The Villager Voice ~ from Alan

What a wonderful day it was last Saturday - and the warm sunshine was just the icing on the cake. More than 200 people from near and far came out to enjoy the Chester Tour of Homes, our United Church’s major fundraiser for the year. Six local homeowners graciously opened their residence for the event, along with two other places of interest, and if I had to guess I’d say at least sixty of our church members combined time and talents to help make it all happen. Docents, ticket sellers, parking attendants (a critical part of the effort), advertisers, community supporters and behind-the-scenes actors made the day a great success, raising more than $7000 for our church’s mission and outreach programs as well as the Chester Fuel Bank. There are too many names to be named and folks to be thanked. But let the record show that were it not for the gargantuan efforts of Lol and Charlene Fearon, it just would not have happened.

It was a real community effort, and an apt bookend, of sorts, to the way the week began: with a ferocious rainstorm that sat over our town for most of Tuesday night and caused considerable flooding and property damage among homeowners and businesses alike. Yet thanks to our first responders, our municipal leaders and ordinary neighbors, what could have been a dangerous situation was handled with great care, dispatch and skill. Neighbors checking in on neighbors, people working together to clean up and repair, social networking providing real-time updates about closed roads and other safety alerts - this too was a real community effort that illustrates what a special place we live in, and what wonderful people live among us.

And as much as we recognize the many ways community is created and sustained locally, this Sunday we will also consider the ways we are part of a wider global community, as we celebrate World Communion Sunday. Communion and Community of course share the same semantic root - they also share the same heart and impulse. Join us this weekend as we celebrate both.