Leicester First Congregational Church » Leicester FCC

Sunday School Begins

Leicester FCC — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:01:18 +0000

Registration: Sept 13, 2009 10 AM

Classes begin: Sept 20, 2009 10 AM/ followed by a Lunch with Pastor Doreen.

This year the children will be building an A.R.K.! The children will be learning about our theme- Acts of Random Kindness. We will play fun games, make cool crafts and learn how the simple act of being kind can make such a difference to someone.

We are expecting that this year there will be more family involvement in the Sunday School. Coordinators will work with family members of the students to see how they can participate. Perhaps you would like to come share about the ways you have shown kindness or others have been kind to you. There will be mentors available for family members or anyone who is interested in teaching a few classes, or you can participate as a guest/helper.

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” We all have a part in opening up the path to Jesus for the children in our church family. It will be a blessing for you and for them.

Search Committee – Important News Update to the Members of the Church

Leicester FCC — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:23:31 +0000

More than a year and a half ago, members of this Church entrusted the Search Committe with the responsibility of prayerfully selecting a candidate for your approval. Your requirements were that this candidate was an effective speaker, energetic, creative, have a positive and youthful outlook and obviously possess a strong religious belief. We have looked at profiles in excess of 70 candidates. We have conducted numerous interviews and have arranged to hear others preach. We have selected Doreen Cullen Oughton as the candidate we feel meets all your requirements to be the minister of the First Congregational Church of Leicester. Doreen will be with us on Sunday June 28th to conduct our church service and meet with the members of the Church. Following the church service you will be asked to vote on the recommendation that Doreen become our new pastor. We ask that you take part in this exciting moment in our ministry and we believe that you will share with us the excitement we felt when we interviewed and listened to her.

Thank you for placing your trust in us,

Search Committe Memebers:

Ron LaPointe, Jim Cathcart, Len Ivel, Marie Feeney, Ann Mulrain, Debbie Arsenault, Jackie Henderseon and Rhiannon Oris

Feb 25th – Ash Wednesday Service- 7 PM

Leicester FCC — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:07:25 +0000

Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday, is the first day of the Season of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. Ash Wednesday is a somber day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives if we are to be fully Christian.

In the early church, ashes were not offered to everyone but were only used to mark the forehead of worshippers who had made public confession of sin and sought to be restored to the fellowship of the community at the Easter celebration. However, over the years others began to show their humility and identification with the penitents by asking that they, too, be marked as sinners. Finally, the imposition of ashes was extended to the whole congregation in services similar to those that are now observed in many Christian churches on Ash Wednesday. Ashes became symbolic of that attitude of penitence reflected in the Lord’s prayer: “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us” (Luke 11:4, NRSV).

Christmas on the Common

Leicester FCC — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:22:18 +0000

12th Annual Tree Lighting & Caroling

Leicester Town Common. [map]

Sat, Dec 6, 2008 6:00 PM

Lighting of the tree on the Leicester Common followed by refreshments and a Christmas Carol sing along inside the First Congregational Church.

Sponsored by the Leicester Historical Society, Bandstand Committee and the Leicester First Congregational Church

update: view pictures from this event! click here

Strawberry Hill Fair

Leicester FCC — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:33:02 +0000

The Strawberry Hill Fair on Sat, Nov 8th was a big success. Click on photos to see how much fun everyone had. Thank you to all who contributed, worked and came to the fair.

Search Committee Update

Leicester FCC — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:45:38 +0000

The Search Committee has been meeting every week as they review the 25 potential candidates that have applied to be our new minister.

Jackie Henderson, Marie Feeney, Jim Cathcart, Rhi Orsi, Ron LaPointe, Anne Mulrain

The candidates are from all areas of the United State (Rhi Orsi kindly offered to go hear the minister that was stationed in Hawaii). There are a wide variety of backgrounds and experience to consider with these candidates.

After the potential candidates have been narrowed down, the committee will begin the process of interviewing.

Rev Richard Wright

Until we have a new minister, Rev. Richard Wright has accepted the position of permanent Sunday supply minister.

Rev Wright is a resident of Holden. Please join us in welcoming him to our church.

Sunday School Dedication to Louise Doe

Leicester FCC — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:24:39 +0000

On Sept. 21, 200, the church dedicated the Sunday School wing to Louise Doe for her over 53 consecutive years of teaching the “little ones”. It was a wonderful service – a lot of credit going to the Sunday School staff and Neil Mulrain for organizing this event.
Anne Mulrain gave a wonderful children’s sermon, relating how certain things reminded her of Louise. Rev. Peter Wells, area Minister MCUCC, was the guest minister, personalizing his sermon around Louise’s “53 going on 54” years of teaching in our Sunday School. Our religious Director of Education, Christine Cathcart, read a poem and then the children each handed Louise a rose. Neil Mulrain presented Louise with the plaque, dedicating the Sunday School wing in her name. The plaque will be placed by the entrance to the Sunday School wing. The service was followed by a special coffee hour. Thank you to all who worked on this event but most of all, thank you Louise.

Click here to view more pictures

Harvest Fair Success -Sept 20, 2008

Leicester FCC — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:59:05 +0000

How do you make 39 pans of apple crisp in one night? You get Cindy LaPointe to organize the event. And what a success!

Check out the new First Congregational Banners hanging at our booth. They look wonderful. Another big thanks to Cindy

As we were assembling the apple crisp the night before the fair, the thought occurred to us that we were crazy. How are we going to keep them warm? How much ice cream do we need? What if we only sell four pans of apple crisp? Is this really going to work? But we were having a lot of fun and figured we could make the congregation eat a lot of apple crisp at coffee hour for the next month.

And these little piggies bought apple crisp

As it turned out, we had nothing to fear. In fact, there were a lot of disappointed fair goers who had decided to wait until the end of the day for their treat. Bad idea. We were sold out by 3:30.

And while we were busy serving up our dish, Nick Mandella just as busy trying to keep up with all the popcorn and soda sales. Ron LaPointe, Neil Mulrain and Bob Kelly split their time between running apple crisp trays to the booth and helping Nick. This is definitely an event we want to repeat. It was beautiful day, we had a lot of fun and we made over a $1,000. Thank you everyone for your help.

Click here to view more Harvest Fair pictures

Recipe Of The Month – October

Leicester FCC — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:53:07 +0000

Apple Crisp

8-10 apples 1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cloves

Peel, core, and slice apples. Combine the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the apples. Pour into a baking pan (ungreased).

Topping

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Flour
1 cup Oats
1 Stick of Butter or Margarine (melted)

Mix the Topping Ingredients together. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes.

Submit your family favorite recipe to bri379@hotmail.com.
Maybe your recipe will be featured in next month’s newsletter and on this website.

Welcome To Leicester First Congregational Church

Leicester FCC — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:30:26 +0000

Welcome,

What are you doing the rest of your life?

It is our hope and prayer that you will want to spend some of that time becoming a part of our faith family.

We are the newly reorganized First Congregational Church of Leicester Massachusetts and we want you to know that we are very interested in both you and your spiritual journey including your specific needs and individual talents.

In these web pages we invite you to read about our life together as we serve our Lord Jesus Christ through Worship, Music, Christian Education, Outreach, and Stewardship.

In the future we will make every effort to serve you in whatever ways we are able as we heartily welcome you to the love and care of our parish.

If you have any questions please give me a call at 508-892-3274 and I will be very happy to speak with you.

In the meantime we all look forward to meeting you and making you a part of our exciting new ministry here at the first Church

In Christ’s Service

Rev. Nancy A. Milton