Tag: parsonage
When I was a boy there was a white rose arbor in our side lawn. Pictures were often taken there. It marked the entrance to one of the flower gardens on our rural farm property. When my wife was a girl, she often spent summers at her Grandparents’ house. The entrance to the sidewalk was a white rose arbor with a gate. She has always wanted a rose arbor.
The opportunity did not present itself in either of our previous pastorates. Neither property had a spot that was conducive. But when we moved to West Granby, there was a fenced in area with a broken-down gate which needed to be replaced. Being a gardener, I immediately thought, “What a great place for a small garden and a rose arbor!” I no longer want a big garden anyway. I just want to grow a few strawberries and some cucumbers so we can make pickles. And I needed to replace that gate with something that looked better. A rose arbor would be perfect here. A friend said it looks very “New-England.”
First I needed to knock down the poison ivy which you can see growing on the fence in picture two. Fortunately, I am only very mildly allergic, which helps as the ivy keeps coming back and I am not bothered as I fight it. They I began planting roses where I thought the rose arbor would be as I knew it would take a couple years for them to really become established. One was a a transplant from Keely and Mark’s as it was in a place they did not want it. Others I ordered. If you look closely, you can see that I timed it well because by this fall, I had one rose cane growing over the top of the arbor. There are several colors and one white.
I wanted to make the structure durable so it is all made of treated lumber. Some of it is donated re-purposed decking. Eventually I hope to stain it all white and add a gate. The design underwent a few changes as it was being built as JoAnne and I looked at it and decided what looked best. I have worked on it little by little for a couple years, collecting and buying materials and cutting pieces. Then this summer, I knew it needed to come together.
Already it has become a photo spot as you can see from the photo I included. This is us posing in the Victorian costumes we wore to celebrate Copper Hill Church’s 200th Anniversary.
Lots of projects
One of the facts about our new parsonage home is that there were lots of small or not so small projects to be done. The house had been continuously occupied but … Fortunately, I enjoy DIY (do it yourself) projects and so I have been tackling them. That’s the main reason why I haven’t been writing much on my blog lately. I probably shouldn’t take time to write today, but I decided to anyway.
Brush had to be cleared first
One of the projects involved the drainage at the east end of the house. When we arrived, this end was completely enshrouded with brush so tall that it cascaded onto the roof of the single story rear addition to our cape house. The Northeast corner had sumac, ash, raspberry, forsythia and poison ivy mixed together to a height of sixteen or twenty feet (see picture one). The Southeast corner was simply a thicket of forsythia. You can see in picture one which shows the area of north east corner that the house is barely visible. Under all this is a rock wall partway up the wall of the rear addition. It appears to be without mortar. The top of this wall is visible in picture two. Inside the house, there was a small bit of mold on the inside bottom of the east wall that I was trying to eliminate.
The first step was to remove the brush. Using a saw, mattock and electric hedge trimmers borrowed from my son-in-law, I went after it. I have to pace myself on such physical projects but after several partial days of hard work over a period of a couple weeks, the path that you see in picture two emerged, along with a huge brush pile in my north lawn. (This was my second north lawn brush pile actually as the first one had been created when I cleared brush from the north wall and improved drainage there.) These projects are probably partly the cause of a good increase in my physical conditioning too.
Improving the drainage
Once the path was open, I could see that some of the water running down the slope above our house on the East side was going into the rock wall instead of around it. So I began to dig the trench that you see partially completed in picture two. I also added rock to the wall to help keep the dirt and water away from the house. While picture two looks south and shows the trench partially done, picture three shows the finished new trench and is taken looking north.
Every little bit helps
As with many little DIY projects the effect is cumulative. When we arrived, during hard rains, water cascaded into the basement from two sides and dribbled in other places. The roofers eliminated the first basement waterfalls by adding a new eave trough and new downspouts by the dining room windows on the south. I corrected the second worst one by rerouting the water on the north side. Now after this third drainage project I went into the basement one day and was very gratified with the difference we had achieved. It was so much dryer than it had been all summer! One small project at a time makes a big difference.
http://joshrhone.posterous.com/what-if-our-current-models-of-pastoral-leader
Joining a conversation
I have decided to join an important conversation about the long term viability of the current paradigm of pastoral ministry. Pastor Josh Rhone has asked a crucial question that I believe is a very important one for pastoral leaders today. It is a daring, even dangerous question. Yet it is one that may help us to face uncomfortable facts about the way we usually do ministry. We owe it to following generations to answer his question. Let me copy in his intensive query.
What if our current models of pastoral ministry are in fact detrimental to the spiritual health and vitality of the Church (and her leaders)? Might we need to reimagine/re-envision our models of pastoral ministry? And, what might a new model of pastoral ministry look like?
I am especially interested in how ministry affects pastors over the long term. Today I would like to comment on the issue of proximity. One of the characteristics of many pastoral situations that I believe often creates greater wear and tear on the pastor is the issue of proximity. By this I am speaking about how enmeshed the pastor’s and family’s lives are with his work. This issue has many facets.
Are parsonages usually too close to the church for best clergy health?