Our vintage laundry basket was filled to the top with items the congregation recently donated to the needy of the community. Our focus is to collect goods that are not comestible but equally important such as bath tissue, diapers, toothpaste, light bulbs etc.
Canaan UCC cordially invites Columbia County residents to attend the next segment of our Community Seminar Series, which is designed for healthy individuals at any stage of life who are looking for ways to age well. AARP Rural Outreach Program Manager Meagan DeMento will be offering research-based recommendations on taking care of our brains and bodies.
Join us on Friday, July 12 at 10:30 AM at 1670 County Rt. 5, Canaan
Prejudice affects us all. Regardless of our intentions, our efforts to love our neighbors as ourselves, systemic racism exists in our American society, deep in its foundation.
Locally, the Chatham Area Interfaith Council (known for the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service) has worked toward community harmony for more than 25 years. An offshoot of that group, the Anti-Racism Forum, has been meeting for a few years with members from the Buddhist temple, the Chatham Synagogue and several Christian churches including Payn AME church. The Forum has read and discussed several books including Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility, Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands, Jennifer Eberhardt’s Biased and Senator Raphael Warnock’s A Way Out of No Way and has attempted to hear each other deeply.
In an effort to now broaden the conversation, the Forum is taking an initiative called “Loving Community Conversations About Race” on the road. The purpose is to engage the community in honest dialogue, educate ourselves and reduce tensions. If you know your neighbors, it is easier to understand and live with them.
Look for these conversations and join in one. They are an important way of living out our best lives and leaving a legacy of peace.
Since the rebuilding of the church, we decided to offer individuals and groups the opportunity to rent our space for weddings, retirement parties, birthday celebrations etc.
Most recently, we focused our energy in reaching out to not-for profit organizations seeking to connect with residents in this part of the county. The response has been enthusiastic!
As we have no pews, our space is configurable. We can accommodate groups up to sixty people depending upon your event’s configuration.
Should you work for, or are a member of group, charity, or foundation interested in reaching out to residents in Canaan or the surrounding towns and villages, as well as our neighbors in Massachusetts, contact us for information at .
We appreciate everyone’s flexibility as we have found our way since pandemic and since we stopped our collaboration with our two sister churches West Stockbridge and Richmond and resumed worship in Canaan as of last September. We are hoping to begin a more consistent structure to our worship schedule going forward starting this month.
The Church Council met with Rev. Quentin Chin who has agreed to extend his consulting contract with us through September 2024. The Search Committee has revised our Profile so we can officially go back into the Search Process.
We anticipate changes when we have significant church holidays like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost however the rough framework is as follows:
1st Sunday: Worship with communion led by pastor with music
2nd Sunday: Zoom worship only, lay led
3rd Sunday: Worship led by pastor with music
4th Saturday: 4 PM Reflection and Pot Luck supper (No Sunday Service)
– Jay Aronson
Canaan UCC began its a six-week community read program of Atul Gawande’s book, “Being Mortal” on Friday May 17 at 9:30 AM.
The next discussion group meets on:
Participants should purchase their own copy and read chapter the assigned chapter/s before the each session. If you have missed a session, would like to attend, but cannot attend all of them, come anyway.
Gawande, a surgeon, realized that the typical practice of medicine pushes aside mortality, which can lead to aggressive treatment towards the end of life. Many of us have stories of people we knew whose aggressive medical interventions, though lifesaving, brought a diminished quality of life. The book covers many people and situations to frame life while living with physical decline. Poignantly, as a thread, he wrote about his father, also a surgeon, who facing his own life-threatening condition found meaning for his life, even as his surgical days ended.
The Rev. Quentin Chin, Canaan’s pastor, is leading these sessions. Rev. Chin has served HospiceCare in the Berkshires as a spiritual counselor for over thirteen years. He has walked with people through the end of their lives regardless of their religious beliefs, even people with no belief. He believes that when we come to grasp fully the reality of our mortality, our lives will be richer leading to a more fulfilling life.
Stop by our table and say hello, sign up for our Enewsletter, learn about new programing at the Church, and take home a momento with our regards.
Enjoy the tasty food offered by The Notorious Bite from their celebrated truck, unparalleled fun, fellowship, exhibits and more.
Begun in 2018 as a shared ministry of two Sheffield churches, First Congregational Church, UCC and Christ Trinity Church (Episcopal and Lutheran), “Trail Magic” is back for its sixth season and we’re inviting you to share it with us.
Once again, Josh, Jennifer and I will be greeting the hikers who have been enduring the mosquito infested swamps preceding Sheffield as they head north on the Appalachian Trail. We welcome any other members of the congregation to join us for a day of extending hospitality and kindness from 10 am to 3 pm.
The host churches do all the shopping for supplies. We just show up and set up to greet and serve the food, which for these hungry hikers may be the first grilled burger/veggie burger they have had in days. Some cool water, iced tea, watermelon, even pickles can satisfy those calorie starved walkers.
Our visitors may linger if they wish in chairs with arms, something a weary hiker appreciates after days of sitting on the ground. The large tarp overhead offers shelter from the rain or the hot sun for a brief respite.
This is a wonderful opportunity for us to be of service, to engage and welcome strangers into the Berkshires. Often, we are regaled with amazing stories, listening contentedly. Trail Magic also provides the chance to collaborate with our sister churches which is a way of living out our covenant within the Berkshire Association.
– Jay Aronson
So, a gentle reminder to “Save the Date” for Sunday, June 30 at 4 PM for the “Poetry Sunday & Pot Luck” at the Clark’s.
