The Special Service of Thanksgiving for our church that took place this past Sunday, November 2, was not because it was November and the 3rd Thursday is coming up. Our congregation held this special worship service in the courtyard because we had a fire on October 31 that destroyed the kitchen. We feel so grateful that no one was hurt and that the fire was contained to the one room. Until the facility has been professionally cleaned by specialists who deal with “disaster cleanup,” everyone is staying out of the building. Hence, our worship service on the lawn.
The sun was shining and keeping us all warm in spite of the brisk autumn temperatures. The Rev. Nancy H. Soukup opened the service with a lengthy announcement, explaining what had happened and how fortunate we were that the seemingly flimsy swinging doors that separate the kitchen from the rest of the church complex managed to contain the fire. Members of the congregation’s Facilities Committee and others arrived on the scene and were able to confer with the Bristol firefighters who came in the middle of the night to put out the flames. How fortunate we are that we have an alarm system that is connected directly to the emergency fire responders. We are so grateful to the firefighters for their extraordinary service to our church and to our community.
Roger Dubord took up the mic to provide more details about the speedy assessment and plans to get our kitchen back into shape for our fall events.
The singing of “Amazing Grace” and “We Are One in the Spirit,” acapella, brought all of the members together in thanks for the preservation of our historic sanctuary, chapel and Sunday School buildings. First Congregational Church, Bristol’s founding church in 1680, has faced many challenges in its 345 year history and, with God’s Grace, we have grown stronger in our faith and thankfulness as we have come together to meet them.
