News and Announcements

Summer Sabbatical Reconnection & Renewal

How can we find renewal and reconnection as a faith community? What activities and ideas would you like to see at church this summer? This summer while Pastor Katelyn is on sabbatical (July 3-October 9), we would also like to offer opportunities for our faith community to experience a season of renewal, reconnection and refreshment. But we need your ideas and input to make that happen! Should we have an ice cream truck social, a church picnic at the park, a bible study, an outdoor prayer labyrinth, summer service projects? What should RCC do this summer? What would you be interested in participating in?

Throughout the month of March, the RCC Presidential Team is soliciting your ideas for summer activities that will help us plan for the sabbatical time. We will also hold an in person discussion after church on March 20.

Share your ideas with Ernie Buford, Molly Dugan, or Ed Roberts or email them to the Church Office church@rccucc.org. 

All Worship Services and Committee Meetings will all be held remotely through February 13. After that date, we will transition back to “hybrid” worship with both in-person and remote options available. Other meetings will be held either in person or online based on the needs of the group/committee.

Due to an increase in Covid-19 activity, Richmond Congregational Church will move its worship services and meetings online for the month of January.

Sunday Worship will still be at 10:00, with an option to participate in the service via Zoom, or watch on our Facebook Page: facebook.com/rccucc.

This Sunday, January 9, 2022, we will celebrate Epiphany and Holy Communion. CLICK HERE to view the worship bulletin.

Join Richmond Congregational Church on Friday, Dec 24 Christmas Eve at 4:30pm as we gather outside on the church’s front lawn on Bridge Street sing Christmas Carols and celebrate Christmas! Candles (provided) will be lit when we sing Silent Night. Free hot cocoa and cider will be available afterward on the church’s front porch.

Please dress warmly and bring a flashlight to see the words to the music. You are welcome to wear a mask, but not required, as we will be outdoors. Please invite your friends and neighbors to join us!

Parking is available at the Town Center and Volunteer’s Green.

Join Richmond Congregational Church for a virtual Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols Service
https://youtu.be/vvkRFBBaWew
The service will go live on Youtube at 9 am on December 24 and you are welcome to worship anytime after that!Thank you to the many musicians and readers from our community who contributed to this service.
Merry Christmas!

December 5 – Second Sunday of Advent, Communion – PEACE, Sunday School Heifer Living Market Activity
December 12 – Rev. Doug Wysockey-Johnson preaches, Third Sunday of Advent – JOY
December 19 – Christmas Sunday, Choir, Special offering for the UCC Christmas Fund, Sunday School gift preparation activity, Caroling at Sterling House (after church) – LOVE
December 21 – Longest Night Service 7pm
December 24 – Christmas Eve Outdoor Carols and Candlelight Vigil 4:30pm *We will have a pre-recorded Lessons and Carols Service available for Christmas Eve. Come back for more details.*
December 26 – Sunday Morning Carol Sing Worship Service

CLICK HERE to view the Worship Bulletin for Sunday, September 19, 2021.

A note from our guest preacher Rev. Doug Wysockey-Johnson

For those of you who usually sit in the same place in the sanctuary–  your pew has missed you! We have not been able to worship together inside for a long, long time. So as we re-gather in our sanctuary for the first time in 19 months, it is worth celebrating. And also asking ‘What makes a sanctuary a sanctuary?  What makes a space holy or sacred?  I hope you can join us for worship on Sunday, INSIDE and TOGETHER.

Join us this Sunday at the Old Round Church, with special LIVE Music by Ginny Churchill and the RCC Choir. Outdoor Coffee Hour to follow.
Please wear a mask and practice social distancing inside the building.

The Round Church Pilgrimage is an almost annual tradition, and our chance to remember our historic roots as one of the five religious groups to build the Round Church in 1813. During the service we will also have a time of silence and prayer for remembering the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. NO ZOOM this Sunday, but we will try to livestream the service to our RCC Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/rccucc 

If the cell phone signal doesn’t work for the livestream, check back on Facebook for a recording posted on Sunday afternoon!

I look forward to worshipping with you! 

With Peace,

Katelyn

CLICK HERE for the worship bulletin for Sunday, September 5, 2021 – Labor Day Sunday and Communion service.

With all that whirls and swirls in the world and in our hearts, consider yourself invited to come and rest from your labors this Labor Day Weekend and join us for our final outdoor worship service of the summer season on Sunday at 10 am. This weekend is also a great chance to say “thank you” to all of the essential workers who keep the world running. During worship we will celebrate Communion together and have a time of giving thanks and sharing our gratitude for all that we have learned and experienced this summer as a hybrid worshipping community. If you’re worshipping online, please prepare your own communion elements. If you’re worshipping in person, you can partake of the pre-portioned elements provided or BYOC – bring your own communion and bring your own chair.

CLICK HERE to see the bulletin for the worship service on August 29, 2021.

We gather to worship in stressful times – the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, yet another natural disaster in Haiti, floods and hurricanes in the U.S., rising Covid sickness and death, countless immigrants at our borders looking for hope and a new life being returned to violence and oppression, and lingering racism that continues to pervade our culture and demean human life.  As a nation we are so divided we cannot even talk about where to begin to address these issues.  It is easy to give up.

The apostle Paul knows of our exhaustion.  He writes, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up.  So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.”  Maybe our national discussions should begin with these questions:  What is right? What is just? As a country, how do we work for the good of all? Maybe we would discover we have more common ground than we thought.

Peace, Rev. Neal Sadler