THE

MEETINGHOUSE

MESSENGER

The First

Congregational

Church

in Stoneham

January 2016

United Church of Christ

Upcoming Events:

Jan. 3 – Three Kings Sunday-

will you be a wise person?

Jan 9. – Deacons’ Retreat

Jan. 9 – Youth Group

Feb 7 – “Souper” Bowl Sun.

Feb. 10 – Ash Wednesday

Our Christmas Pageant

More pictures inside!

We are an open

and affirming

congregation of

the United

Church of

Christ

Happy

New Year!!

January

If you would like to be added to

the Birthday List, please email

the church office.

1 Anthony Catalano, Jr.

2 Britney Fucci

4 Nancy Sawyer

4 Paul Checca

8 Fred Baumann

8 Heidi Bilbo

8 Albert Savage

9 Rebecca Allard

9 Marge Dearth

14 Natessa Storm

14 Brendan Tripp

15 Dawna Wierzbowski

16 Claire Melkonian

18 Ryan McGrath

19 Paula Auterio

19 Robert A. Dearth

20 Jill Anderson

26 Carol Giadone

27 Bert Johnson

27 Dariel Thompson

30 Renee Muise

30 Susan Severance

31 Karen Tripp

1 Church Street Stoneham, MA 02180

781-438-0097 (fax) 781-438-0238

Come Worship with us!

Sundays, 10:00 am

Staff of the Church Rev. Meredith Allen, Pastor Joyce Simpson, Music Director Leonard Levine, Sexton Sara Thompson, Church Secretary & Messenger Editor Heidi Bilbo, Sunday School Superintendent Lynn Haddad, Treasurer

The First

Congregational Church in Stoneham

Messenger Deadline The deadline for the February 2016

Messenger is January 19th. Please leave all submissions in the

Messenger box in the office, or email them to the church office at

firstchurchstonehamma@gmail.com. Thanks!

First Church is on TV!

Couldn’t get the service this week?

Loved the sermon so much you want

to hear it again? First Church services

are rebroadcast all week!

The schedule and channels are as

follows:

Comcast users: Channel 9

Verizon users: Channel 34

RCN users: Channel 3

Mondays @ 6:30 pm

Tuesdays @10:30 am

Thursdays @ 2:00 pm

Sundays @ 11:30 am

Notes from Joyce

Rehearsals for the Easter Cantata will start on Thursday, January 21st, 2016. If you can sing, come join the fun!

Books & Chocolate Group

January 18 at 7:30 in the parlor - We are reading either "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee or her new book "Go Set a Watchman"

February 15 at 7:00pm in the parlor we are viewing the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Bring yourself and chocolate!

Food Pantry News

Here is our list of “Items of the

Week” for the month of January.

Please remember to pick up these

items when you are grocery

shopping. Please do your part to

help stock our pantry for those in

need in our church community

and in Stoneham and the

neighboring communities.

Mayo & Mustard

Ketchup

Pancake Mix & Syrup

Chicken Broth

Coffee

Please drop these items in the

colorful crates outside the

Sanctuary.

To the Deacons and my Church Family: “I pray that God will bless you all As much as you've blessed others I thank Him for your gifts, Shared from a heart of love I pray that God would touch you all In a very special way And fill you more with His love, Each and every day.” -M.S.Lowndes Carol Paulis

A lone wolf and the December sky

Photo credit – Ben Jacques

Attention all Parents of Youth Group Aged Kids (5th grade and above)!

The C.E. Committee is planning a Youth Group kick-off event and planning meeting on

Saturday January 9th from 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM.

Drop your kids (aged 5th grade and above) at Fellowship Hall at 4:00 PM for some

supervised fun and games, followed by pizza!!

Parents, please return at 5:30 to briefly meet and share ideas about how to host a few fun

events for our youth group kids this year!

If you have any questions, please let us know!

Please RSVP to Anne Korwan by Friday, January 8th so we know how many kids to expect.

Thanks!

amkorwan@yahoo.com

781-789-3354

Craft Group Our Craft Group is busy creating items for the Spring already! We meet on Tuesday mornings from 9:30am until noon in our room below the sanctuary. Any woman who has the time and inclination is invited to join us. We have tea and refreshments. No special skills are required. Drop in anytime and check us out. Check the Sunday bulletin to see if we are meeting that week.

Happy New Year!

I would like to thank you so very much for all your love and support you have given to our music programs all year. All the baking, clean up and set up, ushering and also allowing your sweet children to be a part of our cantatas. We had such a great turn out for the cantatas this year. What a blessing to be able to spread God's word through music! Thank you for being so supportive of our fundraisers. It is because of you and your generosity that these programs can happen. I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and I wish all a very Happy and safe New Year!! Love, Joyce

Christmas

Pageant

First Church’s

annual

Christmas Cantata

December 2015

16th Annual

Stoneham MLK Celebration

Monday, January 18, 2016 10:00 a.m. – noon

Boys & Girls Club of Stoneham, 15 Dale Ct.

Join local musicians, dancers, artists, and speakers

to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Food and Refreshments

Message from the Diaconate: Winter is here and chances are we will start to see snow falling. If services are cancelled this winter due to a snowstorm, the cancellation will be reported on WCVB (Channel 5) and WBZ-TV (Channel 4). Please check these stations before coming to church during a snowstorm. If there are any questions, please reach out to a member of the Diaconate.

Coffee Hour Help Needed!

We need the help of all families

and committees to host coffee

hours this winter. Please sign up

for a Sunday so that we can

continue to have a social time

with goodies each week. The sign-

up sheet is outside the kitchen

door in Fellowship hall.

Thanks in advance!

Pastor Merrie Allen will be away from Jan. 11,

2016 to March 4, 2016. She will be taking a

combination of four weeks of planned vacation

time to visit her family in Australia and three

weeks of unpaid family leave to welcome her

new granddaughter in California. This leave is

fully supported by both the Pastoral Relations

Committee and the Diaconate. In Merrie’s

absence a roster of guest pastors will fill the

pulpit. Please welcome each of them!

Jan. 17 – The Rev. Jena Roy

Jan. 24 – The Rev. Abby Henrich

Jan. 31 – The Rev. Jena Roy

Feb. 7 – The Rev. Jena Roy

Feb. 10 (Ash Wednesday) – The Rev. Jena Roy

Feb. 14 – The Rev. Jon Paul Sydnor

Feb. 21 – The Rev. Jon Paul Sydnor

Feb. 28 – The Rev. Jena Roy

The staff and students of the

Stoneham Middle School

collected over a hundred

boxes of food for our Food

Pantry. They then delivered

every last box and stacked

them neatly! Left – Pastor

Merrie and Middle School

Principal Chris Banos stand

with all the student

volunteers in front of the

food pantry. Thank you to all

who helped!

Poinsettias

Given by: In Memory of:

The Albiani Family Peg & Tony Albiani

The Barry Family Ruth & Italo Macchia, Lynn Herron, Frank Barry

John & Marie Burke Loved Ones

Judi & Stephen Catalano & Family Mike & Clara Rolli, Tony & Ann Catalano

Skip Cleveland Rose & Chester Cleveland

Skip Cleveland Rose & Chester Cleveland

The Daly Family Loved Ones

Bob & Marge Dearth Loved Ones

Jan Droz & Family Michael & Clara Rolli

Jan Droz & Family Loved Ones

Penny Faul Al Faul

Shirley Gibson Husband, Frank & Loved Ones

Valerie Giovanni Neil & Margaret Matheson

Bea Griffin Loved Ones

Bea Griffin Loved Ones

Lynn & Joe Haddad Loved Ones

Debi Herook Rose & Chester Cleveland

Debi Herook Rose & Chester Cleveland

Mr. & Mrs. Bert Johnson Antonio Jr. & Arnold Abella

The Little Family Janet A. & Clifford H. Preiss

The Machnik Family Phyllis Machnik, Chuck Severance

Laurie McHugh David Dolan

Karen Nelson Peggy Gorman

Karen Nelson Pearle & Win Nelson

The O’Neil Family Mary O’Neil

The O’Neil Family Clara Rolli

Beverly Roche Loved Ones

Al & Lorraine Savage Cheryl Savage

Al & Lorraine Savage William & Genevieve Bryant

Caleb & Molly Sawicki “Gramps”

Kay & Herb Selander Loved Ones

Barbara Severance Chuck Severance

Joan Snyder Parents & Brother

Joan Snyder Parents & Brother

Their Children & Grandchildren Jim & Barbara MacDonald

Sara Thompson John Piskadlo

Marian Towse Daniel Towse

Marian Towse Christine Towse

Jan Turner Ken Turner, Husband & Jay Turner, Son

The Whitaker Family Pauline Whittaker

Given by: In Honor of:

Merrie Allen & Jerry Cook Our Grandchildren

Pastor’s Corner

Dear friends,

Recently I complained to Jerry that Christmas came too fast – without my having a chance to stroll

among the light displays, go to the Revels, or do any of the other “Christmasy” things that I long to

do. Yet the spirit of Christmas still enfolded me. The sanctuary looked beautiful (especially with

our repaired ceiling). People have been more friendly. We reminded ourselves regularly of the

hope, peace, joy, and love that the Advent candles represent. For a time, the world around us has

seemed more tender and compassionate, in part thanks to our own efforts.

But then, suddenly, Christmas is over. It recedes rapidly into the past as we focus on New Year’s

celebrations and, after that, trying to keep resolutions that will perhaps correct our recent “wild”

living.

But why does Christmas have to be over? What if this season could be just the start of our

renewed commitment, not just to lose weight or go to the gym more, but also to be more tender

and compassionate people all the time? What if we could remember that it is our hearts that

cradle the newborn Messiah? That you and I embody the hope, peace, joy, and love that Jesus

brought to our world? That, in fact, Jesus has no body now except ours to do his will, to love with

his love, to repair this world?

Christmas doesn’t have to be over! It should be just beginning! Let’s remember that, when we

pack up the ornaments and toss out the needle-shedding tree, we don’t pack away our love and

kindness. In 2016 may God lead us into deeper and more loving discipleship to Jesus Christ!*

While I am away on planned vacation and some unpaid family leave (see the schedule elsewhere

in this Messenger), you all will remain in my prayers. When I travel, I find that our congregation

surrounds me like a great (and noisy!) cloud of witnesses – your voices, mannerisms, smiles,

prayer requests – and I am not truly separated from you. Know that you will remain in my

prayers, and I ask for your prayers in return. The Lord watch between you and me when we are

absent from one another!

God’s rich blessings on you in this New Year!

Merrie

*with thanks to Emily Heath, Stillspeaking Devotional, 12/5/15

The First Congregational Church

1 Church Street Stoneham, MA 02180 Telephone: 781-438-0097 Fax: 781-438-0238 E-mail:firstchurchstonehamma@gmail.com Office Hours: Mon-Fri. 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM

Staff of the Church Rev. Meredith Allen, Pastor Joyce Simpson, Music Director Leonard Levine, Sexton Sara Thompson, Church Secretary & Messenger Editor Heidi Bilbo, Sunday School Superintendent Lynn Haddad, Treasurer

~The Meetinghouse Messenger – January 2016~

Our Sanctuary decorated for Christmas, December 2015