Return (and a Letter from the Board)

Whenever we return to someplace we’ve been before, memories bubble up like a spring.  My memories tend to be visual.  When I think of Kidd Springs, I think of the light.  Three walls are glass looking out over the pond.  The light filters in through the trees and bounces off the water in the pond.  Life wanders by outside and the visuals yield to narrative, a small part of the story of this church.

I remember making “stained glass windows” out of tissue paper for Advent.  I remember one of the first services I led, where we did art as a spiritual practice.  I remember Courtney pacing around the outside of our circle of chairs, seeming to externalize the journey we were all on.  I remember creating a labyrinth out of sand and hearing the crunch of people’s feet as they walked it in prayer.  I remember the smack of a bird against the window as we tried to have a moment of silence.  I remember the ducks nesting in the beds outside the windows and watching the ducklings hatch and follow their parents around until they were big enough to fly away.  Kidd Springs seems a constant reminder of life.

But I also remember a lot of goodbyes.  To Laura and Neeki.  To Ed and Amy and P.J.  To many more.  Too many more.  We lost a lot at Kidd Springs.

When we remember, we tend to filter.  We talk about the light and the ducks, all happy memories.  When we actually return, we remember a lot more.  In the end, Kidd Springs is just a place.  We make the memories there.  Say a prayer that our return finds more hellos than goodbyes.  Say a prayer that we find what God is doing at Kidd Springs and how we can join in.

Please join us at Kidd Springs Rec Center, Sunday at 11am, as we talk about where to go from here.

Grace and Peace,
Scott

Letter from the Board

Here we are days before moving back to one of our old homes,  Kidd Springs Park.  We have spent the time at the Kessler regrouping, reconsidering and refocusing on our church, ourselves and our mission to the greater community. Scott and Sara have done a great job helping hold things together as several of us on the board have been focused on our individual issues.  Thanks to Scott and Sara specifically and everyone in the community for stepping up.

For those of you not at our last community meeting, we voted to affirm a revised Budget based on more up to date numbers.  This is the budget we will carry into next year.  There were some things we renamed and others we reprioritized.  There are fixed costs for Rent, Worship Leading (now that Scott is our official intern), and Infrastructure (phone, website).  We have committed to Affiliation Dues for the Alliance of Baptist and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.  We are planning to have two people helping with the younger children, Sara is filling the Admin. Asst./ Bookkeeper and we are putting our money where our hearts focus us.  The zeros at the bottom are areas we will fund as we can.  If we have money in excess of the budget as outlined these last items will be considered.

Newly Revised Budget

As a part of being a member of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists we will need to draft a statement reflecting our affirmation of LGBTQ persons and place it into our Bylaws.  The proposed statement is:  “Church in the Cliff stands firmly for the full inclusion of all people in the family of God.  The full range of human difference – race, age, gender, sexuality, nationality, disability, and any other ways that humans devise to separate us from another – shall be welcomed, affirmed, and celebrated as an expression of God’s love for all.”

We will have a Community Meeting on Sunday, September 2 at 10:00 at Kidd Springs Park, 711 West Canty St.  Help us begin a new cycle in the life of Church in the Cliff.  We need everyone’s participation and input to continue to grow and develop.

Thank you,

The Board of Church in the Cliff