As Father Jesse says in his article, we are having great conversations at Vestry and with many of you about the next phases for St. Michaels. We are feeling more comfortable with the physical steps we need to take in order to have meaningful services. This past Sunday, we kneeled at the altar rail for communion, our music program has returned under the wonderful guidance of Sarah Torbeck, and coffee hour has returned to the community room. Still, as Jesse and many others have written, the big questions still remain around “what’s next?” for churches and our church in particular.

Obviously, we are smaller. Many people have not come back and may never come back. We have fewer parishioners who can, or want to, volunteer. Some of our traditions, such as the Thanksgiving dinner are not happening for a variety of reasons (Covid concerns by us and by the Naval Training base, lack of volunteers) and people are lamenting that. So, we continue to ask ourselves, now what?

There may be programs that disappear, only to come back years from now. The MOMS group, which disappeared decades ago because of lack of support has now re-emerged as the MOPS group. ECW, which used to be a major source of outreach, has been replaced with multiple groups over the years. We continue to change in response to the needs, energy and passions of our parish.

At Vestry, we talked about the bright spots right now - the number of children in our Sunday school, the vibrant youth group, our successful preschool, our amazing outreach programs, our beautiful music, our men and women’s bible studies, book clubs, peace and justice committee, the gift shop, the knitting ministry, and others I may have missed here.

“Build on your strengths, not on your weaknesses” rings true to me here. It’s clear that we have the passion for these ministries mentioned above. But, perhaps for others, it’s time to let them go, given our money, talent and time restrictions.

The decision to reduce vestry members to 9 was part of these discussions the last few months. Most churches our size have smaller Vestries. We felt that making this change would allow us to have more meaningful involvement, more efficient meetings and provide everyone with the opportunity to be heard. Seventeen participants on Zoom can be overwhelming. Additionally, the hope is that it will free up some people to volunteer in other capacities within the church. If, at some point, we expand to the point where we feel more members would better represent the parish, our by-laws allow a vote to change that.

A few building issues: A new sidewalk was installed early fall along the side of the church, by the Chapel.

The Vestry has started discussions on how we can make improvements in the church and parking lot for people with mobility issues. We will keep you informed as those progress.

We are also addressing issues at the Rectory that are long overdue. Two of the bathrooms have leaking issues which require bathroom updating. Additionally, the copper piping in the house is deteriorating and requires attention. These are critical and immediate priorities. We do not have money in the operating budget for these projects. In June, when we discussed allocation of funds from 128 Hillside, we voted to take some money from one asset (the Hillside House) to maintain another asset (the Rectory). At that time, we had hoped to use that money to update the kitchen which is in disrepair, with cabinets that are inoperable, but had to divert that money to the new bathrooms. We do not know where we will get the additional money needed for the kitchen at this time, but are seeking proposals, as it will need to be done eventually.

We have received word that our two PPP loans have been forgiven, which is great news. A big thanks to Carol Hebert and John Davis for all their work on this. Obviously, we will not receive any more assistance in 2022. With that in mind, if you have not turned in your pledge card, please do, so we can budget for next year.

Thank you to Dave Evans, the Friday Men’s Group and Outreach for the amazing food collection. The library was overflowing with food for those in need.

See you in church,

Ann