Good day siblings in Christ,
There is A LOT happening in the next few weeks, so I will get right into it.
On September 30, the annual yard sale is on! Feel free to bring your workable, but used items for the sale. Please ensure they are in saleable condition, so other families can enjoy them. The sale will be upstairs this year, so we will be bringing all the items in the hallway upstairs the week of the sale. This year, the sale will be torn down on Sunday October 1, so if you can help put items away after worship, we could use your help.
October 15 is our 90th anniversary recognition and luncheon. If you plan to come to the luncheon, please RSVP through this link so we know how many will be coming. We would like to get an idea how many will be coming, so please RSVP. So far, we have 28 people signed up. This is very exciting. Donations to help offset the cost of the luncheon are welcomed, either through our donations page or through a Sunday contribution.
Our Saviour will be also hosting Pinecrest’s reunion and lock-in on October 7-8. They will be arriving to the church around 7/7:30 PM on Saturday and staying through worship on Sunday. If a small group would like to provide breakfast for them on Sunday morning, please contact me directly, otherwise I will make solo preparations.
Recently, antisemitism has been on the rise. I and the three other churches in Croton have been wondering how we can help. On October 29, Temple Israel of Northern Westchester will be offering a single day class for us on how to help. It runs from 4-6 p.m. with a light supper and features Prof. Ed Ginsberg. I hope members of Our Saviour will be there for this offering. There is a sign up for this, so the synagogue can know how many people will be there. The sign up is: https://www.tinw.org/event/an-interfaith-discussion-about-anti-semitism.html
Finally, I want to share some of our discussion on council this last Sunday about activities in the church. We recognize that not-for-profits across the board are experiencing a decline in volunteers. There are many, many reasons for this, from life changes to family changes to life adjustments, post-Covid. As a trustee of the library, we are having the same conversation about volunteers as I am at Our Saviour. Everyone loves our church, but things have changed post-Covid and readjustments need to be made, recognizing this changing time.
As a council, we are asking that if someone wants to plan an event, the first thing to do is ask around: Do others want this event too? If others don’t want it, don’t get upset as it might not be the right time and it doesn’t mean never–it just means not now. If others want this event, wonderful and ask them about step three.
The second thing is to check the calendar to see if other events are happening on that day. We now have yoga and sometimes the Girl Scouts on Saturdays. Support groups are throughout the week. Just check to see if other events are happening and what parts of the building are being used.
The third thing is to get a team together who can commit to being present on the day the event is scheduled to happen. Once a team is in place, you can reasonably know what can and cannot be done. This way there isn’t frustration if there aren’t individuals signing up to help. You already have your team in place and if other join in, wonderful!
I am sharing this because I see how frustrated and upset some get if an event is desired, but there are not volunteers. I will say once again this is not only happening here, this is happening across the board for churches and not-for-profits. Things changed post-Covid and organizations are having to readjust to changed conditions. The same is at Our Saviour, the Spirit calls us always to change, so we move with the Spirit.
Pastor Johnson