The Villager Voice
Those of you who were at the Easter sunrise service were among more than one hundred souls who gathered at Fountain Hill that morning from a number of local congregations. Wasn’t it wonderful to see all those folks? I really enjoyed leading worship with Rev Tim Haut and Pastor Sean Collins. (Speaking of Tim, he will be signing his book of poetry, A Deep River Year this afternoon at Leif Nillson’s gallery.) I’m still feeling the deep joy of being able to gather with people again, and what better way to do this than to be together in worship? Although I’ll admit, sitting on the porch at the Little House having random conversations with random Chesterites is a close second, or at least a tie with sitting outside the Villager this morning having random conversations with some of you!
I’ll be in a different kind of worship setting in a couple weeks when the Middlesex Association has our annual meeting at the UCC church in East Hampton. Because the Association has a rather wide geographical scope, I only get to see some of my colleagues once a year at this meeting, and I look forward to connecting with them again. It seems our churches are always in a state of flux: colleagues come and go, many of our churches don’t have settled pastors, and the churches themselves are on the move. The Haddam and Higganum churches recently voted to merge, and the Middlefield church is looking for a new home. (The Holy Spirit must be particularly active in Middlesex!) Because I serve on the Association’s Committee on Ministry & Executive Committee, I have been part of these conversations, but the Annual Meeting is always a good opportunity to catch up with all the churches and their clergy, not just the ones in transition. To steal a line from The Wizard of Oz, it’s always good to be able to hobnob with my fellow (and sister) wizards.
The stars have aligned for this Sunday’s service at the United Church: we will celebrate both sacraments of the Protestant Church, baptism and communion. I hope you will be able to join us for this special occasion. The links to the bulletin and service are below.
And by the way, happy Cinco de Mayo!
