“And I say, hey hey hey hey,
I said hey, what’s going on?”
— 4 Non Blondes, “What’s Up” (1992)
Even in the changed rhythms of summer, plenty goes on in the day-to-day life of Storrs Congregational Church UCC—so much that we know some of it goes unnoticed and unknown among the broader congregation. So, in no particular order, here are a few assorted notes of things that you may not have realized have happened recently (or are soon to happen)…
Even in the changed rhythms of summer, plenty goes on in the day-to-day life of Storrs Congregational Church UCC—so much that we know some of it goes unnoticed and unknown among the broader congregation. So, in no particular order, here are a few assorted notes of things that you may not have realized have happened recently (or are soon to happen)…
Plenty that goes on in the life of any church requires finances, and we’re happy to report that the financial picture through the first six months of the year has not raised any major causes for concern. As of his June treasurer’s report, Bob Malecki reports that pledge income is within $100 of what we’ve budgeted. Contribution income in total is running only a little over 2% under, and while expenses have been running a little high in this first half of the year, this is likely to moderate.
Selected staff and ministry leaders met on May 18th to review practices and policies around facilities use and scheduling. Various needs and preferences were clarified, particularly around how outside-user-scheduling impacts space availability for SCC needs. Situations that need greater communication and coordination in our practices were identified, but no significant changes in policy were deemed necessary at this time.
AT&T is seeking to make some antenna panel changes to their installation in our bell tower area. This involves exchanging 3 of the existing 6 antenna panels to different models, and adding some additional cabling and back-end equipment. The changes will have minimal impact, and have been reviewed by Pastor Matt, Dick Roberts, Trisha Snyder (representing carillon bell concerns), Duffy Brookes, and members of the Board’s facilities committee.
This fall, we’re excited to welcome into our space and into partnership with us the Consonare Choral Community, a new “community-based program created to explore and cultivate a sense of consonance and community through singing together,” directed by Sarah Kaufold, area musician and former choir director at St. Mark’s. Consonare consists of 3 choral ensembles, two of which (the Choral Matrix Women’s Ensemble and the Consonare Youth Chorus) will begin rehearsing in SCC spaces on Sunday afternoons. We look forward to some collaborative opportunities with Consonare as a part of this relationship, including a concert event in our Meeting House during UConn Family Weekend featuring Consonare’s 3rd ensemble (a professional-level chamber choir) in conjunction with one of the UConn acapella groups, and potentially a joint music concert of a major work sometime in the winter of 2019.
At a couple of recent Lead Ministry Coordinators’ meetings, we’ve had some conversation together about how we might transform the way we have the Lounge set up to make it more functional for us as a center for ministry resourcing, celebration, and communication. We’ve discussed the possibility of moving some of the art on display in the lounge to spots in the 1st floor hallway currently occupied by bulletin boards, and making use of space in the lounge for ministry/activity related displays instead. We’ve switched the use of the 2 “nooks”, making the west-end one (with the benches) the “kids’ nook” and making the east-end one available for ministry resourcing. We anticipate that further evolution of the space in light of these conversations will be ongoing.
Pastor Nancy and Sue Irvine are working together to coordinate our involvement in the Celebrate Mansfield Festival on September 16th. In addition to having a group walking in the parade, as we’ve done numerous times in recent years, they are working on plans for an SCC booth in the Festival section where attendees will be invited into creative activities that pray for peace.
Pastor Matt is working together with the Windham Interfaith Working Group on having SCC host and co-sponsor with them a UConn-community session of the “Honest Conversations with our Muslim Neighbors” event run by the Hartford-Seminary-based Connecticut Coalition for Interfaith Understanding. A session of this event was sponsored by the Windham Interfaith Working Group a while ago down at ECSU, but one has not ever been held in the UConn community. Pastor Matt hopes to involve additional sponsors from around the UConn community; the event is likely to be scheduled for early in the Spring 2019 semester.
Pastor Nancy is working on plans for starting a mid-week drop-in gathering with conversation-and-coffee and attached ‘play group’ for younger children, open to the community—a context for addressing the needs of parents with young children to have a chance to get out of the house and socialize with others, as well as a chance for our congregation to build relationship with this demographic in our community. Further details on this are still in the works.
Outreach Lead Ministry Coordinator Carolyn Holmy gives thanks for everyone who helped out at the most recent food ingathering, which took place on June 23. We instituted a new way of providing the food to those who needed it, putting the food out so people could come and “shop” for what they needed. We also packed bags and delivered to 8 other families, bringing our overall total of 23 families that received food and fresh produce. The next food ingathering will be in October (note the change in timing from past years), using the same format.
Also in among our ministries of Outreach, monetary donations were recently given to the following organizations: WAIM—both the uniform voucher fund and the car repair fund—$500.00 each; Tree of Life Educational Fund (TOLEF) membership—$500.00; Holy Family Shelter—$500.00; Little Angels—$500.00; UTS poverty relief—$500.00; CLiCK—$500.00.
It’s been a busy time in the first half of the year with facilities maintenance matters. A big achievement was reached this summer, with heat now restored to the Meeting House narthex, which should significantly improve our ability to keep the Meeting House sufficiently warm during the coldest parts of winter.
The Ministry Discernment Ministry Team (MDMT), which supports SCC members engaged in discernment around, and preparation for, authorized ministry in and on behalf of the United Church of Christ (such as Ordination) met with Kate Alexander on June 26th, as a check-in and review-of-progress with her following her 2nd year of the M.Div. program at Chicago Theological Seminary and her 9-month-long field internship at St. John United Church of Christ in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Members of the MDMT also accompanied Kate as she met with the committee on ministry for the Windham Association on June 28th. The team has much to celebrate about Kate’s growth and progress, and looks forward to supporting her as she shifts into the final process leading toward ordination during this coming program year. Members of the MDMT are Pastor Matt, Jan Castle, Janis Hoyle, and Alice O’Donovan.
The Sunday Student Breakfast Ministry is looking forward to the start of a new semester at UConn and resuming their ministry of providing breakfast in the Auditorium before our 10:00 am worship service to UConn students and any other interested people. In this past spring semester, the team provided breakfast each week that students were on campus, and only once had no students come. Feel free to stop by any Sunday—while the breakfast is targeted at UConn students, all are welcome! Members of the Sunday Student Breakfast Ministry team are Jan Castle, Don Castle, and Andy McCabe.
So… there are a few notes and notices about “what’s going on”—certainly not a complete list, but many things to celebrate nonetheless!
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