Notes from the Diaconate

The Deacons will be decorating the sanctuary in preparation for Advent on Sunday November 22nd right after church. This is a tradition we would like to share with all of you. If you would like to come and help us with this joyful task, please stay after church and lend a hand. Preparing for advent in this outwardly visual way is rewarding and always puts all of us in a great mood!

We begin preparing for Christ's birth on Sunday November 29th. Helping us to prepare spiritually will be Anthony Zuba (Interfaith Workers Justice) who will preach on the theme of justice and hope.

Poinsettias are available for purchase. Please see the flyer order form below or click here to view a one-page version for printing.
Christmas Eve Services this year will be December 24th at 6 and 8 PM.

The Deacons would like to give a big thanks to Pat Rogers who worked with us all day at Deacon's Diner at our fair last month. She came in place of Bob Slack who attended the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC meeting as a delegate for us. THANK YOU PAT!

Trustees

Church Cleanup

Anyone who would like to offer their services by signing up for any of the remaining items on the clean up list (or any that you may have in mind) please let any of the Trustees know.

Since this is the December issue of the Lantern the Board of Trustees would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a blessed Happy New Year.

Board of Trustees

WORK DAY TASKS - OCTOBER 3, 2009
Note: Check Trustees' Bulletin Board for tasks remaining.

Sanctuary
Vacuum, dust & polish pews:_____________________________________
Clean windows, sills & screens (lower storms: ____________________________

Choir loft
Vacuum, dust pews: ____________________________________
Wash windows, sills & screens (lower storms): ___________________________
Dust & polish pipe organ: ____________________________________
Dust electronic organ: ____________________________________

Balcony
Vacuum, dust pews floor & stained glass window:_________________________
Clean & organize entry way, stairs and coat areas: _________________________

Hallway
Dust & polish balustrade: __________________________________________
Clean windows sills & screens (lower storms): ____________________________

Kitchen (Dale Hall)
Refrigerators: __________________________________________
Sinks: __________________________________________
Counters, tables & cabinets: __________________________________________
Wash windows sills & screens: ________________________________________

Dale Hall
Dry and wet mop floor: __________________________________________
Wash windows (inside): __________________________________________
Wash walls: __________________________________________

Kitchen (Parlor)
Refrigerators: __________________________________________
Sinks: __________________________________________
Counters, tables & cabinets: __________________________________________
Wash windows sills & screens: ________________________________________
Wash floor: __________________________________________
Vacuum carpet and upholstered furniture: ________________________________

Classrooms
Wash windows: __________________________________________
" " floors: __________________________________________
" " walls: __________________________________________

OUTSIDE
Parking lot:
Cut back overgrowth: __________________________________________
Sweep up piles of sand: __________________________________________
Paint shed: __________________________________________
*Weed around the building: __________________________________________
Lawn cut & Winterize: __________________________________________
OTHER as needed:

*Be careful of poison ivy under front shrubs

 

Outreach Committee Report

Outreach Committee Members

Jenny Carmichael, Jackie Gullage, Don Lovegrove, Bonnie McLay, Nita Owin, Bob & Linda Miner, co-chairs

Billerica Pantry
Led by the kindergarten and grade 1 Sunday school classes, we collected 199 items for the Billerica Food Pantry on November 1. That is more items than we had people present and is our 3rd highest total in history.

Just Why Is It We Recycle Paper?
Massachusetts has many paper recycling plants including 2 in Haverhill and Fitchburg. The Massachusetts recycling and re use industry supports mote than 1,400 businesses, 19,000 jobs, generates over 550 million in annual payroll and generates 64 million in state tax revenue. Do you recycle your paper? Does our church recycle its paper? Hmmm??

Contributions
Our balance is now $800 so we made no new contributions in November. We did receive a thank you note from the Seva organization informing us that our last contribution allowed them to perform 4 operations that successfully restored sight to previously blind persons. There is virtually no end to the miracles we are enabling when we work together.

Alternative Christmas Market
If you would like to take part in this event but might not be here on November 29th, look at the Outreach bulletin board or the listing on the web and make your decisions among the Billerica Food Pantry, Lowell Transitional Living Center, items from Church World Service, and items from Equal Exchange. You may reserve your items, pay for them in advance and pick them up on a mutually agreed date in the future.

Did You Know That:
a. turning down your thermostat 1 degree in the winter can reduce your overall energy use by 3%
b. on average Americans spend 6 hours/week shopping and 40 minutes playing with their children
c. every minute of every day America loses 2 acres of farmland
d. on average, each person on earth uses 328,366 gallons of fresh water per year; in the U.S., its 655,939 gallons per year.

- Bob Miner
for the Outreach Committee

Religious Education

The Sunday school classes made up Thanksgiving Day baskets with the food donated from ingathering and donated them to a local food pantry for families in need this holiday. Thank you to those who helped with donating the food and assembling the baskets.

The Sunday school Christmas pageant is Sunday December 20th and rehearsal will be on Saturday, December 19th at 9:00 am. In addition, we are asking all children with speaking parts to please attend the two evening rehearsals. They will be held on Friday, December 4 @ 7pm and Saturday, December 12 @ 7pm. Please contact Shannon Fisher if you are unable to attend (978) 987-8894.

All Sunday school children will have the opportunity to take part in the pageant. If your child will not be able to take part in the pageant, please notify your child's teacher. Further details about the pageant will be sent home with your child in class. Refreshments will be served after the pageant, in Dale Hall, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

There will be no Sunday school on December 27th for holiday break. Classes will resume on January 3rd. We are presently looking for volunteers to cover the nursery on December 27th. If you are interested, please contact Phyllis Jennings at 978-663-8193.

We are still in need volunteers for hall monitoring to maintain the safety of our children. A signup sheet will be posted on the Sunday school bulletin. Parents, please consider signing up for one Sunday as a hall monitor.

Pilgrim Fellowship

Any adult looking to bring their youthful spirit out by working with the youth of our church, please feel free to volunteer anytime you see something interesting to you. I'm always looking for help at meetings and on trips. All adults are invited to participate in meetings and on trips; (you don't need to have child in the PF group)

Schedule

November 22 - Polish Sanctuary and set up Angel Tree 11:30 - 2:00
November 27- Movie night for kids potty trained and up 4-10; PF hours 5-9 (youths)

If you are in the 5th grade through the 12th grades and any you would like to attend any of these events, please come to any meeting or event. You do not have to attend all events but you need to let me know one week in advance if you plan on going on any of the trips. In order for this year to be successful, I do need parents to help with transportation to events and stay for meetings.

2010 Sr. High Mission Trip

The Senior High Sunday School has chosen their trip for this summer and it is a huge undertaking but we feel it is the right choice. Over the past two summers we have been learning more and more about the needs of God's people in Indiana and Colorado. This year we hope to be learning about the needs of God's people on the Rosebud Reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota. We hope to be participating in a program called Youthworks that provides opportunities for youth to be in mission with other young people from all over the country. We are very excited to be part of this group that will be providing
a much needed dose of love and care to this community!!

To be very honest, this is the one place out of all the places we looked at, that I did not want to go. It looks so hard, so needy, so difficult….but in spite of my trepidation, this is the place that was available for the week we chose…this is the place we are being called to care for and bring your love and support to.

We have a lot of work to do not only in raising money for the trip but in learning how to help, how to understand, how to be sensitive
to the needs of this community, and how to show them they are not alone and that there are others who care and love them even in far off places like Billerica Mass.

Barbara Daverin

Stewardship Notes

Sunday October 18 was dedication day for our 2010 Faith Promises. Three weeks after that date, we have received 90 pledges, and the pledged amount of $121 thousand for the General Fund and Outreach actually exceeds the $116 thousand pledged last year, when the total number of pledges was 108!

Even better, at the comparable time last year we had received only 74 pledges compared to this year's 90. In summary, we are receiving pledges at a faster rate and the average amount per pledge is up almost twenty percent.
Those of you who have made your pledges should be justly proud for increasing your pledges during these challenging economic times.
Are you one of the projected 40 people who have not yet returned your pledge? As you contemplate your duty, remember the 90 who have already expressed their support for First Congregational Church and its mission of spreading the message of Christ.

Christian Stewardship is sometimes described as the use of time, talent, and treasure. Having discussed treasure above, let us turn to consideration of time and talents. Specifically, it is time for each of us to consider what committees, boards or groups we want to serve on. We have such a wide range of needs from Choir to Board of Trustees that the church can use virtually any skill. And don't wait for the Nominating Committee to call you-decide what you want to do and volunteer to Andrew Jennings or John Adams, who are among the 5 Members of the Committee.

If you have made your pledge for next year, we thank you. If you have not, we hope you will think about the definition of Christian Stewardship - What I do with all that I have after I say I believe.

For the Stewardship Committee,
Don Lovegrove

 

Aim Hi

 

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, December 17th at 12 noon.

Our next Aim-Hi Meeting will be held Thursday, December 17 at 12 noon.
A Christmas Yankee Swap and pot luck luncheon is planned. In November, Aim Hi delivered fruit baskets to shut-ins and will send Christmas thank you packages to the servicemen. We encourage the congregation to use the addresses below and send a short note or greeting card.

Choir Request and Notes from the Music Committee

Sing the joyous music of the season! Rehearse December 4, 11, and 18 at 7:30. Senior choir will be singing December 6, 13, and Christmas Eve.

Nominating Committee

The image of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples reminds us that as Christians we are all called to minister to one another.

Our congregation provides many opportunities to serve, including Sunday School Teaching, Lay Shepherds, Choir, and working on the committees that manage the Church. The nominating committee has begun the process of filling the committee positions that are vacant and those that will turn over as terms expire.

Our congregation has chosen an organizational structure that relies on committees. This design spreads the work of the Church around so the work will not overwhelm any individual, but requires a high percentage of the congregation to participate on committees.

The nominating committee has about 30 positions to fill for the upcoming year. We would ask that each of you consider your talents and gifts and consider a committee that needs those gifts and talents.

We will be providing further details on specific needs over the course of the next few weeks during and after Church. Thank you for your help.

The Nominating Committee
Jon Adams
Edna Battcock
Jenny Carmichael
Andrew Jennings
Jackie Phippen

Pairs & Spares Upcoming Events

December - Christmas Party at the Durand's

January - "Rain" Concert
At Lowell Memorial Auditorium

February -Valentine's Progressive Supper

March - Whist Party

If you are new to our church and would like the opportunity to meet other adults or if you feel you are out of touch with your church family or if you just need to get out for a fun filled evening of adult company, please join us. Sign up sheets are in entrance of Dale Hall.

Sat, December 5th, 7:00 pm-We'll get our holiday season off to a good start with an old-fashioned Christmas party & carol sing held at the home of JP & Maryanne Durand, 27 Simonds Farm Rd. in Billerica. Bring either an hors d'oeuvre or a dessert to share and your own beverage. For some added fun, if you would like to wrap up and bring a desirable, recycled item from home as a grab gift, we will do a swap. This item could be a re-gift item or something you previously bought, but just don't need or want. The only rule is, you cannot go out and buy something.

Wed, January 27th, 8:00pm - We will get tickets to attend "RAIN-A Tribute to the Beatles" at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Tickets ($28 0r $43 pp) will need to be ordered in advance, so sign up now.

Sat, February 13, 6:30 pm -Valentine's Progressive Supper. We will need volunteers to host the 4 courses (appetizers, soup, salad, and dessert) and other volunteers to help provide the food for the courses. We are all sweethearts, single or couples, so come along for the fun and great food. More details to come in January.

March - will bring our annual Military Whist game. Anyone can play, even beginners. We'll need a host home. More details in future newsletters.

Questions? Contact Lynne: Hildreth4@comcast.net or 978-663-4727.

PASSAGES: Births, Baptisms, Weddings and Memorial Services

 

United Church of Christ News

 

Covenant- a strange word that gets used in church and hardly anywhere else. It refers to the special relationship we have with other churches in the area (among other things.) Our church has a covenantal relationship, kind of like a marriage, with the other United Church of Christ churches in the Andover Association, in all of Massachusetts and indeed everywhere. We are united in love and mutual respect to support and receive support from one another.

As part of that we hosted the Andover Association Board of Directors meeting recently. A few us also attended the joint Andover/Essex fall meeting. There were workshops on invigorating church life, worship and a superb talk by our area Associate Conference Minister Rev. Don Remick.

Rev. Remick had twelve of us volunteer to show "the church". We milled around briefly and then joined hands in a circle. "No" he said. Then we turned around looking out and reaching out to others. "Yes. A church which is only serving itself is not acting as the body of Christ."

Phyllis Jennings, delegate

Flowers: December

December 6 - On the Altar, flowers are given by Mallie Monteforte in memory of loved ones.
On the piano, flowers are given in loving memory of Bapa, Wayne's father, Lester Thompson, by Wayne, Diane, Amanda, and Eddie.

December 13 - On the Altar, flowers are given by Barbara Brown in memory of my sister, Alice McCabe.
On the piano, flowers are given in memory of my mother and father from their daughter Donna Ricarte.
On the lectern, flowers are given in memory of my mother and father from their daughter Donna Ricarte.
On the table, flowers are provided by a memorial fund of the late Dorothy Richardson and are placed in memory of her grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. John H. Baker.

December 20 - On the Altar, Given in loving memory of all our grandparents, by Steven, Stephanie, Derek and Kathryn Norman, and Wayne, Diane, Amanda & Eddie Thompson.
On the piano, flowers are given by Ruth, Melissa, and Doug MacKinnon in loving memory of the Hallenborg family.

December 27 - Open

If you would like to donate flowers any Sunday, please call Jeannette at 978-663-6804.

Help Wanted

FROM ALISON

THANK YOU TO Barbara George and Audrey Schwartz for their help in the delivery of the November issue of The Lantern!

Lantern on the Web

The Lantern is on the web each month in its entirety. To reduce our mailing costs, if you would like to read it on line at http://www.firstcongo.org instead of having the newsletter mailed, please let me know.

Thank you and love, Alison

Next Lantern Deadline: Sunday, December 13

The newsletter written and mailed the week of December 13th will include the end of December and the January news. The next newsletter will be sent out the week of January 17th.