Hill Church News THE NEWSLETTER OF ASYLUM HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHHelping people grow in faith and love as disciples of Jesus

VOLUME 75 | ISSUE 5MAY 2020

A Message from the Moderator by Linda Kelly

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are certainly living in challenging and uncertain times. We find ourselves navigating the crises of isolation, fear, and helplessness as we continue “Wading into Deeper Waters” toward new life, spiritual growth, and hopefulness. As you see from our vari-ous electronic communications, AHCC continues to serve its members, neighbors and community-at-large in new and creative ways. We are very grateful to AHCC staff and clergy, sign language interpreter, lay leaders, volunteers, and musicians for their roles in bringing the very beautiful and inspirational LiveStream services to so many of our members and friends throughout the region, the nation, and the world.

I’ll share some highlights from the April Board of Deacons meeting (vir-tual). To respect the health and safety of AHCC members and staff, we voted to move the AHCC Annual Meeting from May to September 2020, hopefully a time when we may safely gather in person. Nevertheless, we recognize that the world is changing and post COVID-19 activity certainly will not be the same as pre COVID-19. We will therefore, take the oppor-tunity over the next several months to explore new and creative ways of engaging our membership in a congregational meeting, whether in-per-son, virtual, or a combination, as we also plan creatively for other aspects

See “Moderator” on pg. 2

The Church is Not Empty, the Church has Been Deployed! by Rev. Erica Thompson

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu describes emptiness in this way:Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel.But it is where the wheel isn’t (the center hole) that allows the wheel to function.Hollowed out clay makes a pot.But where the pot is not is where the vessel becomes useful.We fashion wood for a house.But it is the emptiness inside that makes it livable.We work with the substantial …But the emptiness is what we use.

According to Lao Tsu, emptiness has great value and reminds us to see emptiness as a positive; that which supports function AND bears forth possibility!

As a matter of faith:Emptiness was the condition for Creation – God created from a formless, empty space.Emptiness was the condition for Resurrection – an empty tomb signaled new life.Emptiness in our world today, we respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic, may just be the condition for new life in 2020 and beyond. See “Emptiness” on pg. 5

Staying Connected

While we can’t gather in tradi-tional ways, we are able to unite online for events and services.

Livestreaming: ahcc.org/live-streaming

Facebook: facebook.com/asylumhillchurch

YouTube: YouTube.com/c/AsylumHill-CongregationalChurch (all one word, no hyphens)

Email:Sign up on our website, ahcc.org, at the bottom of any page. Just click on the envelope icon.

If you have a prayer request and would like to speak with a min-ister, please contact Rev. Tracy Mehr-Muska: 860.216.9822 (AHCC); 860.519.9137 (cell); tmehrmuska@ahcc.org.

2 For a complete list of events, programs, and volunteer opportunities, please visit ahcc.org.

Asylum Hill CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

814 Asylum Ave., Hartford, CT 06105-2892 Ph: 860.525.5696 | Fax: 860.525.3457

www.ahcc.org | e-mail: info@ahcc.org

The Hill Church News USPS245-160 is published one time per month (every six weeks during June, July and August) by Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Periodical postage paid at Hartford, CT. Items for publication must reach the office by noon on or before the 20th of the month prior to publication. Please submit items to Rhonda Mitchell, Director of Communications, at rmitchell@ahcc.org Postmaster Send address changes to Hill Church News at the above address. LiveStream Worship Services 10:15am Sundays; services are ASL interpreted, livestreamed and posted on our YouTube Channel and Facebook page Clergy Rev. Erica A. Thompson, Senior Minister Pastor Jordan Rebholz, Min. of Early Life Rev. Dr. Tracy Mehr-Muska, Min. of Mid/Later Life Lay Leaders Linda Kelly, Moderator David Figliuzzi, Vice Moderator

of an exciting, new future. Stand-ing committees are continuing to meet. For example, Outreach Committee grants were distrib-uted to area nonprofits, many of which are serving the needs of those most harshly impacted by COVID-19; the Stewardship Com-mittee will launch a full 2020-2021 Pledge Campaign in the fall, while encouraging members to contin-ue regular giving in the months ahead in support of AHCC and its mission; and the Nominating Committee is continuing its work to prepare a slate for the upcom-ing program year. Also, we were pleased to welcome AHCC’s associate minister of early life, Jor-dan Rebholz, to her first meeting of the Diaconate.

“Moderator” cont. from pg. 1

Thank You from the GAHDA Foundation of Haiti

The Grande Anse Health and De-velopment Association (GAHDA)is a non-profit organization thatworks to provide health care forwomen and community develop-ment for the people of the isolatedGrande Anse area of Haiti. For unexplainable reasons, the rate of breast cancer in this area is high, and GAHDA has undertaken a breast cancer detection program that includes sonograms and biopsies.

Bette Gebrian, the founder of GAHDA, is a native of Bristol, CT, a nurse and a medical anthropolo-gist, who has lived in Grande Anse for more than 20 years.

AHCC made a donation to this organization and received this up-date along with a note of thanks to AHCC’s Outreach Committee:

Thanks to the committee mem-bers for support for the women and families in this region of Haiti.

We are currently in lock down due to COVID-19 ... There are severely limited health care options. We are involved with distribution of home-made masks to health care provid-ers at this time. (see photo)

Please share with the committee our profound thanks on behalf of the women of this region of Haiti.

AHCC staff remains attuned, not only to how we can serve the community, for example work-ing with the City of Hartford and Early Learning Center to house the Asylum Hill Essential Care site for young children of essen-tial workers, but also regarding benefits that may help the church during these trying times. When the Payroll Protection Program of the CARES Act, which allowed for relief through a wholly or partially-forgivable loan, became available to nonprofits, including churches, staff worked closely with the Executive Committee of the Board of Deacons to obtain authorization to apply for this relief. Though we were not suc-cessful in this first round, we are well positioned to apply in a next round.

At AHCC’s recent congregation-al meetings, members initiated a conversation on race, gender, diversity, and inclusion. We com-mitted at that time to continue this healthy discussion and, with expert guidance, deepen our understanding and strengthen our sense of community to help guide our actions both within and out-side of AHCC. Discussions have continued among the deacons, and Vice Moderator David Figliuzzi has taken the lead on this en-deavor. Among other things, he is developing ways to engage us col-lectively, even during this period of social distancing. You will hear more from him soon on this topic.

Yes, these are challenging and uncertain times; yet, they have provided an opportunity for us – individually and as a church community – to show our great strengths of faithfulness, com-passion, creativity and innovation.

In the words of the renown phi-losopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader, Howard Thurman, let us “Look well to the growing edge!”

Asylum Hill Congregational Church | www.ahcc.org | 860.525.5696 3

Protecting Hartford’s Neighborhoods:Two Ways to Help

If you live in or have recently visited Hartford, you may have noticed how many city residents, especially youth, are not observing social distancing guidelines or wearing face masks. Perhaps they do not have adequate information about the importance of social distancing and wearing face masks or, often, they do not have access to face masks.

How can you help? You can purchase and/or donate masks. One Con-necticut company, Masks for Citizens, makes washable, reusable masks from hypoallergenic 3-ply cotton. For every mask purchased at $7.00, the company will donate a mask, and you can choose the type of organiza-tion to receive these masks (assisted living; homeless shelter; faith-based charity; hospital or clinic; first-responders, etc). There is a two-mask per order minimum. For more information, and to place an order, visit masks-forcitizens.com. The order form allows you to send masks to a name and address other than the name and billing address for your credit card if you’d like to donate to a specific cause or charity. SUSO members are supporting MUAV, Mothers United Against Violence.

Another way to help is by making face masks. If you have a sewing machine and materials, approved instructions can be found online. If you don’t sew but would like to donate supplies of fabric or elastic to some-one who does, contact Karen Dibala at kdibala@gmail.com to coordinate a donation.

Thank You Spirit Hill Volunteers by Kyle Cannon

Although the Spirit Hill program year has been cut short, we want to thank our volunteer teachers and classroom helpers for the time and tal-ent they provide to keep the program running – they are priceless to our Spirit Hill children. And to the childcare staff who dedicate every Sunday morning to teach and care for our youngest members, infant–preschool, you have been a gift.

Teachers & classroom volunteers: Martin Magnusson, Nate Gibson, Shiji Isaac, Nancy Ford, Jen Asadow, Abby Charamut, Lisa Glowacki, Megan Delgado, Andrea Williams, Kim Lemkey, Chloe Horton, Carrie & Mike Stockman, Clare Taylor, Suzanne Essex, Marybeth Aucoin, Tom Dona-hue, Christie Davis, Jacquelyn Quin, Deidre Dyreson, Chris Ritacco, Tif-fany Smetak-Scurr, Patti Beckett, Megan Mehr, Africka Hinds, Mali Ayala, Alison Sturm, Amber Berry, Valerie Jasinski, Caroline Glowacki, Dan Boucher, Kimberlea Chabot, Meghan Dausey, Gabrielle Essex, Kathryn Harding, Julie Cipes, Fatima Williams

Childcare Staff: Olivia Bishop, Michelle Duplin, Sam Feliciano, Mahogany McBride, Valerie Nunez, Makayla Duplin, Maurice Thomas, Chris Tinker

Thrift Shop Donationsby Sue Powell

During this shelter-at-home time, many of us are approaching spring cleaning with extra energy. In David Figliuzzi‘s Lenten devotional, he spoke of de-cluttering his home and giving 40 things to the AHCC Thrift Shop as a goal! Many of us are getting projects done at home with our extra hours, including sorting through attics, basements, closets, and garages for things we no longer need or want. Many of these “treasures” will be donated to AHCC Thrift Shop.

In anticipation of a large number of donations when the church reopens, the Thrift Shop has some requests:

1. Please label your bags and box-es and be as specific as possible: e.g. kids winter clothes, books, picture frames, trinkets, glasses, dishes, Christmas, etc. This helps us organize and prioritize sorting items.

2. Please make sure to weed out things that we can’t sell. AHCC’s Thrift Shop is known for its high quality merchandise. We can’t ac-cept or sell items that are broken, stained, torn, or worn out. We do not accept “self help,” education-al/text books or outdated travel books.

With your help, the AHCC Thrift Shop’s volunteers will have an easier time sorting through every-one’s donations and getting ready for business again!

Thank you in advance for your continued support and help.

4 For a complete list of events, programs, and volunteer opportunities, please visit ahcc.org.

Kyle CannonI feel isolated! But thank good-ness for family, work, hobbies and house projects, walks and bicycling. I really miss the social contact with everyone; the hugs and the handshakes.

Working from home has been …different. I think I’m getting a little too comfortable with sleeping in and working in my PJs. I do love the new situations, new challeng-es, and new methods for connect-ing and interacting with our Spirit Hill families.

I look forward to when we can all be back together. Be safe and stay healthy my friends.

Helena CarvalhoI’m mostly enjoying the stay at home … Work is keeping me busy, as we navigate these un-chartered waters. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated technology so much – it connects me to my friends and family, entertains me, and allows me to work safely from home. Mostly, I’m just grateful that my loved ones and I are all healthy (just maybe a little bored!).

June DayI don’t mind the quarantine. I’m sleeping better, probably because I don’t have to get up and go any-where. I now wear a mask when I go to the grocery store and get groceries for me and my next-door neighbor who can’t drive. I go for walks on nice days and talk to neighbors (from a distance). l love seeing the spring flowers. My four

Checking In With the AHCC StaffLike most of you, we are trying to figure out how to best get through this uncertain time, and balance work, life, family, and self. We love it when you check in and tell us how you’re doing, so in case you were curious, here’s how some of us are holding up.

Jorge FuentesWe are doing as well as everyone. Liz is back to work from home. We lost her Mother, so it’s been a slow process for us. We are staying busy at home with projects. We don’t see our children as often now, which is something we are experiencing one day at a time, slowing down the pace. These changes are not easy. I feel it has affected our vision of a future ahead. I’m hopeful I will see my siblings again, when we speak on phone, I go to bed worrying and try to sleep. I am grateful to see another day. Being able to come to work on church property is a blessing; staying busy with many things, but it’s an empty feeling with no one around sometimes.

cats keep me company. I love see-ing the sunsets out my patio door, and occasionally I see a sunrise out my front window. I have been in touch with quite a few church members, relatives, and friends, some of whom I haven’t been in touch with for a while. I enjoy watching the re-runs of Frasier because I still laugh out loud when I watch it.

I now attend church, AHCC staff meetings, and my strength train-ing class on Zoom. It’s been a good time to work on projects that I postponed because of time constraints.

It’s also a good time to reflect on life and possibly come up with some ideas for the future.

Blessings to all, and stay safe!

Workshop and Discussion Series

Sundays, 3:00pm & Thursdays, 7:00pm

through June 7Zoom online

AHCC is excited to be offering 12 unique workshops and discussion groups that will be held using the online service Zoom.

Some topics for these discussions are:• Music as a Form of Self-Care• Supporting People with De-

mentia in our Families and Communities

• Navigating Grief During Quar-antine

• Building Resilience• Parenting During Quarantine,

and more!

Zoom is a web-based tool that al-lows users to sign in and meet on-line, with or without video. Zoom can be used with any computer or smartphone. If you’ve never used Zoom, you’ll need to download the application to your device. It only takes a minute and it’s free. Then at the event time, login to Zoom, and join the conversation using the Meeting ID given via email at an earlier date. There is no charge to join or participate.

More information will be available on ahcc.org and in our weekly emails.

Asylum Hill Congregational Church | www.ahcc.org | 860.525.5696 5

Marcie JacksonI am experiencing moments of anxiety and struggle, but also mo-ments of love, joy, and blessing.

Professionally, it’s been challeng-ing to figure how to best connect with children and families. I miss the hellos and the hugs. I miss holding babies. I miss brainstorm-ing with Kyle and Tobey. I’ve been trying out new ways to reach out to our families and children: send-ing lessons in emails, creating vid-eos reading scriptures and stories, holding Zoom meetings (where I got to meet one of newest church members who is just 7 weeks old). Kyle and I are working together to text, call, or email all of the families in our Spirit Hill program.

Personally, I have been struggling with the isolation and fear around the virus. My husband is a para-medic and first responder in a large city. When he is not working, the family takes afternoon walks or goes on hikes. We finished our patio and are preparing our gar-den, and we have been watching a lot of family movies. I’ve had to isolate from my parents, who both have medical problems. On Eas-ter, we dropped off a package and talked to them on the phone from their driveway. It brought tears to my eyes to see my son waving to his grandparents instead of being able to give them a hug. Just like our church family, maintaining connections through texts, video chats, letters, and just saying hello from our front yard have become essential to keeping my and oth-ers’ spirits up.

Rhonda MitchellI spent the first couple of weeks of stay-at-home in a hotel until my new apartment was ready. When the move did finally happen, trying to maintain 6 feet between me and the movers was not easy in a tiny studio apartment! But, the unpacking and decorating pro-cess kept me busy for a few days, which was nice.

On the days I don’t don a mask and gloves to venture on a walk or bike ride, I practice yoga inside. I FaceTime my grandson a few times a week and am longing for the day I can scoop him up in my arms for a proper hug; I have a weekly Zoom cocktail hour with family and friends which is always fun and funny.

As we’ve changed our focus to electronic communications, I find that I am keeping very busy, and for that I am grateful.

Mary WayI’m lonely in my little attic apart-ment, but I’m healthy so I’m mighty thankful. I miss my chil-dren dearly and long to hug both of them! I maintain my sanity by FaceTiming with friends and relatives and I try to exercise every day. Most of my laundry is com-prised of pajamas and sweatpants and I miss not wearing real shoes! I keep busy with AHCC work, and am maintaining correspondence with the congregation – if you call the church you will get a live person answering the phone …ME! As an extrovert, I certainly miss greeting everyone who walks in the door. I realize how lucky I am to be able to work from home and I’m so grateful that AHCC has allowed for this to be possible. Ev-eryone keep your chin up … we’ll get through this!

But feeling the love of our staff and church members. We will get through this. Keep your heads up! Recently, I found myself strug-

gling mightily with the emptiness I see and experience all around the world today. Emptiness leads to a sense of longing, loneliness, and even sometimes anger and despair. On a particularly hard day a dear friend send me this simple reminder: The Church is not empty – the Church has simply been deployed!

I love that!

What if this crisis were actually giving us permission to use the emptiness around us in new and exciting ways? To reshape and reconfigure. To remake and rede-sign. What if this is helping us to really understand that the Church of Jesus Christ is not dependent on bricks and mortar, but will live because the followers of a living God are out in the world building a new day?!

Beloveds, these are indeed ex-treme days in which we are living. As a way of connecting, across the distance I would love for you to share about your personal expe-riences of deployment. What are YOU doing out in the world today that is an expression of your faith? How are you ‘being’ the church even when we are not at the church? Send responses to Rhon-da Mitchell at rmitchell@ahcc.org.

The tomb is empty, he is not there, for he was risen, go out into the world – it is there that we will see him.

Take good care of yourselves, be well, and stay strong!

And know that you are loved deeply and truly.

“Emptiness” cont. from pg. 1

6 For a complete list of events, programs, and volunteer opportunities, please visit ahcc.org.

On Palm Sunday we invited you to hang a branch” outside your home celebrate Communion with others online.

On Easter Sunday, AHCC LiveStreamed the service to over 600 households.