Dear Beacon Members and Friends,
It’s Summer but Beacon goes on…
Another church year is drawing to a close. Please recognize that Beacon is a year-round effort, we don’t take the summers off, and we all look forward to seeing you on Sundays throughout the summer. The Worship Associates and I have been busy the past few months developing services that will take us through June, July and August. Again, this year, we will gather at Bushmaster Park for our Annual “Beacon in the Park” Sunday. This year, the WAs and the Board have selected to hold the gathering the first Sunday of September. So mark your calendars for Sunday September 2, 2018 – Beacon in the Park!
Minister’s Vacation –
The calendar denotes I am off the next two weeks, due to the very busy year we have had around here, and the spring campaigns and business needs of the community I did not take time off this spring. The next two weeks are “officially” some of my time off. However, please know that I am primarily in town, with smaller day and overnight trips nearby. Due to the important and timely work being accomplished daily and weekly concerning our collective building campaign, I will be checking in regularly and staying in touch with our community leaders. Please reach out to the office if you experience a pastoral emergency and Caleb or our others leaders can get in touch with me.
Building Expansion Team and Congregational Engagement –
I want to take just a moment to express my sincere appreciation to our volunteers who have served diligently on the BET this past year and some for the past several years. The BET have been the keepers of a long held vision over ten years plus towards Beacon’s expressed desire to improve and expand our home space. While the process has been long and imperfect, now is the time for all of us who call Beacon our spiritual and our faith home to come together with caring and hopeful hearts to see what we might accomplish together. I remain hopeful that the building and design plans you initiated and voted to move forward several years ago will be realized.
I know the BET members have been working sincerely since the May Town Hall to address the financial gap, to reduce costs, to build a bridge from what we can afford, to what we might have dreamed we could have. There are simply no quick and easy answers, so I wish to express my gratitude for the BET members, and to all within our congregation for staying the course and participating in the work of community involvement, community action and decision-making. As we are a people, who honor the principles of democracy and community engagement, we must recognize this is a process that is not always smooth sailing and pretty roses, all nice and neat in a row on the windowsill. Together, we are charting the course for our futures and the future for a Beacon many of us will not live years long enough to see.
Let’s talk turkey for a moment. First, I want to lift up and congratulate this amazing community for raising in pledges to the capital campaign over $360,000.00. This is a HUGE Accomplishment for a community our size. Well Done You! Secondly, I want to acknowledge that statistically this capital campaign only spoke to one half of our membership. This is an opportunity for all of Beacon to rise up and to be participants in the collective, if for whatever reason you did not engage with the capital campaign, but you perhaps now feel called to do so, we welcome you. Everyone and every amount is a stepping-stone to all of us achieving our collective dreams and our goals. If you felt your gift or pledge would not matter, it does!
I know I am so encouraged by the heart and soul and the work that the BET and so many before this recent named group have labored over for so many years. You heard at the Congregational meeting that two members bumped or added to their capital pledge amounts. I wish to share with you all that as your minister I too will also be increasing my pledge $5,000.00 in support of this endeavor. Beacon’s time is now; ours are the only hands (and wallets) to make this dream a reality.
If you have pledged towards the capital campaign A HUGE Thank You! If you are a part of the 50% who said, “I’ll wait and see,” or perhaps just didn’t believe that we could come this close to our building dreams, I invite your participation now. Any gift, any size, one year or over three years will make a difference and will most certainly be a stepping-stone on the bridge to close the gap in our funds and the projected building costs. Please know the BET members, heard you, they really heard you at the congregational meeting – “lower the costs!” and “Bring us an option on July 29 closer to a reality of what we can afford.” This is being worked on as I type. Let us believe in our fellow congregants, who are giving so much of themselves in volunteer leadership and hope for our collective futures.
Beacon you are amazing, do you believe that? You are, this is the flagship for liberal religion and outreach in Northern Arizona, you walk your talk and you live your vision and your mission. Together, let me repeat that Together, all of us, doing our part, large or small, arrive here and now on the cusp of our future tomorrows. Let us be as one strong body, united and hope filled for our future.
Grateful to be on the Journey with you,
Rev. Kevin