Seekers Church
June 14, 2015 Stewards Meeting
Present: Peter Bankson, Marjory Bankson, Kevin Barwick, Ken Burton (moderator), Pat Conover, Judy Lantz (angel), Dave Lloyd (recorder), Sandra Miller (angel), Trish Nemore, Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Vincent Shepherd, Margreta Silverstone, Jacqie Wallen
Absent: Cynthia Dahlin, Deborah Sokolove
Visitors: Michele Frome (Celebration Circle)
Worship: Margreta led worship with the call to worship from the liturgy of our Pentecost season, “Called Through the Storm,” a period of silence, an opportunity to make paper boats with prayers written on them, a prayer, and we concluded with a joint reading of the Stewards’ Commitment Statement.
Housekeeping: next meeting will be July 5th at 5:30 pm at Pat and Trish’s home.
Moderator: Keith Worship: Sandra
Recorder: Marjory Angels: Trish & Dave
Seekers Outreach to the Community: In response to comments at previous meetings about how the ongoing increase in housing and retail near the Metro (and future plans) and along Carroll Street are changing the demographics of Takoma Park and Takoma, DC, as well as interests in reaching out to younger people and in strengthening our connections with Dayspring, among others, the SLT recommended that a small group create an agenda for discussion of outreach opportunities and approaches for a future Stewards meeting. Pat, Kevin, and Keith all volunteered.
Report on Earth Day at Dayspring: Peter reported that Marjory, Keith, Judy, and he represented Stewards and Mary Carol Dragoo, Doug and Joan Dodge, Bill Drehman and Linda Nunes-Schrag also participated as Seekers members at the event on June 7. Dayspring hosted and planned the event, in contrast to previous years when Seekers’ Celebration Circle mission group planned the worship to involve other Church of the Saviour (CofS) communities. (The ashes of Carol Fitch, longtime member of the CofS, were being committed to the earth there as a separate event.) There was brief discussion as to whether Seekers should worship there next year in lieu of our own worship but no decision was made. The desirability of CofS communities meeting and/or worshipping in the name of the CofS at Dayspring for legal purposes was briefly discussed in this context (and may be desirable to discuss again at the CofS Ecumenical Council).
Report on CofS Ecumenical Council meeting: Peter had represented Seekers at the last meeting due to Keith’s absence and reported on it. “Inward/Outward” has a new feature with “intersections of faith and life” vignettes and Alison Dunn Almaguer is assisting Kayla McClurg one day per week. The next issue of “Callings” will be published before the end of June. Two new Duke Seminary interns are assisting with CofS communities. Dayspring issued its annual report and has welcomed the formation of an oversight group with a focus of financial viability of Dayspring activities. Pat followed up with a report on his continuing positive conversations with various people at Dayspring on its vision/call/outreach, the prayer walk, the feasibility of a hermitage, and small group retreats.
“Money, Me and God”: Following dinner, Trish briefly reviewed Seekers’ previous activities in working with the role of money in our lives: School of Christian Living (SCL) discussions related to buying our building, SCL classes on “writing our money autobiography” from the Faith & Money Network, and recent discussions about whether to change the Stewards discipline about financial giving. We had agreed to continue to work with the issue of money. As one of a number of ongoing steps Sandra led us in an exercise of “money stories” from the Faith and Money Network and we divided into small groups to reflect upon and discuss the questions in the exercise. We shared insights from our small groups in the larger group. Brenda presented options for the next step, and we agreed to take a “Time, Money and Meaning Self-Assessment” by Mark Scandrette in preparation for some future Stewards meeting. (Additional potential topics include a discussion on “the other 90 percent “– i.e. the portion of our income that we are not tithing, engaging our mission group spiritual directors to raise accountability about money in spiritual reports, life enhancing (and even fun) ways to spend our resources, and methods to be in solidarity with people with few financial resources.)
Steward’s Sharing: Judy shared recent events of her life and the impact these have had on her spiritual growth.
Soul Talk: The meeting closed with “soul talk” from various Stewards.
Submitted by David Lloyd
June 18, 1015
