Worship August 1st

Pilgrims;

Tomorrow we worship at 10:30 again in the Chancel with fellowship around the Lord’s Table. The Adult Ed class will continue studying the book of Joshua at 9:15. Following worship there will be a conversation in the chancel about some aspects of what we want for our experience of worship and ways we can make the space better fit our needs. We will not have lunch and we will try to keep the meeting short.

Peace

CnE Ministry “Conversation” schedule

The first of the four conversations will be this Sunday, August 1 following worship. There will be three more extending into September. Each is a response to the ideas we have heard about the direction we think Pilgrim might move in. They include ideas for program, building use, worship style, mission and fellowship. If you have an idea that is not represented here, please speak up.

August 1: Worship Experience and Space – how we structure the central activity of our common life. In this conversation we will consider ideas for altering the space and using different styles and tools to make the experience as meaningful and relevant as possible.

August 15: The Face we show our Neighbors – Who we say we are and how we let others know who we are. In this conversation we will consider who we say we are and how we might communicate who we are to those in the broader community so that they might discover how affiliation with Pilgrim can enrich their lives.

August 29: Connecting to the Community around us – Who we are connected to, how we work with them, and for what end. In this conversation we will identify all of the institutions around us with which we are affiliated and consider who we might clarify and strengthen the ones which are most important to our mission.

September 19: Honoring our Inheritance – How we use the building and the investments. In this conversation we will consider what resources we have been given by our forebears and imagine how we might be the best stewards of those resources given the age of the building and the changing nature of the Church and our community.

Please try to attend all four. If you can’t, check in on the web site for Pilgrim Partners at http://pilgrimnext.pbworks.com/.

Worship Space and Experience

Pilgrims:

We have begun a series of conversations about the future of Pilgrim hosted by the Communications and Evangelism Ministry. We have identified several suggestions and arranged them into topic areas which we will address in four separate conversations. Next Sunday (August 1) following worship (back in the chancel at 10:30) we will talk about some of the ideas that are floating about with regard to our worship experience and the space in which it occurs. Some of the items include:

• We could remove some of the barriers to movement in the chancel (the platform or stage at the front of the sanctuary). The modesty panels and the pews move easily in that space. What if we put the pulpit and lectern and altar on wheels and move them to wherever we need them?
• We have tried using video in worship to project words so that we don’t have to look down, but the power of the projector isn’t enough to do moving video. What if we get a couple of flat panel video monitors so that we can use video as a part of worship? We could use movie clips as sermon illustrations and even produce our own resources.
• We are a small congregation in a big space. We want to enjoy the majesty of the sanctuary but we also want to have a greater sense of intimacy with each other. What if we take out some of the pews and arrange chairs in the middle of the room? We can have a space within a space. We can still have the same capacity for the whole sanctuary when we have a big event but we can also use a part of it when we have a smaller group.
• The floor tile in the chancel is crumbling, the carpet in the aisles is threadbare, the roof leaks and the ceiling is peeling paint and plaster, the finish on the wood in the chancel doesn’t match the rest of the room and it is stained and worn. Despite our wish to be inclusive, those with difficulty walking or using stairs can’t get to the pulpit or lectern. This space should be the pride of Pilgrim but it is shabby. Can we decide what we want the space to look like and find the resources to make it right?
• While we are proud of our diversity, our worship experience could be more diverse. We don’t always use inclusive language and there are styles of worship which are not reflected in what we do in worship. We have some variation is style—communion on the first Sunday and Kwanza after Christmas—but otherwise we are pretty consistent. To what degree do we want diversity or consistency in worship? What does style say about who we are?

Our intention in the conversation is to move toward an action plan in which we identify what we want to do, who will do it, and by when. We are not developing an action plan for fixing the roof or moving the pews. We are developing a plan by which Pilgrim will make decisions and move into our shared future. That means someone will take the ideas and turn them into proposals for the appropriate Ministries and the Council. This may result in a Congregational Meeting to approve specific actions or we may find ways to make things happen within current policy.

Plan to stay after worship next Sunday for this important meeting.

Communion and Concert at IPP

It was a delightful evening at Ivory Perry Park on July 25.  We celebrated an agape feast following communion and then enjoyed entertainment from Denise Thimes and her trio.  A rising star named Matthew (I didn’t catch the last name) was great as the intermission act.  We even had a guest appearance from Spiderman.

2010-07-25

Agape Feast in IPP

Pilgrims,

Worship tomorrow is not at 10:30 but at 4:30 and is not in the chancel but at Ivory Perry Park.  Our worship will be an agape feast with members of the other Union Communion congregations and all of our neighbors so bring the food you love with enough to share.

We are going to have thundershowers overnight and into the afternoon but the forecast is for cooler and clear by the time of the concert.  Denise Thimes and her band will be entertaining from 6:00 – 8:00.  Don’t miss it.

Peace

Calling All Pilgrims!

 Come bring your bones and breath

to chill and share in our Worship in Work and Word

in our Pilgrim Chancel this Sunday, July 18, at 10:30 (our worship time for the rest of the summer).  We will be singing and moving "Dem Bones,"

getting a laugh from Sarah (from the Bible, not Coffin),

working with Martha,

hearing and sharing the word with still-listening Mary and still-speaking Jesus.

Pilgrims, dem bones are gonna rise again!

Bony Pastor Tom

C and E Ministry Meeting from 7-11-2010

Pilgrims,

Following worship in July 11, 2010 we had a brief meeting of the Communications and Evangelism Ministry to follow up on the meeting of June 27^th. The notes from the meeting on the 27^th will soon be posted on the PilgrimNext wiki and the handout for the meeting on the 11^th will also be there. At the meeting we affirmed several things.

1. We will continue to try to use the wiki at PilgrimNext.PBWorks.com as a venue for conversation about these issues vital to the wellbeing and future of Pilgrim. If you have not signed up at the site you will want to do so. When you are a member you will not only have the privilege of posting to the site, you will also have email notices whenever anyone else posts to the site. This way you will be sure to know what is going on.

[If you have not signed up, simply click on the link above to go to the site. At the upper right side you will see a link to create an account. When you click the link you will be taken to a page that asks for your name, email and whatever you want your password to be. When you fill in the boxes and submit the information, an email will be sent to the address you have given. Open that email and click on the link to confirm that you own that address. That is all you have to do. The email address will not be used for any purpose other than letting you know when others have posted.]

2. We will divide topics into four areas as described in the handout for the meeting.

3. The topics will be discussed at four separate conversations.

4. The first will be after worship on August 1 and will focus on the items related to worship and the structure and use of the sanctuary.

5. We will work with the other Ministries to plan the meetings to create an action plan which clearly spells out

a. what will be done,

b. who will do it, and

c. by when it will be done.

6. Recommendations will go to the Council for action.

Mark Lee Robinson, chair of C&E

July 11 at Pilgrim

Pilgrims:

Tomorrow we gather again for worship in the chancel. Before worship at 9:15 there is Adult Ed in the Conference Room on the Book of Joshua.  Worship begins at 10:30 (yes, 10:30, not 9:30 or 10:00).  After worship there will be a meeting in the Library to follow up on the Conversation we started on June 27 about ideas for the future of Pilgrim.  It will be a short meeting as the World Cup Finals start at 12:30.

Peace

Posting on PilgrimNext

Pilgrims:

If you haven’t signed up for the Pilgrim Partners wiki at http://pilgrimnext.pbworks.com/ then you haven’t seen the post by Paul Sonderegger about engaging families with young children. Go to the site and sign up and you will get a notice whenever Pilgrim Partners add to the site.

Remember that we are worshipping at 10:00 in the sanctuary on the 4^th of July.

Peace