Our capital campaign, Building Sanctuary, has started, and we are grateful for the commitment and gifts of the congregation. If you were not able to fill out an Estimate of Giving Card and turn it in, there is still that opportunity, and you can contact the church office with any questions. In this upcoming month, we turn now to the construction phrase of the project, repairing the ceiling.
It is fitting as we approach the end of the season of Easter and the celebration of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, that we are not only Building Sanctuary, but we are also “moving” the sanctuary, just temporarily. We will celebrate Pentecost on May 15, and the following week, we will begin meeting in the Activities Building for worship.
Our first Sunday for worship in the Activities Building will be May 22. The winds of the Spirit will carry us to this different room, reminding us of how the Spirit moved after that first Pentecost. The Holy Spirit found the people, wherever they were, and gathered them together. We will convert the Activities Building into our sanctuary, and we will worship in this room for about eleven weeks this summer.
The schedule for Sunday morning will remain the same, although, a couple of Sunday School classes are moving graciously to other rooms, so we can move worship to the Activities Building. The Pilgrims Class will meet in the Fellowship Hall during this time, and our youth will gather in a large classroom on the third floor of the Sanctuary Building. We are thankful these groups are willing to meet elsewhere during this project.
In addition to moving hymnals, setting up chairs, and relocating a piano, we will also designate multiple parking spaces as handicap accessible in the parking lot at the corner of Glenn Avenue and Gay Street. We will put temporary signs in those places.
The setting will look a little different, and it will feel out of the ordinary, but we will gather for worship, as the Spirit of God finds us wherever we are. We will come together as the Church, as always, and we will offer our thanks to God. We will continue to worship and to serve, to form community with each other and to foster communion with God. We will sing and pray, listen and gather, and then we will be sent out yet again, as the body of Christ.
-Tripp