Sunday, December 15th, 2019 – A Healing Service
The Christmas season often brings a mixture of profound joy and a deep sense of grief: joy at the wonder in our youngster’s eyes and sadness that those we dearly love who are far away or no longer with us. Emotions are more poignant all around with struggles in relationships, addictions, depression and financial worries taking on even more meaning. Our church would like to offer you a quiet hour where you can focus your attention on our need for hope and healing. The service will start at 7:00 p.m. and everyone is welcome.
Sunday, December 15th, 2019 – Christmas Pageant
Sunday, December 8th, 2019: 1st Annual Pet Remembrance Service
Essex Eats Out – December 6th, 2019
Menu
- Ham
- Green beans
- Rolls
- Salad
- Christmas cookies!
Sunday, December 1st, 2019 – Advent: The Candle of Hope
The Searchers Invite Dr. Kathy Fox to Speak
Wednesday, December 11th @ 7-8:30pm
The Wednesday Night searchers will be hosting Dr. Kathy Fox from UVM to speak about why our society should be strongly encouraging our prison population to get a college education. Dr. Fox is from the Sociology Department of UVM and has spoken extensively on the subject and clearly spells out how spending money educating prisoners saves money in the long run and creates a stronger society. Dr. Fox also speaks about how educating our prisoners fulfills a spiritual role of their lives. Her presentation and Q&A has been very well received. The public is invited so feel free to invite a friend.
Sunday, November 24th, 2019: Christ the King Day
Our Home, Our Future, Our Time… Capital Campaign Update
By Kaki McGeary & Dave Johnson, Co-Chairs
Advent is a time of waiting and preparation for the coming of Jesus, a time to make room in our hearts for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. This year, as we enter the season of Advent, we are also awaiting and preparing for several wonderful Capital Campaign projects!
Sanctuary Restoration Project
The Sanctuary Restoration Project will begin right after Christmas! Starting on December 29, worship services will be held in Fellowship Hall. The entire plaster ceiling must be totally removed and replaced. The ceiling will be done first and then it must cure for several weeks, during which time the walls will be patched. Once that is done, painting can begin! The entire project should take about 2 months, assuming no major hiccups.
Our goal is to be back in the sanctuary BEFORE PALM SUNDAY, if not before. Our staff and several committees are working on plans to make this temporary move as seamless and comfortable as possible. We ask for prayers that we move through this time of transition and mess with patience, kindness, grace and humor, and that this experience might draw us closer together as one body of Christ. This is a once-every-hundred years type of project! We cannot wait to share this beautiful transformation with everyone during Holy Week 2020.
Sanctuary Windows
We eagerly await the return of our historic windows/shutters in the sanctuary. We HOPE they will be back by the end of November.
Security Grant/Outdoor Lighting
We got the grant! We received a federal grant of $47,809 for improving security and safety at our church. This grant award includes $10,000 for new parking lot lights! Also included are funds to add locks to all of our classroom doors and a new “controlled access system” (keyless locks, video cameras at our two main entrances). Now we are just waiting on paperwork. :) Once we have it, we will install the new lighting in the parking lot! The other projects will take a bit longer to implement, so stay tuned for details. In the meantime, we are hoping to have lights for the steeple, church sign and thrift shop sign re-installed soon.
Pledge Payment Reminder
Your continued pledge payments are vital to our efforts! As we continue to work on major projects, we are drawing down our available cash balance. While we have not needed a bridge loan yet, we will likely need one to do the Sanctuary Restoration.
Early pledge payments are always welcome and appreciated. Your pledge balance for 2019 can be found on your fall pledge statement. If you have questions about your pledge status, please contact Dan Petherbridge, Campaign Treasurer.
