August 7th

"Abigail: Offering Hospitality & Brokering Peace"

8:30am Outdoor Chapel and 10:30am In-person worship

(10:30am is also Live Streamed)

We don't hear much about Abigail in the Bible except for this one story in 1 Samuel 25 where she manages to prevent a slaughter from happening - using the customary tradition of hospitality, owning actions that caused bad blood, and using her good sense. What can we learn from her example as she serves to settle the dispute between her husband Nabal and David?

Join us either in person or on livestream as we see what this "B Side" story has to teach us and as we gather at the table together for Communion. There will be special music provided at both of our services by our Music Director, Toni Sullivan.

Our 10:30am service is LIVE STREAMED and RECORDED. You can live stream our 10:30am service for August 7th, from the following link: https://youtu.be/EM7vppOdUcM

Recordings of our worship services can be found on our YouTube page "uccbvideo".

PLEASE SIGN UP using the links below if you plan to join us for our worship services, nursery care, and church school. By signing up you help us to plan well and to have a record for contact tracing should the need arise.

In-Person Worship: 8:30am in the Outdoor Chapel

We hope to meet outside in our Outdoor Chapel (weather dependent) for our in person worship. We ask that people intending to join us for In Person Worship sign up and include how many people and the names of those who will be attending worship with you. You can register for our In Person Worship using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-830am100

Note: If the weather is not conducive to outdoor worship in the Outdoor Chapel, we will move inside our Meetinghouse.

In-Person Worship: 10:30am in the Meetinghouse

We will join together in the Meetinghouse for our in person worship. We are looking to keep this service to no more than 45 minutes. You will find the sign up link below. We ask that people intending to join us for In Person Worship sign up and include how many people and the names of those who will be attending worship with you. You can register for our In Person Worship using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-1030am132

Nursery Sign Up for In-Person Worship at 8:30am and 10:30am:

Our Nursery is open during our In-Person Worship on Sunday mornings. There will be special considerations in place to be sure that we keep our children and Miss Debbie safe and healthy to the best of our ability. If you plan to join us for In-Person Worship and need Nursery care for your child(ren), we invite you to sign your child(ren) up in advance using the following links:

8:30am: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-830am101

10:30am: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-1030am133

Summertime "World of Wonder" Church School:

In Person 8:30am Church School Sign Up:

Children will head directly to Church School on Sunday morning. They will join with the day's teachers in Creation Station classroom right next to the Fellowship Hall kitchen for a one room schoolhouse style lesson during this "I Wonder" summer. Children can be signed up for our In Person Church School using the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-830am99

In Person 10:30am Church School Sign Up:

Children will head directly to Church School on Sunday morning. They will join with the day's teachers in Creation Station classroom right next to the Fellowship Hall kitchen for a one room schoolhouse style lesson during this "I Wonder" summer. Children can be signed up for our In Person Church School using the following link:https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CA8AF28A4F94-1030am131

If you have questions about our hybrid Church School option, please be in touch with our Church School Coordinator, Barbara Crandell at

barbara@uccb.org

Some Special Notes:

Masks are required for all people while singing inside the Meetinghouse. We ask that you observe social distancing as much as possible. Movable chairs for greater social distancing are available in the Balcony and in Brooks Hall.

While we want to be able to see everyone, we ask that anyone who is feeling ill or experiencing any Covid symptoms stays home from worship and worships with us via live stream or recording. Also, if you fear you may have been exposed to someone with Covid in the past week, or are awaiting test results, please take advantage of our live streaming.

Please be in touch with our Church Office at 203-775-1259 or

office@uccb.org if you have any questions.

Worship Recording:

You can view the recording of our 10:30am service for July 31st, from the following link:

https://youtu.be/674vNRpPQ8Y

If you are not able to watch the service live from the beginning, or if you need to join the service late, there will be an opportunity to view the entire recording in a few hours, after YouTube processes it and uploads it to our church YouTube channel. For instant notifications of Live Streams, you can also subscribe to that channel, uccbvideo, by clicking on the red "Subscribe" button on the YouTube page or click on the link above.

Updated CCB Face Mask Recommendations:

Masks will be REQUIRED when singing together inside and when entering the Church Office.
Masks will be RECOMMENDED for those who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised.
Masks will be WELCOMED for anyone who wishes to wear them for health and safety purposes.
We will continue to keep track of attendance at worship, in person meetings and gatherings, so that contact tracing measures can be taken.

Pastors Fund Thanks & Information

Our pastors wish to thank you so much for your generous support of the Pastors Fund during these difficult and ever-changing times. With your help bills have been paid to cover housing costs, medical bills, and emergency repairs as well as to cover other everyday costs like food, gas, and clothing for members & friends of our church and wider community. The Pastors Fund is supported through the honorarium from the funerals/memorials that our pastors officiate, as well as through the generous gifts of members and friends of our community. The Thrift Shop has supported the Pastors Fund with gifts from sale profits, and the Pastors Fund is also one of the options for holiday support through our Virtual Giving Tree this year.
If you are feeling moved to make a direct gift to the Pastors Fund, gift cards for groceries and gas are always welcome, as are donations made payable to Pastors Fund.

Your Pastors are Here for You!

Pastoral Care Appointments

Pastor Bryn and Pastor Jen are available for individual pastoral care appointments either in-person or via phone or Zoom. If you have something that you would like to address or speak with them about, please feel free to reach out, (

bryn@uccb.org or

jennifer@uccb.org ) to set up a time to talk and pray together.

Worship Opportunities

Labyrinth & Children's Garden:

One of our confirmands recently cleaned over at our Labyrinth - making sure the path is clearly outlined and instructions for use of the labyrinth are posted at the beginning. We encourage people to stop over to the church and use the labyrinth during this nice weather (while maintaining physical distancing practices). (Note: Our Labyrinth and the story of how it came to be were recently published in a book of New England Labyrinths, so we are excited to share that with people in our area and beyond.) Work will also begin soon on our Children's Garden, a garden that will be planted in raised beds around our Labyrinth, where kids will be able to remember loved ones and go to play and pray at our church.

Keep an eye on your email, the Congregational Church of Brookfield Facebook Page, or our website on Sunday morning for the links to join us (and please feel free to share the links with family and friends). Afterward, if you are willing to share a photo of you or your family worshipping with us online that may be used on our CCB Facebook page or website, please send it to

uccbsocialmedia@gmail.com. If you have missed any of our online worship services you can find them linked below, and you can subscribe to our YouTube channel

uccbvideo, where our worship services are archived.

CCB

Summer Office hours will begin the week of June 20th

Tuesday - Thursday - 9:00am - 12noon

CLOSED Monday and Friday

If you are visiting the office, we ask that you wear a mask to keep everyone’s health and safety a priority.

The church door will remain locked for safety reasons, but our Ring doorbell system helps us to know who is coming to the door.

If you want to ensure someone will be available to assist you, you can always call ahead to the Church Office at 203-775-1259.

We are an Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ.

Know that "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!"

Email Blasts

To be added to our church "blast" email list and receive the most current updates, just contact our church office administrator, office@uccb.org.

Prayer Requests

We are a praying church!

We welcome your sharing of joys and concerns for prayer -- either with the Pastors, the Deacons, the Stephen Ministry team, or the whole congregation in public worship. If you have a prayer request to share, please just email the Church Office, with "Prayer Request" in the memo line at

office@uccb.org , and please indicate if you would like this request to be shared with just the pastors, with pastors & Deacons, or in worship. Thank you.

At Home Electronic Worship Options

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YouTube

We have more than 1,000 hours of worship available. Click on:

uccbvideo

No special equipment needed.

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Watch on Spectrum Channel 192

The previous week's service is on Sunday Mornings at 10:30 am, and Tuesday at 5:00 pm.

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Listen to Podcasts of previous sermons

Click on:
https://soundcloud.com/user-98392082

No special equipment needed.

Congregational Church of Brookfield

Listen to the Congregational Church of Brookfield's PODCAST.

Don't have time or an internet video connection?

Subscribe to our podcast and listen on the go to past sermons.

Click on: https://soundcloud.com/user-98392082

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Sunday Worship

We are recording our in person worship and sharing it to our YouTube page at "uccbvideo" - with hopes that it will be posted there by Sunday afternoon. We have two services with a brief (30 minute) worship is in the outdoor Chapel through Labor Day Sunday at 8:30am and a 10:30am worship (no more than 45 minutes) also in our Meetinghouse. Note: Nursery Care will be available at both worship services, and Church School will meet at 10:30am. You can sign up for our worship services, nursery care, and church school at the links above.

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