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Volume 25, Issue 10
October 2024
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Sowing Seeds
Newsletter of
Bristol United Church of Christ
“The Church on the hill”
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FALL VESPERS SERVICE IN PRAISE OF THE CREATOR:
(NOTE: Date is EARLIER this year due to booking conflicts at Slim Baker Lodge)
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Sunday, October 6th 4:30pm
Inspiration Point, in the Slim Baker Area
There will be transportation to the top for those who need it.
Following the 4:30 P.M. Service,
we will share a Potluck Supper in the Slim Baker Lodge
Bring a salad, main dish, side dish, or dessert to share.
Drinks and paper products will be provided.
*****Please help with clean up and earth stewardship
by bringing your own place setting (plate/utensils)
Thank YOU!
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Office Hours:
Monday thru Friday 9A - 12P
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August Attendance
In Person + Zoom
September 1st 39
September 8th 42
September 15th 33
September 22nd 39
September 29th
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FALL CLEAN UP DAY
October 19th - 9AM
Rain Date - October 26th
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Fall Bible Study
Mondays in October and November
11 AM and 7 PM
This fall, we’ll be reading, “The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginners Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings,” by Amy-Jill Levine.
Jesus provided his disciples teachings for how to follow Torah, God’s word; he told them parables to help them discern questions of ethics and of human nature; he offered them beatitudes for comfort and
encouragement. But sometimes Jesus spoke words that followers then and now have found difficult. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), to act as if they were slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). He restricts his mission
(Matthew 10:6); he speaks of damnation (Matthew 8:12); he calls Jews the devil’s children (John 8:44).
In this book, Amy-Jill Levine shows how these difficult teachings would have sounded to the people who first heard them, how have they been understood over time, and how we might interpret them in the context of the Gospel of love and reconciliation.
All are welcome to attend either in the mornings or evenings.
Please register with Rev Andrew to receive a copy of the book.
The first three sessions will be October 7, 21, and 28.
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Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. (Mark 8:27-30 NRSV)
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus frequently tells the Disciples and those he has cured or helped NOT to tell others about him. In scholarly circles, this is known as the “Messianic Secret.” Commentators have posited several possible reasons Jesus wants his identity kept under wraps. One compelling reason to me is that Jesus wants or needs the time to firmly establish exactly what kind of Messiah he is. Jesus does this through his teaching and especially by his actions including the events of his passion, death, and resurrection. According to the Gospel, Jesus did not come to lead a military revolt against the oppressor / occupier – Rome. Rather, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God redeems humankind from our own failings, our own sin. This makes it possible for everyone to be “right” with God regardless of how wrong they have ever been.
Jesus checks in with the Disciples, not necessarily to see how he is doing at this Messiah thing, but rather to see if the Disciples are understanding Jesus in the way he wants. So he asks, “Who do people say that I am?” They have heard what people are saying about Jesus. The people, however, don’t yet recognize him as Messiah. They may still be expecting another kind of Messiah but they certainly recognize Jesus as some kind of Man of God. Then Jesus asks the Disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” According the Gospels, Peter is the first Disciple to get that that is who and what Jesus is.
We live in a time and place where a great number of people profess some kind of faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah. And many people say that that faith informs the way they live their lives. I say it and I suspect that many – most – nearly all at Bristol UCC would say the same. The question I think we need to hear and answer is Jesus’ own question, “But who do you say that I am?” For us, is Jesus just some holy guy somehow connected to the God of the Israelites and the early Christian movement? Is he maybe only a prophet, a John the Baptist? Or is he, to us, really the Messiah of God, the one who showed us how to live in a way that embodies love of God and neighbor? And if he is the latter, shouldn’t that be how one tries to live if one claims to be his follower, his disciple? In John 13:35, Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It seems to me that we who say we follow Jesus Christ have a way to recognize one another and keep ourselves and each other on the path that is Jesus’ Way. In love, let us live for and proclaim our loving God to the world (no need to keep the Messianic Secret anymore). In love, we should also be able to recognize those who try to use the mere appearance of being Christian to get further very un-loving, un-Christian agendas, personal or communal/political. Allowing ourselves to accept those agendas is to be lead astray. May hold strong in the faith that God IS love. And we bear witness to this truth in our own ways in the times ahead
Well, that’s what this would-be disciple is thinking about this Fall.
Blessings,
Rev Andrew
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NARRATIVE LECTIONARY READINGS
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| October 6th | Exodus 32:1-14 Luke 23:34 | | October 13th | Numbers 27:1-11 | | October 20th | 2 Samuel 7:1-17 Luke 1:30-33 | | October 27th | 1 Kings 5:1-5 1 Kings 8:27-30
1 Kings 8:41-43 Luke 19:45-46 | | |
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Interested in joining the Choir?
Choir Rehearsals are on
Tuesdays at 3pm
and every Sunday at 9:15am before the Service.
Please let Estelle know if you would like to join the Choir
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The BUCC Women’s Fellowship
invites you to celebrate
October Birthdays and Anniversaries!
Join us following Sunday service on
October 27th
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PLEASE LET US KNOW!
If you would like to celebrate your Birthday or Anniversary month with BUCC,
please be sure the office knows the date of your celebration!
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Missions News
Missions had a great summer with backpacks and all, and now, we’re ready for Fall.
International Institute of New England received a donation in September to help refugees settle into new lives and the soup pot is simmering again. Our first soup delivery to neighbors in our community took place during the month of September.
In October, we are supporting our traditional
mission, Neighbors in Need. United Church of Christ is
committed to compassion and justice, and this year’s theme is
“Mental Health Justice for All”.
You’ll learn more about it during our Missions Moment on
October 13th.
Thank you for all you do to make our work
possible and enjoyable.
We’re a BUCC team!
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THE JOYFUL NOISE UKULELE BAND | |
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We will be having ukulele practice at
9:30 on Mondays.
New people are always welcome.
Please contact the church office before coming so that we have materials ready for newcomers
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CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Train up a child in the way they should go; even when they are old they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
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“But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” Galatians 5:22-23a
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During the 2024-25 Sunday School year, we are going to learn about the Fruit of the Spirit. We will be
using the book “Kids’ Travel Guide to the Fruit of the Spirit”
We will also be working on lessons to learn about the leadership roles in our church. Our lessons may
include craft projects to sell at the BUCC Women’s Fellowship Christmas Bazaar, baking bread to use for Communion, helping with the Fall Clean-up (or Spring Clean-up), and collecting Teddy Bears to complete a church mission project.
We run our Sunday School like a “little one room schoolhouse”; Attendance, Singing, Prayer, Multi-age lesson on the Fruit of the Spirit, independent work for the older students, and guided activities for the younger. Each week we will have Ms. Sal leading us in singing.
New students are always welcome to join us at any time during the year!
October Schedule:
October 6: Intergenerational Worship Service, Nursery Care will be offered during the service. Nursery Care Sitter - Ms. Gracie (assistant – Ms. Ellie)
October 13: Fruit of the Spirit: Peace – Mrs. Vogel
October 20: Fruit of the Spirit: Patience – Mrs. Keegan
October 27: Roll of the Deacons – Ms. Debbie
(we will be baking bread to use at Communion on November 3.)
The Sunday School “planted” a garden flag next to the sign by the main entrance of the church. The flag says “Peace, Love, Joy” the first three fruits from the Fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23a.
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A question was asked as to why the Fruit of the Spirit is Fruit instead of Fruits?
Here is an answer from Google:
“Many of us tend to understand the list of characteristics as different “fruits” that the Holy Spirit will grow within the hearts and lives of believers. With that interpretation, we are then interpreting the word fruit (Karpos) as a plural. But it isn't. The Greek word, “karpos” is a singular term, not plural.”
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The fruit of the spirit painting is by Etsy artist Sheila Smith. | |
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Church Council
Special Meeting
September 1, 2024
In attendance: Mary Kay Haines, Bonnie Biondi, Barbara McIntire, Lucille Keegan, Betty Seeler, Debbie Doe, Tom Keegan and Scott Haines.
The meeting was called for after Sunday worship in the sanctuary.
Betty explained that the meeting was being called by the Finance Committee looking to make a transfer in funds in order to cover the September bills before the quarterly dividend which should come in around October 1. She said they were looking to take $14,000 out of the Special Gifts fund at TD Bank which is earning significantly less than our investments through the UCC Foundation.
With no further discussion, Betty made a motion to transfer $14,000 from the Special Gifts fund at TD Bank for us to use toward our budget. The motion was seconded by Tom and the motion passed.
Submitted by Mary Kay Haines
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Church Council
September 25, 2024
In attendance: Bill Nieman, Mary Kay Haines, Bonnie Biondi, Barbara McIntire, Lucille Keegan, Betty Seeler, Debbie Doe, Tom Keegan and Andrew MacLeod.
Bill called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.
Andrew led us in prayer.
The minutes of the May 15, 2024 meeting were reviewed. Lucille made a motion to accept as presented that was seconded by Bonnie and the motion passed.
The Treasurer’s report was reviewed and placed on file. Lucille has been noticing things like the phone bill and insurance premiums have been recently increased more than was anticipated and committees need to take a closer look at their budget requests for next year to compensate.
Finance – Betty – they are going to meet tomorrow and will be looking at what they will be doing regarding this year’s pledge drive. They will be working on the worksheets for the various committees to begin preparing a budget for 2025.
Missions – Barbara – they recently met and used some of their monies for International Institute which was the September mission as well as a couple of others. October’s mission will be Neighbors in Need, November is the pledge drive and they are still discussing December. They are looking for ideas if anyone knows of a worthy local mission, please let them know. They cooked soup and delivered 9 servings this month and it went very well. The next soup day will be October 9. Barbara also noted that the people in our church are very generous and it is much appreciated.
Trustees – Tom – Tom noted that the Trustees maintenance line in the budget is over spent already. They had some unanticipated things come up, the first problem was an issue in the kitchen when the state inspectors came in to test the dish washer and it did not pass the sanitation test. They have had to meet with the experts and find the right fix, if the dish washer does not pass inspection the seniors cannot use the kitchen. There are two furnaces in the church and one is working and one is not. Irving came to do the annual cleaning and the working furnace was done and everything was good. When they came to do the second furnace, they did not get it working so they need to come back, get it working and then clean it again. The biggest item is the need to replace the asphalt shingles on the north side roof of Fellowship Hall as they do not know how old the shingles are and the insurance company wanted to have it inspected. If the shingles are more than 20 years old, they need to be replaced. They have a couple of quotes for roughly $11,000 but they may want to get a couple more before they move forward. Lucille made a motion to take up to $15,000 for the north side of Fellowship Hall roof repair, Tom seconded it and the motion passed. Tom also noted that there has been an increase in the use of our building with the most recent being the Pasquaney Snowshoe Club’s annual meeting this fall. Fall clean-up will be on Oct 19 with a rain date of Oct 26.
Diaconate – Bonnie – they met and with Steve Curley stepping down they voted to have Bonnie be the Chair and Mary Kay will be co-chair. They talked about the Vesper service to be held on Inspiration point on Sunday, Oct 6 at 4:30 pm with a potluck in the lodge to follow. They also voted to change the time of their monthly meetings from 7 pm to 1:30 pm still on the first Wednesday of the month.
Music – Deb – we survived the summer without Estelle and many thanks to the volunteers who pitched in while she was out. The choir meets on Tuesdays in Fellowship Hall rather than the sanctuary. The Uke group participated in three programs during the summer, at the Library, the Hebron Fair and Old Home Day. The problem with Old Home Day is it is hard to hear them and they are going to try to figure out what to do for next year. They will be playing at Peabody Place on Oct 1 and Riverview on Oct 29. Deb is working on a benefit for Ukraine. She is trying to work with the Common Man and will let everyone know when they have more information. They will be playing for the Vesper service and are very excited to have 3 more people join the group.
Pastor’s report Andrew- he pointed out that the poetry Sunday idea was suggested by Tom and the feedback has all been very positive. Summer attendance was pretty stable. He is working on a funeral being planned for Bill Weir on Oct 19. Coming up in October, Andrew is preparing adult bible study on Mondays. In the past we have had two sessions to accommodate people who work during the day one at 11 am and another at 7 pm. He is not sure we need 2 sessions, but it will start off with two sessions. We will be studying AJ Levine’s book The Difficult Words of Jesus. On Oct 6 the Merrimack Association annual meeting will be at the Laconia UCC at 1 pm with the installation of their new Pastor Eliza Tweedy at 3. On Oct 26 the New Hampshire Conference annual meeting will be held at Geneva Point. We can have two delegates and an additional delegate under age 25. He noted that Stewardship Sunday will be Nov 24. There have been a fair number of pastoral needs recently and he is trying to support as many people as he can. He reported on the Ad Hoc committee that was formed at the May meeting to discuss and look at the configuration of committees and responsibilities, met again yesterday and he updated the Council reporting that the Ad Hoc Committee studying our various church committees’ responsibilities and organization has met several times since June. To date we have listed all the various responsibilities and committee job descriptions. We have grouped these responsibilities into several categories, eliminating some duplicates. In our upcoming meetings, we plan to allocate the responsibilities to a somewhat smaller (than current) number of committees/teams. Along with this, we shall be working on proposed by-law revisions to reflect these recommendations.
Christian Ed – Deb – Sunday school started September 15th with Ellie and Gracie. The theme this year is Fruit of the Spirit. There are three teachers Stephanie, Lucille and Deb with Sal doing the music. The books are from the same company as last year. They will be doing some special activities with the children as they explore the different roles people have in the church. They will participate in one of the clean-up days, they will help with communion to learn about the Deacons and they want to make crafts and have their own table at the Women’s Fellowship Christmas Bazaar. To learn about Missions, they will be collecting and possibly making teddy bears for local first responders who will give them away in the course of their work. The mission will cap off with a Teddy bear picnic sometime in February. Lucille will work with them on flower arrangements. On Dec 4 they will have the Crismon Tree decorating evening with pizza and the singing of Carols. On Dec 15 there will be a movie, the 4th Wiseman to be shown in Fellowship Hall after worship. The next zoom meeting of the committee will be in November.
Women’s Fellowship – Bonnie – they met 9/5 and one thing they talked about and that will be an ongoing discussion is how to make a more attractive table to be used at community events to help promote our church. The soup luncheon was held last Sunday and was very successful. Now our concentration will be on the Christmas Bazaar to be held on Dec 7 from 9am to noon They have received some very nice donations from the Curley and Eaton families. The wreaths have been ordered. They will provide beverages at the Vesper service and everyone is reminded to bring their own place setting. The next meeting will be on Oct 10 and everyone is asked to bring a bag lunch as Cindi Santini will be sharing her Iceland experiences.
Other – Barbara said things are going well at the Bristol Community Center. Tom and Mary Kay noted that the TTCC staff is now in their new offices and that Apple Fest is coming up and they are looking for help on Oct 11 to peel apples and make the pies to be sold on Saturday. Betty and Andrew reported that there will be a hawk watch at the Silm Baker area this Sunday and will include some experts who will share information, this is byob – bring your own binoculars.
Andrew sent us out with a prayer.
Deb made a motion to adjourn that was seconded by Betty and the motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:28 pm.
Submitted by Mary Kay Haines
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BRISTOL COMMUNITY SERVICES
FOOD PANTRY NEEDS
Soups, Spaghetti Sauce, Chef Boyardee Meals, Baked Beans, Instant Potato
Canned Tuna and Chicken, Peas, Canned Fruit
Jelly, Snacks, Desserts
Condiments (cooking oil, mayo & ketchup)
**DRINKS, DRINKS, DRINKS
Shampoo, Body Wash, Deodorant,
Toothpaste,
Dish & Laundry Detergent
Cat & Dog Food
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Birthdays: 10/2 Jan Laferriere
10/4 Dick Davis
10/9 William Walker Wood
10/11 James Wood
10/14 Mary Kay Haines
10/14 Scott Haines
10/20 Donna Worthen
10/28 Sharon Jarest
10/31 Ken Pelletier
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Anniversaries:
10/5 Wayne & Sharon Walker
10/7 Ned & Gayle Gordon
10/9 Rev, Andrew & Karen MacLeod
10/30 Bill & Sue Neiman
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In our prayers:
James Barnard, Ayer Simpson, Rebecca Herr, Johanna Colette, Kathy Malsbenden, Loretta Somers, Marcia Payne, Donna Smith, Nancy Passaro, Dean Martin, Scott Haines, Janelle Westfall, Guy & Diane Parsons, Matt Guyette, Sylvia Bailey, Cooper Mahley, Verneve Reilly, Thomas Pothier, Sara Breau, Betsy Meany, John Bianchi, Janet Jewett, Rick Wright, The Beacon Family, Cheryl, Megan Wichland, Bob Murphy, Family & Friends of Bill Weir
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We extend our warmest welcome and invite you to join with us each week in praise and worship. | |
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WORSHIP SCHEDULE
Sunday Worship 10:00AM
In-Person & Zoom
Hard copies of the bulletin available Thursday after noon in the bin on the rear walkway table.
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The deadline for all newsletter submissions is the 20th of the month.
Articles that come in after that date will be used in the following month’s newsletter.
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BRISTOL UNITED CHURCH of CHRIST
“The Church on the hill”
15 Church St.
PO Box 424
Bristol, NH 03222
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Main Office Hours:
Monday thru Friday 9AM - 12:00PM
Office: (603) 744-8132
Email: bristolucc@breezelinebiz.net
Pastor’s Hours:
Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday
9AM - 12 Noon and by appointment
Email: pastorbucc@breezelinebiz.net
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