Bob Lambert
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Stewardship moment 2-1-09

We Do!

During every Baptism, we are asked to take an oath that commits us each to participate in the Christian upbringing of the children being baptized into our church. When you listen to the words carefully, we sign up for some awesome, serious responsibility.  We sign up for the Stewardship of children… for many years!  It is Stewardship at its finest.  I am here to give testimony that this church more than lives up to that pledge, and to tell you that has affected greatly how the Lamberts view their giving.

We do not often think of this as Stewardship, but being stewards of each other’s well being and that of children is fundamental to Christ’s teachings.

Recognizing that, and seeing how it has affected my family’s life has been an epiphany for me, and strongly influenced my attitude towards giving. When I was young, there wasn’t much of a giving strategy. “United Way and other” was kind of it.  Then marriage and children changed things, and church got what I thought was a “fair share”. We sort of gave to the traditional charities, but didn’t really budget or prioritize much or plan for giving with serious annual thought. This may sound familiar to some.

Age does sometimes bring wisdom, fortunately. After our three children left the nest, our thinking changed, and became more focused: were should donations go to assure the greatest possible benefit?

This led us to look harder, and think more. Of course we need to give to the Red Cross, to the Volunteer Firemen, to the United Way , and various medical research organizations in honor and support of afflicted loved ones who have suffered from so many illnesses.

But, our thinking mostly led us to look at our own family – especially our now-grown children. Our kids literally grew up in this church. They ran around, made noise, joined in every possible activity, went on retreats, went on missions, served in soup kitchens, and learned about how to be good Christians  - in other words they were just like all the other children here. SOOO many people participated in their upbringing. I couldn’t begin to count.

Today they are doing wonderful things. They are responsible and caring citizens. And….they are as standard examples of what this church produces. One is finishing year 10 as a 6th grade special ed teacher, and devotes many winter Saturdays every year freezing in ice rinks supporting a town’s Winter Special Olympics team. One teaches music to small children, writes music for them, and donates a GREAT deal of time in support of a couple of organizations for people with troubles in their lives. One was a lifer Red Cross chapter manager, started a student Red Cross campus chapter as a college student, spent several months in Homestead running a Bible School for displaced children living in tent villages, has been on a number of major disaster trips, and now as a stay-at-home munchkin minder is President of a charitable thrift shop that does very well in fund-raising for several worthwhile local charities.

In other words, they are very typical of the graduates of UCCB! In our years here, this church has turned out about 250 good citizens, and good Christians. 250!  Not bad. Stewardship at its finest. 250 fine reasons to Celebrate our Giving. We’ve turned out ministers, missionaries, and volunteers of many flavors. No finer tribute is possible for our real task in Stewardship. We are extraordinarily thankful to all of those who worked so hard to help shape our children’s lives…..who were Stewards to them in so many ways.

So this realization caused our view of giving to be redone, with MUCH heavier emphasis on the place we feel gives us the greatest return on our investment.  We feel REALLY good about that. Our investment, and yours, in our children through the church is the finest investment we can ever make, both financially and spiritually.

So please remember that phrase WE DO as you prayerfully consider your Stewardship . Thank you.

Richard Stewart
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Stewardship moment 01-11-09

Why I Give

As I look back over the past year I realize that I cannot remember a time when I have spent so much time thinking about money and investments. The events since September of the past year have made me look at every dollar spent and ways to reduce spending. It seems like this thinking is common for many people. It made me think long and hard about why I give. It came down to three reasons for me that have evolved over the past five decades of my life.
The first reason I give is because it was modeled for me by my parents. Long before electronic deposits were possible and bills paid by a click of the mouse, my father brought home a paper paycheck every Friday evening. That evening my father or mother would write the first check of the week to the Church and put it in the offering envelope for the Sunday morning offering. As a family we prayed at the dinner table that Friday evening that God would bless this offering and the missions and ministry that these dollars would support. My earliest thoughts about giving were modeled after my parents’ example and giving of the first fruits each week. 

As I grew as a young adult I had the opportunity to attend Southern Seminary in Louisville for just over a year. During that year I learned from some wonderful teachers and I had a professor of New Testament Theology who made a great impression on me and really help me expand my understanding of giving. It was his teaching that helped me understand the true nature of giving. From Jesus’ teaching I understood that I should give without ever thinking of getting anything in return. This ran counter to many of the television preachers of the day who were preaching “seed faith” giving. If you gave them ten dollars then God would reward you with a hundred dollars in return. I found out that the Jesus taught us to give in secret and the father would reward us in secret. Giving was to come from the heart because of the need you saw, and that brings me to my final point, the vision of giving.

During the last few years I have developed an expanded view of giving and I now realize that most likely I will never see the full results of my gifts. Jamie and I are here at the Congregational Church for only a brief season in our lives. Our giving will live on long after we have moved away from Brookfield. It gives me great pleasure to know our giving will live on in this great community through this church and its wonderful people. The small dollars that we give make it possible to for the children of our community to attend a well designed Sunday School, grew into as teenagers to become confirmands and then on to full membership in this church. I can think of no greater vision that to realize that my meager gift has been part of a church which does such a fine job of reaching people both here in Brookfield and around the world.

So that is why I give; because it was modeled for me as a child, then during my young adulthood I had the opportunity to hear some great teaching on giving and over the years my vision for giving has grown to understand that I give because I seen the great need and my giving will live on long after I am gone. Finally getting back to finances I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future. I may be richer or poorer a year from now but I know that I am where God wants me to be.

Thank you.
 

Dorrell Family
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Stewardship Moment 12/21/08

Celebrate…   Our Giving
– Make a Joyful Noise

Music plays such an important role in our lives…You can hear it every where, it’s in our homes, in our cars, in our places of work, and right here in our church.  How fitting is it that my family get to lift up our music ministry in this church today….the day of Lesson’s and Carols…..a day dedicated to hearing and celebrating the words of Christ’s birth told in scripture and music.  Greg will share a story about Lesson’s and Carols and Kristen will start us off with a few words about the children’s choirs.

Kristen writes:  

I have been in the children’s choirs for 8 years and am still involved in the music program playing bells and singing in the adult choir.  Since I am a kid, I feel that I am most qualified to tell you all about the Cherub and Alleluia choirs.  In these choirs, you not only learn how to read notes on a piece of paper, but you also learn how to sing those notes with feeling and rhythm.  In order to fully understand how to do this, we learn techniques, such as: “tall vowels” (not “wide vowels”) and to sing from the diaphragm for a better, projected tone.  We also learn to care about the words in a song, what they mean, and how to convey their meaning to the entire congregation through volume and sometimes even movement.  Now, all of this learning sounds like a lot of hard work, but that is not true.  In the kid’s choirs we love to play and have fun, and one way we celebrate this is by coming together weekly for a shared meal of pizza and cookies.  We have formed wonderful friendships during these meals.

The Alleluia choir also has the pleasure of sharing the joy of singing outside of this church community.  Every year, there is an Annual Children’s Choir Festival where children from all over the Connecticut area come together in one church to sing their hearts out.  And although I was always in awe of how many kids had shown up for each festival, I also like the fact that going to a different church every year really made the festivals interesting and fun.  All of these experiences have made me develop very strong friendships with a lot of the kids in the choirs, and I am very grateful that I have all of these wonderful friends who share the same passion for music as I do.  

Greg Dorrell writes:

I was a bit hesitant, seven years ago, when my wife said that she wanted to join the choir for Lesson’s and Carols that year and asked me if I wanted to sing with the choir too.  I said no at first, because basically, I just don’t want to wear a robe. But she wore me down, with arguments like, ”Its just seasonal and you don’t have to wear a robe”.  I wasn’t a total novice to the music world, but the truth is, reading music is not that easy for me, since I don’t to it regularly.  But I decided to give it a try and make Jean happy.  The first night I went I was greeted by the members of the choir with such welcoming, right from the start it was easy to belong and enjoy the camaraderie they share with each other, as if I have been coming forever.  I wish I could tell you that reading the music and singing at that first practice was easy, but it wasn’t.  When we were finished and Jean and I got into our car to come home that night, she asked “How did you do?”  Well, we both had a really good laugh at how badly we were able to keep up and follow along.  But we decided that it was really fun being there, so we were going to give it another try the next week hoping for better success.  We were NOT going to give up! Well here I am seven years later, still part of the “seasonal help”, singing for Lesson’s and Carols and participating in the community Annual Christmas Concert held at St. Joseph’s church, …..and you will notice without wearing a Robe!  I think our choir is wonderful and I am grateful for my small part in it.

Jean writes:

As a member of the handbell choir I can say that it is a pleasure to be a part of team effort.  Every member of a handbell choir is truly important whether you play in a difficult position or an easy position, and the sounds that you can make with a bell are amazing. If you like to hear the bells play, but don’t think we play enough in church, I encourage you to come to our practices on Wednesday nights, anytime between 5:30 and 8:30.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  You’ll definitely be able to hear and enjoy the music, but you will also get to see how hard we work.  You will also see how much fun we have during these practices.  As a director of the youngest handbell choir, I can say how truly rewarding it is for me to be able to teach, encourage and inspire your children to love playing the bells and then to watch them grow into confident, bell ringers.  I have already seen many children move up to the Praise, Glory and Jubilate choirs.

Look how many people are here participating in this service today, how truly blessed we are to have so much talent here in our church.  It’s not just the giving of our pledges that makes a good music program but all the hard work and dedication of each person who donates their time, love, passion and commitment to such a ministry.  Let’s celebrate all the gifts we have to give, and be grateful for the rewards we get to receive.

Laurie Matson
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Stewardship moment 9-26-08

Celebrate… Our Giving 
- Working Together on our Church

“Together we make a difference”

I remember when I first saw the 1984 Tony Award winning play “Noises Off.”  This play within a play made quite an impression. In the first act, the audience is watching the actors perform a third rate farce on stage. But the fun really begins with the second act, when the stage is turned around. The audience then witnesses the production from behind the curtain. It is in this second act that one truly sees what goes on back stage and behind the scenes. 

I believe our church’s Act l is what you see here today…….people sharing their faith through prayer, meditation and song during service. In the bulletin, you will read about all the goings-on for the week, the topics and times for faith-based classes with Jen or Bryn, who in our congregation is in need of some extra prayers and notices about upcoming committee meetings.  

You will be happy to know that we do have an Act II.  I would like to share with you some of the back stage, behind the scenes here at   our church. This volunteer army performs meaningful work. It is what a fellow member fondly refers to as…sweat-equity. 

A group of volunteers started working together at the cottage 7 years ago. It was determined the building was unsafe with the back foundation sinking and the back door opening to nothing, 10 feet above ground. An estimate was given; it would cost roughly $60,000 to repair. Under the direction of a fearless leader, someone who was willing and able to tackle the simple and the impossible, the group met once or twice a week for the next three years.  They shored up the foundation and gutted the interior. They insulated, sheet rocked and painted walls and ceilings. Kitchen cabinets, lighting, tiled floors were installed and doors were hung. A young member of the church completed his service project by installing all the electrical work. The total cost…a little over $20,000.  The cottage was totally renovated and ready for our first refugee family.

After the cottage overhaul, the work group did not want to disband. They had bonded and wanted to continue to do God’s work together. They moved on to tackle the needs of the parsonage. They rebuilt the back porch floor, raised the den sinking hearth, stripped wallpaper, spackled and painted walls, ceilings and windows. They gutted the kitchen removing the kitchen cabinets, counter tops and the tiled floor. The gardens around the parsonage had a total makeover as well.

Moving over to the church, they replaced the unsafe stairs going to the fair kitchen and installed shelves in the historian’s closet. 

The work accomplished by this group was infectious and inspired large turnouts for our project workdays.

We had over 25 people at some of our workdays - young and old, working side-by-side cleaning, scrubbing, fixing, replacing, painting, washing, organizing, polishing, weeding, shoveling……….and sometimes just doing grunt work.  The youth did not want to be left out and helped in many ways including painting, planting and entertaining. 

Volunteers were inspired to paint the cottage. Scaffolding was set up, paint was delivered and with brushes and rollers, we painted the cottage the barn red it is today. 

Most recently, the strong men gathered for a serious project where they removed the boiler in the church school wing that had expired. That boiler was so big we think they built the church school wing around it! The dedicated guys took apart the almost 50-year-old boiler.  That was certainly a day of sweat equity…………. and their hard work saved us $3,500.

You may remember the flooding problem in our courtyard. One member initially hand dug and installed drains but with heavy rains, we still had a problem. So another member brought in his backhoe and spent the entire day excavating, installing new drains and lowering drainpipes. 

Another project was installing recessed lighting over the choir section in the sanctuary. Huge ladders were brought in with scaffolding as the guys climbed, cut and installed the lights… right here. 

We’ve had volunteers climb up ladders to clean and fix gutters, to repair the barn cupola and to grease our church bell. They’ve helped with technology: overhauling our computer network and bringing us into the wireless world. They’ve replaced our sound system and revamped the digital controlled computer video system.

How much would all of these projects have cost us if we were to hire them out? I can’t begin to imagine. And these are just a few specific examples.

A lot of care is made with another type of sweat equity- how best to spend our pledge dollar. Figuring out how to go about accomplishing projects and meeting our financial challenges head on takes prayerful, careful consideration. Let me assure you, from what I see, with our generous pledge donations, every dollar goes amazingly far. For hired out projects, there is careful thought and responsibility in the research of quotes and the follow through with contractors. 

If you are thinking you missed out on these wonderful opportunities of sweat-equity, don’t worry. We are sure to have more projects ahead. And these projects were just from the Church House Committee who takes care of the maintenance of our property. So many others, many who are sitting out there this morning, are delivering their own sweat-equity in so many different areas.

Backstage, behind the scenes, there are a lot of committed, faithful volunteers who are caring, good people. What we have accomplished is remarkable and I feel blessed to be a part of this ministry. 

As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”  Together we have made a difference!

To the dedicated and faithful individuals who give of their time and their talent, who have put in hours upon hours of sweat-equity, who give great care, and at times struggle, to make the conscientious decisions needed, on behalf of the congregation, I would like to say, “Thank you” and share these words by Albert Pine,

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world (our church) remains immortal.”

Thank you.

Robin Murphy
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)

Stewardship moment 9-14-08

Celebrate… Our Giving – Outreach