ALL CONFERENCE E-MAIL
March 26, 2008

1. Ecclesiastical Council for Rev. Diane Langworthy
2. Condolences to Dr. Alice Davies
3. Installation for Rev. Mark Fuller in Houlton
4 . Bookkeeper Needed at Woodford’s Church
5 . Seeking Health and Wholeness Advocacy Intern
6 . “Border Event” Time Line is for Atlantic Time, Not Eastern
7 . Register Now for Online Confirmation Workshop on April 13th
8 . “Our Whole Lives” Sexuality Education Curriculum Training to be offered June 6th-8th
9 . “Godly Play” Training to be Offered April 19th in Portland
10 . 2008 Summer Institute in UCC History, Theology, and Polity June 9-20
11. Easter Greetings from South Afganistan

1. Aroostook Association will gather as an Ecclesiastical Council on Sunday, April 6, at the United Parish Church in Fort Fairfield to consider the request of the Rev. Diane Langworthy to be extended Privilege of Call, which will then permit her to become a minister in full standing in the United Church of Christ.

2. Our prayers and condolences go to Dr. Alice Davies, on the death of her husband, Dr. Dean Davies. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 29th at 1 pm at First Parish Church in Brunswick. Dr. Davies address is Appletree Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011.

3. April 20, 2008 at 2:00 pm -- Service of Installation for the Rev. Marc Fuller as pastor of the First Congregational Church of Houlton, UCC

4. HELP WANTED: EXPERIENCED PART TIME BOOKKEEPER
Woodfords Congregational Church UCC is looking for a part time bookkeeper. 10-15 hours per week. Knowledge of church bookkeeping would be helpful, as would a knowledge of Church Windows, our accounting software. Pleasant working conditions in your own office space, flexible work time, competitive rate of pay. Contact: Sharon Stephenson: 774-8243 x103 or sstephenson@woodfordschurch.org

5. Health and Wholeness Advocacy Office, a division of Wider Church Ministries in Cleveland, OH, is seeking a Health and Wholeness Advocacy Intern to serve from Sept. 15, 2008 to Aug. 15, 2009. For additional information see www.maineucc.org/HWA Intern job description 080318.pdf

6. “Border Event” Time Line is for Atlantic Time, Not Eastern
Please note that the schedule for the Border Event on Saturday, April 5th in Florenceville, New Brunswick is given in Atlantic Daylight Saving Time. The event will be held 10:00 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Atlantic DST, which is 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 Eastern DST. Also note that the deadline to register for this event is this Friday, March 28th. We need more registrations to make this event a “go.” A decision about whether or not we have enough registrations to proceed will be made on Monday morning, March 31st. This event promises to be a wonderful opportunity for Maine Conference and Canadian Maritime Conference churches that live within a reasonable traveling distance of the border to work on common issues and draw strength from one another. The day will include mutual conversation, workshops, and worship. The theme for the day is “Common Border/Common Faith: Small Churches Walking Along Together.” Annette Mott from the Maine Conference and Janice MacLean from the Maritime Conference will serve as co-leaders. The registration fee, which includes lunch, is ten dollars for the first person from a congregation and five dollars for each additional person. Contact the Resource Center (resourcecenter@maineucc.org, 1-800-244-0937) to register your church team. Follow the link below to an event flyer on the Conference web site. www.maineucc.org/news/Border Event.pdf

7. Register Now for Online Confirmation Workshop on April 13th
The Maine Conference Christian Education Team is sponsoring an online “Confirmation Summit” Sunday evening, April 13th from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. This online workshop will present a variety of models, resources, and ideas for confirmation and include a time for online participants to share as well. It doesn’t matter where you live in Maine, you can participate in this sharing among colleagues! Register to participate by contacting the Resource Center (1-800-244-0937, resourcecenter@maineucc.org). You will be sent instructions on how to participate near the date of the workshop. You will need a computer and telephone to participate (if you have a dial up computer connection, you will need a separate phone line or cell phone).

8. “Our Whole Lives” Sexuality Education Curriculum Training to be Offered June 6th-8th in Portland
Training to teach the United Church of Christ sexuality education curriculum “Our Whole Lives” for the Grades 7-9/10-12 will be offered June 6th-8th at the Bangor Theological Seminary Portland campus, which is located in the basement of State Street Church UCC. Teaching times will be 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. on Sunday. The cost is $175 per person ($75 for BTS students), plus the cost of curriculum materials. Churches wishing to use this excellent curriculum need to know that its use requires a minimum of two trained leaders (usually one male and one female). To find out more about the curriculum, this training opportunity, or to receive a full registration brochure, please contact the Resource Center at 1-800-244-0937, resourcecenter@maineucc.org .

9. “Godly Play” Training to be Offered April 19th in Portland
Godly Play is a Montessori-based religious education approach which uses a multi-sensory approach to telling Bible stories with three-dimensional materials. A one day introductory workshop will be offered at the Cathedral of St. Luke on State Street in Portland on Saturday, April 19th. To find out more or to register contact the Rev. Canon Carolyn Coleman at ccoleman@cathedralofstluke.org or call 772-5434.

10. 2008 Summer Institute in UCC History, Theology, and Polity June 9-20 at Geneva Point Center NH
The 16th annual Summer Institute in United Church of Christ History, Theology, and Polity, which is sponsored by Andover Newton Theological Seminary, Bangor Theological Seminary, and Hartford Seminary, will be offered June 9-13 and June 16-20 at the Geneva point Center in Center Harbor, New Hampshire. The instructor will be the Reverend Daniel Johnson. The non-credit tuition for this two week course is $350. Those wishing to take the course for academic credit need to contact Danielle LaVine at BTS for additional information. To receive a registration brochure about this summer’s Institute , contact the Resource Center at 1-800-244-0937, resourcecenter@maineucc.org .

11. I thought you would be interested in the following Easter message sent by Chaplain Peter St.Martin. Peter has standing in Cumberland Association.

Peter recently arrived in Afghanistan with his Marine unit. I’m sure he would be glad to hear from you should you care to contact him. His email address is: StmartinPB@IIMEF.usmc.smil.mil. His mailing address is: CDR Peter B. St.Martin, S-1/Chaplain, 24 MEU Unit 73855, FPO AE 09510-3855. His wife, Judy, is at Camp Lejeune, NC. Her home phone number is: (910) 275-8025.

“Subject: Easter Greetings from South Afghanistan

To all my good friends for whom Easter has not yet dawned,

Being at least 8 ½ hours ahead of most of you, I can declare that the sun is still making its way to you and that your sun will rise and renew your Easter faith as it does me every year.

The gathering of 37 who declared the rising of our Savior included many members of the Army and an Australian from a neighboring camp. The makeup of the congregation and knowing that the Easter sun will indeed cause you to worship in kind add the far reaching impact of the resurrection we celebrate. We may be separated by miles but this event brings us together. Following the service we enjoyed a fairly good spread of food for breakfast.

Poignant to the occasion, too, was that just the night before we held a Ramp Ceremony for 2 soldiers who died from an IED on a convoy quite a ways from here. At 2000 last night, we were gathered, a huge formation of service members from the various nations creating an aisle leading to the ramp of the plane that will take their remains back to the States. Easter is a joyous message, but the joy it infuses is not in the chocolate bunnies and sumptuous Easter breakfast. Easter addresses the very darkest of subjects of human existence: Death. As I hear the words of the hymn “Where, O Death, is now thy sting?” I can’t help but remember feeling a twinge of that sting last night. Then in the morning we learn anew—as we must every time we feel the sting—the Easter message: that the sting is not the last Word.

God’s blessings on you,

Pete”