Serving the Community

By Jude Mead
Navigating life post-pandemic has been a struggle for many, including Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational. Just before Covid-19 struck, the church had restructured its committees into what are now known as teams. Since the pandemic, church members have been searching for ways to better help serve the community. One group, the Fellowship and Growth Team, has specifically decided that its mission will be to create events and projects that bring the community together.  
 

Norfolk’s Kristin Mudge is the team leader; the full team includes Erick Olsen, Liz Allyn, Tina Olsen, Leslie Battis, Nancy Herzig, Eileen Fitzgibbons, Debbie Storrs and Jan Graham-Jones. “As we come out of the pandemic, our team and the church as a whole are searching for the way forward,” says Mudge. “We know that we want to serve the community and are eager to get feedback from residents as to
how we can best do that in addition to housing the Norfolk Food Pantry and the Clothing Closet.”.

During the pandemic, her team joined the Missions and Social Justice Team and Rev. Shelley Best, an artist from Redeemer’s Church in Hartford, to arrange for the skin-toned chairs that sit on the church’s front lawn. The idea was to give people a place to sit and chat, emphasizing the message that people of every color are welcome. They also created a drive-through Christmas light display complete with a holiday message via the car radio.
 
Mudge and her team continue to search for ways to enhance the Norfolk community and have organized several events featuring music and art. They have invited talented area artists to perform during special Sunday afternoon church services. Performers have included Andrew Thomson on organ and marimba, Meg Hill on the violin and the puppet artistry of Susan Aziz.

The team also arranged for a number of concerts, held in the town’s historic Battell Chapel. These included several evenings of line dancing with The Grantville Dawgs band to raise money for the food pantry and the church’s steeple campaign. 

 
Recalls Mudge, “We also had Garet & Co., a dance company that my niece directs, and we hosted the Happy Tappers from Southbury, a group of tap dancers aged 55 to 83.” 
 
The team’s most recent program featured singer and instrumentalist Teryn Kuzma. Kuzma held the audience’s rapt attention as she sang Ukrainian poetry and operatic pieces and played the 55-stringed Ukrainian instrument, the bandura. Mudge described it best, saying, “Most of these performances were truly world-class, and all of them ended with people feeling like they had shared something special and
out of the ordinary.”
 
Mudge and her team hope to continue along these lines but admit that it is a work-in-progress as they build a new identity.  “We really like this trajectory and want to provide meaningful experiences for people. The way we will do that is still to be determined. And there are lots of other meaningful things happening at the church as well! The Green Team and the Social Justice and Missions Team are actively responding to many of the concerns of the time.”

There will be a concert in the church at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 11, made up of combined choirs from Norfolk, Falls Village and Cornwall, with a reception to follow. In the summer, peaceful and meditative outdoor services will be held at Haystack Mountain on Sunday mornings at 8:30 a.m., in addition to the 10 a.m. services in the church. “We welcome anyone to join us at any time,” invites Mudge.