Welcome back! I hope you have all had an excellent summer — I feel like I’m still recovering from our puppet extravaganza in June. It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 months since we’ve crossed the Red Sea and made it to the promised land!
It’s back to school time here at the Waterbury Congregational Church, and we’re working on our fall curriculum! The first day we’ll meet will be Sunday, September 9, and our first real class will be on September 16. This year, we’ll be focusing on Climate Change, and exploring what that means when we think about caring for God’s creations, our faith and what it means when we try to fulfill the primary goals of our religious study — which is, at its simplest, respect for our world and each other, and how we can achieve it, no matter what challenge is in front of us. We understand that climate change, at its core, is scary — too scary for our youngest students — and so we will focus on the things that we know we can do to make our lives and the lives of those around us better. Believe it or not, there is plenty of hope for positive change while studying this, and we will tap into some of our most hopeful scripture, including the Beatitudes, to drive that point home.
Our church school is open to students from K-6. Our older students will follow a more mature lesson plan that will mirror the one for the younger students, and will participate in a deeper discussion with our teachers. If there are adults who are interested in volunteering time to teach our kids during this fall, please let me know, and know that I will be happy to have you.
See you soon!
–Tom
Category: Newsletter
Associate Conference Minister to be called
A Special meeting of the Conference will take place at the Congregational Church, UCC of Middlebury at 11:00AM on August 11, 2018 for the purpose of voting on the election of Rev. Paul Sangree as our Associate Conference Minister.
A reception will follow.
Rev. Paul Sangree is the Senior Pastor of the Congregational Church of Westborough, Ma UCC. He also serves as the Chairperson of the Church Development Council of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ. He is a graduate of Brown University and Andover-Newton Theological School, where he was an adjunct professor of theology from 1999-2007. He is married to Irene Bagdoian and they have one daughter, Anna.
If you are interested in attending this special meeting, please let Peter know. Perhaps we can carpool.
The Waterbury Welcome Train
I have received a preview photograph of the Randolph artist, Phillip Godenschwager’s rendition of our church which will be featured on the railroad bridge over Main Street. This project was initiated by Revitalizing Waterbury, and involved a town vote over artist submissions. The winning submission is a ~60 ft long train made out of metal with each car one of the historic buildings of the town.
A full description of the project and more pictures can be found on Revitalizing Waterbury‘s website.
Thank you!
As July comes to a close and August recess beckons we have a few words of thanks to offer. Week in and week out these folks volunteer their time to keep things looking good and running smoothly.
Susan McCracken — Faithfully comes in each Friday to fold the bulletin and bring us good cheer. It’s not the most exciting job in the world, but Susan offers it to us and to you as a gift. Susan, we look forward to you presence each Friday and thank God for your dedication!
Anne Wilson — A little less regularly, because she’s got the weeds pretty much eradicated, but no less faithfully, Anne keeps “Amy’s Garden” looking beautiful from the first spring crocuses to the last of the season rudbeckias.
Nancy and David Metivier — Nancy and David have made it their mission to keep the lawn around this beautiful building, looking neat and trim. They are pros and take care of business once a week during the growing season.
Bells for Freedom
On January 6, 1941 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed Congress in an effort to move the nation away from a foreign policy of neutrality. The president had watched with increasing anxiety as European nations struggled and fell to Hitler’s fascist regime and was intent on rallying public support for the United States to take a stronger interventionist role.
In that speech, Roosevelt declared that all people inalienably shared four freedoms, freedoms enshrined in one way or another, in our Constitution: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God as one feels so moved to, freedom from want and freedom from fear. 
Norman Rockwell, At home, in Arlington, Vermont, was inspired. Rockwell was too old to enlist, but he wanted to make a statement in pictures why Americans were sending their boys to war. And he painted the Four Freedoms.
Today, at 4 pm, John Bollard and I will, as a part of the Four Freedoms Festival, ring our church bell for four minutes.