Cathy McLeod and I attended the United Church Foundation event at the Atlantic School of Theology on Monday evening; I thought it was important for someone from the Official Board to attend with me to make connections with folks who may help us fund ministry opportunities. We enjoyed delicious drink and food, listened to some interesting presentations, and met some great folks!
I have been frantically working on bulletins for all of October; some of you know that I am headed to Israel/Palestine for two weeks on a Pilgrimage with 25 other United Church people, but in order to do so, I have to work ahead, so my head is stuffed full of scripture readings and hymns for five weeks. Let’s hope I use the right ones this coming Sunday. 😉
Look at this bright, open space at the front of the sanctuary! Tuesday evening a team of church folks and Dartmouth Players removed some of the pews from the front in order to create flexible space that will facilitate creative worship and multi-use by other groups.
We have a number of things happening in worship on Sunday; we are marking Orange Shirt Day and Truth & Reconciliation Day, so in that vein, Les Keays-White is going to lead us in a Smudging Ceremony. We are celebrating communion, what better symbol of reconciliation than gathering around the table with Jesus, who ate and drank with people from all walks of life. Our scripture is Exodus 3: 1-5, the story of Moses and the burning bush and I’ll try to weave together: holy ground, burning bush, God’s presence and Truth and Reconciliation. This is one of the occasions where God calls out to a particular person and in this case, Moses answers, “Here I am.” In Hebrew, the word is hineni. And that famous poet/singer Leonard Cohen wrote a beautiful piece referencing that.
This week I’m meeting with a team of people from the Transition Team and the Official Board to take a look at governance for our church. Governance is just a big word for how a congregation decides. Most congregations have both formal and informal ways of deciding and those are both present here at St. James. This is one of the goals for this Interim Ministry period. The Session/Stewards/Official Board worked wonderfully for many years, but it’s hampering ministry and mission now instead of enabling it. Our initial steps will be to take a big picture look at what we need our governance to do. We will examine some different models and make a recommendation, with our intention to be ready for the next annual meeting.
The summary of the Official Board meeting has been posted; you can find it here.
My work on the Future Directions Committee of the Region has involved leading workshops at Crossroads Pastoral Charge over the past few Sundays as they try and discern their future. The committee has a day long meeting coming up next week to map out our work for the year.
Another full week of ministry! See you Sunday.
St. James United Church Dartmouth 