Farewell Pastor Kathy

It was a wonderful, and emotional, send-off on Sunday to Rev. Kathy.

Her Farewell Reception was filled with smiles and love as we

wished her well and celebrated her new beginnings.

We even had a bald eagle appear in a tree in the parking lot just before worship!

May she find happiness and blessings in her future endeavors. She will be missed.

"Thank You" from Pastor Kathy

Thank you all so much for the beautiful final service and party held for me on Sunday. I was so touched by your care and appreciation, and I'm so grateful for your cards, gifts, well wishes and all the time and energy spent organizing the sendoff. It has been such a joy and gift to be with you these past four years. I wish you all the best and will hold you each in my heart. 

Pastor Kathy

HCC Annual Meeting

This Sunday, February 11th, 11am

Our 271st Annual Meeting will be held this Sunday, February 11, 2024 in Hadley Hall following worship. Please attend this vital gathering, as we look back at this past year’s accomplishments and look ahead to God’s call in our congregational life this year. A quorum of members is needed.

The annual report will be e-mailed/mailed to each member family by the end of this week.

Please take some time to read the reports and familiarize yourself with the proposed budget for 2024.

Worship that morning will be led by the Rev. Gordon Rankin, Conference Minister for New Hampshire. Mark your calendars and please plan to attend.

Worship This Week

Please join us

in the Sanctuary

or online at 10am for the

Sixth Sunday After Epiphany



Coffee hour will be held

after the service

in the Sanctuary.

The service will be live streamed

through Facebook Live here

or on 3CX here

Reader: Paul D'Adamo

Coffee hour host: Worship Team

artwork: "Circle of Life: Winter" © Mary Southard

www.ministryofthehearts.org. Used with permission.

Dear friends,

I want to express my extreme gratitude for everyone who helped make Kathy’s farewell reception such a nice time. It is wonderful how we all pull together and work as a team to make things like this happen. From the planning, set up, cooking, serving, cleaning and take down, so many people shared their time and talent.    

This is one of my favorite things about this church, that we all work together in harmony, for a common purpose. Thank you again for all your help, and thank you for all who attended to wish Kathy and Jason a fond farewell.  

Blessings,

Kari Allard    

"Meditation for Wellbeing" Series

Resumes tomorrow, February 8th

After a short hiatus, the Meditation for Wellbeing series will resume on Thursday, February 8th at 10am in the Davis Room. Another session is planned for the following week, Thursday, February 15th.

An Update from the

Capital Campaign Team

In early 2023, we applied for the Methuen Festival of Trees Historic Preservation Grant Program to help fund the restoration work we completed on the steeple. We're excited to report that they have awarded the Hampstead Congregational Church a $10,000 grant, which we received last week.

Founded by Sharon Pollard in 1994, the Methuen Festival of Trees is a is a private, non-profit organization that raises money to fund historic preservation and restoration projects throughout the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. Their community event that showcases nearly 250 decorated Christmas trees each holiday season. They use the proceeds from this event to fund their Historic Preservation Grant Program.

Offering up to $10,000 matching grants, the program provides preservation funding to private non-profit organizations, private businesses housed in a historic property, and individual owners of historic homes including those listed on the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or national historic registers, and public entities. Funding is restricted to the preservation of structures built prior to 1900.

Each year, based on applications the receive, the Festival’s Board of Directors approves a funding program based on the proceeds of the prior Festival of Trees. Over the last 30 years, they've donated over $2 million to projects all over the Merrimack Valley. HCC has applied again this year for the next funding cycle.

To learn more about Festival of Trees, and to see the latest list of approved projects (including ours), click on the link:

https://www.methuenfestivaloftrees.com/

Lenten Reflection Booklets

Available For All!

Lent begins on Wednesday, February 14th.

We have a wonderful daily Lenten devotional booklet available to anyone who wants one. Those who used this resource in the past have really enjoyed it.

This Living Compass devotional focuses on practicing letting go of all that gets in our way of God. Please consider using the booklet this Lent.

Copies are available in the foyer of Hadley Hall, at worship services, or contact the church office and we can send one to you.

2023 Year-End Statements

The Q4 year-end donations statements for 2023 will be emailed soon. If we don't have an email address, we will mail your statement.

If you don't get your statement, please contact the office and we will work on getting your copy to you.

A Word from Peace & Justice

I recently listened to a podcast from NPR about the large number of women that made the Montgomery Bus Boycot a success. It obviously needed most Black riders to participate in the boycott. These women understood the need to provide practical support for so many that hadn't other means of getting to work or transporting groceries. It was an uplifting story that I encourage you to give a listen. 

It is 36-minute long. Click here to hear it.

Music Corner by Herb Tardiff

For all you Irish out there, here is a musician, composer and conductor of note.

Michael W. Balfe (1808-1870)

After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while composing. He wrote 38 operas, almost 250 songs as well as other works. 

He was also a noted conductor, directing Italian opera at Her Majesty's Theatre for seven years. His most famous work is ‘The Bohemian Girl’, loosely based on 

a Cervantes story, which features the popular aria, ‘I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls’.

New Hampshire Conference UCC Weekly News

We thought you might enjoy reading the NH Conference UCC weekly newsletter. You can read it with this link.

2/6/2024 Newsletter

Each week, we will update this section of our Weekly Word with the new link

for the current newsletter.

St. Anne's Food Pantry

The pantry is currently in need of the following:

• Coffee
• Large bottles of juice
• Spam
• Salad dressings
• Sugar free items
• Cereal
• All Condiments

Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Please, no expired items.

Thank you for all your support!