The Warden's & Vestry Page
Your Kingdom Come
Rick, Bob, Ted, Bruce, Jeff, Leon and I attended the 143rd Diocesan Convention on Friday November 18 & Saturday November 19.
The theme of the Convention was “Your Kingdom Come”. For me, this theme rang loud during and after the Convention. When we think of this theme we tend to think of some future time (eternity perhaps). Bishop Skip Adams gave a few examples of the Kingdom of God:
- Finding something you never thought you would
- Food to flood victims
- Finding the renewal to keep living
- Praying for safe return of soldiers & enemies
- Challenging an economic system that favors the rich
- New medical procedures
The list can go on and on.
This moment is part of eternity. Since Bishop Adams made this statement I’ve thought about it multiple times since. This moment is part of eternity. He closed by saying it’s not the strongest or the smartest that have survived all the years, it’s those that are most adaptive to change.
Certainly Church of the Resurrection is being very adaptive to change. Our creativeness is allowing us to make the most of this moment in time. Our outreach continues to gain more and more momentum. It’s the passion of many members of our Church and of our Faith Partners.
St. George’s Episcopal Church in Durham, NH seems to also understand that this moment is indeed part of eternity. The last written word in their bulletin reads “THE WORSHIP HAS ENDED – THE SERVICE HAS BEGUN”
Your Kingdom of God is here today, how can we enrich it?
Your Junior Warden,
Mark
Senior Warden Bob Sarkissian Reports from the Warden’s Desk
Take a Deep Breath!
Literally, take a deep breath. Then look back on the past few months. Think of where we were in July. Most Sundays were Morning Prayer because of a lack of supply Priests. We were won- dering how long it was going to be like that. Then we heard of the possibility of a Lutheran Pastor interested in our partnership. While we would have liked to have had an Episcopalian, we looked back on a year of having Pastor Bruce lead us in worship for about half of the time and thought “This could work out, too.” So we met Pastor Klafehn and we liked him.
Remember the work we accomplished in August? All of a sudden, we had one month to completely re-do the rectory. We arranged for a work party (party?) and dug in. It quickly became obvious that there was more work to do than could be done on a volunteer basis, so the decision was made to hire professionals to take over. That was the proper decision, and if you got the opportunity to attend the open house in October, you saw first-hand how amazing the rectory looks now.
Keep in mind September. Pastor Rick began his new position and dove right in. We had the joint service at Prince of Peace, then our first service at Resurrection. The attendance for that service was very encouraging. I thought to myself, “This is going to work out just fine!” And so far, it has.
When we got to October, we were looking forward to the open house hosted by Pastor Rick and Dianne. As I said before, the rectory looks amazing. Beyond the paint on the walls, it is wonder- fully decorated and has a very “homey” feel to it. Then the following week was the installation. What an honor it was to have not just one, but two Bishops present. The celebration of the ministry was well done.
At the same time, we engaged in our annual pledge campaign. Probably because of all that has been going on in getting the partnership up and running, the pledge campaign got off to a late start. Ted put together a program and the results have been good. As always, the parishioners have responded.
Does this mean that everything is good? No it doesn’t. There are still some issues that we need to resolve going forward. Right now we have the luxury of having the second service on the Sundays that Pastor Klafehn is in Oswego. That means that we do not have to be very concerned about the length of our service. But that could change after the New Year begins. If we become the first service, we will have to shorten our service to approximately one hour. That gives Pastor about 1⁄2 hour to greet people as they are leaving, then get to Grace for the next service. We can do several things to help. We can sing fewer verses to hymns, we could eliminate the fraction anthem, we can pass the Peace only to our immediate neighbors and not wander all over the church, while only pass- ing the Peace, not idle chat that is better suited to coffee hour. If we start adjusting in little ways now, if the need comes to limit ourselves in service length, we will be able to do it. If you have any sug- gestions to help in this matter, please speak to any Vestry member or a Warden.
We have just about finished our pledge campaign for 2012. We have had very good re- sponse and the tentative budget (to be voted on Nov. 17) is in good shape. Thank you to all who have pledged your support to our church. Now we need your help in another pledging manner. There are several people who are significantly behind in their 2011 pledge. The year is coming quickly to a close. The budget for this year was drawn up counting on the money that was pledged, as it is every year. Therefore, when someone doesn’t honor their pledge, we have to take the money from another source. I understand that we are in challenging economic times and circumstances may be different than when you initially pledged. If for whatever reason you are unable to complete your pledge, please let me know. All such information is kept in the strictest confidence. If you are able to com- plete your pledge, or have already completed it, thank you. Please keep in mind that for any money donated to be counted as a deduction for this year’s taxes, it must be received by Thursday, December 29.
Thank you for your support,
Bob
I can do all
things through
Christ who
strengthens me.
Junior Warden Mark Nice Reports
I’d like to update the congregation on the status of the Rectory.
During the call process, Pastor Klafehn and his wife Dianne decided to make the Rectory their home.
Pastor Bruce has spent many hours working in the Rectory yard.
An evaluation of the Rectory was completed and a punch list was established. Based on the committed move-in date for the Klafehn’s and after their color choices were selected, a plan of action was established.
- Saturday volunteer work days were scheduled to begin cleaning & painting the Rectory.
- It soon became apparent we would not make the scheduled deadline.
- We hired two painting contractors (one contractor & crew upstairs and one contractor & crew downstairs). Besides painting, these contractors patched walls/ceilings & stripped wallpaper.
- We continued to clean the rectory ahead of the painters, stripped wallpaper in the study and completed other punch list items in order to minimize cost.
- Despite hiring the painting contractors we were forced to delay the Klafehn’s move-in date by one week.
- We contracted Oswego Quality Carpet to replace the vinyl in the mud room, kitchen, butler’s pantry, downstairs ½ bath and two bathrooms upstairs. They also installed new shoe molding. This was completed 9/7.
- We contracted J&K to remedy the low water pressure and to repair fixtures throughout the Rectory. This work should be completed by the end of September.
- The downstairs painters have completed their work.
- The upstairs painters have completed their work.
- Outside of front door is stained.
Future work to be completed in Fall:
- Poly-urethane front door
- Power wash & paint front porch area
- To protect interior painting work:
- Scrape, prime, paint & caulk outside window trim (48 windows!) to conserve energy & avoid future water damage
- Complete re-screening of damaged screens
If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Thanks to all who have volunteered their time to vastly improve the condition of the rectory.
Thanks to Rick & Dianne for their patience & understanding along the way.
Sincerely,
Mark & Kathy
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me