Sunday, October 6, Worship and Communion, Reverend Kathy Duhon @ 10 AM

Sunday, October 13, Zoom Worship @ 10 AM

Sunday, October 20, Universal Worship @ 10 AM

Saturday, October 26, Conversation and Potluck @ 4 PM at the Church

The Berkshire Association of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ and The First Congregational Church of Lee, UCC are pleased to invite you to The Installation of The Rev. Marsia Brown Ludwig As our Settled Pastor Sunday, September 29, 2024.

• Service of Installation: 3:00pm Sanctuary
• Followed by a reception in the Community Room at the First Congregational Church of Lee, United Church of Christ, 25 Park Place, Lee, Massachusetts

All clergy are invited to process in together at the beginning of the worship. Christian clergy are invited to vest wearing red stoles. Interfaith clergy please come in attire that is right for your tradition. A reception will follow in the Community Room, to which all are cordially invited. For more information please contact our church office at (413) 243-1033.

Our distinguished preacher will be the Reverend Darrell Goodwin, Executive Conference Minster of the Southern New England Conference, UCC.

Come celebrate with us.

Besides raising two sons and living in Williamstown, MA…

After his first pastorate in Canaan, Mark served at First Church Williamstown for seven years. Before he left Canaan, some of us may recall that he once attended a one-week study retreat at the Center for Action and Contemplation a community founded by Father Richard Rohr in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Throughout the years, he continued his study with Richard Rohr and other CAC community members in his continuing faith journey. Three years ago, he left pastoral ministry to become the Digital and Print Publications Manager for the Center.

Recently, he has written his first book The Holy Ordinary: A Way to God which will be released on October 22, 2024.

We knew he was someone special when he was in our midst. He remains that special someone who is offering his gifts to the wider world.

About the Book in Mark’s Own Words

Most of the readers of this newsletter have heard me mention that my first book The Holy Ordinary: A Way to God is coming out October 22. It has been the slow work of ten+ years, writing my way through the beautiful and dense thickets of ministry, marriage, and parenting to complete this book. I’m thrilled that the day is nearly here, and I hope you’ll read it.

The book encapsulates a Christian-based spiritual path of mystical depth in everyday life. I draw on saints and prophets such as Jesus, St. Francis, my grandmother Margaret, John Muir, Thomas Merton, Howard Thurman, James Baldwin, and more to help illuminate a way to God that runs to the heart of the world, not from it. In particular—and this might be the book’s unique contribution—I have tried to mine biblical wisdom to inspire an engaged, contemplative life.

This book describes the integrated life I continually seek: devoted to the mystic vision of union with God and reality, passionate about justice, peace, and ecological wholeness, taking the Bible seriously and rigorously committed to inner and outer transformation. In The Holy Ordinary, social justice themes of the divine preference for the margins and the destructive power of whiteness show up alongside reflections on embodiment, prayer, the arts, the dark night of the soul, and the importance of choosing joy. All while pointing to the vast yet narrow path to God running right through our marvelous and mundane lives.

At a recent church service, we discussed ways we could lower our impact on our environment. We noticed that by making our own laundry detergent, we can reduce the amount of plastic we waste. We decided to make this known to more people.

Making powdered detergent is simple, and all the ingredients come in boxes or paper. The basic detergent requires three ingredients: borax, washing soda, and bar soap, such as castile or Ivory. With the ingredients on hand, it takes only a few minutes. You’ll need a box grater or equivalent or a food processor. Having a kitchen scale helps.

Basic Recipe for Powdered Laundry Detergent

• 14 oz. Borax (or 1 cup)
• 14 oz. Washing Soda (or 1 cup)
• 5 oz. Bar Soap.

Steps:

1. Using the fine holes of a grater, grate the bar soap. Alternatively, chop the soap in the food processor.
2. Add the borax and the washing soda
3. Mix well

Use one to two tablespoons per load. This works for high efficiency washers, too.

Some things to note

This is the simplest one of many recipes. Some recipes also include baking soda. Though I usually add four ounces, some recipes call for up to 14 ounces. This recipe is unscented. If you want some fragrance, add a few drops of essential oil, such as lavender.

If you have a bar of soap that is not five ounces, you can adjust the amount of powder. (This is where the kitchen scale helps a lot.) Determine the amount of powder by using this formula:

Then:

Cross multiply: 5 x weight of powder to use and then 14 x weight of the soap bar

They will be equal, except you will not have the weight of the powder you want to use. That’s OK.

Divide the number derived from multiplying 14 x the weight of the soap bar by 5. The answer is the weight of the powder to use.

Our vintage laundry basket is routinely filled to the top with items the congregation recently donated to the needy of the community. Our focus is to collect goods that are not comestible but equally important such as bath tissue, diapers, toothpaste, light bulbs etc. Thank you all for your support and kindness to the needy in our community.

Sunday, September 1, 10:00am
Worship and Communion, Reverend Quentin Chin

Sunday, September 8, 10:00am
Worship Reverend Quentin Chin

Sunday, September 15, 10:00am
Rescheduled Clark Poetry and Pot Luck

Sunday, September 22, 10:00am
Zoom Worship

Sunday, September 29, 10:00am
Worship Reverend Quentin Chin
Followed by Coffee Hour and Farewell Gathering