We still have a few spots left for Saturday’s Harvest Dinner (5 p.m. at the Main Street Church)! Please call the church office to reserve your spot. There is no charge for the dinner, but we will be accepting donations. All proceeds will go to support winter fuel assistance.
For those of you who are contributing food to the event, please bring your dishes – warm, and ready to serve – to the church by 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. If you’d like to save yourself some clean-up by bringing your food in one of the serving dishes that fits into the warming trays, please call the church office no later than noon on Thursday, and we’ll arrange to have a dish delivered to you!
To Bee or Not to Bee
We were all abuzz in the office this week as a bunch of wandering bumblebees thought they might find a warm welcome at the Trinitarian Congregational Parish of Castine. Though we welcome people of all stripes, bees may be another matter. As they snuggled in, our resident ecologist, Pastor Andi, scooped up the sleepy queen and several of her minions and relocated them to the chrysanthemums out front. She said she couldn’t tell... if they’re happy, or quietly cursing me for undoing their efforts to find a warm place to spend the winter. But either way, I’m calling it a win. Live bees outside, a bee-free office inside. Whatever else the day brings, I’ll thank God for small victories and bumblebees.
While no new bees have found their way in since, there’s still our busy office bee, Debbie, whose very name means little bee! But, we think we'll keep her.
Weekly Meditation
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.
-Psalm 84:3-4
Psalm 84 is a pilgrimage psalm: a song that would have been sung by pilgrims journeying to the Temple in Jerusalem, a place understood to be God’s dwelling place. God could be encountered in other places—the rich narrative history of human encounters with the divine speaks that beautiful truth throughout the Hebrew Bible. But the Temple was special—God’s home in the midst of God’s own people. And so, the psalmist sings out a note of joy at arriving in God’s presence. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.
But notice the sequence of events in the verses above: the pilgrims are not the first to arrive home in God’s home! The sparrow and the swallow are already there. Already at home. And that’s the piece of this psalm on which I invite you to meditate this week. What would it mean for us if we were to take those lines seriously? That is, what if we approached this text with the attitude that the psalmist, in devoting an entire verse to the presence of birds, is saying something real and true about God and creation? What would it mean—for the practice of our faith, for our understanding of God, for our obligations to our non-human neighbors—to take seriously the idea that the home that we find in God is shared with other creatures?
I encourage you to spend some time this week with the birds in your neighborhood. Here in Castine, the fall migration is underway. The thickets of American mountain ash (Sorbus americana) outside my home are filled with birds these days. Winter residents like chickadees and nuthatches jostle for the bright orange fruits with white-throated sparrows, many of which will migrate south in the weeks ahead. (You might check out the BirdCast Migration Dashboard, which uses weather radar to track nightly bird migrations! Here’s the link for Hancock County.) Spend some time with the birds in your own neighborhood. Watch them. Listen to them. And imagine them: if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night, look up at the night sky and imagine tens of thousands of birds flying overhead, invisible!
What songs of praise are our feathered neighbors singing? What would it feel like to think about joining your voice with the praise songs of all creation? Try this version of “How Lovely, Lord” – a hymn based on Psalm 84 - produced by the Congregational Church of Needham, UCC. Blessings on your looking and on your listening!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Andi
Sunday Worship Service
We gather for worship in person at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays in the Main Street Church.
In addition, all of our worship services are live-streamed to our YOUTUBE channel.
Contact the church if you need assistance in receiving this ministry in your home.
* The Church Council continues to recommend following Maine CDC guidance. Hancock County is now rated high-risk for Covid transmission. At this risk level, the CDC recommends wearing masks indoors. Those with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure should follow CDC recommendations for isolation and masking.
Click the links above to read the Scripture passages.
No Neighbor Left Behind - October 28
Our next opportunity to provide a nutritious meal for over 100 of our neighbors will be on Friday, October 28. The menu this month will be:
Beef stew with carrots and potatoes
Green beans
Apples
Brownies
If you would like to contribute meal components or volunteer for assembly and delivery, contact our meal coordinator, Ruth Anne Vagt at 326-9244.
Thanks for your help; our neighbors send their thanks!
REPORT ON THE MAINE CONFERENCE UCC ANNUAL MEETING
On Saturday Oct 12th, more than 100 delegates and clergy from UCC churches across the state gathered together via zoom to wrestle with angels and the assortment of issues that was to be the agenda for the annual business of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ, in this 91st year of the conference. This process has become somewhat more different due to three developments
the ongoing process of emergence from the pandemic;
the unfortunate truth of the statewide downsizing of our member numbers which forces us to be more creative with the budgets that enable us to keep doing what we do at all – creative like one big church in Waterville that made the difficult decision to move into smaller quarters so that they could continue to focus on missions rather than overhead expenses;
the reality that Zoom is a more cumbersome and awkward tool for conducting business than the in-person way to which we have been accustomed – challenging the moderator, parliamentarian, and technical support person to make sense of it all in real-time. “Hats off” guys!
The use of zoom has, however, had some very good benefits, namely that most of the video presentations describing the work of the conference, are prepared in advance and shown very handily on our little screens right there in front of us, rather than on some underlit screen positioned some 40 feet away and visually challenging for the terminally myopic, like myself.
Most of the work of the conference involves hammering out budgetary matters or promulgating and approving the personnel issues of who will continue to conduct the conference business during the coming year, and we learn about the transitions in pulpits around the state: Who is new and where did they come from? Who has gone on to new pastures and flocks and, sadly, who is no longer with us in this earthly vale? It's how fellow clergy get to know their new colleagues, or those no longer amongst us!
Business items are often woven into the worship service, which is always a very worshipful treat. Some "getting to know you" functions are facilitated by the worship service which is a major part of the fabric of the conference. For example, Rev. Andi was one of the scripture readers in the worship service. How does she do that? She never looks down at the paper! Does she have it all memorized, or have photographic memory? Maybe that is why she is smiling!
Some of the business items involve Social Justice issues. It is difficult for individual churches to pursue such issues, but individual members of the 100+ little churches in Maine can find consensus and work together on – and bear collective witness to – the issues that are important to them.
I, for example, participate in a group within the conference whose focus is "anti-racism." We zoom and/or meet periodically to promote work on these issues.
One such issue on the agenda this year was promoting and urging support for the cause of tribal sovereignty for the Wabanaki Communities of Maine. The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 left uncertainty around the relationship between state and tribal governments. A Task Force of the Maine legislature has made 22 consensus recommendations to change the Act and address concerns by Tribes about tribal sovereignty, but those recommendations have yet to be acted on. The delegates voted overwhelmingly to support the resolution, which reads, in part: “Therefore, be it resolved that we, delegates to the 91st Annual Meeting of the Maine Conference United Church of Christ, stand in favor of: reparations for past harms; restoration of sovereign tribal lands, life, and culture; and always supporting the expressed will of the tribes on matters of tribal sovereignty.”
The conference offers us an opportunity to engage in important issues that reflect our values, and to discuss those issues within our local church. The "open and affirming" process is another example of "angel wrestling" that I personally think would be important for us as a church to consider. Opportunities to engage in some debate over such issues is a healthy thing for churches such as our own.
Sincerely,
John C. (TCPOC Delegate)
Oct 20 5 p.m. Church Council meeting
Oct 22 5 p.m. Harvest Dinner
Oct 23 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
Oct 24 1 p.m. Shawl Ministry
Oct 25 9 a.m. Bible Study (Zoom)
Oct 28 2 p.m. No Neighbor Left Behind
Oct 30 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
Oct 30 4 p.m. Spirit and Nature Walk
Nov 1 9 a.m. Bible Study (Zoom)
Nov 6 Daylight Savings Time ENDS
Nov 6 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
Nov 8 Election Day
Nov 8 9 a.m. Bible Study (Zoom)
Nov 11 Veterans Day
A birthday is a very special occasion and something to be celebrated. We would love to recognize all persons on the Sunday closest to their special day.
If you are willing to share with us your birthday (not your age) ,
so that we may all participate in the joy that is the day you came to be,
then please email Kim at Kimberlysmith91@aol.com.
Thank you!! We look forward to celebrating you!!
Volunteer Opportunities Available
INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING SUNDAY WORSHIP?
If you’re interested in providing flowers, or serving as an usher, or bringing coffee hour refreshments, or spending time in the Children’s Corner with the littlest members of our community,
or sign up on the clip-boards downstairs in the Vestry.
INTERESTED IN HELPING OUT WITH OUR LIVE-STREAM MINISTRY?
We are still looking for another person or two to join the live-stream team! Our live-stream ministry is an important part of the life of this church, and easy to learn. Training will be provided. Please contact Pastor Andi if you’re interested in giving it a try.
PRAYER REQUESTS
If you or someone you know is in need of our prayers, either individually or during our time of congregational prayer in Sunday worship, please let Pastor Andi know, using her contact information below.
Share the Good News
Click on the links below to share this newsletter with your family and friends.
We still have a few spots left for Saturday’s Harvest Dinner (5 p.m. at the Main Street Church)! Please call the church office to reserve your spot. There is no charge for the dinner, but we will be accepting donations. All proceeds will go to support winter fuel assistance. 
I encourage you to spend some time this week with the birds in your neighborhood. Here in Castine, the fall migration is underway. The thickets of American mountain ash (Sorbus americana) outside my home are filled with birds these days. Winter residents like chickadees and nuthatches jostle for the bright orange fruits with white-throated sparrows, many of which will migrate south in the weeks ahead. (You might check out the BirdCast Migration Dashboard, which uses weather radar to track nightly bird migrations! 
Scripture for Sunday
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We are still looking for another person or two to join the live-stream team! Our live-stream ministry is an important part of the life of this church, and easy to learn. Training will be provided. Please contact Pastor Andi if you’re interested in giving it a try.
If you or someone you know is in need of our prayers, either individually or during our time of congregational prayer in Sunday worship, please let Pastor Andi know, using her contact information below.
