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| The Chapel Newsletter of
Woodmont United June 2008
Rev. Paige’s Page “Spiritual Meetings” At the recent Annual Meeting of the
Connecticut Conference, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about a new
model for Committee meetings. The
presenter, Rev Susan Murtha, said that in the first year of ministry, she realized
how many committee meetings a pastor had to attend and wondered if this was
really what she wanted to be doing. She
also quickly realized that most of the people who come to church already have
too much to do and that the church gives no relief to the problem. She noticed how many burn out, drop out, or
just don’t get involved. She came to
feel that the “frenzy of church activity kills the fruitfulness of our work.” She wanted to develop a model for meetings
to help those involved to live out the real reason they come to church: to seek
God and to make some contribution to the world. She developed a new meeting model for her
church that a number of committees put into practice. The meetings were divided into two
parts: an hour for ministry and an hour
for spiritual life. In the Ministry hour
– which comes first – they discuss past events, upcoming events, and larger
purposes. She suggests that it takes
great discipline to do this in an hour and that it means breaking bad habits
like letting people talk to much about small details and forgetting to process
what past events meant to us. Her
challenge to us about this was “If you can’t do this in an hour, then you are
doing too much. God won’t suffer if you
drop things off the list but the people will.” In the second hour, they all move away from
the table into a circle – leaving notes and papers behind and they discuss what
God is doing in their lives, questions of faith, insights and blessings. She encourages silence as part of this
time. She shared with us that “for most
people, it is the only quiet moment they have in the day.” She commented that they do this in the second
hour because people are less anxious to rush through it to get to the “real
business” of the meeting. She shared
that since her church begin this meeting form, people haven’t wanted to end
their committee terms and would work extra hard to get to meetings as they were
more satisfying and nurturing. She also
noticed that some of the personality struggles that can happen in committee
life were lessoned because of deeper relationships and sharing developed for
this more meaningful time together. I thought this was a provocative
presentation with some interesting ideas.
Even for those of us who like committee work (and yes, there are a few
of us), meetings can get to be exhausting.
And I notice that many more folks say they want to be involved in Bible
Study, spiritual support groups, and Prayer groups than actually manage to
clear their schedule to show up. In this
model, being on a committee also functions to strengthen your faith. I wonder if any of our committees or
mission teams would like to try this out for a few months and see how it
works. As we are working on our vision
process, perhaps we can pray about this and see if it would strengthen our
church! Peace! Rev
Paige COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS: At our May Council meeting, we tried a new
way of doing our devotional time. We briefly discussed the CT Conference UCC
Annual meeting and the creative exploration of imagination in the church. We made preparations for food and
hospitality for the New Haven Association meeting which we will be hosting on
May 29. We set the date for the Church picnic for
August 3 to correspond with the visit of 2 youth from our The Personnel Committee brought a proposal
to contract with Heather Arcovitch to continue her work as our Interim CE
Director through the summer – hours that are not currently in the budget. Heather will work on summer programs for
children, preaching, programming, teacher training and development of a new
Middle School Youth Group program.
Despite budget concerns, the Council voted unanimously in favor of this
proposal. Council reviewed goals and strategies
about worship and church growth brought by the Deacons and the Good News Team
as part of our ongoing vision process.
We hope to review other goals at the June Council meeting. A plan was made to move documents of
historical and legal significance to the fire proof safe. The treasurer reported that the cash flow
for the first 5 months has been positive.
We had some significant unexpected expenses for repairs to the
heating/cooling system and we still need to find ways to overcome the deficit
built into the budget. We heard reports from Staff and Committees
and adjourned with the Lord’s prayer. CE News The
PPR Committee’s proposal and Council’s unanimous vote to fund the Christian
Education Director position for the ten weeks of summer was an unexpected and
lovely surprise! Thank you all for your
commitment to and excitement about our CE ministry and my part in it. I continue to be honored and grateful to
serve among all the ministers of WUCC, and I am particularly excited about what
having these extra weeks this summer will allow us to accomplish in the CE
department’s ministries. As most of you know, the Christian
Education Director (DCE) position here at WUCC is a seasonal position (budgeted
September – June) that I have been filling as an Interim as I prepare to search
for a permanent pastoral call and as WUCC continues to search for a permanent
DCE. Normally, the position would end on
June 15 with the end of the Sunday School year and we would say good-bye, but
this action to extend budgeting of the position through the summer allows the
CE department to continue to run summer ministries while planning new
programming without interruption.
Whether you have found a new permanent DCE by then or not, we will be in
a strong, refreshed space with CE ministries well planned and supported come
September. One of our big new ministry projectsfor
this fall is a middle school-age youth group. Rev. Paige is preparing for a
confirmation class also, and has invited me to do more preaching during the
summer months as works on this and other summer projects. Some of you know that I begin my Doctor of Ministry
program in preaching at Aquinas Institute (part of So, the Spirit is moving and exciting
things are afoot! As this year’s Sunday
School programs wind down, please watch your mail if you have a child in our
church school. Letters about the rest of
the year’s program are coming! Sunday School Celebration Day is June 15th. Rehearsals are June 8th immediately after
church and June 15th at 9am. Our theme is the Jonah story. Please, please, please be sure your child(ren) are in attendance from now on so that we will be
well prepared for our big day (and so that you don’t get swallowed up by a
fish)! If you don’t have a child in
Sunday School, please mark your calendars for the 15th and make a special
effort to be here to celebrate with our young people and their teachers (to
whom we owe a great debt of gratitude and appreciation for their time, talent
and treasure shared!). Info about Summer Sunday School is on the
way, also. Our theme this year is
"Soul Quest: Putting on the Armor of God." We’re modifying a program I developed when I
deaned at Blessings
for a safe and fun summer, Heather CE
announces another Family Hike on June 7 at 10:00 am. We will be hiking a portion of the Housatonic
trail in Sacred Journey Conference
2008 News from the Korean
Partnership Team We are very excited to report that during
the summer Woodmont UCC will be hosting two students from our Korean partner
church, Sung Won Presbytery. One of our guests is Rev. Kim’s daughter, Hyealim
(pronounced “hi lim.”) Hyealim is in 11th grade and our other guest is a boy in
10th grade named Jihwang (pronounced “gee wan.”) Our guests will be with us from Thursday,
July 24th to Thursday, August 7th. At the heart of the Sacred Journey
Conference will be a week spent at At this point the Partnership Team is
coordinating places for Hyealim and Jihwang to sleep, but we need some help
from all of you. We are in need of folks to take them “sight seeing” around our
city and state, they will need rides to planned functions, and they will need
supplies to take to In the next few weeks, we will be planning
a scrapbook day to put together scrapbooks for each student and for the Finally, we want to inform you that there
is still room for If you can help out in any way please check
out the sign up sheet on the office door or contact Debi Mastroni-Kenyon at
(203) 301-0546 or lildebi164@yahoo.com. Blessings to you all, Korean Partnership Team Debi Mastroni-Kenyon Steve Alexander Vivian Wakely Open and
Affirming (ONA) Mission Group News ( Our ONA Mission Group is doing great
things that all should know about! On May 20, On Saturday, June 7, in conjunction with
the Welcoming Congregations of New Haven (WCNH), our ONA group will participate
in the CT Pride Festival in On Sunday, July 20 (afternoon), the WCNH
(which includes our church!) will hold its annual Family Pride Picnic at On Friday, May 30, we presented a showing
of “For the Bible Tells Me So” at our church, in conjunction with the
Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) from Mary Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church
(MTMUMC). We invited members, friends,
the WCNH and the GSAs from both We are also joining with MTMUMC in
planning a night of fun and celebration at the YMCA for LGBT youth and their
friends. More details to come on this
event. Submitted by Carol Topitzer SECOND WORKSHOP SERIES The Good News Team is sponsoring a second
workshop series beginning Saturday, June 14 from 10a.m. to noon. Classes will include Intro. To Scrapbooking
taught by Rev. Paige; Create A Website taught by Tommy
Ettore; and Drawing: “Draw with Your eyes, the Hand will Follow” taught by
Cindy Dobie. For Intro. To
Scrapbooking, you’ll need a pair of scissors or paper cutter, four to
six photos, and any other materials you’d like to include. For Create
A Website you’ll need a simple notepad. For
Drawing:
“Draw with Your eyes, the Hand will Follow” you’ll need a sketch pad,
few pencils, and a felt tip pen.
Child care and refreshments will be
provided. God’s
Blessings! “Faith Club”
This summer, we will be offering a series of book discussions on the
book “The Faith Club” by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla
Warner. Our discussion group will be led
by Rev Paige and Rabbi Dana Bogetz.
Members of Congregational Sinai will be joining us for this joint
program!
“The Faith Club” is the story of three women living in
We will be gathering on Wednesday evenings from 6-8 pm on July 16, 23,
30 and August 6. Participants are
invited to bring a brown bag dinner.
Sign up on the office door and let us know if you want us to order you a
book Blessing of the Animals On
Sunday, June 22 we will offer a Blessing of the Animals at 1 pm in the COVENANT TO CARE Wucc
is once again providing the popular Family Summer Packs for Covenant to Care.
If you are interested in doing one, Heather Archovitch or Cindy Dobie have bags
for you to take and fill (or use your own ) with things like sidewalk chalk,
jump ropes, bubbles, games, you get the idea...
Please have them back to the Narthex by June 14th. Thank you so much for
your generosity. We congratulate Carol Coover and Eric
Arnold on the birth of their daughter, Ever Sunshine. Mother and daughter are doing well and will
be returning home to SUMMER PICNIC Mark your calendar for our Annual Summer
Picnic on Sunday, August 3 following worship.
The food will be potluck. We will
provide a grill. Waterfight is optional! Scripture June 1 - Gen. 6: 9-22; 7:24; 8:
14-19; Ps. 46 or Deut. 11: 18-21, 26-28; Ps. 31: 1-5, 19-24; Rom. 1: 16-17; 3:
22b-28, (29-31); Matt. 7: 21-29. “Waters of New Life”. June 8 - Gen. 12: 1-9; Ps. 33: 1-12
or Hos. 5: 15-6:6; Ps. 50: 7-15; Rom. 4: 13-25; Matt. 9: 9-13,
18-26. “Restoring
Love”. June 15 - Gen. 18: 1-15, (21:
116: 1-2, 12-19 or Ex. 19: 2-8a; Ps. 100; June 22 - Gen. 21: 8-21; Ps. 86: 1-10,
16-17 or Jer. 20: 7-13; Ps. 69: 7-10, (11-15), 16-18; June 29 - Gen. 22: 1-14; Ps. 13 or
Jer. 28: 5-9; Ps. 89: 1-4, 5-18; Rom. 6: 12-23; Matt. 10: 40-42. “Gifts of Compassion”. Prayers
for June William & Kara White Gail & Karl Wolf Rev. Art & Ann Yost Walter & Joyce and Thomas Aguirre Steve & Sally Alexander David Arana Alice Avery Mildred Balestrini Lea Baltrenas Linda Banas-Sanchez The Ecumenical
Prayer Cycle enables us to journey in prayer through every region of the
world throughout the year affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the
world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing diverse
problems and sharing gifts. Lord hear our prayer…. Lesotho,
Mongolia, Namibia, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Swaziland,
Uzbekistan, Angola, Yemen, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Republic of
Congo, Indigenous Peoples of Europe, Algeria, Syria, Brazil, Egypt, Turkey,
Guinea, Greece, Bahrain, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Benin, Iceland, Russian
Federation, Bolivia Worship Notes June 1: Communion Service; Heather Arcovitch preaching; music from
the Choir June 8: Worship with music from the “Choir + Men”; Sermon by
Rev Paige June 15: Christian Education Sunday; Message for our children & youth;
Music offered by the Worshiping Musicians;
Father’s Day June 22: Worship in the Garden at 10:30; Blessing of the animals at 1 pm;
Canopy will provide some shelter as needed; June 29: (Raindate for worship in the Garden); Music by the
Choir; sermon by Rev. Paige SPRING HAS
SPRUNG AND PEOPLE NEED YOUR HELP, PLEASE
DONATE! THANK YOU! Tuesday, June 3, 2008 from 11:15 am to 4:45 pm;
Schick-Wilkinson Sword; Thursday, June 5, 2008 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm; Thursday, June 5, 2008 from 1:45 pm to 7:00 pm; Friday, June 13, 2008 from 1:45 pm to 7:00 pm;
Knights of Monday, June 16, 2008 from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm;
Hines/Merritt Crossing; 440 Wheelers Tuesday, June 17, 2008 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm; To
make an appointment please call the American Red Cross, Milford Chapter at 874-2531. June
Birthday Celebrations 4 Lori
Brigham 5
Pat Smith 6
Kathy Harrold 7
Robert Schwartz 9
Kim Hoare 9
Shakeela Nobles 14
Nicole Blacketter 17
Mildred Balestrini 19
Tyler Chacho 20
Janice Bray 26
Hanna Gerlander 26
Danny Clinton 26
Ruth Sinnot 26
Virginia Stevens 27
Dave Clark 28
Joe Brennan Welcome to
Woodmont United No matter who you are or where you are on
life’s journey, we welcome you! We
invited you to sign our guest book and to join us for refreshments following
the service. More information about our
church and our denomination are in the narthex. We the members of Woodmont United Church
of Christ, led by the Spirit and our study of Scriptures, declare ourselves to
be an Open and We honor, cherish and welcome all of God’s
children, regardless of race; gender; age; sexual orientation; gender identity;
nationality; ethnicity; marital status; or physical, mental, or emotional
disability. We believe that through our
diversity, we can all grow and practice a unity of faith that transcends our
differences. |
