Smith Memorial Congregational Church UCC

Month: July 2019

Adult Book Group – “Here If You Need Me” by Kate Braestrup

The first book chosen for the Adult Book Group is “Here If You Need Me” by Kate Braestrup. This is the powerful true story of the author’s experience as one of the first chaplains for the Maine Warden Service (The Warden Service sets up search-and-rescue missions throughout the state.)

But it is more than a simple account of the life and death stories that are involved in this kind of work. The book is woven with stories of faith, related to scripture, is full of joy, as well as sorrow, and makes for a very profound and moving read.

Come join us on the following Mondays at 6:00pm: April 29 (please read through chapter 5), May 6 (chapters 6-9), May 13 (chapters 10-14) and on May 20 (finish the book).

Family Movie Night – Matilda

Join us on Saturday, May 11th to see the film, Matilda! Admission is free and complimentary popcorn and a drink will be served. The doors open at 6:30PM and the movie begins at 7PM. Hope to see you all there!

Stewardship Committee Boulders Raffle

The Stewardship Committee is currently finalizing a two night stay raffle to The Boulders Motel & Cottages in Holderness, NH that was generously donated by Nancy Steen.

Tickets will be on sale in May and will be sold for $1 a ticket or 10 for $5.00. The drawing will be held after Sunday’s service June 2, 2019 during Coffee Hour. You will be able to purchase tickets by contacting the church office at 603-464-3529 or Larry DeLacy at 603-547-0625 if interested in purchasing tickets. You could also contact anyone on the Stewardship Committee; Nancy Shee or Jean Mogan.

Youth Groups – RBA and The Scene

RBA

Our March weekend in York/Ogunquit, Maine was a great success. We volunteered our time on Saturday morning at Portsmouth Housing Authority playing cards and board games and visiting with the residents there.

By the time you read this we will be on our May adventure staying on Peak’s Island for the weekend of May 3-5 – always good to be back on the island! We meet every Tuesday night from 6-7:30 PM and would love to have more youth in grades 6-8 join us. Please contact Tyler (491-4126; tylerrayvaughan@gmail.com or Jenna (910-709-6132; jennakaylewis1996@gmail.com) or Barbara (464-5239; bdaley@tds.net) for more information.

THE SCENE

The SCENE met on April 18th with a meeting continuing along the lines of the meditation we did in March – this time we drew Zentangle shapes in total silence as a form of meditation.

Our last meeting of the season will be Saturday, May 18 from 5:30-9 PM and will be a great ending to a very good year with the SCENE. Please get in touch with Jean Crowley (464-4013 or jcrowley@gsinet.net) or Barbara Daley (464-5239 or bdaley@tds.net) if you have someone in grades 1-5 who might be interested in the group.

Welcome Rev. Donna Vuilleumier and Thank You Rev. Carolyn Keilig

Rev. Donna Vuilleumier joins us the first week in June. Donna holds a Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School, and served for two years as a student minister at the Congregational Church of Harvard (MA). She was ordained in the UCC, and previously served at The Eliot Church of Natick MA and Grace Church in Framingham MA.

We are also pleased that the Trustees agreed to having a two week overlap with Rev. Carolyn Keilig. We feel that working for several weeks with Carolyn will help Donna become acclimated to things Carolyn has put in place.

We appreciate our time with Carolyn and thank her for her service among us, allowing us to take the time to search and find Donna. We thank our church family for the faith they have showed to us as your search committee.

June 2 to June 9 – Family Promise Week

We are welcoming our Family Promise families for the week of June 2-9. We are expecting a total of nine: three moms and six children, but the program is fluid and could change as families find housing and new families join the program. Once again, all meals for the week have been signed up for. At the time of this writing, we are still looking for a few people to do overnights. Thanks to everyone who has volunteered. You are all awesome! If you would like to know more about the program or would like to get involved, contact Barbara Daley or Fran Charron.

We are also pleased to say that we were the solution for one family who was part of the program. Our third floor apartment at the Dubben House has become the affordable housing needed by a mom and her two children.

Stewardship Special Second Collection

The Stewardship Committee is taking up a special second collection on Sunday, June 23, 2019. Our hope is everyone will participate in this effort to help raise money to offset the church’s 2019 budget. Our goal is to have everyone give whatever their usual weekly contribution is to this extra collection. So if you usually give $10 a week, on June 23 you would give $20: your usual offering plus the special offering. But if that’s not possible, we would appreciate whatever you are able to contribute.

Through your efforts we can continue to support Smith Church and its many programs, and we thank you for your continued support. We also ask that you make out a second check for this collection to make it easier to separate it from the weekly collection.

Prayer Shawl

The June gathering of the Prayer Shawl will be on Wednesday morning, the 19th. As usual, we will meet at my house from 10:00ish to 12:00ish. It is always an enjoyable morning with lively conversation, coffee, tea and goodies and some knitting. It is open to all and always fun when new people join us. Knitting is optional, but if you would like to, yarn, needles and directions are all provided. And, if you would like to have a shawl blessed for someone, just let me know. If you have questions or need directions to my house, call me, Judy Hatfield, at 464-3458.

Growth and Evangelism Committee

We have revitalized the Growth and Evangelism Committee, better known as G&E. Our first two endeavors have concluded. On May 10th we sponsored a pot luck supper. Although we had planned to also do paper bag skits, we abandoned that idea when people were happy just to enjoy a good meal and visit.

Our second endeavor was a book study of Kate Braestrup’s book, “Here If You Need Me.” We met four consecutive Monday nights to discuss some of the ideas presented. This is a true story of a woman who became the first chaplain for search and rescue missions in Maine after losing her husband, a Maine State Trooper. The story is told with humor, faith and sadness. Our town library has a copy of the book. We found it well worth the read. Thanks to Pastor Carolyn for leading the discussions which prompted much sharing.

Youth Group Erie Canal Trip

Sixteen members of the youth groups (and extended youth groups) just returned from a wonderful 5-day trip on the far western leg of the Erie Canal. We left immediately after the last day of school on Tuesday and drove to Tonawanda, New York. We put in on the Niagara River and entered the canal ¾ mile later and canoed a total of 18 miles taking out in Lockport after going through locks #34 & 35.

We stayed in three different churches – Salem UCC in Tonawanda, St Paul’s UCC in North Tonawanda, and First Presbyterian Church in Lockport – and were treated like royalty in every church. We would SO like to reciprocate and take care of a youth group travelling to New Hampshire!

We canoed one day in the hot sun (and despite our best efforts, there were some sunburns), and then one day starting in the pouring rain but clearing as the day went on. A few almost mishaps but no capsizing or falls into the canal and we all agreed it was the best paddling expertise of all four trips. We spent our last day sightseeing in Niagara Falls, exploring the Niagara Power Vista Center and riding on the Maid of the Mist (right next to the falls and spectacular) before our long drive home on Saturday. Those who have gone on all four trips have now canoed around 150 miles of the canal!