PREVIEWS, December 23, 2021
Dear Friends,
Christmas Eve Candlelight Lessons + Carols
Christmas Eve brings folks from all over our southwestern New Hampshire community to the First Church in Jaffrey. But THIS YEAR Covid has made being in close quarters just too risky. So, this video enables you to share with us, again or the first time, and to sing as loudly as the joys of this season deserve. Share with us and your friends/family this Christmas with special affection, love and hope! Christmas Eve Candlelight Lessons + Carols
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Carol Hess
Moderator, the First Church in Jaffrey
PREVIEWS, December 19, 2021
Dear Friends,
Here are some excerpts from our worship service this morning. The Title of David’s sermon is: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED ! When a friend offers this warning, I snap to attention with eyes alert, ears cocked and brain in full gear. This 4th Sunday in Advent 2021, the First Church in Jaffrey gives us such a heads-up in word, thought and song. Enjoy, be alert, be lifted up. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
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Carol Hess
Moderator, the First Church in Jaffrey
PREVIEWS, December 12, 2021
Dear Friends,
Advent is a rich season of the year, in sights and particularly in music. Our Third Week in Advent worship service (held in the sanctuary on Dec. 12th) opened with a new song carrying familiar words. Later came an old favorite (Lo how a rose e‘er blooming). The principal anthem fit David’s sermon like the proverbial hand-in-glove. Even if you were present, you are likely to enjoy this occasion virtually all over again!
In his meditation David takes us to new places, and with his usual insightful whimsy, urges that we encounter familiar names/characters through entering by a different door. Thee meditation, entitled “The Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge”…. presents at least one ghost you really should meet!
Enjoy the service by clicking on the link below. The Ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge
Blessings and wishes for good health!
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Carol Hess
Moderator, the First Church in Jaffrey
PREVIEWS, August 6, 2021
Dear Friends,
WHAT A DAY….WHAT A FAIR…. Were you there?
If not, and especially if you were among the workers, attendees, folks from all over our wider community who contributed items… take a retrospective look !
The 104th FAIR sponsored by The First Church in Jaffrey NH !
This annual event (except for COVID’s closure of everything in 2020) is a community-wide celebration. Families plan their reunions around it, always the first Wednesday in August, from 1 to 4 p.m. While sponsored by the First Church in Jaffrey, workers and contributors come from nearby because they know proceeds go to support many social service organizations in our community. Have fun… and next year COME TO THE FAIR, in person. The 104th FAIR
Thank you, everyone, for your contributions of time, articles, funds and efforts!
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Carol Hess
Moderator, the First Church in Jaffrey
PREVIEWS, August 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
Especially as First Church is renewing its’ commitment to our community with continuation of THE FAIR (on Wed. Aug. 4 from 1 to 4 p.m.), we’ve made an effort to share our worship service melding some elements of our previous videos and also sharing the richness of being within the Sanctuary at this, the first church organized in Jaffrey NH, 1780 – and finding ways to be ‘with it’ in the 21st Century.
Do take a few minutes to enjoy the video below.
Bread of LIFE
This video holds some surprises…. introducing I AM may be one. Another is sharing a ritual in a new way: thank you Pandemic protocols. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” ends these sharings, messages, and meditation opportunities. The bird pictures come from Eastern Egg Island, off of mid-coast Maine. Bread of LIFE and beautiful music
SEE YOU at THE 104th FAIR !!!
Carol Hess
Moderator, the First Church in Jaffrey
FALL BRILLIANCE in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire
Recent altar pieces at First Church have so moved (me), that you will find them in the attached meditation video. Colors have come late this year but they have COME. Here are scenes you will recognize from in and around First Church as well as places quite close to it.Carol Hess, Moderator (and photographer)
Comments:
“My girls would usually be off at college now. But they’re home with us. We plan a specific time on a Sunday morning to sit together and watch the First Church YouTube for the week, sing along with the hymn if we know it, listen to the Scripture and David’s comments, and enjoy the special music. Afterwards we share thoughts about what we’ve just heard and what these mean to us. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to be together as a family, both the wider one and our own.”
“What a surprise and pleasure to encounter our ‘summer friends’ as readers for the beautiful Lessons and Carols video! Even though I didn’t get around to looking at this until several days after Christmas, the delay didn’t matter. The Lessons and Carols was so meaningful, and beautifully done, I shared the link with a good friend who is one of the Trustees at the church I attend in winter. Will see you all again this summer!”
“The Taizé video you created back in the fall has become part of my meditation time each day, even now. Thank you!”
“Putting an arrow on the line of the hymn so we can follow where ‘we’ are is a great idea. I’m started doing that for the Zoom broadcasts we send out from our church.”
“David’s message was ‘Just What I Needed’ once again… all the time!”
“Look at all the coverage we’ve received because of these videos: not just the local paper, but Keene and even a picture on the front page of the Concord paper, with an advisory to read the article on page 3. Wow!”
“Bible study and other meetings are taking place with Zoom. It’s not quite the
same as being together in one room, but it works.”
NEWS
First Church in Jaffrey starts anew in its 243rd year
Elected at the First Church in Jaffrey Annual Meeting in its 243rd year on Sunday Jan.30) were (L-R, front row) Trustees Roy Lake, Pam Hill , David Bliss and Janet Grant; in the middle, Clerk Nancy Elder-Wilfrid; in back row, Treasurer Annie Gordon and Moderator Sam Greene, a descendant of the church’s first minister, Rev.Laban Ainsworth. Photo by Carol Hess.First Church in Jaffrey, organized in 1780, is starting its 243rd year with a new settled minister in the parsonage and an entirely new slate of officers, including a moderator who is a descendant of the church’s first minister – Rev. Laban Ainsworth. Ainsworth served from 1782 until his death in 1858 at age 100; his...
Late fall Southwest New Hampshire 2021
CARE AND PRAYER
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” John 14:15-17
The Holy Spirit has often been described as the Spirit of God, of Love, that human beings make manifest among one another. In this spirit, the Caring Circle relies deeply on the Holy Spirit as we seek to offer support to members, friends, and those in our wider community who are in need.
THE GREAT TAPESTRY THAT IS
FIRST CHURCH IN JAFFREY
We recognize that we each are on our own spiritual journey, a journey that will not end here. As members and friends of this church we pledge to be companions as we journey for as long as we travel together in this place. We do this by respecting each other’s understanding of and relationship to Jesus of Nazareth, whom some of us call Christ, while acknowledging our commitment to the broader fellowship of the United Church of Christ and the wider Christian family. ALL questions are welcome here!
