Dear Members and Friends of the Hills Church,
The two most exciting events of mid-winter are now behind us: the Annual Meeting and the Super Bowl. At least we got to watch the 'New England' Buccaneers rack up a convincing Super Bowl win! We know we have a good six more weeks of winter, no matter what the ground-hog says; it's New England after all! People with kids and/or jobs are pretty frazzled after almost a year of Coviding, and those with neither are hunting desperately on Netflix for another series to binge-watch. But the days are noticeably longer and the sun is brighter, especially with snow on the ground. The Covid graphs we see in the paper are finally sloping downwards and the pace of vaccinations is picking up. There is hope that both Spring, and the end of Covid, will (eventually) arrive. We are also about to enter the season of Lent, also a time of waiting, in this case for Easter when we will celebrate the events that showed us humans how much God loves us. Hope is in the air, admittedly along with the drizzle, the sleet, and the snow, but it is definitely there. Hope for Spring weather, hope for the end of the pandemic, and hope for humanity.
The Church Council met by Zoom last week. Some of the notable topics discussed are summarized below:
Matt Wooster
-
I have met with the Participation and Involvement, the Financial Governance task force, the Racial Justice Working Group, the Moderators, and the Nursery School Advisory Board to support the work of each of these ministries.
-
I met with Pastor Parish Relations, which held a brainstorming discussion about the next year, and what the church can do to emerge from the restrictions of the pandemic with a focus on gathering for (re)connection, lamenting our losses, and celebrating, considering efforts over a full year. The discussion focused on ways of inviting new people to the church, and reaching out to those who have become inactive.
-
Preparations for annual meeting occupied a good deal of energy, particularly in conversations related to the transfer of leadership among officers and boards.
-
The church staff continues to meet by zoom each week, and I have met with the ministers to coordinate pastoral care and plan for Lent. Pastoral Care continues to be focused on phone calls and written notes.
-
I continue to prepare the worship services and post them online, and to lead noon prayer on Wednesdays.
Judy Swahnberg
Ministry as Usual:
-
Writing liturgy and recording worship each week
-
Sermon writing and preaching on 1/17, on Samuel, call and pivotal moments
-
Morning Meditation co-led with Mary Canavan: every Tuesday morning
-
Extra Advent Group 1/5: discerning trust in God over these holidays
-
Meetings: Deacons, Council, Council special meetings on Budget, Annual meeting
-
Reflecting on the past year and writing my annual report
-
Every Thursday: noontime prayers on Facebook Live
-
Parish Register
-
With colleagues, planning Lent 2021 worship and programs
-
Racial Justice planning and Workshop 1/10/21
Pastoral Care:
-
Weekly Care team assignments and planning
-
Senior ministry planning for winter
-
Facilitate monthly Caring for the Caregiver group
-
Connections special winter dinner via Zoom
-
Special celebrations for Stanley Hodges' 100th birthday, and George Rockwell's 95th birthday
-
One on one with people in the hospital, in treatment, others feeling isolated, afraid, dealing with family issues.
-
With clergy colleagues and Deacons, participated in new members joining
-
Began gathering history of Open and Affirming work at Hills from 2011 to ground continued reflection on outward messaging of welcome
Complexities:
- Pastoral conversations about coping with anxiety and uncertainty about the 1/6 insurrection and division within the country and conducting Prayer Service for our Nation with clergy 1/7/21 via Zoom.
Wider Church:
- I continue to serve on the Board of Andover-Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School on the Program and Life Committee and the Strategic Planning Task Force.
Anne Marie Holloway
Worship, Spiritual Practice, Pastoral Care:
-
Continued weekly worship planning/recording of liturgy.
-
Preached on 12/27 and again on 1/31/21. Alongside my clergy colleagues, helped plan and lead a virtual prayer service on January 6th, in response to concern over the violent eruption at the US Capital building.
-
Continue to plan and lead, "A Cup of Monday Morning Prayer Series" at 7 am every Monday on a private Facebook Live Group for parents.
-
Continue to plan and lead Noontime Prayers from the Hills on Tuesdays via Facebook Live.
-
Continued planning for Lenten Worship Series/Ash Wednesday/looking ahead to Holy Week Services.
-
Meet weekly with Matt and Judy for a pastoral care review of our beloved church family.
-
Regular Pastoral calls, check-ins, ZOOMS, emails and some in-person, socially distanced walks.
Faith Formation Program Offerings for Children
(preschool-grade 5) and Youth (grades 6-12):
-
Weekly planning meetings with Confirmation co-leader, Mimi D' Angelo to plan for and review agenda for Confirmation Class gatherings on ZOOM each Wednesday evening from 7 to 8:15 pm.
-
Our Confirmation Class members received porch side deliveries from myself and Mimi D'Angelo. Mimi and I have decided to provide our Confirmands "tangible" offerings that consist of spiritual practices and prayerful reflections (via safely delivered porch drop-offs) while we are apart physically. This past month our Confirmation Class received "The Message" version of the Bible, an Epiphany prayer, a Star word (examine/reflection), and a packet of hot chocolate to enjoy during our zoom class time. Next month we will be dropping off "OMG: Devotionals for Teens and Young Adults." We will use this devotional throughout the season of Lent as supplemental to our adapted "Confirm Not Conform Confirmation Curriculum"
-
Meet weekly with Sally Tomasetti to finalize programming plans for a Family Ministries whole church Lenten Offering. We are finalizing our plans to distribute "Faith at Home Lenten Boxes" which will include ashes, palms, and a special devotional. Clergy will contribute special Lenten Prayers that will be set up on the front lawn by Sally Tomasetti. We are also working with the "Men and Women of the Letters" on a new Lenten season project for the front lawn!
-
Regular Church School Teaching Staff check-ins
-
I continue to celebrate the ways that Sally Tomasetti and our church school staff continue to creatively offer digital faith formation opportunities each week through our Children's weekly newsletter. This month, Sally has offered and created a self-guided outdoor Epiphany prayer walk for our families to enjoy on their own time.
-
Starting this month, our Middle School Youth Faith Formation Classes meet on the second and the fourth Sundays of each month following worship at 11 am. Class lessons are built upon the scripture focus from worship that day.
Church Life /Outreach:
-
Continuing to serve as a member of the Committee on Ministry for the Metropolitan Boston Association. The COM meets monthly. Attended Ecclesiastical Council for MID Karlene Griffiths Sekou.
-
Continued monthly meetings with local Associate Ministers Clergy Group.
-
Bi-weekly meetings with the Co-Chairs of the Faith Formation Support Board. Our next meeting will be on February 8th.
-
Continued planning, meeting, and organizing with the Racial Justice Working Group members and Wayside Consultants. Our team hopes to share the devotionals that those who participated in our Anti-Racism workshops received with the entire community at the Hills. There will be a youth focused racial justice workshop on February 28th.
-
Provided an opportunity for our church family to serve on MLK weekend. Sally Tomasetti and myself gathered on ZOOM to bake cookies and collected diapers for "Many Helping Hands 365", "My Brother's Keeper" and the Cambridge YMCA.
-
Supporting our teens as they continue with their "Backyard Ministries" of cookie baking, sandwich making, winter care packs and kindness letters to the unsheltered who are supported by Common Cathedral and the Outdoor Church.
Additional Blessings:
-
Met with a young couple, new to Wellesley, who wish to have their baby daughter baptized this Spring. This will be my third baptism since the Pandemic began. This baptism will be hybrid. With a small gathering of friends and family on ZOOM and the family and myself, masked and in person as we are able.
Christian Service Support Board
Doug Eisenhart reported that Donna McCabe and Carol Cole rotated off the Board this month, and that the Board welcomed new members: Mark Fraga, Lucy O'Mara, Anna Spencer, Martha Stowell, and Anna Hemmerle (representing WHCC youth). CSSB Chair Harold Wilkinson, who had participated in the Strengthening Church Governance Task Force, took their recommendation to develop written guidelines for new members to help improve communication and clarify goals. He developed a "CSSB Handbook" that includes a Description of CSSB, CSSB Roles and Functions, 2021 Calendar of Events and Workflow Plan, and more.
Ministry Team Activities
-
The church was able to give gifts to everyone who had requested them on Christmas Gifts for Low-Income Families.
-
Christmas Special Offering receipts totaled $8,210, which is consistent with contributions from previous years, and will be divided equally between Honduras Hope and Greater Worcester/MetroWest Habitat for Humanity.
-
CSSB will continue to arrange the monthly Mission Moments during Sunday worship describing the charitable work done by organizations that WHCC supports financially. Due to coronavirus restrictions, presentations are currently being video-recorded for inclusion in the service. Friends of Boston Homeless was featured in January, City Mission has agreed to present in February. Upcoming Mission Moments are noted in Events at the Hills.
-
The winter clothing drive conducted in cooperation with Second Chances of Cambridge was a success, netting 1,882 pounds of clothes. Planning has begun for the annual book drive to benefit the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center.
Spiritual Care Support Board
Frank Hays reported that the Membership Subcommittee noted the exciting news that two new families joined the church! A subcommittee is also being formed to address the "Open, Affirming and Welcoming Congregation" which was voted on by the Congregation in June of 2011 and ratified at the annual meeting in January 2012. Their emphasis will be on how we can better communicate this welcome to the community. The new Deacons coming on to the Support board were welcomed. They include Karen Gunn, Katherine Kolb, Pete Pedersen, Beth Ross and Brad Tomlinson for a total of 20 Deacons this year.
Faith Formation Support Board
Tina Andersson reported that the Board welcomed new member Julia Altenbach. This year's co-chairs are K.C. Kranker and Suzanne Bossert. At their last meeting they discussed the report from the Strengthening Church Governance Task Force.
Stewards Support Board - See reports* below.
Some of the key agenda items discussed at the meeting were:
Moderator's Message - Sarah Pedersen thanked Mary Hill Canavan and Susan Walton, who are retiring from the Council, for their service. Since one of the at-large members elected at the Annual Meeting developed a scheduling conflict, the Council voted to appoint Laurie Otten to the Council as an at-large member who will be the liaison to the Spiritual Care Support Board. Sarah welcomed her and Jack Morgan, who is the Rising Moderator. Sarah has also set up a set of resources for Council members on Google drive which will be helpful to both new and old members.
Stewardship Campaign 2021 - Sarah Pedersen reported that the stewardship campaign "Look to the Rock" has received 162 pledges totaling $862,360 as of 2/9/21.
*PPP Loan Update - The church submitted the application for forgiveness of this loan which we received from the SBA last spring. The SBA has about 90 days to consider it, although it is highly likely to be approved since we meet all of the criteria.
*Cambridge Trust Term Loan - In order to provide bridge financing between incurring the expenses for our recent renovation projects and early - 2023 when the non-testamentary proceeds of the Capital Campaign are expected to have been received, we took out a $3MM line of credit from Wellesley Bank in 2019. Wellesley Bank has since been acquired by Cambridge Trust which wishes to convert the balance ($2.6MM) to a term loan over 5 years at an annual rate of 2.75%, which we are in the process of doing. We hope to pay off the loan by early 2023, if not earlier to minimize interest expense.
Annual Meeting - The congregational Annual Meeting was held by Zoom this year on Sunday 1/31/21. The platform worked well, probably because many people are already accustomed to using Zoom for work and personal events. We had a quorum and then some (98 members) at the meeting.
Strengthening Church Governance Task Force Report - Doug Eisenhart, who chaired this task force, presented their report to us at the December meeting but because we had limited time to discuss it at that meeting, we put it on the agenda again for this month's Council Meeting. Doug also presented a list of specific recommendations for changes we could make, some small, some large, to address some of our governance issues. These were discussed at length, as well as how best to implement them. A major part of that effort will be presenting the report and discussing its recommendations with the congregation.
As always, if you have questions or comments, please contact us individually or at: [email protected]
In service and faith,
Christopher Stowell Sarah Pedersen Jack Morgan
Wellesley Hills Congregational Church
