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Welcome

 

Whoever you are,

wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!

 

Business Office Hours

Tues. - Fri.: 9am - 2pm

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Our Mission

 

We strive to apply Jesus’ teaching by recognizing that every individual is a child of God and we welcome all to join us on our faith journey in providing guidance, love, and hope to our community and the world in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

Visit Us

 

 

993 Main Street, P.O. Box 165

 

South Windsor, CT 06074

(860) 528-7992

Worship: 10am on Sundays

firstchurchsw@gmail.com

Follow Us on Facebook at First Congregational Church of South Windsor

 

 

Business Office Hours -

Tues - Fri. 9am-2pm

Worship Services

Worship services are on Sundays at 10:00am in person and online.  If you are interested in joining us for online worship, please email the church office at firstchurchsw@gmail.com for the link.

The church office hours remain Tuesday - Friday 9am - 2pm.  Should any pastoral need arise, please call the church office at (860) 528-7992 and your call will be returned as soon as possible. Have a blessed day!

Where do we go from here?

June 11, 2023 “Second Hour” Presentation 11:30 am

In-person and Zoom

Karen Ziel of the Center for Transformational Leadership, Southern New England Conference, will help us start a discussion about “Discovering and exploring the essential elements of a successful process for Discerning your Church’s Future”.

                                                Where are we now?

                                                Where are we going?

                                                Where is God leading us?

We’ve been through this before with “Beyond Beginnings” and “CAT Survey” you’ll say.  This is true.  But we nod and agree but nothing is done.  It is time to identify options available to us and make some decisions.  This is a process of which this meeting will be just the beginning.

It is important that our members attend either in person or by zoom so you can share your ideas.

Lunch will be provided.

Judith Borré, Moderator

First Congregational Church of South Windsor

United Church of Christ

993 Main Street, PO Box 165

South Windsor, Connecticut 06074-0165

Tel 860-528-7992 Fax 860-528-3945

firstchurchsw@gmail.com

www.firstchurchsw.org

 

April 10, 2023

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven – Ecclesiastes 3:1
 

Dear Beloved Members and Friends,
 

     I am writing to share with you my decision to resign as Minister of First Congregational Church of South Windsor, effective June 10, 2023. This was not an easy decision, reached after months of deep, soul-searching prayer and discernment. I now feel that The Lord is calling both this minister and, I believe, this congregation, “on to fresh and newer spaces.” It is time for our paths to diverge.
 

 I will be forever grateful that the First Congregational Church of South Windsor was the first to call me as its settled pastor. Serving this historic and hospitable congregation has been the opportunity of a lifetime. The fruits of these almost seven years of ministry together will always be with me, and I pray, also with you.
 

Worshipping God through the seasons of both church and life, celebrating the FCCSW’s 325th Anniversary with an interfaith theme, voting to become an Open and Affirming congregation, holding our first Armchair Retreat, continued collaboration with Mission Partners, representing and ramping up the church’s presence in the community for funeral services and receptions, leading prayer for various civic organizations, attending and supporting church efforts such as Sew-in-4-Servicemen and Christmas Fair, forging together through two-plus years of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Zooming worship from my living room to safeguard the congregation and community, and caring for the needs of God’s people, are just a few of the notable good works we have labored so hard to accomplish.
 

During April, May and part of June, I will conduct my usual duties with continued special attention to pastoral care, bidding adieu to the people of our church community, preparing the path for next steps, along with tending to closure in administrative areas. I look forward to worshiping, visiting, sharing coffee and meals and being in communion with all of you at this tender time.
 

May 28, 2023 will be my final Sunday leading worship and preaching, during which there will be a Service of Release. June 10, 2023 will be the closing day of my ministry to all of you, which date satisfies the required sixty-day advance notice according to our covenantal agreement. I will be utilizing the balance of my vacation time from May 29 through June 10, along with a few days here and there post-Easter.

The Rev. Isaac Lawson, Area Conference Minister, South Central Region, Southern New England Conference, UCC will be available to share his wisdom and assist with transitional details and guidance regarding ministerial coverage.
 

I most sincerely thank you for your support and love. I will always carry you in my heart. Please know you are loved and I will miss you. May God’s grace shine upon all of us as we remain pilgrims of Christ, trodding new paths set before us. I leave you with the words of Herman Hesse’s poem, Stages:
 

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.


God keep you,

 

The Rev. Nina Barlow Schmid

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First Congregational Church of South Windsor

993 Main Street South Windsor, CT. 06074

(860)528-7992

firstchurchsw@gmail.com

All Sunday 10:00am Services offered in person and online. Please contact us for more information.

Lent Begins February 22, 2023 - Please Join Us!

Exploring Lent Together Through Scripture, Conversation, Prayer and Music

 

"I Wonder…, I Believe..., I Pray...What Does Lent Mean to You?”

Lenten Soup-er Suppers 6:00 pm

Wednesday, February 22 – “I Wonder…”

Wednesday, March 8 – “I Believe…”

Wednesday, March 22 – “ I Pray…”

Sermon Series: The Psalms of Lent and Easter         

Sunday, Feb 26 – Psalm 32 – The Joy of Forgiveness                                  

Sunday, March 5 – Psalm 121 – Assurance of God’s Protection            

Sunday, March 12 - Psalm 95 – Invitation to Praise!                                 

Sunday, March 19 – Psalm 23 – God’s Effervescent, Ever-Presence                     

Sunday, March 26 – Psalm 130 – Help, God! I Need Your Faithful Love!

Holy Week

Sunday, April 2:   Palm Sunday- Sunny and Partially Cloudy

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Matthew 21:1-11

10:00 am worship

Followed by Pancake Breakfast

Thursday, April 6:  Maundy Thursday

Service of Shadows and Communion

7:00 pm

Friday, April 7: Good Friday

Sanctuary Open for Silent Meditation and Prayer

12 Noon – 3:00 pm

Easter Sunday Services

Easter Sunday, April 9 - All Creation Sings!

Backyard Sunrise Service 6:15 am

988 Main Street, South Windsor

Across from the church – park on the street or in the church parking lot

Easter breakfast will be served in Fellowship Hall between services.

Easter Sunday Worship Celebration 10:00 am - All Creation is Still Singing!

Psalm 118:1-2; 14-24; John 20:1-18

First Congregational Church Sanctuary

The 325th Annual Meeting of the First Congregational Church of South Windsor will be held on Sunday, January 22, 2023 at 11:30 AM, following worship.  The meeting will be held both in person and on zoom. Please contact the church office if you would like the zoom invitation. 
We hope you can attend.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Year’s Word from Rev. Nina

January 1, 2023

        In his poem, “The Guest House,” Jalaluddin Rumi, 13th c. Sufi poet and mystic, writes about being spontaneously welcoming and spiritually prepared to receive all that comes our way on life’s journey with great and gracious hospitality, whether welcome or unwelcome.

 

The venerated poet portrays human beings as a place or receptacle of visitation, sort of an overnight house, for whatever metaphorical ‘guests’ life brings to visit - joy or grief, miracle or tragedy, wanted or unwanted, frivolous or weighty, impassioned or apathetic, planned or unplanned – all that and more.

 

The basic premise appears to be that no matter who or what arrives on our doorstep, the wise spirit remains open to all, welcoming each and every devasting or uplifting moment, whether it is understood or not.

 

We are to throw open the door each time there is a knock, for we do not know the mysteries of God’s ways. We do not know what is to come next, and it may very well be that the current ‘guest’ is preparing us for the next ‘guest.’

 

We are to be spiritually ready to welcome with grace and gratitude, hope and faith, the many joys and conundrums of life; to receive the lessons with which they are offered, for these visitors have come to teach us, if we only remain open.

 

With that in mind, as we welcome the New Year, may we listen for God’s voice in all that was, is and ever shall be, that we may we continue to grow as God’s people and God’s church, greeting the gifts and challenges of life with open hearts, minds and spirits…for, we never know who or what may come our way. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:2 KJV

 May God’s grace be yours in 2023 and always.

Rev. Nina Barlow Schmid     

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Candlelight Christmas Eve Service 9:00PM
Guest Harpist, Debbie Vinnick

Christmas Day Service 10:00AM

All services offered in person and online. please contact the church office for the link. 

Advent - Christmas Worship Services 2022

Prepare the Way for the Lord!

 Unwrapping the Gifts of Advent:

Healing, Harmony, Compassion and Unconditional Love

Advent Sundays - Nov 27, Dec 4, 11, 18 - 10:00 AM.

I   Nov 27th                                                      Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44

II  Dec   4th – Holy Communion                    Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12

III Dec 11th                                                      Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11

       (MACC Director Beth Stafford and Asst. Director Shannon Baldassario, Guest Speakers)

IV Dec 18th                                                      Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25

         Will the ‘Magic Nativity’ Appear???

 

Thursday Dec 15th - Make A Joyful Noise!  7:00 PM.

Sounds of the Season and Worship in Stories and Song   

Come relax, hear some favorite seasonal stories and great music by singer-songwriter-guitarist Lou Sorrentino and savor the moment.

 

Saturday December 24th – Candlelight Christmas Eve Service - 9:00 PM.

Ms. Debbie Vinick, Guest Harpist.

 

Sunday December 25th Christmas Day - 10:00 AM.

“Advent Unwrapped” – Luke 52:7-10; John 1:1-14

 

January 1, 2023 New Year’s Day Worship - 10:00AM.

 

All services In-person and on Zoom

First Congregational Church of South Windsor

993 Main Street, South Windsor, CT. 06074

860-528-7992

www.firstchurchsw.org

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Friday December 2, 2022

5pm-8pm free admission

&

Saturday December 3, 2022

9am-2pm free admission
 

First Congregational Church of South Windsor

United Church of Christ      Founded 1694

993 Main St., PO Box 165, South Windsor, CT 06074

860-528-7992~ firstchurchsw@gmail.com

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Starting With Scripture is a SNEUCC publication every Monday written for clergy by clergy on a rotating basis. Rev. Nina is honored to have been published several times on this site. 

STARTING WITH SCRIPTURE SUBMISSION

Due: September 7, 2022

Publication Date: October 3, 2022

Lectionary Selection: October 9, 2022 – Jeremiah 29:1; 4-7 NRSV

The Rev. Nina Barlow Schmid

First Congregational Church of South Windsor

 

Jer 1: These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

 

4-7: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

 

“Blooming Where We Are Planted”

 

    Once upon a time, I was a student at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO. My third year, I was enthusiastically looking forward to returning to chaplaincy at the hospital where I spent my first year in that contextual education placement. Shortly before my return, the hospital eliminated the position, leaving me in contextual ed limbo! Drat!

 

I would be serving St. Peter’s Evangelical Reformed Church/UCC in Granite City, IL, across the mighty Mississippi. Huh? This wasn’t in the plan! Where was God sending me? How would I cope?

 

The first time I drove into Granite City, St. Peter’s loomed like a wounded watch-tower above the broken pavement and run-down, brick row houses in a cloud of billowing steel-mill smoke. I was downhearted, to put it mildly. Few trees, not much grass; where was the beauty of God’s Creation? I wish I could say my first thought had been, “What wonderful ministry can be done in this foreign land!” Rather, it was more like, “I don’t really want to be here!

 

Jeremiah, where were you when I needed you to proclaim to me God’s word of acceptance for that new place, just as you did to the exiled Israelites in Babylon, when they would rather rebel? I wanted to rebel, too! I had to learn to lean-in to that perceived wilderness, make it my home, planting gardens, reaping the fruits of understanding, patience, love, hope, loss and acceptance.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Acceptance – blooming where I was planted, a sentiment supposedly expressed by St. Francis de Sales. Perhaps he got the idea from Jeremiah?

 

I had patients, but not in hospital beds: St. Peter’s, and all who loved their church. I learned that my work was hospice care for a dying congregation of about twenty-five stalwart souls, once two hundred and fifty mainline Protestants, now full of days, numbering the hours, giving their all to prolong their church’s life as comfortably as possible, yet painfully, the inevitable end in sight.

 

Once-cheerful Sunday-school rooms, exactly as they had been in their hey-day, sat silently in a ghostly, museum-like array: nursery cribs with pastel quilts, little chairs tucked in, a “Jesus loves you” banner hanging wistfully, toys and stuffed animals waiting patiently for someone to play with them; dusty hymnals in mostly-empty pews, no Coffee Hours; all of it frozen in time; specters of the past.

 

What St. Peter’s also had in the midst of the death rattle were weekly Saturday breakfasts they sponsored with several local churches for 250 hungry souls; a ‘Wednesday Rocks’ after-school program for a gaggle of about twenty, mostly unchurched kids, couch-surfing teens and others, who swarmed in like bees to honey for sanctuary from difficult home situations, soaking up playtime, lessons, prayers, and meals made by the stalwarts, giving my superlative mentor and me a run for our money every single Wednesday.

 

Of course, God knew what God was doing with this smug, third-year seminary student, by turning my world upside down, offering me the gift of humility. These experiences changed me forever. Like the Israelites, I had to learn to become a ‘part of,’ to survive – to make the best of what first seemed like a very bad situation before I could even think of going home. Much faith, love and hope were begotten. St. Peter’s taught me to ‘bloom where I was planted.’ I am forever grateful. Thanks be to God!

 

Prayer:

O Lord of Wisdom and Surprise, allow us to cross-over our self-limiting boundaries, and see the opportunities you set before us. May we seek the welfare of the places you send us, and pray to You on their behalf, leaning-in to bloom where we are planted. Bless all the churches that have gone on before. Amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crop Walk for Hunger 2022!

There will be a Crop Walk to raise money to fight hunger again this year. This year’s date is Sunday October 16th. The walk will start at Wapping Church once again. You can sign up to walk or to sponsor online OR there will be paper copies in the lower hall. Please consider donating to this worthy cause. We crushed our $700 goal last year by raising $980!!!  What can we do this year??

Rev. Nina or Vicky can answer any questions you might have.

https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2022/event/manchesterct

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During these uncertain times, we reflect upon the many ways in which God can be found in our world around us. 
















 
 
 
                      
 
                                                               


 
                    

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Prayer Place by Adrienne A.

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Near the River by Lilly M.

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Sunset on Christmas 2020 by VIcky M.

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Peace by the Pond at the Park by Lee and Rachel A.

OUR HISTORIC CHURCH SEEKS INCLUSIVENESS AND VOTES TO WELCOME ALL!

First Congregational Church of South Windsor wants the world to know that we have begun a new journey! First Congregational Church of South Windsor is now an Open and Affirming church community! On January 26, 2020, the historic congregation committed to what is surely one of the most important decisions made in our storied, 325+ year history. What exactly does this mean? This means that:

We seek to widen our expression of God’s Love by becoming a place of inclusiveness, diversity, and unconditional love that inspires all individuals in our community regardless of race, culture, age, ability, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.


We strive to apply Jesus’ teaching by recognizing that every individual is a child of God and we welcome all to join us on our faith journey in providing guidance, love, and hope to our community and the world in the spirit of Jesus Christ.


Come, join us! “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!” Worship Services on Sunday mornings at 10:00 am.

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