Fran Philippe, The Backpack Program coordinator and one of our members, in the program pantry at Friends of Forgotten Children. The Backpack Program at Friends of Forgotten Children recently received a $5,000 grant from the Globe Community Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to support its mission of feeding local school children. This … Continue reading Donations feed kids over the weekend
Minister’s Musings – December 2020 Last month I asked whether our community plate could raise $40,000 on November 8th and your answer – in the form of donations and pledges – was a resounding “yes, we can.” Over 80 individuals and families contributed about $44,600. Adding the $20,000 external match earmarked exclusively for our … Continue reading “You blew our socks off”
New this year are video recordings of the monthly Minister’s Musings that are found in our Parish Notes newsletter. In his December 2020 Minster’s Musings, Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger provides an answer to the $40,000 question he raised in November and shares a letter of gratitude by Ellen Groh, Executive Director of the Concord Coalition to … Continue reading “You Blew Our Socks Off” video
I think we can and here is why: Three years ago, on December 10, 2017, our Sunday plate raised an astonishing $19,014 in donations and pledges for the first Safe Spaces campaign of the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH). I am still blown away each time I remember the moment. What happened? My January … Continue reading Can our community plate raise $40,000 on November 8th?
Thank you. Seriously. For allowing me to have generous time off this summer, to breathe, to replenish, to regain perspective, to listen to wise and entertaining voices on podcasts, audio recordings, and on film. And to read and reflect, connect with family and friends, and to sit and pay attention to my body, to my … Continue reading Returning, with gratitude
“Excel” used to be my second language. Spreadsheets are what I used all day long to create models translating environmental, health, and economic data into information that could be used by decision makers in DC. Which might explain why I am so tickled to see the responses of our Ends Survey come in and why … Continue reading 2020 Member Survey – early results
Our mission has never felt as relevant as today: Connecting in love and service, growing spiritually, transforming ourselves and the world. In record time, we’ve had to transform ourselves from a brick & mortar, relish-in-person-proximity, love-to-share-food-and-hold-hands kind of congregation into an online, phone-line, keep your physical distance kind of community. None of us know the … Continue reading Church in a Time of Pandemic
So much of what we love to do together happens in close physical proximity – the sharing of food, our worship, the singing, holding hands, playing games, eating chocolate, sitting in circles, or embracing one another as we show our care and affection. Now, as always, and perhaps more than ever, we need each … Continue reading Suspending All In-person Church Activities
It’s 10:21 pm. The parents have said their good-byes. Five more hours and we are headed to the airport. The youth are excited, roaming the church – and nowhere near ready for sleep. Time to finish these musings, musings about the importance of stories and the impact of church when it helps to create stories … Continue reading Telling Our Stories
What do we mean when we say that Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal faith? It points to our history as a faith focused on the quality of how we relate with one another. In 1648 The Cambridge Platform gave expression to the way congregational churches are intended to work. Institutionally, we emerged out of these … Continue reading Ours is a Covenental Faith
