January 28, 2026
This piece of birch bark (found just as pictured) reminds us that love is everywhere.
Dear Friend,
I was forwarded the following prayer just now and I will offer it to you today because it carries both encouragement and comfort for the living of our days.
The Romero Prayer
“The Romero Prayer,” as it’s commonly known, wasn’t written by
Archbishop Oscar Romero (Bishop Ken Untener is its author), but it is very
much in keeping with the archbishop’s spirit — and was included in a book
honoring the anniversary of his martyrdom in 1980, when he was
assassinated in his native El Salvador.
Pope Francis called it a “magnificent prayer,” and included it in his 2015
Christmas address.
It is a prayer for such a time as this. Here it is, laid out as a poem for your
reading pleasure. [Courtesy of the Salt Project 1/27/26]
It helps, now and then,
to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts;
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime
only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise
that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This enables us to do something
and to do it well.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning,
a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace
to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between
the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
This has been another busy week of planning a coordinated response to the overreach of immigration enforcement that we are seeing here in NH and elsewhere. Although I will be leaving to go out of town tomorrow and can not be at the main event, I am heartened that my colleagues are well-prepared and inspired to stand together in Manchester. Anyone can attend the event, so I include the invitation to you, too. Please hold them all in prayer, if you will.
Are you wishing you could help in some way? Consider making a financial contribution to the immigrant bond and support fund at the NH Conference of the United Church of Christ. You can make a check payable to NHCUCC (“IRSG Bond & Support Fund” on the memo line) and send to NH Conference UCC, 140 Sheep Davis Road, Pembroke, NH 03275. Designate the “IRSG Bond & Support Fund” on memo line.
Or you can donate online HERE.
Dublin Residents: Bring your rigid styrofoam to the transfer station this Saturday January 31, 8-5. Your Dublin Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee will be on hand to collect your clean foam!
Community Church Supper
Turkey soup and all the fixings from a turkey dinner
5:30
Tuesday Feb. 3rd
PREPARED TO SERVE
2026
Date: February 28, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM Registration
9:00 AM Worship
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Workshops
Location: Pembroke Academy
209 Academy Rd. Pembroke, NH 03275
The 2026 Prepared to Serve workshops will follow our theme, “Another Way”, by focusing on a new pathway system: the Four Pathways of Care: Self, Church, Local Community, and the Wider World. The workshops have been grouped into these four categories. This new system allows you to select workshops based on the Pathways of Care that most interest you.
- Self: workshops focus on individual care, such as self-care, clergy support, or personal growth. Class subject examples include self-care practices, living a fuller life, and making the most of your time.
- Church: workshops focus on supporting a church community. Class subject examples could include financial trainings for churches, intergenerational worship, marketing or technology education, or pastor/staff job search.
- Local Community: workshops focus on the local community, such as towns or states or multiple churches in an area. Class subject examples could include social justice issues in New Hampshire, environmental protection for local pollinators, or connecting with other church communities in your area.
- Wider World: workshops focus on subjects that affect our national or global community. Class subject examples could include anything related to Ukama, social justice lessons on a national scale, and how the church connects to the global community.
To view the most up to date course catalog (which will include any class changes), please visit here.
Register online here! All major credit cards and personal checks will be accepted. If you have any questions, please call (603) 225-6647 or email Cameron Keller.
Two Requests to Help Support Local Immigrants
1)Project Home is looking for a large rug to make the home of a recent immigrant family more warm. 8-10′ would be preferable.
2)The Keene Multicultural Center is looking for a copier/printer. Do you have one you would be willing to donate? Or would you like to fund the purchase of one? If so, please contact Eric Swope at 603-903-3522 or contact me if you would rather (number below)
I was planning on crafting a devotion (somehow) using some of the information in the following video (which I found fascinating) so here it is if you want to check it out:
Please join me in prayer.
Source of Love and Light, I am grateful in this moment to be warm and to see the bright sunshine out my window. I am grateful to access a place of peace within. I am mindful that many in the world are cold and hungry. I am mindful that for many peace is a distant dream. What I can affect is how I interact with the world and with all those I come in contact with, so help me, I pray, to bring your light and love into every interaction. Help me, I pray to hold my concerns for the world while also making room for joy to enter in. May I maintain a balance, an equanimity, and an open heart within myself that I may then be a source of balance, equanimity and openness for others. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.” -1 John 4:7
With hope for the future and with love for all of humankind,
Traceymay
603-715-0990
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