Dear friends in Christ,
I hope you’re all getting the chance to enjoy some of the beautiful weather we’ve been having. There are a number of things going on in the church to highlight:
Homecoming Sunday: 9/12
This Sunday, 9/12, we’ll celebrate Homecoming Sunday and also recognize the 225th anniversary of MCC! We’ll have music, face painting, corn chowder, lobster salad rolls, and plenty more. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Sunday school also resumes on Homecoming.
Supplies for Refugees: Due Thursday 9/9
Members of our church have been in contact with some officers stationed abroad at a base currently housing Afghan refugees, and the base is poorly equipped for the needs of the women and children now there. The following supplies are needed:
-Feminine hygiene products
– Infant formula
-Baby food
-Diapers
-Coloring books
-Crayons
-Playdough
-Individually packages snacks (food that won’t melt)
-Flip flops in various sizes
All supplies dropped off by/on Thursday 9/9 will be packed up and shipped
Upcoming Memorial Services
9/18 @11am in the sanctuary: Skip Northrop
9/25@11am on the Green: Bill Crutcher
Book and Bake Sale: 10/16 10am-2pm
On 10/16 we’re going to have a book and bake sale fundraiser. We’re going to need baked goods and volunteers to help make everything a success. You can sign up to volunteer or bake here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0548A4A82DABF58-book
The link to the Facebook event is here: https://fb.me/e/WkKPuJYH
Also, we need books to sell! We’re accepting donations of books (no encyclopedias), puzzles, CDs, and DVDs. You can bring things to the church when the church office is open M-F 9am-3pm.
20th Anniversary of 9/11
General Comments
Twenty years ago on September 11th, 2001, I was in elementary school. That morning, my mom picked me up from school early to go to the dentist, and in the car, the radio station was reporting on the events unfolding in NYC. One of the things I remember most clearly about that day is I learned new word. As, we were listening to the radio, it sounded to me like the reporters were saying “tourists” had crashed into the World Trade Center, so I asked my mom why people on vacation would do something like that. That’s when I learned the word “terrorist.”
Twenty years later, for over two thirds of my life, our nation has been fighting the War on Terror, and this year marks the end of the war in Afghanistan. Seeing how our withdrawal from Afghanistan went, I have struggled, like many, to understand what these past twenty years have meant or achieved. I think as a nation we’ll be reflecting on that for some time.
The awful events of 9/11 brought out the best and worst of our nation. Countless people came together to help one another, and many made the ultimate sacrifice in service of others. But, at the same time, our nation understandably was angry and wanted revenge; we went to war, and islamophobic hate crimes and murders rose in the U.S.
As we remember 9/11 this year, I pray that as a nation we can work to be our best more often and find in ourselves the will to help each other and the people whose countries, communities, and lives we’ve forever changed in the War on Terror. Looking to the future, this prayer from the Book of Common Prayer seems appropriate:
“ Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. “
Peace,
Pastor Katrina