103 1st Street, Riverhead, New York 11901, United States
Beacon Light Newsletter
May 2024
Pastor's Note
Dear Friends and Members of our First Congregational Church,
Happy May days. Happy spring. With thanks to many helping hands and good hearts, we continue to enjoy a good go with a number of things. The days of celebration have continued with all of Eastertide and look to reach into Pentecost. With thanks to our Minister of Music, a fine choir, and the musical Marguerite, in addition to the prayers and lessons, our worship services have been wonderfully enhanced by melodies to touch the heart. With thanks to
some fine cooking and gracious hosts, our Sundays are also often complete with some good treats and fellowship after worship. With thanks to many a working and affable volunteer, our Thrift Shop continues to enjoy a stellar year. With special thanks to our Master Gardener Allan and to his trusty helpmate, the gardens and grounds are looking great. Plus, the welcoming of the Howard family into our membership was certainly another wonderful celebration of late.
There have also been the quieter, lesser visible doings that are also worth celebrating. The Lenten banks saw a banner year of generous donations. Our food basket in the sanctuary is regularly filled, which along with many bags and boxes of clothes and toys are donated to local pantries. Prayer shawls continue to come and go to loved ones and hospital patients. Our church was again recognized by the denomination for its generosity as a 5-for-5 congregation. And several in our church family also give of their time and talents to help other
organizations in their good work in the community, including with Bread and More Soup Kitchen.
As I write this, we are preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day on May 12th. That, too, I know, will be great. The talented women of our church are leading worship, and the gracious men are hosting (and even cooking) the Mother’s Day brunch. I pray we see a good turnout. Then the following Sunday, May 19th, is Pentecost which also always makes for a good celebratory time. Wear red!
As you read on, you’ll see that there’s other good news to be shared. God is good, and is doing great things in our midst. Take a good hold of that, give thanks, and let God, our God, lighten your load.
Blessings all around,
Pastor Murray
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Buildings and Grounds
Estimates have been received to install new siding on the church parsonage. On May 5 we will hold a churchmembership meeting to vote on the work to be done. We are very grateful for the Miles and Mary Farleyaccount which allows maintenance on the parsonage to be completed without fundraising.
We are researching construction companies that will be able to replace some framework on our churchsteeple. A “cherry picker” will be needed as the damaged area is over two stories high.
Pastor and I will be planting annuals in early May. Our boards decided to purchase vouchers from theRiverhead Rotary Club to buy the plants at their annual garden festival May 6-12. It is nice to support this wonderful organization. Pastor Murray is on their Board of Directors.
-Allan Repp
PR & Evangelism
The half price sale at the Thrift Shop was announced on WLNG and several people who came, reported hearing it on the radio. WLNG continually supports what we are doing here at First Congregational. Thanks to the incredible success of the Alley Cat Thrift Shop we have not needed to do additional fundraising. It was decided that even though no one has signed up for coffee hour on a particular Sunday, we would put on a pot of coffee
so people could gather for fellowship after church. With the Pastoral Relations Committee, we are hoping to print posters that could be placed around town, inviting people to join us for worship. We are always looking for ideas to build membership. Each of us are evangelists, representatives of our inclusive and loving community of faith. Consider bringing a friend to church to share in all we have to offer.
We are an Open and Affirming Congregation. To better make the wider community aware of our inclusiveness, we have an opportunity to march in the North Fork Pride Parade which will be held in Greenport on Saturday,
June 22. The theme of this year’s parade is Reflect, Empower, Unite. If this is something you would like to be included in, please let me or Pastor know or call the church office. My phone number is 516 551-7030.
-Sandy Gruner
Music continues to be a special part of our Sunday morning worship, whether by the choir or through special
music. On April 28th, many choir members were not available, but the music was still very beautiful. We were
treated to Marguerite Volents with a lovely violin piece accompanied by George Moravek on the piano. Choir
will continue to be a part of the service through May and into June, and then take some time off for the summer
months. Some of the summer Sundays will include special music.
As mentioned in the last Beacon Light, Jamesport Meeting House Chorus is in the last few rehearsals for a
spring concert. The concert will be on May 19th at 4:00pm at the Jamesport Metting House on Main Road. Our
choir is well represented in the chorus and Marguerite Volents is again directing the group with Jeff Wentz at
the piano. There is a variety of music and should offer something for everyone to enjoy.
-Melinda Topping, Music Committee
