COMMUNICON APRIL 2015

Union Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Peterborough, NH

Holy Week at Union Congregational Church

April 2: Seder Remembrance, 6 p.m.: On the last night of Je-

sus’ life, he gathered with his closest friends to celebrate the

Passover. The ritual meal, called the Seder, recalls Israel’s tri-

als in Egypt and its rescue by the Divine.

On April 2, Maundy Thursday, we’ll remember Jesus’ tradition.

We’ll have a full meal, served family style. There is no cost,

but donations are welcome, and we’d like to have an idea

about numbers so that we prepare enough food. Please sign

up on the sign-up sheet in the main hallway next to the choir

room.

April 3: On Good Friday, 7 p.m., Union Congregational Church

will host a performance of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat

Mater and an Ecumenical Service led by The Reverend Mon-

signor Gerald Belanger of Divine Mercy Church, The Reverend

Lourey Savick of Peterborough United Methodist Church, and

The Reverend Jill H. Small of Union Congregational Church, UCC.

Performers will include Amy Knight, soprano; Betsy Feiker, alto; and Jill Slocum, organist.

April 5: We will celebrate Easter Sunday at 10 a.m. The Festival of the Resurrection, or Easter, is

the high point of the church year. Western Christians base the date on the Gregorian calendar,

and Easter can fall on any date from March 22 to April 25. This year, Easter is April 5: about as

close to the midpoint as possible!

While every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of the Christ, we pull out all the stops on

Easter. The sanctuary will be filled with spring flowers; brass will accompany our singing; and

since it’s the first Sunday of the month, we will share in Communion.

Winter storms left significant piles of snow, and that means we’ve lost some parking space.

Please consider parking at the town library and/or carpooling to worship on Easter

Sunday.

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Please remember to keep in your prayers:

Lisa and Patrick Foley; Mary Ann Fleming

and Family; Mary Lib, Martha Dahl's sister-in-law; Katherine, friend of Carele Mayer; Larry Mayer; Ruth Comerford, friend of Deb Hanson; Leo Curley, Sarah Holgate’s father; Carl and Marilyn Britton; Alfred

Whitney; Larry Schongar; Joe Wilson; Fred and Ginger Nielson; Jim Suokko; Lorie

Snydner; Jesse Taylor; the Pasto-

ral Search Com-mittee; and all in our church com-munity.

To add new names or remove names, please call or email the church office by April 20.

FINALLY. It’s spring. After a winter that seemed longer and rougher than most, it’s a time to embrace the warmth, growth, color, and music of the world around us and within us.

It’s time to get to all those pro-

jects I could put off because it was too cold or because it got dark too early. In my experience, those don’t get easier (or cheap-er) the longer I delay. There’s a bathroom renovation project

waiting for me in Maine. There

are sinks and a toilet and medi-cine cabinets waiting patiently in my basement. I need to get seri-

ous about finding the right bathtub, tile, and wainscoting. I like that sort of project. I like figuring out how I can

transform a space that someone else thought was beautiful

30 years ago into something that makes me feel good about doing the best I can for the house we live in. I want the re-sult to be in keeping with the house’s age and character, and I want it to have the benefits and features that suit the way we live today.

We love our house. We have since the moment we walked through it for the first time. We’re the fifth family to

live there since it was built in 1846. It’s a big old house. We’ve rewired the whole place. We’ve reroofed; we’ve

insulated. We’ve added a bath on the first floor. We’ve en-

larged the deck. We’ve taken up shag carpet and refinished the wide pine floors. It’s where we’ve broken bread and where I broke my foot. It’s been an amphitheater when

we’ve rejoiced and a cocoon when we’ve grieved. When we moved in, it was just Charles and me. One

bright, cold day, a bouquet of pink balloons floated above the front porch railing to tell our neighbors that Becca had been born. Twenty-four years later, it’s still the only place she’s ever called home. It’s where our daughter opened her first birthday present, and where my mother opened her

last. It’s where school projects have been constructed, ser-mons written, vacations mapped. It’s where I have been a die-hard Cardinals fan in the midst of the Red Sox nation.

I know that we’re closer and closer to the end of our time there. It will make sense to downsize one day. That makes me pensive, but not sad. I know I can buy another

house. Maybe I can even love another house. But it won’t be

this house. This is the one that doesn’t belong to us: we be-long to it. I’m looking forward to my project. I owe it to the house that’s become my home.

May this season of renewal fill you with a sense of be-longing.

Faithfully,

Jill

The Reverend Jill H Small

Small TALK

Please keep in your

prayers

News from the Christian

Service Committee:

One Great Hour of Sharing Beginning on March 23, our committee has

begun the annual appeal for One Great

Hour of Sharing. This is part of our

church’s wider mission to respond to world-

wide disasters. There are money envelopes

in the pews and an information sheet in the

bulletin.

We’ll be working on this through April so

plan how you can contribute.

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May 2 … Rummage Sale!

Once again the Women’s Fellowship will be organizing the Spring Rummage Sale!

The racks will

come down from the attic after Mon-day’s supper, and from then on you may leave off your extra spring cloth-

ing.

Everyone is invited to help sort on Tuesday through Friday, and then sign up on the bulletin board to sell on Saturday!

The hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the Bag Sale starting at 1 p.m. That’s all on May 2!

—Ann Lessard

Please save the date!

May 13 will be the date for the Women’s Fellow-

ship’s Special Guest Luncheon. This is the 50th anniversary of this event, so we hope you’ll join us! —Ann Lessard

50th Anniversary!

Calling Volunteers!

We’re refreshing our list of Sunday morning volun-teers. If you’d like to acolyte, usher, or read, please

call or email the office. If you email, it will help a lot to use the subject line: Sunday volunteers. Thank you!

Yard Sale on April 25

Mark your calendars for

April 25, when we’ll have

our annual Yard Sale.

Donations can be dropped

off during the week,

starting on Tuesday.

The sale is scheduled for

Saturday from 8 a.m.

to 1 p.m., but there are

two special sales:

The early bird sale for $5 takes place on Friday

night, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The all-you-can-carry sale for $6 starts at noon

on Saturday.

Join us and find some bargains!

Thanks, thanks, thanks!

So many of you lend a hand in so many ways, and we thank each of you for your time and energy. This month, we send a special shout out to:

Judy DeWitt for organizing food and paper goods in kitchen bins; the indefatigable Dick Sanders for being our recycling hero week in and week out and for raking March snow from the office roof; Kelly Kent-Kiburis and Sharon Smith for an-other terrific Winter Film Series.

Come One! Come All!

To a church-wide Birthday Party on April 17, a Fri-day, at 6 p.m.

This is a potluck, except the birthday cake/dessert will be created by Carele.

Bring your own utensils, plate, etc., a salad or main

entrée! This is a time for fellowship and FUN!

The FUN will be a church scavenger hunt with prizes! Mark this on your calendar, and hope the Women’s Fellowship has chosen a nice day!

—Ann Lessard

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Off the Waldo Your car has a name to distinguish it from other cars. Some cars have both names and numbers and secret letters. All of these are usually attached to the trunk or back of your car. We have informally re-searched the true meaning of these names, informally so as to avoid needless confusion over the facts. For instance – If you drive an Avenger … An AVENGER is one who takes revenge for something; hope it misses you. A MERCEDES – MAYBACH S600 A7 is a relative bargain at $189,350. VW’S AUDI self-drives. It is termed “autonomous” Price is not given. The numbers giving the price have not been invented yet. An ENVOY is a messenger, or an ambassador… One you‘ll need to drive it. A MURANO is an island in the Venetian lagoon where glass has been made for more than 700 years. (We’re just trying to be informative here.) A TAHOE is a lake where California and Nevada meet. Elev. 6,230 feet. A SILVERADO is a 1985 movie in which 4 unlikely heroes attempt to reclaim a helpless town from a corrupt sheriff. A TRAVERSE is to move something back and forth or sideways as on a rod. A MALIBU is an affluent beach city in California. Herb Alpert, Jennifer Aniston, Jeff Bridges and Charles Bronson live there. You need big bucks for a house. A SABLE Gs is a generic description of some black furred cats or rabbits. AN ESCORT is a radar detector costing $499.95. It can be obtained overnight. A LARAMIE is a person who lives in Laramie, Wyoming. Pop in 2010 – 30,816. AN ESCAPE is to enjoy temporary freedom from unpleasant realities. A FORD FUSION is “a Chevy Malibu in disguise.” A MALIBU is a Ford … AN ELITE is a small, powerful group. Forget even trying to get this one. A SONATA is an instrumental composition with movements contrasting in tempo and mood but relat-ed in key, but does it run?. A PRIUS is previous in order or time. Wait ’til the technology catches up with it. A PINTO is equal to half a quart or to two cups – one or the other. A TITAN is a member of the second order of divine beings. Something titanic is considered to be big-ger than gigantic … even bigger than a Pinto. A PILOT is a person licensed to operate an aircraft, or it is a light on a stove? A FORD LIMITED is included as we were impressed with their frankness. A DENALI is included because they deny having any advantages at all. On the back of my car are the letters SR and 2/3PF which mean: still runs and two-thirds paid for. Drive good …. – WALDO

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Union Congregational Church

United Church of Christ

33 Concord Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

COMMUNICON APRIL 2015

Vol. 62. No. 4

Union Congregational Church

United Church of Christ

33 Concord Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

Interim Minister: The Reverend Jill H. Small

Worship Service: 10 a.m.

Nursery Care Provided

Church Office 924-3272

Parsonage: 924-6320

Email: officeucc@comcast.net

www.uccpeterborough.org

Silent Support Team:

Janet Brown, Randy Brown, Carolyn Peacock

May Communicon deadline: April 20