Diaconate Minutes November 5, 2008
Attending: Jan Llewellyn, Barbara Stevens, Jan Cliggott, Carol Beckloff, Linda Baker, Barbara King, Nancy Sandberg, and David Wilbur. Hid Welch, our liaison to the church committee, also attended for awhile.
Jan L opened our meeting with a moment of silence in memory of Barbara King’s daughter.
Pilgrim Sunday: Rev. Terry was away but asked that we review instructions for Pilgrim Sunday, November 23:
§ All deacons should dress in period costume for this event.
§ Diaconate will serve as greeters and ushers.
§ Communion table will be out for members to leave fruits of their harvest, for Noah Shelter.
§ Jan to write handout and article for next Sunday’s bulletin regards Pilgrim Sunday dress and food donations.
Minutes: motion to accept minutes seconded and approved, with one correction to change Jen to Jan…
Treasurer: same petty cash as last month, $66.51. Supplies are plentiful for remainder of year.
Stuff: Barbara S and Jan C noted that the sacristy is full of ‘stuff’, that shouldn’t be there. We discussed that some is stuff that has been relocated there during our construction but some of the stuff has been there for years and should be reviewed for disposal or storage elsewhere.
Old Business: our budget has been pared back to level previous to the increase we submitted to cover the additional sexton for weekend coverage. Jan L explained that even if the church is able to hire an additional sexton the budget for additional staff cannot be under our committee.
Dave has written up steps for using natural ventilation to keep the sanctuary and main facility cooler during hot summer months. We will review this when next summer gets closer.
The letter going out to members trained in medical service is done and needs to be reviewed by Rev. Terry.
Linda has spoken with Barbara Powell about the length of musical pieces by soloists. We learned that the music committee already has guidelines for length of a musical piece during the service, but sometimes soloists don’t abide by them.
New Business: We will be having a baptism on Nov 30 for the daughter of a former church member. The parents have indicated they will not raise their child as a Christian so they were initially turned down. But the mother-in-law demanded that her former church perform the baptism so the date is set now. The agenda for next month will include further discussion of our baptism policy. The committee discussed our policy but will continue it next month. We have concerns about having baptisms scheduled for Communion Sundays, and also being used as a baptize factory by families we never see again. Also, we have consensus that more information should be in the Sunday bulletin about the baptism family’s connection to a current or past member of the church.
Christmas service will be at 5pm this year, per discussion we had with Rev. Terry last March. But we not sure of the status of White Gifts Sunday which was scheduled for Dec 7 since Sunday School children are collecting Toys for Tots now.
The Nov 30 worship service is the first Sunday in Advent, and will also include Briar and Shirley Cook’s renewal of wedding vows.
Jan L raised possibility of holding an “Operation Shoe Box” Sunday this winter, after the new year begins. This idea was well received, and we thought we could do this to benefit children or our troops.
The Deacon of the Day schedule for November:
11/9 Barbara King
11/16 Linda Baker
11/23 David Wilbur, greeters: Jan & Dave Llewellyn
Ushers (dressed in costume): Linda, Carol, Jan C, Nancy
11/30 Jan Llewellyn
12/7 Sandy Laliberte. (Sandy volunteered after our meeting to be DoD for first Sunday of Dec, and will be looking for volunteers from our committee.)
Our next meeting will be Dec 10, the 2nd Wednesday of the month, to follow the Christmas Commons weekend.
Barbara King will close the next meeting.
Respectfully submitted, David Wilbur
PPS- I copied the following Advent schedule from the March minutes. This was a suggested Advent schedule from Rev. Terry.
v November 30 – First Sunday in Advent
§ Begin lighting Advent Candle
§ Invite those who joined this year to light the candle(s)
Ø Christmas Commons 12/5-6
Ø White Gift Service 12/7
Ø Salvation Army Kettle 12/8?
Ø Sunday Morning Christmas Concert 12/14
Ø Noah Telethon 12/17
Ø Sunday afternoon Concert for the Homeless 12/21
Ø Christmas Eve family Service 12/24 @5:00pm
§ Family Choir