I don’t know if you noticed yesterday, but we had FOUR visitors! As people get accustomed to living with Covid, we can look forward to this happening more often again. I’m glad that I had the sense to update the Visitor’s Packages last week! So this week, if you see someone you don’t recognize, make them welcome. People usually decide on whether to come back to a church within the first two minutes, long before the service starts. YOU, the people who gather are the key to hospitality and welcome!
Worship this week is a Hymn Sing! We are using your suggestions for all the elements of worship, from the Call to Worship to the Song of Dismissal. I am delighted that so many of you submitted hymns, more than we can use in one service, so I’ve kept track of them, and will use those ones in an upcoming week. The Ministry of Music will be an original one that Byron and I wrote together, words are mine, music is his; our first collaboration!
Pentecost is coming up on June 5th and we are going to be hearing the choir sing a new to us one from from More Voices, and we are going to be invited to sing along with at least the chorus. Byron is going to spend a few minutes teaching before the service starts, and if you want to get a head start, you can listen to this YouTube version!
I have often said that ministry is NEVER boring, joyful, challenging, frustrating, energizing, but NEVER boring. No two weeks are alike. This week, along with the usual ministry tasks of getting ready for Sunday, I have some regional responsibilities that include a trip to Debert. The Executive meets Tuesday evening, the Transition Team Wednesday evening, Thursday is the third session in the Stewardship training that Jim, Sandra and I are doing on-line.
I delivered the last of the gift cards this week, this was a bigger task than I anticipated, between trying to plan it around my schedule and the weather! Thanks to all who contributed to this project! It was an interesting experience to knock on strangers’ doors and identify myself as being from Stairs! Some of the things I discovered:
- people are hesitant to open their doors to a stranger, even a short, middle-aged woman! I’m not sure if that’s general wariness or Covid, or a combination of the two.
- There are many houses that don’t have doorbells!
- There are lots of people who are not home during the day.
- The church has a good reputation with most of our neighbours, mostly due to our association with the Food Bank, people close to the church.
I take a ‘Tech Sabbath’ on Fridays, and don’t check email, but you can always reach me in an emergency by calling 902-483-1422.