Barre Congregational Church
Home30 Park Street
Barre, Massachusetts
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© 2020 Barre Congregational Church 30 Park Street, Barre, MA 01005
Welcoming & Serving the Quabbin Area
Worship Services:
Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
PLEASE NOTE: We will have an outdoor service on the front lawn on Sept. 27th! Call the
church office for details!
NOTE: Due to precautions related to the coronavirus, events scheduled in September may
be postponed or rescheduled. Please check with the event organizers for the latest information
From the Supper Committee
It has been several months since the church has held a monthly dinner. We would like you to join us for our first-ever Drive-Thru Dinner on September 19th, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. We will practice social distancing to be safe.
Just three easy steps:
- Make a reservation with Lisa at 978-355-0140.
- Drive in the driveway to the right of the building to the back door where you will pay -- we ask you use your mask.
- You will then proceed to the handicap door where the meals will be placed in your car. You will not have to leave your car. Masks and gloves will be on the people placing the meals in your car. There will be no entry into the church.
Dinner Menu: BAKED STUFFED CHICKEN WITH ALL THE FIXINGS, SALAD, DESSERT
How much will it cost? Adults $12.00, Children under 12 $5.00
From the Church Reopening Committee
There has been a committee formed to plan the reopening of church services. You should have received a survey by email or in the mail. In all, there were 22 responses. Of the responses, 59% are not ready to attend church services at the church yet. There were 41% of the people would attend an outdoor service. Many would be interested in seeing the recorded services continue.The committee is trying for each of the scenarios to be possible.
Community Friendship Supper
The Community Friendship Supper has once again been cancelled for the month of September. We will let you know when we are able to resume our monthly CFS!
From the Church Committee
The Church Committee would like to remind everyone that the daily functioning of the church continues. They remind you to please keep up your pledges and donations to the church even in these challenging times. Donations can be submitted through the "Donate" page on this website or mailed to:
Margaret Marshall
169 Sunrise Ave
Barre, MA 01005
A Message From Pastor Margaret
Grace and peace to all of you, members of Barre Congregational Church,
I hope all is well with you and your loved
ones. It is now approximately five months
since we stopped worshipping together
face-to-face in our church building because
of the Covid-19 pandemic. The deacons,
our office manager, our organist, and all
of you who contributed to the music have
worked diligently with me every week to
bring to the congregation an online worship
service via YouTube, and during the last
three weeks we offered two Zoom services
and one outdoor service. Our services
have been posted on the website and our
Facebook page, and many of the sermons
have been published in the Barre Gazette.
Having our services available on these platforms are ways for you to go back, view and read them. It has been quite extraordinary teamwork to make all of this happen.
We know we have not been able to come together, because of safety issues. It has been a challenging time for all of us, how we have to navigate our daily lives with all the safety protocols, and hearing how the virus has affected so many lives in the country and the rest of the world, with loss of life and terrible illnesses and after effects of the virus on people’s lives. We are still not out of the woods, and we still need to be careful in how we live our lives and how we think about our worshipping experiences together. We also need to continue encouraging our loved ones who may have been affected by the constraints of the virus, who may feel alone, and not receiving the visits, or kinds of visits we are used to.
Despite these difficult times, I hope that through our worship services you have felt inspired and encouraged. We have tried our best to create services that emulate our in-person services, and as a pastor, I have found myself wrestling with God every week to find a message that would speak to you during a time like this. We have been doing church during an incredibly unique, historic, and painful time in our lives, and I want to thank you for your patience, as we are figuring out the way forward for us.
The two Zoom services were quite lovely! We allocated a 15-minute slot before the service for people to chat, and enough time afterwards to have a Zoom “coffee hour”. We also made sure that we incorporated communion during our zoom and YouTube services, in order to have the full worship experience in the presence of God. Our first outdoor service this past Sunday was attended by approximately 18 people, including my husband who filmed the service, and two visitors. Everything was well-prepared with all safety protocols in place. We had a good speaker system for everyone to hear well, including the visitors who stayed in their vehicle, beautiful music by our organist on our new piano keyboard, and we encouraged people to hum softly during the hymns.
As you can see, we have worked hard to respond to God’s call during such a difficult time, bringing God’s word to you as a congregation, and to many others who have watched our YouTube services as well. Yes, it has been difficult not to be together in person, but I hope that you will be able to treasure these moments we brought to you, even though we have been apart. Millions of people are in the same situation, and many faith communities are working hard at being creative with their worship services. I ask you to pray with those of us who are in conversation with one another about the way forward during the colder months ahead. May we all move through this period together in prayer and guidance from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and may God bind us together in a stronger love than ever.
With much love and care,
Pastor Margaret
September 20th Virtual Service
Sept. 27th service
will be held outside on
the front lawn of the
church. Remember
to bring your own
chair and a mask! We
will be requiring social
distancing!
Welcome to the Barre Congregational Church Website!
A congregation of the United Church of Christ, Barre Congregational Church (BCCUCC) is located on the Common in Barre, Massachusetts. We are a caring community of Christ committed to reaching out into the wider community. We offer ourselves as ministers of grace, healing, understanding, inclusiveness, reconciliation, and joy for the sake of showing our love for Jesus.
Our Pastor: Margaret Keyser
