Enhance Your Faith This Fall with a Spiritual Practices Series

Continues Tomorrow, 10/6

Join Pastor Kathy this fall for the series, “Enhancing Your Well-being with Spiritual Practices.” Each session will be about an hour long and will include learning about and trying different spiritual practices.

Session will be held in-person on Thursday mornings at 10:00am in the Davis room upstairs from the sanctuary.

Contact the office or Pastor with any questions. 

Search Team Members Needed

for Hiring a New Church Administrator

The Operations Team is looking for people to be part of the search team to help with candidate selection to fill the Church Administrator position.

If you are interested in being a member of this search team, please reach out to Chris McCune or contact the church office.

Blessing of the Animals

Please join us next Sunday, October 16th in front of the Church, for a Blessing of the Animals! There will be a short prayer at 1pm, but you can drop by anytime between 1pm and 2:30pm.

We invite you to bring your pets on leashes or in carriers, or bring a picture of your pet to be blessed. Please pass the word on to your neighbors and friends. 

Pets are one of our greatest gifts, especially in these challenging days, and we want to take time to celebrate and show our gratitude for them.

Looking for a Church Member

Willing to be our Auditor

Do you like doing analysis? If so, maybe you can help us out. 

The Operations Team is looking for a church member who will be willing to be our auditor.

If you might be interested, please reach out to the church office and we will get you in touch with the correct people so you can learn more about this important church role.

Community Supper

Baked Potato Bar

October 15

Saturday, 4:00-6:00pm

We will be holding our next Community Supper next Saturday, 10/15 from 4:00-6:00pm. Please mark your calendars, and plan to bring your friends!

We always can use donations to help keep the costs of the dinners down so everyone who wants or needs a meal, can attend. Anything you can provide is greatly appreciated. There is a signup sheet in the social hall. Sign up during coffee hour, or contact the office. Cash or Market Basket Gift Cards are also an easy way to contribute and can be dropped off with Suzanne in the office.

Help for setting up, serving and clean-up is always appreciated as well. 

Thank you - Your Community Meal Group

Looking to get involved?

The Fundraising Team could use an extra team member or two.

It seems like a lot of work, but it is more about delegating than anything else. This past year we ran two very successful events including the Food Truck Festival and the Strawberry Festival, and are preparing for the upcoming Christmas Festival.

There are one or two people who spearhead each event. For example, Roxanne McGaffigan leads the Food Truck Festival. Ellen McCune and Barbara Wallack lead the two craft fairs. We have become very efficient in running each event because of lessons from our past experience, and of course the amazing support of our wonderful members.

We are on target for making $15,000 for the church, our best year yet!

We have meetings on an as needed basis, with many conducted via Zoom or through text. It is an exciting, fun, and very rewarding team that we hope you will consider joining. If you are interested, or have any questions, you can contact Ellen McCune or Barbara Wallack. We can answer any questions you may have.

We thank you for your consideration.

The Fundraising Team

Worship This Week

Please join us in our Sanctuary

or online at 10am for the

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Coffee hour will be held in Hadley Hall after the service.  We hope you will join us.

The service will be live streamed through Facebook Live here or on 3CX here.

artwork: Circle of Life Autumn © Mary Southard

A Word from Peace and Justice--Hurricane Relief

I received an email from UCC about an opportunity to give financial support to the recovery efforts following hurricanes Fiona and Ian. I like using the organization of the church because the response is rapid and more money gets to those in need.

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your support of disaster relief. Your generosity has aided hundreds of families in need of help to rebuild their homes and lives. We request your renewed support for the Hurricanes 2022 Fund for those in crisis in the aftermath of Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, and other significant storms that may arise in the warm Atlantic waters. Your gift to the Hurricanes 2022 Fund will help with immediate needs while basic infrastructure is repaired, and more complete assessments can be made.

We don’t know what may come next with two months remaining in hurricane season. We know that as a people of faith, we can show up through our prayers and giving for our most vulnerable neighbors and journey with them on the long road to recovery. With your support, we can offer healing and resources through solidarity grants that support relief.

Your gift enables the church to be present with people amidst catastrophic and life-changing situations, offering immediate relief and providing long-term recovery support. Working through a network of global and local partners, the church lives out its call to care for our neighbors as we strive together toward a just world for all. If you prefer, you may send a check payable to the United Church of Christ, PO BOX 71957 Cleveland, OH 44194. Please be sure to note “Hurricanes Fund 2022” in the memo section.

Thank you for your generosity.

Sincerely,

Kent Siladi

Director of Philanthropy

Blessings,

Debra

The Music Corner by Herb Tardiff

There are some fabulous musicians in this world who can do things that most people would find impossible. Take for instance, Jonathan Scott, an English organist who arranges musical classics.

One such performance is “Overture to Tannhauser” by Richard Wagner. In his arrangement, Jonathan Scott plays both feet on the pedal board, plays the left hand on the lower keyboard and plays the right hand on the upper keyboard and uses his thumb on a lower keyboard to play the melody, essentially doing 5 things at once. I would invite you to watch Jonathan Scott playing “Tannhauser” with the link above.

Food Pantry Donations

Thank you all for such a generous outpouring of food items for St. Anne’s Food Pantry! 

Here are a few facts about the Food Pantry:

For over thirty years, St. Anne’s Food Pantry has served families in need from the towns of Hampstead, Atkinson, East Hampstead, Danville and Sandown. The woman who originally started the Food Pantry is still active with the pantry and delivers food to families who don’t have their own transportation! 

Most recipients go to the Food Pantry on Thursdays and/or Saturdays; there are specific hours it is open. Check out their webpage here. Currently, the Food Pantry serves over 145 families each month. There has been a greater increase over the past couple of years and the Food Pantry anticipates an even larger increase this winter due to economic conditions. 

Some of the most popular food items are pasta items and canned goods containing meat and pasta. Popular items such as fresh vegetables, meat and eggs are purchased and/or donated weekly by Hannaford in East Hampstead.

So far this year (through September), Hampstead Congregational Church has donated over 450 items – including over 16 pounds of pasta, 23 packages of rice, 116 cans including vegetables, pasta & meat, beans and tuna! St. Anne’s Food Pantry has let us know that they are very appreciative of our ongoing support.

The current needs for the pantry are: hearty/meaty soups, salad dressings, coffee, tea, cereal, flour and sugar. These items can be dropped off in the bin located in our foyer. We reach out to the pantry frequently to get their current needs and include those current needs in our Weekly Word and our bulletin.

Again, THANK YOU for your caring and generosity,

The Missions Team

Chester Scarecrows

The Village People

Did you know, every year the residents of Chester put out hundreds of scarecrows throughout their town? These scarecrows are lovingly known as The Village People.

Some residents go all out and create amazing scarecrows based on famous movies, books and historical & current events and genres.

Chester residents maintain a Facebook page, a webpage, and a map of all the known addresses with scarecrows to help people navigate to the scarecrow locations.

You can check out their Facebook page here.

You can check out their webpage and map here.

Bible Study Group Break

Now - October 26th

The bible study group will take time off starting now through October 26th due to the spiritual practice study Pastor Kathy will be leading beginning on September 29th.

The bible study group will resume on Wednesday. November 2nd, at Jane C's home at 9:30 am.

October Birthdays

We are continuing to only list first names and last initial to minimize scamming issues with personal information being shared via electronic documents.

Lloyd T 10/2

Carolyn C 10/3

Karen C 10/5

Jackie L 10/6

Eric K 10/15

Judy D 10/26

Marcy M 10/31

If you would like your birthday recognized, please call the office to make sure we have it in our records!

Another Successful

Fiber Arts Gathering

On Saturday, 9/24 Bea Randall led another successful gathering for people interested in fiber arts in Hadley Hall.

The next gathering will be Saturday, October 22 at 10am - spread the word and come join us!

The Steeple is Lit

now - October 8

in loving memory of Bob & Lois Chase and their son Gary Chase.

Lighting being offered by family members Lauren Chase Stuck & Scott Chase. 

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.

10/04/22 Newsletter

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

Food Drive to Support

Saint Anne Ecumenical Food Pantry

The New needs for the Food Pantry are:



hearty/meaty soups, salad dressings, coffee, tea, cereal, flour and sugar

Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Thank you for all your support!

Scam Emails & Texts

Emails and Texts are often sent, saying they are from Pastor Kathy or another staff member. She (or the HCC staff) will never send out a generic email/text--she'll address it to your name. She will never ask you for money/gift cards over email nor via a text.

Also, any email from Pastor Kathy will always have her signature line on the bottom with her phone number/address.

If in doubt, please contact the church office or Pastor Kathy.