This Friday, May 26th, is the date of our next No Neighbor Left Behind meal delivery. We’ll be gathering at 2 p.m. this Friday to collect, portion, package, and deliver meals to families and neighbors across our delivery area. If you’ve signed up to donate food, please drop your donations off at the church's side door by 2 p.m. on Friday. 
 
Our ministry of food and love is so important. 

A special thanks to all who donate and volunteer to help us address food insecurity on the Blue Hill peninsula, one nutritious meal at a time.

Let's Talk, Conversations that Matter
featuring Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd & Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson
Thursday, June 1, 2023
12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern • Online

During the pandemic, Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd — then a student at Yale Divinity School and formerly an ecologist, scholar of climate change, and Middlebury College professor and administrator — and her pastor, Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson, took pen to paper and wrote letters back and forth, exploring the realities of climate change from the perspectives of ecology and Christian theology.

Their letters, collected in the form of this newly published book, Letters from the EcoTone: Ecology, Theology, and Climate Change, invite the reader into an open-hearted dialogue at the intersection of science and religion, offering a shared vision of flourishing life on earth.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben writes, “This is a special book. It models how serious, thoughtful, and real people talk about the earth in its time of crisis and also about Christianity. Neither are easy topics, and here both mesh into something very powerful, very moving, and very real.”

As The BTS Center seeks to cultivate and nurture spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world, we look forward to this conversation with Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson and Rev. Dr. Andi Lloyd — an opportunity to explore themes like friendship, grief, fear, courage, interdependence, justice, despair, hope, and the common good.

Join us for this online public conversation, either in the Zoom room or on Facebook Live. This event is free. Contributions to support The BTS Center’s “Let’s Talk!” series and other programming will be gratefully received.

Weekly Meditation
 

-Genesis 1:1-2

 
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

-Matthew 3:16

 
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

-Acts 2:2

 


This Sunday, we will celebrate the day of Pentecost: the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Jesus, as Jesus had promised them.   

Scripture depicts the Spirit in multiple ways: as God’s breath — a wind from God, as a dove, as an in-rushing wind, as glowing tongues “as of fire.”  Those different ways of imagining the Holy Spirit have in common a sense of movement from God to the world, a sense of presence among and alongside us. The Holy Spirit connects: heaven to earth, humanity to God.  And the Holy Spirit equips: working in us, with us, and among us to help us do what we are called to do and become the people we are called to become. 
 
This week, I invite you to simply set aside some time to get quiet and pay attention to how the Spirit is moving in your life.  I offer this prayer, adapted from a blessing by the author Jan Richardson, as a starting point for that meditation.  It envisions the Spirit as God’s breath, breathing in us and re-creating us each day.
 
Blessed are you, O God,
who created the world
with a word and fashioned
your people from dust and from delight.
Waking, may we feel you
breathing in us, breathing through us
creating us anew each day
out of our longing and your love.
 
Try praying it, slowly, at the start of each day.  Cultivate the intention to return to it throughout the day, noticing where you feel God breathing through you, attending to what God is making new in you this day. 
 
As always, I’d love to hear about meditations and noticings.
 
Grace and peace,
 
Pastor Andi

Life is so busy in the summer that it's a blessing to take a little quiet time each day with Our Daily Bread to refresh your mind, spirit and soul. 

Pick up the latest copy of Our Daily Bread now. This little book of daily devotions is designed to inspire you to spend time with God every day. Copies will be available at church this Sunday, or contact the office 207-326-9486 and we can arrange to get one to you.

Don't miss a day!

Join Pastor Andi and Rev. Andy Nagy-Benson on Zoom as they lead an adult study of their book, Letters from the Ecotone, at the Congregational Church of Middlebury.

The reading for week 4 is pages 105-128.

May    24    3 p.m.         Choir Rehearsal
May    26    2 p.m.         No Neighbor Left Behind
May    28    9:30 a.m.    Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
May    29                       Memorial Day
May    30    9 a.m.         Bible Study (Zoom)
May    31    3 p.m.         Choir Rehearsal
 

June    3    11 a.m.        Pastor Andi's Installation
June    4     9:30 a.m.   Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
June    4     4 p.m.        Spirit & Nature Walk
June    6     9 a.m.        Bible Study (Zoom)
June    7     3 p.m.        Choir Rehearsal

Check our calendar any time at:  http://www.tcpoc.org/calendar.html

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, please visit the Sign-Up Genius:
 

or sign up on the clip-boards downstairs in the Vestry.
Participation is so rewarding,
so please sign up for any task that you'd like to take on!
 

All are welcome to join an ecumenical Bible study, co-hosted by TCP and Trinity Episcopal Church, every Tuesday at 9 a.m.  Each week, we read and discuss the texts for the upcoming Sunday - as appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary.  The coming week's texts can be found above.  (Wondering what the Revised Common Lectionary is?  Read more here!) 

This Bible study happens over Zoom, so folks can (and do!) join from far and near.  Here’s the Zoom information, which will remain unchanged week to week.

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. 
 

For non-emergency pastoral care needs or visits, please contact Andi by e-mail or telephone below, using the contact information below.  For emergency pastoral care needs that arise outside of regular church hours, please call or text Andi on her cell phone: (802)-989-1448.