Worship from Anywhere on ZOOM!

You can join our in person worship service live at 9:30 on Sundays. Your face will not be visible in the Sanctuary, but you will be able to hear and see most of what is going on. Please keep yourself muted and feel free to sing along! You can also dial in from your phone to hear the service.

Join Zoom Meeting:

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Meeting ID: 865 5966 3321

Passcode: 05641

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Last week's Sunday Service Live Stream

News From the Parish Nurse

We have received some COVID-19 tests! If you are in need of one, please call the church and we will be sure to make it available to you!

Weekly updates of current hospitalizations and detailed case data have been archived.

We are seeing another significant message from the Vermont Department of Health that we are moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the archiving of published COVID-19 data and limited accessibility to the archives. Scheduled to end May 18th. What will continue to be reported from the VDH will be the percentage of COVID-19 boosters received by Vermonters. This is welcome news for many who are moving forward with there lives and are no longer tuning into these statistics. 

Guidance can still be found on the VDH website about what to do if you or a family member develops COVID-19. 

Church Directory Revised and Updated

This Is Us!

The Administration Ministry invites you to participate in updating our Church Directory that we’d like to have available for distribution by our next annual meeting in May. Please select and send a digital (or non-digital) photo of you or of your family along with the name/s and current contact information you want included to the church at [email protected] or PO Box 1320 Barre, VT. You are also invited to include a short quotation (just 1–2 sentences) that has been a source of hope or inspiration. If you choose to add a quotation (which is optional), please add the source, if you know it. We also invite each of our six ministries as well as the Fellowship Group and the Church Historian to send one photo to illustrate how you would like your ministry represented in the directory. We ask that you please send just one photo. Heads up as we plan to take a group congregational photo following the Easter Sunday service on April 9th, so wear your ”glad rags” as Pastor Leigh calls them! The plan is to produce a digital directory, with optional hard copies available (donations will be welcome!). Thanks to everyone for helping us update our directory.

A Message From Cary Friberg, Council Moderator

Some of you heard Don Singer, Council Vice Moderator, announce in church on March 12 that Council, along with the BCC staff are focusing on increasing our safety and security at church. We will implement many ways to be safer both during the week and on Sunday mornings. Given that we all practice various safety measures at home and/or in our work places, and that we hear about violence in public spaces, including places of worship way too often, it is time for the BCC to be more proactive and prepared. 

Here is a list of changes we are in the process of making:

1. During the week, most of us will use one door to enter and exit the church. This is the door on the right side of the front of the building. We will lock the door behind us immediately upon entering or monitor it at all times, and make sure it is locked when we leave. 
2. Those who make breakfast on Saturday mornings or Haven meals on Mondays may use the awning door near the kitchen. Please monitor the door and make sure that the door is firmly closed when you leave. This is challenging and must be done! 
3. Two greeters will arrive at 8:30 every Sunday morning. One greeter will be in the entryway starting at 8:30. The other greeter will hand out programs in the sanctuary. The door will be locked at 9:35. A sign on the door will invite latecomers to text a message to a church cell phone held by a greeter sitting in the back of the sanctuary. The two greeters will assist them. 
4. After the service, a greeter will stay in the entryway ushering people out until coffee hour is over. If you leave and need to come back in, the greeter will open the door for you. Greeting duties will end when coffee hour ends.
5. Many safety and security features will be installed or improved, including outdoor lighting, security cameras, and a video doorbell, to name a few. 
6. Our newly formed Safety Committee (consisting of some Council members and staff) will attend a training for churches given by Homeland Security on April 22. 
7. We will gain skills in threat assessment and become adept at de-escalation techniques. 
8. We will train the congregation to exit the sanctuary safely and calmly in an emergency.

It is not my intent to scare you. Just the opposite, in fact. Ignorance and wishful thinking about possible threats is not bliss, nor is it safe. By implementing the measures listed above and by continuing to focus on and learn about safety and security at the BCC, we all will be safer than we have ever been. 

I will keep you informed as the Safety Team makes progress. If you have experience in safety and security and want to join the Safety Team, please let me know. If you have suggestions, questions, compliments or complaints along the way, please direct them to me. I will provide you with an appropriate response from the Safety Team. 

Before I sign off, let’s remember that we will always welcome strangers to the Barre Congregational Church. We will balance being alert with being enthusiastically hospitable. We will smile and shake hands with those we don’t know and thank them for coming. We will lock our doors more diligently while our hearts remain wide open. 

We can do this. 

Cary Friberg, Moderator

Fellowship Group

The Fellowship group has rescheduled the covered dish luncheon for Tuesday, March 21st, at noon in our redone dining room. There’s a sign up sheet in the back of the church! Everyone welcome. Any questions, call Pam Murphy (814-244-5900).  

Easter Flowers



Easter is April 9th, and the Worship and Arts Committee is hoping that this special time in the life of the church will be commemorated with Spring bulbs, cut flowers, lily plants and remembrances. If you would like to purchase a plant in honor or memory of a loved one, please complete the form at this link or fill out a paper form in the sanctuary.

From the Deacons

The Deacons are forming a Pastoral Relations Committee, as stated in our by-laws. The UCC describes the committee as follows: the Pastoral Relations Committee is a standing committee in a local church that seeks to support and maintain an open and healthy relationship between the pastor and the members of the congregation. The committee serves in two primary ways: as an advisory group to the pastor and as support for the pastor’s leadership. As an advisory group, the committee shares ideas, dreams, hopes, expectations, and concerns of the congregation with the pastor. As support for the pastor, the committee interprets roles, functions, and needs of the pastor to the congregation.

The committee could be comprised of 3-5 members and would meet 3-4 times a year with Pastor Leigh. If you are interested in volunteering to be on this committee, please see the head of the Deacons, Jan Aldrich.

Where Has the Altar Table Gone?

A Special Report from Your Worship & Arts Ministry

Amid all of the renovations and changes that our church building has been through over the past year or more, some members have noticed that the altar table is not in the chancel. This was discussed at some length at our Annual Meeting in January. We want to set your hearts and minds at ease.

As you know, our Art Committee has been busy putting together a beautiful chancel space that not only matches the original wood background but brings back the painted organ pipes and accommodates the sound output of the new organ. The altar table is another piece of the chancel that is currently being worked on.

We found out that the altar table was unusable once it was removed from its former location. Worship & Arts recently voted unanimously to make modifications to it to bring it back to use. The changes that are being made by our woodworker, Richard Couture, include:

·     reducing the size of the altar table to address its heaviness;

·     adding casters so that it can be moved easily around the chancel; and

·     adding a base to increase the height of the altar table so that it is more visible to the congregation.

Once completed, the altar table will be back in the chancel. Most of the time the altar table will be present in the chancel; sometimes it may be moved when space is needed.

All of the changes to the chancel have created a much-needed flexible space for different worship uses: the bell and voice choirs; Christmas or other pageants; use by our community for concerts or plays; more intimate worship events, such as the Maundy Thursday service in 2022; and more. Worship & Arts is thankful that the Art Committee has done everything creatively, while trying to honor our past AND our future.

In faithful fellowship,

Ritva LaFlower, Chair

Worship & Arts

Music Pups Class

The Music Class® is a class for parents/guardians and children ages birth through 4. It is interactive and uses many fun songs and rhymes from many cultures. In class we will sing, dance, and play lots of fun instruments as well as expose children to many types of music and styles. It is expected that parents/guardians participate in class and use the app or songbook included with fees at home as homework. This helps kids engage more and make it more meaningful for them. For more information, please email Larissa at [email protected] or check out my website at www.flutethoughtsoflarissa.com/lessons.

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The spring session will be starting in Barre on March 22 at 9:30 a.m. at Barre Congregational Church. Classes will be $150 for a 10-week session.

Financing Available!

Ministry Updates

Click the link below for updates!

Ministry Notes

Council Minutes

Finance Minutes