Donate to the Sock and Mitten Tree

November 18, 2025
Sock and Mitten Tree 1977

It is time to decorate our Sock and Mitten Tree again! With a late Thanksgiving, the amount of time to decorate our tree is shorter than usual, so we are putting up the tree in the Atrium on November 22. If you are coming to our Thanksgiving dinner, that will be the perfect time to place your items on the tree. 

What should you bring?

  • Adult and child hats
  • Adult and child gloves and mittens
  • Scarves
  • White socks

Items will be donated on Sunday, December 7.

Our generosity has been so appreciated through the years. Thank you for your continued support.…

Continue Reading →

December Book Group Read

November 10, 2025

Our Book Group meets next on Tuesday, December 2, via zoom. We’ll be discussing Table for Two by Amor Towles.

Table for Two is a collection of six short stories and a novella by the novelist Amor Towles. It was published by Viking Press in April 2024. The book is divided into two parts, with the six short stories connected to New York City and the novella set in Los Angeles.

Reach out to the church office at office@churchofreading.org to learn more or be added to the email reminder list.…

Continue Reading →

Advent Collections – All the Details

November 5, 2025

Once again, the Mission Ministry will celebrate the arrival of the Christmas season with collections for vital local charities. We will continue to update this page as more details become available. You will find all the latest updates here.

Now until Sunday, January 4th: Used coat collection

We are once again a collection point for the Anton’s Coats for Kids drive. Please drop off gently used coats for kids and adults in the box near the Chapel. The last drop off is Sunday, Jan 4, noon. Any winter coat in good condition (no rips, stains, broken zippers) is welcome, especially plus sizes.  Each fall, Anton’s Cleaners collects, cleans and distributes approximately 50,000 coats for children and adults. Nearly 90 social service agencies make sure that the coats get to those in need, free of charge. Since the program’s inception in 1995, Anton’s have collected and distributed over one million coats. 

More info at https://antons.com/cfk/about-us/

Complete! – Toiletries for Emmaus House

We will be collecting toiletry supplies for Emmaus House of Haverhill through the third Sunday of Advent, with a collection end date of Sunday, December 21.

Emmaus is specifically in need of the following items:

  • toothpaste
  • floss
  • mouthwash
  • shampoo
  • conditioner
  • razors
  • shaving cream
  • lotion
  • deodorant
  • body wash

Right now they have plenty of toothbrushes.

We have been a longtime supporter for Emmaus House – providing meals, Easter baskets, cookouts, and all type of supplies – kitchen items, linens and toiletries. Emmaus operates two emergency shelters: Mitch’s Place for single adults and the Emmaus Family Shelter for families with children. Their shelters provide a safe bed, warm meals, and support services for those who have no place else to turn.

Complete! – Financial Donations Towards the Reading Food Pantry

Good News!  The pantry shelves are currently full!  However, the shelves will start to empty after the surge of holiday donations is depleted.  The food pantry purchases some fresh food and other food in bulk. They need money for these items. Please consider a financial donation on December 21 using one of these options.

Cash – Put your cash donation in an envelope labelled food pantry.

Check – Please make out the check to FCCR (note Food Pantry in the memo).  We will then present the food pantry with one check for the combined amount.

Gift Card – Purchase a Market Basket or Stop & Shop gift card

Credit Card – Use this link to donate on our church website.  https://www.churchofreading.org/donate/. Select “Give to Reading Food Pantry” from the drop-down menu, and please consider adding the amount to cover the processing fee as noted on the payment form.

Complete! – Coat Boston and The Holiday Shop

Coat Boston and The Holiday Shop are charitable giving programs based on the belief that everyone deserves to have a warm coat during the winter – especially the youngest and most vulnerable in the community. Last year we supported their mission by providing 35 coats, 2 bags of hats, and one bag of toys.

We are looking to support …

Continue Reading →

It’s Cocoa & Cookies Time!

We are opening our doors to the community during the Reading Tree Lighting festivities to be held on November 30th. Visitors will be greeted with a cup of hot cocoa and a small bag of homemade cookies. The town activities run from 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM, with Santa turning on the Christmas lights at Reading Common at 4:30. The event is a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season!  

In addition to treats, our guests may enjoy a production of “A Christmas Carol” provided by Creative Arts. Shows will be held in our sanctuary at both 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM.

For a successful event, once again we need our FCCR Christmas elves to bake, set up, serve cocoa, clean up, and so forth. Please use the link below to sign up to bake and/or assist for an hour or so during the event. Baked goods may be delivered to the church kitchen any time on November 30th before 1:00 PM. Our hospitality is always greatly appreciated by those seeking a toasty beverage and place to get warm on this first Sunday of advent.  

Click Here to Sign Up

Reach out to Cindy or the church office with questions.  Thank you!!  …

Continue Reading →

November Food Drive

November 3, 2025

Food Insecurity has been in the news and at the top of our minds, so the timing of our November Food Drive couldn’t be better. 

There are black shopping bags in the corner of the sanctuary, and shopping lists in your bulletin. These items are what the Reading and Lawrence food pantries have designated as most needed items. You can shop for the items on the list or purchase other nonperishables that are on sale to get the most for your money. 

Suggestions:

  • Shelf Stable Milk (e.g. Parmalat)
  • Canned Beans (all kinds, not baked)
  • Canned Vegetables
  • Canned Fruit (no sugar added)
  • Peanut Butter
  • Tuna
  • Canned Ham & Chicken
  • Soups (low sodium)
  • Pasta Sauce
  • Laundry Detergent
  • Tissues
  • Instant Coffee
  • Canned Potatoes
  • Canned Pasta

The Food Pantries have asked that you don’t bring items in glass jars, but there are usually plenty of options in cans, plastics, or bottles. 

Please fill a bag and bring it to the church by November 23rd when we will also be presenting a check to Simone Payment from the Reading Food Pantry. Thank you in advance!…

Continue Reading →

Advent Collections

October 29, 2025

Once again, the Mission Ministry will celebrate the arrival of the Christmas season with collections for vital local charities. 

This year our first recipient will be the Coat and Holiday Shop, which benefits Greater Boston communities.

Subsequent collections will be the gathering of toiletries for Emmaus House, Inc., and of food and household items for the Reading Food Pantry. The main collection box will sit just inside the church Sanctuary.

Our collection schedule is as follows:

  • November 30 – December 7 – NEW coats for the Holiday Shop, winter accessories, toys, gifts for children and teens, sports equipment, and gift cards.
  • December 14 – Toiletries for Emmaus House
  • December 21 – Food and household products for the Reading Food Pantry
  • From now until Sunday, January 4th – we are also collecting gently used adults’ and children’s coats for Anton’s Coats for Kids & Families project. The box for Anton’s coats will be outside the Chapel.

More specific details on the later collections will be posted closer to the dates.  Thank you in advance for your participation and generosity in this holiday season!  

…

Continue Reading →

Thanksgiving Dinner

October 27, 2025

After Church on November 23

Mark your calendars! Let’s give thanks together! 🦃🍽️

We are so excited to gather as a church family for our annual Thanksgiving Dinner!

Join us immediately following the worship service on Sunday, November 23rd, for food, fellowship, and celebration. It’s the perfect way to kick off the holiday season with your church community.

More details will be coming soon, but for now, please save this date! We can’t wait to see you there!

…

Continue Reading →

A Letter from Sabbatical

October 23, 2025
“Have a good journey, pilgrim”

Dear Church,

“Pace e Bene!” Peace and good things! St Francis greeted everyone with this phrase, and today you can see it all over Assisi, his home. I just returned from a pilgrimage to Assisi where I spent a little over a week with 13 other clergywomen studying, discussing, and visiting the places and stories of St Francis and St Clare. I will share more about this trip during a presentation after church one Sunday (probably in January after the holidays). I’m still processing so much of this trip, and the depth of learning I experienced.

Streets of Assisi

What I find most compelling about pilgrimage is the idea that for hundreds of years, millions of faithful people have physically walked the same steps. Pilgrimage is an embodied spiritual discipline where we physically visit and lay eyes on the material things associated with the Holy. For medieval pilgrims, the goal was to visit a specific place (the basilica de Santiago in Spain, where the remains of St. James are buried, or Jerusalem itself) to receive pardon for themselves or a loved one so that they would enter heaven and not suffer in purgatory. I may not hold the same theology as these medieval pilgrims, or even the pilgrims that I share the space with today. What I learned through this experience was that the practice (or “spiritual discipline”) of going on pilgrimage flexes the powerful muscle of imagination. It’s not an easy discipline (with all the change after centuries have passed and the modern world around us) but in each location, I found myself activating my imagination to summon up images of what these places looked like in the 13th century. For example, I could envision St Clare walking down the road outside our hostel, leaving her family and expectations of marriage, filled with devotion and conviction to follow a life of poverty like Francis. This took the books I read and turned historical fact into lived reality (a humbling experience).

Courtyard of San Damiano: the convent where St Clare and the “Poor Clares” lived, built off the original medieval church where Francis received the vision of Christ telling him to “rebuild my church.”

The most challenging place we practiced this spiritual discipline was outside a teeny-tiny stone chapel without any windows off the side of a highway (and really, in the backyard of someone’s modern house and garden). Somehow, this little stone church continued to stand for nearly a millennia — throughout wars, industrialization, and modernization. There, under an overpass, we were invited to imagine a medieval Lepersarium: a whole complex of buildings and community for the lepers outside of the city of Assisi. Here, regardless of whether you were born into nobility or poverty, all were rendered equal by leprosy. While they lived outside the city, they were not alone; loved ones would visit and bring food, and Francis and his brothers would care for them. They would have said mass in this …

Continue Reading →