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SHARE WAFFLES WITH MOM SUNDAY
Show you care by enjoying with us a Mother’s Day Waffle Breakfast, sponsored by the Vine Street youth group! The celebration is Sunday, May 14 at 8:30-9:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall. Everyone will enjoy the youth group’s legendary, unlimited waffle bar, coffee, juice and milk for $5 per person. Women, plus children under 10, will enjoy a free meal!
Love a Good Picnic?
Enjoy a lovely spring picnic with Vine Street & Alameda Christian Churches!
Sunday, May 7, 2017 4-7 p.m.
Edwin Warner Park Pavilion #10
Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. See you at the picnic!
In the News
• Serenity Circle will meet Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Contact Kathy Zamata for more information (k.zamata@comcast.net).
• FYI: Christian education programs are canceled for next Sunday, May 14. Please make plans to enjoy waffles, beginning at 8:30 a.m.!
Love What You’ve Done
Attention Graduates: We will celebrate your school accomplishments on an upcoming Sunday during the Christian education hour and the 10 a.m. worship service. To help us prepare, we ask that you please provide us with some information. Find the link to an online form on the website. Questions? Contact Hope Hodnett (hope@vinestreet.org).
Children’s Sabbath Set for May 21
A Sunday full of ways for children to celebrate God and for Vine Street to celebrate children! The Children’s Choir will delight with special music. Experience a unique worship service designed especially for the inner child in all of us.
Seeking Volunteers for the Nursery
We are in need of people to help in the nursery for the month of May, especially May 21 and 28. Volunteers will be helping rock babies, stack blocks, read books and play with play-dough. If you would like to volunteer for one or more Sundays, please contact Hope Hodnett (hope@vinestreet.org).
ENGAGING CONGREGATIONAL WORKSHOP MAY 15
One of the exciting outcomes of our congregation’s decision to sell a portion of our property to Montgomery Bell Academy is the opportunity to renew and upgrade our remaining Vine Street property and building. Under the leadership of the building committee and representatives from Hastings Architecture, this process has begun.
A major first step will be a congregational workshop to explore options and make initial recommendations about possible changes and upgrades to our property. All members and friends of Vine Street are invited to gather in Fellowship Hall on Monday, May 15. We will start with a simple meal and drinks at 6 p.m. At 6:30 p.m. we’ll move into a “charrette” format, a process designed to involve all participants in an enjoyable and realistic consideration of options for the future. The Hastings Architecture team will lead the exercise.
Come and help us build a vision for how our property and facilities can best serve our ministries in the years ahead! Questions? Contact Ed Cole (edcole1@me.com). We are Vine Street: Living Our Call!
MEMORIAL GIFTS AMPLIFY MINISTRY
Have you noticed any changes in worship in recent weeks? I’m not talking about white paraments after weeks of purple, but something much more subtle—you barely notice it when it works well and you can’t miss it when it doesn’t: the sound system. It’s a layer of technology inserted between those who lead our worship from the chancel and the rest of us who pray with them, listen to the Scripture reading, the sermon, the children’s moment, the invitation to the table…. We use technology to amplify the voices without distorting them, so everything sounds what we like to call natural. We want to hear the voices, nothing else.
In March, we purchased new microphones, a new mixing board, and other electronics, which Joe Keith installed and tuned. Thank you, Joe! These purchases, together with moving the control booth from the balcony to the floor of the Sanctuary, are critical first steps in upgrading our sound equipment to make everything sound just right. We hope to take additional steps in the near future, as we discuss building renovations and modifications. Sound is much like light or temperature in worship—we want it to be so good that nobody notices it; everybody’s attention is absorbed by the worship of God.
There’s another layer to this story I’m happy to highlight. Our congregation has a Memorial Fund where we collect contributions made by friends, neighbors and family members in memory of a loved one. Other churches receive such gifts as part of their general operating revenue, but we use them only for special projects, which the Official Board approves. In the past we have used memorial gifts to purchase communion ware, paraments, special furniture, and to refurbish the nursery. In March, the Board approved the use of memorial contributions for the purchase of sound equipment for the Sanctuary—much less visible than paraments, much less tangible than a chalice, a crib, or a piano, but nevertheless a lasting gift that touches the lives of all who gather for worship.
What comes to mind when you think about good uses for memorial gifts? Do you have any suggestions? Take a moment and look around. What might be the next project we accomplish with those special gifts? Please send your suggestions to any of the staff or to Stephen Moseley, Official Board chair (stephen.moseley@gmail.com).
—Thomas Kleinert