Much more than a building — it's a place of fellowship, solace & contemplation!
Sunday, July 13, 2025 - Worship 10:00 AM
Sermon: Practicing Love - Lori Bruni, Pastor To join via ZOOM, please contact us at (617) 479-8778 or [email protected] |
Houghs Neck Congregational Church (UCC)
310 Manet Avenue Quincy, MA 02169 (617) 479-8778 Parking & Directions |
Job Opening - Part-Time Organist and Choir Director
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Are you searching for a spiritual home where all are welcome? Look no further. When our forefathers and mothers settled and formed a church in Houghs Neck 129 years ago, they did so to provide a Christian community that would affirm who they were, their histories, their families and their deep faith in a loving God and their unity in the spirit. It is this legacy that we continue to lift up.
We are an open Community of Faith serving the families and people of Houghs Neck, Quincy and surrounding communities. We seek to create a space for all believers who know their spiritual pilgrimage is one among many. We seek to honor each person’s walk with God and see others who seek the loving presence of God as brothers and sisters.
We are an open Community of Faith serving the families and people of Houghs Neck, Quincy and surrounding communities. We seek to create a space for all believers who know their spiritual pilgrimage is one among many. We seek to honor each person’s walk with God and see others who seek the loving presence of God as brothers and sisters.
Welcome Pastor Lori Bruni!
Pastor Lori Bruni will preach her first "official" sermon as Pastor of Houghs Neck Congregation Church on Sunday, July 13, 2025 with the service beginning at 10:00AM. Please come and help welcome Pastor Lori to Houghs Neck!
Pastor Lori Bruni will preach her first "official" sermon as Pastor of Houghs Neck Congregation Church on Sunday, July 13, 2025 with the service beginning at 10:00AM. Please come and help welcome Pastor Lori to Houghs Neck!
upcoming events in the life of our church
Saves the date:
October 4, 2025 Lobster/Fish Dinner
November 1, 2025 Down by the Sea Holiday Fair
Message from the Search Committee
May 23, 2025
Dear members and friends of the Houghs Neck Congregational Church,
As members of the Search Committee, we want to express our gratitude for the trust you have placed in us. We have concluded our prayer-filled process of reviewing profiles and interviewing candidates, ultimately reaching a unanimous decision. We are pleased to recommend to you our final candidate for the position of Pastor, to be considered by the congregation at a special meeting on Sunday, June 15, 2025, following worship.
We are grateful to our Conference Minister, Rev. Patty Kogut, who worked closely with us in the Search and Call process. To review our steps that led us to this point of confidence in the Spirit’s leading:
1. Your insights and ideas were incorporated into the Local Church Profile that candidates read.
2. Our vacancy was listed in UCC Ministry Opportunities where hundreds of ministerial candidates saw it.
3. Persons authorized to complete a UCC Ministerial Profile submitted their profiles through the conference office for our committee. These profiles had information about the candidates’ sense of calling, formation for ministry, faith and leadership experience, references, an ethical self-disclosure form, and a criminal background check.
4. We received profiles and arranged a select number of initial and follow-up interviews. We called references and completed due diligence to be sure of our decision. Although some of us had attended a service conducted by our top candidate, we all reviewed additional sermons which were available on-line.
5. Following the interviews and additional review of materials, we sought God’s guidance and prayerfully made a decision. We were glad when our top candidate responded enthusiastically to our invitation for a candidating Sunday.
6. Confidentiality has been essential to the entire process of profile review and interviews, so we kept you in necessary suspense. It was important to honor the integrity of our search process.
7. Our candidate is Lori Bruni. Many of you may have attended service when she was our guest a couple years ago. Her letter of self-introduction is attached.
8. You will have an opportunity to meet Lori Bruni on Sunday, June 15, 2025, when she will lead worship and preach. A congregational meeting following worship will offer each member an opportunity to ask questions of the Search Committee and to vote on the call to our new pastor.
We have been grateful during this search process for the excellent leadership of Pastor Kathleen Reed and for her support and assistance.
Please plan to attend church on June 15, 2025 to hear more from the Search Committee as we present our candidate to you.
We are blessed with a wonderful church community. With hard work and God’s guidance, we will be blessed with a wonderful pastor to guide us as we minister in the name of Jesus Christ.
In Christ’s name,
The Search Committee
Glenn Brown, Maureen Flores, Ralph Jacobs, Christine Keating, Gayle Mackay
May 13, 2025
Dear Members of Hough’s Neck Congregational Church,
My name is Lori Jarzyniecki Bruni, I am a graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary and have an approved standing of Ordainable Pending Call with the United Church of Christ. I have completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at South Shore Hospital, a year-long field study program at the First Congregational Church of Hanover, ten months as a Designated Term Pastor of Wollaston Congregational Church, and I have provided long and short-term pastoral coverage for many Congregational churches in the area. During my Search and Call process I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet with the faithful members of the Search Committee of HNCC and have experienced a deep, meaningful connection to your community.
By way of introduction, I would like to share with you my faith journey thus far and let you know how it is that I found myself attending seminary and pursuing ordained ministry with the UCC. From my earliest memory I have been an active member of a Congregational church. Sunday school, youth group, choir and assisting in worship were an integral part of my early life and formative years. My Christian faith and the support I felt from my church community were so important to me that it was no surprise that I chose to attend a small Christian college to pursue my undergraduate degree. Barrington College (which later merged with Gordon College in Wenham, MA) was a wonderful extension of my church experience with many opportunities for fellowship, mission work and community service. After graduation, marriage and two children I decided to join Old South Union Church in South Weymouth. The UCC affiliation added a new dimension to my faith journey with a focus on inclusion and matters of social justice. OSU is still my home church today and I have been given numerous opportunities to practice lay leadership skills as a Deacon, chairperson for CE, member of search committees for the Senior Pastor and Director of Christian Education and visioning team leader. It was during my time as a lay leader and after a significant traumatic loss of a spouse that my call to ministry became clear.
The trauma and loss I experienced ignited a passion within me to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and assist others who suffer painful grief, are lonely or who carry burdens of stress in their lives. It took me many years to muster up the courage to attend seminary and I am grateful and blessed to have God’s guidance, the support of my church and family, and wonderful mentors, like my home church pastor, the Reverend Jennie Barrett-Siegal, Reverend Peter Johnston and Reverend Mary Perry to walk this journey of ministry with me. I also have the loving support of my family. I am happily married to my second husband; Anthony and we blended a beautiful family of three adult children, James (36 years old) and father to our first grandchild, Felix (6 months), Alysse (32 years old) and Sandro (23 years old). Sadly, as many of you know, we recently lost our beloved youngest son, Sandro to cancer. God has provided great comfort and strength to us during our time of grief, and we rest in the assurance that Sandro has found heavenly peace with our Savior. Caring for Sandro during his illness and supporting him through his transition to heaven has reignited my passionate commitment to being someone who listens attentively and responds by reflecting Divine love and mercy.
In addition to my life experiences, seminary, and field education, the work I have done to support our local UCC churches has equipped me with valuable tools for ministry. My involvement in worship planning, crafting liturgy, prayers and sermons has prepared me to become an effective worship leader. I have also been blessed to provide pastoral care to members of the churches I have served. This is a particularly important aspect of ministry to me, as the compassionate care I have received during my own times of trial and suffering has helped me through the rough patches of life. It is also deeply significant to me to assist in faith formation, nurturing and caring for a congregation and the weekly “breaking open of the word” in the form of liturgy, prayer, scripture, and message.
Ministry is a second career for me as I have been a Montessori educator for the past thirty years. Teaching has contributed to my preparation for ministry. The innocence and beauty of the young child provides meaningful insights to the importance of being present and in the moment, appreciating everyone for who they are and gleaning with zest gifts and blessings. All these treasures along with many beautiful and lighthearted stories, I bring to my work in ministry.
In closing, I feel as though God has brought me to your door, fulfilling my desire to further my ministry experience in a loving, supportive, and nurturing congregation. I look forward to meeting you all and worshipping with you on Sunday, June 15th. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Search Committee who have supported me and recommended me for the Settled Pastor position at HNCC. Before worship on Father’s Day, I ask for your prayers as it is my hope that the Holy Spirit will guide us to a decision which will bring glory to God and bless us all as we seek to do the work of the Kingdom.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Lori
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Thank you for your support! |
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Schedule
9:00 Festival opens 10:00 Berry Pie contest – Sign up to enter a berry pie (no cost to enter). Bring two of the same pie to the contest (one for the judges and one to be sold). To enter, contact Maureen at [email protected] or 617-669-6349 with the name of your pie by June 18. 10:00-12:00 *Face Painting 12:00 – 2:00 Music by Ron Sheehan – come sing along to your favorites 1:00 Pie eating contest – sign up that day - limited to first 12 – no charge 2:45 Raffle drawing (you do not need to be present to win) 3:00 Festival closes All day events: *Bounce house Vendors (contact Sue at [email protected] or 617-922-1830) by June 10. Homemade Strawberry Shortcake - our signature item! Burgers and Dogs 11:00 – 3:00 Baked Goods featuring strawberry jam and other favorites sweets Red, White and Blue Resale table including Houghs Neck T-shirts and baseball caps *Fresh hot popcorn Raffle – includes scratch ticket board or Red Sox Tickets *Tickets for bounce house, popcorn, face painting required and may also be used at all church sponsored tables except raffle: $1 each 12 for $10 25 for $20. The festival is held rain or shine. Inside church hall if rainy. |
Raffle winners:
Keri Sorensen Carol Hallett Pie Contest Winners: 1st Jean Hawes 2nd Kathy Kennedy 3rd Chris Keating |
Farewell to Pastor Kathleen and Maestro Steve as they retire!
Listening to God
Listening to God Update
Shortly after Pastor Kathleen joined us as our Interim Designated Pastor, she helped us to start looking at where we are headed and what is God calling us to do.
In last year’s Annual Report, Pastor Kathleen laid out our plan for Listening to God so that we could really figure out where our congregation was headed. We followed the outline that she had set forth. Since that time, we have gathered together multiple times; Diven to Enliven was held on March17th, 2024, on Transformational Sunday, where we sat at small tables to focus on the task at hand. Some of the things we deemed important were the “Gloria Factor” that family roots run deep in our history, that we have leadership in our congregation that really leads, and, we have many bonds and connections that help us to use our talents and treasures to build upon helping our community.
During this time together, we realized that our next action step would be to create a small group of people who would be willing to steer some confidential and meaningful conversations with others in our congregation and then a small sampling of others in the community. We realized that when we listen deeply to each, heart to heart, that we are listening to Gods heart.
The members of this newly created group gathered to think about what our conversations would look like. We asked questions like:
We decided we should schedule another Listening to God meeting with the whole congregation as well as some of the community members we had conversations with. Just by coincidence, we scheduled this gathering on the following Transformational Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Of course, as with many of our gatherings, we eat. Many hands contributed to the feast and we all then focused with an activity to get us back in the frame of mind to do some important work. We encouraged all attendees to get up, walk around the room to review, in detail, all the post its created from our conversations during this process. Just as those of us on this committee found, most attendees found the same eye-opening realization of how we are all connected and what is important to us. We encouraged people to add any additional thoughts or the highlight notes that resonated with them. We then tried to digest some of the day by thinking about What do we hear God saying to us as we seek to chart our future.
There have been so many times we all thought we needed to figure out how to keep a Children’s Program going when we do not currently have younger children attending service. We thought that was the only way to grow our congregation. What we finally realized is that dedicating ourselves to the well-being of our current congregation, supporting each other, really listening to each other is where our focus should be as this is our strength. Family roots still run deep in our congregation and we will continue to use our treasures and talents to build up our community and each other. Our congregation is getting older but we are getting bigger. We have had many “new member” Sundays increasing our congregation.
We will share this procedure when we secure a new Pastor and see where this takes us. Nothing is off limits for us because we care deeply for each other and we worship a life-giving God who desires the flourishing of all lives, loving one another as neighbors is central to our identity. We will continue to grow and thrive as we continue to listen to each other stores and share in the good and the not so good.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Flores, Listening to God Committee Member
Shortly after Pastor Kathleen joined us as our Interim Designated Pastor, she helped us to start looking at where we are headed and what is God calling us to do.
In last year’s Annual Report, Pastor Kathleen laid out our plan for Listening to God so that we could really figure out where our congregation was headed. We followed the outline that she had set forth. Since that time, we have gathered together multiple times; Diven to Enliven was held on March17th, 2024, on Transformational Sunday, where we sat at small tables to focus on the task at hand. Some of the things we deemed important were the “Gloria Factor” that family roots run deep in our history, that we have leadership in our congregation that really leads, and, we have many bonds and connections that help us to use our talents and treasures to build upon helping our community.
During this time together, we realized that our next action step would be to create a small group of people who would be willing to steer some confidential and meaningful conversations with others in our congregation and then a small sampling of others in the community. We realized that when we listen deeply to each, heart to heart, that we are listening to Gods heart.
The members of this newly created group gathered to think about what our conversations would look like. We asked questions like:
- What does your best life look like?
- What pressure are you or your loved ones experiencing?
- What keeps you up at night?
- What are your deepest hopes?
- What energizes you?
We decided we should schedule another Listening to God meeting with the whole congregation as well as some of the community members we had conversations with. Just by coincidence, we scheduled this gathering on the following Transformational Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Of course, as with many of our gatherings, we eat. Many hands contributed to the feast and we all then focused with an activity to get us back in the frame of mind to do some important work. We encouraged all attendees to get up, walk around the room to review, in detail, all the post its created from our conversations during this process. Just as those of us on this committee found, most attendees found the same eye-opening realization of how we are all connected and what is important to us. We encouraged people to add any additional thoughts or the highlight notes that resonated with them. We then tried to digest some of the day by thinking about What do we hear God saying to us as we seek to chart our future.
There have been so many times we all thought we needed to figure out how to keep a Children’s Program going when we do not currently have younger children attending service. We thought that was the only way to grow our congregation. What we finally realized is that dedicating ourselves to the well-being of our current congregation, supporting each other, really listening to each other is where our focus should be as this is our strength. Family roots still run deep in our congregation and we will continue to use our treasures and talents to build up our community and each other. Our congregation is getting older but we are getting bigger. We have had many “new member” Sundays increasing our congregation.
We will share this procedure when we secure a new Pastor and see where this takes us. Nothing is off limits for us because we care deeply for each other and we worship a life-giving God who desires the flourishing of all lives, loving one another as neighbors is central to our identity. We will continue to grow and thrive as we continue to listen to each other stores and share in the good and the not so good.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Flores, Listening to God Committee Member
Calling All Who Love to Sing!
Both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionaries define a choir as an organized company of singers. Neither state that you have to be able to read music, have perfect pitch or an amazing voice. The Houghs Neck Congregational Church choir welcomes anyone who loves to sing. Each Wednesday evening from September through May, our talented director Steve Reed works with us going over individual parts until we are comfortable with them then magically combines our voices and voila - we have a four-part anthem for our Sunday service!
So, if you love to sing, give us a try. We meet at the Church (310 Manet Avenue, Quincy, MA 02169) Wednesday evenings from 6:00-7:30 PM then again at 9:30 AM Sunday mornings to prepare for the 10:00 AM Worship Service.
Please join the choir when they resume in the fall.
Both the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionaries define a choir as an organized company of singers. Neither state that you have to be able to read music, have perfect pitch or an amazing voice. The Houghs Neck Congregational Church choir welcomes anyone who loves to sing. Each Wednesday evening from September through May, our talented director Steve Reed works with us going over individual parts until we are comfortable with them then magically combines our voices and voila - we have a four-part anthem for our Sunday service!
So, if you love to sing, give us a try. We meet at the Church (310 Manet Avenue, Quincy, MA 02169) Wednesday evenings from 6:00-7:30 PM then again at 9:30 AM Sunday mornings to prepare for the 10:00 AM Worship Service.
Please join the choir when they resume in the fall.
