PARISH NEWS
June 2021 Minister of the Month
Amelia (Amy) DeMento began her internship with the COVID Response Team at Schenectady County Department of Health last fall. She was offered a temporary position to stay on and continue her work there which includes the role of data oversight at vaccination pods throughout the county. Caring, dedicated to her work and very organized, she has assisted in ensuring thousands of residents are scheduled to receive their vaccine. This past Holy Week (a less than ideal time for Pastor Dustin to be working on scheduling folks for our Trinity Community Center Vaccination POD), Amy stepped up well beyond her regular role and was CRITICAL in making sure many of the over 170 folks who received vaccines in our community center had their questions answered. Messiah has also leaned on her expertise and wisdom while planning our re-opening process as well. Only a few short years ago, many of you contributed to supporting Amy in serving her community as a SiCM Summer Intern. It is absolutely AMAZING to see how far she's come and the incredible community leader she has grown into since that time! Thanks for all you do and congratulations Amy for being our June 2021 Minister of the Month!
Worship Assistants Needed!
After a nearly sixteen month long break from weekly in-person worship, we are now slowly starting to build up our volunteer base! We are looking for ushers and greeters starting July 11th, and then based on how well that goes we are hoping to throw lectors into the mix beginning August. Because of how long of a break we have had and honoring that all may not be ready to come back in-person, we will be making a completely new worship assistant list. If you are interested in being included in our rotations, please email Rianne at office@messiahschenectady.org. It is also helpful for scheduling purposes to note if there are any weeks you know you won't be available so you won't be included in those weeks. We are so excited for reopening and can't wait to see you again!
Community Service Committee Update!
The Annual Crop Walk was held on May 2, 2021. Messiah decided to hold their walk at Thatcher’s Park. We set a goal of $1000. 8 walkers signed up to complete the walk. On the day of the event it was drizzling, but 6 of the walkers showed up to walk accompanied by two others who had not signed up. Due to the rain, we ended up talking under a shelter and experiencing some of the things to do around the shelter. In the end we exceeded our goal by raising $1350! Thank you to all who volunteered to walk and to those that donated money in support of them!
In addition to staffing a SiCM Summer Lunch site at the Trinity Community Center this summer, we're working on providing at least a monthly community service opportunity throughout the rest of 2021 for our members. Please mark your calendars!!!
SiCM Summer Lunch Volunteers Needed!
Help us serve children in our community in need through SiCM Summer Lunch at our Trinity Community Center!
The program runs from July 6, 2021, through the first week of September. Concerned for the Hungry, Inc. has volunteered to handle the first week. The time commitment is 11:00am to 12:30pm. We will need at least two people per day and masks will be required. If you're interested in assisting, please contact Community Service Committee Chair Pete Jones today at jonesp714@gmail.com!
Birthday Cake in a Pan
The Bread of Life Food Pantry is sponsoring "Birthday Party in a pan" to benefit the children at the City Mission. We are asking for donations of cake mixes, frosting, sprinkles, candle, napkins, plates and a decoration that would fit into a 9x13 pan. The food pantry will supply the pans. The items can be left in the vestibule or dropped off at the church between 11 & 1 on Wednesdays. Any items you would like to supply is greatly appreciated! Please have the items in by July 7th. Thanks so much for all you do to support our congregation!
2021 Synod Assembly Takes Historic Actions and Elects Lee Miller II As Our Next Upstate New York Synod Bishop
Merle Longwood and Kimlee Marquise, as lay voting members, and Pastor Dustin, as clergy, attended the Upstate New York Synod Online Assembly via St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Pittsford, NY on Thursday, June 3 - Saturday, June 5. Presided over by Bishop John Macholz, the agenda was full of reports and resolutions, and highlights included a pre-recorded presentation of the Synod's Racial Justice Task Force; a celebration of the women who have been ordained in the ELCA over the past 50 years; and a video presentation from St. John's Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, FL sharing their experience of becoming Reconciling in Christ. The highlight of the Assembly business was the election of a new bishop who will assume office on September 1. There were four nominees for bishop: the Rev. Laura Daly of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Horseheads; the Rev. Lee Miller, II of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo; the Rev. Deron Milleville of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Glenville; and the Rev. Aileen Robbins of Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rochester. The election took five ballots, with carefully spelled out criteria for what would constitute the number of votes from the total votes cast required for election with each ballot. Before each ballot, the candidates were each asked to respond with brief answers to questions that had been prepared by the nominating committee and had not been seen in advance by the nominees, many of which dealt with issues of pastoral leadership, social justice, conflict resolution, and welcoming of persons from diverse backgrounds including the concerns of LGBTQIA+ communities. On the final ballot, narrowed to two nominees, the Rev. Lee Miller, II was elected by a vote of 157 to 134, after telling the story of a close friend who had taken his own life as a college student, because he was not able to accept the reality of realizing that he was gay. The Synod has been Reconciled in Christ for many years, and the new bishop will encourage congregations to deepen their commitments to be welcoming to all people.
Faith Formation News
Despite still not being able to gather in person this winter and spring, we still closed out the school year with a faith formation program that is stronger than ever at Messiah. Pastor Dustin ran weekly confirmation classes for our middle schoolers and their families on issues like women's rights in the Bible to how the Lutheran Church works globally through a conversation with Dennis Frado, Director of the Lutheran Office for World Community at United Nations. Every week, Pastor Dustin, Ms. Cheryl and Ms. Betsy recorded a brief conversation on the theme of the day and discussed our Whirl! curriculum video on a Facebook Watch Children's Sermon Series called "for Kids!" Pastor Dustin organized a in-depth and well attended Bible study called "The Upswing" on how the church helped rebuild America after the Gilded Age of the late 1890s and both world wars. Most notably, Dr. Merle Longwood hosted a WILDLY successful Sunday Forum Series called "Peace Not Walls" on building a just peace in the Holy Land. Guest speakers and participants zoomed in from Israel, Egypt and across the country! Recordings of most of these conversations can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MessiahLC/videos. Over the summer, our Faith Formation Team will continue working hard to consider what faith formation means in our in-person/ virtual hybrid future! We remain dedicated to reaching our local members, friends and neighbors with quality, Christ-centered programming for all ages, but recognize we now have many friends, neighbors (and probably even some members soon) in different parts of the country!
June 2021 Pastor's Letter
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. - Luke 24: 30 - 31
Dear siblings in Christ,
I write you the morning after a historic day in the life of Messiah Lutheran Church! In addition to holding our first in-person worship service in fifteen months, we voted to take MAJOR steps in building a table where all in our community are welcomed and fed in body, mind and soul!! We adopted a new welcome statement and redoubled our commitment to being an antiracist congregation. We authorized the launch of a $500,000 Capital Campaign to once and for all make our Worship Center fully accessible. We adopted 1) food security, 2) mental health & wellness, 3) arts, culture and self expression and 4) safe and affordable housing as the four legs of the open community table we’re building at our Trinity Community Center, including a partnership with Safe Haven LGBTQ Inc. that has already received praise and support throughout the Capital Region. We adopted an innovative plan to support the mental health needs of our congregation. We adopted a plan to fully and permanently reopen for in-person, indoor worship beginning this summer on Sunday, July 11th and to bring back our beloved Douglas J. Chilton as our Interim Minister of Music through Labor Day, all while not only continuing but improving the virtual streaming of "Sunday Mass and Holy Days" that has served as a comfort to so many locally and across the country.
In faith and with God's help, I deeply believe we will come back from this pandemic stronger than ever and in the spirit of the best of Christian traditions, build a common table where all are welcome!!! I know in my core that the image at the heart of our faith, and our Christian calling in this unique moment, is the idea of a common table where everyone of all diversities and backgrounds can gather and truly see the face of Christ in others, especially those who are different than us. We've experienced so much heartbreak and pain over the past year and a half, all while isolated and alone, but in the aftermath of mass trauma, God is very much at work using that common pain to bring about healing, solidarity and unity all in the midst of our great diversity.
As I wrote online yesterday afternoon, I’ve never felt so excited, hopeful, scared, thankful, proud, anxious and Spirit filled in my entire life! That said, what keeps me grounded is my faith in Christ at work in the faces of the many members of our congregation who have stepped up to lead what will be a once in a generation, historic campaign in the life of our congregation. Under the guidance and support of Evan Moilan and Pete Reuss from GSB, I'll begin working immediately with our Capital Campaign Co-Chairs, Rich Becker and Dave Barnett, along with our Campaign Team Leaders Penny Incitti, Tom Collins and Barb Hallett to launch our campaign on God's Work, Our Hand Sunday, September 12th. Later on, as we prepare to break ground in the spring of 2022, George Small, Neal Fisher, Brian Maki have agreed to take the lead in liaising with our General Contractor, Mr. Wade Cotton of Manchester Homes, LLC and our Architects, John Fry and Jaclyn Tyler of Nexus Creative. Throughout the summer, working with our Capital Appeal team, organized increased opportunities for in-person fellowship, as well providing increased mental health support to our many members and relaunching our many youth programs will be at the heart of my work. As Mr. Doug returns, a portion of Pastor Jonathan's work will shift towards increased leadership of our Trinity Community Center as well as supporting our Worship & Music Ministry Team in the return to in-person worship.
Here's the thing though... building a common table where all are welcome will indeed take every single one of us. New leaders will need to step up. We'll need to work as a team like never before. It will indeed take a great deal of time, talent, treasure and sacrifice on all our parts! As I said at the start of the pandemic however, referencing the words of the Book of Esther, the church was created "for such a time as this" to build tables of healing, unity and reconciliation where ALL God's people are welcome!
In the more optimistic times of 1962, as President John F. Kennedy launched the seemingly impossible effort to send the United States to Moon, he famously proclaimed, "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win."
May we go forth into the coming exciting months with a similar sense of determination, audacity and common purpose, all to God's glory and in service to the face of Christ in all our neighbors!
In hope,
Pastor Dustin
Lead at Messiah!
While a number of folks have stepped up in recent months, we're still looking for a variety of new leaders to fill a number of appointed roles including a Social Justice Chair, a Nursery Chair, a Youth Ministry Chair, an Arts & Culture Chair, a Young Adult Chair, a Men's Group President and an Archives Chair. We are also looking for one final member of our Congregation Council. If any of these things sound of interest to you, please contact Pastor Dustin!
New RIC Welcome Statement Adopted!
With many thanks to Grace Olochnowicz, Kody Schaffer, Sarah Olochnowicz, Laurie Lynn Lumbra, Barbara Quackenbush, Rachel Mathis and co-chairs Merle Longwood and Kimlee Marquise, we adopted a powerful new welcome statement at this past Sunday's Special Meeting of the Congregation that read as follows:
In response to God’s unconditional love for all people, and in our belief that all people are beloved of God and made in the image of God, we therefore welcome and actively invite people of all ages, races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, relationship statuses, socioeconomic statuses, disabilities, and mental and physical conditions into full participation in the body of Christ. We believe that these things make the church diverse, beautiful, and reflective of God, and we therefore affirm the beauty, value, and gifts of each and every person.
We commit to striving continually to become a welcoming, affirming, and celebrating community. We commit to the work of anti-racism, in institutions and internally, interpersonal and structurally. We commit to breaking down dividing walls (Ephesians 2:14) and building a community where each and every person would know they are loved, affirmed, and celebrated by God.
At the next meeting of our Congregation Council, we'll spend some time discussing how to begin putting our new statement into practice. We'll be celebrating the new statement at our annual Pride Month Mass on June 27th and submitting the statement to ReconcilingWorks to renew our RIC designation as well!
Worship Support at Messiah
We all have various sized households and some of our members and friends have reported they are beginning to run out of communion wafers. If that describes you, our wonderful Care & Concern Committee Chair Barb Hallett has offered to deliver you more supplies! Simply give her a call if needed!
Produce Pantry Relaunches at the Trinity Community Center!
Last week we re-launched our weekly Produce Pantry at the Trinity Community Center! A number of our awesome volunteers distributed over 1000 lbs of fresh, local, produce, obtained for free from the Regional Food Bank! As the summer progresses, much of what comes out of our Rev. Richard Rieger Memorial Harvest Garden will be channeled into this exciting ministry as well. If you're in need of produce, stop by Trinity every Friday from 4:30 - 6:00pm! If you'd like to help, please speak with Pastor Jonathan!
Supporting Our Seniors
Eddy SeniorCare, the Capital Region's only Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly(PACE), is a special model of care that provides the necessary supports to adults 55 and older with long-term healthcare needs so they may safely remain in their own homes. PACE is designed to put each participant at the center of their care and surround them with a clinical team who provides and coordinates all aspects of their healthcare (including primary care, rehab therapies, social work, prescriptions, assistive devices, etc.), as well as providing social supports, and even transportation to medical appointments. For more information, please call 855-376-7888 or visit EddySeniorCare.com.
Help Us Build a Common Table by Supporting the Trinity Community Center
Over 170 folks received both doses of life giving COVID19 vaccine. Over 1000 lbs of fresh produce distributed to neighbors in need... in just one week! Members and friends alike expressed themselves and found peace through Zentangle art classes. The largest Twelve Step programs in Rotterdam provide community and support to people in recovery. Countless opportunities to volunteer! We've done all these things and more through our Trinity Community Center in just a short couple of months and we don't even own the building yet (although we will any day now)! In the coming weeks, we'll launch a SiCM Summer Lunch site to help feed kids in need throughout the summer and welcome SafeHaven LGBTQ into our doors... and that's just the beginning... The possibilities with God's help are indeed endless!
That said, especially during this time of transition, all these powerful, life affirming and necessary ministries come with an expense. Did you know just to keep the lights and heat on, keep the parking lot clear of snow, and keep the building insured, it costs about $11,000, even before the cost of programming? If we add up the rough cost of staff time from Pastor Jonathan, Pastor Dustin, Rianne, Sarah, Dave and Nicole (especially with all the extra time spent in building acquisition and program launch in the short term) that number increases to about $25,000 - $30,000 a year!
Space use contributions from outside groups will now begin coming in. A year or two out we will realize significant revenue from the redevelopment of the property surrounding the community center into affordable housing. In the short term however, these expenses have come out of our regular Parish Budget, leading us to a roughly $15,000 budget shortfall going into the summer, which are traditionally leaner months in the life of our congregation. Our Budget & Finance Committee recently met to discuss this issue and made the following suggestions of how you can help:
Amelia (Amy) DeMento began her internship with the COVID Response Team at Schenectady County Department of Health last fall. She was offered a temporary position to stay on and continue her work there which includes the role of data oversight at vaccination pods throughout the county. Caring, dedicated to her work and very organized, she has assisted in ensuring thousands of residents are scheduled to receive their vaccine. This past Holy Week (a less than ideal time for Pastor Dustin to be working on scheduling folks for our Trinity Community Center Vaccination POD), Amy stepped up well beyond her regular role and was CRITICAL in making sure many of the over 170 folks who received vaccines in our community center had their questions answered. Messiah has also leaned on her expertise and wisdom while planning our re-opening process as well. Only a few short years ago, many of you contributed to supporting Amy in serving her community as a SiCM Summer Intern. It is absolutely AMAZING to see how far she's come and the incredible community leader she has grown into since that time! Thanks for all you do and congratulations Amy for being our June 2021 Minister of the Month!
Worship Assistants Needed!
After a nearly sixteen month long break from weekly in-person worship, we are now slowly starting to build up our volunteer base! We are looking for ushers and greeters starting July 11th, and then based on how well that goes we are hoping to throw lectors into the mix beginning August. Because of how long of a break we have had and honoring that all may not be ready to come back in-person, we will be making a completely new worship assistant list. If you are interested in being included in our rotations, please email Rianne at office@messiahschenectady.org. It is also helpful for scheduling purposes to note if there are any weeks you know you won't be available so you won't be included in those weeks. We are so excited for reopening and can't wait to see you again!
Community Service Committee Update!
The Annual Crop Walk was held on May 2, 2021. Messiah decided to hold their walk at Thatcher’s Park. We set a goal of $1000. 8 walkers signed up to complete the walk. On the day of the event it was drizzling, but 6 of the walkers showed up to walk accompanied by two others who had not signed up. Due to the rain, we ended up talking under a shelter and experiencing some of the things to do around the shelter. In the end we exceeded our goal by raising $1350! Thank you to all who volunteered to walk and to those that donated money in support of them!
In addition to staffing a SiCM Summer Lunch site at the Trinity Community Center this summer, we're working on providing at least a monthly community service opportunity throughout the rest of 2021 for our members. Please mark your calendars!!!
- Sunday, September 12th: God’s Work Our Hands Sunday: Cleaning up and moving into the Trinity Community Center. More information to follow.
- October TBA: Schenectady Interfaith Community Service Day: A countywide day of service in partnership with Schenectady Clergy Against Hate.
- Saturday, November 20th, 8:30a - done: Concerned For The Hungry Thanksgiving Basket Packing Day Hoping to staff three “fresh” vegetable stations again this year. More to follow.
- Saturday, December 4th from 10:00am - 1:00pm: #HelpPortrait Schenectady Our annual effort to provide studio quality portraits for families and individuals in need right before the holidays.
SiCM Summer Lunch Volunteers Needed!
Help us serve children in our community in need through SiCM Summer Lunch at our Trinity Community Center!
The program runs from July 6, 2021, through the first week of September. Concerned for the Hungry, Inc. has volunteered to handle the first week. The time commitment is 11:00am to 12:30pm. We will need at least two people per day and masks will be required. If you're interested in assisting, please contact Community Service Committee Chair Pete Jones today at jonesp714@gmail.com!
Birthday Cake in a Pan
The Bread of Life Food Pantry is sponsoring "Birthday Party in a pan" to benefit the children at the City Mission. We are asking for donations of cake mixes, frosting, sprinkles, candle, napkins, plates and a decoration that would fit into a 9x13 pan. The food pantry will supply the pans. The items can be left in the vestibule or dropped off at the church between 11 & 1 on Wednesdays. Any items you would like to supply is greatly appreciated! Please have the items in by July 7th. Thanks so much for all you do to support our congregation!
2021 Synod Assembly Takes Historic Actions and Elects Lee Miller II As Our Next Upstate New York Synod Bishop
Merle Longwood and Kimlee Marquise, as lay voting members, and Pastor Dustin, as clergy, attended the Upstate New York Synod Online Assembly via St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Pittsford, NY on Thursday, June 3 - Saturday, June 5. Presided over by Bishop John Macholz, the agenda was full of reports and resolutions, and highlights included a pre-recorded presentation of the Synod's Racial Justice Task Force; a celebration of the women who have been ordained in the ELCA over the past 50 years; and a video presentation from St. John's Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, FL sharing their experience of becoming Reconciling in Christ. The highlight of the Assembly business was the election of a new bishop who will assume office on September 1. There were four nominees for bishop: the Rev. Laura Daly of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Horseheads; the Rev. Lee Miller, II of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo; the Rev. Deron Milleville of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Glenville; and the Rev. Aileen Robbins of Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rochester. The election took five ballots, with carefully spelled out criteria for what would constitute the number of votes from the total votes cast required for election with each ballot. Before each ballot, the candidates were each asked to respond with brief answers to questions that had been prepared by the nominating committee and had not been seen in advance by the nominees, many of which dealt with issues of pastoral leadership, social justice, conflict resolution, and welcoming of persons from diverse backgrounds including the concerns of LGBTQIA+ communities. On the final ballot, narrowed to two nominees, the Rev. Lee Miller, II was elected by a vote of 157 to 134, after telling the story of a close friend who had taken his own life as a college student, because he was not able to accept the reality of realizing that he was gay. The Synod has been Reconciled in Christ for many years, and the new bishop will encourage congregations to deepen their commitments to be welcoming to all people.
Faith Formation News
Despite still not being able to gather in person this winter and spring, we still closed out the school year with a faith formation program that is stronger than ever at Messiah. Pastor Dustin ran weekly confirmation classes for our middle schoolers and their families on issues like women's rights in the Bible to how the Lutheran Church works globally through a conversation with Dennis Frado, Director of the Lutheran Office for World Community at United Nations. Every week, Pastor Dustin, Ms. Cheryl and Ms. Betsy recorded a brief conversation on the theme of the day and discussed our Whirl! curriculum video on a Facebook Watch Children's Sermon Series called "for Kids!" Pastor Dustin organized a in-depth and well attended Bible study called "The Upswing" on how the church helped rebuild America after the Gilded Age of the late 1890s and both world wars. Most notably, Dr. Merle Longwood hosted a WILDLY successful Sunday Forum Series called "Peace Not Walls" on building a just peace in the Holy Land. Guest speakers and participants zoomed in from Israel, Egypt and across the country! Recordings of most of these conversations can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MessiahLC/videos. Over the summer, our Faith Formation Team will continue working hard to consider what faith formation means in our in-person/ virtual hybrid future! We remain dedicated to reaching our local members, friends and neighbors with quality, Christ-centered programming for all ages, but recognize we now have many friends, neighbors (and probably even some members soon) in different parts of the country!
June 2021 Pastor's Letter
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. - Luke 24: 30 - 31
Dear siblings in Christ,
I write you the morning after a historic day in the life of Messiah Lutheran Church! In addition to holding our first in-person worship service in fifteen months, we voted to take MAJOR steps in building a table where all in our community are welcomed and fed in body, mind and soul!! We adopted a new welcome statement and redoubled our commitment to being an antiracist congregation. We authorized the launch of a $500,000 Capital Campaign to once and for all make our Worship Center fully accessible. We adopted 1) food security, 2) mental health & wellness, 3) arts, culture and self expression and 4) safe and affordable housing as the four legs of the open community table we’re building at our Trinity Community Center, including a partnership with Safe Haven LGBTQ Inc. that has already received praise and support throughout the Capital Region. We adopted an innovative plan to support the mental health needs of our congregation. We adopted a plan to fully and permanently reopen for in-person, indoor worship beginning this summer on Sunday, July 11th and to bring back our beloved Douglas J. Chilton as our Interim Minister of Music through Labor Day, all while not only continuing but improving the virtual streaming of "Sunday Mass and Holy Days" that has served as a comfort to so many locally and across the country.
In faith and with God's help, I deeply believe we will come back from this pandemic stronger than ever and in the spirit of the best of Christian traditions, build a common table where all are welcome!!! I know in my core that the image at the heart of our faith, and our Christian calling in this unique moment, is the idea of a common table where everyone of all diversities and backgrounds can gather and truly see the face of Christ in others, especially those who are different than us. We've experienced so much heartbreak and pain over the past year and a half, all while isolated and alone, but in the aftermath of mass trauma, God is very much at work using that common pain to bring about healing, solidarity and unity all in the midst of our great diversity.
As I wrote online yesterday afternoon, I’ve never felt so excited, hopeful, scared, thankful, proud, anxious and Spirit filled in my entire life! That said, what keeps me grounded is my faith in Christ at work in the faces of the many members of our congregation who have stepped up to lead what will be a once in a generation, historic campaign in the life of our congregation. Under the guidance and support of Evan Moilan and Pete Reuss from GSB, I'll begin working immediately with our Capital Campaign Co-Chairs, Rich Becker and Dave Barnett, along with our Campaign Team Leaders Penny Incitti, Tom Collins and Barb Hallett to launch our campaign on God's Work, Our Hand Sunday, September 12th. Later on, as we prepare to break ground in the spring of 2022, George Small, Neal Fisher, Brian Maki have agreed to take the lead in liaising with our General Contractor, Mr. Wade Cotton of Manchester Homes, LLC and our Architects, John Fry and Jaclyn Tyler of Nexus Creative. Throughout the summer, working with our Capital Appeal team, organized increased opportunities for in-person fellowship, as well providing increased mental health support to our many members and relaunching our many youth programs will be at the heart of my work. As Mr. Doug returns, a portion of Pastor Jonathan's work will shift towards increased leadership of our Trinity Community Center as well as supporting our Worship & Music Ministry Team in the return to in-person worship.
Here's the thing though... building a common table where all are welcome will indeed take every single one of us. New leaders will need to step up. We'll need to work as a team like never before. It will indeed take a great deal of time, talent, treasure and sacrifice on all our parts! As I said at the start of the pandemic however, referencing the words of the Book of Esther, the church was created "for such a time as this" to build tables of healing, unity and reconciliation where ALL God's people are welcome!
In the more optimistic times of 1962, as President John F. Kennedy launched the seemingly impossible effort to send the United States to Moon, he famously proclaimed, "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win."
May we go forth into the coming exciting months with a similar sense of determination, audacity and common purpose, all to God's glory and in service to the face of Christ in all our neighbors!
In hope,
Pastor Dustin
Lead at Messiah!
While a number of folks have stepped up in recent months, we're still looking for a variety of new leaders to fill a number of appointed roles including a Social Justice Chair, a Nursery Chair, a Youth Ministry Chair, an Arts & Culture Chair, a Young Adult Chair, a Men's Group President and an Archives Chair. We are also looking for one final member of our Congregation Council. If any of these things sound of interest to you, please contact Pastor Dustin!
New RIC Welcome Statement Adopted!
With many thanks to Grace Olochnowicz, Kody Schaffer, Sarah Olochnowicz, Laurie Lynn Lumbra, Barbara Quackenbush, Rachel Mathis and co-chairs Merle Longwood and Kimlee Marquise, we adopted a powerful new welcome statement at this past Sunday's Special Meeting of the Congregation that read as follows:
In response to God’s unconditional love for all people, and in our belief that all people are beloved of God and made in the image of God, we therefore welcome and actively invite people of all ages, races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, relationship statuses, socioeconomic statuses, disabilities, and mental and physical conditions into full participation in the body of Christ. We believe that these things make the church diverse, beautiful, and reflective of God, and we therefore affirm the beauty, value, and gifts of each and every person.
We commit to striving continually to become a welcoming, affirming, and celebrating community. We commit to the work of anti-racism, in institutions and internally, interpersonal and structurally. We commit to breaking down dividing walls (Ephesians 2:14) and building a community where each and every person would know they are loved, affirmed, and celebrated by God.
At the next meeting of our Congregation Council, we'll spend some time discussing how to begin putting our new statement into practice. We'll be celebrating the new statement at our annual Pride Month Mass on June 27th and submitting the statement to ReconcilingWorks to renew our RIC designation as well!
Worship Support at Messiah
We all have various sized households and some of our members and friends have reported they are beginning to run out of communion wafers. If that describes you, our wonderful Care & Concern Committee Chair Barb Hallett has offered to deliver you more supplies! Simply give her a call if needed!
Produce Pantry Relaunches at the Trinity Community Center!
Last week we re-launched our weekly Produce Pantry at the Trinity Community Center! A number of our awesome volunteers distributed over 1000 lbs of fresh, local, produce, obtained for free from the Regional Food Bank! As the summer progresses, much of what comes out of our Rev. Richard Rieger Memorial Harvest Garden will be channeled into this exciting ministry as well. If you're in need of produce, stop by Trinity every Friday from 4:30 - 6:00pm! If you'd like to help, please speak with Pastor Jonathan!
Supporting Our Seniors
Eddy SeniorCare, the Capital Region's only Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly(PACE), is a special model of care that provides the necessary supports to adults 55 and older with long-term healthcare needs so they may safely remain in their own homes. PACE is designed to put each participant at the center of their care and surround them with a clinical team who provides and coordinates all aspects of their healthcare (including primary care, rehab therapies, social work, prescriptions, assistive devices, etc.), as well as providing social supports, and even transportation to medical appointments. For more information, please call 855-376-7888 or visit EddySeniorCare.com.
Help Us Build a Common Table by Supporting the Trinity Community Center
Over 170 folks received both doses of life giving COVID19 vaccine. Over 1000 lbs of fresh produce distributed to neighbors in need... in just one week! Members and friends alike expressed themselves and found peace through Zentangle art classes. The largest Twelve Step programs in Rotterdam provide community and support to people in recovery. Countless opportunities to volunteer! We've done all these things and more through our Trinity Community Center in just a short couple of months and we don't even own the building yet (although we will any day now)! In the coming weeks, we'll launch a SiCM Summer Lunch site to help feed kids in need throughout the summer and welcome SafeHaven LGBTQ into our doors... and that's just the beginning... The possibilities with God's help are indeed endless!
That said, especially during this time of transition, all these powerful, life affirming and necessary ministries come with an expense. Did you know just to keep the lights and heat on, keep the parking lot clear of snow, and keep the building insured, it costs about $11,000, even before the cost of programming? If we add up the rough cost of staff time from Pastor Jonathan, Pastor Dustin, Rianne, Sarah, Dave and Nicole (especially with all the extra time spent in building acquisition and program launch in the short term) that number increases to about $25,000 - $30,000 a year!
Space use contributions from outside groups will now begin coming in. A year or two out we will realize significant revenue from the redevelopment of the property surrounding the community center into affordable housing. In the short term however, these expenses have come out of our regular Parish Budget, leading us to a roughly $15,000 budget shortfall going into the summer, which are traditionally leaner months in the life of our congregation. Our Budget & Finance Committee recently met to discuss this issue and made the following suggestions of how you can help:
- If you're already up to date on your household's pledge to our Annual Fund, thank you!!!! We'll be launching a public fundraising effort within the next month and we encourage you to invite friends, family and neighbors to contribute to a cause you care about!
- If you're not up to date on your household's pledge to our Annual Fund, thank you for all you have done! We understand if your circumstances may have changed, but if possible, please try to catch up!
- If you've never considered making a pledge to our Annual Fund in support of our life changing ministries, please consider doing so! Simply reach out to Financial Secretary Penny Incitti today at pennyincitti@gmail.com! All pledges are kept confidentially between the Senior Pastor, Financial Secretary and President.