STEEPLE SOUNDS

February 2026

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

Every year when I look at the February calendar, I’m in shock when I see February vacation. It always surprises me, and I shouldn’t be surprised. That school vacation week pops up every year; you think I’d be used to it by now. 

Vacation can feel indulgent—or even irresponsible. Yet throughout Scripture, God reminds us that rest is not a reward for faithfulness; it is part of faithfulness itself. In scripture God consistently invites us to pause, breathe, and remember who we are apart from what we do. And in a culture that often measures worth by productivity, it is good for us to remember that we are children of God first and foremost. 

Children often understand the concept of vacation better than adults. Kids don’t apologize for play. They can move seamlessly from learning to laughing, from effort to play. In play, kids are fully present—immersed in imagination, curiosity, and joy. They remind us that vacation is not wasted time; it is formative time. In play and vacation, children show us how to receive life as a gift rather than a task to complete.

Vacation—whether a trip away, a staycation, or simply stepping back from routine—is a spiritual practice.  Remember that. When we rest, we declare with our bodies what we believe with our hearts: that our value is rooted in being God’s beloved, not in how much we accomplish.

Whether we get a week of vacation in February or not, may we take cues from children who play freely. May we give ourselves permission to rest without guilt, to delight without justification, and to return renewed—ready to love God and our neighbor more fully. After all, even God rested, and called it good.

In Christ,
Rev. Beth

Tue, Wed, Thu, & Sun - 9-1

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, February 25, 7pm

Monthly meetings of the church leadership are held in the Fellowship Hall. All church members are also welcome to attend. Please note there is no December meeting.

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.

CSCC Deacons
Deb Sorgman – debsorgman at gmail . com

Anne Malmquist - amalmquist at comcast . net

Cristi Ciaramitaro

Stephanie Holmgren, Altar Deacon

Savannah Wells, Jr. Deacon

Liam O'Connell, Jr. Deacon

Talinn Muurisepp, Jr. Deacon
 

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

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.

“Community is the heartbeat of humanity, pulsing with love and support.”

• Longtime member Phoebe Hogg has moved. Her new address is Village at Willows Crossing, 25 Cobb St, Apt. L142, Mansfield, MA 02048. She would love to get cards and notes from her CSCC family!
• Welcome to new CSCC members Drew Sullivan and Diana Francis.
• Steve and Connie Chandler will be in Lahaina, Hawaii for two weeks where the 2023 fires caused extensive destruction. They will be joining a 6-7 member team of family and friends to build a house that was lost of a young family with Raynham roots.  
• Congratulations to Karissa and Liam Marquis, as they welcome baby Elizabeth to their lives!

Do you have an important milestone in your family you'd like to share with the CSCC community? Perhaps a retirement (yay!), a birth, a new job or house, a passing? Let us share in these important moments in the life of our community together. 

Send your brief, one-line message to the church office at office@csccucc.com. If it's received by the 20th of the month, it'll be in the next Steeple Sounds. If it comes after, we'll save it for the next one.

What's new with you?

Happy Valentines Day

Central Closet Thrift Shop is celebrating the cold weather we are having right now in New England! We are offering all outer wear accessories at 50% off. So come in and stock up on hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves. Stock up while the price is right.

Check out our Sale Closet and Sale Cabinet for even more bargains!

The 14th will be here soon. Be sure to purchase some of the Hilliards candy bars - 2 for $5 - for the special people in your lives. We can't seem to keep them in stock, so don't wait too long. 

We welcome new or gently used clothing and accessories for adults and children, household items, books, and toys. Please no electronics, broken items, torn or stained clothing. We do limit donations up to twenty items per visit. Donations are only accepted during shop hours (Wednesday and Saturday 10-2).

Thanks again for your continued support. 
Connie, Sandy, Jane, Lynn, and Gail 

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. ~ Martin Luther
Our Mustard Seed Prayer List is at the very center of our church, the heart of our church home. Our prayer list flourishes with ups, downs, highs, lows, concerns and celebrations. We ask for mercy, we offer gratitude, we share our love, with God and in community. WE PRAY TOGETHER for and with each other.

Here are some guidelines for the Mustard Seeds Prayer List:
* A prayer can be added at any time; during worship (if you write your request on the mustard-colored slips of paper in the pews and place it in the offering plate), or an email, phone call or verbal request through the church office. When your prayer is added to the list it will include the date of the request. Some prayers need to be ongoing and some do not.
* If you have a prayer request on the list and you update, or mention additional information at a later time, (by following the first guideline above) the prayer will continue and the date of the request will be updated.
* After approximately 6 months, if no updates have been given, your prayer request will be removed. But it can always be added back on, should the request be given. 

This is a challenge for the keepers of the list and there will always be exceptions to these guidelines. We would prefer for you to manage your prayer requests, rather than the keepers of the list.

Should you have questions about our prayer list, please speak with a Care Team Member.

Sharing of Ourselves

Here's a challenge for you - write a note to a fellow parishioner, not a" thinking of you" card where you sign your name, put it in an envelope and mail. Make it personal, share something about you: a story, a favorite place, a favorite food, etc. and then entwine it with a question to the person you are writing to. Do they have a favorite place, food, story? Do they like to shop during the week or on the weekend? Open the door to a new friendship. The art of letter writing is disappearing. It is much quicker to text or email. Correspondence via mail provides anticipation and a true feeling of care and love for one another, because you have taken the time and taken a different route. 

So just this once, write a note to someone. It doesn't matter if you mail it or just hand it to the person and walk away. You may be surprised. You may feel awkward, but sometimes making ourselves vulnerable by reaching out makes us stronger in our Christian life.

Care Team

January was an amazing month in Kids Church! Krissy has been leading the kids this month, with the help of both Diana and Ashley, working on various projects in their learning journey of Heifer International. All the kids are so excited to show everyone what they've been working on at the Living Gift Market, our annual event that raises money for Heifer International to help them continue their worldwide work of making life better for all God’s children. 

Speaking of the Living Gift Market, it is right around the corner! Please join us in Fellowship Hall on Sunday, February 8th right after worship as the kids will showcase and sell what they've been working on. As always, we'll have no shortage of crafts, snacks, and treats for sale all for an amazing cause, so please come out and support the kids and this wonderful ministry. And tell your friends and neighbors! The event is open to the public, and kids of all ages love to see all the amazing things our kids have come up with.

After the Heifer chapter, we'll quickly be jumping into Lent on February 22nd. This year we will be using the Illustrated Ministries Lenten curriculum. One of my reservations about teaching Lent to kids in the past has always been that the focus is so much on the death of Jesus. While that was certainly part of the story, if you stop there you miss the most important part! Since Easter will be a multi-generational worship service as always, we will fast track the events that lead up to Jesus's death, and use the Sunday before (March 29) to focus on Jesus' resurrection and what that means to all of us.

I'm really looking forward to working with the kids this Lenten season, and just as a reminder, there is no barrier to entry in Kids Church. As it is with the our regular worship, whether your kids come every week, or this is the first time they are here all year, all are welcome.

Eric Stotts
Kids Church Director

It was a Magical Success!

On Saturday, January 10th we had this wonderful event at the church called “A Magical Adventure.” We welcomed approximately 70-80 children and adults to participate in the fun. This event happened because of all the volunteers who gave of their time or donated food items. It could not have happened without your help. And best of all, it raised almost $1300 for the church!
Diane Sheibley, the constant advertising brought the crowds in for us to entertain. And your creative map-making was a wonderful addition to the event. 

The children were all engaged and loved the activities. Potions was very popular as usual, and Sandra Davis your eye for decorating is amazing. The children loved making the owls with Anne Malmquist, and Krissy Cannizzo, I saw the children waving their magic wands and casting spells.

Carol Chaffee, the boys and girls were very involved with potato printing, and creating their forests. You were brave to tackle this project. 

Stephanie Holmgren, you are our anchor pulling together the decorations up front and creating the balloon photo shoot. This area sets the tone for everyone as they enter the Magical Adventure. Paul Holmes, the help you gave us while decorating the hall was enormous. You helped in so many ways – and the creature sounds brought the Enchanted Forest to life. 

So many people donated ice cream cones, chocolate cookies, and frosting. Connie Chandler, Jane O’Connell, and I were able to create witches’ hats, that, when opened by the children, M&M’s were revealed and the children knew by color which tent to enter first.  We also asked for chocolate bits which were used to make all kinds of yummy candy such as frogs, roaches on a log, and pine trees. Yum!  

We were blessed with lots of donated food, and a magical feast was created by Sara Terpeny, Jenne Foronjy, and their crew. Any unopened food that was extra was donated to the food pantry. 
And I don’t want to forget the trees out front. They added to our theme and the atmosphere of the event, and the faces we adorned them with were an added bonus.  Thank you all who donated their Christmas trees and thank you to Philip Chaffee for gathering all those trees and setting them up along the walkway in front of the church.  

A special guest at our event was the “Bat Lady,” Maria Armour, who shared how bats help us, while Christine Hoyt read bat stories to the children.

 Sue Corcoran, you and your daughter were wonderful to jump in and run the store for us, and help in so many ways!

Thanks, too, to Rachel Lawson, several members of Sandra Davis’ friends and family, and Judy, mother of the Bat Lady, who created our enchanted forest snake.
The decorating by everyone was truly amazing. When people came down from church the next morning and saw all the creativity from each of you they were surprised and impressed. 
I cannot thank you all enough for your hard work this year.  So many people helped in some way and the team thanks you all for your donations and your time. 

Terry Reynolds and the Magical Committee:
Anne Malmquist, Stephanie Holmgren, Sandra Davis, Paul Holmes, Jenne Foronjy, Sara Terpeny, Diane Sheibley, Krissy Cannizzo, Carol Chaffee