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Christ Church's 2004 Annual Pledge Campaign
Religious Education & Church School News
Christ Church's 2004
Annual Pledge Campaign
“...to
achieve one hundred percent participation
in the joyful giving of our time, money
and talents so that we can fulfill
our mission and ministry to the Parish,
Diocese and Community...”
Keeping the Faith — Joining
the Dance
This
year, we are responding to your desire
expressed at our Special Parish Meeting,
for home visits to discuss our mission,
ministry and budget. October is the
time for those visits. You can be enormously
helpful in this effort by prayerfully
considering your financial support of
Christ Church.
I heard a story
on National Public Radio that I want
to share with you. Two small town pastors
were relaxing and debriefing on Easter
Monday. The Lutheran Pastor and the
Roman Catholic Priest had a friendship
borne by their common fate of being
the only two ministers in the small
town that time forgot. Lake Wobegon,
Minn. The town and the pastors, of
course, are fictional, broadly and
affectionately drawn by Garrison Keillor.
But to me they are real and true.
Their
Easter Monday reflection was about what
one pastor called the “two timers," the
folks who attended church only on Christmas
and Easter. The priest recalled with
bemusement how his regulars posted “Reserve” signs
on their pews just after the Vigil,
hoping to preserve their rights. But
sister Arvonne, “who
is a Democrat” don’t you know,
came along and removed them. Both smiled
in weary recognition of the shock of
the faithful who had to sit right down
front, “where
you can actually hear the sermon.”
The
Lutheran Pastor went on to express his
astonishment that he had seen a wedding
party come out of Our Lady during Holy
Week. Father admitted that he had done
a wedding, partly out of sympathy with
the woebegone tale of the groom, and
because having once heard the tale didn’t
want to hear it again in the pre-marriage
counseling. And with a kind of happy
weariness he asked, “But
what are we here for, if not to keep
the doors open and welcome people?"
Great
question! In fact the question for any
church on the ground — that
is any church, which has not spiritualized
its mission or limited its reach to
those who are insiders and put out
the reserved signs. The great adventure
for a church like ours — and
a challenging delicate balancing act — is
how to maintain a radical welcome for
those who come through the door. How
do we continue to provide the radical
welcome of Christ to the world? It
is at least maintaining the powerful
and meaningful ministry of worship, education,
outreach, and pastoral care for all
who enter.
If stewardship
is what we do after we say, “I
believe in God,” then it is our
responsibility to give of our money,
time and talents. Each pledge or gift
is important. We want you to pledge
so we can plan our programs for the
coming year. God has great work in
store for Christ Church; your gift,
freely given, will allow us to continue
serving you, visitors, seekers and our
community. Someone will call soon to set
a time to visit. If it is easier for you
to meet in a small group, that also is
fine and the caller will set that up for
you. We hope you willingly accept this
visit and share your thoughts and dreams
for Christ Church and mission and ministry.
We need your participation to continue
to grow and help others in our life
changing work.
God's
blessings and peace,
David+
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of page)
Religious
Education & Church School News
We had a successful
start-up of our children’s programs
on September 14th. I wanted to extend
my appreciation for all the help that
people gave to making our first Sunday
such a wonderful success. Also, thank-you
to the families for attending the
back-to-school breakfast. It was a
time to reconnect, meet the teachers
and share information. Our year is
off to a great beginning!
Now that the programs are off and
running, it is time to focus on some
of our other projects. The next couple
of things to be done are a complete
overhaul of the Nursery space and
the development of the Youth Group.
We need your help on either or both
projects!
Nursery Space
Following Church on Sunday, October
5, there will be a clear out and clean
up the Nursery workday. We will be
removing and weeding out everything
from the nursery and giving the room
a thorough scrub-down. After a couple
of days of airing out, beginning at
5:30 pm on Wednesday, Oct 8, we will
be setting the room back up. You can
help by coming to either workday,
donating cleaning supplies for the
workday, and/or donating items for
the Nursery. We are looking for: blocks,
wooden trains, duplos (large legos),
infant toys (that can be dipped in
a bleach solution), pretend housekeeping
items (dishes, play food), a futon
mattress, covered garbage pail, etc.
If you have any other items, please
check with Melissa first! (244-7718
or 223-3631 on Wednesday evenings).
Youth Group
On Wednesday, October 29 at 6:30 pm
there will be a planning session for
the revival of the Youth Group. We
wish to create a dynamic program with
a service component that our youth
in the 7th grade and older age group
are excited to be a part of. We hope
for all who are interested in helping
to plan this group to be involved,
especially our young people, themselves.
We are also looking for someone(s)
who would like to lead this group.
Please contact me with any ideas or
information about the Youth Group.
I wish to
express how amazing the support has
been for the children’s
programs
in our church community. As I passed
the peace on Sunday following our
first children’s programs of
the year, so many of you commented
on how wonderful it feels to have
the church full of children. I agree!
I
can be reached at 244-7718 and at the
church on Wednesday evenings.
In peace,
—Melissa
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of page)
Sweater Project
Forty-nine sweaters knit by parishioners
and their friends are on their way
to children in this country and abroad
who need a little bit of warmth.
The Guideposts Sweater Project supplies
sweaters to agencies from Vermont to
Mongolia. If you missed the display
at the coffee hour a few weeks ago
and are curious, ask Dot Albert or
Eunice Crosby to show you one of their
beautiful creations.
Patterns and information can be obtained
by calling Elaine McIntyre at 223-4015.
Sweaters may be dropped at the church
office.
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of page)
Autumn
Harvest Festival, Saturday,
Craft, Food, Antique/Flea Market Sale & Bazaar,
and a Silent Auction.
From 9 am until 3 pm at Christ Church,
Montpelier
Don’t miss this good-time fund
raiser!
To help
with the food concession call Lou Henne
and Troy McAllister at 244-8822.
With
any other questions or volunteer help,
call Bonnie Kynoch, 223-1623.
And
don’t forget the celebration
of the Holy Eucharist commemorating
St. Francis of Assisi at 9:30 in the
Geer Memorial Garden. Fr. Hall will
bless any animals you bring — even
stuffed ones!
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of page)
A
Note from Your Editor
Let me explain.
The
reason for the inflexible deadline
for submitting articles for the
Chronicle is not an arbitrary exercise
of my own version of World Power and
Domination. (I save that for other
arenas. Mwah-ha-ha-ha.)
It
takes roughly ten hours to put the newsletter
together, and another two or three to put
it on-line. Like most of the rest of you,
I have to be able to schedule this
volunteer time (which I admit is
a great joy to me) around my regular
work. The deadline is the only way
I have to do this.
If you need to
turn in an article later, just let
me know in advance and we can work
something out.
— Jan
Armstrong
janarmstrong@attglobal.net
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of page)