“How long’s it been since you’ve sat in this office?”
“I was last here when mom died. Before that it was when I got married.”
She has been at our church her whole life. Her mom died more than a decade ago. She was married some 30 years ago. I joke that she should come by more often at less momentous occasions. She graces my poor humour with a half-second’s smile.
I’ve been grateful to hear from our finance folks that y’all have responded well to my financial appeal. Several dozen of you have gotten in touch with that office to increase your giving and explicitly mentioned the letter. We’re a church that steps up when called upon. I’m proud of that.
Written By Rachel McMillan
A few months ago, I was gifted the privilege of taking a trip down bookish memory lane. A few of us, including Rev Lori, went to town attempting to organize the TEMC library. On that first day, we weeded and organized and sneezed through the dust of books that had sat untouched for many years.
I loved my first Easter here. The music was loud and thumpy. The crowd was boisterous (y’all even laughed at the jokes! Most of them...). The choir was its electric self. The band and Stephen did their usual best and then some. The preacher didn’t ruin things too badly. We managed to mark Jesus risen and reigning. And the children! An overflowing, bubbling over mass of children. Nupur was invisible at the children’s moment, covered up by so many children.
At 9:15am that is.
Friends, if you’ve been in our sanctuary recently, I hope you’ve noticed our heritage cabinet on our eastern wall, not far from the entry to the atrium. There, our own Charles Sweetman has been gathering mementos, photos, articles, and memories from our history. He has done this with seasonable appropriateness: first Christmas, then Valentine's, then St. Patrick, then Easter, and perhaps more that I missed. His displays have been beautiful, poignant, funny, and profound.
Lent is a season for giving up good things to remember the ultimate. It’s a season when the church refrains even from saying “hallelujah.” That’s an Easter word. Lent is a preparation for the cross, and a time to reflect on our own sins that send Jesus there.
“Hey Jaclyn, we want to do something fun, what should we do?”
I noticed this sort of request to our own Jaclyn Didiano early in my time at TEMC. The staff would be gathered at the church or elsewhere. We’d have time to kill. And Jaclyn would alleviate our boredom. Soon we would be playing some game or icebreaker, something Jaclyn accrued from her years in camping or recreation. Ice would be broken. Laughs laughed. Tears shed. Humans humanized.
Friends, TEMC’ers and beyond: we are doing a brave thing this weekend. We’re launching a new ministry initiative. We don’t even know what to call it yet. But we know it needs your prayer and well-wishes and support.
Friends, I want to share with you an encouraging note I got the other day. Here it is: