It was wonderful to see so many of you at this past weekend's Celtic Spirituality Immersion Retreat, led with incredible love by Father James Reho. As Bethesda continues our exploration of Celtic spirituality, you can expect to see elements of it presented in our worship prayers and music going forward, as well as educational offerings presented in January and February, both in the Adult Forum and at the Middle Way. If you would like to deepen your understanding of this ancient Christian tradition, and be inspired by it, I highly recommend J. Philip Newell's Listening for the Heartbeat of God, or any of his other titles.

The Vestry continues to focus on its 2017 priorities. One was to consider and improve all aspects of Sunday worship and ministries. My last message outlined some of the changes made to the Sunday morning format in response to the town hall-style conversations held last spring. Many of you have given us valuable feedback on how the new format works and feels. Some of your comments confirm what we all know but tend to forget: change can feel uncomfortable at first! Over time, we will become accustomed to some new aspects of the new format, while other aspects may still need to change or evolve. One adjustment has already been accomplished: the time that hot breakfast is served has been expanded to 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., intended to make the hot breakfast more convenient and welcoming to people arriving early to serve at the 9:00 a.m. service and people arriving just before 10:00 a.m. to attend the forum before the 11:00 a.m. service. If you have not tried this yet, please do. You just may encounter people you never knew were Bethesda members!

Another 2017 Vestry priority was to assess the available physical space and buildings to reduce the constraints being imposed on ministry groups. To this end, the Buildings and Grounds Sub-Committee is putting the finishing touches on a newly installed stackable dividing wall in the Parish Hall. This has already made a difference on Wednesday evening, screening the yoga class from dinner cleanup. It also created a more intimate-feeling space for the 40-50 people size group participating in the weekend retreat. I believe moving forward you will notice that events happen more gracefully as we take advantage of the new capability to conduct simultaneous events in Parish Hall West and Parish Hall East.

In our meeting last week, the Vestry considered and approved a motion by the Finance Sub-Committee to allocate roughly ten percent of Bethesda's long term investments into "ESG" investment products. According to the website Investopedia, the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria is a set of standards for a company's operations that socially conscious investors use to screen investments. Environmental criteria looks at how a company performs as a steward of the natural environment. Social criteria examines how a company manages relationships with its employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a company's leadership, executive pay, audits, and internal controls and shareholder rights. The motion put forth allocates one million dollars from the Common Endowment Fund and five hundred thousand dollars from the Preservation Endowment Fund into ESG investment products offered by Northern Trust. Based on past performance, these ESG products have the potential to equal or exceed the performance Bethesda has seen on the investments in which these funds are currently held. The Finance Sub-Committee and the Vestry consider this action to be an important ethical initiative that may be increased after more experience is accumulated.

As with most organizations, Bethesda closes the year with a review of our mission and budget priorities for 2018. But we must also close the books for 2017! As the Vestry is committed to responsible stewardship of Bethesda's resources, it is critical that we close the year with balanced spending and revenue. The budget depends on end-of-year giving for 10% of the general contributions line in the budget (which amounts to $200,000), so I encourage everyone to please make your year-end gifts as early and as generously as possible.

I wish you all a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for the beauty and wonder of creation, in earth and sky and sea and for all that is gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ.

Yours in Christ,

Beth Cole

Senior Warden