2023 November Stewards Minutes

Seekers Church

Stewards minutes

November 12, 2023 in person

Present: Marjory Bankson, Peter Bankson, Ken Burton, Joan Dodge, Elizabeth Gelfeld, Judy Lantz (recorder), David Lloyd, Sandra Miller, John Morris (meditation), Trish Nemore, Brenda Seat, Keith Seat, Deborah Sokolove (moderator), Jacqie Wallen.

Absent: Cynthia Dahlin, Vince Shepherd.

Guest: Kolya Braun-Greiner

Housekeeping: Stewards will meet on Sunday, December 10 at 4:00 pm in person.  Cynthia will organize our Christmas party that will be pot luck.

          Moderator – Sandra

          Meditation – Margreta

          Recorder – Ken

Meditation: John

He read Doubt Is A Doorway To Truth by Madeleine L’Engle.

REPORTS & DECISIONS

Meetings going forward: Trish

SLT proposed:

  1. In person meetings 4X a year – February, June, October & December on the 2nd Sunday of the month.  These would be 3 ½ hour meetings lasting from 4:00 – 7:30 pm with a pot luck meal break.
  2. Zoom in January, March, April, May, July, August, September and November for 2 hours from 4:00 – 6:00 pm.

Report for Time & Space: Deborah

Seekers has joined the Community Purchasing Alliance.   Initially it costs $750, then $100 per year.  We have been using their discounts and felt the need to join in full. 

2023-CPA_Membership-OverviewDownload
CPA-membership-certificateDownload
CPA-Program-Participation-1-pagerDownload

Coffee Hour: Trish

Seekers has asked Sallie Holmes to coordinate this the 3rd Sunday of every month, starting now in November.  The plan is to buy coffee prepared at Starbucks.  We’ll use our own cups.  The person ordering needs to be explicit that we want coffee only.  We’ll order 1 box of Regular and 1 box of Americano decaf.

2024 Budget: Marjory

The budget was reviewed and passed as presented. (See attached).

2024-budget-finalDownload

SLT Search Committee: Sandra

The committee is happy to announce that John Morris has accepted the invitation.  He attended several meetings before making the decision.  The committee and he agree that is a good practice going forward.

Conversation on Loneliness: Margreta

This will be ongoing in future months.  We are reminded to read and refer to these sources for reflection and preparation:

  1. Krista Tippet’s podcast with Vivek Murthy – https://onbeing.org/program/vivek-murthy-to-be-a-healer.
  2. Yesmagazine.org – September 11, 2023 “Men Are in a Loneliness Epidemic: Should Women Care?”, September 28, 2023 “Murmurations: Loneliness as Fermentation.”
  3. Surgeon Generals 2023 report (see attached).

Our-Epidemic-of-Loneliness-and-IsolationDownload

Ecumentical meeting: Keith

The attendees brainstormed on how to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of COS.

There was renewed conversation about children attending silent retreats.  It was decided that the Dayspring Mission Group would determine it.

Pastoral Concerns – no notes

Steward sharing – Sandra

Soul talk concluded our meeting at 6:25 pm.

Submitted by Judy Lantz 11.14.23