Hancock UCC

05/31/2026

We were privileged to have our Maine Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola with us this morning.

Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola - Conference Minister

05/24/2026

Pentecost Sunday. Acts 2:1-21. "... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..."

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05/24/2026

Pentecost Sunday! Happy birthday to the church.
Acts 2:1-21 NRSVUE
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
---
Today we celebrate Pentecost — the day the Holy Spirit rushed into the lives of ordinary people and changed their world.

As our scriptures promise, Pentecost is the in-breaking of the Holy Spirit: the continuing presence of Christ among us, not confined to one body or one place, but alive in us and among us.

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek pentekostos, meaning “fiftieth.” Long before Christians celebrated Pentecost, Jewish communities celebrated Shavuot — fifty days after Passover — a festival of harvest, thanksgiving, and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.

That means this story begins not in isolation, but in a crowded, diverse, holy gathering. People from every known region were present. Different cultures. Different languages. Different histories. And into that diversity, the Holy Spirit arrived.

The imagery of our scripture this morning is vivid. The Book of The Acts of the Apostles tells us there came a sound “like the rush of a violent wind” which shook the whole house. Then came tongues “as of fire.”

The wind evokes the breath of God moving over creation as recounted in our Book of Genesis Creation story. Tongues of fire recall the burning bush through which Moses once encountered God.

Amidst this backdrop, people begin speaking in languages they do not know, and yet somehow everyone hears in their own native tongue. A miracle! But not the miracle we may be hoping for.
The miracle of Pentecost is not that everyone suddenly becomes the same. The miracle is that people remain different — and still understand one another.

Too often we, and the church, have confused unity with uniformity. Too often our religious institutions, and our governments, have demanded sameness: same culture, same politics, same interpretations, same beliefs.

But the Holy Spirit does not erase difference. The Spirit speaks through difference. Pentecost does not undo diversity — it sanctifies it.

Because this scripture teaches us that from the very beginning, the church was multilingual, multicultural, and radically inclusive.

Peter quotes the prophet Joel:
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy… your young shall see visions, your old shall dream dreams… even upon slaves… I will pour out my Spirit.
In other words: no one is excluded from the realm of God. Not by gender. Not by age. Not by class. Not by social status. Not by country of origin.
And we are called to keep expanding that vision in our own time.
The Spirit is poured out on LGBTQ+ people and straight people (cis gendered). On those with citizenship status and those without. On those who doubt and those that believe. On the housed and unhoused. On those the world dismisses and those the world fears.

The Spirit refuses the boundaries we insist on creating.

Is that what unsettles us? Because the crowd’s response in these verses from The Book of Acts sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Some are amazed. Others sneer. Some remain open and curious. Others immediately mock what they do not understand.

The poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

Pentecost invites exactly that kind of astonishment.

Albert Schweitzer said, “Live as if life itself is a miracle.”

Some people looked at Pentecost and saw chaos, foolishness, even drunkenness. Others looked at the very same moment and saw God.

Perhaps the question for us is: How open are we to the possibility that the Spirit is still moving in unexpected ways in our lives, today?
Because the Spirit still disrupts. Still calls people across barriers. Still speaks in voices we may not expect. Still asks us to listen deeply to one another.

Our last verse that Tamara read this morning has too often been misunderstood: Peter, still quoting the Prophet Joel, says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Saved. For many people, that word carries painful baggage — fear, exclusion, threats from clergy or congregants about who is in and who is out.

But salvation is so much bigger than escape from punishment or judgment. To be saved is to be made whole. To be restored to right relationship with God, with ourselves, with one another, and with creation.

Salvation is liberation from all that diminishes life: fear, hatred, violence, despair, alienation. Salvation is healing. Salvation is belonging. Salvation is awakening to the sacredness of every human being.

The Spirit gathers people into beloved community. A community where we learn, slowly and imperfectly, to hear one another. Where we learn to speak across difference. To love beyond fear. To dream new dreams together.

Our sacred story did not end on the cross. It did not end with Christ’s resurrection. It did not end with Pentecost. And it is not ending now.

The Spirit is still breathing new life into weary souls. Still igniting courage. Still creating community. Still calling the church and her people to become more loving, more just, more compassionate.

So today, on this Pentecost Sunday, the questions are simple: Will we choose cynicism? Or wonder? Will we close ourselves off? Or remain open to the Spirit’s movement? Will we cling to division? Or risk the hard, holy work of understanding one another?

Because the miracle of Pentecost was never only about the mighty wind and the tongues of fire. It was about people discovering that God could speak through voices they had never before understood.

May that miracle continue in us and through us. May we grow not only older, but wiser. Also, more courageous. And more compassionate.

May we all, this day and every day, be more open to the astonishing movement of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – May 24, 2026

Artwork from Journey with Jesus webzine

05/15/2026

Here’s a preview of our Spring Clothing and Linen Sale happening today from 4-7p and Sat from 8-11a. On Sat, fill a bag for only $5 plus 50% off linens and boutique items.

05/11/2026

Don't forget to drop off your donations this week! Clothing sale is this Friday and Saturday!

05/10/2026

Our May 10, 2026 Worship Service - Mothers' Day

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05/10/2026

Mother’s Day

John 14:15-21 The Inclusive Language Bible

“If you love me and obey the command I give you,
I will ask the One who sent me, to give you another Paraclete, another Helper
to be with you always—
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept
since the world neither sees her nor recognizes her;
but you can recognize the Spirit
because she remains with you
and will be within you.
I won’t leave you orphaned;
I will come back to you.
A little while now and the world will see me no more:
but you will see me;
because I live,
and you will live as well.
On that day you will know
that I am in God
and you are in me,
and I am in you.
Those who obey the commandments are the ones who love me
and those who love me
will be loved by Abba God.
I too, will love them
And will reveal myself to them.”
---
At its heart, this scripture is about a God who refuses to abandon us. It is about a Spirit that continues the work of connection even when circumstances change. And it is about a simple command—to love one another.

When we examine closely these verses from John’s Gospel, we notice the rhythm of a love that sustains. Again and again throughout his life, Jesus exemplifies this kind of embodied love. Love that shows up. Love that remains present.

What might that look like in our lives? Maybe it is the community that held you when you felt like you were falling apart. Maybe it is a mother—or someone who mothered you—who showed you that love is an unwaveringly constant presence.

In this passage, Jesus speaks in a moment filled with anxiety and uncertainty. These verses come from what scholars call Jesus’ Farewell Discourse.

Just before this, the disciples are anxious, confused, even fearful. Betrayal is already unfolding. Change is coming. And into that uncertainty Jesus says: “I won’t leave you orphaned” He does not promise that nothing will change. He promises that love will remain. We will not be abandoned by God. We will not be abandoned by Love itself.

Last week we heard Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” This week I hear in those words the foreshadowing of the unfolding Trinity: Jesus as the Way, the Spirit as Truth, and God as the source of Life itself.

And at the center of it all is relationship. “I am in God, and you are in me, and I am in you.” This is not a distant God ruling from far away. This is a God of divine intimacy. A God of mutual indwelling.

And when God is this deeply connected to us, we cannot be separate from one another. We are all meant to be as One.

Listen to the flow of the verbs in this passage: Love. Obey. Ask. Give. Remain. See. Know. Reveal. We belong to a loving God that desires to be in relationship with all that she has created. A relationship abounding in love. A relationship that promises presence. A relationship that deepens with trust. Through it all moves the Advocate—the Spirit of Truth.

The Greek word is Paraclete: one who comes alongside. Sometimes translated as Comforter or Helper, but also expressed as Challenger, Guide, and Encourager.

Like the many attributes of mothering, this passage does not allow us to stop at comforter or helper because love asks something more of us.

In John’s Gospel, the command is simple: love one another. Even though the command is simple, living out that command is often difficult. Living into Jesus’ command to love one another is sometimes costly.

Because this kind of love, lived out, disrupts systems of exclusion. This kind of love, embodied, challenges injustice. This kind of love, practiced, creates belonging among all of God’s precious children.
This kind of love means resisting a world that teaches us to fear each other, judge each other, and discard each other. It means standing with people who are excluded, forgotten, or treated as less than beloved. It means practicing compassion not only as a feeling, but as a way of life.

And on this Mother’s Day, many of us recognize something familiar in that kind of love. Through mothers, grandmothers, aunts, caregivers, chosen family—many of us have experienced love that transcends. Love that guides us, protects us, challenges us, forgives us, and reminds us who we are.

We also recognize that all experiences of motherhood or being mothered are not simple or easy. For some, today carries grief, absence, or longing. We must also acknowledge those truths.

Even, and especially, in the complexity of our stories—the joy and the grief, the gratitude and the longing—we are gathered together by a love that does not let go. A love that continues to move among us, shaping us into people who can carry compassion, courage, and hope into the world.

As we prepare to leave this place and return to the rhythms of our lives, may we go with hearts open to that presence which is always at work within us and around us.

May we notice where love is already alive.

May we trust that we are held by something larger than ourselves.

And may we become, for one another, living proof that God is alive around and within us.

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – May 10, 2026

05/03/2026

May 3, 2026 Worship Service - Fifth Sunday of Easter.
We are always blessed with beautiful music... today we were doubly blessed!

Hancock UCC Worship Service May 3, 2026 - Fifth Sunday of Easter

05/03/2026

John 14:1-14 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

--

Acts 7:55-60 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.

--

What did we just hear from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles?

A young man stands on the edge of the city. His name is Saul. He is educated, devout, and convinced that he is acting rightly in the eyes of God. Around him, a crowd surges with loud voices, hardened hearts, and raised stones. In the center stands Stephen: calm, radiant, unarmed. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” And then the stones fly.

How many of us flashed back to Good Friday? How many of us flashed on present events in these United States of America? An angry mob. Another unjust death. The similarities are all too common.

I do not say this to raise fear or division—I say it to point us toward hope. Because this story is not finished.

Now hold that scene from the Book of Acts alongside another from the Gospel of John.

Friends are gathered at a table. Jesus is speaking what we now call his Farewell Discourse. The disciples are anxious, confused, unsettled. And into that moment, Jesus says: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
In both of these scenes—the frightened disciples at the table, and the violent crowd around Stephen—the same question echoes: Where is God in all of this?

It is the same question communities were asking decades later when John’s Gospel was written: Where is Jesus? Why has he not returned? What do we hold onto now?

Into that uncertainty, Jesus speaks a promise: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places… I go to prepare a place for you.”
Thomas, ever honest, voices what many are thinking: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
And Jesus answers: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

These words were first spoken—and later written down—by communities under pressure. They were trying to hold onto something solid in a world that kept shifting. They were making a confession of trust in a moment of crisis: This is the path we will follow. This is the truth we will cling to. It is not merely belief. It is a way of life. A life that looks like Jesus.

Which brings us back to Stephen. Because in John 14, Jesus makes a remarkable promise: “…the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…” Greater works than Jesus? How could that possibly be?

Look at Stephen. As the stones strike his body, he prays: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And then: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Those are not just echoes of Jesus. That is Jesus’ spirit continuing on in Stephen.

This is what “greater works” looks like—not bigger miracles, but wider embodiment. The life of Christ multiplied in human lives—enabling courage where there could be fear, forgiveness where there could be rage, and love where there could be hatred.

Stephen follows the Way—not as an idea, but as a lived reality.

But we must not romanticize this.

This is costly. Truth-tellers are still silenced. The innocent still suffer. Systems still crush the vulnerable. From Stephen’s day to ours, those who challenge injustice often pay a heavy price.

And who is in that crowd surrounding Stephen? Ordinary people. Religious people. People certain that God is on their side.

That is where we first met Saul. Watching. Approving. Perhaps even encouraging.

But Saul’s story does not end there. Because God refuses to give up on people like Saul. Saul—who stands at the edge of this violence—will one day be struck down on the road to Damascus. He will be transformed. The persecutor will become a preacher. Saul will become Paul, proclaimer of the very faith he once tried to destroy.
Do not lose hope in people. The lost can be found. The hardened can be changed. The ones who participate in harm may yet become agents of healing. Those wreaking havoc on our systems of justice and health care may yet have their hearts turned.

God is not finished with any of us.

And that brings us, finally, to Jesus’ promise: “I go to prepare a place for you.”

We often hear that as something only about the future—heaven, after death, someday.

But what if that dwelling place is not only where we are going—but what God is creating within us and among us?

What if heaven is not only ahead of us—but breaking into the present?

Because the promise is not just that we will go to God—but that God will come to us—and dwell with us. Dwell within us.

The Spirit of truth, the Advocate, comes not to relocate us—but to inhabit us. To make us into dwelling places.

To make us people who walk the Way.

People who embody the life of Christ in the world—even when it is costly.

Even when it echoes the fate of Stephen.

Even when it begins, unexpectedly, with someone like Saul.

May it be so.

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – May 3, 2026

04/26/2026

Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 26, 2026. Unfortunately we had issues with sound throughout the service.

Hancock UCC Worship April 26, 2026 - Fourth Sunday of Easter