Hello all,

 

Here is the BIG NEWS for this week.  Please note that there will be no BIG NEWS next week.  See below:

 

 

 

1.     Church Calendar

2.     Worship this Sunday, July 18

3.     Nonviolence group, note date change

4.     Coffee Hour

5.     From the Haven

6.     No BIG NEWS next week

7.     Directories

8.     Annual Church BBQ Saturday, July 31

9.     From Jane Francisco

10.  A Bithday to Celebrate

 

 

1.                         Church Calendar                    

     Wed. July 21      Nonviolence Group  7-9PM

      Sun. July 25      New Members Sunday

      Sun. July 31      Annual Church BBQ

       Sun. Aug. 1      Rev. Nancy Kilgore leads worship

       Sun. Aug. 8      Joyce McKeeman  leads worship

     Sun. Aug. 15      Charlie Buttrey leads worship          

     Sun. Aug. 22      Jay Dunlap leads worship

 

2.  Worship this Sunday, July 18th, the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, will explore a traditional spiritual path that can lead to inner transformation and peace.  We will read scripture passages and sing hymns that describe the path, and we will learn an ancient monastic way of reading sacred writings that is one of the most effective means of traveling the path.  We will read responsively Psalms 130 and 131, starting with an anguished cry to God out of our depths and ending transformed into a calmed and quieted soul.  We will hear the familiar story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42), with Martha anxiously and compulsively working in the kitchen and Mary sitting and listening at Jesus' feet.  We will sing Harriet Beecher Stowe's hymn, Still, Still With Thee, set to a tune by Felix Mendelssohn, and John Greenleaf Whittier's Dear Lord and Father of Mankind set to a tune by the English church organist and composer, Frederick C. Maker.  We will also sing a new hymn, O God, My Soul Is Crying Out, set to an ancient monastic, contemplative plainsong tune, Conditor Alme, composed in the same era as the form of reading we will be learning.  The sermon title will be Lectio Divina: Divine Reading, Life-Changing Prayer.  Patricia will play a prelude based on Psalm 130 composed in the 17th Century by Samuel Scheidt, as well as an Offertory by David Kaynor (1980) and a Postlude composed in the 19th Century by Robert Schumann.

 

3.  PLEASE NOTE!  DATE CHANGE!  The Nonviolence Group is continuing to meet once a month and is available for all to join.  If you are interested please let Christina Robinson (785-4012) or Pastor Tom Kinder (785-2915) know, and if you can, please join us at our next meeting, Wednesday July 21st, 7-9PM, downstairs in the First Congregational Church in Thetford.  This date is a change from the one previously announced!  

 

4.  *COFFEE HOUR*: We need someone to do "Coffee Hour" on *Sunday July 25th*.

There will be food provided by the absentee

person, which will make it very easy to come in a little early and set up.

Please call me (or email me at DrSusanKowalsky@msn.com)  to volunteer for

this good deed. Thanks, Susan, Welcoming Committee - 649-2681

 

5.  Tidings!

This weeks top 5 Haven needs are:  Cereal, chicken and beef broth, crackers, mayonnaise, and sugar.  

Thank you.  

Cheryl Rostad

 

6.  I will be on break from July 19-26.  I won't be answering emails during that time and there will be no BIG NEWS next week.  Marianne Barthel has very generously offered to produce the bulletin for July 25.  Please email all announcements you would like included no later than Wed. July 21st at noon to Marianne at Marianne.barthel@gmail.com.  Thank you Marianne!  And thank you to Bev Vaughan and Matt Senger for taking care of phone messages and mail while I'm away.  ~Terry

 

7. The new, 2010 Directory is finally completed!  Hopefully you have received your electronic copy by now and hard copies are in the mail.  If you have not received one please contact the office to let me know. Also, please continue to let me know of any changes that need to be made as well.   785-2915 or email at thetfordhillchurch@valley.net.    Thank you all for your help and your patience!  ~Terry

 

8.  ANNUAL CHURCH BBQ is Saturday July 31st on the Green. A sign-up sheet will be posted at the church by the kitchen.  Please volunteer to make food, serve food, grill food, set-up and clean-up! This is good PR for the church and makes us about $1000. Thanks, Susan Kowalsky, Chair; Fundraising Committee.

 

9.  The Antiques and Collectibles Table at the Thetford Hill Fair (Saturday, July 31) is currently seeking donations including: china, glassware, jewlery, silver, brass, furniture, linen, and quilts.  If you have questions or would like to make a donation please contact Jane Francisco (785-2552) or Mary Miller (785-2151).

 

10. Jeanette Linsley (Marylin Stone's mother) celebrates her 95th birthday on July 20!!  If people who remember her would like to send her a card, her address is: 6745 Pittsford-Palmyra Rd., Fairport NY 14450. She is doing quite well, very happy where she lives and does love to hear from family and friends.

 

 

 

 

In these days of heat and humidity, I often start my morning with a bit of time on the porch.  The dog and I claim our respective chairs in the cool air and sit in silence, watching the fog lift and listening to the earth wake up.  This morning my eye caught a flash of color in the top of one of the big maple trees across the road.  An Oriole was flitting among the branches.  I would see it in an opening and then it would disappear behind some leaves and the only evidence of its presence would be the slight shuddering of the leaves on the branch.  I'm not sure what it was doing exactly but it certainly was very busy doing it and seemed to have a real purpose.  The spirit is like that in my life.  Sometimes I think I see clear evidence of its presence and almost think I know what it's doing, and then I find my self searching again, following the movement of the leaves to perhaps get another glimpse.  It helps me to remember that, while I may not know what the Oriole is doing so busily, it does and I can just trust in that.  So too with the Spirit.                                           Peace to you all.  ~Terry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Barker, Administrative Assistant

First Congregational Church in Thetford, VT

United Church of Christ

PO Box 69, 2596 Route 113

Thetford, VT 05043

802--785-2915

www.thetfordhillchurch.org