NEW INTERIM PASTOR

The First Congregational Church of Walpole, UCC is still searching for a long-term minister, but we are pleased to announce we now have an Interim Pastor, Melissa O'Brien. She started leading us in worship on Sunday, September 27th.

Please join us at 10 a.m. for our Sunday worship services. All are welcome!

October 2026 Message from our Interim Minister:

Friends,

Thank you all so much for such a warm welcome. If I haven’t met you yet, I certainly look forward to that moment.

A brief introduction: I live in Peru, Vermont, where I once served the UCC church. I also worked at the Pawlet Community Church as their minister, at the Unitarian Church in Saratoga as an interim, and as a hospital and hospice chaplain. I have too many degrees: St. Lawrence undergraduate and UVM and Fordham for graduate degrees. I grew up in Saratoga Springs, where my parents, Ann and Tom, still live. I have 3 siblings, 3 children and live with my wonderful partner, Sverre Caldwell, who is a retired nordic ski coach (and teacher and headmaster) who spent his entire 40-year career at Stratton Mountain School, and our pup, Buster, a very busy 4-month-old yellow Lab. You will hear me talk about these people (and pet) a lot because I love them all so very dearly.

I am very involved with projects related to aging and end of life. My son, Sam, and I have been working to use technology to solve the problem of lack of spiritual care, in particular for seniors living in senior communities. And I work with an organization in Vermont involved with medical aid in dying.

I am really looking forward to working with the Walpole Congregational Church (WCC) as an interim, and to helping this wonderful congregation prepare itself to find the best imaginable settled minister out there. When I am not “working” I love to ride my bike, swim, ski (we are a big alpine skiing family), skate, garden, walk the pup, eat, read, sleep … be with my kids. I love it all.

Please feel to reach out to me at 802-325-2345 or melissa519@me.com. I’d love to have a cup of coffee with you and learn more about why you care about WCC.

Warmest blessings,

Melissa

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.