2016JuneJulySpire - Original Congregational Church of Wrentham
Transcription
2016JuneJulySpire - Original Congregational Church of Wrentham
The Spire A publication of the Original Congregational Church June/July 2016 . CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CONFIRMANDS On Sunday May 1st we celebrated the gift of Confirmation. This year we congratulate our newly confirmed members of the OCC: Dayna J. Aubin, Coleman B. Hovey, Luke D. Keene , Mikayla A. Kelly, Lauren E. Kelly, Thomas R. Lacroix, Taylor E. Madison, Kyran C. Peters, Kristen E. Purdon, Samantha J. Purdon, Melanie J. Veilleux. As a part of our Confirmation experience, we gather the families for breakfast and parents and students exchange letters of blessing. Inside this issue: Activities Outreach 2 3 Happenings 5 During the service the Confirmands affirm their promises of faith and participation in our church life and each receives a unique Confirmation blessing based on their spirit journey. All sign their names in our “Book of Life” OCC register with the giant feather pen, and each receives a Bible, Rose and Certificate to mark the day. Music Next Level, 325 for 325 Confirmands 6 7 7 We rejoice in the gift of our new generation of the faithful here at the OCC! Education Ministry 4 Our Graduates Message from Pastor Ken 8 & 9 10 Art Work Needed 11 & Food Pantry Info 12 The Ladies Breakfast Club will continue to meet at 9:00am, the second and fourth Thursday’s of the month at Goochie’s in Plainville, and the 5th Thursday as well. Please Join Us!! THE JULIETS The JULIETS will meet the last time this season on Wednesday June 29th. This luncheon’s will be from 12-2pm at “Fancy That” in Walpole. Join Pastor Ken and friends for Bible Study Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am in the Parlor! Contact Joan Shirley for more information. We will resume again in the Fall. Senior Choir, Bells and Youth Choir rehearsal are finished for the season. May 22nd was the last performance for Bells and June 5th is the last day for Choir during Worship Service. The Kitchen Elves, meet the first Wednesday of each month to prepare and deliver meals to members in need. Your help and skills are always welcome. They will Not meet in July or August but will resume Wednesday September 7th. Page 2 Lunch Bunch meets at noon in Fellowship hall the 3rd Wednesday of each month for a light lunch of soup, sandwich, desserts and beverages. Lets not forget the entertainment!! Bring a friend!! They will not meet in July or August but will resume September 21st. Highlight Dates June June June June July July July 02 05 15 17 03 06 17 Spruce Pond Ice Cream Trip Affirmation Sunday Lunch Bunch Father’s Day Worship in Fellowship Hall begins Summer time office hours begin Trip to Worcester Fellowship See you all in September NEW MEMBERS RECEIVED June 5th Last month, we offered time during the coffee hour to have conversations with folks looking to make a deeper connection with us at the OCC. For those who are interested in formally joining our th membership, June 5 would be a wonderful moment to take some time in worship to affirm our new members, before school gets out and summer schedules begin. If you have any questions or concerns about your faith journey and how to connect with us here at the OCC, please contact Pastor Ken or Donna in the office at anytime, and we are glad to assist you! Page 3 What is the Worcester Fellowship? According to their website, “The Worcester Fellowship is a church among men and women with a home in Worcester, MA. We are dedicated to ending isolation through pastoral care and nurturing community”. At the OCC we have been fortunate a few times to have the pastors who serve the Worcester Fellowship come to our church and tell us about their work with the homeless or working-poor in the Worcester area. From their stories and passion and dedication we have joined their efforts through pledges to the Outreach Team. Every Sunday teams from area churches join others on the Worcester Common and serve bagged lunches, distribute donated socks, take part in a communitybased spiritual service including serving communion and have the opportunity to meet and listen to those who have stories and live a life most of us have never experienced. The Outreach Team and members of the OCC have been involved in this ministry for approximately a year and look forward to continuing and further developing our relationship with this vital ministry. We have scheduled two additional opportunities to serve; the first on Sunday July 17th, 2016 and the second on Sunday September 11th, 2016. The original date of June 5th cancelled. Would you like to help with the shopping for the lunches which would include a sandwich, a snack, a piece of fruit, a drink and a cookie or dessert in each lunch bag? Would you like to help assemble these bagged lunches in the church kitchen at 8am on that Sunday morning? Would you like to transport these lunches to Worcester? Would you like to stay and hand out these lunches to the lines of men and women who gathered to receive a meal and friendship and share their stories? Would you like to come and then share your experience with others at OCC? Do you need more information? Please contact a member of the Outreach Team – you will have an experience that you will carry with you every day! Page 4 Education Ministry Team Page 4 June—August Fun-day School! ( with the exception of Father’s Day ,the 19th) A BIG heartfelt Thank You to the Teachers and Assistants for their dedication to the Children and Church School at the OCC. PreK/K Jen Chace Hannah Chace Grades 1-3 Emily Shepard Sarah Fuller Cassidy Peters Grades 6 and 7 Cindy Peters Pam Gelsomini Grades 4 and 5 Gwynne Sawtelle Heather MacAskill Substitute Wendy Purdon Vacation Bible School The EMT is excited to announce our VBS for this summer, Surf Shack! It will be July 11th - 15th from 9-12. As always, we need volunteers ages 13+ (it can be for one, or all days!) It’s going to be a ‘Surf’tastic time! Participants ages PreK-6th grade (and volunteers) can register at our VBS website: http://2016.cokesburyvbs.com/occhurch The Spire Page 5 SUMMER WORSHIP Summer worship at the OCC in July and August is 9:30am in the fellowship hall which is air conditioned, is fully accessible to the parking lot and closer to refreshments and coffee hour. Come join us for summer worship at the OCC! Let's Go For Ice Cream! Thursday, June 2 we will meet in the church parking lot for our first Ice Cream Summertime Office Hours Trip. Beginning July 6th, the office will be open Our first excursion will be to Spruce Tuesday AND Thursday from 9:00-3:00pm. Pond in Franklin on King Street. The office will resume the normal hours, Please meet at the church parking lot by Tuesday THRU Friday 9:00-3:00pm September 6th . 2:30 pm and we will car pool. If you need a ride to the church, please call Emmie Foster 384-9338 or Sue Schwarm The SPIRE is now available on our 384-7697 and we will pick you up. website!! Go to the OCC page at We hope to go once or twice a month to local ice cream spots! We will try for a Thursday that is not a breakfast www.occhurch.net. Thank You We would like to thank our church family for your cards, thoughts, prayers and meals following Emmie’s eye surgery and the passing of her sister. The meals were very tasty and a big help. The caring support from our church family meant even more to us. Mike and Emmie Foster Page 6 Music at OCC The 2015-2016 Concert Series has come to a successful close. We hope you enjoyed the variety of music and welcome you to plan ahead for the 2016-2017 season. And Looking Ahead…. Sept 23 Rolling Roots Revue Oct. 22 The Daigles Peter, Paul & Mary Tribute Nov. 12 Elastic Five Band Nov. 20 Southern Rail during Worship Dec. 3 Christmas Concert and Potluck Supper Music Notes and Choir Many thanks to everyone who helped to make our Music program a success this church year! Looking ahead: please, as you plan for the church’s next several months, think forward to September and see what you can do to join our music program. We really need more singers and bell ringers, of all ages, and we wish very much that church activities were a priority in more peoples’ lives. Please – we need you! The Chancel Choir’s first Sunday back singing will be on the Sunday after Labor Day, September 11th, with our first rehearsal on September 8th. The Men’s Chorus will begin rehearsals toward the end of September, date to be announced. The bell choirs and children’s chime choir will all be starting up in September. Ringing is great fun, and it’s good for keeping our brain cells active, too. Please come join one of our music groups; you’ll be glad you did! Chimes and Bells... Also – SAVE THESE DATES!! Saturday, December 3rd, at 5:00pm, will be our annual Christmas Concert, followed by a potluck supper. Never too early to plan to join us! On Sunday, December 18th, during the Contact Dawn Bennett [email protected] or 774-364-0862 worship service, the Chancel Choir will present a cantata by composer Lani Smith, entitled “The Promise Fulfilled”. Please be sure to attend both of these events! Page 7 The Spire CATCHING UP WITH THE CONFIRMANDS CONFIRMATION PLANS FOR 2017 Now that we have drawn near to the close of this school year, we begin to look at plans for the fall season. In most years we gather the ninth graders for Confirmation, and, sometimes we have included eight graders who have been together over the years of Sunday School. This year we anticipate not having many ninth graders to gather. So, Pastor Ken will be discerning with the parents of our middle school students what the best plan will be for our next Confirmation Class. All parents of students who will be in 7th and 8th grade in the fall of 2016 are most welcome to connect with Pastor Ken anytime to discuss their children’s needs. A letter will go out to invite your responses. When we decide together the best plan for all, we will make sure to create a workable schedule! Let us pray that God guides us in shaping our next class! COMING UP FOR Next Level Pastor Ken will continue to attend the online Next Level course through the summer months with our church coach, the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt from the Center For Progressive Renewal. This month we have just received our “Mission Insight Report” from the Center which is a 30 page document of demographics of our area and trends in faith and values as surveyed of our wider community. Not surprising, the largest trending needs spoken of by our general population of our area towns’ residents include the need for rest, time with family, and to address the uncertainties of employment and future support of the family. With this demographic report of our community, we can include those concerns in shaping ways to reach out to the community with faith resources addressing those needs. Let Pastor Ken know if you are interested in building an outreach DAILY DEVOTIONS, 325 FOR 325 As an early part of our celebrating 325 years of the OCC, Pastor Ken has taken on the goal of composing 325 daily devotions. These will be set in groups of five, one for each day of the business week. (On the weekends, we hope you come to Sunday worship to experience the message and prayer in person!) The daily devotions are available on-line on our web site and will be published on paper as we develop enough of them. Let us know if you enjoy them! You may suggest a topic anytime! Page 8 The 2016 High School Graduating Seniors Hannah Chace will be graduating from Franklin High School on June 3rd. Hannah's biggest high school accomplishments/involvements were playing for Franklin's Varsity Volleyball team as well as club volleyball for Mass Premier and being active in Community Service Club and Empty Bowls. She has been accepted into the Honors Program at University of Rhode Island where she will be attending in the fall. Liv Hovey will be graduating from Foxborough High School on June 5th. Throughout high school Liv played flute in the marching band and the FHS Flute Choir. She played bassoon in the FHS Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and was a section leader. Liv competed in the FHS Math Club, sang in the Treble Jazz Choir, A Cappella Choir and played on the FHS JV tennis team her freshman year. She volunteered at Sturdy Memorial Hospital for over 130 hours and received the Attleboro Lodge of Elks Youth Appreciation Award. She was a Girl Scout from Kindergarten through her freshman year and earned the Girl Scout Silver Award. Liv was an SIMC band camp counselor for three summers, a 7th grade math and English tutor, a participant in the MMEA Southeastern Senior District Music Festival and the UMass Honor Band. At OCC she has played hand bells since 3rd grade, accompanied the choir and bell choir on flute, was a liturgist and participated in Sr. Pilgrim Fellowship. Liv will be attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst majoring in Biology and hopes to play bassoon. Jennifer Lacroix is graduating from King Philip Regional High School on June 9th. She has been a 4 year varsity athlete in both Basketball and Lacrosse. She has been involved in many clubs and organizations including Student Council, SADD, Art Club, and DECA. She is a member of the Art National Honor Society and English National Honor Society. She has been a Hockomock League Allstar in Lacrosse for 3 years, and was named MVP of the high school team her Junior year and Captain her senior year. She has volunteered as a coach for various organizations in the area including KP Youth Lacrosse, TOPS soccer program, and KP Youth Basketball program. She will be attending Endicott College in the fall, where she plans to major in Elementary Education and be a member of the Girls Lacrosse Team. Cassidy Peters is graduating from Franklin High on June 3rd, and will attend The College of New Jersey, Majoring in Nursing, Minor in Public Health. Cassidy is graduating with Honors from both the National Honor Society and National Music Honor Society. In High School Cassidy was very involved and played Freshman and JV Soccer (2 years), Indoor Track & Field (1 year JV, 3 years Varsity), Outdoor Track (1 year JV, 3 years Varsity), Chorus & Select Chorus (4 years each), A Cappella (3 years), Mentor to 4th & 5th Grade Honors Chorus (3+ years), Talent shows, etc. participated in Dance from pre-school till Senior year, including competition, performances at Dean College, Statue of Liberty NYC (2 years), Disney (1 year), Piano 6 years, Jazz Band Middle School, Chorus since 3rd grade, Student Council Middle School, member of many clubs at Each School and has performed in numerous Musicals and other shows at Franklin School of the Performing Arts. At church she has performed in numerous concerts in the Children's Choir since Kindergarten, including solos and performances with her father Chuck, Children's Choir Mentor, 7+ years Bell Choir Member, Sunday School Teacher, Homeless Awareness Volunteer, etc. She has worked as a Camp Counselor at Boston Sports Club and Asst Counselor at Franklin YMCA, worked at Ellis Nursing Home and volunteered as Nursing Assistant at Landmark Medical Center. She is looking forward to her studies in nursing as she enjoys helping people. She plans to continue to be involved in music and other interests. Page 9 The 2016 High School Graduating Seniors Olivia Durant is graduating June 9th from King Philip Regional High School with high honors. She has been recognized as a member of the National Honor Society and Key Club. During high school Olivia has been involved with numerous organizations including KP Cares, Leo Club, Peer Mentor, TOPSoccer, SADD, Band, DECA and Varsity Swim Team. She has gone on mission trips to Hurricane Katrina area of Mississippi, Puerto Rico and is actively involved with the Panera Food Pantry program at OCC. In addition, she is a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Adirondack Club, hostess at Ruby Tuesday and babysitter. Olivia will be attending University of Rhode Island in the fall and has been accepted into their Honors Program. Christopher Nicastro will be graduating from King Philip High School on June 9th. Due to concussions last year, Chris was unable to participate in sports or clubs, but he remains a “super fantastic awesome kid”. He will be attending Fitchburg State University in the fall. The 2016 College Graduates Tyler Durant graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southern New Hampshire University on May 14th with a Business major and Math minor. He successfully completed the Honors Program and received recognition for the National Honor Society of Collegiate Scholars, Delta Mu Delta Honor Society and his study abroad in Italy. Congratulations to all our Graduates! *Information regarding the students were provided by parents at time of printing. Page 10 A Message from Pastor Ken The Dove Came Back THE ORIGINAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Beloved in Christ, 1 East Street P.O. Box 657 Wrentham, MA 0293 Phone: 508.384.3110 We’re on the web www.occhurch.net There is a most moving story in Genesis 8 about Noah and the Dove. When the rain had stopped the ark was drifting high in the waters of the great flood. Noah releases the dove to see if there are any signs of dry land. Each time the dove came back and Noah cradled it in his arms. Then, one evening, the dove brought back a freshly plucked olive leaf. What joy must have filled his heart! The great flood was subsiding. Soon they could be on dry ground again. Then, after another long week, Noah sent the dove out again, and this time, the dove did not return. What a heartbreak! The news of our new life that is about to arrive comes with the loss of a precious and beloved creature of our old one. I’m not sure how I would feel about this. I would miss the dove terribly. Wouldn’t you? Yet, I would hope the dove found a new happy life amongst the olive gardens and I would remain grateful that the dove had given us hope for a few days at the end of our long struggle in the ark. To reach us by e-mail Office: [email protected] Pastor Ken Landin : [email protected] Religious Education: [email protected] Yesterday evening a pair of mourning doves were sitting in the fading sun enjoying each other’s company. I know this because they kept kissing each other. It made me think that was the life that Noah’s dove flew into so many generations ago. Sometimes it’s best to just let the heart want what it wants. Love settles into the garden. God made it to be that way. Thank God for love. May the God of Creation bless you, your loved ones and your home and gardens with great love this Spring. Amen. Pastor Ken Page 11 ARTWORK OR PHOTO MONTAGES NEEDED FOR OCC MUSIC CONCERT SERIES Calling all artists and graphic designers! Clever, attractive artwork is needed for the OCC Music concert series. We need a profile picture and cover picture for the OCC Music Facebook page (at https://www.facebook.com/musicatocc/). We also need a cover picture for the main page of the website at: http://www.musicatocc.org), which could be the same as the FB cover picture. These can be artwork, photos, photo montages, or whatever you think would look good. Examples of logos for two nearby coffeehouses are displayed here, one from Circle of Friends in Franklin (see www.circlefolk.org and https://ww.facebook.com/ Circle-of-Friends-Coffeehouse-157892691990/), and the other from the Rose Garden in Mansfield at www.rosegardenfolk.com and https://www.facebook.com/rosegardencoffeehouse/. We need to have something at least as good as those, in addition to a cover picture. The other artistic creation needed is an attractive backing to hang or put on the stage behind the performers. This could be a large hanging cloth of an appropriate color, or it could be a large cloth or cardboard display with a reproduction of the cover picture creation discussed above. If you are interested in providing creations, ideas, or have a friend or family member who might be interested, contact Ken Graves. Food Pantry Donation Shed – Complete! Have you noticed the new attractive looking shed on the edge of the OCC parking lot? Local High School Senior, Jack Allan, designed and built a new food donation shed for the Wrentham Food Pantry as his Eagle Scout project. This will allow members of the community to drop off food donations 24 hours a day. The Wrentham Food Pantry Board of Directors would like to thank the OCC for supporting this project. It will be a big help to everyone associated with the Pantry Sunday June 19