Rest in Your church

Peace be with you all, our beloved church family! Thank you for your prayers and support as I attended the Spiritual Formation Academy in Arizona (9/22–26). In the desert, God spoke to me in many ways. Three years ago, God confirmed my calling through His Word and through pastors and their wives. This time, they invited me again, and I felt the strong presence of the Holy Spirit—comforting me and giving me strength. I can’t wait to share more about it with you! I’ve included my testimony from the retreat below. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to send a weekly letter last week—I was on the airplane. So here are both last week’s and this week’s sermons and services. On September 16 , the Aroostook Cluster breakfast was held in Presque Isle. We welcomed two new pastors: Rev. Benjamin Daggett (Caribou UMC) and Rev. Nicholas Perez (Presque Isle UMC). Please also mark your calendars—the Fall Music Cluster Service will be on November 9 at Houlton UMC, with worship dance, children’s and adults’ han...

Good morning, church! It is such a blessing to be here with you today. I want to share a message that is very close to my heart—the goodness of God. Now, let's be honest: when life is hard, when the world feels heavy, when we carry wounds from the past... sometimes it’s hard to believe that there is truly any good in our world. But the Word of God assures us again and again—He is present and always our Abba Father, loving us and helping us. Today, we're going to see how God's goodness shows up in four key areas of our lives. 1. God’s Goodness in Our Pain Jeremiah 29:11 says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Now, these words weren’t spoken to people on a mountaintop. They spoke to God’s people in exile , when everything looked broken. And sometimes that’s exactly where God’s goodness finds us—in the middle of our pain. By the time I was 13, I knew...

I was born in 1938 in Danforth, Maine. My faith story begins when I was a little girl, about six or seven years old. It started with my grandmother. She was the one who planted the seed of faith in me. She took me to services for children, sometimes at the YMCA or wherever they were held. She was also the one who taught me to knit, and I often think about how the threads of yarn she placed in my hands were like the threads of faith she wove into my heart. A Young Faith Takes Root When I was young, I attended the Nazarene Church. I joined the choir and sang with joy, and I also taught Sunday School. That was in the 1950s, and those early experiences helped me grow strong in my walk with God. A Faith That Expands As a teenager, I made some changes in my life. I left high school just before graduation and moved to Florida to live with my aunt. At first, I didn’t go to church often. But the second time I went back to Florida, I became more involved. My aunt had moved to a different...

Pick up Choir    Stetson Memorial UMC Newsletter September 15, 2025 Praise the Lord! God has richly blessed our church:sd Pick-Up Choir brought joyful music. Anyone interested, please let Mary Flanagan know.  Testimony was shared by Sharon Batchelder . "It Is No Secret What God Can Do"  A prayer shawl was presented to Ross Gowen during yesterday’s service. Pastor shared the second sermon in the series “My Psalm” titled “ Happy Are Those .” Watch the full service here: YouTube Link        Tea Party!  Thank you for all your help and support! We raised $ 1500.00 for the food pantry!  We all sold 80 tickets!!  Thank you, all volunteers!      Happy Birthday! 🎂 Ross Gowen – Sept 5 Jeanne Smallwood – Sept 7 Lee Wheaton – Sep 16 River - Sept 17 Blessings on another year of life and faith! Leadership Retreat 📅 This Wednesday, Sept. 17 | 12:00–3:00 pm We will enjoy a potluck meal togethe...

My name is Sharon Batchelder, and I was born in Danforth, Maine. When I look back over my life, I see pain and hardship, but I also see the faithfulness of God. My story is not always easy to tell, but it is a testimony of how God has carried me, healed me, and given me hope.   Childhood and Early Struggles When I was only eight months old, my stepfather threw me down a flight of stairs. That fall left me with lasting damage. My whole right side was affected, almost as if I had a stroke. It took me sixteen years just to learn how to tie my own shoes. My stepfather was an alcoholic. He drank constantly, and with the drinking came anger, cruelty, and abuse. My mother had twelve children, though one died at birth. That left eleven of us growing up together, and life was not easy. My mother was afraid of my stepfather. I don’t know why she married him, but she did, and the fear never left her. He was a hard, cruel man. He abused us, and worse, he even harmed my older sister i...

After Denise's Powerful testimony, all church members came to her and prayed for her ✨ God’s Amazing Story in Denise Jutras’s Life What a wonderful testimony we shared yesterday through Denise Jutras’s life! I was so moved to see all our church members gather around her, praying with tears. That’s who we are— the Stetson Memorial Church family! 📖 Denise’s Testimony: Amazing Grace  (Full version Script)                                         Testimony video 🎤 Sermon: The Psalms, God’s Poem — Theopoetry 🌿 A New Sermon Series: The Psalms After finishing our “A New Journey” series, we now turn to the Psalms for the next two months. 👉 Why don’t we begin reading one chapter of Psalms each day as our prayer? 📅 Upcoming Events & Announcements Sept. 11 • Weekly Bible Study – 9:30 a.m. • Worship Committee Meeting – 11:00 a.m. followed by a potluck luncheon  S...

Bertrand Laurence played guitar for her testimony All church members came to her and to pray for her 9/7/25 A new day, a new beginning, a new blessing, a new hope. That is what my testimony will be—sharing what my life was like, what happened before God’s intervention, and how my life is today.   Growing Up I was born and raised in a city in Massachusetts, in a French neighborhood and schooling. Everything looked good on the outside, but behind closed doors it was another world. At home, my father was very strict. At the dinner table, we weren’t allowed to laugh or even speak. Punishments could be harsh. I remember being hit with a Navy belt or forced to kneel in a closet for an hour. My two older siblings left home as soon as they could, leaving me and my younger sister behind. By six years old, I had my first drink. By twelve, I was drinking and using drugs. By fourteen, I was hanging out with a gang. Anything to numb the pain. Much of my childhood is missing from...

  The Combined choir and bands         What a blessing to have a combined service with 103 people in our four churches!! We were blessed with the combined choir, band, handbell choir, worship dance, puppet show, and sweet fellowship. We are one family in one Spirit! What a blessing to have Pastor Kwan Lee, Helen Woods, and Shirley with us. What a blessing to welcome families we have been praying for a long time. What a blessing to have Jeanie Goode with us, even as her husband passed away yesterday morning. We could not count all the blessings God poured out today! Thank you for coming and being part of this special day! Personally, it seemed like my family reunion—with the original family in three churches and the new family in Patten! I’m so grateful we could worship all together. We are one family You can watch the service here:  Facebook Video Link  and read the message here:  Sermon Blog . Combined Church Conference 📍 Saturday, September 6,...