May 12, 2023
Pastor’s Reflections – May 12, 2023
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
It’s Friday! There is something about that Friday feeling isn’t there? That last day of the week feeling of relief, wonder, and anticipation of the weekend. This weekend we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day, a time to celebrate our mothers, the people who have been like a mother to us, and the important women in our lives. It is a time to reach out and say, “I love you”, “Thank you”, “I’m sorry”, “I forgive you”, or whatever it is we want or need to say. My prayer for each of us is that we are filled with the Spirit and have the courage to say, with love and hope for greater connection, whatever it is we need to say; with words or with actions.
On Sunday morning at 10AM we’ll join together for church services with Seth Waters on piano and organ joining Dave Talmage and the NCC Choir, we’ll have time to pray together and a little bit of Good News to carry us through the coming week as we focus on John 14: 15-21. Everyone is invited in the Fellowship Hall after church for coffee and conversation.
I hope you can join in some additional opportunities to connect as listed below. For a full listing of NCC events and information, check out our website at newmarketchurch.org
With Peace and Love,
Pastor Patty
Help Still Needed for Stamp Out Hunger on Saturday May 13th!
Do you have some time to help out on Saturday? It's one of the biggest food drives of the year - Stamp Out Hunger and we need some volunteers to help bring in and weigh the items. We are currently planning on 11am-5pm and I have a signup genius below. If you could sign up for a shift, it would be a big help! We have a couple volunteers who will be organizing the process throughout the day.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B49ADAE28A2FF2-stamp1
NCC is Becoming a Mental Health Friendly Employer and House of Worship
On April 19th, eleven representatives of NCC, church members and volunteers in our outreach ministry opportunities, completed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training as part of our goal to become a Mental Health friendly Employer and House of Worship. The next step of the process is to complete Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Training, (which is about 2 hours in length). This training will help us to understand adverse childhood experiences to help us build more compassion and gain a greater understanding of the need to build protective factors. If you are interested in joining this training, please let me know by emailing me at pastor@newmarketchurch.org. Completing Mental Health First Aid is NOT a prerequisite to register for ACEs training.
In addition, for those of you who did not make it into the first round of Mental Health First Aid Training, but would like to, we’ll have an opportunity to attend additional sessions. Please do let me know if you’re interested. The MHFA training is 8 hours of in class instruction, with some independent pre and post work totaling not more than about an hour.
Please note, both of these courses are provided to us free of charge through a grant awarded to and administered by the Dover Mental Health Alliance.
ANXIOUS NATION: Our Kids are in Crisis - May 18th at Dover High School
The Dover Mental Health Alliance is hosting this event and everyone is invited! Check out who is on the panel for this event – our own Peter Naitove, NCC Deacon!
Please join us for a free screening of the feature documentary Anxious Nation, which takes a deeper dive into the epidemic-levels of anxiety in our youth.
Appetizers and refreshments at 5:30 p.m. The feature documentary at 6:00 p.m. Following the film will be a panel discussion with local industry experts who work with youth and families.
This event is open to all community members in our region, and beyond.
Reserve your seat and register here: https://forms.gle/Q9B5oEWTkt4zQVgA6
Thank you to the generous souls who are providing dinner to two families in the Seacoast Family Promise (SFP) Program!
This week members and friends of NCC are providing dinner every night to two families through the Seacoast Family Promise Program. These folks signed up to prepare and deliver dinner to the facility in Greenland for these precious families who are without sustainable housing of their own. Nightly cooking teams include:
Sunday: Kevin and Sheila Barnes
Monday: The Board of Trustees
Tuesday: Rob Selfe, Cindy Whitney & Shirley White.
Wednesday: Sarah Byron
Thursday: John and Marilyn Allen
Friday: Dean and Elaine Pratt
Saturday: Donna Talmage
This service mission project is overseen by Sarah Byron, who is on the Missions Board. Through the leadership of the Missions Board, NCC provides dinner to SFP families two weeks per year. We will host dinner again September 24 - September 30. If you’d like to help out in September, please contact Sarah Byron at sabpmb1954@gmail.com
