Beloved ones in Christ,
What a tremendous gift it is to be connected with you at this time! As the crocus and daffodil bulbs begin to send forth their sprouts, drawn ever upward toward the light of the sun, so, too are we called to stretch and to yawn, to shake off the slumber of our winter’s rest and to envision together what the future may bring.
Remember in the Autumn months, when our finance team sent out an invitation for you to commit to the new growth and to dream of what ministry in 2022 might look like? Many of you answered that calling by sending in your commitment cards with an increased financial contribution, and those of you who could not continue your financial offerings have made decisions to contribute your time, your talents and other resources in order to grow the ministry here at TUMC and in our wider community.
I want to thank you for your decisions to say “yes” to the calling of the Spirit of God in this community. You are a wonderful gift! Your generosity is so deeply appreciated!
We are including a copy of the approved budget for 2022 so that we are open and transparent with our obligations, our commitments and our needs as a community of faith. We have a need to keep up our building maintenance so that, as the virus moves along in the ways that they eventually do, and we can open up for more groups and ministries, that we will have a healthy place for people to gather once more. We have committed to growing our garden ministry, to sharing with our neig-
hbors, to inviting the community to have small groups and to having an up-to-date children’s library as a start to reinvigorating the ministry here.
We have a few folx who have generously offered to cover the cost of a part time office manager, and in the interim period, while I am searching for the person who will be hired in this position, there are congregation members who have been donating their time and talents to preparing the bulletins, assisting with social media posts and making phone calls to our homebound so that I know who is in need of prayer or a home visit at this time. I extend a special thank you to Nancy Kershaw, who has been working on Mondays and Wednesdays in the office while I continue learning Spanish. And, I give thanks to the volunteers who came in early on Sunday mornings to fold bulletins for our services in the winter. Special thank you to Cecilia Dwigans who has assisted with newsletter printing and mailing in the Autumn and to the countless others who care for the building, the grounds and our community at large.
If you are interested in co-leading a study with me, or contributing your time in other ways, please reach out. And let me know if you or someone you know needs a phone call or visit!
Grace and peace to you in Christ,
Pastor Trista Wynne
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