Conway Village
Congregational Church
June 2023
The Good News!
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Pastor’s Message ~ A Legend to Believe In
“For I gave them the words you gave to me,
and they have accepted them.”
John 17:8
George MacLeod, a Scottish clergyman who established the Ion Community on the Island of Ion, Scotland, had a favorite legend. He claimed all legends that persist over time speak truth. His favorite legend dealt with Jesus Christ going to heaven after his Ascension.
The Angel Gabriel met him at the gates of the Holy City and asked, “Lord, this is a great salvation thou you have started!” Jesus only said, “Yes, it is.” “What plans have you made for carrying on the work? How are all to know what you have done?” asked the angel Gabriel.
“I left Peter and James and John and Martha and Mary to tell their friends, their friends will tell their friends, until the entire world will know,” responded Jesus.
“But Lord Jesus,” said Gabriel, “suppose Peter is too busy with his nets, or Martha with her house- work, or the friends are too occupied and forget to tell their friends – – what then?”
After a long thoughtful pause, the Lord Jesus answered quietly with wonder in his voice, “I have not made other plans – – I am counting on them.”
In the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has quadrupled to 2.38 billion people, representing 31.2% of the world’s population. Worldwide 85% of people claim religious faith while 15% have no faith at all. Our legends’ plan of “each person sharing the faith story with someone else” seems to be working!
The community which gathered for Spring Fling on Saturday, May 20th, is an example of what our legend represents – – We Counted on People! People offered raffle gift bags, donated lunch and drinks, gift baskets, gift certificates, yard sale items, T-shirts, and a constant flow of people to peruse and purchase as well as countless hours given by an army of volunteers.
The legend says,
When the Word is Passed
People Respond … Count on It!
The money of our Spring Fling supports our groups that help maintain the health and wellbeing of the Mount Washington Valley. If Gabriel asks, “Suppose people have other things to do?”, we should respond,
“We count on People
to put their Faith into Action – –
We count on Faith
that Works for Everyone!”
Rev. John Hughes <’}>< <’}}><< <’}}}><<<<
Diaconate Message
As I write this little entry for our newsletter, we are nearing June! Whatever happened to the “new” year??? We’ve had New Year’s Day, Epiphany, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Mother’s Day, our Spring Fling and now look forward to Memorial Day, Father’s Day and a long warm summer. It’s incredible how time marches on.
I personally have been preoccupied with a heart condition that surprised and humbled me. I found myself asking for prayers for the first time in my life. Perhaps this is why time seemed to be at warp speed and summer is now bearing down on us.
I am so grateful for the prayers! They lifted me and I felt them. Prayers do work. I have found during my recovery, that I look forward to a new challenge every day and enjoy the ‘little things” to a degree I had not found before. It’s rather liberating and I recommend it to others to try. The attitude of gratitude. Simple really. There should be little post-it reminders in every room of the house and workplace.
I know that at some time I’ll be challenged again and be needing support of prayer in the future. And I know that they’ll be there doing what prayer does best ~lift and support. I have never been more content in the “little things” or more grateful for the gift of life given to me by a gracious and loving God.
Blessings to you all for a rich and fun-filled summer,
Louise Saxby
Diaconate: Judy Workman and Louise Saxby, Co-Chairs; Beth Campbell, Dawn Vitters, Nancy Divine
Why Can’t We . . . ?
Why can’t we live together in Peace
Forget about culture – forget about race?
Are we not God’s children all together
So let’s bond like a family and differences sever?
As brothers and sisters God made us the same
But we messed things up, pointed fingers of blame.
Why can’t we agree – set differences aside
Forget all our bias, forget foolish pride?
Why can’t we be gracious, forgiving and meek?
Walk our life’s journey His message to keep.
Our Lord chose to be humble and lowly
Why can’t we abide by his age-old story?
Why is it we rarely see our own flaws
We all were born sinners, not without cause?
Know you’re not better than anyone else
Still seek to inspire – walk the walk yourself.
Why can’t we peoples of every nation
Respect the beauty of God’s creation?
Jesus was born our sins to negate
Let’s remember his message before it’s too late.
The answers to these questions are profound & clear
If we love one another we have nothing to fear.
Mary Russo
Thank You Shaw’s
A huge shout out to thank Shaws for their generous donation to our Food Pantry! Store Director, Tony Haas presented Paul & Sylvia Weld a check in the amount of $1,000!!! We will be receiving the “real
check” in the next few weeks. Thanks again Marlyne for coming and taking the picture. Shaws also has a barrel for The Food Pantry containing a sign “Brown Church” on it for folks to make food donations to our pantry.
Thank you to all who continue to generously support the CVCC Food Pantry. Your kind
ness helps us to support our community!
Paul & Sylvia Weld
Food Pantry Coordinators
Council Connections
The May meeting of the Council saw us changing some of our previous priorities. The financial news from April was not good. To date we have had to draw $17,000.00 from the Dahl Endowment to pay bills. One little bit of hope is that 4 months of our deficit budget would have been over $20,000, so we have made up $3,000.00 of the deficit budget. We have some unbudgeted repairs that will need to be completed, some from the parsonage and some from the church. We are currently gathering the estimat ed costs and will be putting out a Trustee Appeal letter in June.
The Spring Event in May has been very positive in donations from area businesses and people donating things for the yard sale. Thanks goes out to Anne Getchell, Nancy Irving and Nancy Divine who have spearheaded this fundraising event and thanks goes out to all the volunteers who contributed both donations and their time. It has truly been a church-wide supported event. I will let Anne give the report on how the event turned out financially, but I do know that it exceeded budget expectations.
The Council has begun working on plans for Fryeburg Fair and the De- cember Tree Lighting/ Holiday Fair event on the 2nd of December. The date has been set for the Secret Prayer Partner Revelation Dinner; it will be held on July 29th beginning at 5:30 in Fellowship Hall.
Rev. Hughes and the Deaconate have made plans for Membership Sunday to be held on June 4th. It appears that we have seven new members looking to join the church. This is a very positive step for the church. These seven new members and some other new people that have been showing up on Sunday have brought the need for the Council to address the possibility of Sunday School starting up again, as well as providing a space for young children to go during the worship service. To begin, we will broadcast the service into Fellowship Hall. Parents and or church members willing to assist providing some activities and short lessons for the children will, at the same time, be able to hear and see the worship service. It is a small step in trying to re-build the Sunday school, but it is progress.
Welcome New Members!
The summer is fast approaching and there will be more activities that can draw our attention away from church. Please remember that we have two big fundraisers coming up in the fall. Fryeburg Fair will require a lot of work as will the Tree Lighting Fair. Please keep working on things to sell for the December event and most urgently, please put aside the time during October when the Fair is going to come out and help. Tell your friends and neighbors and get them excited about these two upcoming events.
Blessings to all,
Carl F. Vitters, Moderator
From the Trustees
The Spring event of 2023 was a success !
We made $5,500, up over $1,000 from last year. The planning started months in advance and it is rewarding to watch it all happen on the day of the event. It was a bit labor intensive the day before, setting up Fellowship Hall and setting up outside early Saturday morning. There were dedicated volunteers ready to go at 7:30 AM. The event was from 9-2 and as forecast- ed, the rain came soon after. The same volunteers were quick to take it all down.
New this year was the Pick a Prize Raffle. We had creative gift baskets made by folks and gift certificates or products donated by local businesses.
Thank you to Charlyne Gray and Bob Bernhardt for selling their creations! The baking table was well stocked with a variety of baked goods made by many.
Valley Originals provide the BBQ lunch. Thank you Wally and Beth Campbell. We had wonderful Greeters this year, thank you Lisa and Sandy and it was Lisa’s birthday!
While summer is not here yet, we do start the early planning of the Fryeburg Fair. It is the time we pay the Fair fee and assess the condition of the trailer and equipment. The trailer will likely need some floor work and the big cooler that we store the crisp in at the fairgrounds will need to be replaced. We are working on estimates.
Get out and enjoy the summer weather!!!
Trustee Board: Anne Getchell, John Edgerton, Duddie Andrews, Nancy Irving, Nancy Divine and Tom Workman, ex officio member, Treasurer
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June 2023 Worship
Sunday, June 4th – Membership Sunday/Trinity/Communion
No Zoom Service available June 4th
Psalm 8
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20
Sermon: “The Start of an Idea”
Sunday, June 11th
Psalm 33:1-12
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Sermon: “The Greatest Gifts You Can Give”
Sunday, June 18th
Psalm 100
Scripture: Exodus 19:2-8a, Matthew 10:9-23
Sermon: “How to Balance a Life”
Sunday, June 25th
Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Scripture: Romans 6:1b-11, Matthew 10:24-39
Sermon: “Wanted … Dead and Alive”
Join us for Bible Studies.
Women’s Weekly Bible Study meets Thursdays at 9:30 am
Men’s Weekly Bible Study meets Fridays at 9:00 am
Both groups meet in the Church Conference Room located downstairs next to the church office.
Zoom access is available.
If you would like to more information on either group, please call the office at 603-447-3851 or email info@thebrownchurch.org