Jackson Community Church

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New Years 2021: Poetry and song for the coming year.

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Music:

A New Year’s Poem — Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rimes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

THE YEAR AS A HOUSE
A Blessing — Jan Richardson

Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.

Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.

Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.

Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.

Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.

And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.

—  Jan Richardson  ©

Beannacht (New Year blessing) – John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets in to you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green,
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

STATEWIDE NH CONFERENCE CHOIR

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Home, UCC NewsTagged , , ,

Virtual – Directed by Billy Carleton

We are preparing choral music for the Sat, Oct 17th Annual Meeting of the NH Conference. Choir director Billy Carleton will be working with choir participants from across the state.

Rehearsal schedule follows: Thursdays: Aug 18, 25

  • 10am – Tenors & Bass

Thursdays: Aug 20, 27

  • 10am – Altos & Sopranos

Sundays: Aug 16 & 30

  • 2pm – Combined Practice

Recordings due:

  • Final individual recordings due by Sun, Aug 30.

RSVP if interested , so we may send you email updates, links to download music and practice tracks, as well as rehearsal zoom-based links.

Youth Programs: May & June

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, Home, YouthTagged , , , , , , , , ,

Family Church-at-home-together Continues! Here’s an update on current plans!

  • Young People’s Choir & Band begins Mondays, May 24, 4pm via Zoom.
    • Choir director & musician Billy Carleton will meet virtually with young people who want to participate in weekly music-making.
    • The goal will be to record songs every 4-6 weeks to share during worship.
    • Voices and instruments welcome.
    • At the first session, Billy will work with music-makers to decide on songs and ways to integrate some instruments as well.
    • Note: Young people’s Zoom sessions are only open to young people and their family/guardians (if their adults wish to attend), but is closed to other community members for the safety of the young participants, except by invitation of the choir director or music team. The Zoom link will be circulated in a closed email group for participants and leaders only. Please RSVP if your family has under-18 members who want to join us, and you haven’t already received communication about this group.
    • Note that Billy Carleton teaches for SAU9, so he is familiar with teaching and working with younger singers as well as adults.
  • Leaders-in-Training (L-I-T) Program Starts in June
    • Engaging older youth to continue last summer’s L-I-T experience.
    • Should be 7th grade and older
    • You will help create educational and entertaining challenges that invite younger participants outside in safe and creative ways (with their adult family/guardian members participation)
    • Together we’ll create some physical/virtual challenges such as letterbox kits on-site around Jackson/Bartlett, design scavenger hunts for summer recrreation and other ways to have physical engagement outside, with prompts designed and facilitated by our Leaders-in-Training
    • RSVP if you want to be part of the Leader=in-Training initiative (7th grade and older)
    • Letter-boxing/geo-caching challenge designs
    • Scavenger hunt design
    • Extended game design
    • Mystery game / live puzzle design
  • Puppets and Story-telling:
    • Expect a delivery of make-your-own puppet kits to families and “church at home” kits.
    • We’ll create live-action puppet skits of sacred stories, filmed via Zoom or other ways, to share with the church once-a-month during worship!
    • Young people who want to participate may pick characters for their puppets and tell the story in your own words, your own way! With your own puppet, that you make!
    • You will choose the stories we tell also.
    • Unless your family doesn’t want such a kit, we’ll plan to deliver one to all of our families as soon as the materials arrive (we hope to have them this week).
    • We’ll schedule Zoom times to explore stories and work out skits, unless we can gather safely outside in small groups, with appropriate social distance precautions (to be determined as circumstances unfold)
  • Church-at-home kits:
    • We’ll deliver church-at-home kits with devotionals and art pages to your families for some quiet, contemplative activity options
  • Prayer flags:
    • We’d love to fly your flags!
    • We’ll provide prayer flag materials, and we invite you to make ones to use at home
    • We also want to share one of your prayer flags in a display outside the church.
  • Prayer Fence:
    • The chalkboard fence will be re-painted white and ready for public use by the end of May.
    • Painting the fence has been adopted as a service project by one of our families.
  • Community Care cards:
    • We would love to include handmade cards or artwork from our young people in care packages that we’re continuing to distribute in the community.
    • If you make cards, we’ll provide a safe place at church for you to return them, for redistribution to members, friends and neighbors who need your cheer & care
    • Messaging is your choice, but we suggest cheerful, inspirational and optimistic messages with universal themes (these won’t be addressed to specific individuals or specific issues) like “thinking of you”, “have a nice day”, “smile”, “friendship”,”peace”, “hope”, “love” and/or “sending you prayers and good thoughts”
  • Adopt-a-friend:
    • As an extension of the Community Care card initiative, we have a small list of vulnerable community members who are lonely or isolated for different reasons. If we have an expression of interest among our younger families, we’d like to match families with some of these neighbors to create some inter-generational communication and relationship-building
    • You can explore how to activate this connection might work.
      • Occasional phone or zoom calls might work with some people, although hearing loss and technology challenges can make this a case-by-case option.
      • Cards and mail are excellent ways to connect.
      • Care package drop-offs are also excellent ways to connect(with social distance precautions)
      • Social-distance visits to wave and chat are possible in some instances, if health isn’t an issue, but we should discuss case-by-case
  • Youth Day(s) in Worship
    • We’ll aim for youth-led worship at least every quarter, every 9-12 weeks with youth-led reflections, readings and music
    • The first such worship session will take place toward the end of June – after graduation activities have concluded (more info to come) – integrating whatever contributions we can provide by that time
  • Scripture readers: 
  • Graduate Recognition:
    • Please RSVP if you have a pending graduate!
    • Please share bios/photos of your graduates, whether they’re finishing high school, college (any level), professional certification programs/training or other educational milestones that we may not have named here
    • In June, we’ll celebrate these young people in the church newsletter and other communication platforms (though not to social media unless we have permission to do so)
    • We want to include all Jackson-based youth plus any local youth (Bartlett, Conway, etc) connected as friends or members of our faith community
    • We welcome updates on other young people connected to our friends and members as extended family such as grandchildren (even if they live in other locations)
  • Music & Art contributions: 
    • If you are a musician or singer or artist, we continue to want to share your special music!
    • The contributions of several families have already made worship and other gatherings a richer, deeper experience, and more such offerings are welcome if and when you’re able to share them
    • Sacred and/or secular music selections are both welcome
    • Pre-recorded audio-only or video performances are best for now
  • Open-ended Outdoor Summer Challenges
    • With the help of Leaders-in-Training, we’ll offer a variety of active outdoor engagements that are educational and entertaining, and can be completed on the family’s schedule, such as scavenger hunts, letterboxing exploration, and more
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