Concert Tonight

Fierce and Fragile Women: Songs of Many Heroines

Friday, Oct 23:  7 pm  Karen Pax, soloist and Mark Howard, pianist

The piano is tuned. The sanctuary is vacuumed.  A display for New Hope for Women has been set up.  All we are waiting for is for you and your friends to come to the Broad Bay Church tonight at 7 pm to enjoy the music of Purcell, Puccini, Debussy Fats Waller and more.   Marilyn Andrews has a reception planned following the concert. No charge. Donations will be accepted to support New Hope for Women as they support fierce and fragile women and their families in our midst.

Other news this week

Sunday, October 25 10 am worship

Fierce and Fragile Women Continued: Stories of Biblical Heroines. Think Ruth, Deborah, the midwifes, Miriam, Syrophoenician woman, the woman with the hemorrhage, the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, Mary Magdalene, Priscilla, Mary mother of Jesus...  Jesus reached out to women who were both fierce and fragile and often they were the ones who told the story. Rev. Nancy Duncan, preaching.  April Reed-Cox, cellist.

Women Touched by Grace Reunion

From April 2012--April 2014, Reverend Nancy Duncan participated in a program called Women Touched by Grace, a pastoral excellence program offered by Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana.  The formal training, the collegiality and friendship between the 19 women clergy from around the country, and the influence of a Benedictine community of nuns strengthened and transformed Nancy's life and ministry.  Nancy is returning for a reunion and additional workshops on prayer.  She is presently reading Thoughts Matter by Sister Mary Margaret Funk, one of the presenters. It is challenging! She will be away from Monday Oct 26--Saturday, October 31. In case of a pastoral emergency contact Deacons, Claire Riser 832-2017 or Dorothy Petersen 563-3206. Pastor Karen Lilli Pax is available for pastoral emergencies at 319-6620.

November 1: All Saints Day/All Souls Day.

Day of the Dead--A New England Anglo Adaptation. In Mexico, families spend several days to a week creating small altars (a table top display) to remember love ones who have died.  They gather pictures and symbols of things the deceased enjoyed--favorite foods, drinks, a golf ball, knitting needles, a book. to remember loved ones..."   Favorite things can also include item (s) of clothing and work-related objects. Usually a glass of water is also placed on the altar. Flowers, candles (not lighted here), and crosses are also typical. They gather playful and serious reminders. Everyone of all ages is invited to create an altar to display during the service on Nov. 1.   Both people and pets may be remembered in this way.

During the service, Claire Riser will tell stories of specific Mexican traditions which include sugar skulls, marigolds and picnics at the graveyard. 

Carroll Smith will play good solid anglo traditional organ and funeral music.

Rev. Nancy Duncan will serve communion--a tradition that binds many of us to both ancestors and descendants.  We will remember the living and the dead with prayer and in taking time to silently view the altars our friends have created. 

Please contact Claire Riser (832-2017) to reserve a space for your altar. We hope to set up on Saturday, Oct 31.   

Finding God in Unexpected Places: Notes from Nancy

God is not confined to the church. In the Bible, God shows up in the fields, at the mountain, in the bullrushes, at the well, on the Road to Emmaus, at the Cross and at the empty tomb.  Where is God showing up in your life?

Church is where we tell the story. Church is where we hear one another's encounters with God. Church is where we share our questions and come together to worship and pray and laugh and cry.