Church Service Schedule
Church services begin each Sunday at 10:00 AM to thank God for His helping us move creatively through the week just ended and to ask His continued guidance in the upcoming week. Coffee hour follows the service in the room to the rear of the Church sanctuary.
Sunday School
Sunday School classes for Nursery through 5th grade take place on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM. Child care for infants and toddlers is also available.
Summer Service Weekend
First Annual Marlborough Area Youth Summer Service Weekend. Learn More...
2019 Autumn
Worship Schedule
- 10 a.m. Worship Service
- Service will be held in our air-conditioned lounge on hot Sundays
- Nursery and toddler care to age 3
- Message for children
Most Sundays:
- Cool refreshments after worship
- Activity bags for children
- Talented musicians each week
Next Sermon:
September 29
Bob Faulhaber preaching
“Warning Labels ”
Luke 16:19-31
2019 Annual Report
The annual meeting was Sunday, June 2, 2019.
Click here to read the Report.
Evening Women’s Group
All women are invited to bring a pot
luck dish and join Pastoral Intern,
Val Seaver, to Chat & Chew at
Michele Sinkez’ home:
Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m.
Partnership Sunday
Interested in joining our church or
want more information?
Give Pastor Bob a call at 860.295.0432 or
call the church office at 860.295.9050
Second Blessings Thrift Shop
Remember us! Tell your neighbors, friends, relatives!
We’ve restocked with lots of new items for summer!
Open for collection and shopping
September
Fridays 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sundays 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Can you help? We are looking for more volunteers. We are also looking for quality items for summer and fall.
Questions? Please contact Joyce at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; or Jessica at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pastor's Message...
Autumn 2019
Sometimes, the end of a sermon comes AFTER it’s been preached…
As a pastor, I always have to remind myself that much of what I’ve written in a sermon is subject to what the listener needs to hear. And if I’m fortunate, the Holy Spirit takes “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart” and makes something of it well above my pay grade. Case in point, there have been occasions when the same sermon spoke different messages to people sitting far apart from each other in the pews. And both claimed that I must have been looking in their windows and watching what they’d been going through. Not only do comments like that make me feel a little creepy, but they make me wonder what they heard, because it definitely wasn’t what I’d meant. But I’ve learned not to concern myself with that, because the Holy Spirit is gonna do what the Holy Spirit chooses to do, and I’m not going to change that, no matter how hard I might try.
Last week, I decided to preach about the “gift of invitation”. A centerpiece of the sermon was the story of a bride [Sarah Cummins] who decided to cancel her wedding back in 2017. The story I read didn’t say what caused her to do this, but I suspect it had to be something big, because it left her on the hook for a $30,000 reception cost that was non-refundable. Not only did she NOT want to see all that food go to waste, but she decided to take a bad situation and turn it into a blessing. So, Sarah Cummins decided to invite people who are not usually invited to feasts, to be her guest at hers. She reached out to local homeless shelters and an organization that helped homeless veterans, [remember these homeless vets for later], and told them she could accommodate about 175 guests. The organizations were shocked by the offer but overjoyed to make the invitation to their clients.
Then something else happened…..
Local businesses heard about this act of hospitality and wanted to get onboard. Clothing stores donated suits and dresses. Local barbers and hairdressers offered to cut and style hair, a few churches arranged for showers and one of the florists in town donated centerpieces. The article didn’t say so, but I’ll bet you dollars to free donuts that the D.J. didn’t cost a penny. It was a bonafide modern day parable of God’s extravagant welcome….with the invitation coming from a woman who, on some level, had had her heart broken…or at least bruised. She turned her pain into someone else’s blessing.
I read an article this week about how certain cities are using “sound” to chase away the homeless. That’s not a misprint….I said they use SOUND to chase away the homeless. In areas where the homeless congregate to sleep, annoying music [like “Baby Shark”] is played all night long at a level loud enough to be disturbing enough to make sleeping impossible. At other places, a high-pitched note is played all night so that younger people as dissuaded from sleeping there. Older people can’t hear those notes anymore, but they’re usually not living on the streets any longer anyway.
Got it?
After church this Sunday, while I was at the front door saying goodbye to people, a 40ish year old man dressed in Army fatigues approached me. He introduced himself to me and claimed his parents had attended our church about 5 years earlier. He and his son had been camping somewhere near our lake. They were homeless, and hoping to head up to Maine, where he knew some people. He wondered if I might be able to help him and his son with some food for the next few days. I looked around for hidden cameras [was this a prank?] but there were none. I told him to go get a bite to eat at the coffee hour and after I was done shaking hands, I’d run up to Big Y and buy a gift card for him.
By the time I got back with the gift card, he’d been greeted by a number of people [a few I sent his way]. He thanked me and said, God bless you.” What he didn’t know was that I already had been.
And thus ended the message for the day…..
in the spirit,
Bob Faulhaber
Contact Us
Congregational Church of Marlborough
United Church of Christ
35 South Main Street – PO Box 57
Marlborough, CT 06447
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 |
An Open and Affirming
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| Rev. Bob Faulhaber Jr | Senior Pastor |
| Senior Pastor’s Office | 860.295.0432 |
| Senior Pastor eMail | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
| Val Seaver | Pastoral Intern |
| Church Office | 860.295.9050 |
| Alice Rowley | Church Administrator and "Echoes" Editor |
| Church Office email | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
| David Mulligan | Music Director |
| Gwen Lawson |
Christian Education Director |
| Scott Reid | Senior High Youth Director |
Coming Up...
Marlborough Golf Classic
Tuesday, September, 24, 2019
This is one of our biggest fund-raisers of the year and we’d like to have it continue!
To learn more or to help, contact Pastor Bob at 860.295.0432 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
An Invitation: Dan Ferrari and Owen Luke
Saturday, September, 28, 2019; 6-7:30 p.m.
Singer/Songwriters Coming to Saint John Fisher Church
30 Jones Hollow Road
www.stjfchurch.org
Free will donation to support youth programs
and Refreshments
Dinner Auction
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Preview from 5:30 to 6 p.m.
Dinner promptly at 6
Auction starts at 7 p.m.
Auctioneer
R.J. Weston, Weston Antiques
