Category: Newsletter

Could you serve on the Board of Finance?

Short answer: Yes!

According to our bylaws the Board of Finance has 4 members. Currently the board has 3 members and we would love to have another voice in the mix. The board meets every month usually via Zoom, though come budget preparation time, an occasional in person meeting. We currently meet on a a mid-month Wednesday evening, but are flexible and would be happy to accommodate your schedule if we can.

Here’s the bylaw:

The Board of Finance will provide oversight to the Trustees, who will have full charge of the investment of all trust funds and the purchase and sale of all securities of the Church. They will direct the Treasurer in payment of Church expenses. They will segregate and maintain any separate or special funds and accounts. They will provide an annual report covering each calendar year at or immediately prior to each Annual Meeting. They will pay to the Financial Secretary such sums of money (not to exceed One Thousand dollars ($1,000) in any one calendar year for any one purpose) as may be authorized by vote of the Church Council.

The Board of Finance will supervise and coordinate the activities of those members who serve as Treasurer and Financial Secretary. It will assist the Stewardship Committee and fundraising ministries. It will present the budget to Church Council prior to the Annual Meeting of the Church.

Waterbury Congregational Church Bylaws

If you think we might like to be involved, speak to any of the board members, Diane Leavitt, Barbara Barra, or Cathy Shires. You can also talk to Peter, of course! Thank you.

New Year Start-up Schedule

It is, of course, not quite the liturgical start of the new year, but certainly, the practical start, as we’ve had a month-long recess and everyone’s gearing up for school and new projects. So here’s what’s happening in our neck of the woods for the next few weeks.

Sunday, September 18 will be our reunion Sunday. The choir will be back in the loft and our children will have a church school program to which they can leave after the children’s story.

credit: Church World Service

Sunday, September 25 we have a guest story-teller to help our church school wind-down with last year’s unit on “Be the Church.” You’ve met him before. He’s a great storyteller and a kind soul. You’ll surely get as much from him as the children. Following worship on that day, you’re invited to stay for a BYO picnic lunch on the side-lawn. Please dress for worship that morning appropriately for a picnic after worship! If it is raining, we’ll cancel the picnic.

Sunday, October 2 will be our annual CROP Hunger walk. Please keep an eye on the blog-post for details about that.

The choir resumes its normal schedule of Thursday evening (7 pm) rehearsals starting September 15.

Bible study also resumes its normal schedule on Wednesday mornings, September 14 at 10 am. We meet for the foreseeable future on Zoom using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81751660294?pwd=eFdHak5TYk1pcUliNElPdGVKWDh2QT09

Deacons are Looking for a Zoom Operator

You might be a smooth operator, but would you be willing to be a Zoom Operator? The Deacons have realized that having someone each Sunday whose only job would be keeping an eye on the Zoom camera and app is necessary. The reason for this is that the app occasionally freezes and needs to be reset if that happens. It’s fairly simple and quick to do, but with deacons doing other things, sometimes gets missed.

Other jobs would be to switch the sound mode (at least until Zoom fixes what seems to be fixable) and pan/zoom the camera depending on activity in the sanctuary during worship (ie., pan over to choir during the anthem, zoom into children during the story.)

Ideally, we’d like to have four or five volunteers so that the volunteer only has one Sunday a month on duty. Learning the basic process is fairly straightforward.

The Deacons and Peter would be so very grateful!

Easter Sunrise Service, 2022

I am delighted to be leading this year’s Easter Sunrise Service. The service is at 7 am (which is technically an hour after sunrise, but who’s counting?!) and will be held in the Blush Hill Country Club parking lot, off of Lonesome Trail. The service will be short and sweet. We’ll sing two hymns, read two Easter texts and I’ll say a few words about them. Mostly we’re just going to enjoy being up on the hill as the sunrises over Hunger Mountain. (Technically, sunrise is around 6:05 — but it’s only just rising over the mountains by the time we gather.)

Dress warmly and join us!

Endemic Covid-19 Worship Policy

Recognizing that if we’ve learned anything from this experience, we have learned to be flexible and willing to adjust community behaviors quickly, the following set of guidelines was adopted by the Church Council at our March 2022 meeting.

These guidelines are based on the Center for Disease Control’s weekly county-by-county maps of the levels of community disease. Now that we are in an endemic state with regard to the coronavirus, the CDC recommendations are not based on eliminating the virus. (See more about how these maps are created here) but they are the clearest, most data-driven way of helping us move into a world of living-with-Covid-19 available to us. These maps are updated each Thursday evening.

The CDC’s map uses three colors, Green, Yellow, and Red, to indicate risk levels. We will tailor our worship service correspondingly:

Green: In-person worship and no restrictions regarding numbers, seating, or singing. Especially in these early months of endemicity, we encourage you to wear a mask as you feel comfortable.

Yellow: In-person worship with restrictions, including mask requirement, every-other pew seating arrangements, and limited singing by a limited number of people.

Red: There will be no in-person worship during a red phase. Worship services will be offered via zoom.

You can check the CDC map yourself here. When the church sends out a newsletter we will make Washington County’s status clear. If the status changes from one color to another, we will send a Friday newsletter with that important information prominently included.

Additionally:

  1. We will continue to use Zoom to broadcast worship for those of you unable to attend in person. The bulletin will continue to be published online at www.waterburyucc.com/blog/?cat=17
  2. As always, please be responsible for your own health. If you feel sick or are in any way under the weather, if you have a sore throat, a cough, please attend worship via Zoom.
  3. Please note that both common sense and numerous recent psychological studies suggest that after two full years of being encouraged in appropriate pandemic behaviors, that transitioning back into non-pandemic behaviors is not easy and will take time. Let us be kind and patient.

We are proud of the extraordinary diligence, understanding, and compassion you all have demonstrated toward one another throughout the pandemic and for the way we have maintained community. We know that will continue. Thank you for respecting and honoring the choices others make about their health.

Please know that we will continue monitoring the data and reading guidelines from appropriate authorities carefully and will adjust our worship plans accordingly.