Capital Campaign - We're almost there and the Celebration is just ahead.

Our Capital Campaign is entering the home stretch. In only a few weeks, we have 108 pledges and are 85% of the way to our $1 million goal. Now we just need everyone in our church to chime in with their pledge or gifts to help us Keep It Ringing! Our pledges are averaging over $7,500 per pledge (that's $2,500 per year over 3 years). Pledges and donations range from under $100 to $100,000. Any amount is greatly appreciated and will help. We want to sincerely thank everyone who has returned their pledge card so far. We just want everyone to be a part of this effort! Your pledge of any amount will get us over the top. Together we are faithfully carrying forward the care of our church and ministries for this moment in history and all the moments to come. 

Community outreach has started with articles in our local press and posts to our social media accounts. As a result, we have received donations from non-members who feel an affinity with our church, its history and its mission. If you have a Facebook or Next Door account, you can help us to get our message trending by liking or commenting on our posts. A link to the Next Door post is found here.

Our goal is to raise $1 million to restore the bell tower and make other much needed property repairs including fixing our leaky roof. We want to restore the splendor of our beautiful meeting house in time for its 200th birthday in 2025. Also, 10% of the amount we raise will go towards Youth and Mission programs.

Please go to www.onchurch.org/2023campaignhome to add your pledge or www.onchurch.org/recurringonetime to make a one time donation. You can also send or bring your pledge form to church to become part of this extraordinary effort. Or let us know if you are unable to pledge at this time, as we understand that.

Please join us at the 10:00 am service this Sunday as we Celebrate our Capital Campaign and our Children's Ministries. There will be a few surprises during and after the service to help celebrate!

Children in Church

Children are an integral part of our faith community–with all their wonderings, wiggles, and ways of learning how to participate in worship. People of all ages show us who God is. 

Child Care for infants to 4 years olds is provided in "The First Meeting House” room on the second floor, and is available during our 10:00 service, from 9:50 and anytime during the service. Children’s Church is for children 5 years old and up and gathers in the upstairs classroom. 

This Sunday Karen Kilty, our Director of Children's Ministries will lead the children upstairs for a brief Children’s Church gathering after the Children's Ministry Celebration.

Children are welcome to stay in the Sanctuary with their families, feel free to move about as needed. There are activities, such as worksheets, markers, finger puppets, and other items to engage in the Narthex. If at any time your child would like to join the children in Children’s Church you will find the classrooms on the second floor, turn right as you leave the sanctuary, go through the doors past the restrooms and elevator and go up the stairs. If your kids need a break from worship, you will also find space in our Parish Hall (where we offer coffee hour); again, go to the right as you leave the Sanctuary, go through the doors past the restrooms and elevator and go down the stairs.



We are glad that you are here! Thank you for bringing your children to church! 

Join Us for Celebration Sunday

This Sunday we are celebrating our congregation's vision to Keep It Ringing. We’ll get an update on gifts and pledges to date and lift them in blessing. 

Our Children's Ministry is celebrating the children of Old North Church from 1817 to the present; imaging a New Thing. We celebrate this remarkable year with our Children’s Church ministries as we emerged from the pandemic and welcomed new families. This will include time to celebrate Karen Kilty’s ministry with our church. Her time with us comes to an end as she moves into the next chapter of her preparation for Ordination.  

Summer Worship at Chandler Hovey Park

Begins June 4th at 8am



Mark your calendar! Again this year we are looking forward to our annual summer tradition of worshiping together at Chandler Hovey Park. There is something unique and spiritual about gathering in worship where ocean waters meet solid rock and the light shines to guide people safely. Our first Lighthouse service will be on June 4th, weather permitting, and continue through Labor Day. As in past years, the Lighthouse service will begin at 8 am. Remember to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on. As in the past, if it is raining at 8 am, the service will be moved to the Sanctuary. Look for the sandwich board sign at the Devereaux Beach entrance: if green, go to the Lighthouse; if red, the service will be held in the Sanctuary.

This first Lighthouse service will include a Blessing Of The Fleet. This is a coastal tradition for centuries across the globe as people ask God’s blessing on sail and motor, wind and water. You’ll be invited to share the name of any boat even as we bless every boat and mooring in the harbor around us. Please share this news with other seafaring folks. 

After several years of declining attendance for the summer 10am service in the Sanctuary, this service will be suspended until the Sunday after Labor Day. We are so fortunate to have the privilege of worshiping together in a setting as inspiring as Chandler Hovey Park. Please consider inviting friends and neighbors to join us at the 8am service at the Lighthouse. Looking forward to seeing you!

ONC Annual Meeting Wednesday June 7



The 339th Annual Meeting of the Church will be held on Wednesday June 7 at 7:00pm in the church Sanctuary. The Annual Meeting will be preceded by an Ice Cream Social featuring Don Morgan's homemade ice cream, in the Parish Hall at 6:30 pm.

Agenda items include: Approval of the Minutes of the of the 338th Annual Meeting on June 15, 2022 as well as approval of the Minutes of the Annual Budget Meeting on January 29, 2023. There will also be an update on the search for a settled pastor, a financial update, a Prudential Board update, a Capital Campaign update, and a vote on Board and committee members for the 2023-2024 program year. Annual Reports are available in the Narthax and by clicking here.

This is our first in-person Annual Meeting since 2019, prior to the COVID pandemic. We need to have a quorum of 50 members in attendance in order to proceed with this very important meeting, so please make every effort to attend.

Men's Breakfast Group tomorrow

The Men's Monthly Breakfast Group will meet tomorrow, Friday May 19th, at 7:30 am in Great Room at Stacey Street. All are welcome.

The meeting date has been moved from the 26th to the 19th to allow vets among the group to attend the council on aging (COA) Memorial Day vet's breakfast on that date. Please send an email to Dave Hostetter at daveh.racer@gmail.com if you plan to attend and if you plan to bring food to share.

ONC Hiking Group this Saturday 



Calling all hikers! The ONC Hiking Group is holding its next hike this Saturday, May 20th, at 10 am at Bradley Palmer State Park in Ipswich. There will be a 3-mile hike and a 6+ mile hike (an extension into Willowdale State Forest) that day. Come and enjoy the fun! Please contact Marcia Bennet, marcia.bennet@verizon.net or 781 606 4564 if you’re interested and have not notified her already. 

Piano Concert Recital



On Wednesday, May 24^th at 6:30pm Mariana Joyce, a gifted pianist, will be performing her Senior Recital in the Sanctuary.



Mariana Joyce is a composer and pianist from Marblehead, Massachusetts. She is a long-term student of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, participating in piano seminars and masterclasses with A. Ramon Rivera, Konstantinos Papadakis, Dmitri Shteinberg, and Gregg Pauley and composition masterclasses with Nico Muhly, Martin Bresnick, Pamela Z, and Valerie Coleman. Mariana has been selected for multiple regional NEPTA recitals and competitions over the years and is the recipient of both the A. Ramon Rivera Contemporary Music Award (2022) and the Alice Proctor Composition Award (2023). For the past five years, Mariana has studied composition under Rodney Lister, and in 2022 was admitted to a composition program at BUTI Tanglewood. As a composer, she has worked with the Arneis String Quartet, the Gordon College Choir, and NEC’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra to have pieces performed, read, and recorded. She is currently pursuing an Advanced Professional Certificate in film scoring from Berklee Online. This summer, she will be attending BUTI for a second time before beginning college at Brown University in the fall.

Attention, walkers and runners!

First come, first served!



The 31st Annual Walk for HAWC takes place Sunday, June 4, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on the Salem Common, rain or shine! (Healing Abuse, Working for Change—the organization addresses domestic violence and helps shelter and protect its victims.) Through your Outreach Ministry Board, Old North has supported HAWC over the years. We have *five* free registration spots: when you fill out your registration form on June 4, simply write “Sponsor23” in the box in the upper right-hand corner and your registration is free.

This is a fun event that includes a pet parade and family fun festival! Be there! Rain or shine. For more information, email Becky Burckmyer at bburck@comcast.net or call 781-632-6505.

ONC Scrabble Group



The newly-formed Scrabble Group has now begun to meet weekly on Wednesdays from 1-3pm in the Great Room at Stacey St. All are welcome!

Old North Reading and Discussion Group, Wednesday, June 14



The next meeting of the Old North Reading and Discussion Group on Preserving our Democracy and Environment will be on Wednesday, June 14, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. This is the latest of a series of meetings on this subject that have been hosted for all by the ONC Men’s Group. You are invited to participate regardless of the amount of your preparation or whether you have attended a previous meeting. 

Having finished our discussion of The Tyranny of Merit, by Michael Sandel in our May meeting, we will begin discussion of The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels, by Jon Meacham, Random House, 2018, during the June meeting.



The meeting will be hosted on Zoom, and will be open 15 minutes early for logon and general discussion. To log in, just click on: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83905794961?pwd=Z0RsRUhkK3h2RFJTamtBUVd4bmRSUT09. If you would then like to use your telephone for audio, dial 1 929 205 6099 and follow the operator’s instructions with Meeting ID: 839 0579 4961 and Passcode: 272381.  

Clothing Drive for South Africa



We appreciate the wonderful support and generous donations and have closed our clothing drive for South Africa. You can all be assured your gifts will be very much appreciated by the Pholela Congregation when we visit them in August. 

Leadership Board Meeting Notes



The Leadership Board meets monthly to discuss the ongoing strategic priorities of the Church. The Board's April 13, 2023 meeting notes can be found here.

Gifts of Cheer



If you know of anyone, either here at Old North or in the wider Marblehead community who is going through a difficult time, the Community Life Board would like to reach out with a little plant and a friendly note. Please contact Lynda Hare at hares8carrots@hotmail.com or 781 639 0107 if you know someone who would appreciate a little extra cheer.

Saving Trees, Reducing Waste



Did you know that 58 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away in the U.S. every year? Or that 20 million trees are cut down to make those cups? Coffee cups are coated with plastic and can’t be recycled. However, there is a solution. Bring a reusable travel cup wherever you get your coffee. That would include Coffee Hour after church service. Make every day Earth Day!

Lectio Divina

A monastic practice of scripture, reflection and prayer dating back to the 4^th century, at Old North lectio divina has been adapted and practiced for more than ten years on every Tuesday morning from 9 to about 10:30 am. When Dennis was here, he led the practice. Since his leaving, we all take turns being the leader to select the readings. We have welcomed newcomers, some not from Old North, who seem to find soul food in the practice and the shared reflections that are part of it. We meet at 9 am both in person in the “Great Room” on Stacey St. and on Zoom.

We begin each meeting with a context-setting call to worship. Then we pair a scripture reading with a poem, chosen by the leader for the day and read aloud. We then move into 21 minutes of silent meditation, marked by chimes, and finally we share in “safe space” our responses – personal and intellectual. We end each session with prayers for healing and the Lord’s Prayer.



It is a rich time of being together in community and quite like no other. We invite you to give it a try.