A Halloween Glow at Plymouth Congregational

The sharp autumn night made for the perfect backdrop as three dozen jack-o-lanterns were placed on a giant display in the front lawn of Plymouth Congregational Church on Pleasant Street as folks got a jump start on Halloween with a pumpkin glow on Sunday, Oct. 27.

The town-wide event – these holiday "glows" are popular in the midwest – brought together kids and adults to carve out Halloween jacks on the day Plymouth Congregational greeted their new pastor.

With baby in tow, Rev. Joseph Zarro and his wife welcomed participants to the proceedings.

"I was nervous but it went very well," Zarro said of his very first sermon, which focused on the congregation and him being on a journey together but also feeding and serving "our neighbors." 

A graduate from Harvard Divinity School – who served as a minister for a local food pantry and was a co-founder of a non-profit which raised education funding for organic school gardens – Zarro came from pastoral duties at United Church of the Valley in Murietta, Calif. 

"An event like this is partly to support families in the area, celebrate the festivities of the season and, really, just getting together in community. I'm looking to make Plymouth an outwards facing church, to help serve the community at large," he said.

Besides being easy going and enjoys playing music, Zarro said he is a big fan of craft beers. So it must have been some divine intervention that he was sent to a church located a block from one of the best artisan beer stores in the country.

"I want to do a noel or theology on tap where you get together, drink craft beer and talk about God," said Zarro.