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Union Congregational Church United Church of Christ The Rev. Dr. Peggy Wolfe Dunn, Pastor Route 129 and Middle Road Rutherford Island PO Box 59 South Bristol, Maine 04568 Phone 207.644.8242 mail: ucsb@tidewater.net
· Opportunities for Fellowship
Community-wide Church Supper—Saturday, February 11…..casseroles, salads, baked beans and Valentine’s Day desserts!!
Centering Prayer continues to meet at 4 PM on Thursday afternoons. This is an opportunity to learn about and experience contemplative prayer.
Our Thrift Shop is open from 9 AM to Noon on Fridays and Saturdays, April through December. It will be closed during the months of January, February and March. If you have a specific need, please call the church office.
Sunday School meets at 10 AM on Sunday mornings.
Meet Our New Pastor ~ The Rev. Dr. Peggy Wolfe Dunn Shortly after moving from New Jersey with my family in 1978, I read a book about living in Maine. I can still remember one thing from that book: the author talked about cobbling together ‘some of this and some of that’ as a way of working. As I thought about sharing my resume with you, I was struck by how much my working life in Maine reflects the truth of that cobbling. My professional life has had a distinct path, and in traveling it I have done ‘some of this and some of that’ along the way. Over 35 years I have been a crisis counselor, then a YMCA director, then a Seminary student and social worker, then a Seminary employee (and Seminary student again) and finally a minister. All but the crisis counseling has been in Maine. Each step along this way has drawn on and built on the learnings of previous steps. Two of my three children and two of my five grandchildren are still in Maine (in Saco and South Portland). My daughter and her family are in Ohio.
I love the beauty of South Bristol. I love God’s church and being a minister. I love my part-time work with the Academy for Congregational Life and Leadership, which is why I have wanted a part time pastorate. I grew up spending summers on the New Jersey shore, and lived for three years on Peaks Island in the late 1980s. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor in my younger years, and have always loved the water. I was raised a Presbyterian, became a Quaker in the late 1960s, and came into the UCC after a transformative experience as an interim pastor in a United Methodist Church. I am ordained in the UCC, and I have a Centering Prayer practice that offers me contemplative grounding. This aspect of my life could also be characterized as ‘some of this, some of that.’ I have a deep interest in other religious traditions and know something of Judaism and Islam, and Buddhism.
As your search committee and I have talked, and I have learned something about your congregation and your town, I have become increasingly interested in sharing a common life in the church as your pastor and teacher, taking advantage of this opportunity for us to worship and work together, listening for God’s leadings about how to best praise and serve God through the uniqueness of this church body in this place at this time.
I am eager for the opportunity to get to know you, and to explore together where God may be leading us. We are living in interesting times: we can be grateful for the insight of the United Church of Christ that God is still speaking. I pray that we will be able to listen well and walk this next part of our common path together.
Peggy is usually in the office on Thursdays.
Look for the September issue of The Fisherman’s Net. If you would like to receive a copy electronically, please e-mail the church office, ucsb@tidewater.net.
· May 2010 · May 2009
Painting Campaign! The Church and Parish Hall are in need of new paint. If you would like to contribute to our “paint fund”, special collections are taken on the 3rd Sunday of each month or you may send your contribution to the church office. Thank you for your support. Update—although, we have a long way to go, generous donations and fund raising efforts have brought in nearly $4,000 so far.
Carolyn and Don Maunz return from their Medical Mission Trip to the Galapagos Islands.
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WHAT WE ARE ALL ABOUT... According to our by-laws…..."The avowed purpose of the Union Congregational Church shall be to worship God, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to celebrate the Sacraments, to realize Christian fellowship within this church and the Church Universal, to render loving service to humankind, and to strive for righteousness, justice, peace and truth. Its understanding of Christian truth is that common to the churches affiliated with the United Church of Christ." We are a small, dedicated and enthusiastic group trying to live out this mission in our daily lives as witnessing people demonstrating the Good News of God's love and a covenantal people joining together with God and each other to be an expression of the Body of Christ in today's world. We are a friendly church and all are welcome. |