First Congregational Church of South Paris

06/07/2026

This Week at First Congo (June 7-14)

-There will be a Celebration of Life Service for Pam Merz on Friday, June 12th at 1 pm here at First Congo.
-Members of the Prayer Team will pray in person with any church members at the Haskell House on the first Sunday of each month!!!!!
-The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, June 11, at 3:30 pm in the Haskell House Chapel.
-The Ladies’ Circle will meet on Thursday, June 11th at noon in the vestry.
-Christian Women United will meet on Tuesday, June 16th at 11:30 for lunch. Caroline Coffin will be the entertainment. For a reservation, please call Peggy Turner at 890-2030.
-Annual Summer Yard Sale
We will be having a huge Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15th, from 9 am to 3 pm, at First Congo. We are looking for donations from our Church family and friends. If you have items that you are willing to donate, please call the church office and let us know. Sometime during the week before the sale, we will arrange pick-up of any items for which someone needs help. Although we appreciate the thought, we are not looking for large appliances, clothes, exercise equipment, or old tires. The items donated for the sale should be in good, resalable condition. The rain date with be Saturday, August 22th. We are also looking for volunteers to help with any pick-ups and to help with the sale. Please let the church office (743-2437) to let us know if you can help out.
-Please check out the Go Fund Me link on the church Facebook site. This Go Fund Me drive will fund the Youth Group going for a week to Downeast Maine to do community service work for a week. We will be doing projects to help impoverished, elderly, and/or disabled Mainers. Please help us raise the money to do this during the first week of August. Thank you to all who can help.
-We now have listening devices available for the Sunday Morning Worship Service for those who have trouble hearing the service without assistance. We also have large print copies of the hymns on the table at each entrance as well as reading glasses for any who could use them.
-There are books on the tables in the vestry that are available for the taking. We ask that you make a small donation ($1 or $2), however, as the money will go towards the organ restoration fund. Please feel free to donate books for this as well.
-If you have any updates on the people who are on our prayer list, please let Sonja know or contact Pam Manninen ([email protected])
-Readers, greeters, coffee hour hosts, and sign-up for flowers are needed. There are sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the vestry for coffee, readers and flowers. You will also find sign-up sheets for Readers and Greeters in the vestry as well.
-Please note that the link to our page to give your gifts, tithes, and offerings if you wish to do so electronically (especially if you are watching from home) is now found in our stream on Facebook. You can just click on the link and then give using a debit or credit card or PayPal.
-Donations for the Oxford Hills or Stephens Food Pantry can be left down in the vestry on the wooden shelves in the corner. Food donations will be taken to the food pantry once we have enough to do a food run.

06/06/2026

06/05/2026

Sunday Morning Worship Bulletin and Prayer List, June 7, 2026:

First Congregational Church
Member of the NACCC
June 7, 2026
Michael Carter & Co-Ministers: Members
Cynthia Baker – Pastor of Congregational Care
Organist: Faye Hill
Choir Director: Jo-Ellen Carter
Office telephone: 743-2437
web address: firstcongosparis.com
e-mail address: [email protected]
Our service is streamed live on Facebook and our website

Prelude
Call to Worship: Dear Lord, in the midst of the busyness of life, we pause to enter into Your presence. Quiet our hearts and minds as we seek You in this hour. Speak to us, Lord, and help us feel Your peace and presence amongst us.
Prayer of Confession: “Father, forgive us for trying to control everything on our own. We confess that we so often lean on our own understanding rather than trusting in You. Forgive our worry, our pride, and our attempts at self-reliance. Help us to surrender our burdens and trust that You are our ultimate strength and guide.”
Introit & Lighting of the Candles:
“In the Quiet of the Morning” Choir
*Hymn: “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” No. 466
Children’s Time
*Hymn: “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound” No. 107
Scripture: John 2:1-11; Romans 3:23-24 (see below)
Unison Reading: When Overwhelmed (see below)
Anthem: “Homage" Choir
Prayers, Joys and Concerns
Prayer Hymn: “Sweet Hour of Prayer” No. 439
Pastoral Prayer
"Coming Up Short"
Offertory: “I Choose Grace” Choir
*Doxology No. 384
Unison Prayer of Dedication:
Heavenly Father, as we gather these tithes and offerings, we acknowledge that all things belong to you. Everything we have comes from your hand, and we are merely stewards of your blessings. We dedicate these gifts to the work of your kingdom.
May they bring hope, healing, and light to a world in need. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Unison Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Lord, help us to always know and remember that you love each of us and want us to rely on you for strength, courage, perseverance and hope when we are in the difficult times in our lives. Help us remember always that we are your children and are loved by you. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:…“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Congregational Benediction
Let There Be Peace on Earth

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, children all are we.
Let me walk with God’s children in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now.
With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow;
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally!
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me

Greetings and welcome. Our greeters are Pearl and David Strout. Our reader is Kalli Pulkkinen II. Flowers are given by Janet Smith. The flowers on the communion table are given in loving memory of Nancy Harvey, by her daughter Sarah McAllister and family. Coffee hour is being hosted by Sonja Haverinen and Janis Hutchins. This week in our circle of prayer we pray for the Oxford Hills Church of Christ in South Paris and Hebron Community Baptist Church.

Our Care and sympathy go out to the family of Pam Merz who passed away on Tuesday morning. Her service will be held on Friday, June 12th at 1 pm here in the church.
.
The Ladies Circle will meet on Thursday, June 11th at noon in the vestry.

The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, June 11th at 4:30 pm in the Haskell House chapel.

Christian Women United will meet on Tuesday, June 16th at 11:30 for lunch. Caroline Coffin will entertain us this month. For a reservation please call Peggy Turner at 890-2030.

We will be having a huge Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15th, from 9 am to 3 pm, at First Congo. We are looking for donations from our Church family and friends. If you have items that you are willing to donate, please call the church office and let us know. Sometime during the week before the sale, we will arrange pick-up of any items for which someone needs help. We are also looking for volunteers to help with any pick-ups and to help with the sale. Please let the church office (743-2437) to let us know if you can help out.

Bible Text
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine,” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you,” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews, for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled then to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. [John 2:1-11]

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24]

Unison Reading: When Overwhelmed
When we are overwhelmed, God lifts us up by stepping in where human strength ends. He provides grace, guidance, and peace during our hardest battles. He draws us out of difficult times and establishes our feet on solid ground.

Prayer List Insert:
Please pray for . . . . .
The families of Stephen Files, Linda Pendexter, Richard Barker, Patricia Pulkinen, Pam Merz, Carol LaBossiere, Josh Scott and Aino Drouin

Illnesses, Surgeries, etc.:
Eldon Bartlett
Ken and Gail Butterfield
Ray Glover
Larry Weeks
Evan Heiss and his family (Sonja’s grandson)
Nancy Marcotte
Lin Campbell
Antoine (Jeanie Stone’s brother-in-law)
Chris Weston
Evelyn Watson
Jane VanderLeeuw
Billy Thibodeau
Nancy Farmer
Dwight Webber
Tina Tamarazo
Abel (Rayleen’s grandson)
Dave Andrews
Phyllis Austin
Kendrick Dorsch
Julia Bennett
Katherine Lapham
Tom Curtis
John Chrompton
Joey Vasquez
James Carter
Jerry Whittaker
Jody (Suzanne Norman’s cousin)
Art Kenney

Those battling cancer:
Heather (Peggy Turner’s granddaughter)
Karen (Peggy Turner’s daughter)
Buddy & Fayleen
Kari Simon
Bob Ivey
Leisa Young
Jennifer Durgin
Terry Irons
Lissa Cenis
Andrea Jean Stowell
Roger Worrey
Doreen Edwards
Eric Moore
Richard Humphrey
Peter Stowell
Rhonda Whittemore
Kathleen Moulton Weeks
Dawn Doughty Farrar
Doris Hertell
Phil House
Errol (Gail Butterfield’s brother)

If anyone has prayer requests please contact Pam Manninen ([email protected]) or the church office

If anyone has information about Phyllis Austin or Zaltan Matolsky, please contact church office/[email protected].

05/31/2026

This Week at First Congo (May 31-June 7):

-Members of the Prayer Team will pray in person with any church members at the Haskell House on Sunday, June 7 at 9:30 am.
-The Women’s Bible Study on the Book of James will meet on Wednesday, June 3, at 10:00 am in the Haskell House chapel. The Men’s Bible Study Group meets at 2:00 in the Haskell House chapel on Wednesday as well.
-The Board of Spiritual Life will meet on Thursday, June 4, at 3:30 pm in the Haskell House Chapel.
-The Men’s Group will be meeting for breakfast on Saturday, June 6th, 7:00 for coffee and conversation and 7:30 for breakfast. Please join us.
-The Ladies’ Circle will meet on Thursday, June 11th at noon in the vestry.
-The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, June 11th, at 4:30 pm in the Haskell House chapel.
-Annual Summer Yard Sale
We will be having a huge Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15th, from 9 am to 3 pm, at First Congo. We are looking for donations from our Church family and friends. If you have items that you are willing to donate, please call the church office and let us know. Sometime during the week before the sale, we will arrange pick-up of any items for which someone needs help. Although we appreciate the thought, we are not looking for large appliances, clothes, exercise equipment, or old tires. The items donated for the sale should be in good, resalable condition. The rain date with be Saturday, August 22th. We are also looking for volunteers to help with any pick-ups and to help with the sale. Please let the church office (743-2437) to let us know if you can help out.
-Please check out the Go Fund Me link on the church Facebook site. This Go Fund Me drive will fund the Youth Group going for a week to Downeast Maine to do community service work for a week. We will be doing projects to help impoverished, elderly, and/or disabled Mainers. Please help us raise the money to do this during the first week of August. Thank you to all who can help.
-We now have listening devices available for the Sunday Morning Worship Service for those who have trouble hearing the service without assistance. We also have large print copies of the hymns on the table at each entrance as well as reading glasses for any who could use them.
-There are books on the tables in the vestry that are available for the taking. We ask that you make a small donation ($1 or $2), however, as the money will go towards the organ restoration fund. Please feel free to donate books for this as well.
-If you have any updates on the people who are on our prayer list, please let Sonja know or contact Pam Manninen ([email protected])
-Readers, greeters, coffee hour hosts, and sign-up for flowers are needed. There are sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the vestry for coffee, readers and flowers. You will also find sign-up sheets for Readers and Greeters in the vestry as well.
-Please note that the link to our page to give your gifts, tithes, and offerings if you wish to do so electronically (especially if you are watching from home) is now found in our stream on Facebook. You can just click on the link and then give using a debit or credit card or PayPal.
-Donations for the Oxford Hills or Stephens Food Pantry can be left down in the vestry on the wooden shelves in the corner. Food donations will be taken to the food pantry once we have enough to do a food run.

05/31/2026

Sunday Morning Worship Service, May 31, 2026

05/29/2026

Sunday Morning Worship Bulletin, May 31, 2026:

First Congregational Church
Member of the NACCC
May 24, 2026
Michael Carter & Co-Ministers: Members
Cynthia Baker – Pastor of Congregational Care
Organist: Faye Hill
Choir Director: Jo-Ellen Carter
Office telephone: 743-2437
web address: firstcongosparis.com
e-mail address: [email protected]
Our service is streamed live on Facebook and our website

Prelude
Call to Worship: Dear Lord, in the midst of the busyness of life, we pause to enter into Your presence. Quiet our hearts and minds as we seek You in this hour. Speak to us, Lord, and help us feel Your peace and your presence amongst us.
Prayer of Confession:
God of compassion and mercy, you sent us your Son as the savior of the world, and told us to love one another as much as you loved us. Yet, we struggle to love each other. Forgive us, God, and show us how to love thy way you command us to love. Release us from our judgment and our fear. Open our hearts so that they might receive your perfect love for us, and offer it to the world. Amen.
Introit & Lighting of the Candles:
“People Need the Lord” Choir
*Hymn: “Reach Out and Touch” No. 655
Children’s Time
*Hymn: “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love” No. 677
Scripture: Jonah Chapter 2 (see below)
Unison Reading: I John 4:7-12 (see below)
Anthem: “Here I Am, Lord” Choir
Prayers, Joys and Concerns
Prayer Hymn: “Sweet Hour of Prayer” No. 439
Pastoral Prayer
"Attitude Adjustment"
Sacrament of Communion
Offertory: “Yes, My Jesus Loves Me” Choir
*Doxology No. 384
Unison Prayer of Dedication:
Heavenly Father, as we gather these tithes and offerings, we acknowledge that all things belong to you. Everything we have comes from your hand, and we are merely stewards of your blessings. We dedicate these gifts to the work of your kingdom. May they bring hope, healing, and light to a world in need. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Unison Prayer and the singing of the Lord’s Prayer:
Lord, help us to always know and remember that you love each of us and seek us out to do your work. Help us remember always that all are your children and love are loved by you. Help us to do the same. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray, as we sing…“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Congregational Benediction
Let There Be Peace on Earth

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, children all are we.
Let me walk with God’s children in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now.

Greetings and welcome. Our greeters are Gerry and Mike Walsh. Our reader is Jerry Major. Coffee hour is being hosted by Louise Foster. This week in our circle of prayer we pray for Grace Baptist Church on Paris Hill and Moss Brook Church in South Paris.

The Board of Spiritual Life will meet on Thursday, June 4th at 3:30 pm in the chapel of the Haskell House.

Members of the Prayer Team will pray in person with any church mem-bers at the Haskell House on Sunday, June 7 at 9:30 am.

The Ladies Circle will meet on Thursday, June 11th at noon in the vestry.

The Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, June 11th at 4:30 pm in the Haskell House chapel.

We will be having a huge Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15th, from 9 am to 3 pm, at First Congo. We are looking for donations from our Church family and friends. If you have items that you are willing to donate, please call the church office and let us know. Sometime during the week before the sale, we will arrange pick-up of any items for which someone needs help. We are also looking for volunteers to help with any pick-ups and to help with the sale. Please let the church office (743-2437) to let us know if you can help out.

Bible Text
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’” And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. [Jonah Chapter 2]

Unison Reading: I John 4:7-12

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

05/24/2026

Acts 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

05/24/2026

This Week at First Congo (May 24-May 31)

-The Women’s Bible Study on the Book of James will meet on Wednesday, May 27th, at 10:00 am in the Haskell House chapel. The Men’s Bible Study Group meets at 2:00 in the Haskell House chapel on Wednesday as well.
-The Youth Group will meet on Wednesday (May 27) at 6:00 in the Haskell House Chapel.
-Cleaning Day of Fellowship
We will be having our first “Cleaning Day of Fellowship” on Saturday, May 30th from 9 am to 1 pm. We hope that lots of you can help us on this day to do a “deep cleaning” of the buildings and grounds that aren’t part of the sexton’s responsibilities. We will having cleaning going on in the church, possibly the Haskell House, and outside. Please plan to join us for a “all hands on deck” chance fellowship with others while making our buildings and ground cleaner and more beautiful. There will be lots of different tasks to be done.There is a sign-up sheet ion the vestry. Even just a couple of hours will help.
-The Board of Spiritual Life will meet on Thursday, June 4, at 3:30 pm in the Haskell House Chapel.
-The Men’s Group will be meeting for breakfast on Saturday, June 6th, 7:00 for coffee and conversation and 7:30 for breakfast. Please join us.
-Annual Summer Yard Sale
We will be having a huge Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15th, from 9 am to 3 pm, at First Congo. We are looking for donations from our Church family and friends. If you have items that you are willing to donate, please call the church office and let us know. Sometime during the week before the sale, we will arrange pick-up of any items for which someone needs help. Although we appreciate the thought, we are not looking for large appliances, clothes, exercise equipment, or old tires. The items donated for the sale should be in good, resalable condition. The rain date with be Saturday, August 22th. We are also looking for volunteers to help with any pick-ups and to help with the sale. Please let the church office (743-2437) to let us know if you can help out.
-Please check out the Go Fund Me link on the church Facebook site. This Go Fund Me drive will fund the Youth Group going for a week to Downeast Maine to do community service work for a week. We will be doing projects to help impoverished, elderly, and/or disabled Mainers. Please help us raise the money to do this during the first week of August. Thank you to all who can help.
-We now have listening devices available for the Sunday Morning Worship Service for those who have trouble hearing the service without assistance. We also have large print copies of the hymns on the table at each entrance as well as reading glasses for any who could use them.
-There are books on a table in the vestry that are available for the taking. We ask that you make a small donation ($1 or $2), however, as the money will go towards the organ restoration fund. Please feel free to donate books for this as well.
-If you have any updates on the people who are on our prayer list, please let Sonja know or contact Pam Manninen ([email protected])
-Readers, greeters, coffee hour hosts, and sign-up for flowers are needed. There are sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the vestry for coffee, readers and flowers. You will also find sign-up sheets for Readers and Greeters in the vestry as well.
-Please note that the link to our page to give your gifts, tithes, and offerings if you wish to do so electronically (especially if you are watching from home) is now found in our stream on Facebook. You can just click on the link and then give using a debit or credit card or PayPal.
-Donations for the Oxford Hills or Stephens Food Pantry can be left down in the vestry on the wooden shelves in the corner. Food donations will be taken to the food pantry once we have enough to do a food run.

05/24/2026

Sunday Morning Worship Service, May 24, 2026