Pastor’s Report

Pastor’s Report

In the secular world 2008 was a year of tremendous change, both in terms of presidential politics and of the down-turning economy. Here at the First Congregational Church of Williamstown U.C.C., however, it was a relatively stable and productive period. After a vote at last year’s Annual Meeting, we immediately began giving life to the governance structure we’ve spent so many years envisioning: The Cluster System. Although we’ve found a few significant wrinkles along the way, basically IT WORKS! The Congregational Cluster, of which your worship staff are an integral part, has had the most difficulty in finding a workable system for meeting; but after twelve months the whole edifice is still standing and we look forward to smoothing out the kinks.

Dynamics of the changing mainline church continued to be a topic of discussion among the deacons, first through a group discussion of a book called Unbinding the Gospel by

Martha Reese. Then again, at our summer potluck picnics, we discussed a book called Church at a Crossroads by Neal MacPherson. We are in sync with most of our sibling churches in Massachusetts, we discovered at the Mass. Conference Annual Meeting held for the first time in November rather than June. One of the key themes of that two-day event was the “Emerging Church” and a speech describing the historical congregational practice of discernment as a process for congregational decision making. I was fortunate to be named a General Synod delegate at that meeting and will look forward to that gathering in Grand Rapids, Michigan next June.

This June I completed a year of serving the Williamstown Ecumenical Association as its convener, changing our customary meetings from once a month to five times per year, each gathering created to fulfill one of our common purposes.  I have also been a regular attendee at the monthly Berkshire County UCC pastors’ luncheons and the Northern Berkshire Clergy Association morning gatherings.  It has been a year of transition in several local pastorates, as the Rev. Pat MacHugh of the United Methodists left to be a District Supervisor in Maine and the Rev. Jill Graham left the North Adams UCC to be an Associate Conference Minister. We have welcomed the Rev. Michelle Grube to UMC and an interim to North Adams. Also in the realm of the wider church, we were delighted to be the hosts for the ordination service of the Rev. Jeffrey Stevens, child of this church, as he began his ministry at the Franklin Congregational Church in Franklin, N.H. Now I serve on the Spiritual Care advisory group for North Adams Regional Hospital, and also help to staff a weekly spiritual group in Greylock Pavilion.

Two UCC churches in Stockbridge and in Lee have asked my help in making presentations to their membership as they make decisions about becoming Open and Affirming. I was also invited by OLLI (formerly Berkshire Lifelong Learning) to be part of their “What I Believe” series along with seven other Northern Berkshire clergy, making a presentation to the class they gathered about our church and its history here in our own sanctuary. The confirmation retreat was in March at the Framingham Conference Center; it was followed by an early Confirmation Sunday, May 4^th. We received seven young women as new members, my daughters among them! After a spring membership class, we also received five new adult members. This fall we have a class with five 8^th and 9^th grade students enrolled.

After saying a fond “good-bye” to Beth Parker, last year’s Christian Education interim, we did an intensive search for a new Christian Education Director in June, having decided to separate out the position from youth leader. We were fortunate to hire Kathy Noble, who had years of experience at South Congregational Church in Pittsfield; and as you will see from her report, it’s been a busy and growing fall in our church school. With Kathy’s help, we have at long last implemented our Safe Church policy, holding a staff retreat and training at the new home of Ed Lawrence and Diego Uribe in August. We are in great need of serious discussion and new vision in terms of our ministry with high school youth, however. The decision of many of our families, including my own, to send high school students to private school has caused the numbers to dwindle. We hope you will add your thoughts to the discussions coming up this spring.

Our congregation has continued our interest in the climate change movement. We now have a subgroup in the Community Cluster addressing this concern. For Earth Day in April we hosted our Conference Minister and President, the Rev. James Antal, whose passion is Eco-Justice. I attended two conferences on the subject, one in Newton MA. in June and a weeklong conference on Eco-Justice and Prophetic Ministry at the Ghost Ranch in Abiqui, New Mexico in late July. That was a wonderful and renewing opportunity, not only in terms of that particular topic, but also in the opportunity to worship each day under the tutelage of the Rev. Phillip Newell. The morning prayer liturgy I learned there was the basis for our church’s Advent series, and I am hoping we can find a regular place for it in our church schedule.

We have also contributed to the local mental health advocacy movement. In April we were happy to be invited to a community tea with Kay Redfield Jamieson, one of the foremost researchers in bipolar disorder in the nation, who spoke at Williams College. Taking up her challenge, we created a month-long series of educational events in October in conjunction with the Williams College Counseling Center.

December has had the usual wonderful excitement of the holiday season. Once again we were able to co-host the Alternative Gift Fair with the Williams’ Students for Social Justice. During the Holiday Week, we hosted the Habitat Christmas Tree sale as well as some dramatic activities in our sanctuary thanks to our Administrative Assistant, Gail Burns. Our Mexican posada and inside crèche scene are fresh in my mind as I’m writing, and it’s a breath of fresh air to see several new families and their children participating in our midst. This coming year may indeed prove to be a challenging one financially, but with the solid support of a good staff  and an active membership, I’m sure that with God’s help we will meet the challenge.

Your pastor,

Carrie Bail