March 6, 2021
Dear Church,
Truly, the days are growing lighter--"Lent" means lengthening of days--and the promise of spring is closer, even in today's bitter cold! Join us on Sunday to hear more about promises: the ones we make to God and each other, and the ones Jesus made to us. And look for a note early next week about an opportunity to buy spring flowers, an Easter tradition that makes more beautiful our lives and homes at this beautiful and challenging time of year.
This week we celebrate Communion together. Please have elements of bread and juice or wine ready.
Finally, please hold in your hearts and prayers the good work done by One Great Hour of Sharing. A story about their efforts in Kenya is attached. This is our first Wider Church offering of the year. By supporting sustainable development, disaster relief, and refugee needs, we stand with Christ in the world. In the pandemic, the suffering that is alleviated by this work is even greater than usual, since the poorest communities bear the greatest burden of a global crisis. Please send your offering as a check made out to New Haven Congregational with "OGHS" in the memo line. Our mailing address is PO Box 6, New Haven, 05472.
Thank you for all you do, and may God be with you until we meet!
Abigail
February 27, 2021
Dear Beloved Church,
Names are powerful things. Our parents choose them with care, and then those names become part of us. People give us nicknames which sometimes fit and sometimes don't. At times we need to change our names--in marriage, or at some other time to mark a new identity.
Though my parents named me "Abigail," I was "Abbey" to everyone for almost 30 years. Around the time of my marriage and another name change, I reclaimed my full first name. In hard times, I am glad for a name that has at its root "joy" (the meaning of "gil" in Hebrew!) What stories do you have to tell about your name.
This week we'll be hearing about how two of our ancestors in the faith, Abraham and Sarah, got their names, and how their new identities gave them the strength to do the work God gave them (Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16).
As we move deeper into Lent together, we have a special opportunity to think about who--and whose--we are. What better place to start than by how we are known in the world? Please consider coming to church tomorrow ready to share a bit about how you came by your name and what it means to you.
Finally--I hope you are each finding your own spiritual practice that supports you in this season. I can highly recommend Centering Prayer, a way of approaching quiet prayer that may be useful to you. Please let me know if you need a Lenten devotional, a conversation, or any other help along the way.
Yours in Love, and Joy,
Abigail
February 20, 2021
Dear Church,
This last week with my family was lovely, and a powerful reminder of something at the heart of Lent: the promises we make to each other, and how they sustain us. We hold each other up with our promises, even though we know we'll sometimes fail to keep them. By grace, we get to keep trying!
I hope to see you on Sunday.
Yours in Peace,
Abigail
January 23, 2021
Dearest Church,
In our Hebrew Bible story tomorrow, we hear about how Jonah was swallowed by a big fish when he tried to dodge God's directions (yikes). Jesus calls some Galilean fishermen to drop their nets, follow him, and become fishers of people.
And all of these ancient, watery stories raise one big question for us here and now:
What is God calling you to do?
Please join us for church at 10 am tomorrow here to think about it--or see the dial-in directions below.
Yours in Peace,
Abigail
December 11, 2020
Dearly Beloved,
We are 9 days from the longest night of the year. In the darkness, I find my inner life is full: fears, sadness, and joy all lie close to the surface. I want to sleep more, and my dreams are more vivid. This year, we have much less to distract us, and the power of Advent and Christmas, in its raw glory, seems to burn brighter.
Don't get me wrong: I love the craft fairs, tree lightings, school concerts and town celebrations that make up a normal Christmas season. (Confession--I never liked the shopping!) But without all these cultural traditions to fill the days, the nights seem to take their rightful place at the center of the season.
Babies, all of whom are blessed, often choose to be born at night. Night is when parents have what may be their only quiet and alone time. Night is when the sleepless face anxieties and connect on the internet. Night is when we light candles; when trees and menorahs can shine in the windows. Night is when new ideas can surface. Night is when the new day starts.
Judaism, our sister religion, has always known this, and each festival begins in the evening, after sundown. As the faithful light the shamash, or helper candle, then a candle for each night of Hanukkah, and say an ancient blessing, they welcome what is being born that night, and prepare for the new day.
This Sunday we will celebrate the third Sunday of Advent, with the theme of Joy, and the third night of Hanukkah (though we meet in the morning of the fourth day!) We will light candles on the Advent wreath and the menorah. We will hear the Hanukkah story of resilience and miracles, contemplate the Light, and prepare ourselves to receive the gifts of the Spirit.
In the meantime, I hope you will consider donating to our Christmas ministries. Contact me if you can help with cookies for migrant workers or presents for the Guatemalan refugee family we support. We could really use more help for the Morales family Christmas right now.
And lastly, don't forget to drive by the church to see the lights blazing in the beautiful manger scene Taunia and Sara are creating outside. Their decorations have been featured in the most recent edition of the Vermont UCC Conference Newsletter! So many thanks to our worship team for their creativity, artistry, and dedication.
Yours in Joy and Expectation,
Abigail
December 3, 2020
Dearest congregation,
This Sunday, Carol Charbonneau will be leading the service. Carol is finishing her Certificate of Christian Ministry, and seeking more chances to practice her ministry with us. We are blessed to have her leadership among us!
Advent and Christmas are good times to remember we are ALL ministers--servants of Christ, and doing God's work in the world. I hope you will find joy in participating in one or both of our Christmas ministries this season. See what calls to your heart!
Christmas Cookies for Farm Workers
We will offer a small box of mixed Christmas cookies to all the Misty Knoll farm workers. There are 25 workers. If 12 people could each make two dozen cookies and deliver them to church by Christmas Eve morning, two people can assemble boxes and deliver on Christmas Day. Of course, you can always bake ahead, freeze them, and bring them by on Christmas Eve.
Please reply to this email if you can bake cookies, and also if you'd like to be the lucky person to play Santa and deliver them to the farm.
Christmas for the Morales Family
We continue to support the Morales family, a refugee family including mother Wendy and two girls, Bridget (15) and Nina (13). They are from Guatemala, currently settled in Bristol. I asked them to make a wish list of small luxuries for Christmas. The list is below.
I want to say, the family has no expectations. They are so grateful to be here and whatever we can give is more than enough. But if you ask teenagers what they want, they usually have an answer :)
Gifts should be wrapped, labeled with the person's name, and delivered to church by the morning of Sunday, December 20. Gifts will be delivered Sunday afternoon.
Please reply to this email if you want to participate, with the gift you want to purchase, so I can coordinate the list.
Let's join together in giving, so that others can feel the Light we know!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Abigail
November 28, 2020
Dear Church,
Waiting has a seriously bad rap in our culture. We dread the places that make us wait (hello, DMV). We fill our lives with devices that require no waiting, give us answers instantly, and allow us to turn every moment of downtime into work or entertainment. We find out as much as we can, as soon as we can, from the sex of the baby to the likelihood that we will acquire a genetic disease. We are an instant, and anxious, people.
And then there's Advent.
Advent is an ancient/future answer to our high speed world. With traditions that go back centuries, we step into a season of waiting and darkness. We consciously slow down in what our culture tells us is a busy season of doing and buying. We read Scripture and other meditative books. We sit quietly. We pray. We bring nature--greens, berries--inside and think about the miracle of creation. We light candles. We tell stories. We do what people have been doing for about 1500 years.
And, in the middle of a pandemic, we so need these traditions. The coronavirus is new to us, but our ancestors went through similar struggles, and they celebrated Advent through it. Humanity has been here before.
One of my favorite progressive theologians, former comedian turned Lutheran pastor and writer Nadia Bolz-Weber, says about Christianity, "I know it's true because who could make up this crazy stuff?" (Except she doesn't say stuff. She's a real character.) I feel like that too, especially about Advent. This time is so real, so connected to the Source, that I know it's about more than me or any human idea. I can't explain it, but I can feel the Divine Wisdom in this time if I just get out of the way and let it work.
This Sunday, we will light the first candle of Advent, the candle of Hope, and celebrate Communion together. Please bring juice and bread, or whatever the equivalent is for you. Join us to find out what--and who--you are waiting for.
Some extras with this email:
• Please see the calendar of Advent readings below, from the Episcopal Church, along with a prayer for Advent from me, written for you, my beloved people. I hope these are useful in your meditations this season.Advent Readings Calendar
• I've been updating the website with past sermons, written, and the most recent service recorded. Check us out at and donate at: www.newhavencongregationalchurch.orgAnd follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LittleChurchOnTheGreen
To Christ, a poor child born to poor people, be all the Glory.
Abigail
November 21, 2020
Dearest Church,
As we head into this Thanksgiving week, I am feeling so much gratitude. I am also remembering another Thanksgiving when our family had to quarantine. In 2009 we had swine flu in our family (remember THAT pandemic?) and had to stay away from the usual big holiday event with 40 people at Chris's parents' house.
It felt strange then, making our own Thanksgiving meal and traditions, with toddler Flora and four-year-old Benedict, and Simon on the way. I was feeling anxious about early reports that the swine flu was more severe in pregnant women, and trying to stay calm and focus on my other little ones. We took a Thanksgiving hike on the Trail Around Middlebury, and I remember relaxing a little as we walked a stroller-friendly section of the trail through wetlands, by a pond and lots of beaver signs. Later, at our meal, we sang the Thanksgiving grace Benedict had learned in his preschool: "Blessings on the blossom, blessings on the fruit, blessings on the leaves and stems, blessings on the root. Blessings on our meal!"
Eleven years later, we are in a very different place. For this pandemic Thanksgiving, each of the children is making a dish, and we are having a family pie-making contest (with help available from the pastry chef, aka Dad). The kids are dropping hints about Christmas presents and also making plans for their gifts to each other. We are in high-level negotiations about how much time they get to spend on screens. We're making cards for Grammie and Grandpa and doing a drive-by to drop them off and wave to the people we love and can't be with.
One thing that is the same is that we'll be doing that hike around Middlebury, looking for the colors and starkness of November in the beautiful wetlands near us. Like many of you, I feel the goodness of our God especially in creation, and all the more when the human world is in upheaval.
In my school, we have been studying the history of Thanksgiving, including some of the myths around the story most of us learned. We've also studied the tradition among Native American Nations of giving thanks for creation every day. The Haudenosaunee people, who live in what is now New York state, have passed down a prayer of thanks, and still offer it regularly at ceremonies and special occasions. This year, we will be saying it at our own Thanksgiving celebrations. I invite you to read the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address and see if it inspires you as it does me!
I hope you will add your prayers for all those affected by the pandemic, including pregnant women, who are at a higher risk of complications from COVID-19, along with our elders and others with underlying conditions.
I wish you and yours a beautiful week of praise and gratitude as we head into Thanksgiving, and hope to see you tomorrow for our Quarterly Meeting for Business (with worship and prayers) and at our casual Advent Wreath Making Zoom gathering from 3-4 pm on Sunday.
If you are making an Advent wreath, please feel free to pick up greens available on the Church lawn. If you would like to join us tomorrow at 3 pm, you can make your wreath or just decorate the house. We'll chat, share ideas for the holidays, and enjoy each other's company!
Yours in Love,
Abigail
October 10, 2020
Dear Church,
In our worship this Sunday, we celebrate Children's Sabbath as we pray for children everywhere--in our families, communities, nation and world. We are creating a wall of children's faces to focus us as we pray. Please bring pictures of grandchildren and other young people in your life to include on our bulletin board! Finally, we'll be taking up a collection this week for Neighbors in Need, a UCC initiative that supports justice and service projects through small grants.
Please join us on Zoom here at 10 am, or at the number below.
Meanwhile, our own church is busy getting back into the community! We'll have our first post-COVID fundraiser, a spaghetti and meatball dinner. Please contact Carol at charb@gmavt.net if you'd like to help.
In Addison County, we've had our first major outbreak of COVID-19 among the crew at Champlain Orchards. The Orchard has closed temporarily while workers are in quarantine. This is a great opportunity to support local farmers/business owners AND the guest workers who pick our apples. You can read here more about the situation. The Orchard is requesting donations of these items to support workers:
• Cell phones and phone cards so the crew can communicate with family back home
• Personal hygiene supplies
• Clothing and boots
• New bedding: pillows, blankets, sheets, mattresses
• Radios for the workers who are spending a lot of time alone. Simple radios are fine!
If you wish to donate, please bring items to the church, and I will arrange getting them to the orchard in Shoreham. And please consider buying Champlain Orchards products already in the stores to support the business in this time.
Yours in peace,
Abigail
September 4, 2020
Dear Beloved Community,
A harvest is beautiful to behold, and to see an abundant one, you need only look in our Children’s Garden! The cherry tomatoes, cabbages, and eggplant are amazing. This produce has the raw ingredients of dinners (think: spaghetti sauce, salads, coleslaw and stews) for the John Graham Shelter for the last few weeks. As one of our COVID-19 mission projects, members of the church have been supplying dinners on Sunday nights to the Shelter while residents have been unable to gather to cook in their communal kitchen.
The combination of growing and cooking food for others is a powerful metaphor: we truly feed our community. In a time when we cannot easily be with others, making food for them is a way to give what we can. Let me know if you would like to help harvest, process or make food. And if you can’t, just hold in your prayers all those in the shelter’s housing, between jobs and homes. This pandemic is hard on us all, but hardest on those at the margins. May God’s love of the outsider guide us our hands and hearts, now and always.
Yours in Christ,
Abigail
May 23, 2020
Dearest Church,
What a time we had last week! Around the world, Zoom crashed for two hours on Sunday, and so we share with thousands of churches a memory of a worship service beset by difficulties. Whenever something unexpected (and disappointing) happens, I am known to say to my kids, "We'll tell stories about this one day." May we gather together this week in the hope of making better worship memories and stories on the last Sunday of the Easter season!
This Sunday, our text is John 17: 1-11. In the story of the Gospels, we are at the end of a long farewell speech in which Jesus explains to his disciples that he is going to leave them (and also that, paradoxically, he is never actually going to leave them), and gives directions on what to do when goes. And then he prays the prayer in this text. We actually get to listen to Jesus pray to the Father on our behalf. They say that eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good, but in this case we hear what unconditional love sounds like.
I wonder if it would change your life if you could hear Jesus praying to the God the Father on your behalf? If you could feel that cared for, loved, protected, and blessed? Please join us this Sunday to see what that might mean!
I invite you to reply to this email with any prayer requests that I can include in our Sunday Worship, in our prayer chain, and in my own daily prayers. We need this practice more than ever right now, and it is a gift the church can give the world. Let us give it to you!
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Yours in Christ,
Abigail
March 27, 2020
Dear Church,
The spring sunshine has melted the last snowfall and the finches are happily visiting my bird feeder every morning. It’s amazing to be home this season to see all the changes in my garden, neighborhood and town, and I am full of thanks for spring, for getting better from the flu, and for being able to touch my family again, after a week of isolation. Thank you so much for all your prayers and good wishes.
I truly give thanks for you, our church community--full of willingness to work, love for each other, and hope for the world. We have been given a season to do something very different, and in my communications these last two weeks I see us all making adjustments in our lives and asking what is needed now. I trust, with you, that God will show us the way.
This Lent I have been thinking a lot about prayer: how sometimes it’s so hard to find the time. For me as a parent, it’s difficult whenever my children’s routines change, and the time I had thought I set aside suddenly isn’t there! And then there are other times when it’s easy to grow my prayer life. Now, with the pause that this illness has given so many of us, here in the holy season of Lent, is such a time.
I warmly invite you to a short, week-day daily Zoom prayer session with me through these last two weeks of Lent. I will offer noontime prayers every week day through the weeks of March 30 and April 6. This will be a 5 to 10-minute session. Please see the links below.
I am working with our worship team of Sara and Taunia, along with the deacons, to plan for Holy Week. We will be offering kits for at-home worship. Look for more information soon about “Holy Week in a Box" and more.
Finally, I am so glad to share that our church has been working actively with town officials and the Addison County Mutual Aid society to support our neighbors during the pandemic. We were featured in the “COVID-19” Town Newsletter in the “Spiritual and Emotional Support” section, as many of our deacons have offered to provide weekly or daily phone check-ins for those who want them. We have set up a Go Fund Me Page to buy grocery cards for New Haven residents impacted by job loss (please see link here; I hope you will donate and share the link on social media). And we are working with the school to support an at-home spring art project that will be shared on the town Facebook page.
God is good. Let us hold the struggle and suffering of these days, and know that the growing light ("Lent" means lengthening of days) is one of the many promises God makes to us that joy will come again.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Abigail
April 3, 2020
Dear beloved church,
Can you believe this Sunday is Palm Sunday? Time moves strangely in this crisis, stretching out days and rushing weeks. I am amazed at where we are in the year, but in this too, I feel God's hand--not in creating crisis, but in working with it. The flow of time, startling and new, makes me a little more awake to beauty. I find myself more aware of the advent of spring, and more appreciative of my children (even when we have cabin fever!). I wonder where you see God waking you up in your life now?
We will have a chance to explore that together as we travel through Holy Week, together and apart.
To help you experience this season, your church leadership has made a gift of Holy Week Boxes for you. These kits include printed prayers and activities, palm crosses and crowns, a hand-sewn "prayer cloth," tealight, and some small treats. The contents are being packed in plastic shoeboxes on Friday, and the outside will be disinfected. They should be safe within 3 days (the maximum life of the virus on surfaces according to the CDC). These will be available to pick at the church on Monday of Holy Week. They will be in a large box on the front stoop. Please feel free to stop by and take one! Many thanks to Linda, Taunia, and Emily for help in creating these gifts of love for the season.
We will have a virtual Holy Week Worship schedule. I invite you to join us on Zoom for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and our two services on Easter.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28.
Blessings on you and yours, and on our lovely, interconnected world.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Abigail
April 10, 2020
Dear Beloved Community,
The good news is that even if you didn't consciously engage in Lent this year, we ALL did the work of Lent. As we watched the pandemic come closer, as citizens in other nations struggled, as hospitals prepared, schools closed, and leaders tried to get their communities ready, we have all been living with our mortality and we have seen our weakness: our division, greed, lack of preparedness, laziness, and disregard for the vulnerable among us. We have also seen our strength: the outpouring of community spirit, hard work, social responsibility, selflessness, and perseverance in the face of adversity. This is us, in all our humanness, broken but striving for good.
This year, we can't fully celebrate our love for God and each other on Easter day, but with our hard work and sacrifice, we may see an easing of the virus and some restrictions by late May, the end of the Easter season. In the meantime, we can find joy and renewal in the natural world blossoming around us. See this article for inspiration.
And so this is my hope: that we will have our "First Easter" connected digitally, and a "Second Easter" later in person. Whenever we can safely join together again, it will be a sign of rebirth and the living Christ!
And I know that some things will be changed for a long time. When restrictions are eased, it's likely that authorities will recommend vulnerable people continue to practice social distance. Schools are preparing for different scenarios next year, including rolling closures that may be necessary as the virus regains a foothold.
We are living in strange, wonderful, vulnerable times. Let us keep telling our story: that death is followed by rebirth, that we are never alone, that Christ works through us and in us. And as you find Easter in your home and surroundings, may you know you are blessed and loved by God.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Abigail
April 17, 2020
Dear Church,
Greetings to you on this beautiful, sunny Friday morning. We are coming up to the second Sunday of Eastertide, and this week during service we will be treated to special Easter organ music selected by Linda. Next week we will have our first live piano music by Emily. Our new Zoom meetings have their challenges, but they also give us an opportunity to find new ways to connect through one of our oldest traditions: sacred music. If you have ideas for what you would like to hear for music, please send them my way.
This week the theme of our scripture is "trust and rejoice." I am struck again by how often the lectionary themes give us just what we need to hear in the moment!
I invite you to read the passage from John below and let it "simmer" over the next few days. In the midst of uncertainty and change, we can experience trust afresh. It doesn't mean we will like everything that happens, but that we have an inner certainty "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28)
Please reach out if you need anything from your church family. The deacons and I continue to check in with folks, but you should feel free to let us know if you have any needs or just want to talk.
Blessings and love until we see each other,
Pastor Abigail
April 24, 2020
Dear beloved church,
When have YOU felt most connected with someone over making, serving, or cleaning up from a meal? Food is part of our spiritual life because it literally sustains us, reminding us of the invisible thing that does the same for our spirit, AND because it is one of our most basic connectors: we come closer to others as we break bread.
This Sunday we will hear in the Gospel of Luke about what happened on the road to Emmaus, and how followers of Jesus were transformed as they ate with him. We'll share stories of our own kitchen transformations: church suppers, family dinners, dinners with friends. I invite you to share in the message by bringing memories of times in the kitchen that have meant a lot to you, and especially memories of our times in our church kitchen. Let's celebrate how we have fed others and our spirits with the work of our hands!
This Sunday, because we are talking about Communion, we will also celebrate this rite. Please have bread and juice, or something similar, on hand to observe the Lord's Supper together.
And while we cannot gather together physically, the good news is that our church is more active than ever! Your worship team of Taunia, Sara, Emily, Linda and I are meeting regularly in small groups to plan for vibrant, beautiful worship (and iron out our technical bumps). This week we will have live music for our prelude and postlude, and we are working on special services upcoming. Carol is taking up the revitalization of our prayer ministry at a time when prayers are truly needed, and Sara and Taunia are adding a physical component with plans for a community "prayer wall" outside the church. Heather is planning a special project with the children, and I'm coordinating with area pastors to offer joint youth groups on Zoom for children and youth in the five-town area.
Other news: our church is leading a town-wide project for New Haven's kids. Our "Welcome Spring" poster project is getting a great response. Children and families have been picking up art supplies outside the church and posting their colorful creations on the New Haven community website to boost spirits. Check out their amazing results here. This is church!
Our next project with the Mutual Aid Society of New Haven is described below, a postcard exchange between children and senior citizens. We are looking for more children to write back to seniors; if you have a young friend or relative who would be interested, please let me or Kim Callahan, the New Haven Mutual Aid Coordinator, know.
Finally, even as we extend our ministries and find new ways to follow Jesus, our church is facing a serious financial shortfall right now. We are setting up for online donations, a necessity in these times. In the meantime, we ask that you please send your regular offering through the mail to our church address so that we can continue to present to each other and our community. Make checks payable to New Haven Congregational Church and send to PO Box 6, New Haven, Vermont, 05472.
Blessings and love until we see each other on Sunday!
Best wishes,
Pastor Abigail
Community Connections Project
A group of community members are working together to connect local students with fellow neighbors throughout New Haven (specifically elders and households without school kids) We have created “2 Way Postcards” as the vehicle for this conversation and connection. Students can send a pre-addressed and stamped postcard to a community member. (we have names and addresses all ready to go!) The recipient community member would then tear off the attached second postcard (already stamped) and return it to the student.
If your family would like to participate, contact Kim Callahan for pre-addressed, pre-stamped postcards. Feel free to send more than one. Tell your friends! kimc@madriver.com or 453-5695.