X St. Andrew’s Net X
June, 2009
PASTORAL LETTER
Dear Friends,
Did you ever wonder what it is that I do all week? The Book of Common Prayer, Ordination of a Priest states the following:
"As a priest, it will be your task to proclaim by word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ… You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor. You are to preach, to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners, to pronounce God’s blessing, to share in the administration of Holy Baptism and in the celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood, and to perform the other ministrations entrusted to you."
It’s quite a list! But what does it all mean on a weekly basis? First of all, I am not a full-time priest. For ten months of the year I work 2/3 time and for 8 weeks in the summer I work ˝ time, so I am not always at work, although the nature of the priesthood is such that I am available at all times in a pastoral emergency.
Every week is different. When someone from the parish is in the hospital, I visit and bring communion if desired and then visit or call when the patient goes home. I meet with people who have an issue to discuss or a spiritual question. I am not a trained therapist, so I will meet with a person only two or three times before referring them on for professional help.
I do a lot of emailing and talking on the phone. I check in with people, I talk to folks at the Diocesan Office when questions arise, I talk to other clergy. Sometimes I attend meetings in the community – for example the Food/Fuel Partnership and the Healthcare is a Human Rights group. I work with people at the St. Johnsbury School to see how we as a church can be supportive of their students. I work with our PinS (Partners in Service) partner at the Agency of Human Services to serve others in need.
It takes time to write a sermon – time to read the lessons, reflect and pray about them, study what others have written, outline and write and re-write.
I work in concert with the Vestry and Worship Committee to plan for St. Andrew’s future. Our Deacon, Armand Henault and I meet at least every other week and the senior warden and I meet about once a week. Although Armand takes the lead on visiting the homebound members, I do that too, especially around Holy Days.
That’s some of what your priest does all week. Now that we have a useable office, I will post regular office hours so that you can drop in for a visit. I will of course, be available at other times.
God’s blessings to you,
Jean
The St. Andrew’s Renovation of 2009, By John Ayers
While the most notable changes are visible in the lower level, every corner of the building received some upgrades, hence the more comprehensive title of this report. It started in 2006 when we authorized $7500 for a Feasibility Study. This was essentially complete by the 3rd quarter of 2008 at a cost of $6,217. It told us the cost to fully renovate or build a new church was way beyond our means but did give us many good ideas on what could be done with our existing facility. While we have recently gotten several very generous bequests, we need all of the income from those investments to meet our current operating expenses. In November 2008 the Vestry had an all-day meeting with our new priest and a Diocesan Rep to lay out several ambitious programs for greater community involvement. All involved our Parish Hall or Kitchen.
We knew there were problems with the facility but did not know the full extent until we were well into the renovation. The Parish Hall was not insulated so it was difficult and expensive to heat. A corner of the kitchen floor had rotted away. We later learned other parts of the floor supports were rotten and there were serious plumbing concerns (we did not have to disconnect the drain when we moved the kitchen sink… it was already loose). The gas company refused to reconnect our gas stove without major and expensive modifications. We then realized how really dangerous it was for us to operate. There were serious concerns with the old electrical wiring. We needed an additional office and a handicapped accessible restroom. Our existing restroom had the required 36" wide door but it was necessary to go through the 29" wide kitchen doors to get to it. The entire building needed a thorough cleaning.
Initially the freeze-up and flood of January 18, 2009 seemed to be a disaster. We tried to limit our part of the cost to $10,000 but when the Vestry realized how much the insurance would cover, it was obvious this was a heaven-sent opportunity to do almost all that was needed at one-tenth the cost estimate of the Feasibility Study. The original estimate for our share was $50,000 but the Vestry subsequently authorized new kitchen cabinets; new stoves and vent hood, a shower in the restroom, new wiring in the Sacristy and Sanctuary, mold remediation, new doors including an overhead door for the kitchen and furniture for the priest’s office. We also made provision for future addition of a handicap lift and emergency generator. There is a baby-changing shelf in the restroom. We have not yet gotten bills for all major portions of our expense but expect it will be under the $78,000 insurance is paying. About 20% of our cost is for insulation which will ultimately pay for itself with energy savings and increased use of our facility.
The Parish Hall and Kitchen are well-insulated. There is 3000 feet of tubing in the floor for energy-efficient radiant heat and full access to all walls. The plumbing is all new to current codes from three feet under the restroom floor out the upper wall of the Sacristy. All wiring from the utility pole behind the building except overhead in Sacristy and Sanctuary is to current codes. At last we have plenty of telephone and electrical outlets! All the lower level ceiling is covered with 5/8" fire code sheetrock to meet current fire codes. The Parish Hall carpet is high-grade nylon with a class I fire code rating. We have five new fire extinguishers and new emergency lighting.
The Sanctuary floor has been refinished and repairs made to the Sacristy walls, floor and electric. In the Kitchen we have an open center area with a six foot stainless steel work table, a range hood, a new microwave, two new gas stoves with a combination of ten burners, two 5-cubic-foot convection ovens and two electric warming ovens. We have a commercial dishwasher that will wash and hot-water sanitize a load of dishes in two minutes, new cabinets and many more storage shelves. Most important, thanks to our Sr. Warden and volunteers, the entire facility got a thorough cleaning! Now to get on with God’s work with, hopefully, lots of new members to help.
A BIG THANKS
There are so many people who have worked hard to get Jones Hall back to where it is, Al Argenio, Diane, Julie, Jean, the vestry…and many others, but the one person who has spent so many hours and days and weeks and months tirelessly giving so much of his time and expertise to the details, the nuts and bolts, is John Ayers. We owe him more that you realize for all that he has done. When you come down to the truth of the matter, it should be John’s Hall now and I think we should let him know how grateful we are. – Betty Maynard
NOTES
Vestry meeting Thursday June 18 at 6pm
The next issue of the Net will be a combined issue for July/August. Readers and acolytes: please let Sarah Maynard know when and if you will be away these months.
Please come to our party on
Saturday, JUNE 27th
at 5 p.m.
to celebrate our refurbished
Parish Hall!
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
1265 Main Street
St. Johnsbury VT 05819
RSVP
standrew@kingcon.com
OR
802-748-2121
(leave a message)
OR
to the address above
PASTORAL CARE
If you are looking for pastoral care please don’t hesitate to contact someone on the Pastoral Care Team:
Sybil Hazen 626-8678, Jocelyn Burrell 748-5247, and Robin Bergman 633-2871. (Sybil heads up this group).
Pastoral care is the work of the congregation-this is our group of facilitators—all of us should feel encouraged to send notes or make phone calls when we see the need. We also must remind ourselves to reach out for help when we need it.
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For the last two weeks in May, St. Andrew’s had worship services downstairs. It was a return for of sorts for some parishioners. In the early eighties to conserve heat, St. Andrew’s worshipped in Jones Hall for pretty much the whole year. We used the same altar that Jim Locke had made back then and the linen that covered the altar was made by Priscilla Barrett who now resides at the Canterbury Inn.
****************St. Andrew’s has strived to become more active in outreach. We have received thank yous from the following groups:
The Episcopal Hospital Chaplaincy at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital
The Community Justice Center (we owe them a big thank you as well for the months they provided office space to us)
Kingdom Community Services
St. Johnsbury School District (we donated winter outwear for two students)
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We would love to have your garden flowers on the altar on any Sunday. We never have too many flowers, so if you just bring them in, we’ll arrange them around the church.
