A Letter from Lindy July 28
Hi Pilgrims,
How many of you turned around last Sunday and looked up? My guess, probably not many as the choir remains on break through the end of the month. Our wonderful musicians are instead seamlessly integrated into the pews alongside the rest of us, rather in their celestial loft. So you might not have noticed the console and pipes of the organ carefully wrapped and duct taped in plastic. If you ventured up the stairs, you would have also noticed the loft itself disassembled, risers removed.
What is going on, you might ask. I’m not sure we’ve done a good job of communicating broadly that we have been carefully planning a complete overhaul of Pilgrim’s sound system for well over a year. We have had a dedicated team who has analyzed our current challenges and needs, imagined our future, guided the process, worked with Custom Sound and Light (purveyors of our current system) and then worked with our Board of Trustees and Treasurer to contemplate and secure financing.
The team, with the encouragement of the Trustees, dreamed well for Pilgrim. They knew that a good, strong, functional sound helps us keep Pilgrims in the sanctuary and at home engaged in worship. It is also a great first impression to our visitors and guests.
We started with wanting folks to be able to hear well on both sides of the sanctuary, in the choir loft and parlor, and then built on from there. We added new monitor speakers for worship leaders, easier to use sound mixing and video broadcasting, permanently mounted camera, and new choir loft tiers (that don’t squeak.) We imagined being able to extend the system to fellowship hall, so that it might be used for Pilgrim events and folks who might want to rent our space, with a projector and screen, along with enhanced sound. We also included a portable system to be used in the Columbarium.
When we put pencil to paper, we calculated the total cost of this investment to be approximately $57,000. As word got out about our dreaming and planning, the generosity of Pilgrims again began to bubble up. To date, Pilgrims have privately pledged approximately $48,500 to underwrite the cost of this investment. The Trustees then wondered if we might turn to our beloved community at large to see if there might be others who would want to help defray the cost of the balance.
Our conversation during the Board meeting this past Sunday was to imagine our ask as a softer Capital Campaign, in the same vein of our raising funds for our solar panels.
As the work for our new system begins Monday, the time is upon us! Pilgrim’s Board of Trustees would like to use the month of August to invite any Pilgrim who would like to contribute to do so. There are a few ways: during Sunday’s offering, designate the envelope to the sound system and online, where we have a giving tab for your convenience. I invite you to surround this project with your prayers and delight if you feel called to invest in this upgrade.
grace and gratitude,
Pastor Lindy
(she/her) why pronouns matter