Special Celebration for Longtime Hampton Residents

By Rev. Deb Knowlton

Hampton First Congregational Church

On Sunday, March 10, as part of our 375th Celebration of our Founding, the First Congregational Church of Hampton will celebrate and give thanks for those who have been members for 30 years or more.  

Invitations to attend went out to 60 plus persons and of those who have responded, their combined years of membership total 885 years of membership to a single faith community!  One family, that of Barbara and Jeremy Sawyer and their daughters, represents 172 of those years!  

We have opened up time in the midst of worship for stories and for words of thanksgiving and remembrance which we hope those attending will share.  A few stories will be shared from the earliest pastorates which recorded the first Native American woman, Abigail, and her  daughter, Margaret, who were baptized in the church in 1741 and "Cromwell, a Negro" who owned the covenant which made him a member, in 1726.  

Following the service there will be time to greet one another over refreshments. Pamphlets will be available for a self-guided "walk around the block" for those who want to remember the "early days" when the first meeting house stood on the lawn by the Tuck Museum.  

Any and all are invited to join us for this festive celebration of the power of belonging  and the grace that flows from so many faith-filled lives.