Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ
131 Middle Road, Sayville, NY, 11782
Sunday Worship, Bulletins, eChimes, Announcements and Videos:
Livestream – YouTube Channel
“We are very welcoming!”
Although it’s not as simple as that, the results of our Welcoming Diversity Inventory presentation on Sunday reported that we consider ourselves to be a very welcoming church community. Thirty-three congregants remained after church to see and hear the information that Mariana Torres had analyzed and collated for us to better understand. She did an amazing job for us! Many thanks, Mariana!!! The committee answered questions and offered that we are moving forward with due alacrity during the summer months in order to post our church’s profile in the fall. This is a good and reasonable schedule and we remain ready to answer any other questions you may have.
Links to the Summary of Results document that was presented by Mariana, as well as the presentation itself are included here and are also on the church’s web site, permanently. We encourage you to check them out for yourself. The search committee wants everyone to be informed as we move forward.
Summary of Sayville WDI Comments June 2024
and
WDI Summary of Results Presentation June 2024
View the Presentation of the above from Sunday, July 7th from the Sunday Service Livestream recording by pushing forward to the 1:23 (one hour and 23 minutes) mark:
July 7, 2024 Livestream
Office Hours – by Appointment; eMail Office (631-589-1519)
Office Hours – M-F 9AM – 4PM
The Latest eChimes and Archives: chimes.org
Prayer Requests: eMail
eChimes: Submit Announcements: eMail
Quick Links to Recent Document
2023 Annual Report (Updated on December 19, 2023)
Includes 2023 Budget and 2024 Approved Budget
Our Church Constitution
Our Church Covenant
Written by the Congregation in 1976
In response to God’s love, we covenant with each other…
to be faithful to the demands and inspiration of the eternal spirit,
revealed in the event of Jesus Christ; to accept and respect each other
with love and concern in our worship and witness;
to reach out with the courage of our convictions
in the cause of justice, liberation, and equality for all.
In this, we covenant to keep the ultimate promise:
“I care, I am with you.”
Our Gun Safety Legislation Committee leads a signature mission of Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ. This last week, as gun violence roared in Maine and through our country, our front lawn of crosses and Stars of David stared down on everyone who passed with the question: “When?!” When will “Enough be Enough”, as our added signs say. And until we break through the last bit of resistance to change, we have to keep at this; in every way we can; with every action; large or small; and – yes – with every prayer for compassion for the growing and already enormous community of victims of gun violence and for inspiration for the actions that we can take. We must stay awake, focused and we now ask for your participation:
Time to Act & Here’s How: www.giffords.org/comment
“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is currently seeking public comments on proposed changes to regulations that govern gun sellers. The proposed changes aim to close what has become known as the “gun show loophole”. Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to conduct background checks on their potential customers and keep records of all transactions. However, many people who sell guns through online classified ads, at gun shows and through word of mouth claim to be hobbyists or collectors are not required to be licensed and therefore do not perform background checks.
“The new rules would clarify the circumstances in which a person is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms and thus required to obtain a license and run background checks. They are meant to implement the changes outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed by President Biden in June 2022 and was the nation’s most significant gun-control legislation in 30 years.
“The Gun Legislation Committee strongly supports the proposed changes to the regulations and believe they will go a long way to increasing background checks. We would like your voice heard on this issue. Please go to www.giffords.org/comment or click on the image and follow the instructions there to submit your comment to the “ATF”.
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Pride Voices from Our Congregation and Friends
2023
Juli Grey-Owens
Barbara Salva
Patricia Mahar
Mariana and Samantha Janosick-Torres
Randolf Pearson & Jesse Ramos
Irish McCarthy
2022
Matt Baney
Sandra Davidson
Kathy Dean and Susan DeGeorge
William “Craig” Hicks
Mike Jayne
Carolyn Kane
Patricia Mahar
Karen & Hank Maust
Eileen McCarthy
Robert Pierce
Barbara Salva
You are Invited!
If you are tired of feeling heartbroken,
frustrated, and powerless at the report
of yet another mass shooting;
if you believe in the sanctity of life
and that we are here to care for one another;
if you believe we must do something –
we invite you to join us.
Our Mission Statement:
Our faith calls us to speak out against gun violence, ban assault weapons and protect our children. We advocate for Federal Legislation that will require mandatory background checks, red-flag laws, a 30 day waiting period and secure gun storage.
To find out how you can help or for further inquiries please contact the church office at 631-589-1519 or email us at faithinaction@sayvilleucc.org
Official Press Release:
SAYVILLE CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
STRONG GUN LAWS SAVE LIVES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAYVILLE, NY, June 1, 2023
‘They were out shopping.’ So began our pastor’s message on Sunday morning, May 7, 2023. He was referring to the victims of the latest mass shooting that had occurred the day before. This time at an outlet center in Allen, Texas. People going about their everyday lives. Another day, another town – another shooting. Nine lives brought to an abrupt end, the youngest a three-year-old boy, nine families left to grieve and feel the emptiness of their loved one’s absence. All at the hands of an extremist with an assault rifle.
How do we respond to another round of senseless violence? How do we resist the numbing of our hearts and minds that can result from the sheer impact of so many mass shootings? What can be done? Today the Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ released the following statement:
‘Our faith calls us to speak out against gun violence, ban assault weapons and protect our children. We advocate for Federal legislation that will require mandatory background checks, red flag laws, a 30-day waiting period and secure gun storage.’
Statement of Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ
The congregation has placed a combination of 120 wooden crosses and Stars of David on the front lawn of the church, along with a sign stating: ‘GUNS KILL 120 PEOPLE EVERY DAY IN THE USA’. A banner has also been hung across the front of the church stating our strong belief that: ‘STRONG GUN LAWS SAVE LIVES’. In addition, the church will be participating in National Gun Violence Day activities the weekend of June 2 and is committed to long range goals and activities to bring an end to the scourge of gun violence.
The epidemic of gun violence in our nation affects all Americans. It is not a partisan issue. We believe that within the extreme positions on the margins of the gun control debate, there is room for concerned people to come together to enact reasonable, common sense gun laws. Laws that can help our children, loved ones and neighbors stay safe in our schools, places of worship and communities.
If you are tired of feeling heartbroken, frustrated, and powerless at the report of yet another mass shooting; if you believe in the sanctity of life and that we are here to care for one another; if you believe we must do something – we invite you to join us.
To find out how you can help or for further inquiries please contact the church office.
Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ, 131 Middle Road, Sayville, NY 11782
www.sayvilleucc.org
Why Wear Orange?
WHY ORANGE: On January 21, 2015 Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves from others.
“Wear Orange” began on June 2, 2015 what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday. Since then, “Wear Orange” has expanded to a period of three days each year. National Gun Violence Awareness Day (the first Friday in June) and Wear Orange Weekend (the accompanying weekend).
Orange has become the defining color of the gun violence prevention movement
Visit us at www.sayvilleucc.org
PRESS RELEASE: A Call to National Sanity
Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ
El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio
A Call to National Sanity
[SAYVILLE, NY, AUGUST 7, 2019] Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ refuses to accept that we are powerless in the face of continued violence and insanity with regard to weapons and accessories intended for war now regularly used against our families, friends, neighbors, communities and nation. For years, this congregation has continued to speak out and take public action against the sales of these weapons and the violence they cause.
As a congregation, we resist the numbing of our minds and hearts that results from the sheer impact of so many mass shootings. We speak out as a community of faith, believing in the love, respect and dignity we have been given to share with one another. We will continue to expose the slow conflation of murder and death in our nation, robbing us of the sacred natural passage associated with human life and replacing it with fear and mistrust of the other. We will not cower nor be forced into isolation or reactionary/transactional responses that diminish our lives together and our role in caring for one another.
Our congregation has again placed wooden crosses on our lawn to bring attention to the lives most recently lost in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Further, we believe there is no faith tradition, no concept of God or belief systems that call any us to lift weapons against one another in the ways we have witnessed too many times.
Therefore, we call for the full and complete ban of weapons of war and their accessories until the underlying conditions that cause these senseless murders across our country have been resolved.
We ask for continued prayers to encourage, strengthen and inspire our nation in ways that end the insanity of gun violence in our communities.
We pray more for all those who awaken absent their loved ones because of the delay in ending this insanity.
Two Minute Video Available at: www.acalltonationalsanity.com
Black Lives Matter – Sayville, June 7, 2020
https://youtu.be/UewUD8Nxv6M
An estimated 4,000 people protested and marched
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SAYVILLE CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHUCH OF CHRIST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 29, 2019
Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ
“Respect for All”
[SAYVILLE, NY, JULY 29, 2019] Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ will post banners on its church property encouraging “Respect for All” as part of the Church’s covenant and commitment to justice and liberty for all. The banners will feature the four congresswomen of color recently called out by the President of the United States as being un-American.
In extensive conversations about expressing our voice in a manner that fosters conversation rather than confrontation, church members sought to highlight basic values that have widespread appeal and have frequently been lost in our national discourse. Respect is one of those values, fundamental in our interpersonal relationships in a complex society, as well as deeply rooted in our Christian faith tradition (as well as that of many other faith traditions).
In our congregation, we believe in the practice of “welcoming the stranger; extending hospitality whenever possible; welcoming all and loving God and one another.” All that to say, we have respect for each other and our shared humanity, created by God in all the ways God may be known.
Like most others, we share disagreements with every politician, whether those seeking office or current office holders. As a congregation, we side with no particular politician and believe deeply that our nation’s policies must be based on respect and valuing others for who they are, regardless where they come from – or what they may believe.
God calls us to love one another and we believe that begins with having respect for each other, especially those with whom we may have the greatest disagreements. Our shared faiths can model the way forward when all other paths seem filled with obstacles.
We are created to be who God has made us to be, one. We resist attempts to make us behave or respond in kind to what we see as discouraging, divisive and dangerous, in all the ways that may be true.
We believe that God is still speaking in our world; that with respect and an openness to hear one another we can find common ground to love and serve those who need us most and teach our children well.
For more information please email churchadmin@sayvilleucc.org. Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ is and Open and Affirming Congregation located at 131 Middle Road, Sayville, NY 11782. For more information visit our webpage at www.sayvilleucc.org or www.facebook.co/sayvilleucc
Congratulations Matthew!
Confirmation Sunday, Sunday, February 5th
The Annual Meeting of Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ
Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 11:15 AM
In-person and Online at www.echimestv.org
Annual Report Docket
Twenty-seven years ago, Suzanne – and I suspect many of you – were awarded a signed certificate such as this, expressing sincere gratitude for your deep commitment to social justice resulting in Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ declaring itself “Open and Affirming.” Thank you, Suzanne, for sending this to us, as a reminder of our collective ability, and in particular this congregation’s faithfulness, to change the world around us – starting with ourselves. And, thank you to all who continue this tradition and commitment to love and justice and mercy, as we care for each other and those around us during this time, as well. “Rock Stars and Prophets”, I say. You are all “Rock Stars and Prophets.”
Thinking about becoming a member of
Sayville Congregational United Church of Christ?
These documents and information may help you in considering membership. There is more in how we read these documents and what they mean personally and corporately – but it is a place to start. And whether you are a member or join us as you do, we are grateful you are here and you are so welcome! Feel free to contact our office with your questions or for more information.
So You’re Thinking About Joining The Church – from the United Church of Christ
Understanding the Congregational Way – National Association of Congregational Church
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Suffolk County News Article on Our Church
September 10, 2020
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Ray Bagnuolo, Pastor – July 23, 2019
eChimes Newsletter
Dear Friends,
At times in its history, the ancient Roman Empire attempted to squash out the rapidly growing “novelty” religion of Christianity. Leadership did so by using ordinary incidents of Christianity’s practices and blowing them out of proportion. First, they falsely interpreted the incidents. Then the interpretations were generalized, as if they were happening everywhere or would be soon. All this created fear, if unevenly in the empire, with greatest effectiveness in the most populated areas. To keep it going and spread chaos further, officials would fan the fear they created with wildly exaggerated untruths, giving emperors public support and willing collaborators in torturing and executing those who refused to deny Jesus Christ and pay homage to gods of the empire…(more pdf version for printing)
Our Friend Carroll M. “Kim” Swezey – Insert
The Queen Arrives at the 27th Annual Victorian Tea! – Video
Inside the Organ, November 2018 with Paul Elsener – Video
A Brief History of Sayville Congregational Church In Movie Format
Introduction to the Pipe Organ – Handout – Here
