September has been a full and wonderful kick off to our new program year. The coming together for two services of worship again, the return of the education hour, the reconvening of youth group gatherings, Children in Worship, Women’s Circles, small groups. Lots of life and energy! We also had a beautiful time of celebration on September 18th with an open house for the areas of our renovation project that are completed and put back into use for the sake of our ministry: the renovated Commons and Youth Room, the new nursey, the new canopy, and finished parking lot. These spaces were completed during the summer with relatively little impact on our congregational life beyond the day to day work of the staff. These spaces are either brand new or a refurbishment of spaces that we are continuing to use as we have before. The changes in these spaces are deeply appreciated and welcomed as the work done makes them more functional, more flexible, more hospitable. Have you noted how excellent the Commons sound system is? Or how bright the new lighting is? The youth ministry had an excellent time of celebrating and utilizing their new space and others are beginning to use that space as well. It’s been a time of great celebration.
This next phase of work will be a fair bit more intrusive. If you haven’t already, you will soon discover the inconvenience of arriving mid-week and having to walk around the building to the 10th street entrance. You will see the dust as you enter into the Gathering Area on Sunday. Some have already experienced the frustration of not knowing where certain things have been moved that used to be housed there. But those inconveniences will not last forever and I have greatly appreciated the work of our staff in anticipating and planning for alternatives, the tireless work of Lois Maassen and the Living Hope Design Team who meet so frequently to problem solve and creatively address the myriad of questions that come with a project like this.
But there is something more I wanted to name about the work of this project that some of you are fully aware of and feel deeply and some of you may not be aware of at all. We have begun and are continuing to tear down some spaces in our facility that many people over many years have painstakingly planned, designed, furnished, maintained, and lovingly tended. Think about the excitement and great care that led to the creation of the Garden Lounge, to the curating of our Library collection, or the design and loving care of our beautiful gardens. Think about the hours people have spent over the years investing in those spaces, tending them, improving them. We knew when we made and voted on these renovation plans that those spaces were going to change. We knew there was no way to bring in cranes and cement trucks without trampling the gardens. We knew that the expanded gathering area, the new chapel, the relocation of the reception area of the offices, the connection between gathering area and youth and nursery wing would inevitably require the dismantling of the Garden Lounge and the Library. We knew these things but now that the time is here I am mindful of the possible grief some are feeling as pieces of their contributions to our ministry are being dismantled. So I want to say a clear and strong “Thank You” for the vision you had to create those spaces and the dedication you brought to maintaining them. These spaces have served our ministry so very well for many, many years. To say that we are ready to have something new come into those spaces does not diminish in any way how important they have been to us before. I have no doubts that in the next 150 years of Hope Church’s ministry that people will innovate and renovate and maybe even dismantle some of what we have all envisioned for today. It felt important to not just celebrate the new and the exciting but to name some of the loss that comes with closing a chapter. The wisdom of Ecclesiastes reminds us that “For everything there is a time and season…” He was right. But that doesn’t mean its always easy when those shifting seasons come along.
Peace to you,
Pastor Jill