Dear Church,

There are no words sufficient to express my gratitude for Saturday’s service of installation.   Thank you to the deacons for all of the effort that went into planning and preparing for the day.  Thank you to Heather and the TCP choir for a truly beautiful, spirit-filled morning of music.  It was a humbling and heart-filling day, start to finish.  I thank God for this church and for calling me to do ministry with all of you, in this place. 
 
And I look forward with delight to the continuing unfolding of our shared ministry.   

Grace and Peace,
 
Pastor Andi

                                                            Photo courtesy BHHT
 

THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION OF CASTINE

INVITES EVERYONE TO JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL PRESENTATION
DURING OUR Sunday Morning Service, June 11th, from 10:30-noon
AT THE Historic Unitarian Universalist Meeting House ON THE CASTINE TOWN COMMON.

As a supporter of the Restorative Ecology educational program at the Adams School in Castine involving the entire K-8th grades and science teachers, UUCC has invited Kathy and Ann to tell us about their program for inspiring students to help make their community more resilient to the effects of climate change, and their ecosystem more diverse.  Ann is a Penobscot citizen whose direct ancestors called the Blue Hill Peninsula and islands home. 

You are invited to Sunday service which begins at 10:30 a.m. However, if you are not able to attend the full service, Kathy & Ann's presentation will begin about 11 a.m. with Q&A about 11:30 a.m. Please enter quietly through the church's front doors.

Weekly Meditation

 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew
sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.

(Matthew 9:9)

 
The paraments — those pieces of cloth that adorn the pulpit, the lectern, and the communion table—have changed colors on Sunday: Easter’s white has given way to the green of “ordinary time.”  About half of the Christian year is spent observing the holiday seasons: Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter.  The other half is Ordinary Time.  During Ordinary Time, we follow Jesus’s ministry — walking, together, through the anything-but-ordinary days in between the birth narratives and the passion. 
 
I confess to a particular fondness for ordinary time and its ongoing reminder of the ordinary mysteries that an ordinary day can hold.  In the Gospel reading this week, for instance, we’ll hear about Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, as a disciple.  I imagine that Matthew got up that morning figuring that it would be another ordinary day in the tax booth.  But that ordinary day held something else entirely.  An encounter with Jesus. 
 
And isn’t that how it happens, mostly?  The Apostle Paul was struck to the ground by a bright flash of a light and a voice from on high — but for most of us, those numinous moments of encounter blossom amid the decidedly ordinary.  And so, I invite you, this week, to do nothing more or less than be attentive to what the ordinary moments in your day hold and where God’s presence might be seen or heard or felt within those moments. 
 
And to inspire your meditation on the ordinary, here’s a poem by Mary Oliver.  It’s called “Praying.” 

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
  
Blessings, friends, on each ordinary moment of your day.
 
Pastor Andi

Think it's too hot in the summer to knit? The Shawl Ministry is the coolest group around! Meeting the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at 1 p.m. in TCP's fellowship room.

The Castine Shawl Knitting Ministry is an ecumenical group of women who knit prayer shawls for recipients in need of hope, courage and comfort or who are celebrating the birth of a child. The knitters have been meeting, creating shawls and blessing over 1,050 wraps of warmth, healing and love for people not only locally but nationally and internationally since 2004. 

For more information contact Kathy Crawford 207-326-9147 or Paula Dunfee 207-326-4703. Come into a cool place for a warm welcome!

As Heather and I turn our attention to planning summer worship, we’re curious about your favorite songs to sing in church.  And so, we’re inviting all of you to share with us your top three favorite worship songs.  And we define “worship songs” broadly: they can be hymns, contemporary, folk, Taizé style.  If it can be sung in church, it counts!  We’re not promising to incorporate every song you suggest — but we’d love to know what you’d love to be singing, and we’ll try to mix in some of your favorites in the coming weeks. 
 
There are three ways to share your top three songs with us. 
(1) Send us an e-mail: andi@tcpoc.org and heather@tcpoc.org. 
(2) Fill out this handy Google Form: https://forms.gle/LzAd1VyJ1vnmAd3e6. 
(3) Write your favorites on the big piece of white paper that will be hanging in the vestry on Sunday.
 
We’d love to hear from you by June 18^th.  But, of course, we welcome your thoughts anytime at all.
 

 

June   11    9:30 a.m.   Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
June   12    1 p.m.        Shawl Ministry
June   13    9 a.m.        Bible Study (Zoom)
June   14    3 p.m.        Choir Rehearsal
June   18                      Fathers Day
June   18                      Favorite Worship songs due
June   18    9:30 a.m.   Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
June   20    9 a.m.        Bible Study (Zoom)
June   21    11:30 a.m. Good Book Club at Trinity
June   21    3 p.m.        Choir Rehearsal
June   21    4 p.m.        Deacons meeting
June   22    5 p.m.        Church Council meeting
June   24    9 - 1           Dr. Mary Cushman Circle Summer Fair
June   25    9:30 a.m.   Sunday Worship (in person & streaming)
June   26    1 p.m.        Shawl Ministry
June   27    9 a.m.        Bible Study (Zoom)
June   28    11:30 a.m. Good Book Club at TCP
June   28    3 p.m.        Choir Rehearsal
June   30    2 p.m.        No Neighbor Left Behind

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.