Spring 2009 Reaching Out Newsletter
Christ Church United, UCC, in Lowell (WeWelcomeAll.org)
Message from the Pastor
Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?
Luke 9:23-25
We are living in trying and turbulent times, a time of “great disruption” writes one commentator. This is no ‘bump in the road; we’re hitting a wall” (Thomas Friedman). Many of the ideals and expectations that have fueled our way of life for generations - good jobs, clean air, health care, education, a “level playing field” – have proven false. The foundation of our democracy has a crack, made evermore glaring by the meltdown of the entire financial system. There is no one person, party or group to blame. The institutions we place our trust in – educational, political, religious and business – must share the blame. Our biggest enemy today is impatience and a failure of objectivity. The time needed to solve the wide-ranging problems we face will not be solved by the “chattering class” of radio and television commentators. Balanced reporting is an oxymoron. (Wall Street “owns” and writes the news you tune in to hear.) Hitting a wall is more severe than hitting a bump in the road. There are broken parts of our “way of life” strewn across the landscape. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and work, collectively, to triage the injured, protect the vulnerable neighbor, and project cautious trust and optimism, until a brighter future arrives.
No one owns Jesus Christ! Jesus was never bought, nor did he ever sell out to the “highest bidder.” His love, his example is pure as the heart. He is our constant companion through the twists and turns of life. No matter what the burden, we have “a friend” in the one who teaches, “take up your cross and follow me.” Following him is not the easy path, and we are reminded of this truth during the events of Holy Week. Yet, as Lent gives way to the promise of Easter, just as Winter flows into Spring, we live in the assurance that God will triumph in all times and places, and that, because of our faith in him, we will also be grasped and sustained by the power of God’s wondrous love.
Live with faith, hope and love. These days demand it!
Pastor Peter
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HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE
April 5 PALM SUNDAY
No Church
Palm-Passion Symbol Service 10:00 A.M.
April 9 MAUNDY THURSDAY
Lord’s Supper and Tenebrae 6:30 P.M.
April 10 GOOD FRIDAY
Walk for Hunger 8:00 A.M.
Sanctuary open for personal meditation
12:00-3:00 P.M.
April 12 EASTER
No Church School
Morning Worship 10:00 A.M.
Community Sing: Handel’s Halleluja Chorus
ChristCare Groups are circles of care. ChristCare Group members care for one another with the love of Christ. As a ChristCare Group member, you never have to go through a tough time alone, be it a major crisis or just the bumps and bruises of daily life. Your fellow group members are always there for you.
When ChristCare Groups meet, they do four kinds of activities:
Community building and care
Biblical Equipping;
Prayer and worship; and
Missional service.
One group led by Chris and Darcie C-P meet every other Sunday at 11:45 a.m.
The second group led by Pastor Lovett and Judie B. meet Thursday evenings 6:45 p.m.
A third group led by Pastor Lovett meets mid-day on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m., starting April 15.
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March
Mission of the Month
The March Mission of the Month is One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS).
One Great Hour of Sharing provides aid when disaster strikes and by helping refugees rebuild their lives. Your gift strengthens struggling communities with basics like education, health care, tools, seeds and wells.
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Donations to the January Mission of the Month, Local Church Efforts totaled $88.00
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Donations to the February Mission of the month, Local Hunger Efforts totaled $122.00
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Food Source Hotline
1-800-645-8333
TTY:1-800-377-1292
With the high cost of living in the Commonwealth and more than 522,000 people across the state struggling to put food on the table, chances are that a friend or neighbor of yours is having difficulty making ends meet this winter. Project Bread’s Food Source Hotline can help. The Food Source Hotline is the only comprehensive information and referral service for the hungry in Massachusetts. Counselors can provide information and screen callers for food stamp eligibility.
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Announcing!!
New ChristCare Group
A new group will be starting on Wednesdays, beginning April 15, at 12:30 p.m. The group will be led by Pastor Peter. If you are interested in this group, please speak to Pastor Peter.
All are welcome!
The following is a letter Karen S. received from the
Board of Directors of the Open Food Pantry of Greater Lowell.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the volunteers of the Greater Lowell Open Pantry, Chris and I want to thank you for all your dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm in your unselfish celebration of your 50th birthday that realized the amazing amount of money for those in need in the Lowell area. The needs of an organization like the Open Pantry are great and some of our income is devoted to fixed operating expenses that allow us to function. However, the greatest portion of our budget, $52,000, is used to buy food at the greatest savings imaginable. Your efforts will put food on the table for a large number of hungry families and individuals.
Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the sock hop. I haven’t danced as much in many years. The entire crowd that night was fired up for a good time and pastor Peter got everyone dancing from the youngest to the oldest. What enthusiasm!!!!
I also want to thank you for inviting me to be with you on the taping of your story on Dracut TV. I had fun doing it and I thought all three of us on the show got the story of hunger out to an audience that may not have been exposed to it previously.
Again, thank you for your efforts and enthusiasm. Know we will meet again in the near future.
Love and God Bless You,
Chris and Tom
(The proceeds from the Sock Hop, in celebration of Karen’s 50th birthday was over $3,049.30)
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Stewardship Message
Checking Our Balance
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted …(Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2)
How about these improvisations on this familiar text about the “seesaw” of life:
A time to break down our budgets – at home or church — in new ways, and a time to build them up by asset mapping. A time to weep for recession, unemployment and homelessness, and a time to meet doomsayers with humor and hope. A time to mourn for the time-famine of contemporary families, and a time to dance with our faithful volunteers. A time to embrace generosity, and a reminder to refrain from embracing consumerism. A time to keep – recycle, re-use, renew – in church and home — and time to throw away responsibly. A time to tear our clothes on a mission trip with teens, and a time to knit prayer shawls in the parlor. A time to love our children enough to teach them stewardship, and a wake up call whenever and wherever they learn hatred for themselves or others. A time-out for war, and an always time-enough to work for peace … a peace for every season that blesses God’s purpose under heaven.
It is March – the month of balance. Life isn’t like Daylight Savings time– we cannot “make” hours or resources or energy or sunshine. On the other hand, the Spring Equinox is a true teaching moment. We even use the word “balance” financially. The “balance” is what we work with, give with, use to care for ourselves and others. Financially, emotionally, and spiritually, as individuals and as communities of faith, this is the season to commit ourselves to balance.
Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of
Union Congregational UCC of Madbury, NH.
The Season of Lent
Lent is a forty-day season of preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. The season begins on Ash Wednesday, when pastors mark the foreheads of Christians with ashes as a reminder that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return. During Lent we follow Jesus from his adult ministry through his suffering during Holy Week to his crucifixion and death on Good Friday. And we read the Psalms that foretold what happened during that week.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, also called the Sunday of the Passion, and continues through Holy Thursday (when Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper) and Good Friday, when Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried.
Because the Last Supper was celebrated during the Feast of the Passover, which is calculated on the phases of the moon, Easter is called a movable feast. Lent is scheduled backwards from Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. The forty days of fasting and penitence during Lent do not include Sundays. Christians always celebrate Sunday as the day Jesus rose from the dead, so it is never a day of fasting.
Many Northern Europeans celebrate the day before Ash Wednesday, mardi gras (French for Fat Tuesday, also called Shrove Tuesday), by eating up everything good in the house that medieval Christians believed was inappropriate to eat during Lent (eggs, butter, cream, meat). This celebration has expanded into all sorts of festivals all over the world, although most modern Christians do eat some – or all – of those foods during Lent.
Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. It is a time when Christians remember our baptisms, when Jesus washed away our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate in the triumph of Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter. Many early Christians were baptized on Easter Sunday, so Lent became a special time of study and prayer in preparation for their baptisms. Later the entire congregation joined in the study and prayer as they looked forward to the anniversary of their baptisms on Easter.
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Thank You
To the Congregation:
The Open Pantry of Greater Lowell wishes to thank you for your recent donation. The response of so many individuals and organizations is truly heartening for those who run the Open Pantry, as well as the recipients.
Since the Open Pantry has been open, thousands of people have been helped. We hope you find gratification in the knowledge that your donation is a part of this ongoing work that fills an urgent need in the greater Lowell community.
Again, our thanks,
The Pantry Volunteers
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MERRIMACK VALLEY PROJECT has helped to save jobs, advocated for affordable housing, and dignify the immigrant. CCU is a proud and active member organization. Attend a “House Meeting” April 19, and to identify concerns and strategize on solutions. And, come to meet Lisa Vinikoor, MVP’s new organizer.
Visit
www.merrimackvalleyproject.org
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2009 Committee and Board Members
Pastor
The Rev. Dr. Peter A. Lovett
Officers
Moderator: Rob H.
Clerk: Kristen G.
Treasurer: John L.
Counters
Melinda B.
Kathy K.
Shirley M.
Trustees
Lowell S., Chair
George D.
Kristen G.
Council Members at Large
Calista B.
Melinda B.
Chris C-P
Connie L.
Rose R.
Jane S.
Diaconate
Nancy B.
May F.
Shirley M.
Jane S.
Karen S.
Pastor/Parish Relations
Connie L.
Rosalie M.
Andover Association Delegates
Nancy B.
Karen S.
Massachusetts Conference, UCC Delegates
Nancy B.
Karen S.
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Our Church Family
CONGRATULATIONS to Frank and Beryl S. on their 60th wedding anniversary April 17.
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A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make my 50th birthday celebration a huge success.
The success of the Fifties Sock Hop couldn’t have happened without the help and support of all of you.
Karen
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Just a note to say thank you for the cards and expressions of sympathy that I received from this congregation on the death of my long time friend Nick. It was really appreciated by both my family and the Petullo family.
Love Mitsy
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In Memoriam
Jane Watkins
A few words of tribute to Jane Watkins by her daughter Bonnie:
“I remember a mother who grew up with two dresses a year made out of sack cloth, one for Sundays and one for school days. Her older sister, used to send mother boxes of all kinds of materials from the mills down south and she sat for hours making dresses for me. I really didn’t know how lucky I was.
But mostly I remember the most famous words in our house was “don’t tell your father.”
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NEW ENGLAND FILMMAKERS
PREMIERE POIGNANT
DOCUMENTARY FILM IN LOWELL
Lowell, MA, March 10, 2009 — A guest appearance by Director Stephanie Higgins and Executive Producer Lorre Fritchy will highlight the premiere screening of their documentary film “ The Gay Marriage Thing” on Wednesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. at Christ Church United, UCC, Lowell. The event, which will include a Q&A with the filmmakers, is being presented in partnership with The Lowell Film Collaborative (LFC) and Christ Church United, UCC, Lowell.
From the protests outside the Massachusetts State House to the churches of the Reverends Rich Wiesenbach and Carlton Smith, to the historic chambers echoing State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein’s perspective, “ The Gay Marriage Thing” captures how all of these voices swirl around the film’s central subjects, Lorre and Gayle, as May 17, 2004, approaches, the first date same-sex couples could file for marriage licenses in Massachusetts. While eavesdropping on the emotional and spiritual toll this issue has taken upon all parties, the story carries forth to the every day angst and anticipation of Lorre and Gayle’s own wedding. For more information about the film, visit TheGayMarriageThing.com.
Christ Church United, UCC, Lowell, is hosting the event. Partnering with Christ Church United is the Lowell Film Collaborative, a grassroots organization dedicated to growing Lowell’s artistic community through the art of moving pictures. Founded by Lowell residents Brett and Suzanne Cromwell, the LFC hosts a variety of film events throughout the city in collaboration with local organizations and businesses.
This special screening of “ The Gay Marriage Thing” is open to the public. Suggested donation is $5 per person and child care will be provided. An RSVP by Tuesday, April 14 is appreciated: Suzanne Cromwell at lowellfilmcollaborative@live.com.
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Change Must Occur
In Our Church & World…
If future generations are to survive and thrive. To understand the nature of these changes, CCU is participating in “DEEP SHIFT” a nation-wide community of learning, sharing and exploring. Monthly conference calls on dedicated topics, led by skilled moderators, begin in April. Call the office or speak with Pastor Peter if you’d like to learn more or participate. Or visit www.deepshift.org
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ANDOVER ASSOCIATION
SPRING MEETING, May 3,
Christ Church United, Dracut. Theme: The Multicultural Church. Everyone welcome
