May - June 2013 Newsletter
Settled Pastor Arrives

The Rev. Dr. Dan Geslin left Colorado to drive east after his last service in Denver on April 21st.  He is settling into the parsonage and will have his first worship service as our new settled Pastor, Sunday, May 5th at 10:00 am. Welcome Dan.

From the Board of Outreach 

Remember, June is our church's month at Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Ellsworth. We are responsible to provide 5 volunteers, 1 coordinator and a Hannaford Pick-up driver every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the month of June.  Last year, we had trouble providing all of the necessary volunteers and the Food Pantry often had to rely on their own pool of volunteers.  A sign-up sheet will be on the vestry bulletin board during May and a short meeting will be held after church near the end of the month to explain the duties.  
–Johanna Bazzolo

Spring Rummage Sale Donations Needed 

The Pilgrim Guild will hold its annual spring rummage sale in the Vestry on Saturday June 1st from 8:30 am to 1 pm.   Your donations of gently used clothing, household linens, and fabric will be greatly appreciated.  We will also need your assistance the day before to set up tables and sort donations.  Please contact Betty Lewis (422-6257) or Gertrude Wildes (422-3539) if you can help or need additional information.
–Gertrude Wildes

Flowers 
Thanks to everyone who helped out with flowers this spring, especially Pam Bowie and Mary Beth Dorsey  If there is anyone who would like to help out on a more consistent basis throughout the summer (during camp company time!), please call Johanna at 422-6274.  There is a flower fund so you would be reimbursed. Thanks.
–Johanna Bazzolo

Wednesday Study Group

Phil Devenish will lead a study of the Wednesday Morning book group entitled Contemporary Interpretations of the New Testament at 9:00 am during the Wednesdays in May.  No reading, but bring a New Testament to the sessions.

Choir

The choir has been tuning up, studying notes and accomplishing some beautiful and meaningful anthems for part of Lent and on through Easter.  Thanks so much for the new and rejoining members who jumped right in and learned these pieces giving us enough voices on each part. 
A few of the anthems that were sung are: "Lord, For Thy Tender Mercies Sake", "Triumphal Entry", "The Festal Day Is Here", and "Now Winter Fades From Sight".   We are now working toward the first Sunday in May when we will sing "Halle, Halle" and welcome Rev. Dan Geslin. 
Many thanks to Keith who sang regularly and was such a help in the tenor section.  We are very happy to have Bee well again and singing in the congregation and want to thank her for all her devotion to the choir over the years and her beautiful high tones that added so much to the soprano section.   As always, we look forward to those returning from winter locations!
–Debbie

Thank You

Dear Hancock Church Family,

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for the beautiful green stole you presented to me on Sunday, April 14. I was delighted to receive this practical gift. It will serve me well during those Sundays after Pentecost which run from the end of May through November. I will get a lot of wear out of this stole! Most of all, I will wear it proudly and as a reminder of the time I spent with you in interim ministry. We have grown together and developed our faith together. I will always be glad and thankful that you called me to be your interim minister. I will continue to pray for you and offer my encouragement for the continued ministry of the church as you seek to serve the Hancock and wider community. 

God bless you.        
W. Keith Bowie

Dear Mary Beth, Board of Deacons and Union Congregational Church Family,

It was so kind and generous of all of you to present me with the gift certificate to Salsbury Farms Hardware.  Thank you for this much appreciated gift!  I wish some of the gardening expertise among the members of Union Congregational Church of Hancock transferred into me…we shall see!

There will be many fond memories and friendships remaining with us as we begin a new journey with Keith’s next interim position.  The time we spent at Hancock provided us with a wonderful opportunity to share our faith and mission of the UCC among a dedicated church family.  My best wishes to all of you as you continue to “grow your faith.”

With warm blessings, 
Pam

CHURCH FAIR NEWS

WE NEED STUFF TO SELL AND LOTS OF HELP!

PLANNING MEETING SUNDAY JUNE 9TH

Saturday August 3rd is the date of our annual Church Fair, Silent Auction, and Yard Sale.  It is our biggest fundraising event of the year.  We need to raise $7500 that day to keep our church budget balanced and help fund our church activities.

We need lots of stuff to sell.  For the yard sale, we need items that work and are in good condition.  Tools, hardware items, kitchenware, bicycles, furniture, toys, and small appliances are usually in high demand.  Books, games, and puzzles are also good sellers.  We also need contributions for the silent auction which will feature unique one-of-a-kind items such as antiques, paintings, gift certificates, and donated services.   Baubles and beads, plants and flowers, crafts, and quality knick-knacks and linens are also needed to make the fair a success.  We can’t make money unless we have tons and tons of stuff to sell!

The church fair and yard sale is not just a project for the church “old timers”.  We need everyone’s help.  No prior experience is necessary.  Assisting with this important event is a fun way to make new friends while making a significant contribution to the well-being of our church and the work we accomplish in our neighboring communities.  Please think about what you can contribute toward the success of the day.

We’ll have a planning meeting on Sunday June 9th after church.  Your attendance is encouraged.  We need your time and enthusiasm.  Call David Wildes at 422-3739 with any questions or suggestions.  
–David Wildes

Boy Scout Happenings

Hancock’s Boy Scout Troop 94 continues to stay busy.  As many of you know, the troop just completed the annual sweep of the church parking lot.  A canoe trip is in the planning stages, and in May they will attend the Hancock District Boy Scout camporee in Gouldsboro.   Six Scouts will attend Camp Roosevelt in July.  The troop meets weekly to work on various trainings and merit badge activities.  The money raised through your donations of returnable cans and bottles helps to fund these activities.  Please call David Wildes or Cynthia Wood at 422-3739 to arrange a bottle pick-up.  The Scouts are very grateful for your help and support.                       - David Wildes

Congratulations to Amanda Schaefer and Jesse Cummings on the birth of their son, Finley Harrison Cummings, born September 15, 2012.

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From the pastor’s desk…

WHY THE LECTIONARY?

I use the “revised common lectionary” to organize my preaching.  For most of you, that won’t make any difference in how you experience Sunday services—perhaps you’ve never thought about how a pastor chooses Bible verses to preach on—the readings just show up in the bulletin.  The three reasons I follow the Revised Common Lectionary are that (1) it’s educational, (2) it’s ecumenical, and (3) it’s congregational.  Let me explain:

The lectionary is educational.  The lectionary—lection means “reading”—is a logical pattern of reading through the Bible in a three-year cycle.  Each of the three years is dedicated to one of the gospels—Matthew, Mark or Luke—with various readings from John used during the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Easter each year.  In addition to the gospel reading, readings from the Psalms, Hebrew scripture (aka the “old testament”) and the epistle letters are also given for each Sunday, usually on the theme of the gospel story.

It’s a good way to learn the gospels, because we focus on one for a whole year.  It’s also a fun way to pick up biblical themes throughout the different parts of scripture.  I’m not a “lectionary fundamentalist,” so when occasion demands I preach topically.  I also tend not to use every one of the various readings suggested for each Sunday, since I know that, as UCCers, there is only so much Bible reading we can take in one sitting.    

The word revised in “revised common lectionary” refers to the version that was updated in 1994 to include more of the Bible stories about women which had been ignored in the past.  Let’s hear it for Girl Power!

The lectionary is ecumenical.  The word common in “revised common lectionary” refers to the fact that, along with the UCC, most denominations world-wide use the lectionary, from Catholics to Methodists to Presbyterians to Lutherans to our partners in the Disciples of Christ—not to mention our sister denominations like the United Church of Canada and the Uniting Church of Australia—even the Greek Orthodox Church uses a form of the lectionary.  That means that most of the Christians around the globe in whatever denomination are reflecting on the same Bible readings each Sunday.  It’s fun to be in solidarity with the Church Universal.  It’s also in synch with the ecumenical vision of our UCC motto, “That they may all be one” (based on Jesus’ prayer for Christian unity in John 17:20).  

The idea of the lectionary comes from Judaism.  The Talmud says that their lectionary or practice of reading a portion of scripture each Sabbath goes back to Moses’ time.  We know for sure that their lectionary goes back at least to the Babylonian Captivity starting in 586 BC.

The lectionary is congregational.  One of the purposes of the lectionary is to protect you, the congregation, from a pastor who has a few Bible verses that he or she likes to preach on constantly.  John 3:16 is nice, but you wouldn’t want to hear a sermon on it every Sunday for the rest of your life.  The lectionary is public information and belongs to the whole congregation—therefore, so does the worship service.  There’s a spirit of congregationalism to it.

Many churches use a Sunday school curriculum based on the lectionary so that the kids are learning the same Bible lessons as their parents in grownup church.  That way, families are able to discuss together at the Sunday dinner table or in the car on the drive home the common themes they learned at church that morning.  I have copies of the lectionary-based UCC curriculum (pre-school through adult) if anyone’s interested.

Finally, the lectionary is challenging.  It requires me to preach—and us all to reflect—on parts of the Bible that we might like to ignore.  That occasionally requires a pastor to follow her or his conscience and “preach against the text.”  As you know from your personal life, we can learn a lot from discussing why we disagree with something in the Bible.  But the Bible also represents our “community through time,” and it’s good to know what our ancestors-in-faith were wrestling with in ancient times while we wrestle with our own issues today.

Starting June 5 at 9:00, our Wednesday morning discussion group will look at the readings for the upcoming Sunday and explore what they mean for us.  It’s not a lecture; it’s a discussion.  We start with the readings and see where the discussion leads us.  Occasionally, we’ll take a break from the lectionary and discuss a book or watch a movie or something else.

For those of you wanting an evening alternative, please let me know if a Tuesday or Wednesday night would work better for you.

With you in God’s grace,

Pastor Dan