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Worship This Week
Bring a bell to Ring!
Please join us in the Sanctuary
or online at 10am for the
Second Sunday of Easter
Coffee hour will be held
after the service.
The service will be live streamed
on Facebook Live here
or on 3CX here
Reader: Linda Tilden
Coffee Hour Hosts: Marge & Bob O'Brien
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This Saturday 4/26, rain or shine.
We will have indoor seating available to eat your food and enjoy the band.
Don't let the rain stop you from enjoying this fun and YUMMY event!
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Easter Sunrise Worship
It was a beautiful Easter morning on the shores of Sunset Lake for our sunrise service.
Photos courtesy of Fred Malcolm
| | Easter Worship in the Sanctuary | | Maundy Thursday Supper & Worship | | |
Volunteer Recognition
In our ongoing efforts to recognize a group of volunteers each month, this month we
would like to recognize our Fundraising Team. This group, consisting of Barbara Wallack, Ellen McCune, Linda Tilden, Roxanne McGaffigan and honorary member and all-around helper Kari Allard, coordinates events such as The Strawberry Festival, The Christmas Craft Fair and the very popular Food Truck Festival.
Quite a bit of time and effort goes into the planning of each event and then making sure
everything runs smoothly the day of the event. The Church and its members
acknowledge and appreciate the amount of work that happens behind the scenes to
make each event successful. We see you.
Many thanks to the members of our Fundraising Team!!
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A Message for Plant Enthusiasts
It is finally spring and the young perennials are popping up in the gardens. Consider dividing your perennials now and potting up a portion of them for sale at the Strawberry Festival. Right now, the tops are small, and the roots are strong. Potting them now and caring for them will give us full, beautiful, unstressed plants for the sale. Please label your plants with any information you can: type, variety, color, anything is helpful.
Houseplants are also popular now. Do you have something from which you could take cuttings and start new little plants? Succulent type plants like Christmas Cactus, should be cut, then let to air dry and callus over for a few days before sticking them into a well drained soil. If you know the name or color of your plant, please label it. If you have questions about propagating, feel free to ask me. Kariallard1@msn.com Maybe you have more houseplants than you need these days. Consider donating healthy plants that are taking up too much room, or of which you have duplicates. All donations of healthy plants are appreciated.
Many thanks in advance from the Strawberry Festival Plant Table Team!
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Rev Paige's Corner: Faith We can Put Our Whole Weight On
Our Thursday morning book group has picked back up a video series called "Living the Questions". This week's materials offered a wonderful story to help us think about the meaning of faith: "When John Paton tried to translate the New Testament into the indigenous
language of the people to whom he was sent as a missionary, he ran into a snag: there was no word for "believe" in the people’s language. When one of the natives came in and draped himself over a chair, he stretched out and rested his legs on another chair. Relaxed, he commented on how good it felt to "lean his whole weight on" those chairs. Immediately, Paton knew he had the word he
would use for “believe”: to "lean one's whole weight on." Similarly, the Greek and Latin roots of the word "believe" mean “to give one’s heart to.” Believing doesn’t necessarily mean giving one’s mental assent, but something deeper – giving one’s self at its deepest level."
This exploration of how we understand faith struck me as important on a week when the gospel reading is about Thomas's struggle to believe in the resurrection until he can see and touch Jesus. Sometimes Thomas gets lifted up as having a weak faith, but I am not so sure. He wanted what all the other disciples experienced, after all. And he was being asked to believe something unbelievable. I choose, instead, to consider how he was living even with his questions. A week later, he was still with that group, still part of the community, still making sure that people had what they needed in the midst of uncertain times. He had faith even if he also had questions. And in that way, I think he stands for all of us!
With Easter blessings!
Rev Paige Besse-Rankin
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Looking for Volunteers!
Spring Clean-Up
Saturday, May 10th, 9am-12pm
The Operation Team requests your help to do some Spring cleaning, both inside and outside the church. Bring work gloves and tools, and your favorite cleaning supplies. Share some fellowship with fellow members and other volunteers.
A list of specific tasks in addition to general clean-up is being prepared. All are welcome to assist. Many hands make short work. Thank you!
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The CROP Hunger Walk is back on Sunday June 1st! We are happy to announce that, after a hiatus, the Hampstead/Atkinson/Plaistow CROP Hunger Walk is coming back. HCC was a longtime supporter of this event and we are looking forward to being involved again.
We have started a team if you would like to walk and/or fundraise. You can also get involved by making a donation to our team to support this wonderful cause.
To make a donation or find out more about the walk please visit https://events.crophungerwalk.org/crophungerwalks/event/hampsteadnh
In the coming weeks we will be talking more about this wonderful event that helps raise funds to provide meals for people in our local communities as well as around the world. Stay tuned for more details about the walk and how you can help.
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HCC Today and Tomorrow! May 31 at the Meetinghouse
Everyone is invited to join us on Saturday, May 31 from 9 am - 1 pm at the old Meetinghouse! We will offer refreshments, a tour of our original church space, and time for conversation about where the church is going in the days ahead. Stay tuned for more information.
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Save the Dates! Upcoming Events
April 26th – Hampstead Eats Food Truck Festival at 11am
May 10th – Spring Clean Up at 9am
May 31st - HCC Today & Tomorrow Retreat at the Hampstead Meetinghouse
June 1 – Crop Walk at 1pm
June 7 – Strawberry Festival at 9am
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Peace & Justice
With our Food Truck Festival coming up this Saturday for which we have invited the NH Food Bank to have a collection table for donations, this Peace and Justice article is about the challenges that the food pantries across the state and nation face this year. After cuts to Federal support for USDA assistance programs have left the food bank and individual food pantries like St. Anne’s to reconsider how to meet the growing need for food assistance.
In an article from NHPR the director of Waysmeet Center in Durham describes the situation that most face. They meet the needs of very loyal clients that come once a week nearly every week and rely on that visit for their family’s food. With that obvious need, the pantry does not want to disrupt that service. The food they distribute comes from the NH Food Bank as well as local grocery stores. They are expecting to have to rely more on the grocery stores and private donors going forward. In 2024, Waysmeet received a little of 145,000 pound of food from NH Food Bank and was expecting to receive 208,500 pounds this year as the need has grown. This will put a strain on the local donation sources.
This is very similar to St. Anne’s situation in terms of food sourcing. In addition to the pantry St. Anne’s provides Heaven’s Kitchen. This mission relies more heavily on the NH Food Bank and USDA directly because of the focus on preparing meals for distribution. This summer, a time of greater need because kids are not receiving meals at school, will be the first large challenge the pantries will face.
So, bring in those food items and encourage you friends and neighbors to support the NH Food Bank by coming to our Food Truck Festival with Food Bank donations!
Blessings, Debra
Full article
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Music Corner by Herb Tardiff
"Jesus Christ Superstar"
What a journey. The Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar was first released in 1970 as a musical album, and then, because of the album’s success, was released on Broadway. There have been Broadway revivals ever since and in 1973, there was the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar directed by Norman Jewison.
Story
The film version of Jesus Christ Superstar begins with Judas confronting Jesus. Judas was one of Jesus’s disciples who later betrayed him. Here, Judas raises doubts about Jesus’s mission and if he is leading the people in the right direction. Jesus keeps on going, though. The story follows Jesus on his Heavenly Father’s mission, while there are other voices questioning him.
The High Priest and Pharisees are concerned that Jesus is leading the people astray. Jesus is a ‘competitor’ although he is not competing, but according to the Pharisees he is. The Pharisees want to keep the power and have their sway over the people. Even so, do the crowds and his followers follow Jesus for the wrong reason? The crowds believe Jesus is going to be their earthly messiah, except Jesus is on his heavenly mission. “My kingdom is not of this world…. He who believes in me though he dies will live forever.”
Rather than reforming the political system, Jesus finds trouble. The story asks: was Jesus supposed to be a political leader and failed or was he more the heavenly teacher and savior?
The film ends with the people not really understanding Jesus. What does his crucifixion mean to them?
The film ends more on misunderstanding or not knowing what Jesus was about rather than revelation. In the gospel, Jesus said his disciples would understand his words after his crucifixion and resurrection. There is no resurrection in this movie.
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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: Salad dressings, Coffee, Mayonnaise, Cans of Grated Cheese, Flour, Sugar, Gluten Free Items, Juice Boxes, Spices, Cereal (no oatmeal).
St. Anne’s Food Pantry has also updated their Amazon Wish List in addition to listing items here.
Please no expired items. Non-perishable items only.
Drop off is in the foyer of Hadley Hall.
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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.
4/22/2025 Newsletter
Each week, we will update this section of our Weekly Word with the new link
for the current newsletter.
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Are you on Facebook? Do you follow Hampstead Congregational Church? Please like our page to know about all the great events in the church. Liking also supports our church when people check us out. If you are already connected, share our good news!
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| Help Us Continue Our Mission at HCC | |
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!
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Our Mailing address:
61 Main Street
Hampstead, NH 03841
Church Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 9:00am to 2 pm
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Hampstead Congregational Church Website
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