The Vestry is the elected governing body of the church. St. Mary’s Vestry consists of 12 lay members of the congregation and the rector. Four members are elected to three-year terms each year at the annual meeting. The Vestry typically meets on the second Tuesday of most months. You will find regular updates from them in our paper Bellringer and here in our online articles section of the website.
After almost three years, we all rejoiced in the beginning of the church year with Advent and Christmas services. The service of Lessons and Carols, followed with a Tea and Figgy Pudding! was very well attended. There were three choirs: The Liturgical Choir directed by Tom Trent, the Joyful Noises Choir directed by Linnae Eckley, and the Intergenerational Celebrations Choir directed by Lucy Booth. Ty Z, Dick Z, and Bingham P accompanied the Intergenerational Choir. At the very end, Jessica R sang “Oh Holy Night.” We want to thank especially John Jantzi, Organist and Music Director, who joyfully supported all of us, choirs, congregation, and soloist.
We dedicated this service of Lessons and Carols to the ministries of the Rev. Christine Marie and the Rev. Deacon Tom English, to their service to St. Mary’s and to the wider community.
The church held four services for Christmas Eve and another for Christmas Day. One of the services was new for us this year: a quiet service at 3:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Many parishioners wanted a service that they could drive to before it got dark, others wanted a quieter and more contemplative service. It was well attended.
The 5:00 PM Christmas Pageant Service included 33 actors, four stagehands, and eight adults, not including the many parents who had to get their child to church early, and dressed in clothing that would be unnoticeable under their costumes. You may not have noticed John P, dressed as a shepherd, as he processed with a sheep-grandchild! Many thanks to Carolyn W who directed the play, and her assistants Jessica B, JP B, and Reyna P. Christine Z-P played the piano, and Dorothy A, Flossie B, and Tommy B did the costuming.
The 9:00 PM service on Christmas Eve is another quieter service, and the 11:00 PM service has the full liturgical support of a midnight Mass.
On Christmas morning, there was a 10:00 AM service for those who want a morning service, and because we always have a Sunday service to celebrate the Resurrection.
Last spring, when this year’s Vestry met for a one-day retreat, we approved the forming of a committee to study racism. At the most recent Vestry meeting, this committee proposed a St. Mary’s Standing Committee to support us in awareness and in action. The committee produced a document that gave a short history of the committee’s concerns, and a mission statement and the values that informed it. The document will be available to anyone who wants to read it, and its link can be found in the Tuesday ministry updates and in the Vestry section of the website. The final proposal was voted on by the Vestry and was affirmed unanimously.
Another Vestry committee group focused on how to welcome people back to St. Mary’s and to encourage people who haven’t worshipped with us before. As we have opened back after Covid, this committee planned and sponsored started the Newcomer Dinners, which have been very successful.
The third Vestry committee has been working on making the physical building work better for us. The original planning began before the Covid lockdowns, and then had to be postponed as we fixed the roof, and put in a new HVAC system. We certainly needed a non-leaking roof, and better ventilation in the church! But at some point after Christmas 2019, the failing, difficult-to-use, and too-small elevator stopped working. We need a working elevator in order to open up all of our services and programs to everyone, and other things that will make our building safer to use. We have begun a planning and construction project that is not yet finished, but that we know will support all of us as we come together to work and worship.
Contributed by Flossie B
