Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC

PILGRIM HAPPENINGS
Issue #
Pilgrim
Happenings
November
2015
HARVEST DINNER AT PILGRIM CHURCH
Thanksgiving and
Prayer
“I thank my God every time I
remember you. In all my
prayers for all of you,
I always pray with joy…”
Philippians 1:3-4
Believe it or not, November
is here again. As the outside
world gets darker and darker,
we long more and more for
the light. So we decorate our
homes with beautiful fall
colors and start planning our
Thanksgiving
trips
and
dinners.
This month let me share with
you something very personal
that expresses what I am
thankful for this year. Time
flies quickly. I have been
serving at Pilgrim Church for
more than two years. The
journey has been full of
blessings and surprises. The
building got a headache in
2015, and in general the
finances kept us up at night
burning the midnight oil.
However, as we and the rest
of the world struggle
financially, we must be
grateful that our challenges
are headaches instead of
more serious matters. As we
enter our stewardship month,
let me first say “Thank you”
to all of you who have been
faithfully giving to this
congregation. You will hear
the church leaders, both lay
and ordained say during
November, “If you can,
please, donate more money to
God’s work.” But before we
do that, let me tell you how
grateful I am for all of you
who are giving your talents,
time, and treasure to make
not only Pilgrim Church, but
the whole world a better
place.
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
Thank you for spending
many hours of your life
fixing things in the building,
putting down carpets, making
sure that our lights all work
(inside and outside). Thank
you for sharing your special
talents with us in the choir,
serving on a team or board,
leading Bible study groups,
playing music, and being
creative to
serve this
congregation.
I thank God for Pilgrim
Church UCC. I love being the
Pastor of a small church with
a great, big heart. I love
serving people who care
about each other, pray for
each other, and call each
other when in need. I thank
God that the people I serve
make sure that everyone feels
loved and welcomed on
Sunday mornings.
With Paul’s words “In all my
prayers for all of you, I
always pray with joy…” Joy
fills my heart, when I get up
on Sunday mornings to
worship together with all of
you. I enjoy praying for you,
too. I am aware of the
financial problems, but I am
also
aware
that
this
congregation is full with
generous, wonderful people,
who pledged about $20,000
more in 2015 than in 2014.
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I know I will raise my pledge
for 2016 by at least 10%, and
I encourage everyone who is
able to raise your pledge, too.
But even if you are not able
to give as much as you want
to, you need to know that you
are loved and accepted at
Pilgrim Church.
God’s presence can always
lift us up, give us strength,
and send us hope for the
future. Thank you for your
generosity and for your love
for our spiritual home,
Pilgrim Church UCC.
“In all my prayers for all of
you, I always pray with
joy…”
If you haven’t been coming
to church too often lately,
make sure that your come by
and see your friends soon.
Come sing, worship, and be
comforted
by
God’s
presence.
As Thanksgiving inches
closer to us in time,
remember to also give thanks
for our generous and loving
congregation. I am grateful
for every single person who
sacrifices
their
Sunday
mornings to come to church
and spend time with God. If
you know of someone who
needs God’s healing and
inspiration, but they are too
shy to walk into a church,
encourage them to come to
church with you. Be the one
who becomes an angel in
another person’s life.
Thank you for your love and
sacrifice!
Rev. Melinda
Scriptures &
Sermons for the month
of November
November 1st
Revelation 21:1-6a
“The Alpha and Omega”
November 8th
Mark 12:38-44
“Riches from Within”
November 15th
Guest Preacher
November 22nd
Matthew 6:25-34
“Give Thanks with a Grateful
Heart”
November 29th
Luke 21:25-36
“Watch, Wait, and Wonder”
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
“Falling Up Revisited”
My last piece for the
newsletter must have hit a
nerve. Some people have
talked to me, in person,
about my letter. Others have
just been talking about it.
Good! Either way, it served
its purpose – it got people
thinking and talking. We
have a wonderful church, a
beautiful building, a talented
and dedicated staff, a
devoted congregation. We
have worked long and hard
to make Pilgrim Church UCC
known for its generosity and
stability. Too often though,
success brings a sense of
complacency and too easily
those traits are taken for
granted both inside and
outside the walls of our
sanctuary. We have to keep
working to make people
aware of who we are and
what we do.
Like all churches across
America today, we face the
challenge of remaining
relevant
in
a
world
dominated by dollars and
lacking in sense. What can
we offer to people in our
community who are or who
have become “unchurched”?
Why should they make the
effort to come through our
doors if we haven’t made the
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effort to go out those doors
to invite them? It’s not
enough to have a beautiful
building or a meaningful
Sunday service. If we, the
members, are the only ones
to know they exist, then
what’s the connection to
Christ’s mandate to serve
others? And if all we want is
to contemplate that lovely
stained glass window and
experience an empowering
sermon on Sundays then
maybe we have missed the
point of “being church”.
To
attract
the
“unchurched”, we
have to throw open
our doors and ring
our bell.
If Jesus was standing in front
of you and asked you why
you come to this church
every Sunday, what would
your answer be? Could you
honestly say that you come
to hear the Gospel so you
can then take it out into the
world to make it a better
place for all people? Or
would your answer be a bit
more selfish? Would you say
“I come to experience the
Word and to grow in
spirituality”? That is a great
answer, but it’s only half an
answer today.
To attract the “unchurched”,
we have to throw open our
doors and ring our bell. We
used to ring our bell every
Sunday to call people to
worship, what happened to
that tradition? That bell says
“We are here!” We have to
invite everyone to come see
and
experience
the
extravagant welcome and
the amazing grace that God
offers through us. We are,
after all, stewards of God’s
kingdom
on
Earth.
Stewardship is not about
money only. Stewardship is
about creating a safe and
sustainable environment and
economy. It is about working
for justice and peace and
love. Stewardship is about
bringing the “unchurched”
into the fold. It is right, it is
good, it is the responsibility
we have been given by God,
through Christ, energized by
the Holy Spirit.
While we worry about the
budget, the heating system,
and the amount of snow we
will have to plow, it would do
us well to reflect on why we
have those issues. Our
economic security, creature
comforts, and convenience
are not the reasons that this
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
church exists. We exist to
spread the Good News, to
bring salvation to the worldweary and forgotten. I know
that you know this is our
mission, but sometimes we
need to be reminded. The
problems we face on a dayto-day basis can cloud our
vision and distort our
priorities. Let’s not lose
focus.
We have faced challenges in
the past. We have pulled
together,
spiritually,
physically and financially to
meet them. We built an
addition, committed to
sustaining the Little Pilgrim
School,
welcomed
Boy
Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl
Scouts, Martial Arts, and
Square Dancers, baptized,
married,
and
buried
nonmembers all because it
was the right thing to do. We
will embrace the process of
living up to our Vision and
Mission Statements for the
very same reason. We will
continue to support our
church’s
budget
and
ministries to the best of our
abilities. We will pray for
God’s blessing on our
church, our congregation,
and our Minister. We will
strive to become a blessing
to our community in new
and different ways because
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that is who we are. We are
Pilgrim Church UCC.
Prayerfully submitted for
your consideration,
Dan Pare
Moderator
Happenings at Pilgrim
November 1st
10AM – All Saints Day
Worship with Communion
11:30AM – New Member Class
12Noon – CROPWALK – Temple
Beth Abraham
November 8th
10AM – New Members Join
Pilgrim Church
All Saints Day
Will be celebrated on
Sunday, November 1st at the
10AM service. We encourage
people to bring a picture or
pictures of loved one with
you. We will remember them
during our prayer time.
November 20th – 9:30AM till
done
Fair Set-Up Day
November 21st –
8:30AM – 2:30PM
117th Heritage Fair
November 22nd
10AM - Thanksgiving Sunday
November 26th & 27th
Thanksgiving Holidays
Church Office Closed
November 29th - 10AM
1st Sunday in Advent
NEW MEMBERS
CLASS
Will be held on Sunday,
November 1st at 11:30AM.
If you are interested in
joining the Pilgrim Church
Family, please speak with
Rev. Melinda.
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
LITTLE PILGRIM SCHOOL
Thank you for helping the
Little
Pilgrim
Preschool
celebrate
our
55th
anniversary on October 18th.
We appreciate you helping
us make it such a special
day.
We are holding a fundraiser
at Chick-fil-A on Tuesday,
November 10th from 5-8PM.
We are asking all of the
church members to support
the school by coming to the
restaurant
during
those
hours and mentioning that
you are there to support
Little Pilgrim School. We will
get a percentage of all sales
from that evening to help
support the school. Thank
you in advance for helping
the school while enjoying a
yummy meal.
We will be holding our
annual Sharing Basket on
November 18th at 11:30AM.
Each family is asked to bring
in a food item to be
donated to the food pantry.
We will read stories and sing
songs together.
We hope that you all have a
very Happy Thanksgiving!
The Staff and Students of
Little Pilgrim School
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WORLD CARE
CORNER
Our first activity in November is
the Nashua Area CROP Hunger
Walk, on Sunday, November
1st
st. By walking, or supporting
those who walk, your generous
donations of support will benefit
families and children in need both
locally and abroad. A portion of
the monies go to local food
pantries including:
⁃ Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter
⁃ Salvation Army
⁃ Nashua Pastoral Care Center
⁃ St John Neumann Food Pantry
The greater portion of the monies
is donated to Church World
Service, committed to working
"with partners to eradicate hunger
and poverty and to promote peace
and justice around the world".
The full walk this year is 44-1/4
miles, with a short cut for thos
those
who cannot make the full route.
After the walk, please join us for a
special post
post-walk celebration with
expanded hot dog BBQ luncheon,
including farm
farm-to-table harvest
vegetables. Enjoy music from the
Raymond Street Klezmer Band
and the New Fellowship Ba
Baptist
Church Gospel Choir. The CROP
Walk is always a wonderful event;
we hope to see you there. For
more
information,
see
http://nashuacropwalk.blogspot.co
m
or
https://www.facebook.com/Nashu
a--CROPwalk-446386552168955.
Our special offering for
November
is
the
Thanksgiving offering
to Harbor Homes. Harbor
Homes is a non-profit
non
communitybenefit organization that provides
low-income,
income,
homeless,
and
disabled
New
Hampshire
community
members
with
affordable housing, primary and
behavioral
health
care,
employment and job training, and
supportive services. As a member
of the Partnership for Successful
Living, Harbor Homes offers a
unique, holistic approach to care
that results in better outcomes for
their clients and the community.
For more information, see
http://www.harborhomes.org.
http://www.harborhomes.org
Our collections and offerings this
year have been
extremely
successful. We collected 100 cans
of tuna for our food drive in
September, meeting our goal.
This food was delivered to the
Nashua Soup Kitchen. Thank you
all ONCE
CE AGAIN for your
amazing generosity!
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
CROP Hunger
Walk:
The Nashua CROP Hunger
walk takes place on November
1st, beginning and ending at
Temple Beth Abraham, 4
Raymond Street in Nashua.
Registration is from 12 to 1
with opening ceremonies at 1
and stepping out at 1:30. This
year’s walk features the new
route that we began last year
with new information and rest
stops along the way.
The Greater Nashua Area
CROP Hunger Walk has raised
over one million dollars in its
previous
30
years. Money
raised fights hunger around the
world through Church World
Service and locally through
four agencies—Nashua Soup
Kitchen and Shelter, Salvation
Army, St. John Neuman Food
Pantry, and Corpus Christi
Food Pantry. The Nashua
Area
Interfaith
Council
sponsors the event.
More
information is available at
http://nashuacropwalk.blogspot
.com “We walk because they
walk.” And you can even like
us on Facebook!
To sign up, see your recruiter
to make sure that you have all
the tools you need to be a
CROP walker! You can also
walk on the web. Just go to
the blogspot site above and
click on the CROP stop sign
and select the right team! If
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you can’t walk, be sure to
sponsor a walker, or make a
team donation. Watch for
CROP Walk week at the used
book sales in Hannaford
Supermarkets in Nashua and
Hudson.
Theme: Twelve Days of Christmas
117th Heritage Fair
Saturday,
November 21st
THRIFT SHOP OPEN
8:30AM – 2:30PM
Wednesdays & Fridays
Here at Pilgrim
Church
10AM – 3PM
(Will be open Fair DaySat., November 21st
8:30AM-2:30PM)
Come do Christmas shopping,
stop by our Baking Table and
pick up a pie for Thanksgiving,
look through the books for
something good to read, take a
chance on our lovely fair quilt
for only $1.
Then stop by the kitchen for a
hamburger or bowl of Bill
LeBlanc’s
famous
Clam
Chowder then head over to the
pie table for dessert!
Take a chance at the Penny
Raffle table to win a 32” flat
screen TV.
Santa Claus will be here to have
your picture taken with!!
Looking for outside Christmas
lights to use as decorations for
the fair. Would like to decorate
the outside of the church with
white LED lights. See Kathy if
you questions. Thank you!
As an added treat this year, the
Merrimack Valley Flute Choir
will be playing at 11AM on fair
day.
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
FAIR NEWS
It’s time to start gearing up
for our annual Heritage
Fair. This year will be our
117th fair.
It’s
because
of
the
wonderful people here at
Pilgrim Church that our
fairs are the success they
are. And why they are a
part of the community life
here in Nashua and
surrounding towns.
Your help is needed in the
following area to make this
year’s fair another success
for Pilgrim Church.
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Coco
Coco-Cola items:
Real Coke
items, t-shirts, blankets, towels,
red & white snacks, little coke
bottles filled with Coke
FAIR
IR QUILT
QUI TO BE
RAFFLED
Anything
towels,
“Dash of Orient”
Minion:
blankets,
Snacks, Twinkies, cookies, crafts,
cand
candy, books
Polar Express: The Polar Express
DVD, book, bells, ornaments etc.
Starbucks basket:
coffee, gift card
mug, tea,
Thanksgiving basket: peanuts,
chocolate, towels, candles, mugs,
Flower basket: new flower
scented lotions, soaps or candies
Tickets are $1 each or six
tickets for $5
If anyone can help me with these
items that would be great or any
ideas of your own, please bring
your donations to the church
labeled “basket table”.
See either Kathy or Holly for
tickets.
Please call/text Kelly Carr with
any questions at 320-4769. Or
feel free to email me at
kellyecarr@comcast.net
kellyecarr@comcast.net. Thank
you so much!!!
APPLE PIE WORKSHOP
BAKSETS
There will be an Apple Pie
workshop
on
Sunday,
th
November 8
following
worship.
All help is
welcome!
Kelly Carr, Chair of the Basket
Table at the Fair has some great
new ideas for baskets this year.
A tishet-A tasket the fair needs
your baskets. We are always in
need of baskets and items to fill
them. Some fun items she is
hoping to collect for this year’s
fair are:
BOOKS, DVD’S & CD’S
Our Book Table will include
CD’s and DVD’s. So look
through your books, CD’s
and DVD’s and bring in any
that you would like to
donate towards this table.
There are sign-up sheets in
Fellowship Hall for Frozen
Apple Pies, $9 a pie, Apple
Dumplings (2 Dumplings) $5
and Apple Crips $5 a pan.
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
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PENNY RAFFLE
Looking for new items (not used).
Suggestions:
$20 gift certificate to one
of your favorite
restaurants or stores
• a box of fancy chocolates,
• grocery store gift
certificate,
• children’s toys
• gift certificate to Barnes &
Noble
• Gas Card
• Gift certificate to
Christmas Tree Shop,
Target, Kohl’s & Walmart
• Gift certificate to Dunkin
Donuts, Starbucks Coffee,
Wendy’s, Home Depot or
Lowes
• Legos
Not sure what to donate, see
Holly Pare’ or Kathy.
•
CANDY TABLE
JEWELRY TABLE
Is it time to clean out your jewelry
box and don’t know what to do
with the jewe
jewelry you just don’t
wear anymore? Donate it to our
Jewelry Table at the fair. All
donations can be left with Kathy
in the Church Office. Deadline for
accepting jewelry is November
1st.
BAKING TABLE
PILGRIM LADIES
PLANT TABLE
Rowena Carr is the Chair of
our Plant Table. She is
looking for house plants in all
shapes and sizes to sell.
Plants must be in pots and
healthy. Questions: Call
Rowena at 424-8484.
Looking
for
homemade
candies,, different kinds of
fudge, buck eye candy, peanut
brittle, etc. Remember to bring
in your leftover Halloween
candy to give to Sandy!
Questions
see
Sandy
McClarren 883-9245.
883
Pilgrim Ladies will have a
Christmas Village at the fair.
Christmas ornaments, table
runners, baby blankets, aprons,
etc. If you would like to donate
to this table, talk with Beverly
Cowan 672-8248.
The Baking Table would
appreciate
any
and
all
contributions. Cookies, breads,
cakes, bars and pies (small
ones are popular). Please
remember to label items that
have nuts or almond extract in
them.
Questions see Lorna Deluca or
Erin Schaick.
More details and where help
is needed with the fair will be
coming. Watch your weekly
Sunday bulletin & emails.
“It’s beginning to look
a lot like fair time,
everywhere you look!”
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
TAKE-OUT FAIR
DINNER
You can purchase a
Chicken Parm dinner to
take home after the fair.
The cost is $8.50 per
dinner. Either sign-up on
the sign-up sheet in
Fellowship Hall or call the
church office to get your
name on the list for dinner.
882-1801.
PRAYER LIST
The family of Sandy McClarren.
Her sister passed away recently.
Charlie Alfred – Friend of Mark
Maris
Marjorie Bryant at Aynsley Place
Gord
Donald Hayes
Nancy Hazen – Sister of Lee
Bowley
Joan Hodge – Sister of Nancy
Grant
Edith Holmes – At Courville
Roberta Lawson – Friend of Gail
Miller
Mark L’Ecuyer – Peggy’s son
Bill Marshall – At Nashua
Crossings
Jack Marshall – At Nashua
Crossings
Michelle Morency – Friend of Gail
Miller
Naomi – Friend of Gail Miller
Robert Schleicher
Bob Smith – Cousin of Gail Miller
Louis Spaulding
Trudy – For good health
Keep in your prayers our people
who are in the military
World Community Day
Friday, November 6, 2015
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Our Journey Together
Nashua Area Church Women
United will celebrate World
Community Day on Friday,
November 6th at Christ the King
Lutheran Church, 3 Lutheran
Drive, Nashua, with fellowship and
refreshments at 9:30AM and the
service at 10:15AM.
Each of us begins our faith journey
from a different place, but Christ
calls us to join with other Christians
into a unified community and
journey together. Join us as we
study the scripture that leads us to
this union.
All women are invited to come and
share in this cel
celebration.
For
information
contact
Bobbie
Knickerbocker, CWU President at
579
579-0603.
November 14th – Dick & Helen
Wheeler
Pictures
Picture from around
the church
Wednesday Thrift Shop Crew
November 7th – Greg Carr
November 14th – Rev. Melinda
November 15th – Tancrede
LaMontagne
November 25th – Keith Crouse
November 30th – Holly Pare’
Carlos and his friend from the
Orange Auction
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
Decorated Pumpkin done by
Alice LeBlanc
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Friday Thrift Shop Crew
PILGRIM HAPPENINGS | Issue #
Pilgrim
Happenings
4 Watson Street
Nashua, New Hampshire
03064
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