June 2015

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

COMMUNICON

A Request from the Deacons

What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.

—Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe Book IV. 637

Please be mindful of this ancient wisdom and consider the impact which fragrance and perfume can have on

other people at church.

To ensure that our church is a welcoming place of worship for all people, including our friends who are aller-

gic to fragrances, the Deacons would request that that all people — men and women — refrain from wearing

perfume, cologne, or perfumed lotions, etc., to church.

Statement from the American Lung Association

There are many people who experience unpleasant physical effects from scented products and

a growing number of people who suffer more severe reactions to these types of products and

chemicals. This condition is known as multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) and involves peo-

ple who have developed an acute sensitivity to various chemicals in the environment. People

with MCS experience a range of debilitating physical reactions, some even life-threatening, to

chemicals used in a variety of scented materials, including fragrances and chemical products.

–From http://action.lung.org/site/DocServer/fragrance-free-policy-sample-updated.pdf

Music Sunday Celebration — and Summer Music

It was a wonderful Music Sunday celebration on May 17, including the Junior and Senior Choirs, Tower Ringers, plus Dick and Holly Sanders playing a Trio Sonate for the prelude and postlude. Many thanks to all of our dedicated musicians! This church is so

blessed to have an abundance of music talent and enthusiasm to share!

The choirs will continue through June 21 before dis-banding for some summer relaxation. However, you

do not want to miss the special music scheduled for June 28! Nine men from the congregation will lift their voices in song in an inspiring ensemble! So while you are making your summer plans, remember to come to church and support those musicians who gra-ciously keep music alive in our hearts and minds!

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Please Keep in Your Prayers Raymond Hicks, Nancy Hicks’

Carl and Marilyn Britton;

Ruth Comerford, friend of Deb Hanson;

Leo Curley, Sarah Holgate’s father;

Lisa and Patrick Foley;

Marge and Gordon Hale

Katherine, friend of Carele Mayer;

Larry Mayer;

Mary Lib, Martha Dahl's sister-in-law;

Lin Nelson;

Rick Seguin, Nancy Seguin’s brother-in-law;

Larry Schongar;

Jim Suokko;

Lorie Snydner;

Jesse Taylor, Lisa Messer’s father;

Alfred Whitney;

Joe Wilson;

the Pastoral Search Committee;

and all in our church community.

Small TALK

The Spirit is leading UCC Peterborough into “a new thing,” and the timing is perfect: it’s the season of Pentecost, aka Ordinary time.

The Spirit is ever present and we always are aware that God is still speaking, yet we are more mindful of those truths at some particular times in life.

This is one of those moments when we are able to appreciate the deep-

breathing exercises brought by the Divine in our midst. We all need to take deep breaths and get ready for what’s new and what’s next. It’s exciting to be part of this Pentecost season: there’s nothing ordinary about Ordinary time.

One of the wonderful paradoxes of faith is that it affirms the dy-namic of the “already and not yet.” We’re always in the midst of the new thing that God does with and for us. All the regular stuff goes on (and it has to!) as we’re invited to celebrate something special, and while we look ahead toward hopes and visions still ahead of us.

You know that I love baseball, but I am also a big basketball fan. My love for roundball began in high school, where our varsity team always had a winning record. In my senior year, the team was 30-1, and that single loss was by a single point. The team won the state championship in a season that united the whole student body, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents as we shared “the thrill of victo-ry.”

When you’re winning, it’s easy and exciting to cheer: S-P-I-R-I-T! But it’s the spirit of sharing goals, of working together, of nurturing and supporting one another in good times and in bad that makes for real success and genuine community over the long term.

May the Spirit of Pentecost fill our church with the extraordinary and vibrant energy of the One who makes all things new – again, and again, and again.

Faithfully,

Jill

Ongoing Prayer Concerns

We know there are many people who feel supported

and blessed by our continuing prayers, and we un-

derstand how important this ongoing prayer is. In-

cluding the list in the Communicon will help us all to

remember those in need of our prayers, even when

we’re not in church to see the list in the bulletin.

Please help us with this by contacting the office (by

July 6 for the midsummer issue) to add new names

or to remove old names on the list. The Sunday

bulletin will continue to have a prayer list for new

or immediate prayer concerns.

To add or delete names from the list below, please

contact Martha CB in the office at by e-mail

(officeucc@comcast.net) or phone (924-3272).

News from Christian Service

Many thanks again for donating to One Great Hour of Sharing! Our appeal now is for Blanket Sundays, which has begun with $160 collected on Mother’s Day.

We'll be continuing until Father’s Day on June 21. Look for us at coffee hour!

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This group celebrated Mariellen Stewart’s 100th birth-day with her in May. The visitors sang two hymns with Mariellen (she was the only one who knew all the words) and, of course, "Happy Birthday." Beth Fredrickson graciously let us take the flowers she'd brought for the church service, and we took a card

signed by folks who were in church that morning.

Back row: George Andersen, Suzanne Schoel, Martha Dahl, Phyllis Scott, Sharon Smith. Middle row: Jill Small, Mariellen Stewart, Mary Ann Fleming. Front

row: Luke Schoel.

Meet and Greet on June 7 During Fellowship Hour after church on Sunday, June 7, come meet and greet our new administrative assistant, Mar-tha Carlson-Bradley (aka Martha CB). Don't miss this great opportunity to help Martha be able to put a face with your voice

when you call the church!

Organist Guild Dean Elected

Mary Ann Fleming has been elected by her peers in the Monadnock Region to assume the duties of Dean of the Monadnock Chapter-American Guild of Organ-ists (MAGO), beginning on July 1.

The purpose of the Guild is to enrich lives through organ and choral music. The Monadnock Chapter of-fers a variety of opportunities, including workshops, job-position support, hands-on coaching, advertising

of open positions, quarterly newsletters with local

articles of interest, a scholarship program for stu-dents and adults, lessons, networking, and a connec-tion to the National AGO organization.

Mary Ann will be focusing on strengthening the Chap-ter through recruitment, training and development,

networking, and bringing performing artists with or-gan and choral interests to the area.

Congratulations to Mary Ann!

Greeting Card Exchange

What do you do with those unused greeting cards you intended to send but didn’t, and they’ve been taking up room in your drawer for years? Well, here’s an option for you.

To clear away clutter and avoid the high cost of cards today, you can easily get rid of your greeting cards and enjoy selecting ones as needed! Just use the Greeting Card Exchange box located in our church

Library.

If you have an unused card to share, simply leave it tucked in its envelope in the appropriate holiday slot. If you need a card, feel free to select one to take home. It’s a win-win opportunity for everyone! The only stipulation is that the cards you leave must be in good shape, with envelopes, and the message

must be one that you would be not be embarrassed to have the pastor read. The Greeting Card Exchange box will be ready for action in June!

Women’s Fellowship’s Annual Meet-

ing on June 16

Look for the sign-up sheet on the WF bulletin board, as we’re having our annual meeting on June 16 at Ellen Smith’s European Esthetics, which she just moved to Depot Square! We’ll enjoy the ambi-

ance of the Tea Room and Spa as Ellen explains her business, and serves us

tea and goodies, and then we follow with a short meeting. The WF Treasury will pick up the bill so we need to have an accurate account limited to 20-24!

So, sign-up for this interesting 7 p.m. meeting! All

women of the church are invited!

Tuesday Nighters/Any Woman On Tuesday, June 9, all ladies are welcome to enjoy lunch by "Chef Carla" at Del Rossi's at 12:30 p.m. We'll carpool from the church at noon, or you can meet us there. Call Kathy Schongar for reservations, or with any questions (924-0120).

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Women’s Fellowship Gives Gala

Guest Luncheon

The Special Guest Luncheon was enjoyed by all on

Wednesday, May 13. Our guests were seniors from our

church family, residents from area assisted-living facil-

ities, and people from the Monadnock Adult Care pro-

gram. Counting everyone, the total came to 90 people.

The help of many made this event a memorable

occasion. Thanks to the table setters; hostesses;

kitchen crew, for a wonderful menu ending with a 50th

Anniversary cake with ice cream; drivers; and every-

one else who was involved.

The musical sing-along was great, with Carele

Mayer leading in song, accompanied by Mary Ann

Fleming at the piano.

What a delightful 50th Anniversary Celebration!

—The Steering Committee, Women’s Fellowship

The Kids4Action group met at the parsonage for a green-up of the lawn and gardens on Saturday, May 2. Shown here are (left to right) Mary Ann Fleming, Ben Henry, Dick Chamberlain, Alex and

Gwen Inglis, Fiona Pieterse, and Irv Richardson. Also helping out were Mike Henry, Luke and Su-zanne Schoel, and George Andersen.

News from the Monday

Community Supper

With our year winding down, it is time to say

thanks to all of you who

make this year successful.

We appreciate the dedica-

tion of the kitchen crew,

clean-up crew, teenage

volunteers, substitutes, and

greeters. The many folks

who donated food items,

desserts, Thanksgiving

vegetables, and more,

helped keep us financially

stable.

A special and giant thank you goes to our longtime

and faithful dish washers and driers, Dick and Judy

Fernald, who have been part of the clean-up crew

since our first year. We miss your presence here

every Monday night.

And to Marcia Osborn, our salad specialist and art-

ist in residence, we wish you well as you move to

be near Rob and Mia.

The suppers are truly a mission of love and inclu-

sion.

Summer’s on the way!

Check out the Horton Center!

Did you know that there are terrific opportunities to enjoy summer camp?

Check out the the NH Conference’s camp at Horton Center! The Conference’s Outdoor Ministries programs offer children, youth, and adults a variety of camp ex-periences in the context of a Christian community that is safe, supportive, challenging, and diverse.

Activities include swimming, boating, hiking, rock climbing, caving, group sports, drama, crafts, music, and of course, campfires complete with s’mores!

There are a total of 19 different camp experiences this

summer and fall at Horton Center, ranging from tradi-tional summer camp for kids from grades 3 to 12, to family camp, grandparent-grandchild camp, women’s retreats, and the list goes on. There is a voluntary tiered price structure and scholar-ships are available. Horton Center’s camp schedule is

online at www.hortoncenter.org/schedule.php.

Lemonade on the lawn is coming!

Starting on Sunday, July 5, our worship

schedule for the summer shifts to 9:30 a.m., followed by refreshments outdoors. For details and to host a week of “LOL,” please contact Deb Hanson at 924-7291.

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2: Ben Henry

5: Mary Ann Fleming

Riley Henry

7: Laura Gingras

10: John Westaway

13: Randy Brown

14: Dotty Graham

16: Ruth Kellog

Quentin & Carolyn

Peacock (anniv)

19– Peter Lefko

20: Holly Sanders

Alex Inglis

23: Rick Tracy

27: Janet Brown

28: Florence Martin

30: Bob Fellows

30: Fred and Bea Gove

(anniv)

June Birthdays and Anniversaries Help us keep our anniversary and

birthday list up to date!

If your birthday or anniversary is missing from this

month’s list and you’d like to be included, please

send a email message to officeucc@comcast.net or

leave a message at 924-3272. If you appear in this

list but would prefer to keep the date private, let

Martha know that too! Thank you!

Bread Sale on June 7

And other upcoming events …

Bakers, start your ovens! On Sunday, June 7, we’ll be holding an after-church Bread Sale in two locations: on the front lawn of the church and in Fellowship Hall. Are you a

bread baker? Do you like to make yeast breads, quick breads, rolls, muffins, scones, biscuits, coffee cakes? Anything that quali-fies as a breadstuff? Your contribution to the Bread Sale would be greatly appreciated. We’d also greatly appreciate it if you could add your name to the sign-up sheet on the hall bulletin board so we know what you’ll be bringing and how much of it.

Breads can be dropped off at church between noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 6, or before church on Sunday, June 7. Please label each item, so our shoppers know what they’re getting. (“Sales” will be by donation, so we want to entice people as much

as possible!)

Are you a gardener rather than a baker, and would you be willing to share as you separate your garden or house plants? We’ll be

selling plants along with the breads and would love to have those contributions as well.

These sales are the first event planned by a new TAG (Temporary Action Group), organized to once again raise (a) community awareness for our church and (b) funds to support our programs and make up part of our budget deficit for the year. Watch for other events planned for later in the summer and fall. including a car wash and a last-hurrah Downton Abbey Tea. There’s even a rumor going around that we may be able to pull off another Summer Salad Supper in June. Stay tuned.

Your TAG,

Kelly Kent-Kiburis, Ann Lessard, Joni O’Donnell, and Sharon Smith

Our next issue …

The next issue of the Communicon will be the mid-

summer issue, which will come to you in the middle of July. We would love to honor recent gradu-

ates: please send us names and schools of your grads by July 6! Please send all articles, announcements, ongoing prayer requests and other items to Martha CB at

officeuccc@comcast.net by noon on July 6. We’ll return to our monthly newsletter schedule with the September Communicon. Thank you! — Martha CB

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Union Congregational Church

United Church of Christ

33 Concord Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

COMMUNICON

JUNE 2015

Vol. 61. No. 5

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

Editor: Martha Carlson-Bradley

Deadline for Midsummer issue:

Noon, July 6