Due to several appointments and obligations, the HCC office hours next week (5/18-5/22) will be as follows:

Monday - CLOSED

Tuesday - 9am to 3pm

Wednesday - CLOSED (Maria at UCC Admin's Day)

Thursday - Open 9am to 3pm

If you need to come to the office, please call ahead (603-329-6985) to make sure someone will be there.

Rev Paige’s Corner: 

“Confused about God”

   While I was on vacation, I had the opportunity to see “The Sheep Detectives” with my family – a light gentle family movie in which a herd of sheep try to solve the mystery of their shepherd’s death. One moment that made me laugh out loud was when one of the sheep, Sebastian, tries to explain how humans understand God. God is “both lamb and shepherd, invisible, made of bread, and eaten on Sundays.”  “Poor God,” another sheep, Mopple, says. (I wish I had the exact quote, but the film hasn’t been out long enough to find it just yet.)  Of course, the sheep’s understanding is based on what they have overheard from the humans. It isn’t as if they had gone to church or anything.

   But it made me think about how “eavesdroppers” – people without church connections – perceive what it means to be Christian. The truth is that fewer and fewer people have any church experience – perhaps beyond funerals and weddings and what they see on TV. Perhaps like the sheep, they also have a pretty distorted perception of what our faith is all about.

  And the truth is that even those of us who have had the church in our lives for a long time and studied scripture have plenty of questions!

   I believe that we need churches to be safe places to express questions and confusions. I also believe we need to keep working at how we publicly tell the story of what we are all about.

With Blessings!

Rev Paige Besse-Rankin

Thank You for Your Help!

A huge THANK YOU to the young men in Boy Scout Troop 33, as well as our wonderful church members Al Lake, Marion Lake, Linda Tilden, David Daniels, Chris McCune, David Chin, and Judy Ross, who spent hours on Saturday, May 9th, cleaning up our church! It takes a community of dedicated and energetic people to keep our beautiful historic church clean and functioning, inside and out. Your efforts are recognized and greatly appreciated!

HCC's 2026 Profile Available

Search Committee has been working diligently on creating a new HCC profile to aid in their search for a new pastor. We know some members want the opportunity to see the profile and offer feedback. If you would like to read it, please click HERE.

Please send your feedback to Allison Siwacki by clicking HERE.

Strengthen the Church Collection Next Sunday (5/24)

   Each year on Pentecost, the United Church of Christ takes an all church offering to support programs that strengthen the church!  

   The Strengthen the Church Offering furthers the work of our Conference and National Ministries as we work together to strengthen and renew existing congregations, fund leadership development, and provide exciting new programs for youth and young adults. The offering is divided between your Conference and the National Ministries.

MOTHER’S DAY DIAPER DRIVE

In honor of Mother’s Day, Hampstead Congregational Church will be collecting diapers & wipes (especially sizes 4,5 & 6) to benefit the Manchester Diaper Pantry.

Thanks to your previous generosity we have been able to support them through some challenging times and the good news is that they are now continuing to grow the program and reaching more families in than ever. They recently established permanent office and storage space at the YWCA in Manchester and are now doing appointment-based pickups to give working families a wider window to pick up supplies . They are doing some great work, but the need is also increasing, so please consider picking up some diapers or wipes and dropping them off in the church foyer throughout the month of May.

If you would like to make a monetary donation please make a note that it is for the Diaper Drive.

Thank you in advance and Happy Mother's Day!

The Crop Walk is coming June 14! 

Have you signed up to walk or to sponsor our team?

Use this link for Hampstead team: https://events.crophungerwalk.org/chw/team/hampstead-congregational-church

Or scan this QR code below with your phone's camera and it will take you to the page:

Save the Date!

Strawberry Festival - Saturday, June 6th

We need your help!

Are you ready for some Strawberry Shortcake? Our annual Strawberry Festival is happening soon. If you can help in any way on Friday, 6/5 and/or Saturday, 6/6, it would be greatly appreciated.

Things you can do to help:

• Friday--Help with Setup starting at 4PM
• Saturday-- Multiple timeslots starting at 8:30AM, many opportunities to help out. Help with Games, Bake Sale Table, Grilling, Serving the Shortcake, Plant Sale, Hidden Treasures Table & Cleanup at 3pm.

Signup Sheet is in Hadley Hall, or you can contact the office at 603-329-6985 and we will help get you signed up.

Other ways to help would be donating for the Hidden Treasures table, Raffle table and baked goods for the Bake Sale.

Let’s make this event a huge success! 

As always, thank you for your support,

Your Fundraising Team

The Music Corner by Herb Tardiff

Top 10 Most Expensive Broadway Shows Ever Made

10. Dance of the Vampires: $15.2 million

The infamous remake of Roman Polanski’s film The Fearless Vampire Killers had a score by Jim Steinman, frequent Meatloaf collaborator. After a long and bumpy birthing, the show finally opened in December of 2002 at the Minskoff Theatre where it ran for only 56 performances. Those vampires sucked approximately $12 million of the $15.2 Million that it cost to put on the show.

9. Matilda: $16 Million

The musical based on the classic Roald Dahl novel enjoyed a pretty healthy run on Broadway that lasted for more than 1500 performances. Winner of 5 Tony Awards in 2013 and ample critical acclaim, the show was by all metrics a success. It even recouped its $16 million investment which is anything but revolting.

8. Tarzan: $16 million

In the now common tradition of pop songwriters taking over Broadway, British hitmaker Phil Collins penned the songs for this adaptation of Disney’s Tarzan. The story chronicles the life of the titular character who is raised by gorillas in West Africa. Opening in 2006 and closing the following year, neither audiences nor critics went ape for the tepidly received musical.

7. The Little Mermaid: $16.6 million

It’s no surprise that Disney has several entries on this list given its penchant for spectacle and spending. Ariel and crew kept the show afloat for 685 performances but the venture never really got its sea legs. The property continues to see success internationally and across other platforms. Those Broadway investors, though, turned out to be poor, unfortunate souls.

6. Beauty and the Beast: $17.4 million

Once in a while, lightning strikes and for Belle, book and company, audiences were all too happy to be their guest. The classic fairy tale ran for 13 years from 1994-2007, clocking in at 5,461 performances. Its infectious score and family friendly fare overcame a mixed critical reception and as a result, the juggernaut recouped its investment many times over.

5. Shrek, The Musical: $24 million

It’s no surprise that popular film adaptations require exponentially higher funding as there’s an expectation in place that the stage iteration will be evocative of the cinematic one. DreamWorks entered the Broadway game at the tail end of 2008 here its freak flag flew for over a year. While not a dismal failure, the failure to recoup was hardly an ogre-knight success story.

4. The Lion King: $27.5 million

Opening in 1997, this adaptation of Disney’s monstrous hit film has made Pride Rock proud. With over 10,000 performances to date, the circle of life shows no signs of slowing down. Grossing more than $1.9 billion, the stage-worthy safari is the highest grossing Broadway production of all time. Hakuna Matata indeed!`

3. Moulin Rouge! The Musical: $28 Million

Another lavish film to live up to, the hodgepodge jukebox musical opened in 2019 to a whole lot of buzz. The sultry, splashy vehicle took home a whopping 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. While it’s rare for a dearly expensive show to recoup, Moulin Rouge has made back all of its initial investment as it continues to flourish on Broadway and around the world.

2. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: $68 Million

The lone straight play to make the cut, this magical production had no problem finding its audience. Smartly capitalizing on character familiarity— and not simply rehashing the plot of the books or films— this incarnation has been running at the Lyric Theatre since 2018. In a most impressive feat for a non-musical, the other wizard of Broadway recouped its lofty price tag.

1. Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark: $75 million

Spider-man might have occupied the same theatre as Harry Potter (back when it was called Foxwoods) but that’s where the similarities end. While the show managed to hang on for a couple of years, it closed at a massive financial loss. Julie Taymor should’ve stuck with the puppets and U2 won’t likely be gracing the Rialto ever again. An ill-fated comic endeavor all around.

Saint Anne's Food Pantry

Thank you all who continue to donate food for St. Anne’s Food Pantry! 

They have updated their needs list: Canned chicken, Spam, Salad dressings, Coffee, Maple syrup, Muffin mixes, Cracker assortment ...individual packages, Ensure, Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Nutrigrain bars, Granola bars

Please no expired items. Non-perishable items only.

Drop off is in the foyer of Hadley Hall.

Want to get the word out about what’s happening at HCC? If you want to publicize your event or remind the congregation about something, please email the office (hcc1752@gmail.com) by Wednesday at noon so that your information can be included in that week’s Weekly Word. Feel free to send in information up to three weeks in advance of an upcoming event. We want all of the congregation (not just the Team leaders) to be empowered to get the word out about all the activities that are happening at Hampstead Congregational Church!

Our Mailing address:

61 Main Street

Hampstead, NH 03841

Church Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 9:00am to 3pm