Nominating Committee

Ned Davis is the chair (ie., the sole member!) of the nominating committee.  He would appreciate your help!
The wider ministry of the church is about you.  We have several boards that help to oversee that ministry.  The boards and committees are listed below with numbers in parentheses to indicate the number of members the board needs for a full compliment.

Board of Deacons (0) — They help make our Sunday morning worship service flow by helping with the greeting and ushering and other jobs that arise during the course of worship.

Board of Finance (2) — Like the name suggests, this board oversees the flow of money in and out of the church.

Trustees (0) — The trustees oversee our endowment and assist with the work of the board of finance.

Board of Christian Education (2) — This group works closely with our CE Director, Tom Stevens and with the church school, helping to provide leadership on Sunday morning and setting the course for the academic year.

Board of Business Administration (2)– If you like to have a hands-on type job, this committee might be for you as it keeps on eye on the property and on the physical needs of the church.

Board of Outreach (0) — This is the committee that organizes our outreach to the community and the world.  They sponsor the Christmas gift campaign (coming soon!) and many others like the recently completed Crop Hunger Walk.

Nominating Committee (3) — They try to find people to serve on these committees and boards and write reports like this!

Music Committee (2) — The music committee, as its name clearly suggests, oversees the music program.

If you’d like to learn more about any of these boards or committees, you can call Ned (244-1684)  or the church office (244-6606).  We can talk you through it, and even invite you to sit in on a meeting.
 
Thanks.

Election Day Food Drive

Once again this year on Election day, November 6, you are invited to bring a food stuff donation to the polls to support the community-minded work of the Waterbury Area Food Shelf.  The polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm at the Primary School. Help spread the word!  The word from the food shelf director last week to me was that they are frighteningly low on stock or all kinds.  Your generosity is appreciated.

A Serious Purpose for a Serious Place

We are now, as I believe most of you are aware (and if you’re not, let me know becauseIMG_20101027_144326 that means we left you off the mailing list somehow!) in the middle of our pledge-ingathering time.
I’ve taken to calling it pledge-ingathering, because while a bit clunky it evokes the sense of gift that I think the time is all about.  Last Sunday morning (10/21) and in the letter I sent out with your pledge card, I mentioned the late Becky Higgins’  comment that we are encouraged to give until it feels right.  Her line has been my springboard because it is so correct on so many levels.  Supporting your church is like giving to your favorite charity — its an opportunity to give back and an expression in confidence moving forward.  But unlike giving to the Red Cross, I think, giving to the church is an expression of gratitude for the gifts of our lives that are not the work of our own hands.  What is right then, expresses not just what is correct, but what is ultimately only good — something we might call the basic confidence in life, the primordial lure to fullness and to humanity itself.
That kind of giving is qualitatively different from the rest– it is serious and it calls forth a serious and quantitatively different response.  I hope and pray you’ll heed that deep call and respond with a pledge card by November 18 so that our Board of Finance can put together a serious budget for 2019.  Thank you.

CropHunger Walk Final and Thanks

On October 7, after a morning service of worship that saw three choirs, threeCROP-Logo congregations and three clergy-folk converge on our church for an hour of really good worship celebrating our similarities and unity, and highlighting our important differences, we headed for the country lanes and took a three-mile walk to raise money for Church World Service and their continuing efforts to end hunger in our world.  Their work is global all while remaining local.  Indeed they live and breathe and work what we expressed on that World Communion Sunday morning, a real unity not just in spite of differences, but precisely because the range of humanity is so beautifully rich.
The weather was cool and somewhat inclement, but we had more walkers than in many years past — approximately 30 people walked!  We had folks from all three churches, plus a few more here in Waterbury, we had students from Crossett Brook Middle School and some of them brought their parents.  It was an enjoyable afternoon.  AND we raised $3221. 
Well done! and thank you to everyone who walked or donated. Your spirit is beautiful.
 

Ramona Nutting

Announcement from the Vermont Conference about the death of Ramona Nutting last week.
Ramona
Ramona Nutting, wife of former Associate Conference Minister John Nutting peacefully passed away surrounded by her family. Ramona and John have been married for 60 years. A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 27 at 11:00 a.m. at the 2nd Congregational Church in Hyde Park. Visitation will be Friday, October 26 from 5 to 7 pm. at the Faith Funeral Home, 165 Brooklyn St., Morrisville.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to your local church or local food shelf. Please keep John and his family in your prayers in the days and weeks to come.
Her obituary may be read here.