Come together with friends and church family for the annual fall church picnic, Sunday, September 13th! Enjoy laughter, connection, and a bouncy house for the kiddos! The church will provide sandwiches, salads, and water but we are asking folks to bring chips, watermelon, dessert or drinks to share. Not a cook? Consider signing up to help with setup, serving or cleanup instead! Sign Up to Help Here!

Deadline, 9/13

If you haven’t already, please drop off Bibles you are no longer using in the clear donation bin in the church lobby. All of the donated Bibles will go towards Bibles4Kenya, a project that ships gently-used Bibles to congregations in Kenya that do not have access to new copies. We will close donations on Sunday, 9/13.

Summer Repair Café
Saturday, August 29 , 2026
9:00 AM-12:00 PM in Chidley Hall

Signups are open for our next Repair Café on August 29.

• sewing & knitting repairs
• knives or scissors sharpening
• electronics and lamp repair
• furniture fixing
• We also repair childrens toys including stuffies

Signup for a Repair Here

Consider engaging in the PREPARE/ENRICH Process.

Rev. Burhans is trained and experienced in the relationship assessment process known as Prepare/Enrich. Over the course of his ministry, he has walked many engaged couples through conversations about their relationship leading up to their weddings and is offering to do the same for couples whether they are preparing for marriage or have been married many years.

Prepare/Enrich is an effective research-proven assessment that empowers couples to learn about their relationship, become conscious of areas of growth, and develop further relationship skills to foster meaningful positive change. The process involves between 4 to 8 hour-long conversations (either in person or on Zoom) and further engaging at-home worksheets for couples which offer deeper insight and understanding. To learn more about this offering from your Lead Pastor feel free to reach out to him at will@fcc-winchester.org

Halfway through our week here, we have already experienced extraordinary grace, beauty, suffering, and compassion.

The reservation — The Rez — is a hard place, by design. Centuries of genocide, oppression, and deprivation have made sure it is so, and continue to this day. This is one of the poorest places in the United States, where many people live without running water, heat, electric power, or adequate — let alone healthy — food. The people here are suffering economically, physically, mentally, and spiritually. There is every form of injustice. And yet we are hearing from our Lakota relatives that there is a renaissance unfolding. People are re-learning their heritage: their language, traditions, songs and ceremonies and prayers. As we offer our labor to build and deliver beds, safety ramps, and outhouses — outhouses! — they generously reciprocate with their life stories, both trauma and hope. It feels important to contribute, as Nancy put it, concrete interventions to problems that go way beyond the concrete. And it feels equally important to gratefully embrace our Lakota relatives as beloved family, to join with them in heartfelt prayer for peace, justice, and an end to White Supremacy.

As hard as it is, The Rez is also a profoundly beautiful and sacred place, as Branda captured in her poem, and as you can see in some of the numerous photographs we have taken. In our nightly closing session, we have reflected on how each day’s experiences have kindled our spirits with gratitude and wonder. There is so much more to share with you, much of which will take us time and discernment to fully process.

Thank you for sending us here with your love and support. Please continue to pray that God will work through all of us — those of us here in Pine Ridge this week and all of you at home — to re-member creation, to heal and make whole that which humans have broken.

In love —

Julianne, on behalf of Andrew, Branda, Henry, Jodie, Maggie, Michaela, Nancy, Petra, Sonia, and Rev. Will

Badlands by Branda Wilhoite

Painted desert,

desiccated to fading,

Crumbly underfoot,

Framed by wide, blue skies.

A ribbon of green, swaying grasses

Swathed at its feet

A dry creek bed- the memory of a river-

A trickle, a shrinking puddle,

In the hot afternoon sun.

Rock spindles stand like tall sentries

Guarding “The Bowl”

Unlikely life- sage, paintbrush, and thistle,

Breathe hope into this desolate,

Beautiful place.

Re-Member

To make whole that which is broken.

Please join us for a Church Bike Ride this Saturday, June 20, at 1:00 PM. We’ll meet at Michelle & Rich Crawford’s house in East Arlington at 1:00 and bike to Lexington Center via the Minuteman Bike Path. Once in Lexington Center, we’ll take a break, re-group, and then bike back to the starting point, so that’s about 11 miles round-trip.

All ages and abilities are welcome. We’ll have that stop in Lexington Center where we’ll re-group, so you may go at whatever pace feels comfortable to you!

The Crawfords live at 85 Lake Street, Unit 2, in Arlington, but their driveway entrance is on Lakehill Avenue and there’s plenty of free parking on that street so, if you’re driving over, please park there – just off Lake Street.

There’s a couple of Blue Bike stations nearby if you’d like to rent a bike for the ride. Please arrive early if you plan to rent a Blue Bike.

Last but not least, we’ll be serving a coconut chocolate chip cake made by Karen Lauterwasser at the end of the ride!

Contact person is Michelle Crawford

Text/Call: (781) 367-7725

Email

Please feel free to call, text, or email with any questions.

We would love your support in preparing and serving a summer meal at the Dwelling Place on June 20th from 4:30-6:00pm. We tried breakfast for dinner last month for the first time and it was such a hit! So we thought we would try a meal we haven’t served before…hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hotdogs and other summertime favorites. The grilled food is taken care of but we need pasta salads, desserts, snacks and milk. We so appreciate your ongoing support of the work we do each month at The Dwelling Place. With any questions or suggestions please reach out to Michelle Stewart at michmarcstewart@verizon.net or by cell 781-835-9203.

Dwelling Place Sign up for June

As an open and affirming congregation, we celebrate and include people of all identities and life journeys into the full life and ministry of our church. This commitment to radical hospitality is lived out not only in worship, but in the everyday spaces we create together.

Whether neighbors stopping to chat, families gathering after services, or passersby taking a quiet moment, these chairs are a simple, visible sign to all who pass by that there is a place for them at FCCW.

Join us in creating a space of welcome, connection, and belonging for all by sponsoring a $220 chair or buddying up with a friend to sponsor a chair.