A VALENTINE AMONG THE ASHES
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day, one of only three times this century it lands on February 14: 2018, 2024, and 2029. A quick Google search reveals that this poses a serious dilemma for Roman Catholics—what to do when February 14 is both a feast day and a day of holy obligation when one is supposed to fast? Answer:
Maine’s Faith Communities Observe Gun Safety Awareness Sabbath
Seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:14
The weekend of February 16-18, 2024, faith communities in Maine are participating in a “Gun Safety Awareness Sabbath,” praying in unity for safety from gun violence for our families, communities, and state.
MCC Executive Director Jane Field appeared on the national CBS News recently, discussing MCC’s advocacy work to remove the religious exemption for vaccinations of school children.
Click above to watch the story
Lewiston, Maine tragedy sparks wider support for ASL interpretation
One of the tragedy’s impacts has been widening awareness of the need to make community information and mourning rituals accessible in American Sign Language. Four of those who died when a gunman opened fire at Schemengees Bar & Grille were deaf, causing significant impact on Maine’s Deaf community and their loves ones.
Advent 3
O Holy Night
And so, the story of “O Holy Night” is a story of outsiders, outcasts, misfits and broken people: a disabled socialist poet, a bankrupt Jewish vaudevillian, an agoraphobic abolitionist, and a ridiculed crackpot inventor playing his violin into a microphone that might—or might not—be transmitting his song to anyone.
Advent 2
Silent Night
The story is a familiar one. “Silent Night” was sung (in German, Stille Nacht, heilige nacht) for the very first time on Christmas Eve, 200 years ago, in a tiny Alpine village church in Austria, accompanied only by the priest’s guitar. That story is true, though legends that have grown up
Advent 1
O Come, O come, Emmanuel
For five weeks every year, songs about the incarnation of Christ can be heard playing everywhere—on your radio and TV, at the car wash, in the grocery store. And just about everybody knows the words. They might not be able to tell you what the first book of the New Testament is (just for the record, it’s Matthew), but they can tell you that all is calm, all is bright on a silent, holy night in the little town of Bethlehem where away in
MCC’s Fall 2023 Newsletter
MCC’s Fall 2023 Newsletter
Whether you read the print edition that arrives in your mailbox, or the digital version available through the link, you’ll see that we let our work speak for itself through our newsletter. The articles tell the story better than any fundraising appeal ever could: the Maine Council of Churches makes a difference—in the life of our congregations, in the lives of people of faith and good will, and in the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors who need trusted allies and advocates to stand with them for justice, compassion and peace.
LEWISTON DEAF ACCESS FUND
MEETING THE NEED OF MAINE’S DEAF COMMUNITY
Read more, donate, and please share widely
