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First Church Messenger First Church was gathered in 1685 September 2019
“The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samu-el said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.” Samuel 3:10-11
First Church Next: Making your Ears tingle
The Spirit of God is speaking to the boy Samuel in the Temple. In a back and forth of comic proportions, Samuel wakes up the Old Priest Eli thinking that he’s calling for him. After the third time it finally dawns on Eli that God must be calling Samuel. He instructs the boy about proper God etiquette: When God speaks you listen and expect ears to tingle!
God etiquette hasn’t changed since the moment God called Samuel to prophe-cy. Ministry is really about listening. It’s not the place of the church to ask God to bless our plans and agendas. Seldom if ever does that cause a tingling ear. Oh no, ministry is keeping up with what God is doing in and through our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What’s next for First Church? We’re listening and waiting. Now waiting on the Lord does not mean that we sit on our hands or twiddle our thumbs. No, we have work to do to help cultivate our souls. We have been working and preparing towards that end and here are just a few undertakings in the season to come:
The Future Horizon’s Society is up and running
Prudential has initiated a Strategic Planning Team
Safe Church continues to evaluate and recommend policies and procedures for church security
The Deacons will review our Sunday Morning ministry to assure our offer-ings
are relevant to our needs today.
Wednesday mornings and monthly Men’s Groups resume
Rev. Jami is beginning a women’s ministry
The Empty Nest Fellowship kicks off in September
Rev. Ken’s confirmation class and Youth ministry is gearing up to go
The weekly Vesper service, Monday morning Bible Study, Friday Night at the Movies are coming back.
You can count on our excellent Christian Education for our children, out- standing music and choirs, and energized outreach to help us grow in Word and Deed.
I’m confident that the ministries above in addition to so many others offered in faith for the sake of our members and the church at large will make “our ears tingle” as The Spirit of God calls us into First Church Next.
In Service and Anticipation,
Rev. Andy
Men’s Retreat: Falling Upward
The Wednesday Morning Men’s Group is hosting a retreat at Rolling Ridge Retreat Center in Andover, MA from November 8th through 10th. The retreat begins with dinner on Friday at 6 PM and concludes after lunch on Sunday.
Our time together will include con-versation around “Falling Upward” written by Richard Rohr. It’s an ex-cellent study on the challenges and opportunities we face in the two halves of our lives. There will be plenty of time to walk the grounds, read, and relax. The cost for Twin rooms is $280 which is all inclusive. Please indicate your attendance at Sign-up Central and make checks payable to First Church. Please di-rect your questions to Rev. Andy.
Men’s Ministries to Begin Fall Schedule
The mid-week men’s group will begin on Wednesday, September 18 at 8:00 AM in the parlor, adjacent to Fellowship Hall. Led by Rev. Andy, the group meets for coffee, fellow-ship and topical discussions. This year’s theme: Conversation about Faith and Culture.
The men’s monthly fellowship, led by Rev. Ken will begin on Thurs-day, September 12 at 7:00 PM (location TBD) . It will meet on the second Thursday of the month. This group includes engaging speakers, outings, and good food.
In both ministries, knowledge of the Bible is not expected. The relation-ships we build are as important as what we learn. Sign up at Sign-up Central.
First Church of Nashua United Church of Christ 1 Concord St., Nashua, NH 03064
Sunday Worship: 8:30 & 10:00 AM Sunday School & Child Care: 10:00 AM
Rev. Dr. Andrew W. Armstrong, Sr. Minister Rev. Ken McGarry, Associate Minister Rev. Jami D. Boyle, Associate Minister
Joseph R. Olefirowicz, CAGO, Minister of Music Diane Matthes, Coordinator of Christian Education Dianne Smigliani, Business & Marketing Manager
Sue Englander, Secretary/Receptionist Bruce Lund, Sexton
—————— Pastors Emeriti:
Rev. James S. Chaloner Rev. Dr. Jeffrey C. Evans
Office Hours: Monday thru Friday:
9:00 AM - Noon and 1:00 - 4:00 PM Sunday:
8:00 – 10:00 AM & 11:00 AM – Noon Telephone: 603-882-4861
On the web: www.firstchurchnashua.org
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All Boards meet on Monday, Sep-tember 9. The evening begins with worship at 7:00 PM in the sanctuary
The Men’s Munchers meet on the first Tuesday of the month at noon. The group will dine at Common Man, 304 D.W. Hwy., Merrimack on September 3. All men of the church and their guests are welcome. Contactthe church office with any questions.
The In-Reach Committee meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in the library, in the Walker Building.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry is looking for new members. Contact the office with for more information about getting involved with the group.
The Bible, Friends, and Coffee Bible Study begins on September 9 and meets every Monday (except on holidays), 9:30-11:00 AM in room 15, in the Walker Building. The dis-cussion group is facilitated by Rev. Andy, Rev. Ken and Rev. Jami. No sign-up is required. If you have a Bible, bring it; if not, one will be supplied for you.
Baptism - Any adult desir ing to be baptized or to have their child bap-tized is asked to call the church office to schedule an appointment with one of the pastors.
Membership - An informational meeting will be held on Sunday, Oc-tober 6 for those interested in learn-ing more about the church and be-coming a member of our faith com-munity. Contact the church office for more details.
Rev. Ken holds Drop-in Hours on Wednesdays, from 1:30 –3:30 PM at the Riverwalk Café beginning Sep-tember 11. Join him for casual con-versation.
Hospitalizations - If you or a fami-ly member is hospitalized, please contact the church office.
Help Keep our Records Current. If you have a change of name, ad-dress, phone number or email ad-dress please let the church office know.
Visit our website at www.tfcucc.org to view all the activ-ities and events going on at First Church. If you would like to receive notification that the newsletter has been posted, sign up at the bottom of the “newsletter” page. If you wish to go paperless, please notify Sue Englander to have your name re-moved from the mailing list. Feel free to contact Sue with any other questions or suggestions. Find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/FirstChurchNashua
E-mail the staff at: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
THE OCTOBER NEWSLETTER DEADLINE:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9. PLEASE SEND ITEMS TO SUE ENGLANDER. THANK YOU.
Sympathy is extended to: Erin Almeda on the death of her mother, Patricia Phelan on May 26; Jim and Sambo Downs and family on the death of their son and brother, Spen-cer, on June 1; Joyce Young on the death of her mother, Beverly, on June 6; Bill Corbett on the death of his father, Phil, on June 12; the friends and family of Carolyn Mul-rooney, who died on June 16; Curt Potter on the death of his brother, in July; the family of Donald Mellor who died on August 7; Kathy Hall, Heather Blondin, and Andy Hall on the death of Norman on August 20; Robert Sudsbury on the death of his mother, Jean, on August 21
09/05 Chris Walker 09/14 Paul Lamont 09/16 Martha Anderson 09/20 Chris Guild 09/23 Klavs Salgals 09/25 Sheila Latham
Stay Connected
with e-News
Do you want to keep up-to-date on sermon topics, events and activities at First Church? Sign up with Di-anne Smigliani or on our website to receive First Church e-News. In-cluded will be information on up-coming sermons, choirs and guest musicians, Christian Education news, brunches, classes and events.
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First Church Women Visit Russian Icon Museum
On Sunday August 4th Rev. Jami and a group of four women from First Church visited the Russian Icon Museum in Clinton, MA. It was an exquisite day. The museum is a non-profit art museum and educational institution with a col-lection of over 1,000 Russian Icons and related objects. It is the largest private collection of Russian Icons in North America. Around 180 icons are on display at any given time.
The museum was founded in 2006 by Gordon B. Lankton, a Massachusetts art collector and industrialist. The museum began with 4,000 sq. ft. then added a 3,000 sq. ft. extension which was the former Clinton District Court and Police Sta-tion. Three reconstructed inmate cells are set-up on the ground floor with video selections for visitors to view how icons are crafted.
It is said that the painting of an icon is a very spiritual experience, sometimes enabling people to enter a deep meditative state of being. Icons are considered “the Gospel in paint,” regarded as holy objects, and sometimes believed to cause miracles to fortunate venerators. Icons were a part of the Orthodox Church tradition that Russia committed to in 988 CE and used for veneration in the Orthodox tradition. The art of icons derives from Byzantine art. Icons are usually painted on wood and sometimes copper.
When the First Church women visited the museum “Wrestling with Angels” was the current special exhibition which consists of 46 contemporary icons painted by 16 artists from the Prosopon School of Iconology. That exhibit will be on through October 20th. The museum is free and open to the public from 11AM to 5PM the first Sunday of each month and is closed on Mondays.
I do hope you get to visit. Finally, I would like to thank Flo Lund for her research on the museum, which I shared with the ladies on August 4th and included here in this Newsletter article. It takes a church to raise a village!
Museum website: https://www.museumofrussianicons.org
Rev. Jami
Debra Courville, Jocelyn Henning, Dawn Bosserman, Joyce Potter, and Rev. Jami
“Mother of God of the Three Hands,” circa 1890. Painted in honor of St. John of Damascus, 8th century writer and iconographer who defended the use of icons during a Byzantine Empire period of iconoclasm. St. John had his hand cut off as punishment for his support. It is said St. John prayed to another icon of The Mother of God and awoke the next morning with his hand fully restored!
Joyce Potter observing the current special exhibit “Wrestling With Angels”
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New Fellowship Group Offers Support
Has your child/children moved out of the home or are about to? Wheth-er they’re off to college, entering the work force or military; when our child/children move on that can be a profound adjustment. The Empty Nest Fellowship is a group that will provide fellowship, leaning and spir-itual support for the journey. This monthly fellowship will meet on the third Thursday of the month on a semester basis. Below is the line-up for the fall. Sign up on line or at Sign-up Central.
September 19, 7 PM, hosted by Dianne Smigliani: Acknowledging our feelings and finding a way for-ward.
October 17, 7 PM, Nashua Coun-try Club: Re-calibrating our parent-ing role. They still need us but in a new way.
November 21, 7 PM, in the dining room: Guest speaker Dr . Cal Gen-zel: Looking at the Empty Nest from the other perspective---What are our young people going through?
December 19, 7 PM, location TBD: Coming home for the holi-days and Christmas Party.
Thrift Shop to Open on October 3
The Thrift Shop will open for the season on Thursday, October 3, 2019. The shop will be open on Thursdays, October through May from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. We need your support to keep the shop going. Here is a list of the items we need:
boys’ and girls’ clothing up to size 14 baby clothes women’s clothing, all sizes (jeans, pants, sweaters, shirts, suits, dresses,
fall and winter jackets and coats, scarves)
costume jewelry pocket books and accessories small knick knacks
PLEASE, PLEASE - FALL AND WINTER CLOTHING ONLY!!!
Clothing that is clean and neatly folded in boxes or hung on hangers is greatly appreciated by the volunteers who sort and price the clothing.
Donations may be left in the marked bin in the courtyard lobby between the hours of 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday, or on Sunday.
Spring and summer clothing and shoes may be taken to the Salvation Army.
Volunteers are needed to work in the shop a few hours a month. For more in-formation, call the church office at 8824861. All the money collected is used to support outreach in the Nashua communi-ty. Thank you for your support.
Women’s Association Plans Fall Outing
The Women’s Association is offer-ing a trip to the renowned Currier Art Museum in Manchester on Sat-urday, October 12. We are so fortu-nate to have this wonderful treasure so close by.
We will all meet in the church park-ing lot at 10:15 AM on that Saturday morning, and we will carpool to Manchester. Admission to the mu-seum is free that day if we arrive by noon. There will be a Shaker exhib-it that day for all of us to enjoy. The Museum café will be our first stop for a delicious lunch of your choice (very reasonably priced). Our guid-ed tour of the facility will begin at 1:00 PM, after which we can browse through the unique gift shop. This will be a wonderful excursion in the midst of New Hampshire’s fall foli-age beauty.
Sign up at Sign-up Central. Call
the church office if you would like more information.
Friday Night at the Movies Returns
Join us for our ongoing series of movie nights in the church dining room at 7:00 PM on the fourth Fri-day night of each month. At each, we will enjoy a film together fol-lowed by a brief discussion about the relationship of the film or some of its themes to our faith. Popcorn will be provided. Bring a snack or beverage to share.
September 27: Amazing Grace: Aretha Franklin
October 25: Signs
November 22: Groundhog Day
Chapel Vespers
to Resume
Chapel Vespers will begin on Tues-day September 17, 7:30– 8:00 PM, and will continue every Tuesday evening through November 19 in Shaw Chapel. Revs. Andy, Ken, and Jami will share this ministry and bring their own approach to each gathering. Services will vary week to week, but most will include scrip-ture, meditation, a simple message, prayer, silence, music, and an invita-tion to healing. No need to sign up, we’ll be there. Come as you are and feel free to bring a friend.
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News From In-Reach
In-Reach welcomes back our church family to another full year of activi-ties and fun surprises for our congre-gation! The main purpose of the In-Reach committee is to reach in to our con-gregation and provide activities for inclusion and the making of new friends. This coming year In-Reach hopes to mix up fellowship time a bit with some mixer activities and still allow you time to talk with old friends. Stay tuned!! New Member Orientation: In-Reach will support our first new member orientation of the church year on October 6, with joining on October 20. If you are visiting our church, want to know more about who we are and what UCC stands for or would just like to meet with our ministers and other folks who are thinking of joining, please call the church office to sign up. We will provide child care if you need it and there will be coffee and a snack while we share stories and learn. New Event: One of our new effor ts this year will be to introduce contra dancing to the congregation. It is SO fun, easy to learn, no partner needed and is full of laughs! To see how many are interested, we are going to plan an event for October 25 at the Milford Town Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. If we garner enough interest, then we will plan a contra dance at our church in the spring. If you have ever square danced, it is similar to that! Rev. Jami and her husband, Jon, love to contra dance and will be there to support us and also, to dance! We will put a sign-up sheet at Sign-up Central in early October. Look forward to a very enjoyable evening!! Any questions, please call the church office at 8824861.. Also, if anyone in our church family has other group activity ideas, please let us know. Look for the sheet at Sign-Up Central. Welcome back one and all!!
June 2019 New Member bios:
Rev. Dr. Dennis Bailey was born and grew up in Maryland. He grad-uated from the University of Mary-land majoring in Sociology. Dennis attended Andover Newton Theologi-cal School and received a Masters in Divinity in 1974. He served a church in Jamaica Plain, MA from 1974-1990. He then was called to Billerica in 1990, followed by a call to The Centre Congregation Church in Lynnfield, MA until he retired in 2016. Dennis was married in semi-nary, which later ended. He became partners with Linda Hey, a member of our congregation! They have a foster daughter, CarNen, and an adopted son who died at age 45. He has a granddaughter who lives in Georgia and 2 great grandchildren. He loves backpacking, and has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. During his career he met up with “our” Andy who supported him on his 1997 bike trip across the country. Dennis has run 3 Boston Marathons. Seems he is a good partner for Rev. Andy and his physical feats! Dennis loves to go to Maine and spend time with family. Dennis said that the church has always been important to him and his family of origin, as he grew up in the UCC faith and never looked back!! Welcome Rev. Dr. Dennis Bailey!
Monique Shea was raised in Man-chester. She graduated from UNH and became a nurse. She worked at The Eliot Hospital. She was married to James, who passed away 3 years ago. She has two sons- Brian, who lives in Chelmsford, MA and has two children; Kevin lives in Salem, NH. Her hobbies include knitting, quilting and reading. She says her life is nonstop, here, there and every-where!! Glad to have you join us Monique.
Susan Greene was born and grew up in Arlington, VA. She attended Rice University and graduated as an electrical engineer. Susan moved to New England for work in medical and networking equipment. She has worked for HP, Digital, Cisco and Del. Susan had 3 children – Benja-min, 29; Matthew, 27; Anna, 24; and one stepson. After this career, Susan
went back to school to become an RN and works at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. After writing software for 35 years she decided she wanted to work with people!! She enjoys long distance cycling, playing the violin and has a 1-year old golden retriever! Wel-come Susan!
Save the Date for the Christmas Craft Fair
November 1 and 2, 2019
The fair committee has been busy all summer preparing for the upcoming fair. The committee welcomes your assistance. Below are some ways you can help.
Homemade food items - If you prepare preserves and pickled vegetables this summer, consid-er making some extra to donate to the fair. These types of items are always popular with fair-goers. Contact the office for more information.
Silent Auction Donations Rebecca Small is the coordinator of the silent auction this year. For more information, or to make a donation, call the church office.
The Craft Group will meet on September 11 and 25 and Oc-tober 9 and 23 at 4:00 PM in the dining room. Crafters of all abilities are welcome! Con-tact the office for more
information.
New-to-you Christmas items are being accepted. Bring your donations to the church and leave them on the window sill near the elevator
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News from Outreach
Family Promise It takes the effort of hundreds of ded-icated people to change our commu-nity. The Family Promise staff, Board members, congregations, and volunteers all provide valuable ser-vice that impacts the lives of the fam-ilies we serve. These donations of time, talent, and treasure mean the world to us and we are incredibly grateful for their support. Here are some statistics about just how successful the Family Promise is! 100% Parent Employment
All of our parents are employed, with 90% elevating their career mobility while in residence.
86% Remain Self-Sufficient We focus on permanent, sustain-able solutions so families never again experience homelessness.
Credit Scores....Up! Our parents raise their credit scores an average of 120 points and 50% of our graduates qualify for mortgages.
$10,000 That’s the average savings of a graduate family after 12 months of saving 70% of their disposable income.
Over 900 Individuals That’s how many people we serve in a year and a half, either through residency in our program or through diversion and preven-tion case management to prevent families from becoming home-less at all.
Child Welfare Improvement 73% of our school-aged children demonstrated improved grades or increased their participation in social activities or sports.
94% It is well documented that home-less children experience much greater incidence of stress than their peers. 94% of the children in our program showed improve-ment in their emotional and men-tal well-being through engage-ment in our family education pro-grams.
Volunteer Service There’s nothing more motivating than someone who has been there before you. 40% of our graduate families return in ser-vice as volunteers and role-models for our current families.
If you would like to learn more about being a volunteer, please contact the church office.
Amazing Nashua Clue Race
On September 21st, Family Promise will be holding the Amazing Nashua Clue Race! More difficult than an Escape Room, more challenging than a Scavenger Hunt, this race will test each team to solve clues quickly and accurately. Each solved clue leads to the next location, 10 clues/locations in all. The team with the most correct clues in the least time wins! Competitors will challenge their friendship and each other to solve the clues. Each team is com-prised of 4 people in one car. The race starts at 1 PM and will end around 4 PM with a party!
They can accommodate just 30 teams in this challenge, so we are giving our supporting congregations the first opportunity to participate. At just $300/team, this will be an incredible afternoon of fun and com-petition. To register your team, visit http://bit.ly/2YxBHkg.
Back to School Backpacks Thanks very much to all the people who donated school supplies and backpacks to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter Backpack Program. This year 14 volunteers checked supplies and stuffed each backpack in little over an hour. We sent 57 full backpacks for elementary through high school stu-dents that included pencils, note-books, scissors, glue, paper, hi light-ers, stapler, binders, calculators, lunch boxes, etc. A special thanks to Jack Atkinson, Pete Tucker, and Mary Beth and Joe Glajch whose many donations brought us up and over 50 backpacks this year. It is a
great team effort helping the NSKS give about 2000 backpacks to stu-dents to start school with all the sup-plies needed. CROP Walk
This year's Nashua CROP Hunger Walk is on Sun-day October 27th.
The First Church team page is set up on line:
https://www.crophungerwalk.org/nashuanh/FirstChurch
Folks can go to that link to sign up to join our team and walk or to make a donation. They can make a pledge to the whole team, or towards an individual walker on the team. Con-tact Sarah Creaney with any ques-tions at [email protected] or 603-921-1009.
United We Sleep to End Hunger and Homelessness
September 20-21, 2019
Nashua Community College Amherst Street
United Way of Greater Nashua is holding a sleepout on September 20-21. Help those who are homeless in the greater Nashua area. Sleep out in a cardboard box or make a donation. Rev. Andy and Peter Chaloner are looking for folks to sleep out in sup-port of this effort. If you would like
to sleep out, contact the church office For more information on the event, go to www.tinyurl.com/uws2019. This is a United Way of Greater Nashua event.
Fill the Box with Socks As part of the Sleepout, socks will be collected and given to various area agencies and the school district for homeless youth. Socks are the #1 needed item in local shelters. They can be warm, wooly socks, dress socks or kid’s socks. A laun-dry basket labeled “Fill the Box with Socks” will be located at the Out-reach Booth in Fellowship Hall for drop-off of socks prior to September 20.
Thank you all for your kindness and generosity.
Christian Education Corner
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Rally Sunday Events Sunday School Schedule for Rally Day
Sunday school begins again on Rally Sunday, September 8. Children age 3 through Grade 12 are invited to attend worship at 10 AM in the sanctuary with their parents. The nursery opens for infants, toddlers and two-year-olds at 9:45 and is available throughout the worship service.
Following the re-covenanting ceremony, children 3 years old through 8th grade and teachers will leave for their classes. All parents are asked to meet their children at their classrooms after the service. See related ar ticles for infor -mation on specific classes.
Rally Day Cookout Everyone is invited to join in the fun at the annual Rally Day cookout after the 10 AM service on Sunday, September 8. Please bring a large side dish or salad to share. The Christian Education Board will provide hot dogs, burgers and
beverages.
Rally Day is a great homecoming when Sunday school, youth groups, choirs, church boards, Bible studies and other church programs kick off the new program year. The barbecue is a chance to greet friends old and new and enjoy lunch together. Don’t miss this! Again, please bring a big salad or side dish to share so there will be plenty to go around.
Nursery News The nursery resumes its regular schedule on Sunday, Sep-tember 1 with Sambo Downs, Heather Nault, Alison Dill-man, and Tania Vera at the helm. These Nursery Coordina-tors, along with a team of dedicated caregivers, are ready to lavish attention on the youngest members of the First Church family.
If you are new to First Church, you will find the nursery di-rectly under the sanctuary. Parents are asked to stop at the sign-in counter where you will be greeted by one of the coor-dinators and asked to sign your name. You and your child will receive bracelets with matching numbers which will be matched up when you return for your child at the end of wor-ship. You are asked to leave a cell phone number, so that you may be notified immediately if your child needs you. You are welcome to stay with your child as long as you like. Be sure to tell the adult volunteer anything they should know about your child (allergies, special words, toys, etc.) and mark all possessions (and your child!) with the child’s name.
We ask that you register your child so that he/she becomes part of the Christian Education program, progressing from the nursery to Sunday school, confirmation and youth activi-ties as he/she grows.
Sunday School Registration If you are new to First Church, you will find Sunday school registration forms at the Christian Education Corner in Fel-lowship Hall, in the Sunday school office, or by calling the church office, 882-4861. If you registered your child for Sunday school anytime since 2002, there is no need to regis-ter again this year unless there has been a change in any in-formation that the CE office should have.
Sunday School Schedule Sunday school classes for children age 3 through grade 8 meet each Sunday, September 8 through June 14 with the exception of December 22-29, Easter Sunday and Memorial Day weekend when there is NO Sunday School. 11:15 AM
All classes end. Children in Grade 2 and under are dismissed when
a parent picks them up at their classrooms. Children in Grades 3-8 should know exactly where
to meet their parents after class. If worship ends before 11:15, please enjoy coffee
and fellowship before coming to the Walker Building so that classes are not disturbed.
After 11:15 AM
If parents are unavoidably delayed after worship, teachers may bring children to the Sunday school office. If your children are not in the classroom, come to the office on the second floor of the Walker Building.
If you know you will be late, please arrange for another responsible adult to meet your child and let the teacher know who that person is.
A diagram of the classrooms is included in the wor-ship bulletin on Rally Day.
Any questions or comments may be directed to Diane Matthes, Coordinator of Christian Education.
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Sunday School Staff Orientation
Orientation for all Sunday school lead and assistant teachers takes place on Thursday, September 5, 6:30-8:15 PM, in the Shaw Chapel.
The session includes planning with teammates. It is vital that all Sunday school teaching staff attend this meeting. If you absolutely cannot attend, be sure to contact Diane Mat-thes ahead of time. The schedule for the evening includes:
6:30: Orientation 7:00: Team Meetings
Send in Those New College Addresses
The Christian Education Board likes to keep in touch with the First Church young people who have gone away to college and your help is needed.
Please call the church office or email [email protected] with any change of address for your sons or daughters.
On October 20, the MAD service group will pack and mail Halloween care packages to all college students, provided their correct addresses have been updated. Do not delay; get that address in now.
Remember! Packages are not au-tomatically sent to last year’s ad-dress; you MUST call or email to verify or change the address be-fore each mailing in October and in February.
Save the Date for PRETZELS The Sunday school students will be making pretzels on Sunday, March 8, 2020.
Nursery Caregivers Needed
Adult volunteers are needed to join the team of caregivers in the nursery. Volunteers serve on teams, rotating on duty every sixth Sunday. If you are not available when it's your turn in the nursery, you simply email the list of other volunteers to trade dates or arrange for a substitute. Alison Dillman, Heather Nault, Sambo Downs, Tania Vera and the CE of-fice are on hand to help you with scheduling.
If you would like to spend some quality time with the youngest mem-bers of our church family, and are a member, or have been a friend for 6 or more months contact Diane Mat-thes at [email protected] or 882-4861.
For your child’s safety, all teachers and adult nursery workers will have a background check done before they can work with children.
Heifer Update
Through the efforts of the MAD class, the money collected from the students of the Sunday school and the congregation we raised $940 -enough money to purchase the fol-lowing Heifer animals.
1 Heifer 2 pigs 1 flock of chickens 1 hive of bees 1 llama
Congratulations to all of you for a job well done. Your good work will help so many families for years to come. We are all so proud of you!
BASKETBALL
First Church needs a basketball coach so that we may once again join the YMCA Church League. If you have any interest in taking on this opportunity, please let either Rev. Ken or Diane Matthes know ASAP. Games start the first of De-cember and paperwork needs to be in before Thanksgiving. Students that are eligible to play are all boys and girls in 7th grade and 13 years of age through seniors up to age 18.
Sunday School for Age 3 through Grade 2 The younger Sunday school classes work with an innovative curriculum called Worship Center. Worship Center is a Montessori-derived pro-gram of worship and Bible stories that encourages children to explore religion and God at their own pace. Each room is a worship center that children learn to cherish and recog-nize as sacred. Over time they not only learn the stories of the Bible, but also the rhythm and meaning of worship. The children worship in their rooms. They have music, sto-ries, offering, prayer and snack (called “feast”) in their worship cen-ter. On the first and third Sundays of each month, they spend some of their class time in the Shaw Chapel singing with Steve Blunt.
Parents are encouraged to be in-volved by signing up to be the “Parent of the Day” who provides a simple snack and drink and helps in the class that one day. Each child has a turn to be the “Child of the Day” when her/his parents are there. Look for sign-up sheets outside of each room. By taking your turn two or three times throughout the year, you will learn more about this pro-gram. Grandparents, aunts or uncles can also be the Parent of the Day.
Sunday School for Grades 3-5 Students and teachers in grades 3-5 use the Chronicle Curriculum. Chronicle follows a 3-year cycle through the Bible, with an emphasis on learning to read, interpret and understand the Bible. Some of the Bible lessons for the 2019- 2020 cy-
cle include Bible Heroes, Faith in Action and the Miracles of Jesus.
MAD (Makes A Difference) for Grades 7-8 Sunday school for grades 7-8 is planned as a pre-confirmation expe-rience, providing a format to discuss and act upon lessons learned in Sun-day school as well as a time to pre-pare for the intensive confirmation class. MAD meets during the regular
Sunday school time each Sun-day, except the first Sunday of the month when they remain in church for communion.
MAD focuses on mission and service to others, with intentional reflection on Christian service. Activities in-clude the popular apple picking and baking, as well as projects for the Front Door Agency and NSKS. Stu-dents gather in Room 9 following the Children’s Message.
On Rally Day, students in all classes worship in the sanctuary with their families, leaving after the Covenant-ing Service.
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Hot Apple Crisp!
The MAD class will be selling fresh-ly made (in our kitchen) apple crisp on Sunday, September 22. All pro-ceeds benefit the mission trips.
Youth Programs for 2019-2020
The First Church has active Junior and Senior High fellowship groups led by Rev. Ken McGarry and a team of energetic, caring, well-trained adults from the congrega-tion. Fellowship, worship, outreach, and educational activities and pro-grams are designed to encourage the development and deepening of con-nections between youth and God, one another, adults and children in the congregation, and the world around them.
JUNIOR HIGHERS
MAD (Makes a Difference) for seventh and eighth graders meets throughout the school year during the Sunday School time of the 10 AM worship service for a combina-tion of classes, service projects, and fellowship. The group has great fun and grows closer together while learning about their faith and serving others. Here are the dates for 2019-2020 school year:
September 8, 15, 22, and 29; October 6, 13, 20, and 27; November 10, 17, and 24; December 8 and 15 (Pageant Sun-day); January 12, 19, and 26; February 9, 16, and 23; March 8, 15, 22, and 29 (Youth Sun-day); April 5, 19, and 26; May 10, 17, and 31
Note: MAD students will have a class session to learn about commun-ion on October 6; on other commun-ion Sundays (the first Sunday of each month), students remain in the sanctuary with their families or teacher for the entirety of the wor-ship service to receive communion.
Junior High Youth Group meets on various weekend days throughout the year for fellowship. Youth are encouraged to invite their non-member friends to join in on the fun! Below are the activities and dates for the 2019-2020 school year. More information and sign-up instructions will be sent to families of junior highers via mail and email, will be posted on the church website, and can be found at Christian Educa-
tion Corner in Fellowship Hall. Burgers and Bowling, Saturday,
November 16, 12:00 – 4:00 PM Pats Peak Trip, Saturday, Febru-
ary 8, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Funtagious Fun Center Trip,
Saturday, April 18, 12:00 – 5:00 PM
HIGH SCHOOLERS
Senior High Youth Group meets on select Sundays throughout the school year at 11:30 AM, for fun-filled times of friendship, food, and frolicking. Activities focus on help-ing our teens connect with one an-other and serve the world around them. Below are the activities and dates for the 2019-2020 school year. More information and sign-up instructions will be sent to families of senior highers via mail and email, will be posted on the church web-site, and can be found at Christian Education Corner in Fellowship Hall.
Apple Picking at Brookdale Farm, September 15, 11:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Cornhole Tournament, Septem-ber 29, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
PumpkinPalooza – pumpkin carving and decorating contest, October 20, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Bowling at Leda Lanes, Novem-ber 3, 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Title 1 Preschool Thanksgiving Meal Prep, November 24, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Operation Elf – present shop-ping and scavenger hunt, De-cember 15, 11:30 AM – 4:00 PM
Chili Cook-off and Anne-Marie House Meal Prep, February 2, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Movie Day in the Fireside Room, March 1, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Meatloaf Express, May 17, 11:30 AM–1:00 PM
Mini-golf at Max’s Country Golf, May 31, 11:30 AM-3:00 PM
Nashua River Canoeing Trip, June 14, 11:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Confirmation is a year -long pro-gram for those in grade nine and over who wish to explore their faith; learn more about God, the Bible, the church, and Christian traditions; and become full members of First Church. The group usually meets in the Fireside Room from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM on one or two Sundays each month. Participants will also experience an overnight retreat and community service activities. Here are the dates for the 2019-2020 con-firmation program: September 8 and 22; October 5-6 (retreat) and 27 (Crop Walk); November 17; Decem-ber 8; January 12; February 9; March 8 and 22; April 5 and 19; and May 17 (Confirmation Sunday).
Additional 2019-2020 School Year Activity Dates for Senior Highers:
Youth Sunday: March 29
Senior Recognition Sun-day: May 10
Confirmation Class of 2021 In-formational Breakfast: June 7, 2020 at 8:30 AM
Summer Mission Trip: June 27- July 4
All youth are encouraged to par -ticipate in programs and activities designed specifically for them, but our greater hope is that senior high-ers join with their families and friends in participating in church-wide fellowship, outreach, and wor-ship events. They are also encour-aged to serve as leaders in our Chris-tian Education program by teaching children’s classes, working in the nursery, and leading Vacation Bible School activities; to join or help lead our various musical ensembles; and, after completing the confirmation program, to serve as members of our church’s various boards, commit-tees, and ministry teams.
Notes from the Chancel
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MUSIC MINISTRY OPENS SEASON WITH
All-Choirs Potluck!
The Music Committee will host all choirs on TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6 at 6:30 PM for the 3rd Annual All-Choir Potluck in the dining room.
This is open to all returning and new choir members and their families. Please bring a dish to share. Bever-ages will be provided by the Music Committee.
So come on down and join together in an evening meal with your choir colleagues and friends of the Music Ministry!
We look forward to welcoming you!
Joseph R. Olefirowicz, CAGO Minister of Music _____________________________
CHOIRS BEGIN 2019-20 SEASON
We hope to see many return to our ranks, and new members are always
welcome!
Please call the Music Office for any additional information
(603) 882-4861 x15
ALL-CHURCH CHOIR (Seasonal – SATB for all)
Tuesdays Dec. 10, 17, Jan. 7 7:00-8:15pm
BELLISSIMO
(9th-12th grade bells) Contact Music Office
CHANCEL CHOIR
(10TH grade through adult) Wednesday Aug. 28 (!)
6:45-8:30pm
CHAPEL CHIMERS (Cherub – 1st Grade)
Sunday Sept. 29 9:15-9:45am
CHORAL UNION
(Seasonal – All vocal choirs) Wednesday May 6
6:45-8:30pm
DECIBELLS (10th Grade-Adult bells)
Thursday Sept. 19 7:00-8:30pm
FIRST CHAMBER (Adult Women’s SA) Thursday Sept. 12
6:30-7:30pm
FIRST FOLK (Contemporary SATB adult)
Tuesday Oct. 1 7:00-8:00pm
FIRST SCHOLA (7th-12th Grade SA) Tuesday Nov. 12
6:00-7:00pm
JOYFUL NOISE (2nd-6th grade)
Tuesday Sept. 24 5:00-6:00-pm
JUBELLATION (4th grade – adult starter)
Contact Music Office
MEN’S CHOIR (Seasonal – TTTB for all)
Tues/Thur – June 4 7:00pm
COME AND MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE!
MOST CHOIR SCHEDULES AVAILABLE ONLINE!
tfcucc.org under MUSIC
_____________________________
GOT ALTOS?
Although both the Chancel Choir and First Folk welcome new members in all vocal parts (SATB) BOTH choirs need additional ALTO sup-port. 1-2 alto voices for Folk, and 2-3+ alto voices for Chancel. Please consider coming into the ranks of either choir!
Contact the Music Office for more information. Choir Schedules for worship and rehearsals are available online at tfcucc.org under MUSIC. Look for each indi-vidual choir listing to find their sched-ules.
BELOVED ORGANIST TO OPEN
FIRST MUSIC SEASON
Our 12th season of FIRST MUSIC celebrates
“WOMEN OF MUSIC” where our mainstage offerings con-centrate on a wonderful variety of
female artists!
It is with great pleasure to announce that MARY DOLCH will be coming to The First Church to open the First Music Concert Series 2019-20 Sea-son in a tour-de-force recital that is not to be missed.
Mary is known to us, as organ ac-companist for both Christmas at First (Rutter GLORIA) and our Memorial Concert for Elizabeth Shirley (Fauré REQUIEM). Locally, she is Associ-ate Director of Chapel Music at St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hamp-shire.
This season, the entire FIRST MU-SIC concept this season concentrates on FREE ADMISSION to all five mainstage and six Fridays at First offerings.
Mark your calendars for Sunday Oc-tober 27, at 3:00pm, as FIRST MUSIC hosts this FREE opener to its 12
th Season.
Please join us in Bringing the Joy of Music to the Gate City and celebrate our Series: a jewel in the music life of Southern New Hampshire! See a separate listing in this newslet-ter about a new opportunity to help First Music remain a music outreach for all!
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AD CAMPAIGN Please help support our passion for Bringing the Joy of Music to the Gate City through a sponsorship p in our 12th Season WOMEN OF MUSIC, 2019-20 Season program!
Music Office (603) 882 4861 x15,
for more information.
SUMMER MUSIC THANKS! Thank you to all of those who en-
hanced our worship this Summer by offerings their talents in Sunday ser-vices. Whether through instruments or voices, your contribution to our worship life is greatly appreciated!
Mark Cleveland Susan Cobb
Floice “Flo” Lund Rev. Ken McGarry
Dale Neth Rhonda O’Keefe
Olivia Ostermiller Craig Plummer Nicole Plummer Pam Sturdevant Cynthia Whitney
SUMMER CHOIR Kathryn Bell
Ed Boyd Susan Cobb
Mark Cleveland Nick DeFrancesco
Marie Greene Chris Guild
Adele Langguth Bruce Lund
Janet Poisson Stephen Ostermiller
Elena Stabile Trish Stone Susan Testa
ALL ABOUT THE BELLS
This June, several members of our adult bell choir DECIBELLS, joined with two ringers from our sister church, Brookside Congregational in Manchester, to attend the Handbell Musicians of America Festival. – Multiple days of rehearsals and clas-ses rounded out the offerings of at-tendance and a massed concert of about 900 ringers closed their excit-ing time together!
In August, three of our members rang as a trio in worship, with spectacular results! Thanks to Dale Neth, Rhonda O’Keefe and Pam Sturdevant for their two offerings of music in wor-ship during our Summer Music Schedule!
LOOKING FOR NEW RINGERS
DECIBELLS is looking for new ringers, who possess basic music-reading skills and an Interest in learn-ing handbells.
MUSIC LIBRARY and OFFICE UPDATE
Kathie McIntyre, our volunteer music librarian, spent several days this summer, cataloguing inventory needed for the coming choral and bell season, and as well helped re-organize three complete file cabinet stacks of music for
Decibells Men’s Choir – TTBB
and Unison, SA, SSA and SAB
Choral files.
This enabled Joseph to help cata-logue our library further, and we are up to registering over 1,700 titles (!) in our wonderful music library.
Some select culling of old titles is beginning, as space in the library is starting to become scarce! Thank you Kathie, for all you do to keep Music at First in top shape!
In addition, Chris Guild, our volun-teer principal for all things IT and programming for the Music Minis-try, helped update the existing music office computer system to streamline efficiency and increase speed of a system used up to six times a week for planning and correspondence.
Thank you, Chris, for you continued service to Music at First!
FIRST CHAMBER FORMAT CHANGE
Choirs are a living entity, and some-times in the life of an ensemble, some changes are needed to a long-beloved format. For the moment, “First Chamber” in its current form cannot continue as a select mixed SATB Ensemble for the 19/20 Sea-son.
With some interest being expressed in having a counterpart to our Men’s Choir format, FIRST CHAMBER this season will concentrate on SA and SSA choral repertory as an adult all-female ensemble, meeting on Thursdays at 6:30pm.
The level of music will be moderate to challenging, and music-reading/choral skills from other ensembles is encouraged.
For more information contact Joe at [email protected]
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The next Family Promise
volunteer week starts September 27.
Contact the Church officeat 882-4861 for more information.
BELLS AND CHIME UPDATE
Gerry Elmer, a new member of Decibells last season, is a fantastic technician when it comes to Hand Bells and Choir Chimes.
He has spent several hours taking inventory of needed repairs and parts to both sets of instruments, and through his guidance, we have been able to make many needed repairs to our instruments used by Decibells and the Chapel Chimers.
The hope is, to transition the current set of Chimes to the Chapel Chimers and get another set of Chimes for exclusive use for the bell choirs, to ensure wear-and-tear and upkeep remains at optimal levels!
Thanks, Gerry, for all you do!
Our TOWER CHIME, finally got some love and attention this sum-mer, after transitioning away from a former service company.
Neill Carillon Service from New Jersey, spent several hours climbing and calibrating our historic Mary Park Nutt Tower Chime for optimal performance.
These historic bells from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, are in their 125th year of ser-vice to the Glory of God, at The First Church! – Soli Deo Gloria!
September 2019
Sunday September 1 12th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 AM Mark A. Cleveland, bass-baritone
Sunday September 8 13th Sunday after Pentecost
10:00 AM Chancel Choir
Sunday September 15 14th Sunday after Pentecost
8:30 AM Craig Plummer, tenor 10:00 AM Chancel Choir & Craig Plummer, tenor
Sunday September 22 15th Sunday after Pentecost
8:30 AM Organ 10:00 AM Chancel Choir, Organ
Sunday September 29 16th Sunday after Pentecost
8:30 AM First Chamber 10:00 AM First Chamber
“Sweater Weather” Sweater Recycling
Davis Funeral Home is running their annual sweater drive during the month of September. CLEAN, used sweaters in good condition or new sweaters for men, women, and chil-dren may dropped off Monday - Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM.
Collection bins are located in the foyers at the funeral home. The sweaters will be delivered to area agencies that have expressed a need for them and then will be distributed to those in need, at no charge. For more information, call 883-3401.
Thank you Project’s Water Walk
September 14, 2019 9:00 AM - Greeley Park
The Thank You Project is honored to invite First Church, Nashua to our 5th annual Water Walk. First Church has been the backbone of everything we have accomplished thus far in our humble effort to bless others with our blessings in this great coun-try. Together, we have completed two water boreholes in Nigeria, sent two students to Universities to study Medicine and Engineering respec-tively, and are poised to build our third water borehole this year. This is a testament to the good in all of us. Thank You! Please come with your friends and neighbors too. Al-so, please continue to pray for the vision and mission of Thank You Project. Blessings! www.waterwalk.org. www.thankyouproject.org/donate/
Website Demonstration Sunday, September 22
Did you know that our newly updat-ed website is up and running? Join us in the dining room on Sunday September 22 following the 10 AM service for a presentation by Dianne Smigliani. She will show you around the new site and walk you through many of the new updates. After the presentation, there will be a Q & A session. Bring your smartphone or tablet and take it for a test drive! You will see how easy it is to access the calendar, upcom-ing events including First Music Concert Series Concerts, the weekly bulletin, monthly newsletter, regis-tration forms, online pledge forms, and more.
Preview it today at www.tfcucc.org!
Keep Your Pledges Current
There are many options available to keep your pledges current. You can mail in your donation to the church, set up automatic giving through your bank, or visit the giving page on our website, and donate online! Contact Dianne Smigliani, in the church office if you have any questions. Thank you for your continued support of The First Church!
We Have New Chairs!
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, we now have padded chairs in the dining room, the parlor/Fellowship Hall, and rooms 14 and 15.
Many thanks to the generous donor!
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage
PAID Nashua NH
Permit No. 365
First Church, United Church of Christ
1 Concord Street
Nashua NH 03064-2303
Published monthly September through June at Nashua, NH
by the First Church, UCC.
September 2019 issue
Return Service Requested
September 1 One service at 9:00am
Rally Sunday September 8
One service at 10:00 AM Worship, Sunday School & Childcare
September 15 8:30am: Worship
10:00am: Worship, Sunday School & Childcare
Rally Sunday September 8, 2019
ONE service at 10:00 AM Sunday School begins age 3–grade 8)
Childcare for infants–age 2
Cookout and celebration following the service.
See page 7for more information.
See insert inside this newsletter for all the details!
