norwich congregational church

NOVEMBER
2005
the Lifeline
norwich congregational church
united church of christ
Then the King will say to
those at his right hand,
“Come, O blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the
foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you
gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you
welcomed me, I was naked
and you clothed me, I was
sick and you visited me, I
was in prison and you came
to me.” Then the righteous
will answer him, “LORD,
when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty
and give thee drink? And
when did we see thee a
stranger and welcome thee,
or naked and clothe thee?
And when did we see thee
sick or in prison and visit
thee?” And the King will
answer them,
“T RULY I SAY TO YOU, A S YOU DID IT TO
ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN,
YOU DID IT TO ME.”
NORWICH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Douglas S. Moore, Senior Pastor
Mary Brownlow Huessy, Associate Pastor
Kathleen Sherlock-Green, Choir Director
Jane Helms, Organist
Tacy Colaiacomo, Organist-in-Training
Office Manager
Joni Latuch–Lyman, Bookkeeper
Richard Broussard, Sexton
LECTIONARY READINGS
Sunday, November 1, 2005 All Saints Day
Revelation 7:9–17; Psalm 34:1–10, 22
1 John 3:1–3; Matthew 5:1–12
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Joshua 24:1–3a, 14–25; Psalm 78:1–7 or
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12–16 or
Amos 5:18–24; Wisdom of Solomon 6:17–20
or Psalm 70
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Matthew 25:1–13
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Judges 4:1–7; Psalm 123 or
Zepheniah 1:7–18; Psalm 90:1–12
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11; Matthew 25:14–30
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Christ the King
Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 100 or
Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 95:1–7a
Ephesians 1:15–23; Matthew 25:31–46
Sunday, November 27, 2005
First Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 64:1–9; Ps. 80:1–7, 17–19
1 Corinthians 1:3–9; Mark 13:24–37
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Second Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 40:1–11; Psalm 85:1–2, 8–13
2 Peter 3:8–15a; Mark 1:1–8
2005 CHURCH OFFICERS
CHURCH COUNCIL
Chair
Vice-chair
At-large Member
Vicky Fish
Shirley Parker
Scott Berry
BOARD OF DEACONS
Senior Deacons: Mary Sachsse, Bill Osgood
Debbie Berryman, Hugh Huizenga, Anne
Broussard, James Fawcett, Lynne LaBombard,
Harry Dorman
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Chair: Willemien Miller
Doug Britton, Don Poulson, Fred Carleton,
John Caulo, Ed Kintner, Willemien Miller
BOARD OF MISSION
Chair
Letha Mills, Rick von Unwerth, Mary
Hudson, Katy Gerke, Barbara Duncan,
Diane Riley, Rita Severinghaus
BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Chair
Anne Waterfall, Brooke Mohr, Tom Evans,
Ellen Gnaedinger, Kathy Grant, Bob Miller
OFFICERS
Auditor
Rob Titus
Clerk
Raymond Huessy
Assistant Clerk
Richard Broussard
Collector
Judy Pond
Assistant Collector
Stanton Williams
Delegates
Cleta Wheeler, Don Poulson
Alternates
Avery & Margaret Post
Head Usher
Peter Mertz
Historian
Don Poulson
Moderator
Brooke Mohr
Assistant Moderator Christopher Ashley
Treasurer
Mel Biggs
Assistant Treasurer
Robert Jacobs
Flower Committee
Victoria Lubin, Tilda White, Debbie Van Arman
Hospitality Committee
Marion Frazer, Marty James, Nancy Hoggson,
Jo Dorman, Anne Egner, Katherine Hunt
Investment Committee
Martin Witschi, Charles Mohr, Stan Williams
Music Committee
Tilda White, Yolanda Witschi, Mitzi Carleton
Long-range Planning
Marsha Biggs, Linda Himadi
Nominating Committee
Silvette Gardiner, Debbie Van Arman,
Mary Keeley
IF YOU WANT TO DONAT E
FLOWERS FOR WORSHIP,
please call Deb Van Arman [649–1723] for
help, for information, or to sign up. You are
also welcome to sign up on the “Flowers”
sheet posted in the Parish Hall.
2 The Lifeline—November 2005
Stewardship & Gifts Committee
Steve Voigt, Jenny Williams, Elaine Day,
Brooke Mohr, Herb Maurer
Woodworth Fund Committee
Alice Kintner, Robert Stambaugh, Flos Henry,
Laird Myers, Cleta Wheeler
In February 2006, Eva Sachsse will
represent the Norwich Congregational
Church in the Children’s Honor Choir at
the Eastern Division American Choral
Director’s Association Conference in New
York City. The Honor Choir is made up of
a hundred and fifty 10-15-year-olds from
many Eastern states.
Eva, Emma Kaufmann, Ari Porter,
and Chris Stephens all prepared audition
tapes. They had to sing scales, demonstrate an ability to sing a capella, and prepare a vocal solo with piano accompaniment. We can be proud of all their efforts;
they knew that the competition would be
tough. The ACDA received over five
hundred audition tapes, so this is indeed
an accomplishment for Eva.
She will be busy this winter learning
her music. She is required to come to the
conference with all of it memorized. The
Children’s Honor Choir will be conducted
by Jean Ashworth Bartle, the founding
director of the famed Toronto Children’s
Choir. Eva and her fellow choristers will
rehearse intensively with Ms. Bartle over
the course of two and a half days and then
will present a final concert on the stage of
Carnegie Hall!
Mari Colaiacomo, Clare Sachsse and Tim
Stephens from our Youth Choir auditioned
for the High School Honor Choir. Over
one thousand audition tapes were sent in
to qualify for that choir, and unfortunately
none of our singers were chosen. Again,
I am so proud of the tremendous effort all
these fine young singers have made.
—Kathy Sherlock-Green
F R O M T H E PA S TO R
efore reading any further,
please
put
down
the
Lifeline, pick up your Bible
and read Psalm 104 out loud (remember,
the Psalms are right in the Bible’s
mid-section). Now, let me continue with
this Thanksgiving message.
Psalm 104 is a “creation Psalm”, a
hymn in praise of God’s good creation. I
imagine as you read through the psalm
you felt a sense of peace, of warmth,
and of longing for goodness in creation.
The hymn to creation is magnificent in its
praise of God the Creator. In grace
and perfect authority God creates the
heavens and the earth; creates a world
of mountains, plains, rivers and great
seas. God creates an ordered world in
which life can and will flourish: birds
have homes, the wild animals creep in
and out of the jungles, goats roam the
mountains and the leviathan in made to play,
“frolic”, in the sea.
All of this life in abundance teeming
under the brilliant and beautiful light of
the sun and moon and stars. There, as part
of it all, is man and woman, given bread to
strengthen the heart, wine to gladden
the heart, work to fill our days with
purpose and nights to give us rest. The
seasons are clear, the night and day
perfectly delineated, the rhythm of life is real.
All look to God for life: These all look to you
to give them their food in due season; when
you give to them, they gather it up; when
you open your hand,
they are filled with
good things.
Just as there
is grace and
beauty in Psalm
104, so too there
is the silent,
awful question,
“What have we
done?” What in
the world have we done? Terrible storms
and quakes are natural but are the results?
Weakened levies, inadequate construction,
wrongful allocation of resources, are not
natural disasters nor “acts of God”. Our
spreading sprawl of cities, suburbs, concrete,
asphalt, cover the beauty, dry up the land,
and absorb the homes of creation. We wander
through time without delineation, without
silence, without rest.
Time loses its shape as nonstop
“employment, shopping and entertainment
blur the boundaries between one season
and another, between day and night.”**
We seek order and structure in date-books
and palm pilots, in endless, conflicting
effort to save time and use time. Perhaps
the great Leviathan, those that survive, still
frolic, but we work, we and our children
work. There remains so much for which
to be thankful, but our lives leave no time to
offer thanks.
Psalm 104 is not a dream. It is a hymn
for us to hold onto, a picture of what
God intends for us and what is so
often missing from our lives. This
Thanksgiving take the gift of the psalm into
your heart, and slowly turn to God’s open
hand and be “filled with good things”.
**D.C. Bass, Receiving the Day
A house is no home unless it contains
food and fire for the mind as well as
the body.
—Margaret Fuller
The Lifeline—November 2005 3
MINUTES OF CHURCH COUNCIL
Regular Monthly Meeting
October 12, 2005
present: Vick Fish, Mary & Ray Huessy,
Brooke Mohr, Doug Moore, Shirley Parker,
later joined by Mary Sachsse.
Vicky called the meeting to order at
7:10pm. Doug offered prayer; the minutes
of the September meeting were approved as
printed in the Lifeline.
Doug spoke to the capital campaign.
There will be a one-hour meeting on
Monday, October 19th, with Jeff Newlin of
RSI, a Presbyterian pastor for 20 years. The
information had been sent out, and last
Sunday’s meeting, and its votes, had gone
well. The Steering Committee is preparing
a letter to assure everyone that they know
that the meeting and the vote are the
beginning, and not the end, of a longer
process. Much of the cost of the project was
mandated by code; there was $400,000 in
work on the sanctuary alone. Mary Sachsse
proposed that we build on the experience of
the Dresden School Board, and make clear
what church functions our building as it
exists does not allow. The plan is to involve
“everyone” in the campaign, which after
some activity in November, will mercifully
take December off, to reconvene in earnest
in January. Brooke Mohr and Carolyn
Mertz were chairing the campaign, and
Doug Britton, John Caulo and Doug Moore
were overseeing the building project itself.
The Deacons will attend the October 19th
meeting as their “first hour”.
There was no Trustee representative
present, but Doug was sure that they had
met. They are trying to hold the line on the
budget, given the approach of the capital
campaign. There had been good response
to the request for money to replenish the
Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. Mary Huessy
noted that there were used handbells for
sale within the conference, and Doug has
talked to the Woodworth Fund Committee
about reopening the issue of purchasing
handbells.
November
Brooke spoke for the Board of Christian
Education.
Last week’s meeting had
included a lengthy discussion of what
movies were appropriate for the Junior
Youth group. There are enough Sunday
School teachers for a change; from now
until the new year, there will be regular
Sunday School sessions on Communion
Sundays. The Junior Youth group provided
few to participate in the CROP walk, but
a good deal of money had been raised. A
trip to People’s Baptist Church in Boston is
planned. The parents of the five possible
Confirmation Class students will be
meeting on Sunday to arrange scheduling.
Doug’s second-hour series on the Ten
Commandments has begun.
There was no representative from The
Board of Mission. They had not met last
month; Doug said that it was a great group,
but that they have had a hard time finding
a time to meet.
Doug spoke of the weddings of women
who had grown up in the church: Jessica
Day and Rebecca Ashley. He and Judy
will be going to Cambodia for two weeks
in early November, and Susan Grant Rosen
will be coming to preach the first Sunday
in November. The new sign is ready, and
looks very nice; it will not be put out front
until the evergreen shrub is removed to
make way for the drop-off out front.
Mary reported that she is still drumming
up new members. There are some new
faces among those who have signed up for
the Women’s Retreat. She will be going to
Iran for two weeks in early December with
the Fellowship of Reconciliation, but will
be on hand for the first Sunday in Advent.
One of the Sundays that she will be away
will feature the annual Advent musical.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55pm. The
next meeting of Council will be at 7 pm
on Wednesday, November 9th in the parlor.
All are welcome to attend.
Respectfully submitted,
Raymond Huessy, clerk
[These minutes have not been approved by Council.]
No sh a d e, no sh i ne, no but ter f l ie s, no b e e s,
No f r u it , no f lower s, no le ave s, no bi rd s — Novem b er!
—Thomas Hood
4 The Lifeline—November 2005
M I N UT E S O F
Chipper Ashley called the meeting to order
at 1:35 am. Doug Moore offered prayer. It was
noted that, with fifty present, we were well past
the quorum needed to conduct business (10%
of the congregational membership, or about
292 people), and that decisions at the meeting
would be by majority vote.
Doug Britton, speaking on behalf of the
Board of Trustees and the Steering Committee
the Trustees had appointed, led those present
through the proposed construction: the
project had been broken down into work on
the sanctuary and work on what was, for the
purposes of the project, called “the parish
wing”, and the committee had endeavored to
meet the needs of both halves of the project
in an affordable manner. The educational
meetings of the previous week (and that
during coffee hour) had given people the
details of the proposed $1.4 million dollar reconstruction project.
The sanctuary foundation will be reinforced
rather than replaced, and there will not be a
full basement, because of the expense but also
because of the requirement of an exit from the
basement at the front of the church. There
is a line-item for replacement or repair of the
windows; replacing them seemed a shame, and
repairing them is by far the cheaper alternative.
However, this led to a discussion as to whether
$750 per window for repair was in fact an
“affordable” sum. It was made clear that the
driveway project in front was indeed separate
and would be going forward this fall, although
the driveway would not be paved until the
remaining construction was finished.
If I could shut the gate against my thoughts,
And keep out sorrow from this room with-in:
Or memory could cancel all the notes,
Of my misdeeds and I unthink my sin,
How free, how clear, how clean my soul should lie,
Discharg’d of such a loathsome company.
Or were there other rooms with-out my heart,
That did not to my conscience join so near,
Where I might lodge the thoughts of sin a-part,
That I might not their clam’rous crying hear.
What peace, what Joy, what ease should I possess,
Free’d from their horrors that my soul oppress.
But O my Saviour, who my refuge art,
Let thy dear mercies stand twixt them and me:
And be the wall to separate my heart,
So that I may at length repose me free:
That peace, and Joy, and rest may be within,
And I remain divided from my sin.
—Anonymous
HOW TO BE A POET
(to remind myself)
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your work,
doubt their judgment.
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
—Wendell Berry
KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS
Out from Jerusalem
The King rode with his great
War chiefs and lords of state,
And Sheba’s queen with them;
Proud in the Syrian sun,
In gold and purple sheen,
The dusky Ethiop queen
Smiled on King Solomon.
Wisest of men, he knew
The languages of all
The creatures great or small
That trod the earth or flew.
Across an ant-hill led
The king’s path, and he heard
Its small folk, and their word
He thus interpreted:
“Here comes the king men greet
As wise and good and just,
To crush us in the dust
Under his heedless feet.”
The great king bowed his head,
And saw the wide surprise
Of the Queen of Sheba’s eyes
As he told her what they said.
“O king!” she whispered sweet,
“Too happy fate have they
Who perish in thy way
Beneath thy gracious feet!
“Thou of the God-lent crown,
OF THE LAST VERSES IN THE BOOK Shall these vile creatures dare
Murmur against thee where
When we for age could neither read nor write,
The knees of kings kneel down?”
The subject made us able to indite.
“Nay,” Solomon replied,
The soul, with nobler resolutions deckt,
“The wise and strong should seek
The body stooping, does herself erect:
The welfare of the weak,”
No mortal parts are requisite to raise
And turned his horse aside.
Her, that unbodied can her Maker praise.
His train, with quick alarm,
The seas are quiet, when the winds give o’er,
Curved with their leader round
So calm are we, when passions are no more:
The ant-hill’s peopled mound,
For then we know how vain it was to boast
And left it free from harm.
Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost.
The jeweled head bent low;
Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
“O king!” she said, “henceforth
Conceal that emptiness, which age descries.
The secret of thy worth
The soul’s dark cottage, batter’d and decay’d,
And wisdom well I know.
Lets in new light thro’ chinks that time has made;
“Happy must be the State
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become
Whose ruler heedeth more
As they draw near to their eternal home:
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, The murmurs of the poor
Than flatteries of the great.”
That stand upon the threshold of the new.
—Edmund Waller
—John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier [1807–92], American Quaker poet and reformer, born near Haverhill, MA. Whittier is depicted so often as the gentle
hoary-headed Quaker that the fiery politician within him is often forgotten. He sat in the Massachusetts legislature; he ran for Congress on the
Liberty ticket and was a founder of the Republican party. He worked staunchly in the abolitionist cause and was an active anti-slavery editor
until 1840, when frail health forced him to retire to his Amesbury home. Whittier never married. He died at 85 in Hampton Falls, NH.
6 The Lifeline—November 2005
TH E S P E C I A L M E E TI N G :
The proposal for the Parish Wing includes
two new fire stairwells and more bathrooms on
the ground floor, as well as an elevator, a new
kitchen and a new parish hall, as the new lobby,
bathrooms and kitchen are all located in what
was Parish Hall. The new Parish Hall would be
about a third larger than the current hall, at 24’ x
46’ compared to 26’ x 36’.
The Steering Committee was applauded for its
work so far, but there was a concern that we focus
on needs and preserving the sanctuary, rather
than undertaking the full proposed project. The
purpose of the new entry was questioned. There
was a request for a “comprehensive (fall-back)
Plan B”. Doug and Mary spoke to the “wish list”
with which the Committee had started; this was
no means the first or most expensive plan that
had been considered. It is plan E or F from UK
Architects, and there had been several previous
go-rounds with another architect before.
There was a question as to how much had been
spent so far. The answer was: about $10,000,
with another $60,000 or so in additional costs
to come before construction begins; that figure
covers fund-raising, as well as engineering and
architectural fees. There was another as to
whether it made sense to split the big project in
two, but the Committee felt strongly that it was
easier to raise a lot of money once than to raise
money twice.
Carolyn Mertz rose to speak to the proposed
Capital Campaign. The fund-raising consultants
retained are RSI of Texas, who have cosulted on
the recent fund drives at the Church of Christ at
Dartmouth Colloge, the Church of Our Savior,
and St. Thomas. She was at pains to point out
that the process of arriving at a final design would
be as inclusive as possible. What we saw here
was the result of initial setting of priorities, and
an effort to fulfill “God’s ministry”: our ministry
includes not only Sunday worship, but all the uses
the building is put to during the rest of the week.
There was some concern that we would have to
commit to the project before we had the money
in hand, and the reply was that until the pledges
to cover the project were in hand, it would in
fact not go forward. In response to questions,
members of the Committee said that work on
the sanctuary would certainly benefit from funds
available for historical preservation, and that the
Committee had looked at moving the pastors to
the parsonage on Main Street, but had felt it was
more useful as rental property.
The decision to go forward with a designbuild model rather than competitive bids was
questioned. There was renewed request for more
O C TO B E R 2 , 2 0 0 5
options, as well as acknowledgement that the
congregation was playing catch-up in one week
on all the months of work that had gone into
the project.
Sarah Reeves moved that the Trustees
return to the congregation with more options
and a breakdown of financial sources for the
project. The motion was seconded. Dick
McGaw moved an amendment to Sarah’s
motion, which Cleta Wheeler seconded, to ask
the Trustees to return to the congregation with
the current design, but presented in a phased
approach, with construction matched to the
availability of funds. Willemien Miller rose to
say that the Trustees, the Needs Assessment
Committee, and the Steering Committee had
put two and a half years into researching the
project, and had made this proposal as a cutdown option. Further concern was voiced
about the total cost of the project, and Nancy
Hoggson rose to ask whether a feasibility study
had been undertaken.
Carolyn replied that there was no question
that fund-raising was critical, and the
Committee believed that rasing the entire
sum at once was the more cost-effective way
to do it. RSI will charge an amount based
on the church’s annual pledge income, so
the fee will be about $20,226 whether the
amount raised for construction is $1.4 million
or a lesser sum, and that is about 12% of the
total cost of the whole proposed project. The
Committee realizes that the church has not
undertaken a capital campaign in over fifty
years, since the establishment of the Norwich
Fair to raise the money for construction of the
existing Parish Hall.
RSI was chosen of the three consultants
seriously considered in part because of their
focus on the spiritual aspect of the campaign
and the fund-raising process. They have helped
over 7,000 churches raise some seven billion
dollars over the last 32 years; that involved 428
campaigns, and some 200 of them had been
in churches like ours, with annual budgets of
$400,000 or less. As a general rule, churches
limit their capital campaigns to about 3 to 5
times the rate of annual giving, which in our case
would be between $650,000 and $1,100,000.
UCC churches tended to aim for a goal 5.38
times the rate of annual giving; in their recent
campaign, the Church of Christ at Dartmouth
had raised 10 times their annual budget.
The Steering Committee had wanted to
save the congregation the cost and the month
of delay that a feasibility study would have
entailed. Certainly some large gifts at the
“top” of the campaign were crucial, and the
Committee hoped that there would be some sixfigure gifts. If the campaign fails to raise $1.4
million in pledges by March, they will return
to the congregation for further consultation.
In response to concern about the bridge loan,
Doug Britton said that he expected initial
gifts to cover the pre-construction costs of the
campaign.
The amendment was voted on and failed.
The proposal was made that we vote first on
the proposed project, and if that failed, return
to Sarah’s motion. Sarah agreed to withdraw
her motion. Gary Brooks moved, and Cleta
Wheeler seconded, that the meeting vote to
accept the basic design concept as shown on
the proposed plans. The motion carried, with
38 in favor and 9 against.
Carolyn Mertz moved that the meeting
authorize a special fund-rasing campaign
to raise $1.4 million for the project; Jenny
Williams seconded. The question of using the
endowment as a source for some of the funds
was raised, and Martin Witschi reminded
the meeting that only about $100,000 of the
endowment was in unrestricted funds. The
hopeful suggestion was made that the UCC
contribute to the effort, but the pastor replied
that the money tends to flow only one way
within the denomination; Silvette Gardner
pointed out that the UCC had loaned money
before. The pastor admitted that loans were
another matter; he added that Vermont’s
Historical Preservation body was eager to help,
and had in fact already visited the church. Mary
Hudson hoped that we would reach out to the
broader community for support; Cleta pointed
out that people in town had given money for
the work on the steeple. The motion passed,
with 38 for and 8 against.
Don Poulson moved that the meeting
authorize the Trustees to secure bridge
financing not to exceed $100,000, if needed, in
the early stages of the project. Debbie Berryman
seconded. Jim Fawcett moved that a cap of
$100,000 be set on the bridge financing, and
Gary Brooks seconded. The motions passed.
Cleta Wheeler moved to adjourn the meeting,
and adjourn it did, at 1:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Raymond Huessy, clerk
[These minutes will be approved at the
next Annual Meeting.]
The Lifeline—November 2005 7
A LETTER FROM NORTH CAROLI NA
We have received this letter from Laticia Hill
Godette, minister-in-training at Zion Temple
AME Zion Church in Harlowe, NC.
—Mary Brownlow Huessy
October 6, 2005
Dear Mary,
and my other Christian brothers and sisters,
I hope that this letter finds everyone doing
well and walking in the blessings of God!!!
First, let me apologize for not sending you
these pictures sooner. I don’t know what
happened to the first package we sent you
all, but I pray that you receive this one. I
couldn’t find copies of the ones I sent you the
first time, so I had to take some more.
We are forever grateful to you all for
coming all the way to North Carolina to do
the work of the Lord by helping us. You all
laid the foundation and sparked a flame in
our members. Even though we have just a
few members, God is faithful.
After you left, everyone pulled together
to complete the project. With God, faith,
hard work and dedicated, faithful members,
we were able to make the following
improvements:
We installed new ceiling fans and light;
we put up new chandeliers; we built a
new communion rail with holes for the
communion cups; we put down new carpet;
we remodeled the bathrooms—new doors,
toilet, etc.; we bought new flowers for the
sanctuary: and much more little things...
And the work is not complete….we are
now in the process of getting all of the pews
covered. We have raised over half of the
money so far and we are confident that we
will have the other half raised by the end of
the year.
We are going to celebrate our church
anniversary on Sunday, October 16. I will
8 The Lifeline—November 2005
take lots of pictures and send you copies.
This time, I will try to get all the members
(adults and children) and plenty of pictures
of the improvements to the church.
I’m not in any of the pictures because I am
very big with child (due November 3) and I
don’t look too photogenic. Continue to pray
for us and we will do like wise for you!
May God continue to bless each and every
one of you and please know that your work
was not in vain. We love you and appreciate
you all!
Everyone member of Zion Temple
sends our love,
Pastor Judge and Rev. Hazel Mattocks.
Sister Laticia and Dante Godette
Brother Charles and Maxine Wilkins
Joseph and Mabel Hill
Mary Lou Pritchard
Shelia Norris
Terrance Frazier
Phylis Padgette
Pearlie Hill
Edward “Joyce” Hill
Roxanne Hill
Gregory and Christine Powell
Sharon Hill
Charlene Lynch
Betty Pridgeon
Sharif
and all of our children: Adina, Daryl,
Marleena, Marvin, Donald, Kayla,
Shadeia, Gregory, Jr., Diante, Dalvin,
Nyasha, Renee, Austin, Samantha,
Evan, Anthony, Kenny, Chaleena,
Dasha, Diasha, Shania, Latrell, Terrell,
Lavar, Quenicque, Quacianna, Nirobi,
N’kari, Noah, and Nakima
Imagine that a visitor from Mars lands in a
slum in a developing country. He would see people
sleeping on the street, children without parents,
children who are hungry, dying trees and rivers, and
all the other problems we have to contend with on
earth. He would also see that we know exactly what
to do about it all. And he would see that there are
numerous people who are willing to do work but have
none. In addition, he would see that many people are
not doing the work they would like to do.
“What are you waiting for?’ he would ask.
“We’re waiting for money,” they would answer.
“What’s that?”
“An agreement within a community to use
something as a means of exchange.” The visitor
would then wonder whether there was intelligent life
on this planet.
—Bernard Lietauer, The Future on Money
F R O M T H E B OA R D o f M I S S I O N
Our Mission Offering during the month
of November are designated for Heifer International. For more than six decades, this
highly successful organization has worked to
eradicate poverty throughout the world by
providing livestock, trees and other resources
to help poor families become more self-reliant through sustainable agriculture. Since
Heifer began in 1944, the organization has
helped 7 million families in more than 125
countries and 38 U.S. states.
Education is as much a part of the Heifer
program as its gifts of livestock. Receiving
families learn to house, nurture, feed and care
for the animals while building sustainable small
farms and preserving their environment. In
turn, they pass on their knowledge and skills to
others in need in their communities.
B uilding Project
Work continues on all aspects of the
Church Renovation Project, following the
October 2nd vote of the Congregation, to
proceed with the basic design and scope as
presented, and authorization to raise the
necessary funds.
The Trustee’s Steering Committee will
continue to oversee the project, but has
delegated day-to-day responsibility to two
subcommittees. The capital campaign
is headed by Carolyn Mertz and Brooke
Mohr, and the design and construction
side is being coordinated by John Caulo,
Doug Moore and Doug Britton. Please
feel free to contact either group with any
questions or comments.
The behind the scenes work on the
capital campaign is well underway.
Carolyn and Brooke have been enlisting
a team who will spearhead various aspects
of the campaign. The entire congregation
was invited to a presentation by our RSI
consultant, Jeff Newlin, on Wednesday,
October 19th. Jeff introduced the philosophy
and game plan for the capital campaign. As
the campaign progresses, we look forward to
inviting all of our members and friends to
actively participate in some way.
The building and design subcommittee
will post updated plans as they become
available, and will hold periodic meetings
to discuss the progress of the project and
receive feedback from the membership.
The committee thanks you for your
support and looks forward to receiving
your input throughout the project.
Deb Caulo, Linda Himadi, Mary Huessy,
Carolyn Mertz, Brooke Mohr, Doug
Moore, Deb Van Arman, Martin Witschi
and Doug Britton
This is a program that works, providing long-term benefits as well as short-term
hunger relief through the eggs, milk, olives,
fruit and other products of the original gifts.
Please give generously, using the gold “Mission Offering” envelopes in the pews.
Cantabile
an Upper Valley women’s chorus
directed by Charles Houmard
accompanied by Gregory Hayes
and Christopher Lundell
Saturday, November 5th at 8pm
in Rollins Chapel,
Dartmouth College
Sunday November 6th, at 4pm
in the First Congregational Church
of Springfield, VT
works by Brahms, Mendelssohn
and Fauré, David Conte, Zdenek
Lukas, and Smul Irving Gick
Tickets are $12 in advance and $15
at the door; children attend free.
Tickets are available at the Camera
Shop in Hanover and at Janet
Flanders Travel in Norwich. For
more information: cantabile@valley.
The Lifeline—November 2005 9
M E M B E R P R O F I L E : S H A R O N C O R R I GA N
“I am surrounded by the Himalayas in a little
village in Bhutan. The houses are made from
carved sandalwood and painted bright colors.
This is a Buddhist country and the people
wear their native dress. There are beautiful
pagodas. It is very quiet, and I’m a three day
drive away from the airport. I have trouble
believing that the rest of the world is still going on. I’m staying in a guest house painted
by monks. There is no heat or running water.
I’m the only guest. It is harvest time and the
monks do their deep chanting all day long.
Bhutan has never been occupied. Most boys
here spend a short period of time as monks.”
Sharon had traveled to Europe with her husband Donald. In the mid 90’s she went to Turkey with a group of women. This started Sharon’s love affair with the East. She has visited
Uzbekistan, southern India, Nepal, China,
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Tibet. “I go to Asia
once or twice a year. I find it very fascinating.
In India the religion is 4,000 to 6,000 years
old. The temples engage all your senses. There
are so many gods and goddesses, and the religion is so complex.” Sharon even likes Kali, a
goddess who repels most Westerners.
All this is a little odd for someone who grew
up in Orange City, Iowa, poulation 2,000.
“This community was 98 percent Dutch. We
had one Baptist Church in town but the others
were Dutch Reformed or Christian Reformed.
All my grandparents were born in Holland.
One grandmother spoke no English. My parents were bilingual. I had 85 first cousins in
town. The land is beautiful, rolling farmland,
and the crops are corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.
Pig farming is popular now, too.
The Dutch Reformed Church was strict, no
movies or work on Sunday. Dancing was not
10 The Lifeline—November 2005
allowed. For my high school prom in 1956, we
got all dressed up, went out to dinner, and then
to a movie. There was no dancing. Soon after
this, dancing was allowed at school. I loved
high school. I had good teachers, football was
popular, and there was a lot going on.
“I went to the University of South Dakota
at Vermillion. Out of state tuition was $64
per semester. I majored in math and zoology.
I became a high school math teacher. I met
Donald when I was working for IBM in Boston. He was getting a Ph.D. degree in metallurgy from MIT. He became an executive for
a precious metals company in Fairfield, Connecticut. I started teaching at the Westover
School in Middlebury, Connecticut. This is
a girls’ boarding school with 200 students. I
really enjoyed teaching math to girls. I was
very involved days, evenings, and weekends.
Many girls and their mothers are convinced
they can’t do math, but I think that math is
taught poorly and presented poorly.
“When we retired we knew we didn’t want
to stay in Connecticut. We looked all over
New England and ended up in Quechee. We
love being near Dartmouth with the lectures,
and programs, and libraries. We love the
beautiful country, and we’re near Boston.
“My husband grew up in Newark, New Jersey in an apartment, so his background is
quite different from mine. He was brought up
Episcopalian, but when we lived in Connecticut we attended a Congregational Church.
When we moved to the Upper Valley in 2001,
we looked all over for a church and found the
Norwich Congregational Church to be very
caring. We felt that it had its priorities in the
right place. Doug and Mary are fabulous.
“We have two daughters in their 30’s. They
both work in museums. One lives in Salem,
Massachusetts, and one lives in New York
City. One of our daughters also has a connection to Asia. Her college roommate, Uttara Bharath, came from India. When Uttara
returned to India, she founded a group called
‘Nalamdana’. It’s an NGO that presents
street plays in villages, slums, and fishing villages. The plays teach about health, hygiene,
child care, and AIDS. When this group was
looking for funding, I approached the Woodworth Fund which gave us a grant. I have
seen their productions. On November 7, the
executive director of Nalamdana is coming
to Dartmouth to give a presentation. [Please
Sharon’s notice below.]
Sharon is also on the board of Building
Bridges: Middle East-US. She has not been to
Burma yet, but she is itching to go.
NALAM DANA
Monday, November 7th at 7:30pm
105 Dartmouth Hall, Dartmouth College
On November 7th,
the Dartmouth Coalition for Global
Health will sponsor a presentation
by Nithya Balaji,
executive
director, and Uttara
Bharath, founder,
of Nalamdana on
their work in fishing villages in the state of
Tamil Nadu. An NGO from Chennai, India, Nalamdana has been working for ten
years in the villages and improverished areas of Chennai to provide knowledge about
health to illiterate audiences. They use
street theatre, interactive games and puzzles, audio and video cassettes — anything
to get their message across. They have addressed alcoholism, personal hygiene, and
cancer prevention, but have focused on
AIDS prevention and maternal and child
health as the two most critical areas.
The Woodworth Fund has made a generous grant to further their work beyond
Tamil Nadu; Nithya and Uttara are coming to express their appreciation for that
grant and to provide more information
about their work. Plans for further contact with Nalamdana are underway, and
they may be able to offer opportunities for
Dartmouth interns to work in India.