New Pastor Takes Pulpit at Windsor Congregational
 Photos by Noah Hoffenberg
The Rev. Sandy Racette, who prefers 'Pastor Sandy,' is also a teacher in the North Adams Public Schools. |
She also prays for the rest of the city's officials. "I pray for guidance for them in these difficult situations," said Racette of the city's financial straits. Most important, however, for Racette, the new pastor of Windsor Congregational Church, is whom she prays for before the start of school each day.
"They have really firm rules about not discussing issues of faith in the school. But what I do, and have done for several years, is before the day starts, I will sit at the desk of one or more of my students who I know are struggling, or students that I just feel a need for, and I'll sit at that desk and pray for them," said Racette, who worked at Conte Middle School until its closure this year. "I'm not impinging my faith on anyone; I'm simply asking God to watch out for this child today and to help him or her with something they might be facing."
It is this intensity of belief that Racette, formerly of Adams, brings to her ministry at the Windsor church, which she took over earlier this month after the retirement of the longtime Rev. Levi Davenport, 80, of Dalton, who led the congregation for 22 years.
Already Familiar
The church isn't new to Racette, 47, of Windsor. She was the assistant pastor at Windsor Congregational in the run-up to her becoming its pastor, and she considers Davenport to be her mentor and spiritual guide. And, as one might expect from someone whose life is bound by faith, Racette said her arrival at the church was willed by God.
She said she had known Davenport for years, doing Bible study together and filling in occasionally for him when he was away. And then, "God just just really moved in a very strange way."
"I was living in the center of Adams and looking for a place out of town a little bit, and I knew that he was no longer living in the parsonage; he was just using it as an office. So about two years ago, I called him up, and said, 'I was wondering if you were interested in renting the parsonage.' And he said, 'That's funny; I was just wondering if you were interested in somehow connecting here with the church.' And the next thing I knew, my [then] teenage daughter and I were living in the parsonage. And I had become the assistant pastor here."
Davenport had been planning to transition out of a leadership role at the church, Racette said.
"And it was just a perfect fit. God just had this laid out so clearly," said Racette, who received her ministry license last summer in the Congregational Church.
Sweeping Changes
Racette's daughter is now 20 and lives in North Adams. And Racette herself is newly married as of the beginning of July. Davenport gave his final sermon on July 5, and Racette has been leading the flock since. "It's been a whirlwind for these last few weeks especially," she said.
While anchored to her beliefs now, that wasn't always the case. She was raised in a Catholic home and rebelled as a teenager.
"My life took some really bad directions for a number of years. And I like to tell people that I've been walking with the Lord since May of 1994. However, I can tell you that for 30 years before that, he was running full-tilt behind me slapping me in the back of the head, saying, 'Turn around, I'm right here.'"
For some people, salvation comes gradually, said Racette. "And for me, it was one shining instant. One really, really bad Tuesday night in May 1994, I just hit my knees on my kitchen floor and immediately knew that he was there with me, and was going to straighten things out right along with me. I still had to do the work, but he was right there with me."
Congregationalism
Congregationalism is autonomous, said Racette, meaning that local churches don't report to any higher authority other than God.
 Photo by Kirsten Lewis
Windsor Congregational Church on Route 9.
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"We don't have a bishop; we don't have a pope or anything like that. There's not a hierarchy," said Racette. "We make decisions here in this church, by ourselves, for ourselves. We decide amongst ourselves how we want the service to look, what we want to be studying. And our only guidelines are we talk about faith, we talk about freedom, and we talk about fellowship. Those are our tenets."
Congregationalists believe that all Scripture is divinely inspired, said Racette, and comes directly from God.
Racette would like to grow the Windsor flock, and has been holding monthly events every second Saturday, called 'Dinner and a Movie," at which local folks gather at the Town Hall next door for a potluck and film with good family and/or Christian values to it.
In her sermons, she aims to make modern connections to the ancient text, and calls herself "Pastor Sandy," which is more colloquial and emblematic of the close relationship she shares with churchgoers.
"In the Congregational Church, I am entitled to use reverend. For my money, reverend just sounds kind of formal. I could be Reverend Sandra Racette. I'm more comfortable just being Pastor Sandy. I like being on a first-name basis with my congregation. We're a small group. But we're an extended family, and it feels right."
Welcome Back
These are just a few of efforts among others to bring people back into the religious fold. Right now, the church has a membership of 65, and about 15 come on Sundays for services, with a hope of having more children join the flock.
"A lot of people have shied away from church, especially in the past 20 or 30 years. [They say,] 'Oh, I do my own thing; I worship on my own.' People weren't meant to worship on their own. That's not to say you shouldn't have your solitary prayer time, your Bible study and things that go with that. But we're really meant to have fellowship, to support each other."
In these hard economic times, the Windsor Congregational Church has been reaching out to help the less fortunate, by donating time, money and energy to the Louison House Family Life Support Center in Adams. The church stays in contact with the shelter on a weekly or biweekly basis, and addresses needs accordingly.
Recent fundraising efforts procured pillows for residents there and the church threw an ice cream social at the house last weekend. Especially these days, Racette wants people to know that heavenly authority isn't some distant concept. She said God is personal, and that there is plenty of divine adoration to go around.
"People need to know that God loves them. People don't know that," she said, adding that the 10 Commandments can be a great guide, as they are every bit as valuable as they've ever been. "They're basic common sense if nothing else, and they're directions on how to live a good life."
"We spend a lot of our time talking about the New Testament, about Jesus' life, his ministry, his miracles, and what he left us with, but we also need to take into account the Old Testament, when life was harder and life was different.
"Jesus is coming again, and that's what people need to keep first and foremost in the mind."
Windsor Congregational Church is in need of some tender loving care, and the church has been holding ongoing work bees to fix it up. To volunteer, call Racette at 413-684-2805.
Have hilltown news? Contact Noah Hoffenberg at hoff1013@gmail.com.
