THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
Embracing Yesterday’s Traditions !
Today’s Mission !
Tomorrow’s Hope!
We gather to be a faithful witness to God’s!
love in worship, community service, and spiritual growth.!
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF ELIOT, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
THE
ECHO
CONCERT
Kittery-Eliot
Clergy
Association's annual
Epiphany Concert,
featuring the choirs
of the area churches.
Hosted by Second Christian in
Kittery. Please plan to be there!
Our choir is hopeful for
your support JANUARY 5
AT 7 PM
100 CANS OF SOUP
Can we line the sanctuary with cans
of soup this month? Of course we
can! Maybe we can even reach 200!
PLEASE BRING IN SOUP CANS
EVERY SUNDAY THROUGH THE
MONTH OF JANUARY AS WE
STRIVE TO SUPPORT THOSE
WHO STRUGGLE WITH
HUNGER.
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
CONGREGATIONAL WORK
ANNUAL MEETING
JANUARY 22
First we will share a potluck meal and the we
will share in the work of the church!
Last names A-L please bring a main dish to
share and M-Z please bring a side dish.
Church business is hungry work!
The members of the First
Congregational Church of Eliot,
Maine are hereby notified of the
Annual Business Meeting to be held
in the Parish Hall at 12:00 p.m. right
after the 11:00 pot luck lunch on
January 22, 2017 The following
articles will be taken up:
JANUARY 2017
!
BoardsandTeamsandCommi.ee
Leaders...
!
ANNUAL REPORTS
!
Allreportsforthe2016AnnualReport
aredueintheofficenolaterthan
January8th.
!
PleasetalktoPastorBethorLisa
MarshallorSonyaQuinnifyouneed
assistance.
• To hear reports and
recommendations of the
church officers, fellowships
and committees.
• To hear the minister’s report.
• Minister’s comments.
• To approve the church
budget for the year 2017 and
vote on the same.
This notice duly posted the 1st day of
January 2017 in accordance with ByLaw article XVI.
!
The next MEN’S GROUP BREAKFAST is
January 22 at 8AM. All men are invited
for fellowship and food. Reach out to
coordinator Richard Donhauser if you
are looking for more information, The
gatherings have been gaining a fast
reputation for being spectacular!
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
First Congregational Church of Eliot, UCC
January 2017
Worship 10:00 AM
Sun
1
Mon
2
Tue
3
Wed
4
New Year’s
Day
Worship 10am
Communion
5
Ladies
Circle
11:30am
***
Choir 6:30
8
9
Worship 10am
CE Penny
Collection
Annual
Reports due to
church office
15
Worship 10am
ECHO ITEMS
DUE
22
Worship 10am
Annual
Meeting
Pot Luck after
worship
29
Worship 10am
C.E 11:30
10
Craft
Group
6 pm
potluck
supper
16
Craft
Group
7pm
23
Craft
Group
7pm
30
Craft
Group
7pm
Deacons
6pm
Thu
11
Sr. Citizens
11:30
***
Choir 6:30
Fri
6
Exercise 8-9 Exercise 8-9
***
Sat
7
Hall
Reserved
1-3pm
Epiphany
Concert 7pm
2nd Christian,
Kittery
12
13
Exercise 8-9
Exercise 8-9
14
Garden Club
12-2pm
***
17
Council
6pm
18
***
Property
Board
5:30pm
Choir 6:30
19
20
21
Exercise 8-9
Exercise 8-9
Men’s
Breakfast
8-9am
28
***
24
25
26
27
Out of the
Shadows:
Community
Conversation
7pm
***
Choir 6:30
Exercise 8-9
Exercise 8-9
31
***
Weekly:
***
Banjo
Lessons
1-7pm
Weekly:
***
Bluegrass
4-7pm
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
!
SUNDAY
SERVANTS
Fellowship Hosts for
January
1-Bobbie Gosselin and
Nancy Hoyt
8- Peggy Gray and Robin
Wheeler
15-Jan McMullen and
Jeanne Morin
22 Jean Paulantonio and
Sonya Quinn
29 Jane Spinney and
Jenn Swanson
!
Liturgists
Pastor Beth is our lead liturgist for the
season of Epiphany. If you would like to
be liturgist in this new year, let her
know. All are invited to serve.
!
Ushers
1 Loraine Boyer and Dick McKenney
8 David and Paula Caswell
15 Richard and Joan Donhauser
22 Brad and Jennifer Swanson
29 Laurie Troy and Linda Downey
Nursery
We always have a nursery caregiver
available for our littlest ones. Please
ask an usher for information.
!
!
BIRTHDAYS
6-NancyHardy
13-PaulaCaswell
!
13-ToddDonhauser
The ushers will be inviting the children
to be acolytes each Sunday in January.
13-DickPrue=
Deacon of the Month:
Walter and Linda Gove
21-SarahCaswell
Acolytes
13-HaileyLonergan
!
21-GeoffreyBerg
!
Sanctuary Steward
Linda Gove
!
!
21-RachelGove
21-DorisGrover
22-MarilynHamm-Bland
30-RosemaryCorriveau
31-JaniceBowden
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THE ECHO
!
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
LADIES CIRCLE
Wednesday December 7, 2016, 18 ladies met at
11:30 for a pot luck luncheon. Dessert was
provided by Nancy Hoyt and Nancy Hundley.
Pastor Beth and Lisa Marshall joined us. Dot
Manson came and put her 100 pennies in for
her 100th birthday. Many gifts were brought
for the Maine Youth Center.
Our usual gifts will be given to Dana Tobey and
Sheryl Goodnough, the Safe Place and the
Christmas Fund. 100 stamps will be given to
Pastor Beth to help with her mailings. A new
vacuum cleaner will be purchased to help
making it easier for the sexton to handle.
All ladies are welcome to join us at any time on
the first Wednesday of each month.
JANUARY 2017
devotions and dessert provided by Sue Bicknell.
As in the past, we will be bringing can soup for
Footprints. We will encourage the church
to contribute with our goal being 100
cans in the month of January.
!
Monday Night Craft Group
!
Our next meeting will be Monday January 9
at 6:00 with a Pot Luck. At that time we will
discuss this year's fair and plans for next year.
We have very few coffee cans left from the
Cookie Walk. We need to start collecting them
all year long. They have to be cans with no
hand grips. Not plastic cans such as Folgers..
THINK OF US WHEN YOU DRINK YOUR
COFFEE
Our January 4th meeting will be at 11:30 with
homemade soup made by Jane Spinney with
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
FINANCIAL UPDATE
The December Taste and Take brought in
$1080 to help our operating budget. Again,
another big thank you to the Fund Raising
Team. What a job they have done this year!!
CHRISTMAS FUND
MISSION COLLECTION
Some pastors retire with a degree of financial
security. Many, however, do not - either
because they have been willing to serve smaller,
struggling congregations, or because of all the
times they have given from their own pockets to
provide a meal, a hotel room, or supplies for
vacation Bible school. The Christmas Fund for
the Veterans of the Cross and the Emergency
Fund supplements the small pensions of some
UCC clergy and lay employees and their
families, helps some retired clergy pay for
health insurance, and sometimes keeps the heat
on.
The financial status for the operating budget
of our church remains strong. At this time
(mid-December), it looks like we will end the
year with a small profit. Of course, I can’t
predict how many heating and plowing bills
will appear before year’s end and that can
quickly change things.
All the details of how much money has come
in and where it has gone will be available at
the Annual Meeting in January.
Jan McMullen, Treasurer
The Christmas Fund also supports active clergy
and lay e mploye e s who have me dical
emergencies or unexpected misfortunes that
require more money then they have in their
bank accounts. All told, this offering contributes
more than $2 million a year in assistance to
clergy and lay employees.
Your gifts are needed more than ever to help the
growing number of retirees whose low-income
annuities make it difficult to meet increasing
living costs. This is your opportunity to
participate in God's promise of renewal by
enabling this ministry of compassion and care.
Please donate to the Christmas Fund
January 1 and 8 2017.
!
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
JANUARY 2017
A PAGE FROM THE
PASTOR
!
WHEN THE SONG OF THE ANGELS IS
STILLED,
WHEN THE STAR IN THE SKY IS
GONE,
WHEN THE KINGS AND PRINCES ARE
HOME,
WHEN THE SHEPHERDS ARE BACK
WITH THEIR FLOCK,
THE WORK OF CHRISTMAS BEGINS:
...TO FIND THE LOST,
TO HEAL THE BROKEN,
TO FEED THE HUNGRY,
TO RELEASE THE PRISONER,
TO REBUILD THE NATIONS,
TO BRING PEACE AMONG
BROTHERS,
TO MAKE MUSIC IN THE HEART.
-HOWARD THURMAN
!
I’m never ready to turn the page into the new
year until I have read this quote aloud to
myself. It’s a tiny sermon with a powerful
point. There is still work to be done. After we
have packed away that Christmas tree and the
Advent wreath and stored the Silent Night
candles for another year’s rest then we get to
the good work! to find the lost and give voice to
the voiceless. To feed the hungry and to preach
the good news to those who need to hear it most
and are neglected most often. To even preach it
to ourselves so that we might see the light, be
the light and bring the light.
This season of the Epiphany guided by the
starlight that the Magi followed, we will be
listening to and speaking up for neglected
voices.
With our sermon series Neglected
Voices the Bible will open to some not often
heard from stories and the challenge to listen
will be fierce. Take a look at the series flyer on
page 3 of this newsletter. And twice during this
series we will welcome some spectacular
preachers. Please make sure to be present. See
flyer on page 2 for inspiration and sharing.
In addition to the work and Word of Sunday
morning we all have our call to serve others and
stretch ourselves to be stronger and go deeper
in the new year.
I am excited to share that I have been given the
amazing opportunity to go really deep with a
new opportunity.
As you may have heard, I
recently received word that I've been chosen to
be one of twelve fellows in the next session of
the Chautauqua Clergy Leadership Program. I
am looking forward to the interaction, the
challenge and the excuse to buy more books for
the next two years.
The Chautauqua Clergy Leadership Program
(CCLP) is funded by the Lilly Endowment and
designed to cultivate the potential of selected
clergy leaders to become “public pastors” – i.e.,
leaders of spiritual and civic renewal in their
towns, cities and communities. This does not
mean that I am in any way considering
a departure from FCCE.
Instead, it
means that I hope to refresh my skills
while growing some new ones so that I
might continue fruitful ministry with all
of you in this community.
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THE ECHO
SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
(Pastor’s Page continued)
Participants will be challenged to engage other
sectors and disciplines in their communities
(i.e., business, media, education, housing, law
enforcement, public health, etc.) with the
objective of effecting positive change in areas of
public concern.
This program intends to
address several aspects of leadership, from
visionary and prophetic to social and spiritual
leadership practices, engaging its participants
in both educational and practical experiences of
formation focused on these components.
The Chautauqua Clergy Leadership Program
will span the course of two years, including four
mid-week retreats and two one-week
immersions during the Chautauqua summer
seasons. The curriculum will utilize required
reading to focus on different leadership models
and skill sets.
Also, we will engage
congregational and community assessment
tools as well as arrange facilitated discussions
with noted leaders, speakers and authors on the
topic of effective leadership in the public
context.
The immersion weeks at Chautauqua
Institution during its annual summer sessions
will provide unique and private audiences with
the week’s guest lecturers and chaplains. As
such, the CCLP will be both comprehensive and
rigorous, and participants must be willing to
commit fully to the entire length of the
program, session attendance requirements, and
project work woven into its design. Chautauqua
will cover all costs associated with involvement
except travel to the Institution, and will provide
an intensive learning and networking
environment for its participants.
At the end of the first year, the candidates will
be charged with developing a project in which
their leadership skills can be honed and applied
in both their churches and their local cities or
towns, in order to lead their congregations into
a new chapter of outreach and involvement in
JANUARY 2017
their communities. These projects will make up
a significant part of the participants’ take-home
from the program and provide a basis for its
evaluation.
SO this means I will have a few times a year that
I will be away studying but I will always return!
I have lightened my work load with Pilgrim
Lodge and while I will be dealing Expedition
Everyone July 1-4, I will not be directing
Middler Camp in August for this year.
I truly hope you are as excited about this as I
am .
When I was nominated for this
opportunity, it was such a long shot with so
many steps and so many worthy applicants that
I was shocked to be considered. I am
flabbergasted to be granted the fellowship. The
educational opportunities and the gifts I can
gather up to bring home to you all are
immeasurable. I welcome your prayers and
support as well as your questions and ideas.
After all, it’s a group project! Here are the
themes and dates of Sunday. See you in
church, friends! Let our work continue
together! With love and thanks,
-Pastor Beth
Differentiated and Adaptive Leadership April
24-27, 2017
!
Visionary and Prophetic Leadership July 8-15,
2017 ( includes a Sunday away)
!
Public Leadership
October 9-12, 2017
!
21st Cent. Community Leadership
April 9-12, 2018
!
Moral Leadership
July, 2018 (TBA) (Includes a Sunday Away )
!
Best Practices in Pastoral Leadership
October 8-11, 2018
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