The Torch Bearer - Nov / Dec Edition

ISSUE No. 18 - Nov./Dec. 2010

Yes, you CAN teach this “old dog” new

tricks! September 12 was a special day

in the 340-year history of South Church,

as we gave birth to Solid Ground. The

turnout, atmosphere, music and message

were all very anointed. The Lord is now

using this new service to touch local

souls on a weekly basis. In the words of

one long-time South Church member,

“we’ve had more young people in this church

than we’ve had in 20 years.” Praise God!

Our new Solid Ground

contemporary service

had a great “birthday!”

The South Church Chapel (above) was packed with people of all ages and ethnic groups

during the first-ever Solid Ground service on September 12. The South Church Worship

Team led by Sheila Hodges and consisting of harmonized vocals, synthesizer, keyboards,

acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar and electronic drums, played a mix of peppy and slow

praise and worship songs. Pastor Adam (left) preached an enthusiastic message based on

the Gospel of Matthew, about living one‟s life on the solid ground of Jesus Christ.

Several people stepped forward at the end of the service seeking a closer walk with God.

The new Solid Ground service is now held every Sunday morning at 11:00 am, with

refreshments at 10:30. An ongoing communications campaign is helping to build local

awareness, curiosity and attendance. Specially themed Solid Ground services are planned

this fall and winter for Veteran‟s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.

PAGE 2 THE TORCHBEARER

Pastor’s Corner Submitted by: Pastor Adam Söderberg, Senior Minister

Is God Disappearing?

A report prepared for the

Church of England last

month suggested that for

many young people in the

United Kingdom, Christian-

ity is no more than a “faint

cultural memory.” A minor-

ity are explicitly atheist –

about one in eight – and

around four times as many

believe in either a personal

god or a vague higher power.

But by far the largest cate-

gory are those who just find

the question bewildering and

not very interesting: “I don‟t

really know what to think”

got 43% of the answers.

“Generally young people

seemed quite content with

this situation, happy to get by

with what little they knew

about the Christian faith,”

wrote Sylvia Collins-Mayo,

one of the report‟s authors.

What people trust, or “have

faith in” are their families,

their friends, and themselves.

Will this continue there? Is it

similar here? Will all the

memory of Christianity at-

tenuate and disappear in the

way that so many forms of it

have already vanished? If that

is a real threat, what might

stop it? Is there anything that

can once more make Christi-

anity a normal and natural

part of life in response to the

current indifference? How

sad that we have to be even

asking the question but is

there anything we can do?

I believe one of the reasons

young people are apathetic to

Christianity is because they

have not seen it transform

lives. From the greed on Wall

Street; to the broken prom-

ises in Washington DC; to

the Catholic priest scandal; to

Pastor Ted Haggard; to

Bishop Eddie Long, one case

after another young people

continue to see those who

profess to be “Christian” liv-

ing lives completely contra-

dictory to what Christianity

teaches. And not just in fa-

mous or public people but

within their own families,

neighborhoods, and work-

places. Far too often they

encounter “Christians” par-

ticipating in behavior or us-

ing language that is far from

what any reasonable person

would consider Christ-like.

Instead they witness hypoc-

risy on a mass scale. On Sun-

day morning all kinds of

church-going folk get all

dressed up and go trotting

off to services but the

“glow” wears off quickly and

by Monday morning you

can‟t tell the Christians from

the non-Christians.

We read in 2 Corinthians

5:17, “…anyone who be-

longs to Christ has become a

new person. The old life is

gone; a new life has begun!”

So, the truth is if I‟ve ac-

cepted Jesus but no one can

tell the difference then I

haven‟t really accepted Jesus.

Jesus changes things and one

of those things should be me.

As James 2:17 says, “Unless

[faith] produces good deeds,

it is dead and useless.” This

does not mean I can earn

salvation, as in, if I do

enough good things I‟ll get

into heaven. No! What it

means is if Jesus has really

changed my life then I won‟t

be able to stop myself from

doing good things! It will

come naturally because of

who I am now. Sure, young

people see Christ-like behav-

ior in crises: an earthquake in

Haiti, a tsunami in Indonesia,

or a hurricane in Louisiana

but far less frequently do

they see Christian faith “in

action” on a daily basis and

that‟s why they “…don‟t

really know what to think”

about this whole Christianity

thing.

Will Christianity become a

“faint cultural memory” or is

there something we can do?

Well, the Christmas season is

fast approaching and one

thing I hear every year – per-

haps you do too – is, “Oh,

how I wish the „Spirit of

Christmas‟ would last all year

long!” Why can‟t it? What‟s

stopping that from happen-

ing?

“Let the message about

Christ, in all its richness, fill

your lives. Teach and counsel

each other with all the wis-

dom he gives…And what-

ever you do or say, do it as a

representative of the Lord

Jesus, giving thanks through

him to God the Fa-

ther.” (Colossians 3:16-17;

NLT)

When our lives reflect our

Lord our children will see

proof of the existence of

God and have a reason to

believe.

In His Service,

“Will Christianity

become a “faint

cultural memory?”

—————————————————————————————————————————————

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.

The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

- C.S. Lewis

THE TORCHBEARER PAGE 3

Music Ministry Submitted by: Sheila Hodges, Director of Worship Arts

Dear Friends,

What an exciting time for the

Worship Arts Ministry at

South Church! We have un-

dergone so much change in

these recent months and

have seen God‟s hand at

work throughout all of it.

Our Chamber Choir has

been a welcome addition to

the new, traditional worship

service. Their voices have

added a wonderful dimen-

sion to the worship as they

have sung works by Durufle,

Tallis, and Vaughn Williams,

among other great compos-

ers. The choir members are:

Christine Fote, Allison

Holst-Grubbe, Lauren

Pouliot, Ryan Dafgek, Kyle

Torrence, and Jermaine

Risby…and of course, our

wonderful organist and ac-

companist, Christine Mel-

son. We meet on Wednesday

nights at 7 PM in the Stanley

Room to rehearse. Please feel

free to drop by and listen

anytime!

The Worship Team is prov-

ing to be a vital part of Solid

Ground, our modern wor-

ship service. The team has

now expanded to include

more than just musicians…

we have trained several peo-

ple to run our sound equip-

ment, visuals, and video. In

all, the Worship Team in-

cludes about 12 people from

our congregation. It has been

a huge blessing to see so

many people step forward

and take the time to learn

new skills in order to help

Solid Ground run smoothly.

This Christmas season, there

will be two opportunities to

come out to South Church

and celebrate the birth of

Jesus with music and singing.

First, on December 3, we will

be having our annual Christ-

mas Tree Lighting and Carol

Sing. This is always a great

time of fun and fellowship.

The second opportunity is

one that I have been waiting

for! The Worship Arts Minis-

try will be presenting our

own concert this year! It has

been a few years since South

Church has had it‟s own

Christmas Concert, and I

couldn‟t be more excited

about it! The concert will be

on Sunday evening, Decem-

ber 19, at 7 PM. I strongly

encourage everyone to come

out and enjoy an evening of

Christmas music, featuring

the Chamber Choir and

Worship Team.

Looking forward to a bright,

merry, and musical Christmas

season…

God Bless!

Sheila Hodges

Youth Ministry Submitted by: Jonathan Parker, Youth Ministry Leader

I’d like to thank the church

for your support as we

kicked off youth group this

fall. We had a great start to

the year with weekly meet-

ings, a trip to Six Flags, apple

picking, pie making, and hay

rides. We have had fun. I‟m

also excited as I look forward

to the all night youth rally

coming up in November, and

the other fun things that are

planned for the coming

months.

Though we do have a lot of

fun with trips and games our

meetings also include a mes-

sage time. I am finding that

this group is always ready to

listen and learn. This year we

have started off with a series

of short messages based on

the name of the group, Pulse.

We have learned about

Prayer, Unity, Love, Scrip-

ture, and Expressing our

faith.

The message on love was

based on Colossians 3. The

first verse of the chapter says

“Since you have been raised

to new life with Christ, set

your sights on the realities of

heaven, where Christ sits in

the place of honor at God‟s

right hand.” This says that

we have a new life which

based on what is in heaven,

and since we have a new life

based on heavenly things

then we also have an old life

based on the things of this

world. This verse can be very

challenging when we start to

ask if our new life is any dif-

ferent than our old life, or if

our new life reflects the per-

fection of heaven. These two

lives, the old and new, are

like clothing. Our old life is

like an old dirty shirt that

smells bad and needs to be

washed. Our new life is like a

clean shirt that smells and

looks great. When we com-

pare the old shirt to the new

shirt that Christ has given us

we see it is dirty because it‟s

filled with “anger, rage, mali-

cious behavior, slander, and

dirty language.” It can be

very easy to get comfortable

in our old shirts, we look

around us and see that our

shirts are cleaner than most.

That can‟t be too bad, right?

Verse 10 says “Put on your

new nature, and be renewed

as you learn to know your

Creator and become like

him.” Christ has given us a

clean new shirt, a new life, a

new nature that is like him.

Verse twelve says that when

you put on your new shirt

that you “clothe yourselves

with tenderhearted mercy,

kindness, humility, gentle-

ness, and patience”. Which

shirt sounds better to you?

Now you may be asking how

this is a lesson on love. Verse

fourteen closes this passage

by saying “Above all, clothe

yourselves with love, which

binds us all together in per-

fect harmony.” Would you

like to join with PULSE as

we proudly sport our new

clothing?

“[We] will be pre-

senting our own

Christmas concert

this year!”


Dear Pastor Adam and

Congregation,

It is with immense apprecia-

tion that I and the entire

staff of the F.I. Summer

Youth Retreat (Connecticut

Fellowship of Congrega-

tional Christian Churches)

thank you for your very

generous gift of the food

and paper goods supplies in

support of out 2010 season.

Due to your generosity, we

were able to purchase other

necessities for our

five sessions.

The youth at

camp were made

aware that numer-

ous people gener-

ously donated to

make the experi-

ence an ongoing

reality. They

showed their appreciation in

the thanks they gave for you

and others in

their group

prayers.

It is caring, lov-

ing people like

you that set the

example for

living a Christ-

lie life. It is also

because of peo-

ple like you that we are

abele to continue this im-

portant program of growing

our youth in their walk with

God.

Again, thank you,

Karen Reich

Director, F.I. Summer

Youth Retreat

Fishers Island Summer Youth Retreat

November/December Birthdays

November 3

Karl Robertson

November 5

David Arnold

November 8

Virginia Burnap

November 13

Karen Price

November 17

Lois Higgins

November 19

Florence Roberts

November 20

Keaon Brown

November 22

Tina Marzano

November 27

Jonathan Hodges

Lynn Robertson

December 2

Marsha Earnest

December 3

Marion Fernquist

December 4

Melissa Berardino

Eleanor Peterson

December 5

Virginia-Lee Lewis

December 7

Daniel George

December 12

John Cook

Margaret Young

December 14

Bruce Wallace

December 15

Mark Ventres

December 18

Andy Tauris

December 19

Chris Hodges

December 23

Laurie Wyman

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.

Submitted by: Karen Reich


I just had the wonderful

privilege of attending the

National Association of

Pilgrim Fellowship (NAPF)

in Anchorage, Alaska. The

conference was extended

this year to a full week and

took place from Saturday,

June 26 through Saturday,

July 3. The theme of this

year‟s conference as “Call of

the Wild,” and focused on

Matthew 6. This chapter of

Matthew focuses on service,

prayer, fasting, believing and

trusting.

For three days of the con-

ference, we were assigned a

specific mission site. We

were broken up into small

groups and you went to that

mission site all three days.

My group went to a place

called Gospel Rescue Mis-

sion. It was a no-profit

homeless men‟s shelter, they

run solely on donations,

whether it is money or food.

They also open their door

every night for dinner to

those that are living on the

street because he shelter is

already full. We arrived and

the boys headed upstairs

and made the beds. The

girls stayed downstairs and

started doing kitchen work.

We swept the dining room

floor, put away the chairs,

mopped the kitchen and

dining room floors. The

youth also had to sort

through cherries and other

fruits, pick out the bad

ones; cut potatoes; wrap up

the food after lunch. Tom

was the man in charge of

the kitchen and he really did

not expect that many youth

and for us to work as

quickly as we did or for us

to be thee for three days, so

it was hard for him to con-

tinue to find work for us.

After the second day the

group leaders thought we

were not doing enough, so

we talked to the others in

the group and decided to

ask everyone at NAPF to

donate $1 - $5 to give to

Tom on our last day of mis-

sion work. There were 155

total attendees at NAPF

AND OUR GOAL WAS

TO BRING Tom $250. We

did not meet that goal, we

ending up bringing him

$700! We all broke down

when we handed it to him

on the last morning. They

were going to use that

money to buy supplies

needed for the home.

In addition to mission work

and small group time, we

also had singing, praying

and touring. We were able

to see some of the great

sites of Alaska. We went to

the Alaskan Native Heritage

Center. The Heritage Center

has six native dwellings out-

side as well as dances, sto-

ries and shows inside.

The Intergenerational activ-

ity was held at Kincaid Park.

We had dinner there this

was just a nice place to hik-

ing and biking with trails

and lots of open space. We

also took a cruise in Seward.

The cruise lasted about five

hours and we were able to

see seals, sea lions, whales,

puffins, mountain goats and

bald eagles. On the last day

we toured Portage Glacier

and Mt. Alyeska. Mt. Aly-

eska is where we had closing

circle and communion.

There were 155 of us on a

mountaintop, in the snow,

holding hands, singing,

praying and basking in

God‟s glory on top of the

world. There was no better

way to end a great confer-

ence than with all of His

majestic mountains and

beauty surrounding us.

NAPF Conference in Alaska Submitted by: Lynn Robertson

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

NOVEMBER

7 Veterans Day Service

14 Service of Remembrance

19 PULSE Super Bowl All Night Event (Springfield, MA)

21 Thanksgiving Ingathering

DECEMBER

3 Christmas Tree Lighting w/Caroling @ 7:00 PM on the Main Street Courtyard

5 Tree of Giving

17 PULSE Youth Group Christmas Party @ 7:00 PM in the Youth Center

19 Christmas Pageant

12/19 Cookie Walk

12/19 South Church Christmas Concert conducted by Sheila Hodges, Worship Arts Director @ 7:00 PM

12/24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Service @ 11:00 PM in Meeting House

“We were able to

see some of the

great sites of

Alaska. ”

The Spire Will Be Lighted In Loving Memory Of...

November 1

Rev. Dr. Warren S. Archibald

November 2

Agnes L. Jurs

by her Cum-Dubbl friends

- - -

Evelyn Mathiasen my favorite aunt

by Joan Zito

November 3

Louis A. Dix by his family

- - -

Martha Steullett by Shirley Johnson

& Elaine Johnson

on the anniversary of her birth

- - -

Martha Steullett

Happy Birthday

from South Church Women

November 6

Charles C. Kilby by his family

- - -

Nancy A. Smith by her son, Craig

and husband, Lynwood

November 7

Elizabeth Halley by the late Greta McEwan

- - -

Mrs. Christian Milne

by Mrs. James A.S. Wallace

November 9

Dorothea B. Thomas by her family,


- - -

George F. Boone by his family

- - -

Rev. Raymond P. Wallace

by Mrs. James A.S. Wallace

November 10

Donald E. Sexton by the late

Mr. and Mrs. John Grady

- - -

Donald E. Sexton by his family - Nan,

Donald, Mitra, Laura, Daniel, Jonathan

November 10

Kathleen Elizabeth Dobbin

by her parents,

Owen and Sylvia Dobbin


- - -

Mrs. Earl Sexton by her late son,

Donald E. Sexton

- - -

Pamela Eicholtzer Sheehan, a dear friend by

Shirley and Elaine Johnson on

the anniversary of her birth

November 14

Betty and Richard Lawton

in memory of our parents on the

anniversary of our father‟s birth

- - -

Richard Lawton by the Donald Bittner

family on the anniversary of this birth

November 15

Mrs. Lucius Barnes Barbour by her daughter

- - -

Arline Wing by her sister


November 20

Mr. & Mrs. William S. Flemming, Sr.

by their family

- - -

Mildred B. Jarvis by her daughter,

Linda Jarvis


- - -

Helen E. Miller by Vincent &

Betty-Ann Santangelo & family

November 22

Lena Barnard Derick

by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Derick Brash


November 23

Mr. and Mrs. John Boyd

by the Thomas Family

- - -

Addie J. Lothrop by her friends

- - -

Oswald P. Scheller by his wife,

Janice G. Scheller

November 24

Virginia Burgess by the

Women‟s Fair Workshop

- - -

Ernest Jurs by Mrs. Elinor Walsh

& the late Robert Bishop

- - -

Ruth Rapelye by the

Women‟s Fair Workshop

November 25

Florence Josephine Atwood, a little Child

- - -

John and Virginia Derohanian

Giving thanks for their love

Love, Mark, Susie, Barry and family

- - -

Our niece Alaine Clark Carbone

by Carol and Gene Clark

November 27

Mary Jane Stewart by Mr. and Mrs.

Thomas W. Stewart & family

November 30

Mary Lang Muir by her sons, David and Jack

on the anniversary of her death

And in honor of…

November 4

All Past, Present and Future

Deacons of South Church

November 25

The Robert F. Jones, Sr. Family

By Carol and Gene Clark


The Spire Will Be Lighted In Loving Memory Of...


December 2 Florence A. Goodrich by Walt, Linda, Wayne

and Dean Conner, on the anniversary of her birth

December 3

Bobby Johhson - by his sisters on the anniversary of his birth

- - -

Alec Wyman

by his family- in memory of his birth

December 4 Chandler B. Johnson, Jr - by his family

- - - Rev. Dr. Warren Seymour Archibald

by his late wife

December 5 Florence G. Bryant - by The Sewing Ladies

December 7

Albion B. Wilson, by his wife

December 10 Adeline Grandahl

by Ed Grandahl, Jeff Grandahl and Cheryl

(Grandaljh) Zagorski - - -

Helen Howland & Harold F. Jones by the Jones family

on the anniversary of their births

- - - Dorothy Dix Due - by her family

- - -

Harold F. Jones on the anniversary of his birth

by Carol and Gene Clark - - -

John LeConche - by his wife and family

on the anniversary of his death - - -

Jean S. Grady

by her nieces and nephews


December 12

Helen Howland & Eleanor Howland by the

Jones Family on the

anniversary of their deaths

December 13

Chester J. Hilinski by his wife

- - -

James A.S. Wallace by his family on the

anniversary of his birth

December 15

Carmela & Nunzio Rottino

by their daughter, Florence

- - -

Joseph A. Zitani, Sr. by his

family on the anniversary of his birth

December 16

George Arnold by his wife on

the anniversary of his birth

- - -

Chandler B. Johnson by his family

- - -

Helen Frances Ray by her family


December 17

Flora E. Crane by her family

December 18

Fritze Hansen by the South Church Choir

- - -

Dorothy Leet Perkins Johnson by her family on

the anniversary of her death

December 19

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander L. Fraser by their

daughters, Mrs. Charles F. Benson and

the late Mrs. Fred Hayes

December 20

Chester Benson by his family on


- - -

Ruth Rapelye by her daughter

& grandchildren

- - -

Mary Ann Wallace by the late Mr. & Mrs.

James A.S. Wallace

- - -

Christino Zitani by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Zitani

and Mr. and Mrs. Owen Dobbin on the an-

niversary of his birth

December 21

Benjamin A. Frank by Carla Bouthillier and

the late Arthur Bouthillier & family on the

anniversary of his birth

- - -

Herman Meyerhardt by his family on


- - -

Martha Herman Wheeler by her daughter,

Virginia W. Lewis in remembrance of her

devotion & endurance

December 22

Burdett Howard Sloan by his family

- - -

Rev. Dr. Warren Seymour Archibald

by a former member

December 24

Howard F. Grady, Sr. by his family

- - -

Benjamin Hill by his daughter on


December 25

Rev. Dr. Warren Seymour Archibald

by his late wife

- - -

John and Virginia Derohanian

Merry Christmas, Mom & Dad from

Mark, Suzie, Barry & family

- - -

Eleata Sloan Dudley Mitchell by her family

- - -

Our niece Alaine Clark Carbone by

Carol and Gene Clark

- - -

Our Parents by Carol and Gene Clark

December 27

George Jackson Mead by his wife

December 28

John H. Derohanian Happy Birthday Poppie!

Mark, Suzie, Barry & family

December 29

J. Daniel Carey by his wife and family

- - -

Helen H. Hurlburt on the anniversary of her

death as bequeathed in her will

And in honor of…..

December 25

Jesus Christ - Celebrating His birth!


Special Notes

Katie Ventres Smith is at home with her parents after recovering from surgery and rehabilitation at Avery Heights.

Thank you for your prayers. Mark & Sue Ventres

In 1994 an estimated 800,000

people were murdered in a hor-

rific genocide in Rwanda. That

event touched the hearts of Dr.

Arthur & Molly Rouner and

gave birth to the Pilgrim Center

for Reconciliation.

For the past sixteen years Ar-

thur and Molly have devoted

their lives to bringing a healing

message of forgiveness and rec-

onciliation to the countries of

Central Africa. In recent years,

the children of this region of

the world have been subjected

to a new horror - that of forced

servitude as “child soldiers”

where the choice is often kill or

be killed.

Last year one young soldier girl

who had killed 30 people asked

Molly, “Can Jesus forgive me?”

“Can Jesus still love me?” Molly

answered emphatically, “YES!”

Their work is never done. Giv-

ing to all charitable organiza-

tions has fallen off due to the

severe world wide recession and

it has affected the Pilgrim Cen-

ter.

To help ease the current finan-

cial burden we are asking you to

prayerfully consider a special

one-time gift to support the

work of the Pilgrim Center.

Please make out your check to:

Pilgrim Center for Reconcilia-

tion. Thank you.

The Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation

“Can Jesus forgive

me? Can Jesus still

love me?”

Documents

The Torch Bearer - Nov / Dec Edition