On July 30th, Rise Up For Children organized a Prayer Walk to raise awareness about sex trafficking since it was World Day Against Trafficking! People showed up to pray and walk with signs, color coordinated with blue. Donations were collected to support Operation Underground Railroad Rescue. For more information contact: blessedTres@comcast.net

Information Shared by Chris Ventura

Story by Kayla Rose

On August 7th, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School finally got the opportunity to have an in-person graduation, socially distanced, of course! Congratulations Class of 2020!!!!

Story credit: Kayla Rose

Photo credit: Kevin Moreira

The Bridgewater Town Council is looking for one more member to fill the last open seat on the Charter Review Committee. The Committee is tasked with recommending changes to the Town's governing document. The work will take roughly a year to complete and culminates with a report to the Council containing recommended changes. If you are interested, contact Council President Shawn George at sgeorge@bridgewaterma.org.

Wally is joining @MassGovernor & @MassDPH

to keep Massachusetts safe. It’s time to #MaskUpMA! Wally's video on Twitter!

Please call us for details and to sign up

508-697-0929. No more than 5 people per trip.

Try to minimize visits outside of your home. The biggest risk factor is being around other people. If you shop outside of your home, wear a mask, & maintain a 6 foot buffer around yourself. It’s hard to maintain a safe distance from cashiers, so use self-checkout and hand sanitizer when possible.

A VOLUNTEER is available to shop for you. Please call or email us to be connected 508-697-0929 seniorcenter@bridgewaterma.org.

6:30-7:30p 

{link to our YouTube channel}

Taunton River Watershed boundaries. Submission form, click here.  

If you have any questions or If you are emailing files, email them one at a time to director@savethetaunton.org.

Have empty nickel-deposit bottles and cans piling up that could be redeemed? Consider cashing them in all through the month of August, and donating the money to Central Square Congregational Church! Set up a jar on your counter, and every time you redeem your bottles and cans, just drop the cash in the jar. At the end of August, you’ll have built up a nice little, and much needed, donation. You can even ask your family, friends, and neighbors to participate. 

Have kids? They can go to their neighborhood friends with their wagon and collect even more! These funds will help with ongoing expenses that the church incurs even while the building is still closed, while also helping you to clear some clutter. 

You can drop a check in the mail anytime during the month of August, payable to Central Square Church with "bottle redemption" in the memo line (71 Central Square, Bridgewater). Or, you can wait for our bottle and can donation day at the end of August and bring all the cash in your jar! Stop by the side door on Church Street on Monday, August 31st any time between 9a & 12 noon (with your mask on, of course!) and drop off your cash or check donation through the window.

Contact the church office at office@csccucc.com or 508-697-6016 with questions.

is a very new (and very old) hymn to our country, with lyrics by Charles Coe, set to a 19th-century tune by Matilda T. Durham, one of the first female hymn writers in America, and harmonized by me, Julia Scott Carey.

It was premiered on Sunday, August 2nd, 2020, at the Central Square Congregational Church in Bridgewater, with me accompanying James Dargan, baritone, as part of our "Voices of Justice" service. The full program is available here. The bulletin may be downloaded here, so you can see the titles and program notes.

I love American music and history, and I spend many hours looking through old American hymnals searching for hidden treasures. I fell in love with Matilda T. Durham’s virtually unknown hymn tune “Star of Columbia” the first time I played through it (Columbia is an obsolete nickname for our country, which is used in many old hymns). It’s powerful and yet lyrical, primarily pentatonic with soaring melodicism.

The original lyrics were written by Timothy Dwight IV, a president of Yale, as well as an author and minister. The lyrics had some lovely aspects, especially the opening line “America! America! To glory arise” (originally “Columbia” instead of “America”), which I loved because it was a call to action. However, the lyrics were also littered with gender stereotypes, American exceptionalism, and pro-colonialism. Furthermore, in spite of Dr. Dwight’s many accomplishments (and the fact that a residential college at Yale still bears his and his grandson’s names), I discovered that he owned a slave, and reading the original contract he wrote upon the purchasing of the slave was nauseating. I didn’t feel that his words could adequately express the seeking of glory by our country in this modern era.

I commissioned Charles Coe to write new lyrics for this hymn, keeping the opening line “America! America! To glory arise” as a tribute to the original, but exploring new ways our country could look towards glory in its future. I felt that the symbolism of replacing the words of a slaveholder with those of a contemporary Black American poet was emblematic of the search for glory in our country’s new awakening. Charles Coe’s brilliant and beautiful words capture the emotions of the original text, but with the hope and honesty of an America looking towards a new dawn in this turbulent new decade. His lyrics speak of the power of nature, the promise of our children’s tomorrows, the need for all people to be freed from want, and the search for unity. In the final verse, the poetry switches from the third-person description of the dream of America’s future, to a first-person description of the speaker waking to a world where choirs of all possible hues join their voices together. I can’t imagine any more meaningful words for Charles Coe to end his poem on, as it is my sincerest wish that we will all awake from this current dream, and find ourselves amongst diverse choirs lifting their voices to the skies, singing of the triumph of unity and equity and hope.

James Dargan, baritone, accompanied by Julia Scott Carey as part of the "Voices of Justice" service, Central Square Congregational Church in Bridgewater

America! America! To glory arise,

Sing justice, sing freedom, and sing to the skies.

Be always a beacon of welcoming light,

Bring comfort to all on the darkest of nights

Be always a land where the spirit may soar,

Safe harbor and peace on a welcoming shore

Where children are honored and guided with love,

Protected and cherished as gifts from above

Where trees in their splendor, so proud and so tall,

Shall carpet the forest with gold in the fall;

Where thunderous rivers shall nourish the land,

With God’s bounty tended by proud farmers’ hands

A bounty our neighbors shall always hold dear,

The specter of hunger shall never draw near

Then America shall truly her glory find,

When her people are freed from want and worry’s bind.

I woke from deep slumber and greeted the morn,

Heard voices proclaiming a new day is born.

A day when all people shall gather in song,

I lifted my voice with the jubilant throng

A choir of every possible hue,

Proclaiming in voices so strong and so true

America America! To glory arise,

Sing justice, sing freedom, and sing to the skies.

 Copyright 2020 Buzz Around Bridgewater. You have our permission to share and copy this issue in its entirety as much as you like. If you take it in part, please give credit. ("Buzz Around Bridgewater 8/16/20")