INTRODUCING OUR PASTOR

The First Congregational Church of Walpole, UCC has called Richard Malmberg to be our new settled pastor. He has served congregations in New England and the Midwest since his ordination in 1993. The call brings him back to New Hampshire, where he has previously worked at the Concord Monitor and served as associate pastor of South Congregational Church.

Pastor Richard enjoys parish ministry for its variety of challenges and depth of relationships. He finds the pastoral office calls clergy to stand on sacred ground at some of the most important moments in people's lives. Whether a wedding, baptism, funeral, emotional crisis or a hospital bedside, when someone invites a minister into a sacred moment in their life, the only answer is the biblical one: "Here I am."

An enthusiastic cook, Richard is convinced that church potluck suppers are generally the best meal in town whenever and wherever they are. He also feels that the potluck supper is an excellent metaphor for a healthy congregation. He looks forward to the chicken barbeque and pie baking First Congregational Church is known for.

Richard lives in the parsonage with wife, Jane, a librarian by profession. Their two grown sons, Max and Oscar, live and work in Boston. Richard collects toys, enjoys fishing, reading, films, and taking long walks around Walpole.

February Message From The Pastor's Desk:

Friends,

What do you know about Saint Valentine?

There really was a Valentine. He was martyred during the third century. Not only was there a real person, it seems there were at least two Valentines. There were two Italian Christian martyrs named Valentine, both martyred on February 14, St. Valentine’s feast day. I don’t know if they were both the same year, but what are the chances? According to the Roman Martyrology, one was a priest, the other a bishop. An article I read did not indicate which one was the Valentine we celebrate with cards and chocolate. The martyrology lists a third, who was from Africa.

There is not a lot about Valentine in the historical record that is reliable. There are some legends about him. While serving as a priest, the Roman Emperor Claudius II prohibited young people from getting married. It was believed that unmarried men fought harder because they did not have a wife and children at home to worry about. The largest empire the world had ever known needed soldiers and lots of them. Valentine’s witness was a pastoral. Exercising his vocation as a priest, he held weddings in secret. The secret got out. Valentine was arrested, brutally beaten, then beheaded.

That’s not what we really talked about when we had our grade school Valentine parties, with lunch-bag mailboxes decorated with construction paper hearts. Every kid gave a card to every other kid. Garrison Keeler said it was a kind of socialism they practiced in Lake Woebegone. Interesting Interpretation. But I think there in an apolitical lesson to be learned from the elementary school valentine tradition. Noone should be left out.

There is an epidemic of loneliness in our country. Recent scientific literature has reported that about half of Americans report feelings of isolation and loneliness. Surgeon General Rivek Murthy cautioned, “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling – it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.”

We practice a religion that is based on love. Both Testaments say so. Deuteronomy 5:5 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Leviticus says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Saint Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Love never ends…. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love. (2 Corinthians 13: 8,13) Jesus told us,” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Valentine’s Day is a lot of fun. Chocolate is wonderful, flowers are beautiful, and who doesn’t like getting a card? But love is more substantial than trinkets and treats. The Bible speaks of at least three different kinds of love. Romantic love is only one. Even so, romantic love has all the substance we are willing to devote to it. Saint Valentine gave his life so that young couples could devote themselves to each other in the loving covenant of marriage. He refused to be intimidated by the bloodlust of an empire.

We do not have to be martyrs to devote ourselves to the gospel of love. As our culture gets coated in chocolate and buried in a blizzard of red hearts and greeting cards, we can extend ourselves in small and large ways. In a time when loneliness has become a spiritual menace and public health threat, there are always opportunities to make a difference. How can we include the isolated? We invite. We Welcome. This is what we do. Every Sunday Morning I welcome everyone to worship “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose love calls us together.” I end every benediction with the charge to “Take the love that God gives us and give it away, in a world without end.” We can always do better. No faithful act is wasted.

In this frigid season, I wish you warm homes, warm bodies and warm hearts. As we remember a Saint who gave his life for the covenant marriage, may we give love that has substance that exceeds sentimentality.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. With over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the U.S., the UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. The UCC is a church of firsts, a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where "…they may all be one" (John 17:21).

The Church of Firsts

Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts, weaving God’s message of hope and extravagant welcome with action for justice and peace. Together, we live out our faith in ways that effect change in our communities. The UCC's many "firsts" mean that we have inherited a tradition of acting upon the demands of our faith. When we read in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" — a demand is made upon us. And so we were the first historically white denomination to ordain an African-American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement. Our response to the demands of our faith is woven into the history of our country.

A Church of Extravagant Welcome

Today, we continue to change lives throughout the world. We work alongside more than 200 mission partners. We labor ceaselessly to fight injustice in the United States and abroad. We instill our vision into our youth and young adults, forging leaders who will imagine new dreams. And we sustain and develop church leaders, pastors, and our local churches to live their faith in exciting new ways. We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive. We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul.

We are a church where Jesus the healer meets Jesus the revolutionary, and where together, we grow a just and peaceful world.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

OF WALPOLE, UCC

Our Congregational Covenant

We seek to create and nurture a caring, safe, and supportive atmosphere that facilitates the growth of a strong Christian community. These covenants are promises to each other, not rules, but descriptions of expected behavior, not changes of personality.

Covenants are ways of being in community at church, but also a model we can take home with us and out into the world. These promises guide us in sharing information with each other, setting priorities, making decisions, addressing complaints and resolving conflicts.

With this our Covenant, we commit ourselves to:

Support and love one another, as Jesus commanded. “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” (John 13: 34)
Forgive one another again and again. (Matthew 18: 21-22)
Seek resolution to conflict by first addressing the person directly with whom there is a problem, then if necessary involving witnesses, and third going to the congregation’s leaders. (Matthew 18: 15-17)
Interrupt gossip, neither accepting nor sharing rumors, even when such is masked as a concern.
Always assume in others the best possible intentions and motivations, not the worst.
Treat others as you wish to be treated.
Seek what is best for the whole congregation, not only our immediate circle.
Agree to disagree with love and respect.

Covenant: a contract or agreement. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.