Sunday Bulletin
Celebration Service
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 25, 2026 9:30 am
Prelude “Sonata No. 2” Paul Hindemith
Introit “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty”
Welcome & Announcements
Call to Worship Lay Leader: David Roy
Jesus calls us to praise and prayer, to song and silence;
Jesus calls us to worship
Jesus calls us to hearing and healing, to service and solidarity.
Jesus calls us to love.
Jesus calls us to advocacy and action, to protest and provision;
Jesus calls us to justice.
Let us heed the call of Christ.
Let us worship together with joy.
Hymn “God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending” #606
Unison Prayer – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lord, we thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that
challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work
as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not
upon you. Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine
like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in
perfect peace. Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together,
and live together until that day when all God’s children will rejoice in
one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and of our
God, we pray. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Children’s Message
Reading Psalm 27:1-9
O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my
enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed
who are wantonly treacherous.
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they
have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to
your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the
way.
He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
Anthem “Built on the Rock” F. Melius Christiansen
Prayers of the People
Hymn “Take My Life” #609
Reading Matthew 4:12-23
Message “Called Together” Rev. Dan Haugh
Offering
Offertory “We Give Thee but Thine Own” #382
Doxology* #46
Offertory Prayer*
Hymn “Here I Am, Lord” #452
Benediction
Closing “Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name”
Postlude “Grand Chorus” Guilmant
Calendar of Events
Monday, 1/26 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, 1/27 7:30 AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, 1/28 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
5:30 Choir Rehearsal in Organ Loft
Thursday, 1/29 3:15 Cherub Choir Rehearsal in Sanctuary
4:00 Youth Choir Rehearsal in Sanctuary
Friday, 1/30 6:00 Youth in Kitchen
Happy Birthday this week to:
Chase Bennett, James Espey, William Harrison and Natalie Stagnitti today, 1/25
Martin Adams on 1/27
Linda Bouramia, Alana LaViale and Tizzy Walker on 1/29
Liam Brown on 1/30
Happy Anniversary this week to:
David and Penny McGaughy today 1/25
Leland and Johanna Darrow on 1/28
Announcements
The ushers today are Rodrigo Pilla and Annie-Vera Frye. Thank you for helping today.
To Stowe Community Church
After the holidays, I woke up from a nap and discovered a beautiful Poinsettia sitting on my dining room table. I asked my son where it had come from and he replied that some lady from the church had dropped it off.
I am so thankful that I am being remembered. I also wish I had the strength to get up on Sunday mornings to attend Church.
Thanks again for the beautiful plant.
Sincerely,
Cilla Bouchard
Annual Congregational Meeting — Today!
Please join us for the Annual Congregational Meeting immediately following worship. Your presence—in person or online—and your vote are vitally important as we help shape the direction of Stowe Community Church in 2026. We strongly encourage you to show up, participate, and vote on key leadership and agenda items. We are excited to hear your voices—because our church is all about you.
The meeting will last approximately one hour, followed by refreshments and fellowship.
Online Voting - Voting closes at 11:00AM on Sunday 1/25/16, before the congregational meeting begins!
Highlights include:
Pastor Dan’s sabbatical (May 12 – September 8) and what church life will look like during his absence
Congregational votes on the 2026 Church Budget
Election of the 2026 slate of church officers
An update on our 2026 Stewardship Campaign
A stand-alone fundraising project for the much-desired LULA Lift in 2026
Launch of our new online Membership Directory (please contact us if you’d like to be included)
Save the Date: March 7 Church Vibrancy Event, presented by UCC with Paul Nickerson
Launch of the Planned Giving Campaign
Please Stay!
Stewardship Update
As of January 22, 2026 we have received pledges for a total of $155,847. Our goal is $325,000, and we are now at48% of our goal. Sincere thanks to all of you who have already pledged. There is a pledge card inserted in the bulletin for your convenience. Sincere thanks, Nancy Money, Stewardship Chair
Green Note for January: “Is a River Alive?” by Gene Bernat
Its All Connected, Its All Alive….Stowe is an environment of spectacular beauty and a unique mountain environment and each hill, valley and notch has its own tributary of flowing water both large and small. These flows in turn connect to larger flows, our named brooks and streams… large rivers and lakes and, eventually, the sea. Each of us residing here or visiting are connected to these flows physically, emotionally and aesthetically. We are also connected to them bodily in less poetic ways… To read the rest, see the Quest.
SCC Ski and Ride Day February 2nd!
Our first SCC Ski and Ride day for the season will be on Monday, February 2nd at the Stowe Mountain Resort. We will gather by the Sunrise Six-Pack lift at 9:00 am. We’ll join Pastor Dan for skiing and riding on mostly Intermediate terrain. Invite friends to join us. At 11:00 Pastor Dan will lead a short service at the Mountain Chapel weather permitting! Again, all are invited to attend. We’ll wrap up the day at the Round Hearth at 1:00 pm for lunch or apres-ski. Even if you don’t ski or ride, you can meet us there to socialize!
SCC XC Ski Day February 7th!
XC Ski Day at the von Trapp Family Lodge Ski Center Saturday, February 7th at 1:00 pm. Please join Lynne Von Trapp, Meg Scotti, and Dan for a cross-country ski day.
Afterwards, we are meeting at the von Trapp Kaffeehaus.
Thanks to the von Trapp Family Lodge, this will be a complimentary ski afternoon. Ski rentals would be extra.
Hope to see you there!
Please contact megscotti@mac.com or 802-363-3720 if you are interested or have any questions.
SSC Men's Group Valentine's Day Pancake Breakfast- February 14th
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first Men's Group Breakfast in November- it was a great success, and we're doing it again! Please save the date and join us on February 14th (Valentine's Day) for a morning of great food, fellowship, and a potential guest speaker! Let's make this even better- see you there!
Musical Notes by Karen Miller
Prelude: Flor Peeters (1903-1986) was a popular organ educator for numerous American students wanting to study abroad. He was the youngest of eleven children in a musical family where most of its members played musical instruments. At age eight he was deputizing for his eldest brother at the local church. He studied at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen and then was appointed assistant organist (to his organ teacher) at St. Rombouts Cathedral in Mechelen at age twenty. He succeeded his teacher as full organist and served there a total of sixty-three years. He taught at several conservatories and through his work he influenced organists and composers in Europe and North America. He gave over 1,200 recitals world-wide and wrote over 550 organ works. He also published works about the organ, how to play it, and anthologies of old Flemish organ music. His "Adagio" is the third section of four in his "Modale Suite". It displays Peeters' use of Gregorian chant and vocal polyphony in his organ writing.
Postlude: J. S. Bach (1685-1750) held several musical positions in the course of his life before becoming cantor of St. Thomas's in Leipzig. Wherever he was employed, his compositions reflected the needs of his current position. While Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Cothen, his employer, the prince, was not interested in religious works but rather instrumental compositions. Here Bach wrote violin concertos, sonatas, suites, and the Brandenburg concertos. He also composed some of his best keyboard works. The writing of his "Fugue in G Minor" is probably from this period. In typical fugue fashion, the theme is introduced in the soprano line, then passed to the alto, then tenor, then bass. A complexity of interweaving these voices continues to the end.