January, 2026

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Church Council Report

A Message of Thanks from the Church Council — Season’s greetings to all. We had a great turnout for the Candlelight Service (see Nancy Paulin’s pictures). We were able to form a complete circle around the pews as attendees lit their candles and sang “Silent Night,” followed by Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes to all. Special thanks to Susan Altabet for stepping in for Michèle Smith to lead the choir and bring in her musician colleagues – the Leverett Consort (Anna Smith, Claudia Philips, Jill Franks, Marsha Hertel, Stephen Dydo, Susan Altabet) — who produced a wonderful selection of music along with our choir for our joyous celebration of the birth of Jesus. We also want to especially thank Claudia Phillips for her piano accompaniment throughout the service. It was no small chore filling in at virtually the last minute. We also want to thank folks who volunteered to do readings for this service: Tracey Field, Tom Gottweis, Barbara Tiner, Ninette Rothmueller, Lale Rothmueller-Luce, John Kealy, and Rev. Randy Hyvonen.

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We also want to acknowledge and thank folks who work behind the scenes to make this Candlelight Service and the Advent season a success: Sarah Roys for preparing the bulletins, Judy Ricker for help assembling the Advent readings throughout the month, and Zane Provost and his father Paul Provost for tech expertise. Decorations for the holiday were provided by the following: the Field Family for the Advent evergreen wreath, candles, and loft decorations, Sarah Roys for candles in the windows, the Hankinson Family for wreaths on the windows, Claudia Gere for evergreen arrangements at the pulpit, Barbara Goodhind for poinsettia decorations in the windows, John and Kate Moruzzi for wreaths on the church front, and the Tiners for the Christmas tree decoration on the front lawn and for putting up the banner.

 

For the Candlelight Service, we traditionally take a collection for Meals on Wheels. This year we’re proud to say that we raised $782 that evening!

 

We also want to thank Barbara and others who participated in our December cookie swap and who delivered cookies to our homebound folks who attend our Zoom services and support our church.

 

 We’d like to thank all the ministers who have filled in for Lee during his absence: Rev. Nathan M. Patti, Rev. Julie Olmsted, Rev. Marguerite Sheehan, Alice Goodwin-Brown, and Rev. Randy Hyvonen. We enjoyed having them lead our worship and provide pastoral care for those in need of such. The Council gave our music director Michèle Smith a month’s medical leave during her recent illness.

 

With the new year, we welcome Lee Barstow back to the pulpit. We will celebrate his return on January 4 with a coffee hour after church. He has had four months to recover from surgery and is as eager to return as we are to have him back. So please join us on Sunday. Meanwhile, we all look forward to a healthy, happy and peaceful new year

Respectfully for the Council,

Ralph Tiner

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