Rock My Soul Concert on Saturday

Join the Rock My Soul Choir & Band (plus horns!) and The RMS Five for a rockin' holiday concert, complete with "gospelized" Christmas carols, doo wop arrangements of popular holiday favorites, and an all-around great time guaranteed to fill you with Christmas spirit and cheer.

Advance Discount Tickets: $10 Seniors 65+ / $15 Adults / Kids 12 & Under Free (all tickets at the door will be $18)

Buy tickets for Rock My Soul/RMS Five Holiday Concert on 12/14/13 in Northwood, NH

Here's a video clip to give you an idea of how the group sounds:

Our Weekend Plans

The Christmas Season and all the hustle and bustle of the holidays is upon us!  Here at the church is no exception.  This is a busy weekend for us and we wanted to remind everyone of our plans. 


Saturday morning we will be hosting our annual Christmas By Design Fair.  from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm.  We will have all kinds of goodies for sale as well as breakfast and lunch and free coffee.  We really hope you can join us to share in some fun and fellowship. 




Sunday morning at 9:00 am our children will be leading our worship as we discover some different advent and Christmas customs from around the world.





Sunday afternoon at 4;00 pm we will hold our Service of Hope, For Those Who Grieve.  This service is open to anyone in the community and is offered for those who are grieving or facing other challenges during the holiday season.  We hope you are enjoying your holiday season and that you can make some time to join us.
 

Winter Weather Policy

When the weather outside is frightful 

and the fire is so delightful 

If you want to stay out of the storm, 

Play it safe, play it safe, play it safe!

If it doesn't show signs of stopping 

And you want to stay in your stockings

If you want to stay home and stay warm,

Play it safe, play it safe, play it safe!

Just a reminder about our winter weather policy....
We will be having Sunday worship if it is at all possible but if you don't feel safe on the roads, please stay home.  Your safety is of utmost importance to us and we don't want you to feel like you have to go out into the winter weather for worship. If we do cancel church, we will put a message on the church phone and put it on WMUR, Channel 9.
Stay safe and warm this winter!

Christmas Fair at Northwood Congregational Church

Please join us to celebrate the joys of Christmas at our annual “Christmas By Design” fair right here at Northwood Congregational church on Saturday, December 7, 2013, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00p.m.

We will be serving up breakfast and lunch delights, with coffee always being “free”.  The “greens” table will offer lovely swags, wreaths, and berry bowls for holiday decorating. There will be crafts, maple syrup, jellies and jams, home made cards, activities for the kids, and much more.

Please join us for holiday cheer and fellowship. 

Join Us This Sunday

We hope you can join us this Sunday for Worship at 9am and then after church in Fellowship Hall we'll be having cupcakes and the children will be opening birthday presents for the church.  This is just one of our monthly celebrations as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary all year long.

Just a Reminder

This weekend is a busy one for us here at the Northwood Congregational Church.

• Saturday, join the trustees at 8:30 am for Church Care Day.  Come and give the church building and grounds a little love.  
• Sunday is the day that all congregational dues are due.  They are $10 a member.  See Matt Caron with any questions.
• Also Sunday we will be taking gift card orders for Christmas.  These can be used as gifts or for your own shopping.  For each gift card you order a percentage goes back to the church. 

And finally, we are having a very important church wide vote after church on Sunday.  It is important to have as many members as possible at this meeting when we vote on if we are going to hire VanderWyden Consultants to assist us with our Capital Campaign and vote on legal matter of land leased to Coe Brown Academy. 

Celebrating 25 Years of Worship Together

On October 6, 2013, the Northwood Congregational Church celebrated the 25th anniversary of the re-opening of the church.  There was special music, special speakers, special friends, special gifts and some yummy cake.  We're looking forward to many more years of worship together.

Turn Your Clocks Back This Sunday

It's that time of year again...  

Don't forget to turn back your clocks and get an extra hour of sleep before church Sunday morning.  

Join us This Sunday for Some Special Events

PEACE SUNDAY

    Jo Chase has organized a meaningful worship service around her passion for peace and for the Scriptures.   Several of our church people will reflect on a passage which has to do with violence, conflict, and peace and there will be great music.  Let us worship God seeking God's presence as we seek understanding.

BEGINNING OF BOOK STUDY ON THE PHOENIX AFFIRMATIONS

     This is a six session study on this book written by Eric Elnes which looks at 12 statements about beliefs which are deeply grounded in Scripture and addressing issues from our world that challenge our faith.   The book can best be gotten from Amazon.com.

Thanks to all who joined us!

What a wonderful day we had to celebrate the 25 years this church has been open.  So many people worked so hard to make it a very special day.  Thanks to all of you who cooked, attended worship, made sure everyone could be with us, planned the event, made Fellowship Hall look beautiful and made Anniversary Remembrance favors.  Just think, we have a whole year to continue our celebration.  Stay tuned for what is coming next.

Celebrating 25 Years of Worship

On Sunday, October 6 the Northwood Congregational Church will be celebrating 25 years of worship since it reopened on October 9, 1988. We have invited our former pastors, our founding members, the children who were baptized and any one else that would like to join us.
We hope to see you there for worship at 9:00 am and our celebration brunch at 10:00am.

Join us on October 6th

Next week, Sunday, October 6th is the 25th birthday celebration of the re-opening of the Northwood Congregational Church.  There are lots of special events planned, including brunch after our Worship  Service. You won’t want to miss this special day and we would love to have you join us.

 

Sunday, September 22

Gayle is away on study leave this week but that means we are blessed to have Jane Roberts as our Lay Preacher this Sunday.  Come and hear about God's PROMISES!

Sunday September 8 is Rally Day

This Sunday is Rally Day.  Please join us on Sunday morning for Worship at 9:00 am.   We are so excited to see everyone as our program year begins.  We have some great stuff coming up this year.

We have some questions for you to ponder...

• What do you see for NCC?
• What are you willing to do to move toward that vision?

During our coffee hour we will be having homemade ice cream cones and sundaes.  

Bring your family and friends.

We hope to see you there!

The Jesus Project is Coming!!!

On Saturday August 17 we will be having a pot-luck barbeque at 5:30 followed at 7:00 pm by an outdoor concert.  Invite your friends, bring your lawn chairs and blankets as well as something for the grill, and a salad, dessert or snacks to share. 

The Jesus Project is a group of gifted musicians who serve God through their music.  You can join their mailing list and read more about them in their newsletter through clicking on the link below.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/NEWSLETTER.html?soid=1102733915924&aid=iZMnHWAsu64

Lots of Summer Fun

So far it's been a busy summer here at the Church, but there is much more to come.  Check out our announcements and newsletter to find all the details.  You won't want to miss The Jesus Project concert on August 18 and lots of other interesting upcoming events.

Join us on Sunday at 9

Neil English is our Lay Preacher this week as Gayle is on vacation.  Join us on 9:00 am on Sunday.  Neil is a poet, an historic architectural preservationist, a Justice of the Peace and a Lay Preacher. In this last role, he strives, through his words, to make the connection between spirituality and the modern world in which we live. As a Lay Preacher Neil also ranges out beyond the walls of the Northwood Congregational Church to supply preach in other churches whenever called upon.

 

Outdoor Worship Service

Join us on Sunday, July 14 at 9:00 am as we hold our worship service outdoors, by the shore of Harvey Lake and celebrate the wonder of God's creation.

Northwood Church in the News

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/7333568-95/photos-blessing-of-the-animals-at-northwood-congregational-church

The Northwood Congregational Church's  annual Blessing of the Animals Service was in the Concord Monitor.  Follow the link above to see the article. 

We had a successful Blessing of the Animals sharing blessings and prayers with dogs, cats and a chicken.

Blessing of the Animals - July 7

Join us this Sunday at 9 am as we have a special worship service.  You are invited to bring your feathered and furry friends for the Blessing of the Animals.  If you don't think your special friend would be comfortable in a crowd, bring a picture or just their name and we will extend God's blessing to them.

Gayle is Published on Maren Tirabassi's Blog

Visit Maren Tirabassi's blog Gifts in Open Hands to see what Gayle has to say.

Maren posted: "On Mondays I am sharing liturgical writing focused on the Luke passages for each Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary. This week Gayle Murphy of Northwood, New Hampshire shares a confessional resource and following that is a Call to Worship and Invocation that I am offering."

http://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/1448/

Strawberry Festival June 22

People have been out in the sun picking strawberries.

They have been sitting in the kitchen hulling strawberries.

As the temperature climbs to over  80⁰ they have been slaving over their ovens making shortcakes and pies.  

People have been digging through their closets for yard sale items.  

Bubbles has been practicing his tricks.  

The tent has been raised.  

Why???  Because it is our Annual Strawberry Festival, complete with yard sale under the big top, Bubbles the clown for entertainment, pancakes for breakfast and all the strawberries you can eat.  

Tomorrow from 8 am till 2 pm we will be here with our freshly picked strawberries, just waiting for you to come by.  Have some shortcake, eat pancakes for breakfast, lunch on the grill or both!  Buy a pie to take home and search for a treasure at the yard sale.  

We hope you join us, bring your family, your friends and your neighbors for some fresh picked strawberries. 

Annual Meeting

This Sunday, June 9,  immediately following our worship service we will be holding our annual meeting.

Please join us to hear what our church has done this year, what our plans are for the coming year and to vote on our budget. 

We need all our members to be present and we are happy to have other join us to discover what we are doing as a church. 

We look forward to seeing you.

Check out our new page

We've added a new page to our website.  Our missions page shows you what we've been doing as a church to put our faith into action.  Take a moment to check out our new page and click on the links so you can learn more about the different organizations we support.

May 19 Confirmation Sunday Worship at 8:30 am

This Sunday, May 19 we will be holding our worship service at 8:30 am.  The change in time is to accommodate our combined Confirmation class.  Over the last several months youth from our church and the youth from the Congregational Church of North Barnstead  have shared confirmation class and many different field trips.

Their efforts culminate this weekend with a celebratory dinner for the Confirmands and their families on Saturday evening and then Sunday morning the Confirmands will be leading worship at both churches.  We have moved our service a half hour early to 8:30 am and the Congregational Church of North Barnstead has moved their service a half hour later to 10:30 am so the Confirmands can attend both services.

Please join us Sunday morning in celebrating these young people in their commitment to Christ.  

A Letter to My American Friends - Thought Provoking

Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili writes 

"It grieves my heart when I think that what has happened in Boston will cause yet another wave of hatred towards our Muslim brothers and sisters both in the USA and beyond. We will never know how many innocent Muslims will be humiliated, hurt and abused as a result of the violence in Boston.  This will only help the representatives of political Islam to recruit more people. This should be stopped.

All the security services of the world, police a and military forces may try their best but I am afraid they can not stop hatred and fear.  Love, forgiveness and kindness can!"

This is an excerpt from a long letter from the Baptist Bishop from Georgia (in the former USSR).   But I think it is worth the time to read the whole thing about religious intolerance, perceptions, and our call to Christian hospitality as a way of reconciliation.  His letter comes in response to the Boston Marathon Bombing.

Let us know what you think.

Gayle

Read the whole letter here on Maren's blog 

http://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/1256/

50 Great Days Update

Update

More than half way through the 50 Great Days campaign and the World Wide UCC community is still going strong.  We have invested 104,871 hours into caring for the planet, planted 17,571 trees and written 15,072 advocacy letters. 

We all have to eat but consider for a moment what you are eating and where your food comes from.  Are your foods prepackaged, loaded with chemicals and pesticides?  Are they travelling from Mexico, Florida or even overseas to get to you?  Think about the difference on the environment and on your body that a locally picked apple has compared to a banana that comes from Mexico.  The apple is picked at the peak of freshness making it healthier

for you and travels at most 20 miles.  The banana is picked long before it is ripe so it can travel for about 4, 500 miles before you see it.  The banana doesn't get to ripen on the tree, has lost much of it’s nutritive value and has used about 300 gallons of fuel before it even arrives in the store.   

Consider ways you can reduce your food impact on the environment.

· Have one meatless day a week. 

· Shop at local farmer’s markets and eat food in season.

· Plant some vegetables either in the ground or in a container.

· Anything that comes prepackaged came out of a factory with the resulting pollution, energy use and waste products.

· Find foods as close to their natural state as possible.  Eat God made foods rather then man made foods. 

· Teach your children where their food comes from, milk from cows, eggs from chickens, fruit from trees and vegetables from the earth. 

Update

We are half way into the 50 Great Days campaign.  Over the last 25 days the World Wide UCC community has invested 80,535 hours into caring for the planet, planted 14,528 trees and written 13,823 advocacy letters. 

Update

Almost three weeks into 50 Great Days the World Wide UCC

community has invested 25, 314 hours into caring for the planet, planted 5, 731 trees and written 2, 754 advocacy letters. 

This week we’d like to think about our trash impact on the

environment.  An average American person produces about 4.5 lbs of trash every day.  We don’t think about it, just send it off to the transfer station and it is no longer our problem.  But what really happens to our trash at the transfer station? 

It is more economical to sort and sell trash for recycling then it is to pay dumping fees.  It costs about $75 per ton to transport and

dispose of trash. 

· Paper and cardboard get sent to China and Canada to get turned back into paper. 

· Plastic gets recycled and turned into new plastic products,    carpet and lumber.

· At the BCEP glass is ground up and sent to Chichester to be used in making roads.

· Vegetable oil can be cleaned and burned for fuel.

· The actual trash can be sent to a landfill in Rochester or sent to an incinerator. 

· One of the most significant costs that is incurred comes from food waste.  Because it is wet and heavy it costs more to dump and it isn’t something that transfer

stations can compost themselves. 

Our Easter Celebration in Pictures

Our Easter Celebration in Pictures

Welcoming the Sunrise

Our youth, leading the Sunrise Service.

He is Risen!

Easter Breakfast

Easter Worship

Lighting the Candles

Sacred Dancers

Easter Communion

Rev. Gayle Murphy sharing with our children

Holy Week

Easter was a wonderful celebration of the power of God and the wonder of this community. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make Holy Week events so meaningful. Special thanks to Jo Chase and Jane Roberts for creating a garden for our Maundy Thursday service. For the Deacons for staffing and setting up the Good Friday Vigil. For Deb McCann for organizing the beautiful Easter plants. For the youth of the church and Michael Magoon for leading our Sunrise Service. For Billy McGowen, Ken Flesher, Dan Ferguson, and Michael Smith for cooking us breakfast. For the choir, led by Judy Frase for delighting us with music and Peggy Kofer and the Sacred Dancers for expressing the wonder of praising God. For Victoria Marcotte for getting all the bulletins done and keeping the church together.  And for Gayle who leads us. 
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

50 Great Days

The United Church of Christ is launching Mission 4/1 Earth: 50 Great Days.  This links together Easter (March 31), Earth Day (April 22), Arbor Day (April 26), and Pentecost (May 19) in an shared effort to offer more than one million hours of earth care, plant more than 100 000 trees and send more than 100 000 advocacy letters. 

Over the 50 Great Days there will be links and posts on facebook, on our blog and in the announcements with suggestions, ideas and information about living a more environmentally friendly life.  Sustaining our Earth for future generations shouldn't be painful or difficult.  It isn't about radical change, it is about small shifts that make big differences.  It is about developing awareness around your everyday choices.  We are a small church but every little bit helps. 

For more information check out the website at http://www.ucc.org/earth/

As a church we already do some things to reduce our impact on the environment.  We recycle our paper, after using both sides as much as possible.  We turn the heat down and the lights off when we're not here.  The lights in the bathroom are on automatic switches.  We recycle our ink and toner cartridges from the copier.  We use mugs for coffee hour instead of styrofoam or paper.  We worship in Fellowship Hall during the colder months, yes it saves us money but it also means less fuel used.  

Send us an email, leave us a comment or post on facebook to tell us what you're already doing to conserve the Earth's resources and to limit your impact on the environment.

Good Friday

The church is open from 4:00 to 7:00 pm today for silent prayer and meditation.  Take a few moments to come and sit in silent gratitude on this day when we remember that Jesus died on the cross for us.

Maundy Thursday

Join us Thursday at 6pm for a simple supper of soup and bread, followed at 7pm for a Service of Tenebrae. 

Photo credit: Ruthieki / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

A Tea party with our Children

 Inviting the stranger into our midst.

Holy Week Events April 24 - April 31

Holy Week Events

• Palm Sunday :   Worship begins in Fellowship Hall. Then a procession  from our worship in Fellowship Hall to the Sanctuary and a procession from celebration of Jesus to death on                        a cross.
• Maundy Thursday:  A simple soup and bread supper at 6:00 pm followed by a service of Tenebrae at 7:00pm.
• Good Friday: Church is open from 4-7 pm.  Drop in for prayer and meditation.
• Easter Sunday: Sunrise Service at 7:00 am.

                                        Easter Breakfast at 8:00 am.

                                         Worship upstairs at 9:00 am.

The Hostess with the Mostest - You!

As we continue to study different spiritual disciplines, this week we looked at the spiritual discipline of hospitality.   This discipline has been presented to us by Jana Reis in her book, Flunking Sainthood  and she bases it upon the Benedictine discipline that claims that every stranger should be welcomed as Christ.  This means making an effort to help someone feel that they are no longer a stranger but are valued by you as God values them.    

Hospitality is not about turning your home into a bed and breakfast, nor is it about being perfect like Martha Stewart.   It is about faith being expressed in intimate connections with others because we honor them as God honors them.   Hospitality becomes a discipline as it infringes on our own time and causes us to put someone else first.  In some faith traditions, hospitality trumps all other things and is an obligation to provide.

We can practice hospitality by welcoming the stranger with as little an effort as looking them in the eyes which keeps them from being invisible.   We can practice hospitality in our homes:   either by not taking for granted the loved ones we live with, or reaching out to those who have become strangers through alienation.   We can practice hosptiality in this church with extravegant welcomes to anyone who enters our doors.   We can practice hosptiality in the world with a focus on helping the poor and forgotten.

So the challenge this week for us to practice hospitality.  Practice it in as many settings as possible .
And know that God's value for all people can be expressed through us.

Sabbath Peace

As we continue our Lenten journey with Jana Reis's Flunking Sainthoood, this week we look at the importance and benefit of Sabbath observation.  Guided by the writing of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a 20th Century Jewish School, we learned that, according to Heschel, "Most of life is a struggle to conquer the world around us."   And the world we live in pushes us with expectations and demands which fill our time and energy, often leaving us without any resources to do or be what is really important to us.

Sabbath gives us that break each week with no expectation, no demands, and where we are not indespensable.   In Sabbath time, we break the huge demands on our lives and allow God to be in charge and to recharge us.  And to connect to what is important to us so that we can bring those priorities back into our everyday lives.

So the challenge this week is to try the spiritual discipline of Sabbath.   Find 2 hours with no expectatons.   Schedule it into your week if necessary, where there will be no television, computer, email, facebook, texting,  perhaps even no telephone.   Observe how God will fill this time for you:  reading, looking at the Bible, praying, being with your family or friends, taking a nap.   Then observe what that taught you about God or yourself.

Shalom Shabbat is the greeting and ending  blessing of the worship service at the Temple our Confirmation Class visited last Friday.   Gayle's translation of Salom Sabbat is Peace of the Sabbath.   My hope is that by finding Sabbath, the peace of God will come to us as well.

Shalom Shabbat.

Our fasting is feeding the hungry

Last week's challenge was to either fast or give up meat for a part or all of the week.   Then we were given the opportunity to bring the money we would have spent on meat or food and it would be donated.

Well, there was a total of $58.77 given and it will be sent to the Friendly Kitchen in Concord which provides 3 meals a day to those in Concord who are hungry.

Great job!   And may this effort bring us closer to the God of all people.

Which is more important food or God?

In our continuing series on Spiritual disciplines inspired by Flunking Sainthood by Janna Reis, this week we looked at two spiritual disciplines around food:   fasting and vegetarianism.   Reis observed how important food is our world and that by fasting it takes attention away from food and gives it to God.   In giving up meat, Reis suggests that animals are not placed on earth simply for human consumption or use, but should be valued as an important part of God's creation.  

So this week the spirital disciplines we try can be done in three levels of challenge:
   Easiest:   Give up meat for one meal this week, and bring to church the money you would have spent on food and we will give it to the Friendly Kitchen, an organization which operates a soup kitchen in Concord.
    Not so Easy:    Give up meat for the week, and bring to church the money you would have spent on food and we will give the money to the Friendly Kitchen.
    Most Challenging:   Try fasting for a day (from sun-up to sun-down), continuing to drink liquids but no food (this is only for those healthy enough to do this).   On Sunday, bring the money you would have spent on food and we will give it to the Friendly Kitchen.

There will be an opportunity in worship on Sunday to share your experiences with giving up meat or fasting.  May these experiments bring you closer to God.

Try the Lectio Divina

Good People of the February Snows,

Did you try to find God in the ordinary tasks of life this week?  In the repetition of peeling carrots or the sorting of the laundry or the steps to take out the trash?   I found that on the days that I was mindful, there were ways to turn these every day tasks into opportunities to repeat phrases like thank you for being there, take my sin away, what do I do?  On those days I was drawn closer to God as God became a part of what I did every day.   On days I was not mindful, it would slip my mind completely and I would be left farther from God, not because God had moved, but I had not moved closer.

This week, we will be looking at the spiritual practice of Lectio Divina.   This is an ancient practice of praying the Scripture.    The process is pick a short Bible passage and read it aloud ( practically any passage would work). Then in silence,  (try 2 minutes) reflect on what the passage is saying.   Then read the same passage aloud again, this time in your silent reflection ask where am I in the passage?  Then read it a third time, and in the silence ask what is God trying to teach me in this passage.

Let me know how it works for you.  

Watch the Weather

It seems that there is the possibility of a snow storm this weekend.  If it's possible we will hold church, but, safety first... if you don't feel comfortable driving Sunday morning stay home where it's safe and warm.
If you do plan on coming, check first.  If we are not having our Sunday morning Worship Service we will send out an email, leave it on the answering machine and post it on WMUR.

Condolences to the Lane family

A memorial service will be held on Friday, February 22, at 4:00 p.m. at the Northwood Congregational Church, 881 First New Hampshire Turnpike in Northwood with Rev. Gayle Murphy officiating.  A reception will follow at the conclusion of the service.

Andrew John Lane

NORTHWOOD -   Mr. Andrew "John" Lane, 87, of Northwood, died Sunday, February 17, 2013, at Presidential Oaks in Concord, NH after a brief illness.

Born in Keene, NH on October 2, 1925, John was the son of the late Earl N. and Lilly (Lofgren) Lane.  He graduated from Keene High School before entering the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet during World War II.  He was an alumnus of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York graduating in June, 1950 with a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering.  John was married to Jean Whitcomb on October 21, 1950.

John worked in construction for Arthur Whitcomb Construction Company of Keene for five years before moving to Northwood in 1955.  He then began his career with the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation as a civil engineer in the Bridge Division.  Mr. Lane was promoted to Assistant Bridge Engineer in 1970 and retired as the State Bridge Engineer in 1989.

John was active in his community, having served on the Northwood Highway Advisory Committee, Northwood Budget Committee, Saddleback Mountain Lion's Club, American Legion.  He was also active in the Northwood Congregational Church.  Most of all, he enjoyed attending events at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, where he and Jean were staples at sporting events, as well as plays and musicals.  He also enjoyed snowmobiling and summers at their camp on Wild Goose Pond.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean Lane; two children, daughter Betsy Colburn and her husband Jim of Northwood and their children Steve, Brian, & Lindsey; and daughter Peggy Riley and her husband Pat of San Antonio, Texas, and their children Sean, Kyle, & Kevin; 9 great grandchildren, 13 nieces and nephews.  He is pre-deceased by his parents and brother Richard L. Lane of Swanzey, NH.

A special thank you to the wonderful staff at Concord Hospital and Presidential Oaks who provided boundless care, devotion, and love.

Memorial donations, in his memory, may be made to the Northwood Congregational Church, PO Box 65, Northwood, NH  03261 or Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, 907 First New Hampshire Turnpike, Northwood, NH  03261.

 The Bennett Funeral Home in Concord is handling arrangements. 

Lenten Challenge of Infusing daily tasks with God's presence

During this Lenten Season, I will be preaching about different Spiritual Disciplines inspired by a book called, Flunking Sainthood:   A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jan Riess.

This Sunday, (Feb 17) we will talk about infusing daily tasks with a sense of God's presence.   This will include the ideas of using the phyical activity of a daily task to free your mind/spirit to pray.   Or reminding yourself to "allow the deep love of God to sufuse every meal you prepare, every pot you scrub."  (the words of Brother Lawrence).

There will be a challenge issued at the end of each sermon for you to try during the course of the next week.  You will be invited to bring back the journaling of your efforts to be put in the offering plate as a gift to God.   And there will be an opportunity for people to share how this challenge has worked for them during the service.

So here is the challenge for this next week:      Each day (this is the discipline - to do it each day) find/sense God's presence in your daily work.   Write it down, and for extra credit, ponder what this meant to you.

May God's presence suprise you each day, and may that be a blessing to you in the week ahead.

With love,
Gayle

Concord Coalition to End Homelessness Soupfest

On Saturday, Feb 16 the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness is having their 2nd Annual Soupfest at South Church.   There are two seatings, one at 5:00pm and a second one at 6:30pm.  Support a good cause and enjoy a variety of homemade soups and artisan breads.  Our own Gayle Murphy will be making Sausage Sweet Potato Stew for the event.

Welcome Rev. Chris Owen

Join us Sunday at 9:00am.  

Gayle is away this weekend but you are in a for a treat as you worship with Rev. Chris Owen.   Chris Owen is ordained in the United Church of Christ, and most recently served the church in Mason, New Hampshire. He lives in Wilton with his wife, 2 children, and assorted farm animals. He blogs at religioninthebalance.wordpress.com.

A Celebration of the Life of Joan Clark

Joan L. Clark

 October 23, 1930 - January 11, 2013

This morning, Friday January 25 at 11:00 am we celebrate the life of Joan Clark. 

Joan L. Clark, 82 of Strafford, passed away suddenly of natural causes at her daughter’s home in Scarborough, Maine on Friday, January 11, 2013. She was a beloved family member, homemaker, bookkeeper and loving friend to all animals, children and people.  Joan lived her entire life as a woman of deep faith and unconditional love for all.  Joan had a lifelong passion for art, music, animals,nature and conservation, which her children and grandchildren carry forward. 

A private family burial was conducted by Mr. Neil English at NH Veteran’s Cemetary, Boscowen, NH, where she was buried next to her husband

Memorial Gifts can be sent to your local animal shelter

 or the World Wildlife Fund

Cocheco Valley Humane Society

262 County Farm Road

  Dover, NH 03820

http://www.cvhsonline.org/

World Wildlife Fund
1250 Twenty-Fourth Street, N.W.
P.O. Box 97180
Washington, DC 20090-7180

http://worldwildlife.org/