On Trinity Sunday, we made our first visit to St. Bartholomew’s, Yarmouth. St. Bart’s is one of our younger congregations, having been founded by Hoppy Hopkins and spending part of its life in a converted gas station. St. Bart’s now resides on beautiful campus in the woods and worships in a lovely contemporary, post and beam church, with clear windows looking out on meadows and trees, and a magnificent organ loft.
On the day of our visit, Rector Nina Pooley greeted us on arrival and we quickly reviewed the service. The main event was baptism, a rite Nina and I shared. The day was a little grey, it had been a rainy week (what else is new…) but the clouds cleared away to brilliant sunshine. (A nice touch on God’s part – in my homily I used weather patterns as a metaphor for God.) The music was wonderful. Following the service we joined for a barbecue luncheon.
I then met for the Vestry for a thorough-going conversation about ministry and growth and money. St. Bart’s needs more space, is using a temporary Sunday School classroom, is considering the possibility of new space, but loves its current space and wants to be fiscally responsible. It was a lively conversation that will continue.
Our day ended sharing ice cream cones with the rector and her family.
This past week we visited with St. John’s, Bangor. St. John’s was celebrating its 175th anniversary. It was founded in 1834 along with the City of Bangor. The original Richard Upjohn church was burned in a great fire in 1911. The new stone building is a replica of the original, and a lovely, classic, Gothic Revival Church. We marked the 175th anniversary with a sung evensong service on Saturday and the dedication of a large banner that was unfurled from the tower. The choir simply outdid itself offering several beautiful and difficult pieces.
On Sunday, Rector Rita Steadman met us early at the church and introduced me to the four candidates for confirmation and one for reception. St. John’s, Brownsville, was begun as a mission of St. John’s, Bangor, so folks from Brownville and Rector Nancy Moore joined in both the 175th celebration and the Sunday service. The candidates for confirmation and reception shared stories of their journey with me. They were folks who had journeyed from several denominations and through a number of life’s upheavals. As always, I found the stories moving.
The service was wonderful, and it was a joy to share the celebration with Rita and Nancy. Following the service was a gala reception. After the reception we blessed a new Oratory of the Visitation in the parish house. The prayer space will welcome visitors to the parish house and remind them of Christ’s call to serve one another. I then joined with the Vestry for lunch and for frank conversation about finances and about marriage of same gender couples. It was a solid, honest conversation. We spoke about continuing at the table together in the midst of our diversity and our theological differences.
Although it rained all weekend, the rain let up enough for us to be outside when we needed to be. As Gretchen and I headed home, the rain came down again.
