Ministerial Search Update
August 25, 2010
Your ministerial search committee is off and running! We began to meet in June and have had a few meetings and a retreat since then to gear ourselves up for what will undoubtedly be a busy fall, winter, and spring. We are excited about our mission and also about how well we seem to work together as a group thus far.
We have developed a budget which the Governing Board reviewing in preparation for submission to the Trustees to cover our expenses. We are also working on a Congregational-wide survey about the ministerial search to hand out to members after a service that we as a committee are leading on September 26. If you cannot make this service, there will be an opportunity to fill out the survey the following week.
In addition to the survey, we have scheduled Cottage Meetings on September 26 (after the service). Wednesday September 29 from 7 – 9 PM, and Monday October 4 from 7 – 9 PM. These meetings will give members and friends an opportunity to share your opinions about Bell Street and what we should look for in a settled minister. Please sign up for one of the meetings on the sheets in Eddy Hall.
We cannot stress enough how much we need and value your input! You have invested us with the responsibility of this search, but ultimately, this is a search for your minister and each and every member of this congregation not only deserves, but needs, to be heard!
This is an exciting time in the history of Bell Street. It will be wonderful to have a settled minister for the first time in three years, but a lot of thought will be necessary between now and next summer. As the search committee members, we have volunteered to do the legwork, but this is truly a Bell Street Chapel community-wide effort. Please fill out the survey, and voice your concerns and desires on the survey and to us throughout the year so that we may best serve the membership of this vibrant and warm community which is so important to us. Again, the committee members are Greg Greco, Don Laliberte, Wendy Schwartz, Chad Welch, and Carol Wiseman.
There are some specific questions and issues that we ask that you consider as we launch into the search process:
1. A part-time minister cannot be expected to perform all the tasks of a full-time minister–an obvious statement, but one which may be more difficult to deal with as time goes on once the minister is settled. Please take some time to think about on what aspects of the ministry you think a part-time minister should focus and on what aspects the lay ministry might be best at serving.
2. When can we expect to have a full-time minister at Bell Street again and how would we go about making this feasible once more?
These are big questions to which we will return repeatedly throughout the year in this column. Please take some time to consider them–as well as what you envision as most important in a settled minister for Bell Street. And remember: please try to make it to the service on September 26 and fill out a survey!!
Wendy Schwartz
MARSH CLEANUP – SEPT. 18, 8 A.M.
August 25, 2010
Bell Streeters and anyone else interested in helping the earth are invited to take part in the fall cleanup at the salt marsh we’ve adopted on the Providence waterfront. This year’s fall cleanup is scheduled Saturday, Sept. 18. As usual, we will affiliate our fall event with the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) coordinated in Rhode Island by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and internationally by the Ocean Conservancy. However, ours will be held a week earlier than the international event, because local tides will make our beach inaccessible that morning. Nonetheless, since our cleanup will be open to the public and publicized, we are likely to be joined by a number of guests.
We will meet directly at the marsh, which is located off Allens Ave at the end of Oxford Street. Please contact Meredyth Waterman at MeredythW@aol.com or (401) 451-2322 to sign up. Please provide your name, phone number, e-mail address and T-shirt size, since Audubon usually provides volunteers with T-shirts during the fall cleanup.
Thanks to Save the Bay, we have plenty of garbage bags and plastic gloves. We also have some work gloves and a few rakes and shovels, but you are encouraged to bring your own if you want them. Please wear sturdy shoes or boots. Sunblock and hats are also advised. Only if it rains very heavily will this event be rescheduled to Oct. 2 at 8 a.m..
We usually wander across the street after our cleanup for a satisfying breakfast at the Seaplane Diner, so bring a few dollars if you are interested.
Unlike our spring cleanup, at our fall cleanup we document every piece of litter we find as part of a worldwide effort to monitor pollution of our shores and whether it’s improving. It’s often amazing what we find. And along that vein, our cleanup always features the popular Bell Street Biohazard Contest, which arguably makes otherwise unsavory discoveries a treat. Nonetheless, please do not bring young children or pets to this event due to the dangerous nature of the rocks and the items we find.
Please join us for this fun morning of helping the earth.
~Meredyth Waterman
CR OS S R O AD S
August 25, 2010
On the first Sunday of every month, members of Bell Street Chapel make bag lunches for the clients of Crossroads Rhode Island, a shelter for our homeless and needy fellow citizens. We gather in Eddy Hall immediately after the service and share fellowship and fun while we make 100 bag lunches, which a member of the Peace and Social Justice Committee delivers. We have been doing this for over a decade. We hear fromthe staff at Crossroads that our reliability and the quality of the lunches we provide are very much appreciated by the clients. We try to make the lunches as nutritious as possible within our budget.Crossroads Rhode Island is the largest provider of services to the homeless in the state. It depends on volunteers to provide lunches on weekends. Anyone who delivers the lunches cannot fail to be saddened by the large number of souls who gather at the facility for lunch. It reminds us to work not only for the immediate needs of the homeless, but also for their long-term needs, which can only be met by policy and legislative changes. Many hardworking and responsible individuals and families become homeless because of the acute shortage of affordable housing in RI. Other homeless individuals are mentally ill or addicted and have not been able to get the help they need.
This is a safe way for children to work for social justice. If at least eight volunteers participate, we are finished within an hour or so. If you are unable to join us in making lunches, you can participate by bringing juice boxes, cookies, or large cans of solid white tuna to church each Sunday. We also need lunch bags, baggies, napkins, and mayonnaise.
Let’s let our homeless and hungry fellow citizens know that we at Bell Street Chapel do care about them. Clara Hardy heads up this project, which is sponsored by the Peace and Social Justice Committee.
TRUTH
August 25, 2010
Ray Perreault and Noah Barreto
What is truth? Are there always two sides to every story, or is there a reality that is objective? We know the question of truth is important in science, but it is also important in religion. What tools do we have to determine what is true in religion?
NEW BEGINNINGS
August 25, 2010
Ministerial Search Committee
As the congregation begins the search for a settled minister, we have a unique opportunity for spiritual growth. The search committee will share our experiences and hopes for this important journey.
GHOSTS OF BELL STREET
August 25, 2010
Rev. José Ballester
Every minister who has served the Religious Society of Bell Street Chapel has left behind some part of themselves that has contributed to the formation of the current community. For good or ill, these changes must be understood in order to determine if they are transient or permanent.
WATER COMMUNION — HELLO AGAIN, GOODBYE STILL
August 25, 2010
August 24, 2010
Sally Gabb
We create the past and worry about the future. It’s time that we focused on the present. We need to learn to be here now.