From the Rector:
Let me start by thanking Julie Crandell for her kind words in her note from the Senior Warden. She will have a heavier responsibility than she perhaps realized would be coming her way, as she helps lead the congregation through a time of transition. However she seems totally un-flummoxed and is full of good ideas, which is a great blessing to us all. I would add that the whole vestry is also very positive and committed to the tasks before them. I thank them all very much too.
I’m not gone yet though! We still have three months during which to serve together as priest and congregation, so let me share thoughts about the summer.
First of all, for whatever reason, the church grounds have never looked so good, at least in my time. The flower beds are all being maintained very nicely and Pat Sylvia’s son Josh has stepped forward as our mower. Anyone who wishes to subsidize his work may send a contribution to CCE at the rate of $50/week. It is money well spent. Thank you everyone for your support.
Second, worship continues, and with the wise input of the Worship Committee I am pleased to announce a plan for regular in-person worship starting soon. The details are in the Worship Committee report, but basically it is the same pattern as before with one important twist. As before, we will continue to alternate between live Morning Prayer one week and a pre-recorded service of Ante-Communion, filmed in the sanctuary, the following week. The twist is that the Morning Prayer services will be open to the public, offered outdoors on the patio beside the church. Also, so as to include everyone as best we can, we will still livestream the services online. That way those who choose not to attend in person can still watch from home.
Here is the scoop on the livestream Morning Prayer services. First, they will be led by persons aged 65 and under. This is to make it clear that CCE continues to take the pandemic seriously. We are being attentive to the general guidelines for safety of persons in vulnerable categories. I personally will not be in the live congregation, so as to underline the same message. I will be watching avidly from home though, cheering everyone on and holding them up in prayer. Second, we will follow the guidelines for worship that have been sent out by Bishop Stebbins, focusing on things like wearing masks and keeping distance and avoiding hugs. You are invited to in-person worship, but please respect these guidelines and common sense.
This plan is our best effort to balance the desire we all have for being together with also being prudent. It’s a balance we will continue to work at. Both parts are really important. Unfortunately, as I write, Montana is in the worst shape we have been in yet vis a vis Covid, and the trends are in the wrong direction. On the other hand, we have learned a lot about the virus in recent months, including that a few simple precautions can go a really long way. So, we will work at it. I appeal to each of us to do our part. Let us continue being the people of God, serving together, in really challenging times.
Blessings to all, Donnel+
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July Birthdays
JJuly 2, Catherine Flynn
July 6, Corrine Ryan
July 12, Kris Carlson
July 18, Roger Blair
Tom Larson
Kaeden Wagar
July 21, Rachael Hawley
July 23, Deb Christiansen
July 25, Tom Carlson
July 27, Linette David
July 28, Korbin Hawley
July 30, Nicole Pierrottet
Barb Alsbury
July Anniversaries
July 8, Jesse Newby / Tasha Felton
July 15, Ed & Barb Myers
July 28, Holly & Todd Spangler
July 31, Tom & Kathy Larson
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Christ Church Episcopal Vestry Minutes
6/18/2020
Present at the church: Father O’Flynn, Peg, Pat, Larry
Present online: Hillary, Jay, Don, Julie, Holly, Sam, Janelle
(There was some confusion about whether we were doing an in person or online meeting, so both happened!)
Opening Prayer- A collect for guidance
Accepting Last months minutes- A name was misspelled. Other than that, no changes. Peg moved to accept. Julie seconded the motion. Minutes accepted.
Jr. Warden Report: The brick work is done, sign painted, glass cleaned up. Peggy’s looking to have a ladies painting party for Dickey Hall. She also mentioned that the gutters need to be cleaned out (Larry volunteered) and the lawn needs some more volunteers. Don will mow the lawn. Kurt & Jay will both pay someone to mow the lawn, but aren’t interested in doing it themselves.
Sr. Warden: Nothing to report at this time, other than planning on attending an online training for wardens and the bishop next week.
Treasurers report: Sam inquired if we need to refund the Warming Center their $1,000 deposit. Peggy reported that they passed their exiting expectations. They even replaced our microwave for us. (Hillary is especially pleased that microwave popcorn will not be burned at youth group anymore!) Pat moved to refund the Warming Centers deposit; Peg seconded the motion. Sam will make out a check for them and Donnel will forward to them.
Our cash is down by $400. We haven’t heard anything about the small business loan. It may extend from the 8 weeks to 24 weeks. It’s in flux. We will wait to hear more. It appears that the building fun hasn’t been used, so we haven’t received a bill for the masonry work yet. Don moved to accept the treasures report. Julie seconded the motion. Report accepted.
Rectors Report: Father O’Flynn reviewed his personal stance on the COVID19 situation. He feels that it is safe and smart to wait until phase 3 to resume normal church services and worship. However, he is comfortable with smaller groups (under 50) getting together and practicing safe practices as long as these gatherings don’t involve the vulnerable.
Father O’Flynn then announced his plan to retire at the end of September 2020. He has served as a minister for 35 years, and he has his ‘ducks in a row’ regarding his pension. He has been in contact with Bishop Stebbins and feels confident of our ability to move forward and begin the search process. He shared that he’s enjoyed his time at CCE. Many others spoke up and gave their support of his decision, though also shared their sadness to see him go.
Elevator- We do not have an official bid for the elevator yet from Big Sky. We do know that it is their opinion that we will eventually need to replace the elevator but that we can patch it right now. Don spoke up that he is against another patch job. We’ve done this twice before and we keep spending more and more money. He also brought up concern that our current elevators weight limit is only 350 pounds and we need more than that.
The website has been taken over by John and Thomas Bertram. It will probably take a couple of months before we are up and running.
In response to Greg Scarff stepping down from the position of web master, Hillary moved to purchase a $200 gift card to Amazon. Jay seconded the motion. Motion accepted, Greg will receive gift card.
Peg reported that CCE is in compliance with the Diocesan Safety Review.
It was decided that the next vestry meeting will be on July 16th and we will tentatively skip the August meeting.
Closing Prayer
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Worship Committee Meeting
July 2, 2020
Attending: Peg Stout, Julie Crandell, Marilyn Eberly, Nancy Faure, Rev. Donnel O’Flynn, Barb Myers. We began this on line (Go To Meeting) with a prayer. Agenda for the meeting included: Seeking opinions about CCE beginning in person worship gathering, and what the service would look like. Input was received by email from 6 members of the congregation.
Father Donnel began by highlighting the context of our discussion with current statistics about the significant increase in COVID-19 cases in Montana. A number of people have requested that we find a way to gather safely. Our Bishop Marti has outlined the requirements for gathering safely in the Diocese; the state of Montana and local health experts have outlined Phase II restrictions for public gathering. Father Donnel explained his belief that CCE needs to demonstrate responsibility and safety, especially for our vulnerable members in our planning and respect all guidelines.
The consensus of the group and responding parishioners was that should offer in person Morning Prayer outside every other week, and continue to offer Ante-Communion service the opposite week via You Tube. (Fr. Donnel, Craig and Meghan Hodges and Dave Reese are willing to continue to record this every other week offering).
We will begin by offering Morning Prayer on July 12 at 9am with the following plans:
- We will ask younger (under 65) members of the Liturgical Ministry (Dan and Lisa Prickett, JT Taylor and Barbara Bridges) to lead the every other week Morning Prayer.
- It will be held on the parish lawn, with everyone wearing a mask, bringing their own chairs and setting them up where comfortable, but maintaining at least a 6 foot distance from other family and individual seats, and having no physical contact with each other.
- There will be no singing due to projection distancing (20 ft.) We will try to live stream the service to be available to the entire parish.
- We will comply with the county health department, state and diocesan guidelines.
- We will see how this goes, and review responses.
Thanks to everyone for their participation in this discussion and for their willingness to give this a try for now, and adjust as the situation changes.
Submitted by: Barb Myers
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Churchyard Beauty - July 2020
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Online Donations
The church is now able to accept donations online on its donation website: https://ccepiscopal.square.site .
You can go to it directly or there are links to it on facebook and on the news blog tab on the church website. Just click the donation plate. It requires a credit card and works like a normal online purchase. Click on 0.00 to enter the amount you would like. It works well on a computer or on your phone and accepts all types of cards. There are credit card processing fees for the transaction. They are 2.9% of the donation amount plus $0.30 per transaction. For example, if a $100 donation is made the church will receive $96.90.
Several people have been asking about recurring donations. Unfortunately, we do not have an option for this via the Church’s website. You can however set this up through your own bank. It depends on the bank, but you may be able to setup recurring direct deposits, ACH transfers, or person to person to transfers. Talk with your bank about the best way to do this, often it can be setup through online bill pay. You may need the church’s account and routing number, if so just let us know and we will get you the information. You can often avoid the processing fee with this kind of payment.
As we all get acquainted with our new realities please let us know if there are other platforms you would like to use to make donations to the church. Currently the church does not have a Venmo, CashApp, or other similar services. If there is interest, we can look into offering that as well.
Finally, if you would prefer, a good old fashioned check mailed through the postal service still works just fine.
Regards,
John Bertram
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