Edwards Church

United Church of Christ | Saxonville, Massachusetts

February Announcements

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Lenten Devotional 2023: Traveling Together Toward Easter Sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/2023LentenDevotional  Again, this year, Edwards Church will create our own Lenten Devotional, with a reflection available each day during Lent (via email, Facebook, and on the website). We need your creativity to make this happen! Your reflections could be in the form of a prayer, a poem, a paragraph, or a photograph. Our theme this year is “Traveling Together Toward Easter” (see Debbie’s cover letter for more background). Your Lenten Devotion could take many forms. Here are a few ideas:
  • Tell a story of someone who has traveled beside you (literally or figuratively) during an important or difficult time in your life.
  • Talk about what it means to you to be a follower of Jesus.
  • Send a photo or drawing of traveling together: a road, a bridge, two or three or a crowd of people traveling together.
  • Send a photo or drawing of an Easter experience: a moment when you felt hope or the promise of new life.
  • Talk about a time you felt hope or the promise of new life, and/or about the journey to get there.
Each reflection includes scripture and a short prayer. Debbie and Karen Nell are happy to add those to your reflection, or you can do that yourself. Your reflection does not need to be long. If you have a picture, you might choose to have only a very few words. In general, written reflections should be 200-500 words. Green Team Hybrid Book Discussion Monday, February 13 at 7:00pm In Susan P. Dickerman Hall and on Zoom The Edwards Church Green Team invites you to a discussion of the 2021 bestseller, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee. You do not need to have finished the book to join the discussion; just dive in and join us wherever you are. (But If you want to read how racism has held back action on climate change, be sure to explore Chapter 8, “The Same Sky.”) Her “powerful, singular, and prescriptive blend of the macro and the intimate” (Oprah Daily) will draw you in, sadden you, madden you, and yet offer hope.  Available in paperback at most booksellers and through the Framingham Public Library. Please email Mary Memmott (memmottm@gmail.com) for the Zoom link if you plan to attend online or to RSVP for the in-person meeting. Edwards Church Organizational Restructuring Info Sessions Sunday, February 12 at 1pm via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/111990636?, password is 393939 AND Sunday, February 19 after worship in the Youth Room For the last year a team has been meeting to discuss the changing nature of our community, the need to rewrite our bylaws, and most importantly, the need to redesign our organizational structure. A draft structure has been prepared and shared with all boards, committees and teams, and an updated version was recently presented to Council for feedback. At our February 26 Congregational Meeting, this draft org structure will be presented to the entire conversation before moving into a pilot implementation in the coming months. To prepare for this important meeting, the reorg team will offer two small group info sessions. Please join us! Congregational Meeting Sunday, February 26 at 1:00pm via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/111990636?, password is 393939 Our congregational meeting this year will be held via Zoom. After worship, grab a bite of lunch and zoom into an important opportunity to strengthen our congregation. We will vote on the budget for 2023, discuss the proposal of our Organizational Structure Review Team, and hear reports from boards, committees and teams. It’s essential business, and it’s our faithful way of listening for the Holy Spirit moving through our congregation. Please plan to participate! Compassionate Conversations Fourth Mondays at 7:00pm via Zoom (2/27) Would you like to have deep and meaningful conversations with fellow congregants? Are there topics you’d like to explore in a safe environment? Come and share your thoughts, feelings, & concerns. We will discuss a different topic each month. For the winter, these conversations will happen on Zoom. On February 27, we will be discussing the war in Ukraine. Come & share your grief, your angst, your anger, your hope, your hopelessness, and any other feelings you may have about the whole situation both there and here. Email Laura Beck for more information. (Note: This is not meant to be a political conversation but rather a sharing of feelings.) Coffee Hour: Volunteers Needed After 2-1/2 years of not gathering for fellowship after worship, we have begun having coffee hour, though with a new vision. For now, we will gather on the first Sunday of every month, as a way to continue our “communion” from worship. For each coffee hour, we need a team of 3-4 volunteers. To streamline clean-up, some teams may choose to bring boxes of coffee from Dunkin’s or Saxonville Mills. You can divvy up the tasks amongst yourselves in any way you would like. We need a team to volunteer for April. Please consider if you’d like to help, and sign up in church or contact the church office. MARCH STEEPLE: Call for Articles and Photographs! Articles and photos for the next issue of the Steeple are due on February 15. Submissions should be a maximum of about 350 words (speak to Nicola if you need more space; rules are made to be broken). We welcome you or your committee/team to send more than one article. Special Offering for February: Sister Song and Planned Parenthood This month’s special offering focuses on reproductive rights. Our faith affirms the sacredness of the human body, God’s desire for the flourishing of all humanity, and that God grants all humans moral agency over their own bodies. We are called to remove barriers to this self-agency, especially when it impacts those on the margins. Sister Song (www.sistersong.net) is a nonprofit founded and run by women of color that works to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities. Our offering will be divided between Sister Song and Planned Parenthood. Please join Justice and Love in Action (formerly Wider Mission) in this important effort to support reproductive justice. You can donate through our PayPal on our website or by check or cash in worship or in the church office. Please be sure to note “February Special Offering” on checks or envelopes.