Earth Keeping Team
We gathered together once again this spring to plant the seeds for the flowers around Our Savior’s sign on South Main Street. Ever since our team met for the first time we have planted marigolds, but this is the year of change. We have planted zinnias with the hope that they will grow as well as the marigolds have done all these years. Tom Buchanan took home the seeds we planted. Incredibly, there was 100 % germination. Tom cared for the seedlings, and then transplanted all into peat pots. On May 15th we planted all of them around the sign, and watered each plant well. Every week, a different individual or family will water, weed, and deadhead when necessary. During the summer it can become very hot and windy there, so the plants may dry out quickly. The Earth Keeping Team individuals and family names are Altamirano, Buchanan, Howard, Pleasant, Steyer, Turrell, and Varrone. We thank all for their help!
The Blue Bucket continues to overflow with your gifts of non-perishable, nutritious foods. As a congregation you are wonderfully generous. Those who are hungry are thankful for your donations. Those of us who have enough to eat are grateful that we do, and try to bring food items as often as we are able. Carolyn Chesto and Suzanne Pleasant load up their cars and deliver the Blue Bucket items to the Thomaston and Watertown Food Pantries.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Brau, Facilitator
2015 Finance Committee Report - Period ending 12/31/15
The Finance Committee met during the past year to monitor congregational disbursements, income and handle routine financial matters. The Finance Committee’s regular members were: Carolyn Chesto, Gene & Sandy Talbot, Karen Ligi, Rachel Foster, and I. We can always use more people to assist us in meeting our goal of financial stability. Many of us have been on the committee for such a long time that we need members to give us ideas and new ways of doing things.
Thank you to Rachel Foster for serving as our Treasurer. Making sure that all our bills are paid along with the monthly reporting that comes with the position is quite a job that goes unnoticed but is vital to our congregation. We are also blessed to have Karen Ligi as our Financial Secretary. Tallying up the Congregation’s weekly contributions is very time-consuming. She spends many hours as well to make sure her figures are accurate. A big thanks to both for their hard work and commitment and for their accuracy and detail.
The reports of the Financial Secretary & Treasurer are presented elsewhere for your review. I have also included the year-end 2015 and 4/30/2016 Designated Funds Report showing where OSLC’s Funds are allocated (for comparison). A formal budget for 2017 will be presented at our November Special Congregational Meeting.
Another big thanks goes out to our audit team. They are Joel McCorkle, Carol Lizotte and Karl Buckley. We also added Barbara Howard at the last minute to make sure that the audit was completed in time as some personal events with our regular auditors happened which would have caused a delay past the annual meeting. They reviewed the 2015 Treasurer and Financial Secretary records. Their report is located elsewhere in the annual report.
The members of the committee would also like to thank those who have regularly assisted in handling the financial responsibilities of counting after each service for Our Savior. Our Regular counters include Carolyn Chesto, Angela Varrone, Diane Elwood, Joel McCorkle, Jennie Kerney, Jack Kearney, Barbara Howard, Robin Zordan and Carol Lizotte. We also added Sandy Talbot as one of our counters so we thank her for stepping forward. We can always use more help. We currently have 5 counting teams with room for more. No experience needed, training provided. Please contact John Vergauwen or the Office if interested.
Special thanks to Pastor Gollenberg for maintaining our spiritual focus and ensuring that the needs of the congregation are addressed. Extra special thanks go out to Eileen Finer who so capably manages the church office and goes far beyond the call of duty to find the best prices for the goods and services required by our congregation.
This past year was once again very challenging as the congregation ran a deficit until the very end of November before managing to finish in the black this past year (barely) mainly because people donated more at the end of the year. The Finance committee and the Church Council are issuing this challenge to everyone and that is to spread out those donations throughout the year rather than waiting until December. Please consider giving electronically by using the Simply Giving Program, which is sponsored in part by Thrivent Financial or by using your own banks Bill-Payment program. Whichever way you donate please make your donations on a regular basis. Thank you again for everything that this congregation donates, as you are helping to do God’s work.
If you are interested in lending your talents toward the ongoing work of the Committee, Auditor, Treasurer, Financial Secretary or for counting, please say, “Here am I, send me!”
For the Finance Committee, John Vergauwen, Chairman
Ministers of Holy Communion from the Assembly
“Sometimes I hate to see (Worship) end because it is so beautiful,
this meal that we take together.
I may have come into the church so tired and hungry and worn out
from something or other that has happened in my life
that I just want the service to go on and on forever
so that I will not have to go back out there.
Sometimes I hate to see it end because I have a feeling
that I just made a promise
that I am not sure that I can keep.
I have just promised, as I took the Body and Blood of Christ,
to actually go and be the Body and Blood of Christ.”
(Robert Benson, That We May Perfectly Love Thee, pages 91-92)
The name of this group of dedicated servants continues to get stuck on the tongue and take forever to type, BUT, it is a perfect description of the ministry that takes place among us!
On either the first Sunday of the month, or when needed, this small group actually gets to be the Body and Blood of Christ and visits those who are homebound, in nursing homes, or hospitals and brings them greetings from the congregation, offers them a message from the Word of God, and prepares the Meal of Holy Communion so the Blessed Sacrament might be shared with those who need it and greatly appreciate it.
Our participants are: Suzanne Pleasant, Sandy Talbot, Gene Talbot, Lynne Kearney, Eileen Finer, Beth Ouellette, and Ellie Gollenberg.
The wondrous thing about this ministry is that, although those who receive the Sacrament are blessed by the Body and Blood of Christ, the ones who do the visiting sometimes feel they are even more greatly blessed by the privilege of participating in this ministry.
Pastor Gollenberg
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860 283-8480