CCHHUURRCCHH AATT TTHHEE CCEENNTTEERR January 2017 FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH “CENTER CHURCH” United Church of Christ One Church Street South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075 (413) 532-2262 email: [email protected] website: centerchurchsouthhadley.org Welcome to Center Church where we roll up our sleeves to deepen our faith, extend God’s abundant love and justice, and where laughter and tears are sacred. Lights: Christmas lights Car lights Ambulance lights Flashlights Lights are seen as generally positive, providing the way even if it is on the way to the hospital. Lights are seen as shedding transparency. Lights are generally hope-filled signs. So the hope has come into the world. And that is Jesus. We have a choice to make, to allow his ways to shine in and through us or to ignore his presence. May we open our eyes. May we enlist help. May we commit to walking in the light of God that is by practicing justice, compassion, love, peace, hope and joy. Happy New Year! Joyfully, Lori ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Calling all Youth (of all ages!) CATHEDRAL IN THE NIGHT – Center Church will once again prepare and serve a meal for the homeless in Northampton – coordinating through the Cathedral in the Night program. Volunteers needed to help design, cook, and serve a dinner for the homeless on January 22nd . We will prepare it Sunday afternoon (along with sandwich making) and attend the worship service at Cathedral in the Night at 5pm (DRIVERS NEEDED!). If you can only assist for a portion of this great ministry, that works, too. See Rev Lori Souder. The more hands the lighter the task! On January 1 during worship, we shall ring in the New Year and Christ's birth by singing On This Day Earth Shall Ring. This is done best only if everyone has a bell to ring! So, when you come to church for worship on January 1, remember to bring with you a bell, any kind of bell: jingle bell, dinner bell, cowbell, whatever kind of bell you have that rings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lori Souder and Lorain Giles invite you to participate in an All-Church Read. We are proposing Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence, by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Rabbi Sacks has served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth. He currently teaches at New York University, Yeshiva University, and King’s College London. In this book, Rabbi Sacks tackles the phenomenon of religious extremism and violence committed in the name of God. Exploring the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, and using biblical analysis and interpretation, Rabbi Sacks shows that religiously inspired violence has as its source mis-readings of biblical texts at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). By looking anew at the book of Genesis, Rabbi Sacks offers a radical re-reading of some of the Old Testament’s seminal stories of sibling rivalry: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Rachel and Leah. “Abraham himself,” writes Rabbi Sacks, “sought to be a blessing to others regardless of their faith. That idea, ignored for many of the intervening centuries, remains the simplest definition of Abrahamic faith. It is not our task to conquer or convert the world or enforce uniformity of belief. It is our task to be a blessing to the world. To invoke God to justify violence against the innocent is not an act of sanctity but of sacrilege.” His book calls for people of goodwill from all faiths and none to stand together, confront the religious extremism of our day, and declare: Not in God’s Name. This book is best read with your Bible at hand, for reference, and lends itself to discussion and reflection. We will offer a couple of opportunities for structured conversation, probably in March and April. At least one of our discussions will be with our friends at the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts, including Dr. Bajwa, who has joined us before for educational and spiritual conversations. The dates for our discussions have not yet been decided—stay tuned for details. We will purchase the books through Amazon. The paperback edition will be released on February 7, 2017, and we will receive them then for you to pick up. The cost per book will be $18.00. You may reserve a copy in advance by signing up on one of the sheets outside the church office and in Fellowship Hall—by mid-January. We hope you will join us reading and discussing this book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Annual Meeting of the First Congregational Church of South Hadley Massachusetts, aka Center Church, will be held on February 5th 2017 at approximately 11:30 AM. Business shall include, but not be limited to, the hearing and acting upon reports of appropriate church committees and teams; hearing and determining the budget for 2017; and other matters relevant to the church body. All members of the church are encouraged to attend this meeting. A light lunch will precede the meeting and childcare will be available. The 2016 Budget Report and the 2017 proposed Budget will be available January 22nd . PLEASE KEEP THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE IN YOUR PRAYERS: Situational: Continual: Mildred Baldwin Emily Bangs-Orsini (at Mt. St. Vincent) Sandy Calkins Chuck Blakney Ruby Carver Joy Bock Lou Hamilton Luke Bradley Kate Hoffman Elinor Burnett Eunice Howes son Marjorie and Carl Buschner Lucinda Kidder’s son in law with cancer Wayne Cowan Janice Nelson Tim Garrett’s friends David Drummond & David Ryder Barbara Hubbard’s brother Sterling McAndrew with cancer Jane Hazen Barbara Stanley Phyllis Lacoste The family of Peggy Towne Paul Laderach Red Roberts at Wingate Anita Sarro’s son Michael Jill Therrien, Linda Wolf’s niece The Tipton family Marti Watson at Loomis House We keep all those serving in the military in our prayers th This past month was one of celebration of the 65 Anniversary of Ordination for the Rev. Charles P. Blakney – Chuck to many of us. We send along our congratulations and keep Chuck and his family in our prayers. WOW! What a great event! We had the best attendance in years. Great advertising was done by Nancy Towne and Stephanie Strand. We had signs and flyers at the Columbus Day Fair saying that Christmas items would be sold at the Bazaar, so we feel this also helped. Cookies (over 30 varieties), lasagna, coleslaw, jam, herb and rice mixes, and chocolate sauce were almost all sold out on Saturday. With ongoing sales, gross income is now at $2500 and with expenses, net income will be around $2000! Several folks told us ours was the most welcoming Fair they had attended this Season! Many thanks to all for such a success. Final numbers will be available in January after the books are closed the end of December Karen Anderson and David Morrell, co-chairs PS from Lori – A HUGE Thank you to Karen for preparing a lot of the gift items that were sold as well as for all the hours she put into prep and making this happen! CHILDREN’S CHRISTIAN EDUCATION The Promised Land Sunday school accomplished a lot in December. We checked off a long list of giving! We bought clothing and toys for the Adopt-a-Family program in South Hadley in collaboration with the United Methodist Church to help make Christmas for children in need a happy holiday. Our creative Promised Land students hand crafted Christmas cards for residents at Wingate Nursing Home of South Hadley and Rev. Lori hand delivered them to her Christian fellowship group there. Also, the Promised Land's little helping hands made PB&J sandwiches for Kate's Kitchen. We also ventured into the dramatic arts and put on a Nativity puppet play for the whole congregation to enjoy. I'm so proud of our puppeteers, angels and confident young narrator! It's great to use the Promised Land puppet theater and thanks to Randy Purinton, it's now more user friendly and portable, so you may be seeing more Biblical Story puppet ministries during church services in the near future......I believe I saw some Wise Men (Magi) puppets in the closet, waiting for their epiphany appearance....... A special thanks to Stephanie Strand, Larry Schipull, Kate Hoffman and Julie Burke and Thank You to all our Promised Land families and friends for all you do! Happy New Year and see you back in the Promised Land on Sunday, January 8th! ~ Martha Guild, Children's Christian Education Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There will be a gathering for conversation on January 8th following worship regarding our Safe Church Policy. The Policy will be brought to the congregation for approval at Annual Meeting on February 5th, so please join us to learn about, and comment upon, what is addressed in the policy. Please plan to attend. News from the Trustees for January 2017 The December meeting always presents interesting discussions. Because there is still the rest of December for both income and expenses, we never really know how the final totals will come out at year’s end. Income and expenses should be at about 92% at the end of November and they were pretty close – 92.84% for income and 92.1% for expenses. This year, the miscellaneous income has provided a big help with the actual pledge shortfall. Lori reported that Chuck Blakney, our pastor emeritus, is celebrating 65 years since his ordination and we send our best wishes for that. We did spend a considerable amount of time on the 2017 budget, but will not have a final recommendation for the congregation until the books actually close and we have a final pledge total for this new year.