THE VOICE of Second Church NON PROFIT United Church of Christ ORGANIZATION 50 Park Street US Postage Paid Attleboro, MA 02703 Attleboro, MA RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Permit # 122 December 2016 HANGING OF THE GREENS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27 TH , 10 AM ADVENT MUSIC SERVICE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18 TH , 10 AM CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24 TH , 6 PM Second Congregational Church of Attleboro, UCC Reverend F. Vernon Wright V, Minister [email protected]William A. MacPherson, PhD., Director of Music Kara Lehane, Executive Director, Jack & Jill School – 508-222-1149 [email protected]www.jackandjillattleboro.com Amie K. McCarthy, Director of Christian Education Fred Saunders, Administrative Assistant / Curator BSA Charter Organization Representative c: 508-918-0123 Jack Baptist, Sexton Office: 508- 222-4677 Fax: 508- 222-2148 [email protected]www.attleborosecondchurch.org Find us on Facebook!
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TTHHEE VVOOIICCEE of Second Church NON PROFIT
United Church of Christ ORGANIZATION
50 Park Street US Postage Paid
Attleboro, MA 02703 Attleboro, MA
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Permit # 122
December 2016
HANGING OF THE GREENS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27
TH, 10 AM
ADVENT MUSIC SERVICE
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18TH
, 10 AM
CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24TH
, 6 PM
Second Congregational Church of Attleboro, UCC Reverend F. Vernon Wright V, Minister
MINISTER’S MUSE WHOLESOME COMMUNICATION IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
I want to thank you for being a part of the church. We have much to be glad about. Right
now we are in a fairly loving and wholesome place. But in the past I have noticed that we
can sometimes have problems with communicating conflict. Communication is important
to any organization but it is particularly important for a church like ours; a congregational
church can become a congressional church if we are not careful.
I attended a seminar recently taught by Rev. Doug Bixby of Evangelical Covenant Church
and Rev. Sarah Weaver of the Rehoboth Congregational Church. Doug and Sarah have
deep connections because Sarah’s mother, who is Congregational UCC minister in
Connecticut, and Doug used to minister in the same town. Doug knew Sarah when she
was just a child! When Sarah became Minister at Rehoboth as a young person straight out
of seminary Doug offered to be her mentor. The subject of the seminar was based on the
book Doug has recently published called “Navigating the Nonsense: Triangulation and
Church Conflict.”
A church as a gathering of people will always have a certain degree of conflict.
Members will disagree with one another about what things should get done
and how to pay for it. Some people may like a sermon, or an innovation in
worship, others may not care for it. The only way to deal with differences is to
speak directly and civilly with the person one disagrees with. In a church like
ours, with our various hierarchical structures such as councils and committees,
it can be quite tempting to try to mediate a conflict. One hears a complaint and
offers to confidentially "carry" the complaint to another person. We all want
to be helpful people! However, the perceived complaint is not always the true
complaint. Additionally, attempting to mediate spreads the anxiety from the
person who harbors the negative feelings in the first place to you, “the
mediator”, and to the object of the complaint (usually a minister, staff person,
or committee chair). Upon hearing that someone has a problem, the recipient
of the complaint has to wait, festering over the problem until the day arrives
when the issue of the un-named person with the complaint can be nebulously
aired. With communication like this, the joyful, loving communion which is
Christ’s church becomes an anxiety mill.
I am personally going to do a better job of being more direct with my
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SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC G O D I S S T I L L S P E A K I N G
A monthly newsletter December, 2016
communication. I would invite you to try to be a little more direct with your communication. You can reach me by cell phone
twenty four hours a day. All members of the church have phone books with the numbers of fellow members in case you have a
disagreement with one of them. Disagreements are natural, but triangulating disagreements through a series of committees can
create great harm. If you want to learn more about triangulation I have some literature I can lend you. At some point I would like
to invite Doug Bixby himself to come and speak to us and share his insight directly.
Let us endeavor to get out of the basement of triangulated committee conflicts and come together to the light of the upper room of
collaborating with Christ! A church like ours has the potential to be a place of not just cooperation, but a place of great
collaboration. Together we will be able to do all kinds of amazing things. The Spirit is with us all. We have all been endowed
with deep gifts.
Yours in Christ, Reverend Vern Wright
LITURGICAL THEMES This year I will be delivering a sermon
series based on the lighting of the
Advent Candles. Christmas is the time
that we look forward to the indwelling
of God in humanity via the birth of
Christ. We look forward to the hushed
glow of our infant lord in the manger,
the rejoicing of the shepherds and the
heady words of the prophets. Peace to
you in this beautiful season. Amen.
Rev. F. Vernon Wright V
November 27th
First Sunday of Advent
Hanging of the Greens
Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-11
Worship Theme: Hope
If I were to ask you the question: what
do you hope for? What would be the
first thing that would come to mind? If I
were to ask you the question and then
ask you to write an essay about what
you hope for, how would your first
response change? If I were to ask you
this question a third time and have you
meditate on the word hope for twenty
minutes, how might this answer change
again? Where do we live in that
spectrum between our superficial hopes,
our rational hopes and our deeper,
spiritual hopes?
December 4th
Second Sunday in Advent
Communion Sunday
Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-7
Worship Theme: Peace
We all have the instinctive knowledge
that a world governed by perpetual war
and terror is not the world envisioned by
faithful people. We spend a lot of time
and energy in strategies designed to
influence others to be peaceful and
forget to tend to our own lamps. As a
result sometimes even when we work
for peace we become less peaceful.
This Sunday we shall explore the
meaning of inner peace and how we can
best achieve it.
December 11th
Third Sunday of Advent
Scripture I John 4:7-21
Worship Theme: Love
“There is no fear in love, but perfect
love casts out fear…” In this wise
statement we come closer still to the
Christ child in the manger. Have you
ever said that you loved God and
harbored secret anger for your neighbor?
I know I have! What's with this human
nature of ours? How do we get to a
more loving place?
December 18th
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Scripture: John 15:1-11,
Matthew 1:18-25
Worship Theme: Immanent Joy
The story of Joseph is interesting.
Mary, the young woman he is engaged
to, is found to be pregnant. Being a
righteous man he thinks of a way to
dismiss her privately without causing
her public shame. But then he has a joy
filled dream of angels and in that dream
he sees things differently. In the Gospel
of John it says that, if we abide in God,
God’s joy will be complete in us. This
Sunday we shall explore together what it
might mean to live more joy-filled lives.
December 24th
Christmas Eve
Come to our traditional Christmas Eve
candle-lit service!
December 25th
Christmas Day
Worship Theme: A great light
Come gather around for carols and good
cheer. Wear your pajamas if you want!
NEW BOOK STUDY
AND CENTERING PRAYER GROUP
Emanuel means “God With Us.” One of
the best ways of opening to God’s
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presence is by being present to the now.
Starting on Thursday, December 8th
at 11:30 am to 1:00 pm we will be
reading, reflecting on Echart Tole’s The
Power of Now and engaging in
Centering Prayer. Join me. Together we
can endeavor to have a clearer, more
centered Christmas season.
BOARD OF DEACONS The lead Deacons this month are Susan
Brown and Marcia Weidner. Contact
any deacon if you are interested in being
an usher one Sunday. We’d love to
have your help. Call Ralph Giannetti
the night or two before at 508-226-4618
and let him know if you need a lift.
Communion Visitations continue each
week to our shut-ins. If you are unable
to attend church and would like to
receive communion, please notify
Reverend Wright or the church office
and arrangements for a visit will be
made. Our visits offer a special time to
quietly partake in Communion, offer up
prayers, and know your church family is
with you.
WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP The Women’s Fellowship Executive Committee wishes to thank ALL the MANY helpers who came together to make another Holiday Fair both fun and successful. We continue to put our collective experience to work for a good cause and in a terrific spirit of fellowship. So many donated items are put to such good use and we receive many compliments on how warm, welcoming and engaging our Fair is every year. We invite ALL women of the church to
come out to our January meeting and
help us chart a course for our activities
in the second half of the church year.
Please mark your calendars now for our
May Breakfast on Saturday, April 29,
2017 Thank you!
Women’s Fellowship
Executive Committee
MARTHA CIRCLE Martha Circle will hold our Christmas
Luncheon on December 13th at 12:30
pm in Fellowship Hall. All women of
the church are welcome. We will have a
home cooked meal and our annual
Yankee Swap – great fun! Give me,
Sandy Saunders or the church office a
call if you are interested but not yet on
our list or if you have any questions.
Linda Wiswall
Women’s Spiritual Group Following the November 28
th pot luck
and the December break, the next
meeting of the Women’s Spirituality
Group will be on Monday, January 23,
2017. Jean Fisk will present a short talk
on New Beginnings, based on John
12:24, followed by a group discussion.
Start the New Year off right by joining
this lively group! The meeting will
begin at 7:00 P.M. in the Conference
Room. All women of Second are
invited to attend, and anyone needing a
ride can call Wendy or Marcia!
Wendy Oliver
ONE PLUS ONE One plus One is a group of adults who