Are we being Hospitable?
Good question. Most congregations think of themselves as good practitioners of hospitality. But there's always room for improvement. Breeze, our online church management software, provides helpful ministry hints. You can find some here.
Christmas Message from Bishop Eaton
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton shares her 2018 Christmas message. "We are free to greet this holy season knowing that Christ’s cradle defeats the grave. Life and healing and hope come to us in the child in the manger." You can view Bishop Eaton's message here.
Advent Worship
The second of our Advent worship services was held Wednesday evening. We are using Holden Evening Prayer, and our messages center around the them "Light in the Darkness." This week's them was "In the Darkness of Suffering, There Is the Light of Life" and was a reflection on John 1:1-18. Next week our third and final theme will be "In The Darkness of Oppression, There Is the Light of Salvation," a reflection on the firs verses of the Christmas Gospel, Luke 2:1-7.
Confirmation youth go caroling and deliver Christmas trees
Last Wednesday, confirmation youth decorated some miniature Christmas trees, and this Wednesday they delivered them to some of our home-bound members. We combined the tree delivery with some Christmas caroling, which is always well received and appreciated. This was done following Advent worship. Prior to worship at 6:30, youth and mentors had their second mentoring session.
Welcome Kristen!
We have a new Office Manager! Her name is Kristin Rhineberger, and although she is a Bellevue native, she currently lives in Norwalk. The Executive Team interviewed her on Monday morning, the third person to interview for the position. After the interview the ET voted unanimously to offer the position to Kristen. Her first day in the office was Thursday, and her hours will be 8am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, with an hour off over the lunch hour.
Kristen's first days
So far, Kristen has worked two days, and I have spent a fair amount of time showing her what I know about the St. John's office, which revolves mostly around computer based things like Google Docs, Sundays and Seasons, Dropbox, and Breeze. She successfully entered last weekend's offering into Breeze, and today I assigned her to do Saturday's bulletin while I worked on the Sunday version. We will be moving the bulletin from Publisher to Word, as Kristen is more familiar with that program. If you are available during Kristen's hours, be sure to stop in and welcome her and introduce yourself!
Safe is very safe
I have to say that the St. John's safe is very safe. So safe, in fact, that not even St. John's members are able to open it. Terri has been the key opener of the safe, and knows the combination and special skills it takes to get the beast open. But with her current unavailability, we SJ office peeps are scratching our heads, Dave Herman came in today, and had it open once, but was unable to repeat the process using the known or assumed combination and required numbers of turns left and right. We did get out what we needed to when it was open, but currently this case is more shut than it is open. Stay tuned for the next episode of "As the Safe Combination Knob Turns."
Interim Pastors Meeting
On Thursday afternoon I traveled to Synod Office for our monthly Interim Pastors meeting -- which was our first meeting since October, as the November meeting was called because of icy road conditions. Our normal meeting date is the third Thursday, but this month we met a week earlier to avoid the Christmas rush next week. Our next meeting is scheduled for January 17, 2019.
Terri in Hospital
Most of you know that Terri has been in the hospital since Tuesday. She will likely be there into and possibly through the weekend. Keep her in your prayers..
New Monitors in the office
The computer monitors in the church office were quite small by today's standards, and were also a bit on the dim side. I noticed a good sale at Staples, and so I purchased 3 24" LED monitors, one for Kristen, one for Shaun, and one for the pastor's office. One monitor was donated, and the congregation purchased the other two for $130 each for a total expense of $260, which will be a budgeted office expense. The office is still in need of some upgrades, primarily in operating systems (Windows 10) and network connectivity.
Willows Visits
On Wednesday I visited our members at The Willows - our centenarians Ruth and Hazel, and also Beth, Betty and Carol. After visiting Beth, as I was walking down the hall I noticed a familiar name by one of the rooms. Norma V. is now at The Willows, so I stopped to visit. This was my first visit with Norma. I got the impression that she arrived only recently, and don't know if this is a rehab stay for her, or if she will be there long term. Either way, I put her on my Willows list.
Shepherd's Fund
I received a request from one of the preschool teachers, who learned that one of her kid's households was experiencing some financial difficulty with a recent job change, and was looking at a utility shutoff. Through the Shepherd's Fund, we helped this family avoid the looming shutoff. We certainly hope that better days are ahead for this family.
What Are Your Passions?
Bishop Daniel asks this question in his weekly email message. You can read his message in its entirety here.
No comments:
Post a Comment