At South Church

You might have read in the Middletown Press about the restoration project at South Church. It's a glorious view from the balcony -- the new colors and restoration of the carved plaster have brought a new light to the stained glass and painted windows in the sanctuary. We were there on Sunday for the first service of the school year, and it was wonderful to be back.

For those who don't know this church, it's part of the United Church of Christ (UCC), which means protestant with a mix of environmental and social justice values. For more than 25 years, Rev. Mary Klaaren led the church -- and she was a parishioner before she became a minister. When she retired in May 2007, it was hard for most of us to imagine South Church without her as the guiding character. Since then, we've had an Interim Minister, Rev. Charlotte Wright, as we went through a long process of deciding as a congregation what kind of leader we wanted. In the photograph above, you can see the Search Committee meeting in the newly-restored sanctuary -- their work is officially done and South Church's new minister -- whoever he or she may be -- will be introduced to the community on the weekend of October 24-26th.