Jackie’s corner
Jackie’s corner from the fall 2009 “Chronicles of St. Paul’s Willimantic:” Dear Family and Friends of St Paul’s: With sincere joy in the Lord I send you greetings. Almost a full year ago I started sharing our journey in the Lord with you. At the time I came as a supply priest. I was, and still am, working my way into a new life after my husband of 28 years, Bill, died unexpectedly in 2007. The love and acceptance of the community of St. Paul’s has truly been a healing balm to my soul.
In July the Vestry and I agreed that I would come on board as 1/3 time Priest-in-Charge. That enables me to provide spiritual leadership and pastoral care for 20 hours a week.
One of the reasons I believe the Lord has put us together is because we have both lost a defining part of ourselves. I lost my husband and all that it means to be defined as a married woman and you lost your building and all that it means to be defined as a worshipping community attached to the edifice of a beautiful stone building at 220 Valley Street in Willimantic Connecticut. I was with Bill for 30 years and I know that some of you have claimed St. Paul’s as your home of worship for that long or even longer.
Together we must discover what God intends for our new lives. We now worship as guests of the Soup Kitchen who owns the building. I am about to move out of the home that Bill and I built 13 years ago and intended to share for the rest of our lives. In the many changes that we will experience there is one thing I know for sure. The love of God has always been with us, it is present to us in this very moment, and it will always be with us! This love is faithful, compassionate, merciful, patient, creative, joy filled, and generous – to name a few attributes. We can count on this Spirit to lead us into our new way of Being.
Abraham was 75 when God called him out of Haran (Genesis 12:1-2). God said: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. Through his faith and trust in God Abraham became the father of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religions. God promised Abraham that if he would follow and obey, God would bless him and make him into a great nation so that he would be a blessing and all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:2-3).
In the book of Hebrews the author describes faith this way: “…faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) They go on to say “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going… For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”(Hebrews 11:8&10) As children of God we are children of Abraham and as we walk in faith as he did God will bless us to be a blessing.
I look forward to our journey and the blessings we will bring each other and those God calls us to care for.
In Christ love,
Amma Jackie
Life after the sale
The wardens comments from the fall 2009 “Chronicles of St. Paul’s Willimantic:” Changes in how we function (other than getting some underused space cleaned out) have been minimal. the big change is that we don’t have to think about property management in general and the roof in particular! Having property issues become someone else’s worry really simplified our lives.
Our “landlord” has been busy with property improvements both inside and out. Painting has improved the look of the staircase and other spaces in the church building, and the second floor of the office building is undergoing a much needed face lift. On the outside, the grass gets mowed and we have new plantings along Walnut Street.
Of course, the roof is on everybody’s mind and here is the latest news: The State money is coming but getting it turns out to be much more complicated than anyone expected. There have been a series of paperwork delays but actual construction is getting closer.
The latest issue is that the Soup Kitchen had gotten bids from a number of local contractors – but then found out that contractors had to be on a State approved list. The bidders weren’t, and so the process is being redone. Unless something else comes up we should see construction before too long. In the meantime they did readjust the tarps that are up there – and recent heavy rains didn’t seem to pour in too badly.
When the office moves we’ll have limited space to store our collection of ancient and modern documents. Lisa Ferriere, Office Administrator, has begun sorting through this material to determine what should saved. Diocesan House is the keeper of such files, and equipped to care for them. After Rev. Jackie views the material we will begin transporting it to Diocesan House for storage in their archives.
St. Paul’s in transformation
St. Paul’s transformation story really starts with the arrival of Rev. Pat Gallagher as half time vicar back in th fall of 2004. From what I’ve heard, the time before her start was characterized by divisions and disagreements – as well as a a rather rapid burn through of the endowment. That period ended with a significantly smaller congregation, but one that was deeply committed to St. Paul’s and its basic values.
I think of the first stage in this process of transformation then as the period defined by Rev. Pat’s leadership. Those roughly four years saw healing and renewal, together with a strengthened commitment to ministry. [Disclosure: Near the beginning of her stay I came to a service - a renegade Lutheran with a dim view of the mainstream church - and absolutely no interest in becoming involved in a church. Looked around and there were the "nice" middle class ladies that you would expect. But there also were people closer to the edge, people who would be marginalized in most churches. Here they were a real and accepted part of the congregation. I kept coming back.]
This first stage ended with Rev. Pat’s retirement (her last service was on September 7, 2008), the sale of the church property to the Covenant Soup Kitchen, a partial resolution of our financial problems, and the strength to continue. The news from this period has been reposted here so the process of transformation for St. Paul’s – with all its twists and turns – will be covered from its beginning.
The second stage has just begun. Last November saw the arrival of Jackie Sheldon as Eucharistic Minister – but her exact ongoing role has not yet been defined. Major questions remain: how do we develop ways to overcome the financial limitations on our ministries; exactly how are those ministries going to evolve. I believe that there will be positive answers to our questions; these answers – whether positive or negative – will be the subject of this blog.