Dear Church,
As I write, I’m listening to many loud noises coming from our social hall— the beautiful sound of contractors working hard to make our dream into a reality. We’re a little over a month into the renovation of our Social Hall, Kitchen, and West Clifton entrance, and I love watching and learning about the process. The first half of August was focused on asbestos abatement and demolition, and now we’re seeing a lot of framing and preparation. Our general contractor, Fortney and Weygandt, has been very on top of things, and we meet as a team every Thursday morning for progress updates and problem-solving. One thing I’m learning is that there is much more happening than what we can see, including everything that goes into coordinating the constantly evolving pieces related to schedules, supplies, permits, regulations, lead times, and everything else. So it is with most things in our lives, right? Many of us can relate to the phrase “coordinating the constantly evolving pieces.”
I continue to be truly grateful for the commitment of our congregation that is making this project possible. Your financial gifts are a true blessing, and your patience and encouragement makes all the difference.
As we head into the Fall, it’s true that we’re “coordinating the constantly evolving pieces.” Rachel is preparing classrooms for Sunday morning Faith Formation and our Haynes Preschool teachers are preparing their classrooms to receive 46 preschoolers for the 2024-2025 school year. The Music Office has been seeing some change too, now that the transitions in our Music Ministries are resolved and we’ve welcomed Craig to our team as our new Director of Music Ministries. We are also seeking the right furniture for our Library/Archives room, to help us finalize and celebrate all the hard work that has gone into reconfiguring that space next to our Sanctuary.
So far, these updates have a big focus on our physical building, and I haven’t even covered everything. I celebrated 12 years of ordained ministry a couple weeks ago, and I am continually amazed by how much of pastoral ministry has to do with building maintenance. The thing is, it’s never *really* about the building. It’s about creating and maintaining spaces in which we can be the Body of Christ. In these spaces we learn and discern, tell stories and listen to one another, make music and make meals, document our history and start new projects, and we charge our batteries and practice faithful discipleship so we can embody our mission out in the world.
There are a couple of things related to “coordinating the constantly evolving pieces” that I want to be sure to share in this letter. One big piece is that, after a lot of prayerful discernment, we’ve decided to take a hiatus from our monthly community meal until the renovation is complete and we’ve had a chance to settle in. Our last meal for now will be October 3rd. The timing is good because this month St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (across the street) is resuming their monthly meal this month after taking their own hiatus. It is a blessing that we can pass the baton for a season, knowing our siblings across the street will continue to serve our community, which allows us to reflect, regroup, and consider the next steps. Our Community Meal ministry has been incredibly important to LCC for decades, and this is not the end; it is simply a pause.
Shifting topics, we have also been reevaluating our communication strategy, especially looking at our different newsletters. You will notice this edition of The Columns says “September, October, and November.” Now that we send an email every Saturday evening with worship information and other news, there is a lot of repetition in our monthly Columns Newsletter. We are testing out the idea of a seasonal newsletter like this one rather than a monthly newsletter to accompany the weekly email updates. This is not necessarily a permanent decision, but we want to try it out and see what people think. Please do continue to send information to include in our weekly emails or to put on our website. We’re grateful for the support of Laurel Steinetz, a communications consultant, who has been helping our staff and Executive Team to brainstorm about communication.
One more thing I want to note, for now, is that we are preparing to begin a new Confirmation year, and we will have more information to share on that topic very soon. THANK YOU for your patience.
I love being your pastor, and am grateful to be on the journey of “coordinating the constantly evolving pieces” of life and ministry with all of you, one day at a time.
With Gratitude,
Pastor Joanna