Join us for Worship!
We are worshiping in person on Sundays at 9:30 am. For those who wish to join us online please connect with us on YouTube at youtube.com/c/nyccucc. If you would like to see the Sunday Bulletin that can be found on our website at http://nyccucc.com. If you wish to make an offering it can be made online through Tithely at https://tithe.ly/give?c=1301940. You can also give by text: Text “Give” to 883-751-0314.

Congregational Meeting

A meeting to accept the minutes from our annual meeting will take place after church on Sunday Feb 5th right after church. We would appreciate any of you who can stay. This meeting usually takes 90 seconds!

Chicken and Gravy Pie Raffle is Here!

ONLY 8 MORE DAYS TO PURCHASE TICKETS
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Buy a chance to win one of four delicious home-cooked meals!
Win a delicious chicken & gravy pie dinner with wine and dessert!

Just in time for a cozy Valentine’s Day dinner!

4 lucky winners will each win 2 famous chicken & gravy pies, lovingly baked by the North Yarmouth Congregational Church resident chefs, plus wine and dessert for you to enjoy with the people you love.

Winners can pick up their prize at the church or we can arrange for local delivery. Thank you for your support!

Donations Will Benefit
First Congregational Church, UCC, North Yarmouth Maine

Please share this raffle with your friends and family! (Sharing the link on your Facebook page gets you extra chances to win!)

We truly appreciate your support in these challenging times. Love and blessings from our church family to yours.

Please click on the link below to go to purchase raffle tickets.

Purchase Chicken and Gravy Pie Dinner Tickets Here!

You can also text “chickenpie” to 855-202-2100 to get the link to the raffle!

Groundhog Day Rev. Paul A. Day
In Celtic tradition February 1-2 is celebrated as Imbolc / St. Brigid’s Day – with a great feast to welcome the First Day of Spring! It is approximately half-way from the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox. The annual focus on Punxsutawney Phil and other rodents who predict six more weeks of winter are an echo of older pre-Christian traditions.

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies, starring the comic genius of Bill Murray, who re-lives the day over and over until he finally learns to get it right.

This winter it seems like Mother Nature hasn’t got it right, yet—or is she merely mocking us? After a mild early winter and a major snow deficit, we’ve had four plowable storms in a little over a week. We’ve made up the deficit. And now we are facing sub-zero temperatures and ever colder windchills predicted for the weekend. It may be the beginning of springtime in Ireland and other mild marine climates, but we live in Maine. Whatever Phil or other weather prognosticators may say, we know there is a lot of winter still ahead of us.

In Christian tradition, February 2 is Candlemas – remembering the 40th day after Christmas when, in accordance with Jewish Law, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple to offer a sacrifice. (see Luke 2:22-38 and Leviticus 12:1-8)

At the Temple they were met by a man named Simeon, who took the child in his arms and proclaimed:
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32

The name Candlemas comes from the tradition of bringing new candles to church to be blessed, and to give thanks to God for God’s Light. It is also a time to remove the Christmas candles from the windows (though some may leave them up right through the end of the season after Epiphany.)

Such traditions point us to Jesus’ words, “You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world.” We will be looking at Matthew 5:13-20 in worship on Sunday. Join us if you are able, and find out what I learned on a visit to a salt mine in Kansas 650’ underground.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Paul

Community Food Pantry Donations, a new twist.

Let’s make February a “Souper Bowl” Sunday

In celebration of the Super Bowl, let’s fill the grocery cart with canned soup. Isn’t this a “souper” idea? A friendly competition between the Chief and Eagle fans. There will be two boxes in the Gathering Space, one for the Chiefs, one for the Eagles. Add your soup(or other foods) to the box of your choice so we can determine which team has the most “souper” fans. Maybe even a prediction as to who will win on the 12th.

For those who watch for the commercials, the puppy bowl, halftime show or not at all, there will be a third box for you. Let’s have some fun and help stock the food pantry at the same time!

NEWS FROM NYCC STREET MINISTRY

By heating up the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches and making coffee instead of buying these items we were able to offer twice as many folks a warm lunch. At a fraction of the cost! I over heard one man say to another guy “the coffee even has sugar and cream” with a sweet smile on his face. Sometimes it seems that it doesn’t take much to make a positive difference in another’s life.

We were a bit overwhelmed with the number of clients on this visit…..it may have been the cold weather…..and we totally ran out of gloves, socks, and hats….and lunches! We are so thankful to you folks who keep us supplied with cold weather items and the cash that is slipped unexpectedly into our hands. What we are doing in Portland absolutely could not be done without you.

Caroline and Jeanne say “THANK-YOU” a whole bunch.

Please keep the following people in your prayers

Sandra and Vince Golonka
Dot Hayward
Wayne Malloch
Blanche Mays
Cindy Tompson
Online Church Directory
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NYCC Clothing Ministry

Thank you all for your generosity. Carloads of clothing have been donated and bags of gloves, hats and socks have been given out. The warm winter wear is making lives easier for those living outside and new Mainers who have arrived with next to nothing. Thank you, your generosity is astounding.

The Clothing Ministry of NYCC collects basic warm clothing and accessories to be given out by the NYCC Street Ministry or donated to Maine Needs or Preble Street. If you are so moved, please add your contribution to the boxes in the gathering space. Most needed and asked for items:
Warm Socks
Waterproof Gloves
Hand Warmers
Underwear
Scarfs
These items will be given out with the lunches when the NYCC crew visits Portland.

If you have gently used warm coats, boots, snow pants, warm clothing, that you would like to give, please add these to the boxes, too. These items will be donated to Maine Needs or Preble Street. Questions, please ask Jeanne or Tracy.

Coffee Hour
Now that we have gone back to our traditional coffee hour with homemade baked goods, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc. we need your help. There is a signup sheet at church in the gathering space, so please check it out and consider doing the setup and clean up and goodies, or share it with one person setting up, one person cleaning up, and a couple of people baking or bringing other goodies. Thanks all!

Marsha Heath

February Meetings

February 5 – Diaconate will meet in person following worship
February 12 – Faith Formation will meet in person following worship
February 13 – Missions will meet in person at 7 p.m. via Zoom

February 14 – Trustees will meet in person at 6 p.m.

February 16 – Council will meet in person at 6:30 p.m.

Choir Rehearsal – Wednesday Nights at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday Morning at 8:30 am in the Sanctuary

Tuesday Gals meets on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. in Fellowship Hall.

Men’s Club meets on the third Saturday of the month at 7:30 a.m. at Toddy Brook

Pet Place Pantry is open on the second Saturday of each month from 9:00-10:00 a.m.

Access worship directly on our YouTube channel (subscribe to our channel while you are there) at youtube.com/c/nyccucc