Religious Education Musings
by Rev. Ellie Duhamel, Director of Religious Education

January, 2007

Our house is in a wonderful location. We live in a grand old house that sits on two thirds of an acre on a quiet road, a little way south of Henniker center. On three sides, our land is surrounded by our neighbor’s. She has a marvelous bunch of animals and watching and hearing (and even smelling) them gives us great pleasure. There are five horses, five geese, a flock of chickens with a rooster, and recently a goat has come to join the family.

Every morning, before I get up, I make a sort of mental outline for the day. As I drink my morning tea, I often write a list of the day’s “havetodos” and by the time I go out the door I am usually overflowing with an awareness of all I want to get done before I come back in the door at the end of the day. Then, as I head down the path to the car, I hear the goat. His comment on all my busynessings is, “baaaaaaaaa!!”. How right he usually is. So I laugh at myself, call good morning to the wise old goat, and head of with a readjusted approach to the day.

The month and the Christmas season began this year with our annual intergenerational service. I want to say how gratified and proud I am of our church. It is a sad reality that in many churches it is mostly the families of the children, who are attentive to and present on Sundays when the children participate in the service; not so at the Concord church. Faithfully, with love and good will and hood humor, our whole congregation welcomes those services. Knowing that they are loved and valued in a faith community is an important gift in children’s spiritual growth. It is a gift this church gives, faithfully.

The (required) parent information/orientation meeting for the OWL class will be on Monday, January 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 in the chapel. Please call Anne LaForce and Ray Orzechowski (225-9275) or me (224-0291) with any questions.

A New Year is beginning. I just recently heard someone say that he sees each year as a journey, a voyage and Christmas as a coming back into port, to rest and prepare for setting out again. As you set sail for the voyage that is 2007, I wish you fair winds and smooth seas, with storms enough to keep life interesting and learning alive, but not severe enough to be threatening. And I wish you a goat, to say to you, “baaaaaaaa !!”, when you need to readjust your approach.

Love,