Spirituality · Writing

Balancing Dreams and Budget: Pausing our church building journey

annbh356Leave a comment
computer generated drawing of building with purple flowers in the foreground, dark roof and biege-brown walls
An exterior view from Locus Architecture following the schematic design phase of development.

I am a pen-and-paper note taker, a behavioral remnant leftover from long-ago college history courses. As we began discussing a new church home, it was natural that I would jot down ideas shared by congregants, whether during large group forums or even while enjoying a one-on-one coffee time conversation. Those notes evolved into an eight-page, single spaced, bulleted list. The ideas range from a visible entrance to natural light in the sanctuary; from an industrial kitchen to chairs with book racks for the hymnals; from energy efficient construction to a dedicated space for young adults. Some requests were overly broad – good acoustics. Others offered minute description – bench seating in the coat room for ease of putting on and taking off boots, with built in AC powered cubby holes to store and charge electric bike batteries during Sunday morning worship. Despite its length, the list contained very few contradictions. Even when there were preferences, for example, one-story versus two, Rev. Victoria Safford’s words captured the overarching sentiment which called for “a building that sits gently on the land.”

After seven years, through discernment, three congregational votes, a successful capital campaign, and reams of architectural renderings, we have a beautiful schematic design. Now we must pause.

There are a variety of factors conspiring against our project: current commercial interest rates are discouraging developers, and the design and location of our current building requires a unique buyer in a niche market. Add to this, the post Inauguration Day chaos and Presidential Executive Orders that, in the stroke of a pen, eliminated significant energy funding, as well as the threats of tariffs that will increase the costs of already expensive building supplies. A pause is prudent. My rational mind acknowledges that continuing to refine the architectural elements would be fiscally irresponsible, but my heart wants to buy a lottery ticket or host a bake sale or two or three. How to reconcile mind and heart?

With our most recent schematic design in hand, I decided to review the list and compare the dream with the elements on paper. In keeping with our vision statement for this land and the building: Do we have a design that will contribute to a compassionate and welcoming environment? How might this space contribute to our justice work? How inclusive have we been of the congregation’s creative suggestions?

Without the benefit of any scientific methodology, I rate our efforts: B+ to A-. The design incorporates many of congregants’ top priorities:

  • Large windows in the sanctuary with a panoramic southern view of the rustic landscape
  • A building footprint that can be expanded east and west to meet growth over the next 100 years
  • Easy workflow in a large kitchen.

Some highly desirable elements such as, the solar array or geothermal heating and cooling, are currently off the table due to cashflow. At best, we will build the needed infrastructure and add these highly-desired energy efficiencies in the future.

The questions that fill my mind these dark winter nights , as well as on snowy-bright days, are less about spreadsheets and the discrepancy between revenue and expenditure but focus on the nebulous side of the human psyche. How do we maintain the congregational momentum that got us to this point? How to convey that this project is like working on a post-graduate degree or taking the vacation of a lifetime, the dream will happen just not next year? How to gain financial support from everyone and spur our generous donors to give more? How to refine the design to realize cost savings without losing the heart and soul of the project?

While I do not wish sleepless nights upon any of my building team members or fellow congregants, we have a hard task ahead. Everyone’s thoughts and creativity will be needed and, maybe even, a lottery ticket.

Knitting

Starting Kleine Cardigan Today!

annbh3564 Comments
logo for the Knit Camp winter sweater knitting workshop with curved Swiss buildings in the background, each with a red and white Swiss flag
Swiss flag in the background overlaid with gray and maroon checked knitted swatch

With my yarn caked, the pattern printed on cardstock, and the third swatch having met gauge using my new blue-and-gold interchangeable needles, I am ready to cast on Kleine Cardigan. Marie Greene’s new design pays homage to the Swiss flag although I opted for a silvery gray and maroon color combo rather than the traditional red and white. This sweater will be knit bottom-up in one piece using organic merino hand-dyed in Kansas.

Needles in hand I am ready to virtually explore Switzerland with hundreds of other Traveler’s Club participants.

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Photo credit: Logo for Winter Workshop © Marie Greene, 2024

New House

Stairs: A bane of elder life

annbh3563 Comments

Geometric January: Square Challenge #5

Through the efficiency of eSignatures, we signed with a realtor last week making it official that we are house hunting. This final GeometricJanuary post reveals just one of the barriers necessitating this life changing move from our multi-story, 100-year-old house to a step-free environment, boasting all the modern-day amenities on one floor. The turning parquet stairs with four angular steps to-and-from the back door is the shortest of the house’s staircases. While geometrically appealing, these steps are, at times, difficult to maneuver. In addition, there are other interior steps between some of the rooms and the exterior approach up the berm to the front door has two runs of steps. The quirks of our old house on a small lot with insufficient space to ramp would provide a significant challenge even for This Old House thus making our decision to move the reasonable choice.

A shout of appreciation to BeckyB for hosting this month’s photo challenge featuring square geometric images. I am looking forward to her next quarterly square challenge.

Other items of interest

Geometric Lines: Niagara’s Rigging

annbh3561 Comment
looking skyward up a main mast into the rigging of a tall ship

Geometric January: Square Challenge #4

Sailing terminology is a coded mystery when one has only sailed twice (once on Lake Pepin and once on Tampa Bay with the St. Petersburg skyline in constant view). At first glance the rigging of the S.S.V. Niagara resembles an M.C. Escher lithograph – a tangled maze of confusion. But, when touring this tall ship in the Duluth harbor, we were assured that each Coast Guard trainee understood the complexity of the interconnecting boom, mast, and line.

Another offering for BeckyB’s GeometricJanuary square challenge. Here is the S.S.V. Niagara (Sailing School Vessel) as part of the tall ship regatta in July 2013.

Other items of interest · Travel

Geometric Secrets in King’s Chapel

annbh3561 Comment
stacks of gray slate roof tiles set against old stone wall

Geometric January: Square Challenge #3

Access to otherwise restricted areas is an advantage of sightseeing in a large, organized group. During the 2018 pilgrimage to Massachusetts, our time in King’s Chapel was not limited to the sanctuary. While that beautiful space is so full of history as to be a worthy destination all by itself, our talented guide gave us more. In the bell tower we touched the last bell ever cast and hung by Paul Revere. And, we ventured into the crypt where family names of the historically prominent were carved in the lintels. It was there that I snapped this photo for today’s GeometricJanuary challenge hosted by BeckyB revealing a supply of somewhat dusty slate roof tiles safely tucked away for future repairs.

Reading

Gathering of Poetry | January 2025

annbh3562 Comments
lime green background and Granny Smith apple with one bite taken

Writer Danielle Coffyn offers a comedic (but true) view of the Adam and Eve Genesis story in her new poetry collection being released on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2025. I hope you enjoy If Adam Picked the Apple from Coffyn’s anthology by the same title for this Gathering of Poetry on January’s third Thursday.

If Adam Picked the Apple

There would be a parade,
a celebration,
a holiday to commemorate
the day he sought enlightenment.
We would not speak of
temptation by the devil, rather,
we would laud Adam’s curiosity,
his desire for adventure
and knowing.
We would feast
on apple-inspired fare:
tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies.
There would be plays and songs
reenacting his courage.
 
But it was Eve who grew bored,
weary of her captivity in Eden.
And a woman’s desire
for freedom is rarely a cause
for celebration.

And thanks to Bonnie and Kat for bringing Gathering of Poetry into a new year.

Photo credit: From pexels © Tony Cuenca

Spirituality

Creating Margins

annbh3563 Comments
geese on open water with snowy trees in foreground

If there were weather badges, I would wear winter proudly on a scout-like sash. When friends question why we live in Minnesota, this land of 10,000 frozen lakes, I extol the efficiency of our Toro electric snowblower. When family members encourage us to move where winter temperatures are more moderate, I describe the warmth of my 10-inch, shearling-lined L.L. Bean boots and the safety of their legendary chain-tread sole.

In November and December, the blog posts I was reading, the poetry that landed in my in-box, and even the Sunday morning worship readings often focused on the change of seasons – autumn to winter; harbingers of shorter days and chilly winds necessitating down filled jackets. While not going so far as to advocate hibernation like a black bear, these readings encouraged taking a cue from nature to rest; to slow down and allow space for reflection and, maybe, creativity.

On winter solstice we light candles and sang of that “gentle darkness soft and still.” This year, more than any other, I felt the need to rest and re-charge. As I left church that evening my intention was to breathe deeply; appreciate the dark evening sky and embrace the quiet.

Yet just 10 days later, amidst bubbly toasts and video images of firework displays from Sydney to London, I was ready to surrender to mass media’s flurry of new year’s suggestions all urging “do more.” It was as if the small act of pinning a new calendar on the kitchen wall infected my mind. Rather than mere seconds passing at midnight, one day to the next, one year to the next, I felt I was eons beyond that “gentle darkness soft and still.”

Musician Carrie Newcomer helped me step back from that frenzy and from creating a checklist of busy work, a worksheet of old actions. She proposed moving away from New Year’s resolutions, the resolving of old problems and shifting to New Year’s revolutions. She wrote:

What might happen if instead of focusing on resolving an old problem, we decided to intentionally open our minds to a whole new way of thinking.  What might change if we did as Rilke described and truly welcomed, “the new year, full of things that have never been."  

What might happen if I decided to not just focus on how to keep working with the well-worn grooves of the path before me, but rather, consider what has always held true at the very center of my journey, what true thing do I keep circling around, as the earth orbits the sun.  What if I listened to what sings at the center of my heart, what endures and against all odds, what helps me to see that there is still a path, but it may look different than anything I’ve imagined until now.

As January progresses, I continue to be resolute in my decision to join Carrie Newcomer with a New Year’s revolution. I will strive to revel in that which gives joy (despite the fractious political environment.) To explore the art of creating margins and leaving space for the unexpected – whether walking in the woods, discovering a previously unknown poet, or answering a call to justice. To remain open to the changing world “full of things that have never been.”

Other items of interest

Jimmy Carter – For Libraries and Women

annbh3561 Comment
Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter holding hands and dressed in work clothes, tools and hard hats

While I voted for McGovern in 1972, his overwhelming defeat by Richard Nixon erased memories of having participated in that presidential election. Carter’s rise from peanut farmer to Governor to long-shot for the Democratic nomination captured my imagination and my vote.

He once keynoted a national library conference that I attended. As he did throughout his life, he proudly acknowledged his initial foray into public life began when elected to the Plains Public Library Board of Trustees. He enthralled the audience as he extolled the importance of libraries and librarians. After all, what professional crowd does not like to hear a prominent citizen of the world tell them “Good job?” But after sweeping us along with harmonious, good feelings, he told us that all our hard work was not enough. While cognizant of budgetary limitations, he challenged us to broaden our mission and serve everyone. He demanded that we create collections reflecting varying opinions and that we stand steadfast against censorship while defending freedom of access to information within the “people’s university.” Every attendee left feeling a certain degree of chagrin that we had somehow disappointed our biggest library supporter.

As a deeply spiritual man, he took an unpopular stand that “women and girls have been discriminated against for too long in a twisted interpretation of the Word of God.” He went so far as to paraphrase the popular REM song and proclaim he was “losing my religion for equity.” As a scholar, he knew that in the early centuries of the Christian church women served in prominent roles as teachers, deacons, priests, and even bishops. A review of history reveals that it was not until the fourth century that the rules governing church leadership changed and that shift permeated the whole of society. He offered these profound words:

The truth is that male religious leaders have had – and still have – an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions – all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.

As we offer final farewell, our country has lost an honorable man, a hero – one who fought for women’s rights and (with a special space in my heart) libraries.

Photo credit: Tampa Bay Times ©2018

Other items of interest · Travel

Travel Memories: Geometric Art in Switzerland

annbh3563 Comments
artistic colorful posts set against a forest background with tarmac road in foreground

Geometric January: Square Challenge #2

On a gray day amidst sporadic rain showers, a flash of color appeared as we traveled up the Bürgenstock for late afternoon hot chocolate and delectable desserts while overlooking Lake Lucerne at the Bürgenstock Resort.

Visits from Swiss cousins in July and October led to reminiscing about that earlier grand tour to Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Their arrival brought a bit of international flair even as a trek to Holcombe, Wisconsin for Thanksgiving was our furthest away destination in 2024. That 2018 adventure is the source of this second GeometricJanuary square as I join BeckyB for a month of geometry with the thematic requirement that the header photo must be a square.

Photo details: Bürgenstock Resort, Canton of Nidwalden, Switzerland, September 2, 2018.

Knitting · Travel

Swiss Holiday Mail and Fiber Arts Inspiration

annbh3564 Comments
handpainted holiday images on card and envelope with Swiss postage stamps

Mail arrived from Switzerland just as Knit Camp’s virtual Traveler’s Club begins its three-month (January – March) exploration of Swiss fiber arts. The beautiful, handcrafted card offered family news, as well as memories from the summer of 2023 and time spent with Kuster cousins. This holiday greeting will serve as inspiration when I stash dive for yarn to knit this month’s themed pattern, the Interlaken Headband which features interlocking two-color mosaic stitches, just like the lakes for which the design is named.

Plus, the hand painted Christmas imagery also qualifies for this month’s geometric squares with BeckyB!

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!