Choir is cranking up, and soon the Bell Choir and the Junior Bells with Nancy Weislogel, too. Pam Swieringa is joining Building and Grounds as co-chair, and the Search Committee is continuing its chances for you to talk with them about our future and to fill out their survey. Outreach has completed its emphasis on Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) offering and beginning a new one for the Kitchen Cupboard and its need for baby items. All sorts of great stuff cranking up!
We also welcome a “student intern,” Sue Fast. Sue is working her way through the New York Conference School of Ministry (NYSOM) which is a way to prepare for ministry roles on a non-seminary track. It’s sort of like going to night school, only churchy. NYSOM is one of the things (like pastoral search assistance) supported by our OCWM offerings. We will be providing her a “supervised ministry experience” as she continues to explore her interest in ministry. Some of you may wonder (or even worry) about the wisdom of me supervising any ministry experience of any kind. Mercifully, Sue has known me for some time and is well-prepared to deal with me. She began her exploration of entering authorized ministry while I was her interim pastor in McLean, after she retired from teaching 9th grade Earth Science in Ithaca. She is creative, warm, wise, and funny, and will be a delightful help to FCCI as we move along. Sue has served for several years as the licensed pastor for the Groton City UCC Church between Groton and Cortland. Groton Community, Groton City, and McLean Community churches have worked cooperatively for years as the “3 parishes,” so I am familiar with Sue’s pastoral approach and skills. You are going to like her!
Sue has limited hours available, so we are working out how best to deploy her time among us. I’d like her to get the full experience of the more complicated system, so I hope she will be able attend our council, committee, and staff meetings with some regularity. Her Groton Community obligations mean she will typically participate one Sunday a month here.
Since most of her church life has been in smaller congregations, I’m happy to provide a large-church context for her continuing education. This was why her mentor suggested asking us. The process and structure for decision-making here are so very different from a country crossroads church, and I believe it will be instructive and exciting. What I’m kind of excited about is hearing her reflections about the differences in church function when, by weird providence, one of the most variable of variables is controlled, that is, the pastor. I’d like to see her report on how, with the same interim pastor, things may be different because of size and community. Sue has watched me in a pastor-centered community church; how are things different in a large congregation in a university city? It is very rare for someone to see those differences with the “same guy at the front!”
It’s cranking up. May God get us started with grand grace this Sunday!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
From the Hebrew Bible Exodus 12:1-14
From the Epistles Romans 13:8-14
From the Gospels Matthew 18:15-20
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