What We Used to See

I snapped these two pictures the last Sunday we worshiped in the "old" sanctuary.  What you see is what I've seen for approximately 43 years, every Sunday. 

All the pews have been disassembled and sold off.  We even have one ourselves-going to make a nice bench for the front porch.  The new chairs came about six weeks early-is it because it was a Canadian company?  So we're sitting on those in the basement.  Everybody is so excited about the new sanctuary.

The floor tiles are asbestos and we were very afraid that they would break when we pulled up the carpet.  Stan decided to give it a try one day and it just came up-zip!  So now the floor is bare, and after they pull out the old ceiling, insulate it (there is NO insulation in this 50's-built building), and sheetrock, new carpet will be laid.  They're going to build a little kitchen in the back where the restroom and coatrack are now.  Gets a little daunting hauling coffee and such from the basement.  We'll bring most of the tables upstairs and store them there and the old sanctuary will now be a new flex-space.  Much better use of the building.

In the back of our basement sanctuary, there is a hand carved plaque, made by a man from the congregation.  It quotes Nehemiah 10: 39, "We will not neglect the house of our Lord."

Hopefully I can give you in-progress pictures, plus I have custody of the old black and white pictures of the original construction of the church.  I'll show you a few of those, too.

More (big) Shots and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Just waiting for Thursday and the shots-never thought I'd be looking forward to something like that!  God certainly is working on building my patience!

Tonight is my last church council meeting.  I am done being a deacon for at least a year.  We serve three year terms and I can't believe that three years have already gone by!  Tonight we will attend the first half of the meeting-a kind of changing of the guard, so to speak, we will break for treats that the outgoing officers provide, and then we shake hands and leave.  I have mixed feelings about the end of my term.  I loved serving-most of the time I was the only woman on the board, but the relationships we established and the work we did was incredibly rewarding.  I love that I am forever ordained as a deacon.  The two that replace Bill and me will have to be ordained too-I am so excited about watching that.  We lay hands on them and pray for God's blessings.  They will then sign the form of conscription that says that they are now deacons.

The process we use is very Biblical, I think.  Members of the congregation suggest names of people that would be suitable, the council goes through the names and sends letters to the candidates.  The candidates then either agree or turn it down, then the names are published in the bulletin for two weeks.  On the first Sunday of January, the names are sealed in envelopes, and the outgoing officers each select one.  I am thrilled that one of the new deacons is a woman-Kara, the lady that married the missionary.  They are back in the area for a few years to receive training, so we get to reap the bounty of her experience.  It's also a great training ground for her-it surely was for me.  The second one is the one I selected.  As I reached out to pick an envelope, I said a quick prayer for God to direct me.  My hand immediately moved to the envelope on the end-very cool and very profound!  The name I selected was definitely God's doing.  This man has struggled for years with a bi-polar disorder and has made great strides.  I just think it was a way for God to tell us that HE picks His servants, not us.  I see great things happening in our church because we are obedient to God's direction!

Well, I'd better get moving.  I hope the copier repairman calls soon so I can meet him at the church.  Not good when it goes on the fritz!  And I have to assemble my part of the treats for tonight.  We are having a sundae bar and I am bringing homemade caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce.  The hot fudge is so easy, just bring 3/4 cup heavy cream to a boil, take off the heat, dump in 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips, let stand 5 minutes and whisk til smooth.  This is a basic ganache.  When you want to heat it, just put in a bit of cream-maybe 1 tablespoon, and warm in the microwave.  Best hot fudge ever, and no corn syrup!