the congregational church of south dartmouth united church...

The Congregational Church of South Dartmouth United Church of Christ

THE SPIRE November 2012

Melancholy Rain Fall can be a melancholy time. One definition of melancholy is thoughtful or gentle sadness. Gentle sadness, not overwhelming or incapacitating, but gentle. Gentle sadness can be a healthy thing giving us perspective, locating us, serving as a marker on our way. The recent storm has filled us with emotional responses: anxiety, fear, helplessness, anger, frustration, grief. Yet, in the midst of these responses, we have also experienced compassion, courage, caring, selfless giving, graciousness. The storm, in and of itself, has no moral or religious significance except for that which we assign to it. It can locate us as a marker; we are inextricably linked to the earth. If spirituality is that which connects us with the universe itself, then the experience of the storm could be a marker of our connection—inextricably woven into the tapestry of creation. In that, the storm could take on the meaning we assign to it as marker of who we humans are. Standing before some other event that pushed the limits, the writer of Psalm 8 is pushed to find a marker. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established: what are humankind that you remember them, the daughter and son of Adam, that you care for them?” ---Psalm 8: 3 - 4 Gentle sadness, like the gentle rain that follows upon the storm, washing the earth, may we be washed anew. Peace, Winston

The Congregational Church of South Dartmouth, UCC

On November 11

th the Outreach Ministry will once again

be launching the Holiday Hope Program. Members of the Outreach Ministry will be at coffee hour with a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree. Each ornament represents an individual who needs our help. Please choose an ornament from the tree and pick up the accompanying information from the table. Sponsored by Child and Family Services of New Bedford, Holiday Hope is a community-wide program that provides food, clothing, and gifts to people in our region who have fallen on hard times. Please consider sharing the joy of the holiday season with someone in need this year. We look forward to seeing you at coffee hour!

Veterans Day, which is November

11 each year, is a holiday to

honor America’s veterans for

their patriotism and willingness

to serve and sacrifice for our

nation’s common good. Thank

you to all the men and women

who served or are now serving

our country.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

The Prayer Shawl Ministry will meet on Sunday evening, November 25th, in the church library at 7pm in the evening. Come and enjoy an evening of fellowship and service. New members are always welcome. Please call Jane Rioux (508-994-4672) with any questions.

Seasonal Choir

We will be having a seasonal choir for all teens and adults. (The children will be working on their own special music with Wendy and Jackie)

Practice dates:

November 15 and 29th

December 6, 13 and 20th

No experience is necessary, all are wel-come. Please join us!


Search Committee

Update

Search Committee Update, October 22, 2012 Your Search Committee has spent its first four months, from May through August, conducting research, gathering information and producing both our Church Profile and a candidate evaluation system. Many hours, much thought, serious review. A team coming together. The second week in September the Search Committee began receiving applications from ministerial candidates who have expressed an interest in our UCC job posting. Much as we spent time preparing our own documents, putting together an application is no trivial task for a pastor. The pastor’s twenty five page submission is called a ‘ministerial profile’. It includes the pastor’s resume, something about his or her personal life and a two page ministerial statement about how religion and the spirit inform the writer. As well, it includes the applicant’s statement about his or her best twelve (out of forty three) ministerial attributes. The applicant must also find eight colleagues or professional acquaintances who are willing to both rate the ministers attributes and to provide a couple of paragraphs of positive thoughts about the applicant. The application is then vetted by the UCC. The UCC verifies the resume material and does appropriate criminal background checks. All in all, one estimates it would take a minister a minimum of eight weeks to complete an application. What does that mean? It means, that of the first batch of applicants, each pastor had prepared his or her profile prior to finding our listing. The applying pastor had probably sent his or her profile to a number of job postings. To date, the Search Committee has received about twenty five applications, averaging about four each week. Eighty per cent of the applications were quickly deemed an unlikely fit with our church needs and requirements. The remaining twenty percent were put in an order of urgency. Is the candidate strong enough to mandate an interview soon as possible? Is the candidate a less obvious fit, but still has sufficient merit to suggest a future conversation? This describes our process at this time. We have interviewed two candidates. We have more to schedule. And we continue to receive new ministerial profiles. In our search process we had anticipated receiving about eighty applications over a five month period and interviewing about twelve candidates. We are on track. Your Search Committee is working diligently on behalf of our entire congregation to find the right candidate to be our next settled pastor. We appreciate the interest shown by the members of our congregation. We encourage you to share your thoughts with us (positive thoughts are best!). We will have an update in mid-November at coffee hour. Stay tuned. The Pastoral Search Committee Chair: Jim Forbush Members: Christopher Baldwin, David Ferreira, Pam Joyce, Linda Paradise, Pam Paynton, Cecelia Roberts, Steve Starrett, Sonja White


RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

“My Own 2 Hands”

It’s only November 1st

and the youth of our church have accomplished so much!

-The Sunday School students collected and donated over $400.00 worth of back to school supplies and backpacks to school students of the Caribbean, -Our Scholastic Book Fair sold more than $500.00 worth of books and donated almost $400.00 worth of new books to Hands Across the Sea’s literacy program! -The Sunday School and Youth Group also collected 2 cases worth of non-perishable food to donate to the Salvation Army Food Pantry in downtown New Bedford! -Our biblical explorations have taken us to Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, Amos, the 4 Gospels, Acts, Romans , 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy. We have read and discussed close to 300 verses!

During the month of NOVEMBER Our Sunday School students will have their annual 200 PIES CHALLENGE!!! The students, along with adult mentors will make 150 apple pies and 50 pumpkin pies from scratch. On November 18th, Thanksgiving Sunday, the students will host coffee hour and home-made pies will be available to the congregation for a $10 donation to the SUNDAY SCHOOL MISSION FUND. All pies left over will be donated to the Market Ministries’ Thanksgiving Dinner served in downtown, New Bedford. This is our 5th year providing home-made dessert for this Thanksgiving event. This challenge is only possible with the support of our congregation! Thank you for your donations of ingredients and for letting us prepare your family’s holiday pies! We welcomed 3 new families to the Sunday School this past month. This will be Tyler& Nathan Lantz , Dylan, Luka & Nikolas Hegedus and Aiden & Jake Morgado’s first Pie Challenge! Our Confirmation Class will continue to explore the 5 major world religions. We will be visiting the Tifereth of Israel and a Buddhist Center. This class also volunteers as mentors for the Sunday School program, helping with challenges and leading biblical exploration and discussion. Youth Group: Our group is made up of students in the 7th grade through 12th grade, both from within our church family AND from the community at large. ALL students are welcome and can join at any time during the program year. We have had 2 very successful meetings this year so far. Our mission is to : -break down walls and build upon commonalities -create opportunities for personal growth and discovery -share ideas about faith, community and global awareness - together look for opportunities to act!

Our next meeting will be preparing and serving breakfast at Mercy Meals.

Wendy


Outreach Seeks Donation Nominations Do you know any worthy organizations which could benefit from our church’s financial assistance? As we do each year, the Out-reach Ministry seeks suggestions for organizations to aid. You may leave a note in the Outreach mailbox in the church office. Please include information as to how you would like to be contacted if we need to get fur-ther information. Or be on the lookout for nomination forms which will appear in the church bulletin. Our congregation’s pledges and offerings fund these dona-tions, so we welcome your input. We look forward to hearing from you.

Interchurch Council Banquet The InterChurch Council of Greater New Bedford is holding its 2nd Annual "Bringing Commu-nity Together" banquet on Sunday, November 4th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at White's of West-port. Tickets are $25 each or a table of 10 for $200. The event features a presentation of the work of the ICC in the community, service awards offered in the name of our own Harry

Schoening, dinner and music by Candida Rose. A silent auction and raffle are also being held. This year's Special Raffle is a choice of 2 quality tickets to a New England Patriots game or a 46" Samsung flat screen television. Anne Sedgwick was the winner of the iPad raffle held at last year's event!! Contact Cecelia or Steve Roberts.

The Women’s Guild will be hosting coffee hour on Veteran’s Day, November 11thand would like to honor all veterans, past and present. Please email a picture you might have to [email protected] or bring a picture to church that day to display at cof-fee hour.

Youth Fellowship—Hunger Games: Erin Reardon, Chris Ouellette, Matt Jones, Jack Kenney, Sarah Lake, and Catherine Mikkelson

mailto:[email protected]


Neighbors In Need Offering

Our congregation donated almost $500 to the recent Neighbors in Need special UCC offering. The money funds programs to combat poverty and violence, support education, and advocate for social justice in the United States. On behalf of Outreach, thank you.


Our Church Continues to Focus on Food

You may have read recent articles about the critical food shortage in the New Bedford area. Food pantries have run out of food and been forced to temporarily suspend their vital missions. Our church had an opportunity to assist when we learned of a matching

grant opportunity at the Salvation Army. Using Outreach Funds we made a $1,000 donation, which was then doubled by virtue of the matching gift. While donations of actual food are still important, cash is the most efficient and effective way to assist food pantries. Thank you for sup-porting our various efforts to address food insecurity in the Greater New Bedford area. The Outreach Ministry

November is Potato Month Similar to other food pantries in the area, The Dartmouth Council on Aging food pantry is experiencing an increasing need for food. They suggest potatoes (canned or dried, regular or sweet) as a seasonably appropriate and nutritionally sound food at this time of year. As always they welcome any non-perishable food, especially protein rich foods. Any food that would be appropriate for the Thanksgiving baskets they distribute is also welcome. This includes stuffing, cranberries, gravy, etc. The pantry does not need soup at the current time because they have sufficient inventory, and must use what they have by the appropriate dates. The food pantry is a wonderful resource in our community, and welcomes anyone who needs assistance, not just seniors. Thanks for your support. The Outreach Ministry

January Coat Drive

This is a “Save the Coat” request. Outreach will be holding a post-Christmas coat drive for outerwear of all sizes. As you purchase new coats for the coming season, please hang on to your old ones. The gently used items we collect

will warm the hearts and bodies of recipients.

Outreach


Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale

Saturday, December 1st from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm

Lower Social Hall

The 3rd Annual Women's Guild Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale is fast approaching!! It is only six weeks away and there is much to be done. Our doors open to the public at 9:30 am. All proceeds help to further the mission of the Guild which supports programs in the church (scholarship, Sunday School, Crib Room during worship, etc.) as well as other community organizations. A few spaces for vendors will also be available for rent. If you have a friend or business associate that you think would be interested in joining us, please share our contact information.

This year we hope to have a guest pianist playing our Steinway in the afternoon. This is a great time to come and enjoy a hot cup of homemade soup, chili or lobster roll, homemade scones, meatball sandwich or macaroni and cheese and indulge in the symphonic sounds in our sanctuary. More details to come!! We have put together a Wish List and hope that each and every one of you is able to make it come true!! We welcome help from all the ladies and gentlemen in the congregation. 1. Volunteers - our biggest need is for Saturday, December 1st. Give us an hour or two of your time any time between 8:00 and 4:00 pm.

2. Donations for our "Present Pick" are welcome!! Gift certificates to restaurants, movie theatres, local attractions like the zoo, museums, floral shops or a gift item- maybe a flat screen TV!!! Be creative!!!

3. Join us for a cooking day! Watch the blog, church bulletin or bulletin board for our schedule.

4. Help us spread the word about our event!! Use your email address book, Facebook page, Twitter or any other social media outlet to invite your friends. The more the merrier!!

For more information, to share and idea or ask a question - please contact Cecelia Roberts at [email protected] or call her at 508-999-9448.



There are still openings in the two and

three day nursery school program.

Church Landscaping Projects

Have you noticed any recent changes to the landscape around the church and parsonage? Perhaps you saw a few missing shrubs, a little less clutter, some dead trees and branches removed, etc. If so, this is all part of a plan to “refresh” the landscape of the church and keep the grounds looking attractive. On Saturday, October 13, a small crew of volunteers armed with chainsaws, shovels, and other equipment worked hard for 4 hours to tackle some special landscape projects that were long overdue. They cut down dead or overgrown trees and shrubs, dug out stumps, chopped everything up in smaller pieces, made Bill Flack, Jim & Margaret Forbush at the Dartmouth brush dump numerous trips to the the dump hauling loads of brush in 2 trailers and 3 trucks, and completed many other miscellaneous clean-up jobs.

Thanks to the following workers who accomplished an enormous amount and saved the church a bundle of money: Kevern Joyce, Jim & Margaret Forbush, Carolyn Lytle, Jane & Pete Rioux, Carol & Bill Flack, Bruce Rushforth, Larry Bedell, Daphne Siegal, Susan McLaren, and Phil Guymont. Kevern’s tractor was our secret weapon. It made quick work of stump removal which is usually a very difficult, onerous task. There is still more work to do, and we will tackle this in late winter and spring with the assistance of a landscape professional and arborist to handle some of the more difficult jobs. This includes pruning or removing large trees and shrubs, transplanting a few trees that have outgrown their space but are valuable specimens worth saving, and installing new plant material where needed. Our church is fortunate to have beautiful grounds and gardens that were thoughtfully designed and created

almost 20 years ago, and contain a wide variety of interesting plant material. The landscape work that is

underway now will ensure that we can all enjoy these gardens for many years into the future.


We would like to keep

the family of David Schell

in our prayers

Wedding Anniversaries are listed in the Spire every five years for the first 50, and then each year thereafter!

In Our Prayers…

Elinor Beanland

Peter Hindle

Laurie O’Neil’s Niece - Terri DaSilva

Sonja White’s Niece - Kim Masalin

Gay Ryder

Belén Sullivan

Our young adults serving in the military

Pastoral Concerns:

Please don’t forget to call or email

the church office with information on

any hospital admissions or pastoral

concerns.

Thank you for helping us stay in tune to

the needs of our church family.

Phyllis & Francis Pettengill 57 Years

November 11, 1955

~~~~~~ Gertrude & Joseph Botelho

52 Years November 27, 1960

The benefits of gratitude

Christians realize that gratitude has spiritual benefits, but now scientists are confirming its physical and emotional benefits, as well. Professor Robert Emmons found that people who counted their blessings instead of their burdens were healthier and more optimistic, exercised more and made more progress toward achieving goals. Evidence shows that gratitude can even ease chronic health conditions. Emmons, author of Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier (Mariner Books), acknowledges that gratitude seems harder to practice during tough times. But, he notes, "In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal. In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope."


Congregational Church Monthly Calendar

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 Turn Clocks Back

4 10am Worship Interchurch Council Banquet

5

6

7 Girl Scouts

8 Parish Choir Rehearsal 7pm

9 10

11 10am Worship Holiday Hope Begins

12 Veteran’s Day Church Office Closed Boy Scouts

13 7pm Ministry Team Meetings

14 Girl Scouts

15 Seasonal Choir Rehearsal 7pm

16

17

18 10am Worship Pie Sale

19 Boy Scouts

20

21 Girl Scouts

22 Thanksgiving Day

23

24

25 10am Worship Prayer Shawl Meeting 7pm

26 Boy Scouts

27 7pm Council Meeting

28 Girl Scouts

29 Seasonal Choir Rehearsal 7pm

30

November 2012


October Flowers Were Given By:

October 7th - Nancy DeWolf in loving memory of Ward and Eliza M. DeWolf.

October 14th - Michael and Linda Gouveia in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary.

October 21st - Jim and Margaret Forbush in

celebration of an exciting church future.

October 28th - Cindy Scheller in loving memory of her husband Gary.

Don’t forget to turn your

clocks back at 2am on

November 4th.

If you would like to a member of the prayer chain, please contact Marcia Hathaway either by phone (508)993-5740 or email [email protected] or call the church office. As "members of the Prayer Chain," you would receive a copy of the prayer your only re-

sponsibility is to read it, thus you too are "praying" for the requests put forth. I never put anyone "in" the prayer without a request, and I only disclose what has been shared. Since we all know that prayer is a powerful heal-ing tool, the more members we have praying, the more power we concentrate on a request. Marcia K. Hathaway, Breathe Deeply. Namaste.

To our precious members and friends of the Congregational Church of South Dartmouth – First of all, a warm “Thank you!” for all of you whose generous time and energy made our gathering after church worship on September 16th the special occasion it was. The goodies were delicious, the flowers glorious, but treasured especially were the memories shared by so many of you whose lives and ours have been intertwined for lo these past nearly four-dozen years! Such an astonishing gift! Needless to say, our departure to Marshfield has been a wrenching experience. But one increasingly seen to be a wise decision in the light of the aging process. As well as our need to be considerate of our family and the great love with which they want to surround us, more closely. Thus do we move ahead with gratitude for ALL you and our Creator have given to us in the past. And with firm trust in the great hopes we have for the future, both yours and ours. So, once again – Pax vobiscum, Bob Boynton & Fran

P.S. Also, Marshfield

is not that far away for

an occasional visit in

either direction!



The Congregational Church of South Dartmouth United Church of Christ 17 Middle St., PO Box 80608 South Dartmouth, MA 02748-0608 http://congochurchsd.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Rev. Winston Baldwin

Robin Lake, Office Administrator [email protected]

Church Telephone: 508-993-6676 Church Fax: (508) 993-1244

The Spire Newsletter is available in paper form. If you would like a copy mailed to your home please let us know at 508/993-6676

or at [email protected] or leave a note in the church office.

“Look forward and be hopeful,

look backward and be thankful,

look down and be helpful,

look up and be humble.” —Unknown

the congregational church of south dartmouth united church...

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