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

Pastor Kathy will (finally!) be officially installed as Pastor and Teacher of Hampstead Congregational Church on Sunday, September 26th, at 2:30pm. Mark your calendars to join us for this special and joyous event!

Even though it is hot and sunny right now, winter will come. We are looking for someone to shovel this winter for a person in need in Emerson Village. The person is alone and not mobile enough to be able to shovel.

If you can help, please contact the office at (603) 329-6985 or hcc1752@gmail.com.

We are so glad that coffee hour has returned!

We are looking for volunteers to help with coffee hour prep and cleanup (and bringing in snacks). If you can help this Sunday or any following, please contact the Church Office or sign up after service.

Not long ago we wrote about the Fistula Foundation and their work in treating women suffering from fistula in many parts of the world. One of their hospitals is in Kabul. I received this letter via email today.

Dear Debra,

Like you, I’ve been engrossed in and troubled by the news and images coming out of Afghanistan this week. Our community has a deep tie to the country. The stakes are high for all Afghans, but I’m particularly concerned for the many vulnerable women with fistula whom we serve, with your support.

One of our longest and most enduring relationships is with Cure Hospital, in the capital city of Kabul, home to our female fistula surgery team. Our first thoughts were about how the Taliban takeover of the city and the chaos unfolding in the streets would impact the team at Cure. Many unknowns remain, but please be assured I plan to keep you updated on our partner’s safety and work in the days ahead. I am relieved and inspired to share with you news I received yesterday afternoon from Be Team International's President and CEO, Dr. Rick Manning, the longtime medical director at Cure Hospital:

It has been a chaotic week in Afghanistan. However, despite the chaos, our hospital has suffered no damage. While neighboring institutions and hospitals were evacuating their premises, our staff remained in place and continued working. Thus, our hospital remained untouched during the 10 hours of anarchy, when no one was in control and during which looters and rioters plundered many facilities. Our security team worked the front gate as per normal protocols. We admitted one person at a time and treated patients according to our protocol, including one Taliban soldier with a head injury.

Cure Hospital was one of our first partners in 2009, when we launched our global mission to be a force against fistula. Cure was initially founded by an American team. However, from the beginning, they’ve been building medical capacity with Afghan doctors and nurses. Indeed, for the last several years, the hospital has been staffed entirely by Afghans. This includes the fistula surgery team, comprised of women.

I’ll leave you with more of Rick’s inspiring words:

Instead of staying hidden in their homes… [the hospital senior management team] went to the hospital and rallied the staff. Together, they took actions that prevented the hospital from suffering any damage and may allow it to continue functioning within the new government.

Now, the city is filled with many desperate and displaced people. We have an opportunity before us. Laboring women will need a safe place to deliver babies. Some of those babies will need our neonatal intensive care unit. Some of those displaced people have clefts deformities. Some have obstetric fistulas. Others have different medical problems for which we are uniquely qualified to treat. We will continue thinking creatively about how we can assist and enable our heroic Afghans to meet these new challenges.

While the initial reports from Kabul are somewhat reassuring, the situation is clearly dynamic. We are hopeful that the new government will see that Cure Hospital is a true asset for Afghan citizens and will allow the fistula surgery team to remain in their posts. Time will tell if this hope becomes a reality.

With gratitude for your support,

Kate Grant

CEO, Fistula Foundation

If you’d like some fresh produce, feel free to stop by the foyer of Hadley Hall! Pastor Kathy left some beautiful tomatoes for anyone who can use them.

If you'd like to make a donation, all proceeds go to RIP Medical Debt. Donations can be placed in the basket (on Sunday mornings) or in the lockbox in the foyer.

 If you have extra crops from your garden you would like to share with other church members and help an amazing cause, please bring them to Hadley Hall when you come for Sunday Service, or drop them off in the foyer. Thanks!

Pastor Kathy will be out of the office this week through August 29th. She will be traveling to Wisconsin to celebrate her mom's memorial service. Rev. Linda Lea Snyder will be providing pastoral coverage (ph. 203-927-5387).

Do you want to help children, youth and adults grow in faith, or maybe you'd like to organize community outreach activities? Would you like to see Sunday School at our church continue? Our Discipleship Team needs several people with these interests to keep our faith formation going at HCC. Please let Pastor Kathy know if you are interested in learning more.

In February we shared that Olivia Nolan had joined the US Marine Corps and had just completed her first week of Boot Camp.

Becky & Doug wanted to let everyone know that last month they all went out to 29 Palms in California to visit Olivia at her training base. They were so happy to see her, since they couldn’t see her at her graduation from boot camp at Paris Island.

Olivia will be shipping out to Okinawa Japan on the 23rd of August for 3 years. She was able to get three weeks leave. Olivia is home now; they've been visiting and doing things as a family again.

The family is looking forward to seeing everyone in person while she is home and they thank everyone at church for thinking of and praying for Olivia.

Olivia was grateful for all the letters of support she received from everyone at boot camp. They lifted her spirits and helped her get thru a tough 3 months!

We will try to get Olivia's mailing address in Japan once she gets settled.

These huge hydrangea blooms are still looking as beautiful as the day that Judy Dobson brought them from her Hampstead home.

They are in Hadley Hall for all to enjoy.

Joseph Scriven was born in Ireland in 1820. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and was engage to be married. The evening before their wedding, Scriven's fiancé drowned. This tragedy coupled with difficult family relationships, caused Joseph to begin following the practices and teaches of the Plymouth Brethren.

Shortly after moving to Canada to become a teacher, Scriven became engaged to Eliza Roche. Tragedy struck again and Eliza passed away from illness shortly before marriage.

Joseph used the tragedies and hardships in life to empathize with the elderly and poor.

Scriven used his time to saw wood for the stoves of those who were handicapped or elderly.

Joseph wrote his famous hymn in 1855 to comfort his mother who still lived in Ireland. He did not seek to be noticed for it, and his authorship was only discovered by accident shortly before his death.

Scriven himself began to experience poor health, financial struggles and depression during his last years of life. To this day, no one knows for sure if Joseph Scriven's death was accident or suicide. He was in a serious depression at the time. A friend reported, "We left him about midnight. I withdrew to an adjoining room, not to sleep, but to watch and wait. You may imagine my surprise and dismay when on visiting the room I found it empty. All attempts to search failed to find a trace of the missing man, until a little after noon the body was discovered in the water nearby, lifeless and cold in death."

Lydia Fagan and Erin McCune have offered to provide some of the rides for some HCC members that wish to come to Church services but are no longer driving. We could use others to be backup drivers.

Please reach out to our office at 603-329-6985 or at hcc1752@gmail.com.

If in doubt, please call the church or send an email to pastorkathyucc@gmail.com.