Dear Friends,

Kick-off Sunday was wonderful! It was so great to begin the fall season with you, to revel in the exquisite music of our St. Michael Singers, and to move together into new rhythms of worship, fellowship and service that come with the changing season.

Now, buckle up. The next few weeks are going to be packed with good stuff! We will celebrate important milestones to honor the parish’s rich history and look ahead to God’s future for us.

These are the anniversary of the completion of our historic church, and our Celebration of New and Mutual Ministry on October 5. Many folks have been joyfully at work preparing for these milestones.

When you enter the nave this Sunday, please notice the presence of some very old furniture that hasn’t been seen for a few decades. A grand cathedra (seat for the bishop) and two presider chairs were brought up from the undercroft for the nave’s anniversary that we are about to celebrate. These were constructed and installed in the new church that opened on the Feast of St. Michael & All Angels in 1923.

The furnishings are beautiful – and heavy! We imagine there will be a variety of ways people experience these additions. Many with deep and long-running ties to the parish were a part of the prayerful discernment that led to a thoughtful redesign of the chancel several decades ago. These furnishings now making a new appearance were removed to storage during that process. Other folk have come along since (like me), and the presence of a few “new” old artifacts might help to connect us to the stories and legacy that run back to St. Michael’s earliest years.

Our plan right now is to leave these additional furnishings in place until sometime after our Celebration of New and Mutual Ministry on October 5. During the next few weeks, I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts about the additions. (Be sure to go up for a closer look at that bishop’s chair!) I pray these artifacts, along with some beautiful archival displays prepared by Bob Spiers and Lynda Garner, may serve as reminders of the faithful folk on whose shoulders we stand and who founded and literally built the parish church that we now call home. May we be inspired to faithful work and witness in our own time.

With you,

Scott+
The Rev. R. Scott Painter, Rector
Email: ScottP@stmaa.org