We’ve been delighted to welcome cellist/bassist Isaac Mingus from Florida who has joined us this summer!
He is playing in the Orchestra at Barrington Stage for their production of La Cage Aux Folles, and has found (we hope) a temporary worship home at the Canaan Congregational Church.
Recently, he graced our service in the sanctuary with two lovely pieces. Please come and hear this accomplished young musician while he is in our midst.
Join us on July 14 at 10 AM, the second Sunday of the month service on Zoom, and hear some interesting stories from the working lives of our elders.
Namely, Martha Lagerwall, who taught GED classes, and June Houghton, who was a public health educator, will talk about their experiences teaching in the prisons.
So, just what was it like to have those bars clang shut and lock behind you?
Email or call 518-781-4775 and leave us your email address for the Zoom link if you don’t have it.
This year, our Blanket Sunday offering will be on Sunday July 21. We will be accepting donations until the end of the month. Our donations will support Church World Service’s mission to provide tens of thousands of warm, durable blankets to people around the world facing homelessness, recovering from disasters, and fleeing from conflict.
A gift of ten dollars purchases a blanket for one individual and 50 dollars will provide blankets for an entire family.
Please support the Blanket Sunday initiative. If you will not be in church that day and would still like to contribute, please send a check payable to the Canaan Congregational Church and indicate in the memo portion that the check is for CWS Blanket Sunday.
Donations may be mailed to the Canaan Congregational Church, P.O. Box 66, Canaan, NY 12029. Thank you for your gifts to this worthy and longstanding global mission of our church.
– Ed Fallon, for the Missions Team
Canaan UCC cordially invites Columbia County residents to attend the next segment of our Community Seminar Series, which is designed for healthy individuals at any stage of life who are looking for ways to age well. AARP Rural Outreach Program Manager Meagan DeMento will be offering research-based recommendations on taking care of our brains and bodies.
Join us on Friday, July 12 at 10:30 AM at 1670 County Rt. 5, Canaan
Stop by our table and say hello, sign up for our Enewsletter, learn about new programming at the Church, and take home a memento with our regards.
Enjoy the tasty food offered by The Notorious Bite from their celebrated truck, unparalleled fun, fellowship, exhibits and more.
Canaan UCC began its a six-week community read program of Atul Gawande’s book, “Being Mortal” on Friday May 17 at 9:30 AM.
The next discussion group meets on:
Participants should purchase their own copy and read chapter the assigned chapter/s before the each session. If you have missed a session, would like to attend, but cannot attend all of them, come anyway.
Gawande, a surgeon, realized that the typical practice of medicine pushes aside mortality, which can lead to aggressive treatment towards the end of life. Many of us have stories of people we knew whose aggressive medical interventions, though lifesaving, brought a diminished quality of life. The book covers many people and situations to frame life while living with physical decline. Poignantly, as a thread, he wrote about his father, also a surgeon, who facing his own life-threatening condition found meaning for his life, even as his surgical days ended.
The Rev. Quentin Chin, Canaan’s pastor, is leading these sessions. Rev. Chin has served HospiceCare in the Berkshires as a spiritual counselor for over thirteen years. He has walked with people through the end of their lives regardless of their religious beliefs, even people with no belief. He believes that when we come to grasp fully the reality of our mortality, our lives will be richer leading to a more fulfilling life.
Begun in 2018 as a shared ministry of two Sheffield churches, First Congregational Church, UCC and Christ Trinity Church (Episcopal and Lutheran), “Trail Magic” is back for its sixth season and we’re inviting you to share it with us.
Once again, Josh, Jennifer and I will be greeting the hikers who have been enduring the mosquito infested swamps preceding Sheffield as they head north on the Appalachian Trail. We welcome any other members of the congregation to join us for a day of extending hospitality and kindness from 10 am to 3 pm.
The host churches do all the shopping for supplies. We just show up and set up to greet and serve the food, which for these hungry hikers may be the first grilled burger/veggie burger they have had in days. Some cool water, iced tea, watermelon, even pickles can satisfy those calorie starved walkers.
Our visitors may linger if they wish in chairs with arms, something a weary hiker appreciates after days of sitting on the ground. The large tarp overhead offers shelter from the rain or the hot sun for a brief respite.
This is a wonderful opportunity for us to be of service, to engage and welcome strangers into the Berkshires. Often, we are regaled with amazing stories, listening contentedly. Trail Magic also provides the chance to collaborate with our sister churches which is a way of living out our covenant within the Berkshire Association.
Jay Aronson
Hosted by the Canaan Historical Society, 13 Warners Crossing Rd, Canaan, NY on Saturday, June 22 from 12 till 4:30 PM.
Did you know that the King’s District, comprising what’s now New Lebanon, Canaan, New Concord,
Red Rock, East Chatham and eastern Chatham, voted to declare independence ten days before the fourth of July?
The Meeting House will be open from 2 till 4:30 PM to view the collection.
Thursday, June 27 at 6:30 PM at New Lebanon Library, 550 State Route 20
Join Duhon and her collaborators for an engaging introduction to their new book, From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to the Habitats of Columbia County, New York.
Featuring 36 discreet natural habitats in the Hudson Valley’s Columbia County, and beautifully illustrated with over 750 full-color photographs, maps, graphs, tables, and charts, this easy-to-use field guide offers an in-depth look at the ecology, history, and cultural impact of natural habitats throughout the county and is the culmination of over two decades of research.
Review Courtesy of Black Dome Press
