2024 Lenten Food Drive

3 Helping Opportunities from Missions & Outreach

Join One of Our Impactful Caring Ministries

Join Us on May 5th to Help Combat Worldwide Hunger 

Good Friday Service and Concert March 29, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Maundy Thursday Service March 28, 2024 at 8:00 pm

Fill the Sanctuary with flowers for the Easter Sunday services.

Introducing a New Lenten Sermon Series In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy and declares, “Human beings shall not live by bread alone,” and yet, throughout his ministry, Jesus gathered with others to share a meal. He ate with religious leaders and quite a few shady characters too. Jesus fed a hungry crowd and told stories about inclusive banquets. After his resurrection, the Risen Christ was revealed in the breaking of bread, and he cooked breakfast for his closest friends on the beach. Jesus’ table manners often challenged the societal barriers of his day. It is not surprising that Jesus acquired quite a reputation! His detractors and critics accused him of being a “glutton and a drunkard.” The truth however is that Jesus understood the importance of food and table sharing to create community. Jesus knew that sitting down with others to eat and drink is one of most sacred ways to experience the transformative power of friendship, mutuality, solidarity, communal joy, love and even redemption. The Lenten Sermon Series this year is an invitation to all of us to reflect on the table sharing ministry of Jesus. As we engage with familiar table stories in the Gospels, we will meet Jesus again in those very human, very simple, very beautiful and very commonplace moments of mealtimes. Each Sunday will take us back to one of those sacred moments of table fellowship when Jesus brought all different kinds of people together to enjoy God’s blessings of food and each other’s company. At the same time, those ancient stories will encourage us to imitate Jesus and, in the same way that Jesus did it, share our time, attention and food with each other. There is a deep emotional and spiritual hunger for friendship and social connection in our world. We are living through an epidemic of loneliness in our country. People are hungry for a fuller life and thirsty for life-giving relationships. By remembering Jesus’ table sharing ministry, we will rediscover the importance of meals, fellowship and faith to connect us to one another and to God.

A Look Forward at the Music of the Lenten Season Once again, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the many musical riches which bless our church. Lent, Holy Week, Palm Sunday, and Easter will be full of beautiful music, which, it is hoped, will comfort and inspire this congregation. On Ash Wednesday, February 14, at 7:00 pm, we will have a quiet service in the sanctuary; Ellie will be our cantor. Each Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm in our area UCC churches, there will be a Lenten supper with sung Taizé music; ACC’s dates to host this event are February 21 and March 13; you can find out more in the Worship section, above.

Join Us for a Lenten Journey The night before he died, Jesus invited his friends to supper. He planned every detail of their night together. In the upper room, Jesus washed his friends’ feet and gave his followers a new commandment, that we should love one another. On that same night, Jesus blessed, broke and gave bread to his disciples. They all drank from the cup on Jesus’ table. For almost two millennia, the table has shaped our identity as Jesus-followers. We meet at the table regularly to remember Jesus, to experience his presence anew in our lives and to reaffirm our commitment to embody his table hospitality while we learn to love one another as he loved his first disciples. During this Lenten season, we will join our neighbors, friends and siblings in the faith from South Acton Congregational Church and the United Church of Christ in Boxborough at the table. We will come together to share a meal of love on Wednesday evenings. There will be time for prayer, singing, and meditation on Jesus’ table sharing ministry. In this practice of eating and drinking together that combines food and fellowship, we hope to deepen our connection with each other so the wider community around our churches may know that we are Christians by our love. Rev. Ross Allen, Rev. Cindy Maybeck and Rev. Paulo França invite you to attend as many gatherings as possible. Please sign up HERE to attend and/or to help us prepare the meals for the weekly gatherings. Helpers will be assisting with preparation of serving of soup and some cleanup. For further information, please contact Diane Scaletta at dmscaletta@gmail.com . 

ACC Co-Sponsors Important Blood Donation Drive - Feb 10 ACC, along with Acton Cub Scouts Pack 70, is sponsoring a mobile blood donation drive through the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. It will be held Saturday, February 10th. Blood donation hours will start at 8:00 am and finish at 2:30 pm. Why is this blood donation drive important? Right now, every blood drive is critical to sustaining blood supplies in healthcare centers across the nation. According to the American Red Cross, the US is currently experiencing the lowest number of blood donors in 20 years causing a blood shortage emergency. Couple that fact with the statistic that every 2 seconds someone in the US requires blood and the need is clear. Your donation will help patients who have experienced accidents and severe burns as well as those requiring blood for surgery and cancer treatment. Wondering if you are eligible to give blood? You can use the following KFBDC resources to find out. You can call 617-632-3206 or send an email to BloodDonor@partners.org . You can also refer to the American Red Cross' Eligibility Webpage . Not able to give blood but still want to help? Help out by assisting with checking donors in and welcoming them! You can sign up for one or multiple time slots on this Excel spreadsheet . Be part of this blood donation drive and help save lives!

Rev. Davies will join us on Sunday, January 14th, and speak on the topic of justice. She will also share information about her participation in the Peace March in Washington, DC.