Here is a brief review of what your Bridge Minister has been up to since I began serving Second Congregational Church of Palmer on March 12.
I actually started earlier that week and came in to meet with the staff, get a tour of the church and offices and generally get “the lay of the land.”
It seemed important to me to try and be “pastoral” by communicating with “the flock” on a regular basis. To that end, I requested and received access to the web site and Facebook page. On the 6th of March I posted the first of my “Pastoral Care Moments” on the church Facebook page. These appear daily, and after the first couple of weeks, I began posting images along with the brief meditations. I am happy to report that visits to the Facebook page nearly tripled in that month (up 283% or 1,339 visits). I made a few minor corrections to the web site.
I met with 2 individuals during my Tuesday 10:00-1:00 office hours and 1 after church. Karen and I have both joined the choir, although she will not be in church the third Sunday of each month due to her commitment as Trustee of 2nd UCC, Westfield.
Knowing that we would be sharing services with St. Paul’s UU Church and Second Baptist, I called them and arranged to meet with Rev. Steve Sousa and Rev. Judy Jones. I also invited Dawn Adams of Brimfield UCC and Father Rick Turner of St. Thomas Catholic Church and we met for lunch at the Apollo. We had a wonderful conversation, although Father Rick had an unexpected event that caused him to miss the lunch. All agreed it should happen again.
I very much appreciate the request that the congregation wear nametags. Having served a church with an average of a dozen souls on a given Sunday, I have a lot more names to learn. Keith H. says there were 84 in attendance for Palm Sunday which he tells me is the largest number since the beginning of the pandemic, so hopefully the church is heading in the right direction.
The fact that the church will be bringing in 4 new members on April 30 is a very good sign. I know at least some of those have been coming for quite some time. On my second Sunday I noted a new family and a new gentleman in church and spoke with them. I was very pleased to hear they intended to come back, and even more pleased when they did! My hat is off to all who helped make them feel welcome.
You have made both Karen and I feel welcome as well, and I look forward to the next months serving you,
Pastor Stephen