Wishing everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July

Worship This Week

Please join us in

the Sanctuary or online at

10am this Sunday for

Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

and Communion Sunday

Please join us for coffee hour

after the service.

We hope you will join us in person or online.

The service will be live streamed through

Facebook Live here

or on 3CX here

artwork: "Our Daily Bread" © Mary Southard

www.ministryofthehearts.org. Used with permission.

Tattoos on the Heart Screening

With popcorn and snacks in hand, more than 20 people came to watch the "Tattoos on the Heart" movie "G-Dog" last Thursday, ending our 6-week book discussion series on this amazing book. Stay tuned for the next book discussion series which will begin late August/early September.

Pastor Kathy visited Lois Briscoe earlier this week at her new home in the Rockingham County Earnest Barket Assisted Living complex. Lois is having some challenges adjusting, but is beginning to settle in and make new friends.

She would welcome visitors. Please see the new directory, or contact the main office, for her contact information.

She was delighted to get her picture taken to share with the congregation.

New UPPER ROOM Devotionals

We have copies of the

July/August Upper Room devotional available

in the foyer to Hadley Hall.

If you need a copy mailed to you, please contact the main office.

Pastor Kathy Mid-Summer Schedule

Pastor Kathy will be on vacation from June 27 - July 4th.

Pastoral coverage will be provided by Rev. Linda Lea Snyder, through July 11.

Pastor Kathy will be taking two weeks of renewal leave from July 5-18. If there is a pastoral emergency during the final week, please contact the office or Debra Sawyer or Judy Dobson.

The leadership of the UCC encouraged all churches to grant their pastors two weeks renewal leave this year, given the ongoing challenges of pastoring, and HCC leadership, encouraged by our Staff Relations Group, agreed. The Staff Relations Group explains the renewal leave more fully in the section below.

A Message From Staff Relations

At the beginning of this year, The Staff Relations Group received a letter from The National Conference Ministers of the UCC, recommending that churches consider giving their pastors a two week time of renewal to heal from the unprecedented stresses of recent years.

After prayerful discussions with Pastor Kathy, the SRG brought forth a motion to our church leaders to grant this renewal time. The motion was approved out of care for Kathy and appreciation for her outstanding ministry to our congregation. This will be a time for self-care which will include a ministry retreat.

Pastor Kathy has been a true blessing to our church through these difficult times. This time will help strengthen her so that she can continue giving her utmost devotion to ministering to our church’s missions and people.

Climate Hope Cards

In May Kari wrote a piece about the UCC Climate Cards of Hope. Children from our churches illustrated them and the conference offered them at no charge to the local congregations. We ordered some and they have arrived.

The Peace and Justice Team, as part of our Environmental Justice focus, will have the cards available for members of our church community to take home and send to elected officials requesting that they keep the wonder and beauty of our natural world in mind when making policy. 

There are many concerns from water resources to preserving natural wild spaces to pollution - more than we can name here. Think of one that you feel strongly about and write a representative expressing your concern as a person of faith.

The cards will be laid out at Coffee Hour along with contact information for our local, state, and federal representatives. 

A Word From Peace & Justice

I read an interesting article from the Climate Coach desk of the Washington Post about one person’s quest to buy everything in his life used. The article was by Michael J Coren with his tips for trying to “stem the tide of new stuff” for one month. The article focuses on buying items online. He found a strong secondary market with quality items – “not tattered castoffs or bargain-bin specials”. The space was full of “premium, quality goods at a price, at times convenience, rivaling Amazon’s shopping cart”.

This is a concern because to the rise or stuff - $5 trillion in goods each year – that eventually has to go somewhere. That has been donation bins, landfills and thrift stores. Now there are many more players in resale sites than Craigslist and eBay. In 2021 these sites supported resale of $178 billion on returned and reused items.

His first tip is to type “used items” on Google Shopping. For example, in the search bar on Google Shopping type: used items wool skirt. The search lists wool skirts form a variety of vendors and at prices ranging from $9 basic skirt to $179 designer. Many of these are new. Goodwill, Amazon Warehouse and Amazon Renewed are also players in this market.

Clothing resale sites are Poshmark, Depop, thredUP, REI, Patagonia Worn Wear. Garage sales have gone online with Facebook Marketplace, BuyNothing, Nextdoor. His tip here is to search for what you want, bookmark it and check back. It usually appears within days and at a deep discount.

Michael’s review of his month-long experiment was that quality varied, returns were not as seamless as Amazon, for low-cost items it was cheaper to buy new than to ship. But he has concluded that “buying new offered fewer advantages over buying used in many categories”. He cites Sandra Goldmark of Columbia University’s Climate School as his inspiration. She wrote Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet and says that “almost everything she buys was once owned by someone else (shoes, underwear and socks are the exceptions)”.

Scam Emails & Texts

Emails and Texts are often sent, saying they are from Pastor Kathy or another staff member. She (or the HCC staff) will never send out a generic email/text--she'll address it to your name. She will never ask you for money/gift cards over email nor via a text.

Also, any email from Pastor Kathy will always have her signature line on the bottom with her phone number/address.

If in doubt, please contact the church office or Pastor Kathy.

New Hampshire Conference UCC Weekly News

We thought you might enjoy reading the NH Conference UCC weekly newsletter. You can read it with this link.

6/27/2023 Newsletter

Each week, we will update this section of our Weekly Word with the new link

for the current newsletter.

Food Drive to Support

Saint Anne Ecumenical

Food Pantry



 Currently in need of cereal (no Cheerios), coffee, salad dressings,

pasta sauce, granola bars, Spam, boxes of crackers, grated cheese, mayo

 and ketchup.



Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Please, no expired items.

Thank you for all your support!