Spiritual Life and Worship

October 2, 2008

Present: Richard Angell, Betsy Keiter, Elinor Redmond, Debbie Riley, Dana Wiggins, Bryan Wiggins, Mary Anne Wallace, and John McCall

Opening Prayer was given by Bryan Wiggins

Minutes from September were reviewed and approved as written.

Updates from John
• Mailbox – Somebody needs to check the contents of the SL&W church mailbox and respond if needed. (Group: did someone volunteer to do this?)
• Pew Papers – Bob and Joy Gale have kept the paper in the pew racks up to date for a number of years. They are retiring from that job and we need to find someone to take their place. The task takes from 1 to 1 ½ hours monthly. Elinor will check the ‘volunteer lists’ to see if there is a possible match. She may need help completing the signup process.
• Chancel and piano dedication – Sunday, October 26th. There will be a litany and memorial prayer. Les Andrews’ family will be present. Preparations include: updating the Memorial book. Deb Riley will take the book to Maggi, our calligrapher. There will be a brass plaque on the piano in memory of Shirley Findlay and the Narthex plaque will include Les Andrews’ name. The chairs are due to be delivered the week before the service. Because of Les Andrews’ generous bequest, nothing will be spent from the Investment fund on this project.
• 275th Anniversary Kick-off – Sunday, November 9th. The team approved John’s proposal to hold one service only that day. The sermon will be a dialogue between John and Elsa. No extra help is needed from SL&W.
• Inactive List –SL&W approved transferring the following names to the inactive list:
By their request:
Dakers, Scott and Jane
Farr, Mitchell and Debbie
Kersteen, Laurel
Platt, Jon & Carrie
Smith, Ted & Mary

Wallace, Rebecca – transfer to Woodfords

Moved from the area:
Benson, Scott and kristen (to Connecticut)
Hobbs, Craig & Jenn (to Indiana)

• Communion – John, Elsa and Shirley met and suggested a series of steps for serving communion in the new Chancel. Mary Anne has a copy of the document. All will debrief after Sunday.

World Communion Sunday will be on October 5th. 3 bread machines will be baking so that the smell of fresh baked bread will fill the church building. Mary Anne is arranging for several types of bread to be used: challa, naan, rye and corn tortillas.

Review of By-Laws
A small group is reconciling the language of our Open and Affirming statement with the details of the By-Laws. Focus is on the age (14) and preparation necessary for membership (those under 16 need to complete the confirmation process). The Council will confirm the By-Laws.

Hymnal Committee has been working on the supplement to the chosen hymnal, Truth and Light. Shirley brought in the suggested hymns and the group worked to paste them into a notebook with 32 sides available. The mock-up will go to Maggi at the Truth and Light company and to Bob Currier who formats the music. Dana is working with Shirley on usage rights for several of the hymns. There is a strict timeline so that the hymnal can be printed in February and arrive by Easter. The contract has been filled out but is not in yet. The group chose a bright red cover with gold lettering.

Multimedia Usage in Sunday Service
Rick and Bryan are going to visit First Parish Church in Saco to observe their use of multimedia during a service. They also will visit Westbrook-Warren and a service with Steve Carnahan. The use of multimedia should appeal to younger people. We plan to start slowly, take our time and look for volunteers.

November Coffee Hour
We received a proposal from EF&G suggesting the various teams be responsible for one month of coffee hour service after the Sunday Services. Set up, clean up and baking/shopping would be necessary. It is a chance to ‘get the word out’ on what our team does. The kind-hearted, generous SL&W team members agreed to accept the proposal and quickly came up with a schedule. They resisted the temptation to put Sandy Hansen in charge of everything. Deb Riley will e-mail the schedule and a summary of the responsibilities.

Other: Shirley has requested approval to use the sanctuary on November 6th for a musical performance. We are unclear on what group needs to approve this request. (i.e. it is fine with us, but approval may be the Council’s job)

Next Meeting: Thursday, November 6th @ 7:30pm. Betsy will do the opening and Deb will take the minutes.

Adjourned at 8:33pm

Respectfully Submitted by,
Elinor Redmond