Clergy Convocation

Pastor Kathy will be attending the annual Clergy Convocation in Biddeford, ME next week. She will not be in the office from Monday, 9/19 through Wednesday, 9/21.  She will be back in the office on Thursday, September 22nd.

Pastor Kathy will check her emails during breaks.

Neighbors in Need UCC Special Offering 9/25 and 10/2

The Neighbors in Need offering, which we will collect September 25-October 2, supports the UCC’s ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States.

Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries to fund a wide array of local and national justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects.

One-third of the offering supports the UCC’s Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM). Today there are 20 UCC congregations on reservations and one urban, multi-tribal UCC congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These churches and their pastors are supported by CAIM.

Donations can be put in the offering plate or given to the office. If you are donating by check, please designate Neighbors in Need or NIN in the subject line. Thanks for your continued generosity.

Enhance Your Faith This Fall with a Spiritual Practices Series

Join Pastor Kathy this fall for a four-week series, “Enhancing Your Well-being with Spiritual Practices.” Each session will be about an hour long and will include learning about and trying different spiritual practices. Session will be held in-person on Thursday mornings at 10:00am in the youth room upstairs from the sanctuary, beginning on Thursday, September 29^th.

If there is enough interest, Pastor Kathy can hold another session on an evening or via Zoom. Please let her know if you would prefer one of these options. There will be a sign-up sheet at coffee hour or contact the office or Pastor Kathy to sign up or with any questions. 

Did You Notice...?

Recently, we migrated our HCC website to a totally new look. The update freshens things up and makes our website "mobile friendly" for those that access our site from their phones.

If you haven't already, take a look at our "new" site and let us know what you think. We have continued to make some changes to create a consistent look and feel throughout the site.

Here is the link to our website.

Worship This Week

Please join us outside

or online at 10am for the

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

We will worship outside in the back parking lot this week.  Please plan to bring a chair and join us for this special service

Coffee hour will be held in Hadley Hall after the service.  We hope you will join us.

The service will be live streamed through Facebook Live here or on 3CX here.

artwork:Abundant Harvest © Mary Southard

Phishing Email

Scammers are at it again. Recently, one of our members received an email presumably from Pastor Kathy. This type of email is known as a "phishing" email.

Please know that Pastor will never ask you for money/gift cards via an email nor via a text.

If you receive an email or text and are in doubt, please contact the church office/Pastor Kathy. 

Fiber Arts Gathering

The next gathering will be next Saturday, September 24 10AM - Noon in Hadley Hall. All are welcome!

Thanks to Bea Randell, the first fiber arts gathering was a great success.

There were a dozen people who attended August's gathering including a mix of church members and local community members.

The 221st Annual Meeting

of the NH Conference

United Church of Christ

will be held on

Saturday, October 15, 2022

The annual meeting will be happening next month. This year's theme is "Sing a New Song". The annual meeting main page can be accessed here. If interested in attending, you can register here. You can attend in person or via Zoom. Please let Pastor Kathy know if you are interested in attending--we are looking to have a delegate or two representing HCC. 

Invitation to Annual Meeting - Watch a short video from Rev. Gordon Rankin,

Conference Minister

Isaiah 58 Eighth Annual Charity Benefit

To Help Fight Homelessness

October 6, 2022

For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.

Rockingham VNA &  Hospice Grief Support Offerings

Meet the Artist

Sr. Mary Southard

For about a year, many of our bulletin covers have been adorned with the amazing artwork of Sr. Mary Southard. We wanted to provide you an opportunity to learn a little more about her.

Mary entered the convent at a young age and became a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph (CSJ) in 1954. Sr. Mary creates drawings, paintings and sculptures in her studio in the Congregation of St. Joseph La Grange Park Center, located in La Grange Park, Illinois.  She shares her works throughout the world and some of her sculptures can be seen in gardens, churches, and hospitals throughout the US.

If you would like to learn more about Sr. Mary and see more of her beautiful work, click here.

Steeple Lighting

September 14 - September 20

In loving memory of Theodore Handel

Always in our hearts

Steeple Will Be Lit

September 23 - September 29

In loving memory of Michele Hughes

Always in our hearts

September Birthdays

We are continuing to only list first names and last initial to minimize scamming issues with personal information being shared via electronic documents.

Dave L 9/1

Claire H 9/2

Michelle L 9/2

Emily M 9/3

Susan B 9/5

Dave D 9/6

Jane C 9/7

Casey N 9/8

Ann H 9/9

Abby C 9/14

Suzanne F 9/15

Evan K 9/18

Barry S 9/22

Jason Y 9/22

Elizabeth T 9/25

Ing G 9/26

Delaney S 9/29

If you would like your birthday recognized, please call the office to make sure we have it in our records!

Upper Room Devotional

We have copies of the September/October Upper Room devotional available in the foyer to Hadley Hall. If you need a copy mailed to you, please contact the main office.

A Word from Peace and Justice

As you know I have been interested in racial justice issues for a while, sharing opportunities for webinars, workshops, and tours at NH Black Heritage Trail. To help us understand the issue, I stumbled onto a really interesting take on how racial and economic justice are connected and at root of interest to all of us. My first introduction to Heather McGhee was through a webinar hosted by Showing Up for Racial Justice.

She posits that our citizens have been taught since the founding that we live in a Zero Sum society – that if one group benefits another loses out. That life is a struggle and a competition. The powerful in each generation have used that notion to divide the vast majority of people in order to increase and perpetuate their power. You can watch that webinar entitled Beyond Zero Sum here - start at timestamp 11:05 to bypass the promotion of SURJ.. The webinar promotes her book, The Sum of Us. Read more about her ideas below.

“The answer is cross-racial solidarity. Nothing important has ever been accomplished by one person. I can recycle all I want - I can’t stop climate change by myself. When race is so often used to divide us, it takes us coming together across lines of race.” -Heather McGhee 

Thank you for registering for last week’s webinar, “Beyond Zero Sum.” The conversation between SURJ National Director Erin Heaney and bestselling author Heather McGhee was full of nuance, power, and encouragement to expand our thinking about our shared interest as white people in racial and economic justice.

If this interests you, I would recommend reading the book, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. A description of the book is here. Some of us have already begun and it gives a lot of information to think and talk about. We are thinking of doing a book group after the first of the year. So let me or Marion Lake know if you would be interested in this. In the meantime, there is a podcast by the same name currently on Spotify and can be listened to here. (The podcast will available on other platforms starting on 9/21).

Blessings,

Debra

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.

09/13/22 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

The New needs for the Food Pantry are:



hearty/meaty soups, salad dressings, coffee, tea, cereal, flour and sugar

Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

Thank you for all your support!

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.