Weekly Greeting November 15, 2024 – Spiritual Health through Christian Stewardship

Good evening parish,

With gratitude to God and all who labored to facilitate the Vital Merger Conferences on Wednesday, I celebrate with you the decision to merge UMC of Auburn with Calvary UMC as of January 1, 2025. Fourteen attended virtually (zoom). The vote count was: 55 yes/1 no Auburn and 13 yes, 0 no Lewiston. On Thursday, we received news that the sale of the Calvary UMC building to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Evangelical Church, with a three-year provision for City Mission to operate from the basement, was finalized. Thank you, Bill Reed in particular, for shepherding this to completion! Also, a core, three-member board of directors, in behalf of City Mission, has applied for 501.c3 status. When that is official, City Mission will be a ‘stand-on-its-own’ nonprofit. We will, of course, continue to support City Mission as we do other nonprofits engaged in mission with the homeless.

This Sunday, we will focus on spiritual health through Christian stewardship, which gives me an opportunity to say “Thank you” for your extraordinary support (financial and otherwise) of the ministries of our Wider Parish work. Bless you! You will notice that progress has been made on the installation of the Calvary UMC ‘Gethsemane window’ in the vestibule of the UMC of Auburn church. Lighting will soon follow, leading to a dedication of this sacred art enhancement of the worship design of the building. Thank you, Terry Johnson for your work on this, and all of the trustees.

Much effort this week is focused on the upcoming Christmas Fair which will be held on Saturday, November 23rd, 9 am to 1 pm, UMCA. I am grateful for Cherie Downing’s leadership and the many others who make this happen each year!

May the joy of Jesus be with you,
Pastor Steve Bascom

P.S. Shout of thanks to Len Lednum who purchased and installed a new booster for the internet in the sanctuary. Hopefully this will solve most of our technical problems with the zoom service at 8:30 am!