April INSIDE OUT Newsletter
The most recent edition of the Jackson Community Church Inside-Out Newsletter is attached with all the information you may need for Holy Week and upcoming events.
A few things to note:
We are a couple of weeks into spring, now we can look forward to the Sun warming the skies and earth. As the snow recedes from your gardens or as you begin to plant seeds think of the Mission Committee Plant Sale. The Mission Committee would love to utilize any plants you do not need for their sale on May 20th. – they cannot do it without you.
Also – upcoming April 15th the revival of the Men’s Breakfast. All men are invited – more information in the newsletter.
Joanne Turner, Administrative Assistant
Jackson Community Church
Fri, Feb 24 @ 5pm C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATIONS
5pm • ZOOM Link and password required. Option:
Bring your adult beverage and your curiosity for a conversation about our sacred texts.
For more information about this study series:
Podcast from BibleProject about the Lord’s Prayer: https://bibleproject.com/podcast/matthew-p10-lords-prayer/
The text is provided below
Matthew 6:13 (NRSVUE)
And do not bring us to the time of trial,[b] but rescue us from the evil one.[c]
,[b] Or us into testing
[c] Or from evil.
Matthew 6:13 (RSV)
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.[b]
[b] Or the evil one.
REMEMBERING: Mary Claire Ballou, Ed Good, Gordon Wood
MARY CLAIRE BALLOU
Our dear friend Mary Claire Ballou, 68, of Glen, N.H., passed away peacefully during the early morning hours on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023, after a courageous nine-month battle against ovarian cancer.
She was born on Dec. 24, 1954, to John J. and Dorothy Cronin, grew up in St. Gregory’s Parish in Dorchester, Mass., and was a graduate of Suffolk University in Boston. For many years, she worked as a service representative with the New England Telephone Company and as an Instructional Aide for the Shrewsbury Public Schools. After retiring, she supported her community, volunteering for Angels & Elves and teaching CCD at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish.
Mary Claire will be remembered by so many as caring, friendly, funny, dedicated, strong and brave. She was well known for her gregarious way of connecting with whomever she met. She was always proud of her Irish roots and had the gift of gab even before kissing the Blarney Stone.
She found joy with her toes in the sand, most often with the gals down by lifeguard Chair 7 at West Dennis Beach. She loved finding bargains not only for herself, but for others, and would often surprise her family with outfits she had found on clearance.
Mary Claire was a lifelong Red Sox fan, and she practically grew up in Fenway Park. When her daughter married a Phillies fan, she got satisfaction from mailing her husband a broom when the Sox swept the Phillies. When her grandson Thomas became a Phillies fan, she showed how family came first by watching Phillies games so she could talk about the games with her grandson and strengthen her connection with him.
Mary Claire loved reading and was involved with several book groups, and she enjoyed connecting with her friends through books. She also enjoyed traveling, both internationally and in the United States. Some of her favorite places to explore were Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Family was at the center of Mary Claire’s life. She would always say “Life is good” when her family and friends were with her, when she was planted on the beach or enjoying a home cooked meal. She took the battle with ovarian cancer one day at a time, reminding us, “It is what it is.” Her final goal was to stave off the advancing cancer long enough to be able sit on her favorite beach one more time.
Mary Claire is survived by her beloved husband and best friend of 47 years, William C. Ballou; her daughter Caroline Ballou, her son-in-law, Craig Panzer, and her grandchildren, Thomas and Norah Panzer, who were the lights of her life.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at the Paulist Center at 5 Park St. in Boston on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 11:30 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to Dana Farber Cancer Institute or the Paulist Center Boston.
ED GOOD
A brief note to mark a long ans storied life. The family alerted our community that Ed Good, our wryly humorous friend, fly fisherman, golfer and wood-turner/bowl-maker extraordinaire, died recently. Until a few years ago, he made his home in our community in a house on Rte 16 facing Mt Washington. He was dearly loved and will be deeply missed. He had moved to Massachusetts to be closer to his immediate family in more navigable surroundings. As we learn any updated information, we will share it. Meanwhile, his beloved wife was honored by Ed with a granite bench up at the Great Glen trails, and we’re sure that Ed would appreciate sojourners pausing at her bench to remember them both and share some stories.
GORDON WOOD
The family has informed us that Gordon Wood died. At the request of Barbe and the family, Rev Gail visited him while he was actively dying. The staff at Mountain View was attentive, keeping him company, holding his hand, ‘wetting his whistle’ and murmuring affectionate words to him in his final hours.
While the family will prepare a bio, here is 2015 Conway Daily Sun article about Gordon Wood and our beloved Barbe Brown, his longtime friend and partner, who now lives in Florida near her extended family. If we offered any updated information, we will pass it along.
Glen couple share zest for travel, life together
“They don’t ski anymore, but they’re active as ever as valley volunteers and world travelers.
“We met in 1997 at the chairlift on the South Slope at Cranmore when we were both volunteering for the Eastern Slope Ski Club’s Junior Program,” notes Gordon Wood, who at 86 is two years older than his longtime companion, Barbara Browne.
Barbara (known as Barbie to her friends) says Gordon told her she should “get some updated shapes,” meaning that she should trade in her vintage “straight stick” skis for some newer parabolic shaped skis.
The straight sticks still hang in her garage in Glen. Barbara stopped downhill skiing a few years ago, but she keeps her snowshoes ready to go. Gordon stopped at age 80 or so.
“It’s too easy skiing on the new shaped skis — we gave it up!” he quipped.
But they remain active in the community, far more than many people half their age. In addition to volunteering for the Junior Program, they used to serve as weekend Cranmore ambassadors.
They also have volunteered at the Settlers’ Crossing information office for the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce. Barbara also has been active with the Appalachian Mountain Club’s seasonal Elderhostel programs, serving as a cross-country ski tour guide in the woods. The two also assist Starr Moore as volunteers at the New England Ski Museum’s annual Hannes Schneider Meister Cup at Cranmore every March.
“We’re not retired — we can’t seem to find the time to retire. We are retirees involved and having fun in this wonderful Mount Washington Valley,” laughed Barbara with her typical wit and good humor in a joint interview leading up to the Conway Daily Sun’s Love in the Sun series, running daily through Feb. 14 this week as part of the paper’s annual Valentine’s Day celebration.
Always sociable, Gordon and Barbara are regulars at every MWV Chamber After Hours monthly get-together.
“We like to know what’s going on. We love meeting new people, especially all the young entrepreneurs. It keeps us up to date,” said Barbara, adding, “We’re older, so it’s good being with active people.”
Said Gordon, a retired mechanical engineer from Massachusetts: “It rubs off on you. Plus it’s great to win the prizes. I’m not much of a beer drinker, but I won a six-pack of Tuckerman’s that I keep in the refrigerator. And Barbara won a stay at a hotel.”
“I’m going to give that gift to my nieces when they come here to visit,” Barbara said.
As a girl, Barbara attended Fryeburg Academy as a dorm student, and that served as her first introduction to the area. Later, she worked in Massachusetts as an executive administrator for a well-known economist. She and her former husband bought land, and after they parted company, she built a house in which she has lived in for 30 years.
A former member of the Melrose Hickory Hawks Ski Club, Gordon began skiing at Cranmore in 1949-50 and remembers meeting skimeister Hannes Schneider once at the Oxen Yoke that was then run by the Ostermaiers. One of his other claims to fame? He was the one-billionth car through the Hampton tollbooth on March 15, 1989. “I got a bunch of tokens, along with coffee and doughnuts,” he related with a laugh.
He and his wife were married for 30 years. They moved to the valley from Wakefield, Mass., in 1975. His wife was eight years younger than he and was 58 when she died in 1995. He met Barbara two years later at Cranmore.
Together now for 17 years, Barbara and Gordon share a a love of travel because they love to experience new cultures.
“We learn a lot history of various countries, and we really enjoy that,” said Gordon, noting they have especially enjoyed their trips to Europe, including Italy and Malta. “We’re a relatively new country here; not like Europe and places like Germany.” Added Barbara, “It’s also about the people we meet.”
They are “people” people, loving a good story and meeting good people wherever they go. They had a great time, for instance, at the Gibson Center for Senior Services’ well-attended annual Valentine’s Auction at White Mountain Hotel on Feb. 5.
Barbara said Gibson Center Director George Cleveland “auctioned off a month’s and then a week’s worth of Meals on Wheels. That was just a great idea. He’s such a natural.”
Gordon frequents the Gibson Center lunches not only because the food is great but also for the camaraderie.
On a serious note, they also share a concern about inadequate facilities for seniors in the valley.”
They hope that leaders will bring to fruition such things as the abandoned proposal to build senior housing at the former Yankee Settlements site that is now planned for a shopping complex at the former North Conway drive-in theater behind Northway Plaza.
“The senior people of the valley need comfortable housing with garages. We do not want to leave the valley as we get older,” Barbara said. Added Gordon: “We seniors don’t want to have to cut grass or shovel snow as we get older. But we would hate to have to leave, too.”
“We love this valley. It has 12 seasons of things to do,” enthused Barbara, adding in an aside to Gordon, “C’mon, let’s go tubing at Cranmore!”
From ziplining at Wildcat and Cranmore’s Adventure Park to touring the world, Gordon and Barbara are never at a loss for fun ways to make the most of their active life together.
Reflections on Bread as Part of the Lord’s Prayer
Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with you was more than bread. — Conrad Aiken
Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. — Ursula K. Le Guin
If it is bread that you seek, you will have bread. If it is the soul you seek, you will find the soul. If you understand this secret, you know you are that which you seek. ― Rumi
SONGS about BREAD:
- Bread and Butter by Newbeats (rock): https://youtu.be/C1ds1UmnSqg
- Bread and Butter by Devo (cover of the Newbeats hit) (rock): https://youtu.be/jfq1LqyGsE8
- Bread of Shame by Creed (rock): https://youtu.be/AEQYDE3fhIM
- Shortenin Bread by The Andrews Sisters (country): https://youtu.be/7uQYL1zhBwg
- Bread and Blood by Air Supply (pop/rock): https://youtu.be/HFxiLFhIM24
- Bread Alone by Billy Ray Cyrus (country): https://youtu.be/UIv3FQjotmQ
- Don’t Be Messin with my Bread by John Lee Hooker (folk/R&B): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeycEQReDzM&themeRefresh=1
- Shortenin Bread by The Tractors (country/R&B): https://youtu.be/QlJS3z1RQnE
- Let Us Break Bread Together by Joan Baez (R&B/folk/Christian):https://youtu.be/2VZ3oWo–AM
- One Bread, One Body by Jesuits (Christian): https://youtu.be/tLlpHSxLMCc
Hymn excerpt — John Macleod Campbell Crum
Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
BREAD SHARING
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. — Viktor Frankl
The piece of bread is an ambassador of the cosmos offering nourishment and support. — Thich Nhat Hahn
Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one. — Nikolai Berdyaev
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. — Mahatma Gandhi
It is not accidental that all phenomena of human life are dominated by the search for daily bread – the oldest link connecting all living things, man included, with the surrounding nature. — Ivan Pavlov
We believe that salvation is to be found in wholesome work in a beloved land. Work will provide our people with the bread of tomorrow, and moreover, with the honor of the tomorrow, the freedom of the tomorrow. — Theodor Herzl
When you fight to give your family bread, that’s not passion anymore: that’s conviction. — Yoel Romero
When we cast our bread upon the waters we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from the grantor’s gift. — Maya Angelou
When the children of Israel were suffering from hunger and thirst, Moses prayed to God and God answered his prayers with food from heaven. The Qur’an says: “And We caused the clouds to comfort you with their shade, and sent down unto you manna and quails. [saying,] ’Partake of the good things which We have provided for you as sustenance’” (2:57). — Muhammad Shafiq
There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. ―Mother Teresa
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou. – Omar Khayyam
Even in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live, and in agonizing desperation they cry for the bread of hope. — Martin Luther King, Jr
There is a basket of fresh bread on your head, yet you go door to door asking for crusts. ― Rumi, The Essential Rumi
When you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn’t behave as if you were throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in his hunger. — Giovanni Guareschi
BREAD MAKING
You can’t just leave out one part; the bread won’t rise if the yeast isn’t there. — Holly Near
I like reality. It tastes like bread. — Jean Anouilh
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. — Nelson Mandela
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it … If I survive, I will spend my whole life at the oven door seeing that no one is denied bread and, so as to give a lesson of charity, especially those who did not bring flour. — Jose Marti
Sense the blessings of the earth in the perfect arc of a ripe tangerine, the taste of warm, fresh bread, the circling flight of birds, the lavender color of the sky shining in a late afternoon rain puddle, the million times we pass other beings in our cars and shops and out among the trees without crashing, conflict, or harm. — Jack Kornfield
To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. —John Irving
COMMENTARY on BREAD in LORD’s PRAYER
In the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach. — Woodrow Wilson
The devil took advantage of Christ’s hunger to tempt him to limit his concern to the relief of human need. These are vital concerns, but they cannot be the sole concern of the Church. We need daily bread; we need, too, a reason for living, a sense of purpose, a vision. — Basil Hume
Obviously Jesus was not telling His disciples to pray only for bread. But bread was a staple in the diet of the Jews, and had been so for many years. Furthermore, bread was a powerful symbol of God’s provision for His people …. We remember how God cared for the Israelites when they were in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. Life in the wilderness was hard, and soon the people began to complain that it would be better to be back in Egypt, where they had wonderful food to eat. In response to these complaints, God promised to “rain bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4). … This petition of the Lord’s Prayer, then, teaches us to come to God in a spirit of humble dependence, asking Him to provide what we need and to sustain us from day to day. We are not given license to ask for great riches, but we are encouraged to make our needs known to Him, trusting that He will provide.— RC Sproul
Bread was important; in fact, where some eat and some do not eat, the kingdom is not present. — Fred Craddock
Truth is, I think, if God just gave us our daily bread, many of us would be angry. ‘That’s all you’re going to give me? You’re just going to give me enough to sustain me for today? What about tomorrow or next year or 10, 20, 30 years from now? I want to know that I’m set up.’ And yet Jesus says just pray for your daily provisions. — Francis Chan
February INSIDE OUT Newsletter
Hi Members and Friends,
Hope everyone is staying warm – this was certainly a tough weekend here in the Mount Washington Valley with record low temperatures. Please know that if you need assistance the church maybe able to help and the Sanctuary is always warm and welcoming.
February appears to be a busy month with lots of “mark on your calendar” events – check out the newsletter for more information.
Stay safe and warm,
Joanne Turner, Administrative Assistant
Jackson Community Church