What’s Around the Bend?

Last month, I wrote about our boiler, and how I was hopeful that the process of raising the funds to replace it would help our spiritual growth. I’d like to offer an update and an idea of what seems to be around the next bend.

The update is, as I write (things will undoubtedly change), the new boiler is up and running, but we have a leak. Chances are that long before this goes to print, everything will be sorted out. A few other updates too: We were successful in raising the funds, and then some,to repair the boiler, so that we have a little more of a leg up on the next challenge of repairing the roof. There is good news in all this – between replacing the chillers not long ago, paying off the mortgage, replacing the HVAC units in the admin wing, along with the boiler and the roof, we may have a few years before any other major financial challenges related to the building arise. Plus, I am very pleased at just how many of us braved the cold inside weather to come to church, and I encourage those who stayed home to come back as well – we are better when we are together! As they say, there is no church without U! (Indeed, without U, there is just a sad chrch).

Around the bend, several blessings await us: It won’t be long before the season of Lent begins, and we will have the chance to prepare for Easter! Ash Wednesday will be March 5, and we’ll be worshipping at Phoebus United Methodist Church that evening. (Maundy Thursday will be at our church building, and we will have a shorter Stations of the Cross for Good Friday.) Easter comes late this year – April 20. But even before Ash Wednesday, we all get to partake of a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner provided by our youth on March 4, and on March 20, we will have a game night from 5:30-7:30pm, including carnival games for those who like to move their bodies and board games for those who prefer to move their brains. The March 20 event is a follow up to the “It’s Just… dinner” events we held in the fall – we are trying to repurpose the format to better address the loneliness issues of our church and community.

I encouraged all of us to persevere through COVID some years ago, and we did! We had a very short version of it this year, except this time, it wasn’t a virus that kept people away - it was a cold building. If I could ask one thing, though, it would be this – if you see someone missing or are worried about someone, please get in touch with them, or if you don’t know how, let us know in the church office and let me know. Let’s continue to strive greeting and loving all our guests and visitors and also reaching out to those who have been in our family for some time.