Connecticut Conference UCC Events
Event Listings from the Connecticut Conference United Church of Christ
  • Stepping Stones: What About Those Tweens? Ministry for Youth Grades 4-8: Mar. 16, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
    Were you a church school drop out? I was! By the 5th grade, I had decided to help with the younger grades instead of attending my own church school class. Does that sound like any 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th graders in your church?Our middle schoolers and even youth as young as 9 years old are a challenge for church school teachers, youth advisors, and parents alike. How do we reach the video game generation with the good news of Jesus Christ? How do we connect them so they remain connected to the body of Christ?This workshop will answer those questions; talk about the unique characteristics of the Millenials (1982-98) and Generation Z (1999-2019); build on the learning of family faith formation; and explore creative models and curriculums for reaching our tweens.Leader: Rev. Kristen Kleiman, Pastor, First Congregational Church UCC of Bristol.

  • Five Fridays Lenten Concert Series: Paul Jordan: Mar. 19, 12:15 pm
    "Music at the Meetinghouse" presents the Five Friday Lenten Concert Series: half hour organ concerts during the last five Fridays in Lent. On these dates from 12:15-12:45 pm, the public is invited to bring and eat their lunch in the sanctuary while listening to meditative organ music. These concerts are the music department's Lenten gift to the community.

  • Confirmation Retreat: Mar. 19 - 21
    The theme of this retreat for confirmation class members and advisers is "Unity in the Body of Christ." The purpose of these retreats is not to teach confirmation all in one weekend, but to help build community and to ask the questions that are key to a Confirmation process. This is a unique opportunity for young people engaged in the active process of understanding their faith to encounter other youth and adults working on the same issues in a beautiful setting.

  • A Conference On Prayer: Mar. 20, 8:15 am - 3:00 pm
    A Conference on Prayer: Praying without Ceasing: Reclaiming our Spiritual Roots Registration Cost $10 – Includes light refreshments and lunch Pre-Registration Deadline is March 14, 2010 Keynote Speaker: Armand Proulx – The Quiet A Awakening-Of Wellsprings and Streambeds Workshops: A Dare for Prayer: Presented by Reverend Bill Keane Art and Soul: Process Painting …a Path to the Healthy : Presented by Harriet Carew Ignatian Spirituality: Finding God in all Things : Presented by Patricia Brennan Centering Prayer/Centered Living: Presented by Armand Proulx The Labyrinth: Presented by Anne O’Conner

  • Baldwin Seminar on Prophetic Ministry: Mar. 20, 8:30 am - 3:30 pm
    The inaugural Baldwin Seminar on Prophetic Ministry examines the moral issues raised by developing technologies. The first keynote speaker, Dr. Robert E. Michler, head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center, speaking on "Advances in Medical Technology and the Ethical Questions They Raise." Mary McDowell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Development Officer of Nokia, will offer the second keynote on changes in communication technology.Theological reflectors from four traditions -- Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic -- will contribute their insights to the event.Please make registration checks payable to the Missionary Society of Connecticut.

  • National Weeklong Leadership Training Event: Mar. 21 - 26
    This powerful weeklong leadership training opportunity will take place in Meriden, Connecticut, from Sunday, March 21, 2010 to Friday, March 26, 2010.The non-partisan training will be attended by clergy and faith leaders, social justice advocates and organizational staff, parent leaders, early childhood advocates, and local elected officials who want to experience the training that Barack Obama taught as a community organizer.The training has been designed and will be conducted by experienced organizers affiliated with Building One America and MARC (a professional association of community organizers), as well as veteran trainers for Camp Obama, the enormously successful organizing program of Obama for America.This training will allow you to reflect upon your experiences and what it means for you to be a leader in the public arena. You will engage with other participants in a learning community that emphasizes self-reflection, introspection and mutual inquiry. You will benefit from an environment, which will give you the opportunity to take risks, practice new behaviors and reexamine your current strengths and weaknesses. By the end of the week, you will develop a personal plan of action for becoming a more effective and powerful person. The training teaches ordinary people to unleash their capacity to impact the social, political, environmental, and economic decisions affecting their lives.

  • Music Series at South Church: Morris Robinson, Bass: Mar. 21, 2010, 4:00 pm
    Former football player turned opera singer Morris Robinson is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most sought after basses performing today in opera, concerts, and solo recitals. His "miracle voice of endless potential" is sure to fill our space with rich warmth in a recital including art songs, opera arias, and spirituals. Free-will donation. All events are open to the public and will take place in the sanctuary of South Church in New Britain.

  • The Music Series at South Church: Morris Robinson: Mar. 21, 4:00pm
    The Music Series at South Church presentss a concert featuring Bass Vocalist Morris Robinson. Former football player turned opera singer, Robinson is quickly gaining reputation as one of the most sought after basses performing today in opera, concerts, and solo ricitals. His "miracle vocie of endless potential" will be highlighted in a recital including art songs, opera arias, and spirituals.

  • Sensitiviites and Skills for Interfaith Leadership: Mar. 24, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
    Spring In-Service Day for Spiritual Directors, Pastoral Counselors, Chaplains, Hospice Caregivers and Peace and Justice Workers:Sensitivities and Skills for Interfaith Leadership. An exploration of the dynamics and skills of interfaith leadership including an overview of the process of conflict transformation, essential skills and attitudes for facilitation, the dynamics of diversity, and the integration of shared spiritual reflection and prayer. Participants will have the opportunity to experience a variety of approaches in this interactive workshop including exercises for spiritual devotion, small group dialogue, and team facilitation. Facilitators: Yehezkel Landau and Karen Nell Smith

  • Engage Conflict Well: The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation: Mar. 25, 8:45 am - 5:30 pm
    During our workshop time we will explore ways of preparing ourselves for engaging conflict well and processes that allow people to have the difficult conversations to get to a better place together.Thomas W. Porter, Jr. is the Co-Executive Director of JUSTPEACE Center for Mediation and Conflict Transformation in The United Methodist Church and an ordained elder of the New England Annual Conference. A lawyer, teacher, and professional mediator, he served twenty-three years as chancellor of the New England Conference while in practice as a trial attorney. Tom teaches at Boston University School of Theology and has developed a concentration in the degree programs in Religion and Conflict Transformation. He recently edited the book, Conflict and Communion, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice at Christ?s Table. He is the author of a soon to be published book, Engage Conflict Well, the Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation. He has mediated many different types of conflicts within the Church.This workshop is open to both those in transitory and settled ministries. Sponsored by the Interim Ministers' Support Group of the New Hampshire Conference, UCC.

  • Five Fridays Lenten Concert Series: Chelsea Chen: Mar. 26, 12:15 pm
    "Music at the Meetinghouse" presents the Five Friday Lenten Concert Series: half hour organ concerts during the last five Fridays in Lent. On these dates from 12:15-12:45 pm, the public is invited to bring and eat their lunch in the sanctuary while listening to meditative organ music. These concerts are the music department's Lenten gift to the community.

  • Maple Sugaring at Silver Lake: Mar. 26 - 28
    Come for a fun-filled weekend of experiencing nature's renewal and its wonderfully sweet gifts. We will be tapping the trees, collecting the sap, and boiling it all over a big fire as we participate in the transformation of sap into syrup. So come to this great place and see, firsthand, God's gift of Resurrection in the coming of spring. We will be following the same techniques used by Native Americans for thousands of years. Bring your warm clothes, mittens, hats, boots and smiles. This retreat is for young people in grades 6, 7, and 8.

  • Celtic Spirituality: Celebrating the Greening of the Spring: Mar. 27, 9:30 am -12:30 pm
    Celtic Spirituality:Celebrating the Greening –of Spring, of New Life and of a renewed awareness of Creation. Celtic Spirituality is rooted in this cycle of life and has insights and understanding helpful to us pilgrims on the journey today. Tea and soda bread will be served. Presenter: Cathy Murtha, DW

  • Confirmation Class Interfaith Event: Mar. 27, 2:00 - 6:00 pm
    Faithful Christian discipleship today will be lived out in communities in which there are many other faith traditions. This afternoon is an opportunity for Confirmands and their advisors to meet, learn about, and be in conversation with Muslims and Jews, partners in the Abrahamic tradition.Hartford Seminary, a school that specializes in interfaith dialogue, is partnering with the Connecticut Conference to provide an afternoon of exploration and discovery, concluding with a meal together.Registration is important as space is limited.

  • Bach Birthday Bash: Mar. 27, 7:00 pm
    Music and the Arts at Center Church will hold a "Bach Birthday Bash" on Saturday, March 27, beginning at 7:00 p.m., with a concert by guitarist and West Hartford native David Veslocki, who will perform the complete lute suites by J. S. Bach. The concert, to be given in the Center Church Meeting House (675 Main Street, Hartford), will be followed by a cake-and-coffee reception to celebrate the 325th anniversary of the birthday of the composer (March 21, 1685). Tickets ($20 premium, $10 general) may be ordered in advance or purchased at the door.

  • Music and the Arts at Center Church: Rautenberg-Saathoff Duo: Mar. 28, 2010, 4:00 pm
    The second performance on the 2009-2010 series will be given on Sunday, March 28, 2010, at 4:00 p.m., by the Rautenberg-Saathoff Duo (violinist Lisa Rautenberg and pianist Gretchen Saathoff). Their program will include works by J. S. Bach and Robert Schumann. A suggested donation of $10 per person will be received at the door.

  • Two Hartford Churches Make Beautiful Music Together: Mar. 28, 4:00 pm
    On Palm Sunday, March 28 at 4pm, the combined choirs of Asylum Hill and Immanuel Congregational Churches will be joined by symphony musicians to present Morten Lauridsen’s ethereal masterwork, Lux Aeterna, as part of the esteemed Asylum Hill Concert Series. Funded by a City of Hartford Arts and Heritage Jobs Grant, this concert brings together two of the finest church music programs in the city with a professional orchestra in a concert that will showcase a variety of musical expression to close of the Lenten season. Steven Mitchell, Minister of Music and Arts at Asylum Hill, welcomes this opportunity to share the podium with Mark Singleton, Music Director at Immanuel. These two musicians energize choral music in the Hartford area, not only at these two churches but through Voce, with which Singleton serves as Artistic Director and Mitchell performs, as well as Concora with which both have performed. Mitchell expressed gratitude to the City of Hartford and Mayor Eddie Perez for the grant support that makes the presentation of this major work possible – a work that might not otherwise be heard in our region. “It is good to see that the City of Hartford recognizes that the best way to support the arts is to support the artists,” Mitchell commented. Composed in the year of his mother’s death, Lauridsen wrote Lux Aeterna to honor her - the one who introduced him to music. The five movements, based on sacred Latin texts, explore different images of light offering redemption and rebirth, peace, mercy, consolation and hope. It has often been compared to the Requiem composed by Fauré which was recently conducted by Mark Singleton at Immanuel Church in a concert raising funds for Haitian earthquake relief. In addition to the Lux Aeterna, the concert will showcase the talents of AHCC organist and associate music director Dan Campolieta whose original composition O Magnum Mysterium will be performed by the choirs. Mr. Campolieta will also perform Eclogue Op.10 by Finzi as piano soloist with the orchestra. The two choirs will separately offer a variety of other pieces from “high church” to contemporary gospel, including The Lord Is My Shepherd by well-known English composer John Rutter. The concert will be held in the historic sanctuary of Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue, Hartford. Tickets for this event can be purchased for $20 by calling 860-278-0785.

  • Five Fridays Lenten Concert Series: Nathan Bayreuther: Apr. 2, 12:15 pm
    "Music at the Meetinghouse" presents the Five Friday Lenten Concert Series: half hour organ concerts during the last five Fridays in Lent. On these dates from 12:15-12:45 pm, the public is invited to bring and eat their lunch in the sanctuary while listening to meditative organ music. These concerts are the music department's Lenten gift to the community.

  • UCC Office Support Staff Network Annual Meeting: Apr. 8 - 11
    UCC office staff members, at all levels of the church, can, and do, make a difference.Gather with other support staff persons in Cleveland. Meet Edith Guffey, Associate General Minister, and the Rev. Geoffrey Black, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. The group will hear presentations from the UCC Insurance Board, Parish Life and Leadership Ministry Team, and the Pension Boards.

  • Memorial Music Series: Apr. 10, 4:00 pm
    Paul Bisaccia, Concert Pianist, in an all Gershwin program.