Vestry Corner ~ October 2022
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” -Matthew 6:9-13
Greetings to all as we see the hot days of summer turn gradually to the crisp, cooler days of September. With the weather change also comes a bittersweet change in our church as we say farewell to summer Sunday mornings at Mount Lebanon Chapel and join together again at the downtown campus for worship and formation. We hope each of you enjoyed the celebration of this reunification at the September 11th Welcome Sundayand took advantage of the start of Christian formation season on September 18th. There are formation offerings for every age and interest, so we look forward to seeing you on Sundays at 3rd & Market!
For the September Vestry Meeting, the vestry and clergy gathered at the Harrelson Center. We got a brief history of the center and tour from Harrelson Center’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Christy Aley. It was impressive for us to learn of all the organizations that operated out of the center designed to empower 19 non-profits and facilitate cooperation between them. Most of you are aware of Help Hub which St. James helped found and which we support each year both in volunteers and financial needs, but having a chance to learn about all the others inspired us and gave us food for thought on how to help more.
In this issue’s Vestry “Spotlight”, we would like to share appreciation for the St. James Finance Committee. This group of 10 meets at least monthly and spends hours in discernment of how God is best leading us to utilize the resources so faithfully given by our parishioners. We review financial statements, consider potential decisions that involve money, and do the heavy-lifting each year around crafting a draft budget for Vestry consideration. We specifically want to lift up our amazing Financial Administrator, Maria Hollopeter, and our Parish Treasurer, Mike Brown. These two individuals spend multiple hours each week making sure that every dime trusted to St. James is utilized to His glory as it should be. Thank you, Mike & Maria!!
Finally, a note of recognition and thanks goes out to our dear parishioner, Peg Rorison. While we were enduring the impact of COVID and were unable to gather together downtown for worship (among many other hardships), the real & critical need for Livestream filming and broadcast of our services came to the foreground. Peg stepped forward and made a very generous gift to the church which enabled the installation of our state-of-the-art technology that has made it possible for many to worship with others on Sunday mornings. The camera installed is very high-resolution and the sound feed is directly from our professional microphones, so it is very easy to hear everything clearly. If you have not had a chance to experience one of our live feed services, we encourage you to do so if you ever find yourself unable to physically join us for worship for any reason. From all of us at St. James, thank you, Peg!!
-Steve Thomas (Senior Warden) & Leslie Jarrett (Junior Warden)
