Park Avenue Congregational Church, UCC
PACC Past Events

PACC events from the recent past

2008

  • Sarah's Circle is kicking off a new season on February 2.
  • The Rev. Imani-Sheila Newsome-Camara of Boston University School of Theology and Kantigi Kwabena Camara of Northeastern University will speak at a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Birthday celebration on January 21 at 7:30pm at Robbins Memorial Town Hall in Arlington.  For more information, call 781-643-4345.
  • Megan Ladd will speak on "Transgender Hospitality and the Church" at Pleasant Street Congregational Church on January 13 at 11:30am. PSCC says, "What can we do, in church and in society, to be welcoming and hospitable to folks who are transgender? This question arose during Pleasant Street Church's ONA process, and we committed to continuing the conversation beyond our ONA vote. We are thrilled to welcome Megan Ladd as our guest speaker for this conversation. Megan is a male-to-female transexual who began her transition five years ago and had surgery two years ago. She is a member of First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Lexington. She will share the story of her transition, speak about church hospitality practices that have been meaningful to her, and answer our questions."
  • Jeffrey Brody, our music director, will conduct the world premiere of his latest work, "At the Movies!" with the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra on January 27 at 3:30pm. The work is a suite for orchestra in five movements: "The five movements of this collection fill the traditional role of film scoring with the traditional 'Opening Credits' and 'Closing Credits' movements serving as bookends for other specific scenes, 'Paranoia,' "Love Scene,' and 'Peace of the Celestial City.'" This is the eighth season in a row in which the orchestra has performed or premiered one or two of Jeffrey's works!

2007

  • The PACC Festival Choir, led by Music Director Jeffrey Brody, performed a magnificent Christmas concert on December 2.  The program "The Mystery of Christmas" featured soloists, small ensembles, full chorus, and instrumental music. For more information of a CD of the concert, contact the church office at 781-643-8680.
  • Coming events include the final meeting of "Living the Question" on November 27, the annual Hanging of the Greens in the sanctuary on December 1, the annual Christmas Concert on December 2, The women's guild Holiday program on December 4 with our Reverend Bill Albright as the guest speaker, a trip to see the Living Nativity at Overlook Farm on December 8, the PACC Men men's group will hold a book reading on December 11, a Christmas Pageant on December 16, and Christmas Eve worship on December 24.  Theology for Families will restart January 4. The Annual Meeting will be January 27. Whew.  Contact the church office at 781-643-8680 for more information.
  • The Reverend Tom Howard was our guest preacher on November 25, when he spoke on the need to put an effort into giving thanks.
  • Coming events on the church calendar include a meeting of the evening Bible study group on Wednesday, November 28, at 7:30, another meeting of the "Living the Questions" study group designed for progressive, thinking Christians on Tuesday, November 27, at 6:30, and the Women's coffee on Thursday, November 29, at 10am.  Call the church office for more information. Recently, Sandy Sherburn and Mike Rich lead a discussion of social justice issues at the November 18 meeting of the PACC-Men, the PACC men's group, and of how the group might work for some of them.   
  • The church took a dramatic step forward by electing fifteen members from within the congregation as the new Council of Deacons.  These men and women have been called by the congregation and asked to lead us through the first few years of our church's new governing organization.  Please welcome Deacons Valerie Censabella, Hong Chin, Anita Clarke, Don Cohn, Linda Cohn, Connie Dugan, Tim Durning, Karen Friedman, Jill Lewis, Beverly Miller, Doug Record, Mike Rich, Sandy Sherburne, Jeff Steinheider, and Barbara Wagner.
  • The PACC Holiday Fair demonstrated once again that it is a happy and exciting way to start the fall seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas on November 9 and 10.  Beginning with a lasagna dinner on Friday night and ending with the winners of the silent auction on Saturday afternoon, the Holiday Fair was a busy place where residents of surrounding towns were able to find everything from books to baked goods to clothing to many other fine, hand-made crafts.  If you missed this year, remember next year coming in early November.
  • The PACC Concert Series opened this year's season with Vox Lucens, an a cappella chamber choir performing early music, on November 4.  For more information about the rest of the series, see our concert schedule, or contact the church office at 781-643-8680.
  • Jeffrey Brody, our director of music, will be conducting the Longwood Opera in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss on November 2, 3, and 4, with the November 4 performance in Arlington at the Regent Theater. 
  • Members of PACC are attending a four-part course at Pleasant Street Congregational Church titled "Living the Questions" for progressive, thinking Christians, featuring premier religion voices of our day.  Meetings begin at 6:30pm with a potluck supper on October 23 and November 13 and 27.  Members of PACC recently traveled to Weston on October 21 to hear the renowned Reverend Barbara Brown Taylor lecture on "Sabbath Resistance: Treasures Left Lying in the Field."
  • Attorney Mike Rich presented a program on spirituality and the law, with a focus on restorative justice, to the church men's group known as the PACC-Men. 
  • On October 14, at a special congregational meeting, our congregation took an important step towards our future.  We approved a plan to change the governance and committee structure that served us well in our first hundred years to one more in line with the size and needs of our 21st century congregation.  Under this new plan, the governing body of the congregation will be the Council of Deacons, which will consist of fifteen members elected by the whole congregation.  Submit your ballot before the November 5 deadline!
  • The church celebrated Regathering Sunday on September 9, our first Sunday back together after the doldrums of summer.  We learned, however, that this summer was one of our most vibrant in recent memory: Average attendance over the summer was 60 members each Sunday, a 14% increase over 2006, and the highest in at least a decade.
  • Betty Rich has provided pictures of the Labor Day Picnic and the Arlington Town Day booth.
  • With the passing of the Labor Day weekend, the church office has returned to normal office hours: 8:30a.m. to 12:30p.m. Monday through Friday.
  • We've made contact with John Cavicchia, one of our former music directors, who is now on the faculty at the Western New England College in Springfield.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of our history of music directors to read about John today.
  • Jeffrey Brody, our Music Director, conducted Verdi’s Manzoni Requiem on Monday, August 6, as part of The Paul Madore Chorale 2007 SummerSing in Salem.
  • See pictures from the UCC General Synod and Synod in the City held during the weekend of June 23-24 in Hartford celebrating the 50th anniversary of the UCC.  Several church members attended. Music composed by our own Jeffrey Brody was performed during services Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. 
  • Ruth Lavash gives us these pictures of the original church building and the construction of the current church in the 1960s.
  • We held our annual picnic around the swimming pool of the Lexington Christian Academy on June 17, and you can see plenty of pictures of the fun.
  • The congregation declared itself to be an Open and Affirming congregation at a congregational meeting on May 6.  The text of the declaration can be seen below.
  • We welcomed Jeffrey Brody as our new Music Director and Organist on Easter morning.  On the morning of his formal installation, Jeff honored us with the performance of his own music composed for the occasion.  Jeff continues the long tradition of talented music directors at PACC.
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This page was last updated May 2, 2008.