In this Issue
January 2006

FROM THE PASTOR'S DESK
Communication is key
By Rev. John Wild

My mother’s voice still rings in my ears – “Son, you have a good memory, but it’s short!” With that in mind, I think back over the many years that the Brookfield Citizen has been an important part of our community, and beyond. I do remember some things of note.

I remember the initial gatherings of a group of people who met for several months to think about how Brookfield, as a community, could develop a better way of communicating information to its citizens. This need for better communication had been spoken of over and over again in the results of a town survey. That group, which took on the name A.P.P.L.E. Seed (Average People Promoting a Loving Environment,) came up with the idea of a community newspaper to meet that expressed need. The first issues (which were printed at the office of the Brookfield Congregational Church on Lincoln Street) were, as printing goes, a pretty basic beginning for what has become a vital and very attractive means of communication for all of us in town. But the Brookfield Citizen had been born, and thanks to the first editors, printers, and folders, it got off the ground. I particularly remember Ted Davis and Diane Martell, who both did a great deal to make this paper a reality back then.

This is the season of Christmas and Epiphany, when God “communicates” with the people of earth the message of peace and love. The key word here is “communication.” Had the Word not been conveyed to us, how bleak and hopeless life would be. Jesus came as the Word – hinting that the key to our knowing that we are loved by God and that we are never forgotten, no matter what, is communication. Jesus is that communication of God’s love.

I hope every citizen reads each issue of The Brookfield Citizen, and every once in a while, at least, thanks all who participate in making it a real means of communication that is so essential for people who live together – whether in a family or in a community. And, expressing such thanks is fitting in this season of Epiphany when the word of hope and joy is proclaimed. May all of us do our individual part in communicating love and peace in our time.

Rev. John Wild is pastor of the Brookfield Congregational Church.

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