year and hope to accomplish even more this year.

There are still many gravestones of our ancestors in poor condition and a lot that are broken and have fallen over.

We hope to have volunteers do much of the preparation work before Joe arrives. If we can do the cleaning and some of the digging it will allow us to use Joe’s time and our $ to perform the heavy lifting and specialty equipment/materials tasks. Thus, we will accomplish a lot more work in the 3 days he is here. It’s also your chance to learn the proper way to clean gravestones without causing damage.

Can you help? Of course, donations are also very much appreciated. These 3 days of activity will cost the RCA approximately $3000 and we hope to raise sufficient funds to allow us to continue this work for at least a few more years.

WE NEED HELP--Volunteer Work Schedule:

8:30AM -10:00AM each of the following dates:

Tuesday July 25; Thursday July 27; Tuesday Aug 1; Thursday Aug 3; Tuesday Aug 8

Friday, Saturday & Sunday Aug 11-13—Work with Gravestones Matter (all day)

Contact Bob Foss if you need more info or just show up wearing old clothes

azbfjf@yahoo.com 480-617-0700

Tax deductible donations can be mailed to the Riverside Cemetery Association at

PO Box 419 Hancock, ME 0460

August Birthdays and Anniversaries

01: Bruce & Sheila Denny-Brown 08: *Gary* & *Jeanne* Edwards

09: *Denny* Doucette 11: Antonio Blasi & *Renata* Moise

15: *David* Wildes & *Cynthia* Wood 19: *Doug* Kimmel & *Ron* Schwizer

14: Amelia Ashmore 23: Gerry Mehl 24: *Cynthia* Wood

25: Austin Crowley-Dunn 29: *Nick* & *Mary Angela* Davis

Please keep the following people in your prayers this week:

Prayers for Jane Preble; William in hospice care; Coulter Huyler; Debbie & Lincoln & son-in-law Aaron, daughter Ashley, and granddaughter Brielle; Gratitude for Monteux Musicians in our sanctuary and in our community; Prayers for Kenny Stratton; Joy & David & Lori; Amy Nickerson; John Wood; Jim Snyder; Mike and Cindy Merritt; Sandy Phippen; Bruce’s sister Lynn; Dave Marden; for all caregivers; Renata’s sister-in-law Joanne; Austin’s cousin Danny; Liz & Jim; Margaret B; Debbie Maddocks and her Aunt Linda Reed; Gratitude for Pilgrim Lodge, the campers, counselors and staff members; Prayers of strength and healing for all awaiting diagnoses and for all recovering from surgeries; Tom & Judy’s son Andrew and his family; Betty & her step-daughter Mollie; Prayers for all individuals and families experiencing addictions; for all victims and loved ones of violence; prayers for all that are unsafe, unhoused, hungry & in need of care & compassion; and for all that is in your heart…

News from the Maine Conference

Reflections from General Synod 34

A letter from

an At-Large Delegate

Rev. Marraine Kettell

Over the course of my life I have held membership and or served in five different conferences of the United Church of Christ; bookended by my presence in the Maine Conference. My engagement in the UCC has been a backbone of my life. This was the eighth General Synod I have attended, but General Synod (GS) 34 is the first time I have served as a delegate. Although it was exhausting, I find General Synod to be a celebration and an affirmation of the work we do both on the local and national levels of the church.

My goal has been to recognize the work of the wider church as integral to the sustainability of the local church and vice versal. GS is a celebration of this denomination which has a historical, current, and future role in this world. We have a unique opportunity to be a voice for progressive faith that speaks out for mercy and justice in the world. One of the reasons that I invest my life and energy as ordained clergy of the UCC into this work is because I feel it is call to encourage systemic change in the world by addressing issues of injustice. One of the major tasks of a delegate is to be active in the conversation and voting on resolutions presented at General Synod. Part of that responsibility was to attend a six-hour committee workshop on the particular resolution to which each delegate was assigned. My assignment was to Committee #1 which addressed the resolution regarding Abortion as Health Care. Examples of other resolutions were issues of non-binary and transgender people, white supremacy, and substance abuse – just to name a few. To see an archived list of past Synod resolutions in the final forms with suggestions for implementations www.uccresolutions.org. (Please note that the 2023 resolutions will be updated soon.)

So why does it matter? Working on resolutions takes time from crafting to discussion to amendments to voting. It can be a tedious process of wordsmithing and clarifying the input of the body of the wider church represented by the delegates. Being the church geek that I am I have always appreciated the work of the resolutions because it brings topics of varying levels into discussion with representatives of the local church. They are witnesses to the work we do in the world.

I learned something new this year that I hadn’t known during all my life that I have spent in the United Church of Christ. During Synod I attended a workshop featuring the Justice and Witness office of the UCC in Washington, D.C. I have always appreciated the work they have done on behalf of the church on a national level. They are a voice for justice in the world and suppliers of tools that we might do the same on the local level. But during this workshop I learned that the resolutions presented at General Synod actually drive where they focus their work. It is a simple connection, but no one had ever been that direct in the presentation before. So, it would also make sense that those resolutions can help drive the work of the church on the local level too. Being a local pastor, I also acknowledge that it can take time and effort to bring resolutions into the context of the local church. It is a challenge, but I also know full well that we are called to do hard things. Didn’t Jesus challenge us to be disciples and stewards? It makes sense to me that the justice work is part and parcel of our call to be church together. So dear ones, let us do just that.

Blessings,

Rev. Marraine C. Kettell, Pastor, First Congregational Church of Farmington, “Old South”