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Save the Date! / pg2 Farewell celebrations are coming up as we say goodbye to Anne, Chris, and Tim!
Capital Campaign Update / pg3
Renovations on the Park Street Parsonage continue. Learn how you can help!
Maasai Project / pg5 Learn about this year’s project to help our Maasai partners
Mary Bradley Clarke
][|[ Concert / pg6
Join us for this Annual Benefit Concert on Saturday, May 16!
The Congregational Church of New Canaan
From God’s Acre Sharing Faith as a Way of Life Since 1733
May 2015
Thank you to our Senior Minister Search Committee! From left: Tom Woodard, Harry Rein, Eileen Thomas, Mark Tedford, Tammie Garner, Rev. Dr. Stephen Chapin Garner, Margery Gardner, Barb Clayton, Joellen Ford, and Tony Kiniry
From the Pastor’s Study God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 Dear Friends, As I look at our church schedule for May, I see a lot of beginnings and endings. This month, we welcome new members, bless our babies, and confirm our eighth graders. These are all wonderful celebrations of commitments that our church is making and that people are making with us. And over the next five weeks we will also say our formal good-byes to Rev. Tim Peo-
ples, youth assistant Emily Mackay, Rev. Chris Delmar, and me. Beginnings and endings can bring up a lot of feelings and that can make them challenging for us. We are excited about welcoming new members, joyful about new babies, and grateful for our confirmands. We are also looking forward
and “ Beginnings endings... are a vital part of our emotional and spiritual lives and it is important for us to do them well.
”
to a new stage in the life of our church, yet at the same time we may feel anxiety and sadness because people we care for are leaving this church and going on to new stages in their lives. It is tempting to avoid beginnings and endings. Too much emotion! But they are a vital part of our emotional and spiritual lives and it is important for us to do them well. The New Testament is filled with beginnings and endings. Both Jesus and the Apostle Paul made new friends easily and they both moved around a lot. Both knew that it was important to make the most of... (continued on page 2)