Category Archives: Children and Youth News

See our 2017 Christmas Pageant!

We were so filled with the Spirit of Joy on this 3rd Sunday of Advent when the Sunday School and the Diverse Tradition Singers presented this delightful nativity pageant!

The morning service was so filled with music, too, when Phyllis Shea accompanied our hymns on her cello, the choir sang carols for the Gathering Music time, and John Atwood filled the sanctuary with his astounding Postlude to spontaneous applause.

A double baptism immediately followed the pageant, enabling all the children to watch in wonderment as Pastor Jeff lovingly welcomed the two young ones to this body of Christ.

And at Fellowship Time downstairs the whole group sang out Happy 90th Birthday to our own Margaret Staples and helped eat the birthday cake and sip at the hot mulled cider!

Welcome Pastor Jeff & Sundae Sunday!

On Sunday October 8, 2017, we welcomed Pastor Jeff Long-Middleton as our interim pastor, and then followed up with ice cream sundaes during fellowship time. The Board of Mission & Social Action provided items to make up Church World Service heath & school kits, so that the congregation could assemble their own. It was a fun and happy morning. You can see some photos below.

A children's lesson about how Jesus tell us to act when a group of people is excluded.
A children’s lesson about how Jesus tell us to act when a group of people is excluded.

A children's lesson about how Jesus tell us to act when a group of people is excluded.
“Jesus would tell us to make the circle bigger to let everyone get in!”

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Full-service sundaes!

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Vida & Pastor Jeff
Vida & Pastor Jeff

Vida & Pastor Jeff
Vida & Pastor Jeff

Gee & Mary
Gee & Mary

Morgen checks the Church World Service list as she assembles her kit
Morgen checks the Church World Service list as she assembles her kit

Eris & Pastor Jeff
Eris & Pastor Jeff

Eris & Morgen
Eris & Morgen

Apple Social 2017

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To Everything There Is a Season

The all-church Apple Social was held the afternoon of September 24th, and the enthusiasm for picking and pressing the apples was undiminished by the unseasonable heat! Hosted by Bob & Kathy Munson, this event has become one eagerly anticipated by all ages. Several gallons of oh-my-good cider was made and distributed to eager workers, along with Kathy’s beautifully packaged homemade apple-shaped cookies.

Opening their beautiful garden-strewn property to us all, it was delightful to see youngsters and not-so-youngsters strolling to the Fairy Garden, to the Peace Garden, darting to and fro in the orchard, watching fish in the pond, and resting on the many benches and seats.

    20170924_15283620170924_14531620170924_143702We were extravagantly welcomed and loved!

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And here are a few more photos from this fun afternoon. Click the arrows below the photos to scroll through the album:[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”17″ gal_title=”Apple Orchard Social 2017″]

Upcoming Service Notes, July 30, 2017

This Sunday we welcome into our pulpit Elisa Lucozzi. Her focal point for her sermon, “The Seed Cracked Open,” is the string of similes from Matthew 13: 31-46. She reminds us:

  • “The kingdom of heaven is like 80 strangers holding hands to form a human chain and rescue a family from a dangerous riptide.
  • The kingdom of heaven is like the Habitat for Humanity team who shows up to construct a handicap ramp for the neighbor who now finds themselves wheelchair bond.
  • The kingdom of heaven is like the firefighter who rushes back into a burning building to rescue a beloved animal companion.
  • The kingdom of heaven is like the six-year-old who donates their birthday money to support the local food bank. 

m seed5839As we gather on July 30th, I invite you to bring your gardening tools as we seek to unearth the meaning  of one of Jesus’ tiniest and most well known parables – the parable of the mustard seed.”

The children, both with Elisai and later in Sunday School, will also be learning about the Mustard Seed description of faith. Tools and seeds and soil will be involved!

The Special Music will be the shape note “Saints Delight” by F. Price, lyrics from the poetry of Isaac Watts, sung by Bridget Peters, Betsy Alexander and Marcia Tomlinson.

Continue reading Upcoming Service Notes, July 30, 2017

Birds in Sunday School

Caleb (in the red shirt) came up with the Sunday school theme this past week: the story of Jesus’ baptism, that concludes with the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, landing on his head. Caleb created a coloring page to go with it and led the class in folding two different versions of origami birds.
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