Council Members Present: Marianne Brown, Airin Cherian, Pastor Ross Goodman, Anne-Louise Klaus, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen.
Also Present: Vicar Andrew Heisen, Diane Kramer, Kirsten Lienhard, Don Mitchell.
Absent: Alison Roberts, Wendy Stack, Marilyn Waehler.
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:35pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
We shared where we’ve seen God in our lives this summer: in new life, in indestructible tomato plants, in the passing of dear friends and family human and canine, in wave and storm, and grace in every passing moment.
Pastor Goodman raises these issues in prayer.
The very brief agenda was accepted.
Dana Ramish then led a devotion on forgiveness and separation from a column his father wrote for a church newsletter. Next month, Brian Sniffen will lead devotions.
We sing Come, we that love the Lord (625).
The minutes of June were accepted without amendment.
We’re well on track.
This is the 50% month, which makes the math easy. We’re waiting for Thrivent to send matching funds for midwife kits, so that account’s negative right now—but our cash flow is fine.
The progressive dinner closed its books that very night.
The building and property committee intends to commission several projects this summer: (1) Trimming, pruning, and maintenance of trees around the parsonage and parking lot; (2) Repair of the wall in the back of the fellowship hall; (3) repair of doors and breezeways at the Hillside House; (4) compliance and safety work on the boiler.
We are fortunate to have the assistance of a young man performing community service at the church this summer; he’s helping with cleaning in the classrooms and the kitchen.
Pastor Goodman asks us to note the church retreat at Calumet on the first weekend in October. This is a time for building community and fellowship, with nothing yet planned for strategic visioning or anything of the sort. We saw some new visitors on Sunday, but haven’t seen many of those in the last year or two, relative to ten years ago. He and Jen Nahn have been investigating a program called Our Whole Lives, used for sex-education by the Unitarian church. This won’t be offered in the Sunday morning curriculum, but will be available in an evening program, perhaps next Spring. We’ll talk with parents all through Fall. The Synod has asked him to coach and mentor two new pastors.
While Pastor Goodman is out of town for two weeks, Vicar Heisen will be here of course. He’ll also ask for Mike Morse to be specially licensed to give communion those Sundays. For productive council meetings in his absence, he must“have given prior approval to an agenda to which the business of the meeting must then be restricted.”
Vicar Heisen returns from vacation to report he’ll focus on fellowship events this summer. The Tuesday ice creams with the Vicar have been working wonderfully. He’ll be giving sermons while Pastor Goodman is gone, then transitioning work to C.J. When his term here ends, he’ll be returning to Andover-Newton seminary and caring for his daughter, Kalae.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 8:37pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 9 August 2010 at 7:30pm.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.