Sunday, July 4, 2010 The Joys of Renovation
Jeff Bjorgan
Spiritual Formation Pastor
Well, we’re beginning the renovation of our multi-purpose room. We get to re-organize the furniture in our living room, making it more conducive to the kids in some ways while making it warm and friendly for the rest of the family in other ways. Of course with every change around the house there will be ways in which family members can be involved. Let me highlight a couple:
Help with the finances. Many home-improvement projects rely on grandma’s Christmas cheque under the tree, or birthday money from mom and dad. Our renovation is no different; we rely on the whole family’s contributions to make this project happen. As outlined in Pastor Derrick’s congregational letter, we have had people from outside of Emmanuel give money for the project and we’re asking our church family to match those donations. We’ll be tracking the money coming in so that you can see our financial totals as we progress. Together we can achieve more!
Help prep the room. Like most renovations, where pictures need to be taken off walls and furniture moved out of the room, we’re going to need some muscles. Our first work B is on July 17th –that’s two Saturdays from now. We’ll be taking down baffles and removing false valances as well as the stage, and getting the room ready for painting. As the summer moves along, we will need skilled trade workers that will volunteer their time to help with removals and installations and electrical projects. And, eventually, we’ll need help ripping up the carpet and preparing whatever is underneath for our gym flooring installation.
Practice patience. The most frustrating part of a renovation is living in the unfinished project. There may be Sundays where you don’t recognize the sanctuary: it’s not what it looked like, and it’s nowhere near its final result. We ask that you be patient with us. Further, we really appreciate your input. There’s always an Uncle or Aunt that stands in the corner of the living room watching the project, ready to give advice. Sometimes this advice is good (i.e. “maybe you should install the carpet before you put the furniture back in the room”). Other times, not so much (“I think polka dots work best with your plaid curtains”). Sometimes you embrace these ideas. Other times you just smile and nod. With 600 people that consider Emmanuel their church home there will be 600 opinions on what the renovation should look like. We love hearing fresh insight and ideas, but the fact of the matter is, we won’t be able to please everyone. We’ll do our best in the end to have the most satisfactory result for the whole.
It’s exciting seeing new projects develop. Water that moves doesn’t stagnate, and we believe that this is just the beginning of a new chapter at Emmanuel Church, a church on the move. God bless you as you help enable this project throughout this summer and beyond.
2600 Hebert Road