I lift up my eyes to

the hills from

where will my help
come?

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EPISTLE
Bradford Congregational
Church UCC
Bradford, VT (802) 222-4034

My help comes from

the Lord, who made
heaven and earth.
(Ps 121:1-2)

OCTOBER, 2015
Dear Church Family,

We have entered a very exciting stage of the Interim journey! The Church Council
is starting the process of selecting a Search Committee for the next settled pastor. I
have met with the Trustees, Music Committee, Board of Christian Education and
Diaconate, and hope to meet with all the other committees and boards soon. Each
one is talking about new steps it can take to help the church become more vibrant
and grow.
So much good is already happeningthe Chicken Pie Supper was a huge success,
the Community Dinner is thriving, the Board of Christian Education just had 17
children participate in a cider pressing at the Munsons, the Trustees have been
doing great work to improve the condition of the church and parsonage, the Music
Committee is planning for expanded activity and there are many other activities
that are going strong.
These doings are wonderful, and could lead to church growth, but there is
something else we need besides programs if we are going to keep any growth that
comes.
Jesus said, I am the way Christianity was first called The Way by the
followers of Christ, long before the word Christianity existed.
This congregation is gaining an understanding that our manner of being is as
important as all our matters of doing. It is the way we do things, the way we are
together as a community, that makes everything else either flourish or fail.

Being a Christ-like loving community makes all our doings possible. People can
feel it when a church is overflowing with love, and the word spreads in the
community. It is the key to literally everything. Without that Way of love, as Paul
said in I Corinthians 13, we are nothing.
The congregation has passed two official statements in the last two years. The first
was the Communication Guidelines to Strengthen Our Community. It is entirely
about our way of being together, and it is beautiful: We seek to create and sustain
a congregational life of inclusiveness, honesty and safety. We are precious to one
another and seek to build a beloved community in which our faith can grow. As
a member of the Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ Bradford,
Vermont, I will support my brothers and sisters with gentleness and reverence.
The Communication Guidelines translate the Way of Christs love into very
practical terms:
pray for guidance, patience and understanding every time we interact in any
way;
listen intently and ask questions respectfully to understand one another even
when we disagree, and welcome it when others inquire about our point of
view in the same way;
speak our truth directly to one another, not behind anyones back;
carefully consider the impact or our words in emails as well as in person,
meaning we will speak the truth in such a way that we strengthen our loving
community, even when we disagree.
Our Identity and Aspiration Statement has plenty about doing in it, but almost half
of it is about ways of being. Here is an excerpt: The Congregational Church of
the United Church of Christ, Bradford, Vermont, strives to be a loving church
family where everyone feels welcome and at home, appreciated and supported.
We want our faith community to be a safe, comfortable place. We aspire to grow
in numbers as we make this an increasingly welcoming, loving, helpful
congregation where we take the love we find here out into the world around us,
and where people want to participate because the church makes a positive
difference in their lives throughout the week. We will seek to maintain healthy
communication and a positive, hopeful attitude as we face inevitable challenges.
We want this to be a church where we feel joy, peace and a steady deepening of
Christ-like love and faithfulness among us.
Even its verbs about doing often imply ways of being: honor, respond, cherish,
dream, shine.

These statements point us in the direction of Christs Way, and that is exciting and
hopeful!
The Way is characterized by certain
qualities. We have been reading in
September from the book of James.
He writes about a wisdom from
above that comes to people who
follow Christs Way. James sounds
like a combination of our
Communication Guidelines and
Identity and Aspiration Statement:
the wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing
to yield, full of mercy and good
fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is
sown in peace for those who make peace. (James 3:17-18)
If we have the wisdom to get our way of being right, a harvest of right doings will
follow.
The Apostle Paul wrote about the Spirit, which is the source of the wisdom from
above, in similar terms: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:2223)
James sees that straying from that sacred Way leads to disorder, discord and
disputes, and Paul has a similar list: enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels,
dissensions, factions. (Galatians 5:20)
The truth is that over the past decades this church has sometimes strayed off the
Way into discord. The congregation has had more than its share of anger,
quarrels, dissensions and factions. The wisdom of our Communication
Guidelines and Identity and Aspiration Statement has been born out of those
painful experiences.
The truth is that everyone who is part of a congregation that strays from the Way
gets wounded. It is deeply wounding to us when people we love wound each
other. If we love our church and see wounds being inflicted in it, it wounds us. So
whether we were involved in the strife or not, we have wounds if we were part of

this congregation when it happened.

The amazing grace and best of good news is that the Way of Christ addresses what
happened in the past as much as what will happen in the future. Most of Christs
ministry was about healing and forgiveness and reconciliation, freeing us from
wounds that we have given or received and freeing us from our past ways of being.
This is a very exciting and hopeful time in the life of this congregation because it
has unanimously voted to set itself back on that Way (see my August Epistle letter
celebrating the unanimous congregational vote endorsing the Identity and
Aspiration Statement).
The Diaconate will be helping us learn how to heal our old wounds and find
forgiveness and reconciliation, and at the same time learn how to move through
challenges and conflicts without straying from Christs Way of love, gentleness
and peace. It is absolutely essential that we do this work if we hope to have a
successful search for a new pastor and maintain our momentum and retain any
growth that happens.
Making our way of being more Christ-like is as exciting as all that we are doing
because it makes it possible for all those good things to continue and flourish.
The number one biggest impact on growth is having a
peaceful and loving congregation, according to studies. The
number one most effective way to establish a peaceful and
loving congregation is to reach out to one another after
worship or whenever we gather, extending our care and
support enthusiastically especially to those we know least
well or with whom we have differences. If every member
of the congregation becomes increasingly welcoming in that
one way, it will have a dramatic effect on our future.
Thank you so much for all you are doing and for the
wisdom from above you have shown about being. The church would not exist if
we did not experience peace that is deeper than any discord, and joy in our being
together that more than compensates for our struggles, and love great enough to
heal all wounds and guide us on the Way.
Peace, joy and love,
Tom

Doing Church Business after Worship

There has been some discussion about the kind of experience we want to have at
church on Sunday mornings.
Some people have expressed a desire not to have to talk about church business
after worship, like committee or board or project work, so they can feel relaxed
and nourished by being there rather than feel increased stress.
Others enjoy talking about church business after church.
Even people who dont mind it may have their moments when they need rest or
will feel overwhelmed if one more person brings up one more thing to do. I have
heard people say that they stay away from church some weeks when they need it
most because they could not handle talking about church business.
The problem is that there is no way of
knowing whether the person you are talking
to needs a break or is wide open for
businessno way, that is, without asking.
So here is a very simple, considerate solution:
if you want to be sure it is all right with the
other person, you could open the conversation
by asking, Would you be willing to talk
about church business, or would you prefer to
make a time to talk about it during the week?
Thats just a suggestion, not a policy. It would take almost no effort on your part,
and could be a big improvement in our way of being a peaceful, loving
community.
Thank you!
Tom

PRAYER CONCERNS
We always welcome new links in the prayer chain. If you would like to be on the
prayer email list, please let me know. You can also call or email any time with
prayer requests (222-9679 or [email protected] ) -Bridget Peters
Among those who were lifted up in prayer in the past month:
Mary Trischman Margaret Staples niece Syrian refugees Lora Chatfield
Gloria Heidenreich Gisela OBrien Melvin Stever Gloria Fox
Kylie Cook Megan Slack

Our sympathy and love to the family and friends of

Ann Scotford Lynwood Carter Sally Carter

Chicken Pie Supper results .

The CP Supper, which was our
churchs contribution to the
Bradford 250 Fall Festival, cost
approximately $1.42 per person
served. We should all be so
economical when serving a feast of
all you can eat chicken pie, gravy,
squash, coleslaw, cider, coffee/tea
and an array of homemade
pie!
This supper was by
donation and once again
those who came were exceedingly generous, not just with their smiles and
good will, but with their wallets. More than $600 will soon be handed over
to the Act n Spire folk! See their updates at www.actnspire.org and to
follow this incredible act of love and dedication and elbow grease!
Just about every group, committee, board and official in the church had
a giving hand in this event, including the children! And here is the list of
those outside the church who felt called to generosity on behalf of the clock tower:
Hannafords for all the cabbage and more than half the
chicken
Piersons Farm for all the onions AND all the squash
Aubuchons for the mums at the entrance
Riverbend Culinary for the coleslaw
Grace UMC men and women for taking on the beverage
and dessert serving
The Bean family for setting up the tables and chairs so very, very gently!
The Bradford 250 Fall Festival team for their display and entertainment
Brandy Apple Orchard for all the apples!!

There were church families which donated

their week to
the supper by
cooking (the
Tomlinson kids
and their
friends for the
chicken pies,
the Smiths for
the squash, the
Odells for the
boiled onions,
and the dozens
of pie makers!)
and by helping
in any way
they could (the
Peters family (and Rev. Kinder) for setting
the tables, the Perrys for washing all those
dishes), the Elders for cider, utensil wrapper
uppers Vida and Therese and the Hosts who
served and mingled and shared the best that is us! As we always report:

and a good time was had by all

Lectionary Readings for

OCTOBER

Nineteenth Sunday after

Pentecost

October 4, 2015

Twentieth Sunday after

Pentecost

October 11, 2015

Twenty-First Sunday after

Pentecost

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Psalm 26
Job 23:1-9, 1617
Psalm 22:1-15

Genesis 2:1824
Hebrews 1:1-4,
2:5-12
Psalm 8
Amos 5:6-7,
10-15
Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 90:1217

Job 38:1-7, (3441)

Isaiah 53:4-12

October 18, 2015

Psalm 91:9-16

Pentecost

Jeremiah
31:7-9

Psalm 104:1-9,
24, 35c
Job 42:1-6, 10Twenty-Second Sunday after 17
October 25, 2015

Psalm 34:1-8,
(19-22)

Psalm 126

Mark 10:216

Mark
10:17-31

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark
10:35-45

Hebrews 7:23-28

Mark
10:46-52

Our Sunday School

Summer is over, and the

children of our church
are very busy with
projects and activities!
A recent addition to the
sanctuary is a blue
fabric bin at the back
table, containing
clipboards, bags of
crayons and markers,
and activity sheets to
keep antsy children
engaged during the service. Children are encouraged to
help themselves and return the supplies when they are done.

10

In September, Bob & Kathy Munson kindly hosted a big group of children and
parents at their orchard and we had a wonderful time gathering apples, making
cider, and eating some delicious treats. We were pleased to count seventeen
children in attendance! A great big thank you Bob and Kathy!
Our next event will be a community movie night on Saturday, October 24th, at 6:00
p.m. in the vestry. We will be showing a double feature: Alvin and the
Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the
Wolfman. All are welcome, and costumes are encouraged! Drinks and popcorn
will be provided.

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A note about Game Supper

Hi
I am looking for volunteers to serve on the buffet line at Game Supper 2015.There
are 2 shifts. 2:15-5:15 and 5:15 to closing.
Please call me at 222-9655 or email me at [email protected] if you are
interested.
Please think about helping out this year. We are in need of all kinds of volunteers.
If you want Game Supper to continue we must have support from you.
Thanks
Storme Odell

BAZAAR NEWS
A reminder for
getting items for the
following tables: Food,
Candy, Attic
Collectables and Gifts
and Crafts.

5lbs onions

Still need the following

for the luncheon:
1 celery bunch

25lbs potatoes

4 dozen eggs

20 cans creamed corn

4 gallons cider

3 gallons milk

2 quarts mayo

6 quarts half/half

2 loaves white bread

1 bag oyster crackers

4 loaves wheat bread

5 large cans tuna

Call Maribeth if you can donate any of the above at 222-9696.

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MUSIC
The Katrina Munn Organ Recital at the Bradford United Church of Christ will
be performed by Lynnette Combs on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 4:00 P.M.
Lynnette Combs is a well-known musician in
Vermont. She is currently organist/choirmaster at Christ
Episcopal Church in Montpelier, Vermont where she also
resides. She received a degree in music from
Swarthmore College, where she studied organ with
Robert Smart. After further studies in organ performance
with Nancy Ludwig Shearer, she was organist in several
churches in Kentucky and Vermont before taking the
position at Christ Church. In 2001 she was named Artist
of the Year by the Vermont Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
In 2013 she was a recitalist for the national convention of the Organ
Historical Society. She often has served as accompanist for choruses and soloists
and as a harpsichordist with orchestras and other ensembles. Ms. Combs has given
solo recitals throughout Vermont, and she hopes to have performed in at least 100
Vermont towns by the year 2025. She has three grown children and enjoys
libraries, hand-woven textiles and gardening.
The Katrina Munn Recital is an annual event funded by the legacy of Katrina
Munn a long-time music director to the Bradford Congregational Church. The
recital is free to the public, although freewill donations are gratefully received. The
featured instrument is a two manual and pedal tracker organ by Steven Russell in
its most recent reincarnation of 21 speaking stops with the Great Trumpet duplexed
to the pedal.
Marcia Tomlinson, Penny Perryman, Bridget Peters and Organist John Atwood

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Community Supper
It just keeps getting better and
better! Such delicious food,
such happy company. Every
fourth Wednesday we through
open the doors and our friends
and neighbors come join us for
fellowship and fine cuisine!

Just as a reminder: the Community Supper is a potluck gathering on the 4th

Wednesday of the month, 6 p.m. There is always plenty, so dont fret about
forgetting to cook something. Weve all done this at least once!

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About Our Steeples, Clock, and

Church Building Part I
I have taken the information about
building our second house of worship
from an article in a special supplement
to the July 15, 1876 Bradford Opinion.
Consideration of a new building had
been contemplated for five or more
years before it was started in 1875. I
have researched our Church minutes
and cannot find the name of the
architect only that we paid $12.00
for the plans! Some have believed it
was George Guernsey who designed
churches and schools in Vermont and
New Hampshire at that time and later designed our Woods School building
(Bradford Academy). Others attribute the design to Lambert Packhard as he
designed the Congregational Church in Barton, VT, which is a mirror image of our
Church. Mr. Packhard later designed Woods Library. I have talked with the Barton
Church secretary and their church appears to have been constructed simultaneously
with ours in 1875-76. It was dedicated in September, 1876 and ours was dedicated
on July 6, 1876. The Barton church clock is not running! They have replaced the
slate roof with shingles (OKd) by the Historic Preservation group. They have also
removed the balcony! At one time they installed a suspended ceiling but have since
removed it to expose the original tin one and rafters. I believe these changes were
made for energy savings. They do not have red hearts on their clock steeple! I plan
to visit this church in the summer of 2016.
Some have expressed the opinion that, as was the practice in the late 19th century,
the contractors just copied an architects design. We do know that the contractors
with Mr. George W. Farr and E.R. Aldrich, Esquire were to complete a building
substantially like the design presented by Mr. Farr. As completed the main
building is forty-four by seventy-five feet with an addition twenty by twenty-six
feet, but in reality all one building. The basement is under the whole and all above
ground. The Southeast tower rises 116 feet from the side to the top and 12 feet
square at the base. On the northeast corner there is another tower which rises even
with the roof ridge, is 10 feet square. The towers were both slated with red and
blue.

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All the windows except in

the basement (vestry) are
1901
Norman Gothic style with
stained glass windows (see
photo). The windows in the
basement are common glass
with blinds (see 1901
plate). The grounds are
graded in the front from the
street so that the vestibule is
reached by six steps. From
the vestibule, six more
steps reach the main audience room (Sanctuary). At
the left of the vestibule is a coat room and at the
right is a stairway leading to a beautiful gallery over
the vestibule, seating about 100 persons, which is
lighted by a large window. The audience room
contains seventy-four slips furnished in ash and black walnut trimmings as is the
rest of the house of worship. The audience room is finished into the roof so it is
thirty-two feet from the floor to the highest point. The truss timbers are encased
and beautifully finished. The pulpit platform and singers seats are in the same end
of the building, partly on the main building and addition. On one side of the
singers seats is the Pastors Study. The pews are cushioned with scarlet and the
floor carpeted. Chairs are used for
1909
singers, and the breezeway is also
in the Norman Gothic style and
was done by W. R. Rolstone of
West Lebanon, NH (see 1906 and
1909 photos).
The basement is finished into a
lecture room 36x44; dining
room, kitchen 16x24, and
pantries and closets. In the rear of
that is the wood room, cloak
room, water closets, etc. The building is heated by one furnace situated in the
basement with one register.

16

1906

New back to the outside it is

painted one shade darker than pure
white, with dark drab trimmings,
the basement being painted all dark
drab (see 1901 photo). The
basement is reached by doors at
each end of the building.
Authors note: I wonder when
during the 1986 renovation of the Sanctuary the dark red carpet was removed to
reveal the bare floor, that there our footprints of the altar which had been
enlarged at best twice. It was very small originally. I put a sample of this red
carpet, square nails, and a 1893 newspaper found under the carpet in the archives.
Now lets go back again to the outside of the building. Well start with the
Southeast tower which has the Town Clock. This clock was given on Nov. 10,
1875 to the Congregational Church Society by Charles P. Corliss. The deed is
recorded in Book 17, Page 36 in the town records. (I have a copy of this deed
which will be put in the archives) Mr. Corliss was a skilled watchmaker and
jeweler in Memphis, Tennessee at the time. He later rose to positions of
considerable responsibility with the Elgin Watch Co. He was the son and grandson
of Peletiah Corliss, Jr. and Sr. who owned the Peletiah Corliss Tavern located near
the Bradford East Corinth line and later burned. The property is now owned by
the Fiske family. This clock was from the Edward Howard Clock Co., 1873. When
it was repaired in 1994, we received a detailed booklet on how to take care of it. I
will explain the use of the Roman Numeral IIII in a later Epistle probably the
November issue. Below the clock the roof is slated and decorated on all four sides
with a red heart. There are several legends for these hearts they make our church
unique and one of a kind the Barton church does not have them! the Sanctuary
part of the roof was not slated until 1905. It was originally roofed with shakes
which, I understand, are still under the slate roof. The cost of slating the roof was
$200.10 plus freight charge of $69.50 and $109.45 for laying the slate.
For many years since the early 1990s our clock, with many others in the Upper
Valley was repaired and kept running by an artisan from West Lebanon, NH Don
Lathrop, and the late Jim Perry, our Trustee, who had charge of the clock for many
years, said of him, Hes a cracker jack as quoted in the May 30, 1994 issue of
The Valley News. The clock was electrified in 1967 at a cost of $1,233.

17

Below the clock is the church bell from the former

church building now the Old Church Theater. This
bell was purchased from a bequest in 1837 from
Timothy Ayer, Jr.
On top of the Southeast tower is a gold-leafed
weather vane (see photo).
This weather vane was lowered by ropes in 1965
(see photo from The United Opinion dated April 8,
1965).

18

The other decorative pieces on the roof are:

1) a finial which some believe also came from the Old
Church building. However, there is no written proof of it
being from the Old Church. I frankly doubt that it was on
the Old Church as the Barton Church has an identical one.
2) a gold-leafed Cresting. Trustee Joe Button did the
gold-leafing on the four clock faces, weather vane, and
the Cresting. Douglas McLam cut the Roman Numerals
for the 4 clock faces.
Thanks, guys!!
The work on the towers has
been done by the Randall Hoyt Co. of Chelsea, VT.
This is what the National Register of Historic Places
says about our church building:
High Victorian Italianate (Vermonter) frame,
clapboarded, gable roof, steeple with clock, louvered
belfry rising to polygonal peak at southeast corner, truncated hop-roofed tower at
northeast corner, bracketed cornice projecting hoods over round arched windows,
corner quoins and pilasters on towers.
Wow, you need to be an architect to understand that!
The steeple lighting was done in 1984 as a memorial for Miriam Allen, given by
her family.

Eris Eastman, Historian

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