STEEPLE SOUNDS

December 2024

We are a Christian community of people who are reaching out to our neighbors, 
at home and abroad, sharing our faith and our resources.

Central Square Congregational Church, UCC, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts is an open and affirming
church. No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

From the Desk of Rev. Beth

Rev. Elizabeth Stotts, Pastor

 As we enter the season of Advent, a time of anticipation, of expectant waiting, this year I want us to also look at Advent as a time of Growth. The four weeks leading up to Christmas are an opportunity to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ in a deeper way, nurturing both our faith and our relationships with God. This is a season for spiritual growth through the Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. It’s also an invitation to make more room for the Holy Spirit in our lives through prayer, scripture, service, and community. 

1. Growth Through Prayer: Advent offers us a unique opportunity to grow in our relationship with God through prayer. Whether through quiet moments of reflection or more intentional prayer times, we are called to seek God’s presence in new and meaningful ways. Consider, this Advent, setting aside time each day to pray, asking God to help you grow in love.

2. Growth Through Scripture: The Advent season invites us to dive deeper into scripture. Reading and reflecting on the prophetic passages that point to Christ’s coming can strengthen our faith and remind us of God’s promises. You might consider reading an Advent devotional or starting a new Bible study with friends or family to encourage growth together.

3. Growth Through Service: Advent is also a time to grow in our love for others. Just as Jesus came to serve, we are called to serve others too.  This could mean volunteering, reaching out to someone in need, or finding other ways to bless those around us. Serving others not only helps them but also strengthens our own faith as we live out the love of Jesus.

4. Growth Through Community: Advent is a season that brings us together as a church family. This is a time for fellowship, for encouraging one another in our spiritual journeys, and for growing together in Christ. Attend Advent services, join in activities, and share in the joy of preparing for Christ’s birth together.

As we journey through this sacred season, let’s remember that Advent is about more than just waiting; it’s about growing. We grow in our faith, in our love for others, and in our relationship with God.  May this Advent be a season of deep spiritual renewal, where we prepare our hearts to receive Christ anew.

Let us commit to growing in faith this Advent season, making room for the light of Christ to shine in our lives and in our world.

In Christ’s Love,
Rev. Beth

Tue 11-3, Wed-Thu-Fri 9-1

and by appointment

Please note that the office will be open only limited hours on Wed, Dec. 18,

and will be closed December 25-January 1.

Remote worship on Facebook and YouTube

Sunday Worship will continue to be livestreamed from the Sanctuary at 10 a.m. 
Use the link on the homepage of www.csccucc.org to access Sunday worship, or visit our Facebook page. Past worship services are also available in both places.

NEXT CABINET MEETING is Wednesday, December 18, 7pm

Monthly meetings of the church leadership are held in the Fellowship Hall. All church members are also welcome to attend. 

CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY

Do you need a meal, a call, spiritual care, or even just a prayer or a chat?

Contact the Pastor, a Deacon, or a member of our Care Team.

To contact Rev. Beth, call the church office at 508-697-6016 or email her at csccpastor at hotmail.com. 

CSCC Deacons
Deb Sorgman – debsorgman at gmail . com

Anne Malmquist - amalmquist at comcast . net

Cristi Ciaramitaro

Savannah Wells, Jr. Deacon
 

CSCC Care Team
Carol Chaffee  *  Bev Mitchell  *  Rev. Beth Stotts  *  Nina Gabel-Jorgensen

Contact the church office if you need us!

The Bridgewater Food Pantry, hosted and supported by CSCC, is open Thursdays, 10am-1pm, and the first Mondays of the month, 6-7:30pm (except holidays). All Bridgewater residents who are in need of food are welcome.

If you are a Bridgewater resident unable to come to the food pantry, but are in need of food, please contact the church office by email (office@csccucc.com) or phone (508-697-6016) and arrangements will be made for you.

Wednesday December 4th at 6:30pm will be the next meeting of the Women’s Guild and Fellowship. Rev Beth will lead us in a Christmas service including Communion, followed by refreshments and a business meeting. Bring a friend and relax before the busy holiday season!

Guild members will be supporting our troops and two sober houses in Bridgewater by bringing items to our meeting. Anyone in our church is welcome to contribute items also.

ITEMS REQUESTED BY DEPLOYED TROOPS:  (N.B. SMALL SIZES)
HYGIENE ITEMS (deodorant, toothpaste and brushes, chapstick, female items, q-tips)
COCOA PACKETS                           
SMALL PACKAGES OF CRACKERS  (peanut butter, cheese)
OATMEAL PACKETS                       
HEALTH BARS
BEEF JERKY/SLIM JIMS                 
GUM/CANDY (Chocolate is ok)
WASH CLOTHS                                
DECKS OF CARDS
NUTS/SUNFLOWER SEEDS            
COFFEE PODS
WORD SEARCH, CROSSWORD PUZZLES, SUDOKU BOOKS

Second, from Material Aids:
We would like to give each resident of the sober houses (20 male and 20 female residents total) a new large bath towel, hand towel, and wash cloth for a Christmas gift! We would like them to be good size and thirsty so they will last through many washings. It would be great if you could each purchase one gift set that is unique, so each person would know theirs from the rest of the residents. You can bring it wrapped or in a gift bag (please indicate if color is a female preference on wrap). If shopping is a concern, please consider a donation so that we can shop for you and achieve our goal of 40 Christmas gifts total! 

Thank you,
Diane Glass & Donna O’Neil
CoPresidents

Advent & Christmas at CSCC

BSU Alumni Chamber Choir
Winter Concert
Sunday, Dec. 15, 3:oopm
Tickets at the door
alumnichamberchoirbsu@gmail.com

Last month in Kids Church we completed our 5-week program on women in the Bible! It was a lot of fun exploring with the kids the role of these women, some of whom only had a single biblical passage mentioning them. To help flesh out their role and their importance at the time, we used both the Bible and scholarly texts to understand their strength, resilience, faith, and often times boldness during a time that often downplayed the role of women. 

Coming up this month we are jumping right into Advent! As we did last year we will have our own Advent wreath and candles on the Kids Church altar, a Christmas tree, and we will be exploring weekly the aspects of hope, joy, peace, and love, that the season represents. The curriculum that Rev. Beth and I chose is a mirror image of what the adults will be doing for the entire month. Our use of the same structure was intentional and in the hope that this will spark intergenerational discussions about the story of the birth of Christ.

As always, there's a lot more going on than I can fit in a short newsletter article, so if you have any questions about Kids Church, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. 

From all of us at Kids Church, Merry Christmas! 

Eric Stotts
Director of Kids Church

It’s That Time of Year Again: 
Inclement Weather Policy

The Senior Deacon in conjunction with the Senior Pastor will discuss the need and reason for cancellation of worship service. Upon the decision to cancel worship service, the following procedures shall be put into effect:

1. The Pastor will notify the Minister of Music no later than 6am the Sunday morning of the service in question. The Minister of Music will in turn notify the choir.
2. The Pastor will notify the Sexton and other staff, including the Office Manager and the Communications Coordinator.
3. The Office Manager will update the office answering machine with the cancellation announcement and notify the appropriate television media.
4. The Communications Coordinator will send a general church email and a text notification, and will update the website and Facebook page.
5. The Senior Deacon will notify the other members of the Spiritual Engagement Team.

The main factors used to decide a cancellation are:
1. Excessive amounts of snow
2. Parking availability (or parking ban)
3. Damage to the church
4. State of Emergency
5. Power Outage

To ensure you receive timely notification of weather issues, be sure you are on our email list as well as our cell phone text message notification list. You may opt-out at any time. Contact the office with questions.

Goodbye, Brady

by Sheri Turner

“The righteous care for the needs of their animals,” (Proverbs 12:10, NIV)

I was thinking about kindness and what it means in the context of our pets. There are many kinds of animals that can be considered pets, but when I think about pets, I mostly think about dogs and cats. I have written in a previous newsletter that I love dogs. I grew up with dogs and currently I have three of them. They each have their own personalities and needs, but at a certain point in their lives they all need end-of-life care. Providing compassionate and thorough end-of-life care is one of the kindest gifts you can bestow on your furry family members when their time comes.

In 2019, I was preparing to wrap presents with my husband Steve on Christmas Eve. He and I both tend to procrastinate and we end up wrapping everything we bought for everyone on Christmas Eve. When I say “we,” I mean that my husband wraps the majority of the gifts while I cook whatever cookies, fudge, pies and breakfast foods I am cooking for Christmas. We usually wind up being awake until 4:00 a.m. or so. This has gone on for years, mostly because we aren’t great planners. Thank goodness my children were 20, 16 and 14 on this particular year, so they were old enough to grasp what happened and why we wound up not wrapping their gifts that year.

This was the year we were forced to say goodbye to Brady, our thirteen year-old Golden Retriever. While I had been talking with my husband Steve I noticed that Brady seemed to be panting. He hadn’t been running around or wrestling and something just didn’t seem right. Brady had been outside about a half an hour before to potty and he had come back inside and plopped on the tile in front of the door in the living room. I went over and stroked his head and said, “Are you ok Brady?” His beautiful brown eyes looked up at me sadly. I became worried. I listened to him pant and decided to check his gums for color. I had been told that if a dog’s gums are pale or white, that is concerning. I checked his gums and yup, they were indeed pale. I became concerned. I second-guessed myself, trying to assure myself that it was nothing. I went back and forth in my head and finally decided to say something to Steve.

continued...

To continue reading this article, please CLICK HERE.

CSCC Cabinet Meeting – Minutes
November 20, 2024 at 7pm

Location: Fellowship hall, Church
The meeting was called to order at 7:06 by Anne Malmquist, Moderator.

Cabinet members in attendance: 
Rev. Beth Stotts, Pastor
Anne Malmquist, Moderator
David Sheibley, Treasurer
Terry Reynolds, Community Engagement Team
Eric Stotts, Spiritual Engagement Team
Carol Chaffee, Congregational Engagement Team
Others in Attendance:
Josephine Stotts
Lynn Pietras
Gail Wright

Reverend Beth opened the meeting with a devotion and a prayer.

October minutes
The meeting minutes from the October meeting were presented and reviewed.
Carol Chaffee motioned to accept the minutes as written; Dave Sheibley seconded. The minutes were approved as written.
 
Congregational and Spiritual Engagement Team – Eric Stotts  
1. Great help from Cristi and Savannah as deacons.  
2. 5-week “Women of the Bible” curriculum in Kids Church. The kids like it. They had fun.  Attendance has been between 7-21 each week. 
3. The Kids Church classroom needs to be put back in place after use. Especially the tables and chairs. 
4. New Member Sunday soon.
5. Carol reported that Congregational Engagement had soup making with Rev. Beth.
6. “We had the fair.  That was a lot of congregational engagement.  And spiritual engagement.  And community engagement
And Property and finance engagement.”  
7. Poinsettias will be ordered.  Dec. 22 they’ll be placed in the sanctuary.
8. Maybe cookie making on the 14th but it’s tentative.

Pastor's Report
Rev. Beth reviewed her report.  No questions or objections. (For details, read her report)
1. Ecumenical Thanksgiving Worship is 11/26 @ 7pm
2. Holiday Open Mic with The Music Loft (the Grinch will be there!)
3. Blue Christmas Service planned for 12/21 @ 7pm
4. Monthly Advance Care Planning at the Senior Center is going well.
5. January she will run a weekly grief support group
6. Book studies are planned for November, December, and January

Treasurer's Report
1. Dave said October wasn’t a great month.  We’re running $4,000 behind where we were last year. 
2. We’re on budget for where we thought we would be.
3. The boiler fundraiser raised $31,000!!!  We get the new boiler in March! 
4. The Harvest Fair raised $6,621.70 (so far)!!!

Community Engagement Report 
1. Terry reported that Warmth in Cold places donations are going well.
2. Swing sign is missing letters from wind storm.  We need a new sign.
3. Possibility for involvement with Habitat for Humanity.
4. Christmas Fund Offering will be Dec. 22 & 24. 
5. Christmas on the Common advertisements say 10am – 4pm.  Terry is going to follow up to see if that’s correct.  Rev. Beth emailed Bridgewater Business Association to get clarity.

Property and Finance
Dave and Rev. Beth shared report on behalf of Property & Finance.  
1. Leaking roof, broken windows are on hold at the moment.  
2. Last night we met to discuss changing Rev. Beth’s call agreement to change to ¾ time.  The conference assisted in working on the change in the salary.  This will give us a $10,000 deficit each year as opposed to a $40,000 deficit.  Dave says a $10,000 deficit (psychologically) is easier for the congregation to close.
3. Terry shared that the Magical Evening made almost $1,400!!!!  Rev. Beth will send an all-church email to celebrate. It’ll be bigger and better next year!
4. Rev. Beth said Kids Church wants to gather donations but wants to know what to do.  Dave says check with the schools.  Anne says call the guidance counselors.  Terry says check Toys for Tots.
5. Gail reported that WGF is doing boxes for soldiers.

Meeting adjourned at 8:17pm.

Next cabinet meeting is December 18th.