Ingathering Sunday September 10th

Ingathering Sunday went well.
Attendance was somewhere over 350 children and adults.
Highlights of the day included Gordon Miller lighting the candle in remembrance of all those who would like to be at the service but cannot for reasons of health. His wife, Jane, was able to be with us for the first time in 3 years in honor of their 57th wedding anniversary.
The congregation as a whole met Barbara Gay Stoddard, the Interim Director of Religious Education for the first time.
The Common Prayer was composed by congregation member Norman Richardson.
After Church, Rob Merritt shared his experience in the Peace Corps in Guinea with stories and slides. He has been raising money for wells for the village where he teaches, and met his goal that day.

Monday Night at the Church

The first Monday Night at the Church of the church year was held tonight.


As usual, the Worcester Zen Group sat for an hour.


At 6:30, about 40 people shared a fellowship dinner prepared by Ken Waugh and others. We dined on ham, fresh corn on the cob, summer tomatoes, mashed potatos, peas with watermelon for dessert.


The evening program was the first session of "All About the Music." Jay Lavelle led us through an appreciation of the music most meaningful to him: Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony (The Resurrection Symphony.) We listened to the Fourth and Fifth movement of this work.


The symphony which includes choral music with words written by Mahler is a powerful expression of a Universalist conception of the Universal Resurrection of all the dead at the end of time.

Here are some of the words for the Fifth Movement:

Rise again, yes, you shall rise again,
my dust, after a brief rest!
Immortal life
will be given by Him who called you!

You are sown to bloom again.
The Lord of the Harvest goes
and gathers the sheaves of us,
who have died.

O believe, my heart, believe:
Nothing is lost to you!
All you have desired is yours, yes, yours!
Yours, what you have loved and fought for!

O believe, you were not born in vain!
You have not lived or suffered in vain!

All that is created must perish.
All that has perished rises again.
Cease trembling!
Prepare to Live!

An Old Photo

This old photo from years ago still works.

Sunday, September 10th is our Ingathering Sunday. Our doors will be open, and you are invited.

There is a community get-together at 10:05: a informal time to share the news and announce upcoming events.

Worship begins at 10:30 AM.

Teacher Orientation Held in Preparation for Ingathering Sunday

Last night, Barbara Stoddard, the new Interim Director of Religious Education, gathered most of the Sunday School teachers together for the annual Teacher Orientation. Teachers reviewed the curriculums that they are preparing to teach, met as teams to determine their schedules and discussed a series of hypothetical situations that might arise in the classroom. And, of course, there were snacks. Off to a promising start.