OPPORTUNITES FOR SUMMER FUN
The Kim Doyle Fund was designed to help families and their children go to church camp by offering schol-arship funds to interested church members. Please speak with the Christian Education Director for more information on this wonderful opportunity

Lord, thank You for every teacher as they begin this new school year.
 Thank You for their ministry to Your children.
 Sustain them in health: strong in body, mind and spirit to move in faith, patience, and with expectation.
 Protect them and keep them.
 Encourage them to behold the beauty of Your holiness.
 Bless their ears to hear the lovely, the uplifting, and the encouraging, and to shut out the demeaning and the negative. Cause their feet to walk in holiness and their steps ordered by You.
Bless their hands to be tender-helping hands to those in need, hands that bless.
May their hearts be humble and receptive to those around them.
May their minds be strong, disciplined, balanced and faith-filled.
Your grace be upon their homes and classrooms that they may be havens of rest and renewal,
sanctuaries of peace where the sounds of
joy and laughter grace each room, where love and unconditional acceptance is never ending.
God, grant success and prosperity
in their places of ministry and life.
May goodness and mercy follow each
precious teacher all the days of their long,
healthy lives.
 Lord bless them and keep them.
Make Your face shine upon them, and be gracious to them. Lord lift up Your countenance upon them and give them peace.
In the name of Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

MISSION AND OUTREACH BUILDING CHRIST’S COMMMUNITY A COMMUNITY IN ACTION: OUR ACTIVE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING Please bring in new canned goods and dry food items on the first Sunday of each and every month to continue with the mission project for our two local food pantries in Belmont and Watertown! Your contributions have been well received. Both pantries have specific needs. EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY! PAYSON PARK CELEBRATES EVERY SPRING With the arrival of Earth Day IN SPRING, Payson Park creates a special worship experience annually. Marking the many ways we‟re invited to appreciate and tend to God‟s great creation, the service will help us think together about how we can be more loving and caring towards the Earth, and share it with all God's creatures. From our songs and prayers, the sermon and special offerings at our time of fellow-ship, this day often promises to be one full of inspiration and new awareness. A WORD OF INSPIRATION “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, „Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,‟ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by it-self, if it has no works, is dead.” James 2: 14-17 A NOTE OF THANKS: FROM THE MISSION COMITTEE Springtime was truly welcomed with joy by the merry crowd of volunteers who efficiently and swiftly made 370 sandwiches for the Bristol Lodge Food Kitchen. Heartfelt appreciation and thanks to all who supported this project with the labor of their hands and provision of supplies. It was a good time of fellowship and practical help for the hungry. May you be blessed in your giving. EVERY SPRING The Annual Blanket Drive for Church World Service. Please consider honoring your mother or friend with a gift to support CWS. DENOMINATIONAL EVENTS Are you interested in attending educational or other events offered by our denomination? The offices of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ, located in Framingham, provide a host of classes and workshops that are available to all. Events are regularly posted on our bulletin boards, or you may log on to the denomination’s website: macucc.org. The United Church of Christ: a believer that God is still speaking!

TUESDAYS, 2:00 - 4:00 P.M.
The group would like to invite you to join them whether you knit or not. They meet on Tuesdays. Inspired by the knitting of prayer shawls, this is a time of “sharing and caring” in the spirit of faith, hope, and love. Please consider coming once or every week to get together with new and old-time friends of the church.

WALKING IN THE WAYS OF JESUS:
A WORD OF GRATITUDE FOR YOUR SERVICE
Heartfelt appreciation and thanks to all members and friend of Payson Park Church who, with loving generosity, responded to all the Mission and Outreach appeals throughout each year.
It was so good to have the support of pledges and contributions to the United Church of Christ’s One Great Hour of Sharing, Neighbors in Need, and Christmas Fund; the Easter Offering for Chile Earthquake survivors; the Thanksgiving Offering for Pilgrim Church; the God’s Garden ongoing collection of items for the Belmont and Watertown Food Pantries; Church World Service Blanket Drive; and City Mission Society’s Book Drive and Christmas Gifts Collection.
Through your giving, you recognize God’s mystic bond that makes all people one and offer hope and help to those in need. May you be blessed in your caring and sharing.
- Your Mission and Outreach Committee

CHRISTMAS FUND
For over 100 years, the Christmas Fund Offering has enabled the UCC to help care for those who serve the church as clergy or lay people. Your generous giving helps the Pension Board’s Ministerial Assistance Program to provide over $1.5 million in assistance to individuals and families. Payson Park Church will collect the annual Christmas offering in December. Look for the offering envelopes in the pews that day. Thank you.

A COMMUNITY IN ACTION WITH
AN ACTIVE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:
AN OFFERING TO OUR LOCAL FOOD PANTRY
Please bring in new canned goods and dry food items on the first Sunday of each and every month, to continue with the mission project for our two local food pantries in Belmont and Watertown! The “Active Prayer of Thanksgiving” will take place during the children’s moment in worship and will be an offering of food (and/or money for food) to help feed God’s hungry children. There will be a procession to the altar steps where the donations will be delivered. After church the teen youth will gather the offering for this month’s recipient.

BRISTOL LODGE FOOD KITCHEN
HELPING THE HUNGRY NEAR HOME
In the spirit of giving, why not consider a new personal mission? Help is needed in preparing monthly hot meals for men and women in the Waltham area. It’s easy to buy the ingredients and prepare the basic meal for 12 people and it’s also rewarding to serve the food to the appreciative guests at the Waltham church.

MASS COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS:
NEEDS YOUR HELP
The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless needs used furniture and household items in clean, good condition for people moving to apartments. To donate these, please call 781-795-7570 to arrange a pickup at your home.

THE FOOD PANTRY & THE CHURCH SCHOOL
All Church School youth of God’s Garden, Growing in Faith are beginning a new mission activity. On the first Sunday of each month, they will have a food drive to collect for our local food pantry. The congregation is invited to be part of this mission. Please bring in new canned goods and dry food items. The youth will coordinate the donations and drop them off to the pantry. Thank you for being part of our local mission work.

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: A RAINBOW OF CARING The Church World Service blanket drive is heldtypically in connection with Mother’s Day in May. These familiar gray wool blankets arrive in areas where victims have lost homes, families, and hope. The Tools of Hope Program creates a rainbow of help and hope each time the right tool is placed in the hands of people in need. If it empowers people and brings better tomorrow, it’s a tool of hope! A simple truth: ordinary things that we often take for granted like…blankets, clean water, education, tents, garden tools, seeds – can make a world of difference for people devastated by tragedy, as well as those working to build a better life for themselves and their community. Many congregants are often part of this beautiful rainbow of caring. Payson Park Church responds each year to this mission initiative. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me.” Matthew 25

Join us as we reach out to those in need right here in our area by preparing and serving a meal in Waltham. Upcoming dates for this service work are available on Mission Bulletin Board near church office

Did you give some thought to volunteering for this vital outreach program?  Your help is still needed, whether it is for one month or all 10 months.  If you cannot prepare, deliver or serve the hot meal (cost from $18-$28), you can be of help by giving money toward the monthly purchase of the salad ingredients and beverages.  The monthly cost is about $25, but any amount is appreciated.  By donating to this "Green for Greens Fund," you will be serving hungry neighbors.  Please sign up on the Mission bulletin board (outside the church office), take a recipe and see Cynthia Lasker with donations.  Thank you!

The Bristol Lodge Food Kitchen serves a hot meal every day to about 75-85 men and women at a church in Waltham. A few of these people are homeless but most of them are just seeking ways to survive on their meager incomes. All of the guests are very grateful for the nourishing food and the hour of fellowship. We cook a meal once a month, usually consisting of a one-dish casserole, a tossed salad or vegetable and dinner rolls. We also provide beverages (no desserts). Menus are posted on the Mission and Outreach bulletin board outside the church office. Each person buys the ingredients to serve 12 people, prepares the meal at home, and either delivers it to the Waltham church or has another person deliver it. You can prepare the entire menu for 12 or just part of the menu. Expenses for the entire dinner range from $25-35. You are welcome to stay to serve the meal. You may also donate cash toward the beverage expenses.
Please see the bulletin board for recipes and in order to sign up to cook—for one month or for more. This is an easy, congenial and rewarding way to assist our neighbors in need. Please consider volunteering for this outreach opportunity.

BRISTOL LODGE MEALS & THE CHURCH SCHOOL
The youth in the teen class of God’s Garden are scheduled to prepare the Bristol Lodge meal monthly for the upcoming school year. This mission activity is one of many that is planned for our youth. If you like to cook and would like to help prepare a meal during church school on a Sunday, please sign up with the Director of the Christian Education program.

Would you like to honor a loved one? Each Sunday our altar flowers are given in honor or remembrance of those we hold dear. This program also offers us a chance to reach out to those in our congregation who are sick or shut in, as flowers are then delivered by our pastor or a deacon. If you care to make a donation, please speak with Cindy Lou Benson, our Administrative Coordinator at 617/484-1542 or email at office@paysonpark.org. For those who participate in this program annually, please confirm you wish to continue.