August 2018

Middlebury Congregational Church United Church of Christ

The Green 1242 Whittemore Rd. Middlebury CT 06762

203-758-2671 www.middleburyucc.org

FROM THE PASTOR

Based on the weather of late, it seems summer has most definitely

arrived. I have been enjoying the opportunity to walk on the

greenway, and now that things have slowed down a bit at church, I

have been making a dent in the pile of books I want to read but

have not had time to read.

I just finished the book Everything Happens for a Reason and

Other Lies I’ve Loved by Duke Divinity School professor, Kate

Bowler. Bowler is a scholar of the prosperity gospel movement (in

a nutshell they believe that good things happening mean God’s

favor and bad things happening means God’s disapproval), and the

book is a memoir of her life once she is diagnosed with stage 4

colon cancer at age 35. It is a beautiful, moving, and sometimes

quite funny read. I certainly recommend it.

While I thought the entire book was wonderful, I think the best

part might actually be the appendices. There, Bowler includes a list

of helpful and unhelpful things to say or do when someone is

experiencing something terrible. Many of us have a hard time

knowing what to do or say when a loved one is very sick or

experiencing a terrible loss, and sometimes, in trying to make

things better, we can inadvertently be entirely unhelpful. So, in

case you do not end up reading the book, I am going to go through

some of the things on Bowler’s list because odds are we are going

to face situations where knowing these things will be useful. Plus,

one of our roles as church is to help each other bear burdens, so

hopefully some of these will help us do that better. (This is not

particularly summer-y, but it is useful.)

Things not to say:

1) “Well, at least…” (e.g. “at least you have a beautiful

family”)

Good things do not cancel out the awful things. Do not

minimize when people are going through something awful.

2) “God needed an angel”

This one personally drives me nuts. It is not even how

angels work. The traditional teaching of the church is that

angels and humans are totally different species that were

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FROM THE PASTOR continued . . .

created separately for separate purposes. We do not turn

into angels when we die; just like we do not become

goldfish upon death. We simply go to heaven as human

beings. Plus, I do not believe the Lord is offing people to

fill angelic position vacancies in heaven. That seems

theologically problematic.

3) “Everything happens for a reason”

If you are in the midst of tragedy, you do not want someone

to give you their theories as to why this terrible thing has

happened.

4) “When God closes a door he opens a window” (My

addition)

This just does not even make sense if you think about it.

Doors are not the same as windows, and what good is a

window anyway if you actually needed a door? Also, I do

not believe God is actively willing our tragedies to just give

us different opportunities in life.

Things to do:

1) Offer to bring food or bring a gift

As a church, we seem to have the bringing food angle

down.

2) Acknowledge that the terrible thing someone is going

through is actually terrible and difficult

3) Silence

Sometimes the best thing to say is to say nothing at all. You

can listen and offer companionship, and usually that is way

more valuable than anything that could be said. If you want

a biblical example, in the beginning of the book of Job,

when Job first experiences tragedy, Job’s friends go to see

him. The text says: “They sat with him on the ground for

seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to

him, for they say that his suffering was very great.” (After

that, the friends make things worse and start trying to give

Job reasons for his suffering, but at the beginning they do

exactly the right thing.)

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FROM THE PASTOR continued . . .

There are more things that Bowler mentions, but really those

things, and pretty much every good way of supporting people, all

boil down to letting people going through something terrible feel

what they feel without trying to explain it away or minimize it. As

the apostle Paul says in Romans 12:15 “rejoice with those who

rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

Now, now I certainly hope your summers have more rejoicing than

weeping, but when those times for weeping come these things can

be a good starting place.

Peace,

Katrina Manzi

Minister

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The Sunday School Scoop

Vacation Bible School preparations have kept us all quite busy this

summer! You will soon see the church transform as we decorate

many rooms to follow our theme, Rolling River Rampage. Despite

the need to postpone the week, we have had a steady registration

and hope to get a few more before the deadline. We can’t wait to

“experience the ride of a lifetime with God!”.

A big thank you to everyone who has donated supplies for VBS

this year. Our program would not be able to run without your

support! A final wish list is included in Church Life. We are also

looking to borrow items related to the theme such as life jackets,

oars, and camping equipment. If you have something you’re

willing to let us borrow, please put your name on it and drop it off

by Saturday, August 4. Items can be picked up after 12:30 pm on

Friday, August 10.

We are also busy planning for our upcoming Sunday School year.

Classes will officially begin on Sunday, September 16. I’ll reach

out to teachers at the end of August to begin our schedule for the

fall. If you’re interested in adding your name to our list of

teachers, please let me know.

Happy Summer!

Valerie

THE CHARLES P. LUCKEY SCHOLARSHIP FUND

The Charles P. Luckey Scholarship Committee is pleased to award

scholarships to the following students from Middlebury

Congregational Church:

Sarah Kwashnak

Gregory Pelletier

Brittany Romaniello

Megan Romaniello

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Bible Study

Starting after Homecoming (September 9th), Pastor

Katrina will be hosting a bible study on the 1st and 3rd

Wednesday of each month at 7pm. (This will be like

Soup and Scripture from this past Lent except without

the soup. Soup will likely make a return in Lent, so fear

not.) If you have ideas for scripture or topics you’d be

interested in discussing, please email Katrina at

kmanzi@middleburyucc.org.

In most churches, the summer months are quieter, with fewer

activities and meetings. But behind the scenes, your church staff

and leadership are doing important planning for the coming year.

As part of your Music Ministry team, I’ll be doing preliminary

music planning for fall, winter and even spring. A big part of that

is selecting choral music for our choral anthem each week. But I’ll

have some feedback from the choir to help me.

Our choir took part in an interesting exercise on the first Sunday in

June. Each person at rehearsal was given a list of all our anthems

since November (when David and I joined your church staff). They

were asked to add comments and particularly indicate which pieces

they’d like to repeat during the coming year.

The responses were quite interesting. There was a great deal of

consensus among the 15 people present. I was surprised to see the

same favorites over and over on choir members’ lists.

But after a bit of reflection, my surprise faded and my appreciation

for our choir members increased. We have a group of very

different individuals, but they, as a group, always seem to sense

when we’ve “hit the mark” and have sung exceptional praise.

And I’m reminded again that choirs are such excellent models for

church life. We have a group of different ages, abilities, attitudes

and tastes. But when we work together to a common purpose, we

know we can create something extraordinary to the glory of God.

Blessings,

Donna Obarowski

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The Deacons' Bench

“Happiness, not in another place but this place… not for another

hour, but this hour.” – Walt Whitman

For many of us summer is a time of happy memories. Whether it’s

in your own backyard or places far from home, time to spend our

days as we choose is always the hidden gift!

As a child, there were endless opportunities to explore. It always

seemed a little more carefree when we had longer days to spread

around a little adventure. We’d wade in the river by the house just

for the sheer joy of feeling the cool waters swirl around our

barefeet. There were baseball games in the backyard, popsicles to

eat, bicycles to ride, foods to grill, fireflies to catch, and trips to the

lake to delight in.

This summer we made some sweet memories of our own right here

on The Green. The return of our “Sundaes on Sundays” fellowship

provided us plenty of time to relax, catch up, and spread a little

happiness with whipped cream and a cherry on top. So many of

you have asked for the home made sauce recipes we used so I am

including them below:

This is my grandmother’s Hot Fudge Sauce recipe:

Grandma B.’s Hot Fudge Sauce

½ cup butter

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups sugar

4 ozs. unsweetened chocolate

1 can evaporated milk

Fill the lower pot of a double boiler half way and bring to a boil.

Melt chocolate, butter, and salt together in upper pot. Add the

sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition.

Gradually add the evaporated milk, a little at a time and continue

stirring until well mixed. Serve hot over ice cream. Extra sauce

maybe stored in refrigerator and reheated in microwave.

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The Deacons' Bench continued . . .

Here is Erika’s world-renowned salted caramel sauce:

Erika’s Salted Caramel Sauce

2 cups granulated sugar

12 Tablespoons room temperature butter-

cut into cubes

1 cup heavy cream- room temperature

1 tsp flaky sea salt

Heat sugar in large and tall saucepan, stirring frequently, until

sugar is completely melted and reaches 350* on your candy

thermometer. Be careful, this is as hot as lava.

It will be completely melted and golden brown.

Remove from heat and add butter cubes. It will bubble up high

along the sides of the pan, be careful!

Add the cream very slowly and stir constantly until combined.

Add salt.

Pour into jars.

Good luck!

Take a little time this summer to make some happiness in your

own places wherever they are. With a nod to one of my favorite

troubadours, Van Morrison, “Smell the sea and feel the sky, let

your soul and spirit fly!”

On behalf of the MCC Board of Deacons,

Ellen Aronheim

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From the Mission Board

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BACKPACKS FOR

EDUCATION Again this year, we will be collecting much

needed backpacks and school supplies, for

Wellmore Behavioral Health in Waterbury.

Below is a list of items needed.

Children UNDER 7 Children OVER 7

Backpacks Backpacks

Paper #2 Pencils and erasers

#2 Pencils and erasers Pencil sharpeners

Pencil sharpeners Pencil boxes or pouches

Pencil boxes or pouches Pens (red, black, blue)

Crayons Heavy Duty 3 ring binders

Rulers Paper

Child Safe Scissors Spiral Notebooks

Glue sticks Assignment pads/Planners

Pencil sharpeners Index cards

Washable markers Calculators

Composition Book Rulers

Pocket Folders (with prongs) Pocket Folders (with prongs)

Pocket Folders (without prongs) Pocket Folders (without prongs)

Tissues Tissues

Dry Erase Markers (black & colors) Dry Erase Markers (black &

colors)

Paper Clips

All items must be brought to the church by 9:30 am Wednesday,

August 8th.

Upcoming Dates in SEPTEMBER to Remember!

Sunday Service @ 10:00 resumes - 2nd

HOMECOMING SUNDAY - 9th

Sunday School Begins - 16th

Bible Study - 19th

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CHURCH RECORDS

DEATHS

Betty (Soule) Thelin on October 15, 2017

Marion Makepeace on June 1st.

The Deadline for

September Church Life:

August 15th @ 9:00 a.m.

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Hollywood called, they are looking for you!!

It’s the return of the MCC Talent Show-opening at a theater near you.

So, dust off your unicycle, tune your ukulele, practice your piano or untangle your tutu...there’s a place for you on our stage!

When: October 20, 2018 Where: MCC Social Hall

We know that our church family is a wealth of some conspicuous and many concealed talents. Now is the time to showcase them all. We need YOU to put your best foot forward (even if they’re both left feet)...so we can celebrate the joy and wealth of talent that is ours!

We’ll have more information on sign-ups, practice times and event information at our Homecoming picnic on September 9, 2018. You can also call the church office at 203-758-2671 or Ellen Aronheim at 203-758-9676.

We can’t wait to share the stage with you this October !!

Join the MCC Book Group

August 23rd at 7:00 pm

In the Parlor or weather permitting on the Green

August’s Book:

Color Me

August 2018

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1

5:30 Prayer Group

7:00 AA

2 10:30 AA

7:00 Boy Scouts

7:30 AA

3

4 10:30 AA

5 10:00 Worship @

St. George’s

Final VBS Set-up

6 9:00 – 12:15

Vacation Bible School

7 9:00 – 12:15

Vacation Bible School

12:00 AA

7:00 Yoga

7:30 AA

8 9:00 – 12:15

Vacation Bible School

5:30 Prayer Group

7:00 AA

9 9:00 – 12:15

Vacation Bible School

10:30 AA

7:00 Boy Scouts

7:30 AA

10 9:00 – 12:15

Vacation Bible School

11 10:30 AA

12 10:00 Worship @

St. George’s

13

14

12:00 AA

7:00 Trustees

7:00 Yoga

7:30 AA

15

5:30 Prayer Group

7:00 AA

16 10:30 AA

7:00 Boy Scouts

7:30 AA

17

18 10:30 AA

19 10:00 Worship @

St. George’s

20 Reg. Office Hours Resume

9:00 – 3:00

21 12:00 AA

7:00 Yoga

7:30 AA

22

5:30 Prayer Group

7:00 AA

23 10:30 AA

7:00 Boy Scouts

7:30 AA

24 11:00 Memorial Svc.

Marion Makepeace

25 10:30 AA

26 10:00 Worship @

St. George’s

27

28

12:00 AA

5:30 Mission Brd.

6:30 Church Council

7:00 Yoga

7:30 AA

29

5:30 Prayer Group

7:00 AA

3- 10:30 AA

7:00 Boy Scouts

7:30 AA

31