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August 25, 2022It has been a busy summer for the parish staff. I am grateful for the work that Charlie, Jennifer, and Steven do. A lot of ministry work is hidden and the efforts at preparation and planning are only seen when the year starts and suddenly there are events and programs that launch. I am also grateful to involved volunteers who have been planning and getting ready for the fall. Our first big effort will be to be a presence at “Move in Day” at Salem State University. For first year students, the day is filled with nervousness and excitement. We hope to welcome the students and offer them a place that they can come to as a spiritual home and place of community. We hope to have a good group to meet and help on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend (9/3). We will have more information in the website.
The programs that we plan to begin this fall are the Alpha course, the marriage course, faith formation, and an opportunity to join a small group for study. Coming in November, we plan to roll out a parish-wide service project that will send people to various sites and agencies around the city to offer assistance in some way. It can be as known as service at Lifebridge or helping someone to rake the leaves on their lawn. After this workday, we hope to gather for a meal and reflect on the experience with others to help us to understand how the love of God inspires us to this type of work and is present in the most humble exercises of charitable love. We will have more on this as the days approach.
We are also planning to roll out a vision statement and some goals for this coming year and into the future. I am grateful to people who bring their expertise to the parish. I think this is one clear and very gracious way God helps us. One of the lessons I have learned is that we have all that we need to be a successful parish. We just need to continue to call upon the Holy Spirit to guide us and continually ask God what He wants and try to do his will as well as possible.
We welcomed through baptism Kayla J Jacobs, Nora R. Crawford, and Tadgh A, Conway. Congratulations to their parents. We continue to celebrate the love of God being made evidenced in our parish and I am grateful to all those who are praying that the Holy Spirit continue to be poured out on us.
Congratulations also to Michael and Leah-An Legere who were married this past weekend in our church. Congratulations also to Christian Mekongo and Jurelis Santos who were married on the 6th.
Building news: The mural restoration will take place in October. The company that is coming has assured me that they will take no more than two weeks. The scaffolding will go on the 17th, the work will be done, and then the scaffolding will come down in time for November 1st and the weddings that are held that month. Depending in the scaffolding, we may need to go to St. James for a weekend. The other project that will be starting soon is the sanding and re-staining of the side doors. The ramp entrance doors will be done first and then the parking lot side doors will be done. We also had a contractor come to give a price for the repair of the failing sandstone on the front of the building. I am grateful to people who have made donations to accomplish these works.
