Category: News

After the dark shadows and solemn music at the Maundy Thursday Tenebrae service, the family of worshipers on Sunday were filled with the joy of renewed life and fulfilled promises at the two Easter morning services. More than 30 souls from both FCC Bristol and the wider community gathered at 6:30 AM at our new “sunrise” location at the Bristol Boat Launch on the eastern shores of the Bristol peninsula.

The grey sky lightened as the sun shone through dramatic clouds over the bay. Birds sang and treetops swayed in the early morning breezes. Led by the Rev. Dr. Nancy H. Soukup, worshipers shared hymns and hopes for the healing of the world.

At the Easter morning service in the flower-filled sanctuary, the welcoming greetings of “Christ is Risen” and “Happy Easter” were followed by loud trumpet blasts and voices raised in praise. The Prayer of Invocation declared the hopes of all present: “Creator of Life, in raising Christ Jesus up, through, out of, and beyond the chains of death, You opened for us the way to eternal and abundant life. May our Alleluias on this day float high above the ceiling of what we think we know and transcend to the heaven of what we believe—and thus live. Raise us up! Renew our lives! Resurrect our dreams! Through Jesus Christ our Living Savior.”

After the sermon from Rev. Soukup, entitled “Through Jesus We Behold All of Humanity,” the service closed with a prayer of dedication and Holy Communion: “Let us remember that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes early in the morning. May these gifts of blessing be a sign of the love, light, and glory of our redeeming God who has created a world of abundance with all that we need. May we remain thankful for your generosity, O God.”

The full worship service in the sanctuary can be viewed here.

During worship on Sunday, March 30, 2025, Rev. Nancy Soukup and Chair of Stewardship Caroline Jacobus dedicated the memorial window plaques that have been installed on 9 of the 20 window sashes in the sanctuary. The happy coincidence of March 30th being both “Mothering Sunday” and the date of our Annual Meeting gave to this occasion the double significance of our gathering together to recognize the many roles that our church plays in our lives.

First Congregational Church in Bristol is our spiritual home and Mothering Sunday represented a celebration of our homecoming. So it was just the right day to be dedicating the memorial plaques, some in remembrance of beloved family members, some in celebration of our church family. And it was just the right day to recognize those families in our church who so kindly donated toward the preservation of these windows.

Many may remember the old windows in various shades of lavender and pale blue that used to grace the sanctuary walls – with the drafty winter winds blowing in, and the cracked glass, the panes falling out, and the wood dried to a gray brittleness. In 2021 we were fortunate to find New Outlook, a firm of expert historic window preservationists – and we launched a capital campaign which raised $158,000 to fund the restoration of the most damaged windows, those on the south side. Now these windows are weather-tight, the wood frames are sturdy, the glass is flawless. The light shines through to illuminate our lives and our minds, to bring in the nurturing warmth of the sun. Or, as one of our donor families decided to have engraved on their plaque: “May the blessing of light be upon you: light on the outside and light on the inside.”

As each family thought about the words they wanted engraved on their plaque, their hearts were moved to consider what was truly important, whose names did they want to send into the future for generations to see, what hope or message in their lives did they want to memorialize. And there was such variety in what they chose to celebrate: the birth of a grandchild, or the joy in relationships with their children, the appreciation that was felt for the love and support they had received from their parents.

Others celebrated the deep love and appreciation a husband feels for his wife.

Still other plaques call for us to celebrate our joy in preserving the history of our church – another simply celebrates the love that binds together all the members of our FCC family, to make a difference.

I invite all of you to take a tour of the memorial plaques the next time you are in the sanctuary. There are currently 7 plaques on the south facade and 2 plaques on the north facade. There are still 11 window sites remaining where a memorial plaque could be placed. If you feel inspired to create your own memorial plaque, just contact Rev. Soukup or Caroline Jacobus and we can make it happen.

Our Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 30 provided the fitting opportunity to give a huge Thank You to our dear friend Ron Grant. Ron has faithfully served as our talented and caring audiovisual master of LiveStreaming for more than 12 years. Each Sunday he has arrived early, made sure the sound and video systems were set to go, and skillfully managed the changing sound and camera settings throughout each service.

Then he would go home and edit the recording of the service video each week to a perfect hour-long program and drive it over to the local TV station so that our weekly service could be viewed by both Internet and TV audiences. This labor of love started on the first day he walked into the sanctuary and was asked by Bob Wilson if he knew anything about audiovisual systems. Well, yes he did.

Rev. Nancy Soukup presented Ron with a celebratory plaque acknowledging his long years of volunteer service to FCCBristol through his audiovisual ministry and a token of appreciation from his church family.

Thank you, Ron, from the bottom of our hearts, for faithfully showing your love every week. For more than 12 years, you have given your church family hours of your time and talent to help share our message of love to members who could not attend worship in person and to open our arms to members of the wider community. You have truly embodied our church watchword: “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Every time you shop at Clements Marketplace or Stop & Shop in Bristol, you can help us raise funding for FCC Bristol. Each of these community markets has a donation program based on the collection of receipts. All the details are included in the two flyers in this post.

Last Sunday’s service, on February 23, was a service to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Interspersed with powerful African American Spirituals presented by the choir and soloists Kyle Louviere, Jerilyn Turner Crenshaw, and Ben Zabinski , were equally powerful messages delivered by members of the congregation and the Rev. Dr. Nancy H. Soukup.

The New Testament reading, from Colossians, urged us: “Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Members of our Church School provided readings from a host of African American leaders: Harriet Tubman, Wilma Rudolph, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Dr. Mae Jemison, engineer and former NASA astronaut, the Hon. Shirley Chisholm, James Baldwin, and the Hon. John Lewis. Coming from the mouths of our church youth, these words of hope, persistence, inclusion, resistance, comfort, challenge, and inspiration were all the more powerful. Rev. Soukup’s message, entitled “An Invitation to Trust in Our God,” provided passages from many of the Rev. King’s sermons and speeches. The strength of his vision, his faith, his understanding, his hope for the future even amidst great adversity and injustice were present among the worshipers in the congregation last Sunday. It was a moving service and we are grateful for all who shared their talents with us.

FCC joyfully received six new members this past Sunday, January 5, 2025. They are the participants in the most recent Confirmation Class who have been meeting this past fall to discuss the history, beliefs and policies of the United Church of Christ and of the First Congregational Church in Bristol, founded in 1680.

All of the young women who have just become official members of FCC Bristol have been active participants of this church all their lives and have shown by their many years of self-giving and loving acts of kindness that they deeply understand the mission of Christ’s followers to bring about God’s Kingdom on Earth.

Class member, acolyte and dear friend Teddy assisted Rev. Soukup during the member installation.

The entire congregation gratefully receives these young people into membership at FCC Bristol and looks forward to worshiping, working, and embracing God’s joy with them.

On Sunday, December 22, the children and youth of the church gave us yet one more gift for Christmas. They practiced and memorized and fine-tuned their lines and, during the morning service, they reenacted the age-old story of the birth of the Christ child, the moment when humankind received the greatest gifts of all, the gifts of Hope, of Love, of Eternal Life, represented in Christ’s birth.

Many thanks to all our children, and to all the members of our church family, and best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a joyful 2025.

This past Sunday, November 10, was Stewardship Sunday, the day when members of the congregation bring their pledge cards for their support of the next year’s budget and projects. We were blessed to have as our visiting pastor the Rev. Jametta Alston. Rev. Alston is a lawyer and was the former Child Advocate for the State of Rhode Island, former civil prosecutor with the Attorney General’s office, and former president of the Rhode Island Bar Association before she entered the ministry. Her sermon focused on the role of faith in finding the courage and strength to carry out God’s work. One of the Bible readings came from Mark 12:41-44: “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’ ”

The children in Sunday School focused on the power of faith in Stewardship as they visited our church’s Historic Properties Museum and learned about FCC Bristol’s historic Mite Box, dating from the mid-19th century.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas Shepard was the 10th pastor of the First Congregational Church in Bristol. He served from 1835-1865. It was during his pastorate, in 1856, that the third and current house of worship, the “Stone Church,” was erected. Among Dr. Shepard’s many efforts to carry out God’s Work, the building of our massive church and its promotion of the many missions this church has undertaken bears witness to the power of faith in our combined Stewardship contributions of time, talent and treasure. During Sunday School, the children decorated their own “Mite Boxes.” We are grateful for the faith that inspires our members and friends to contribute in the spirit of this Stewardship.

On October 20, 2024, some two dozen members of the church donned their orange vests. Then they bowed their heads in prayer and blessing of their morning’s work and set out to various locations in Bristol to carry out a ministry of helping others. This is our annual “Church Has Left the Building” Sunday. From toddlers to seniors, groups set out to help out with some home landscaping work for a member who needed our help. Others pulled invasive vines off the back of the church building. Still others foraged the roadsides and parks for litter and other clean-up jobs.

Thanks to everyone who participated. We all got more out of our morning’s efforts — in fellowship, satisfaction, and exercise — than we put in.

FCC Bristol was honored to have Dr. David Weed as our speaker on October 6, 2024. Dr. Weed is the Coordinator of the Sowams Heritage Area Project, an effort to recognize Sowams as the homeland of the Pokanoket and Wampanoag peoples and to seek to better understand their pivotal role, both past and present, in the history of the East Bay region. Dr. Weed has worked for years to understand the history of the Pokanoket people and King Philip’s War, which broke out in 1675 after the failure of a 50-year long peace treaty between the indigenous tribes and the colonial settlers. The Sowams Heritage Area Project seeks to lift up the life and culture of the indigenous tribal peoples in our history.

Dr. Weed alluded to the interpretive sign in front of our church, which speaks to the beginnings of the town of Bristol. He stated that the land on which the town of Bristol sits represents “ground zero” in an American genocide, and went on to tell the story of the long relationship between the indigenous peoples and the colonizing Europeans. The settlers, arriving in 1620 at Cape Cod and Plymouth, would have died without the major support of the native Americans, who provided food, health care and shelter. By 1675, however, the treatment of the tribes by the Europeans, including their major land grabs of tribal territory, resulted in conflict. In an effort to fend off hostilities, a meeting was held between tribal leaders and the settlers on the shoreline of Mount Hope to air the grievances of the Pokanoket. It was not successful, as the Europeans gave no legitimacy to the tribal complaints. Settlers saw the indigenous peoples as heathen and satanic animals, not fully human. King Philip’s War broke out on June 21, 1675 in what is now Warren, RI and ended with the death of King Philip, also known as Metacom, in 1676 at Mount Hope in Bristol. After the founding of this Congregational Church in 1680, the majority of the land in Bristol was simply taken from the Pokanoket homelands. Native genocide followed.

Only in the past few decades has reconciliation been attempted. Dr. Weed challenged the congregation to engage through Christian love in efforts to move this reconciliation forward — to love the people who once were seen as enemies, to seek to restore justice and to lead the community in greater understanding and healing.

During Fellowship Hour on October 6, following worship, FCC member Tony Morretini and Dr. Weed provided further information about some of these efforts to provide healing. Tony spoke about his successful efforts to have the Bristol Town Council adopt a Land Acknowledgement statement relating to Indigenous tribal habitation for more than 10,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans of the land on which the town of Bristol sits . The proposed statement was presented to the Council on August 21, 2024 and adopted on September 18, 2024 on a 4-1 vote, with the deletion of the word “reconcile.” As Dr. Weed suggested in his presentation to the congregation, our members have the opportunity to work toward that very “reconciliation” that was removed from the Land Acknowledgement statement adopted by the Bristol Town Council.