Church

Congregational

NORTH WATERFORD — Because of the tremendous response last holiday season, a Tree of Peace and Love will again be located on the lawns of both the North Waterford and Stoneham Congregational churches. The trees will initially be wrapped in colored lights.

For a $5 donation a light bulb will be changed to white and the wish/prayer or name of the individual it has been given in honor of will be written on an origami crane and hung on the tree.

The collection will help support the mission and ministries of the Oxford County Parish churches in North Waterford and Stoneham.

The Reverend Doretta Colburn invites everyone to participate and watch as the trees evolve into all white lights, symbolic of the spread of Peace and Love in communities and the world.

The Tree of Peace and Love will be lit at 11 a.m. on Sunday, December 2, following the regular worship service at the North Waterford Church located on Five Kezars Road (off Routes 35 and 37, opposite Melby’s Market).

Everyone is welcome to attend the tree lighting. Christmas carols will be sung and refreshments will be served.

To purchase the light bulbs, look for posters with forms to fill out in the area stores and post offices, contact Milly Millett at 583-2822 or checks may be made out to the Oxford County United Parish, and mailed in care of Milly Millett to 346 Bisbeetown Rd., Waterford, ME 04088.

Regular Sunday worship services for the Oxford County United Parish are being held at 10 a.m. at the North Waterford Congregational Church during the winter months.

Universalist

WEST PARIS — December is a time of celebration, reflection, and hope for peace – as we are accustomed to saying together at the First Universalist: Let peace touch every heart and hand, touch every life in every land.

For these reasons, and more, you are invited to join innfor Sunday services, presented with a combination of guest speakers and Worship Service Committee members.

All are welcome to attend at 9 a.m. Sundays, September to June. Refreshments follow the service.

December 2, “An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love” - led by Eleanor Inman, a lifelong member of the West Paris First Universalist Church.

She was born in West Paris and named after its minister then, Eleanor B. Forbes – “I was christened and married by Reverend Forbes at our Church, which I have always attended with my family. It is a very special place to me.”

December 9, “The Light of Hope” The Hanukkah story grew out of an occupied nation’s need to find hope when all seemed hopeless. Are there lessons in this old Jewish legend that may shed light on world events today?

The service is led by The Reverend Fayre Stephenson, who is the new consulting minister at First Universalist Church in Norway.

A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Fayre most recently served for many years as Program Director of the Unitarian Universalist Camp and Conference Center at Ferry Beach in Saco.

Prior to moving to Maine, Fayre enjoyed a long ministry as minister of the Foxborough Universalist Church in Massachusetts where she was voted Minister Emerita.

December 16, "I Dwell In Possibility" - An inspirational pastoral message exploring the use of Emily Dickinson's poetry for hope and healing, led by The Reverend Jennifer Wixson, M.Div., from Bangor Theological Seminary.

Reverend Wixson, an itinerant Quaker minister, is a writer, social activist and former pastor of the Winthrop Center Friends Church. She resides in Troy, where she keeps bees and raises Scottish Highland cattle.

December 23, “Symbols of the Season” - led by the Reverend Fayre Stephenson. During this service participants will explore the sources and history of the winter solstice customs and symbols that enrich the holiday season today.

December 24, “Christmas Eve Celebration” candlelight service at 6 p.m., led by the Worship Service Committee, which will include singing hymns and instrumentals.

December 30, “Active Hope” based on the new book by Joanna Macy, led by The Reverend Sarah Shepley, who has given many sermons at the West Paris church. She is an ordained interfaith minister in Maine’s western hills.

She is also a graduate of the Portland School of Art and has been a professional artist in mixed media for over 20 years.

For more information about the church and worship services at the First Universalist Church of W. Paris, Main St., West Paris, please call Marta Clements at 674-2143.

You can also visit http://www.uua.org/ to learn more about Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.