A Hearty Thanks!

I just have to take some time-out to say thank you to a bunch of people from First Presbyterian Church, Twin Falls, Idaho. At the risk of leaving a name or two off the list, for which I am deeply sorry, I just have to say that there are several people in our congregation who have gone the extra mile and then some.

Earlier this week Harry Geist and Rick Horner braved the wilds of our sanctuary attic and wondered out on top of the stained-glass dome that is suspended over or worship space and very carefully vaccumed off about a quarter of an inch of dust from the glass. According to some estimates, Rick and Harry cleaned away nearly twenty years of dust and dirt from an amazing piece of religious art suspended above our heads to reveal some astonishing colors. And while it is not as dramatic as the cleaning of the Sistien Chapel over the last few years, for many in the congregation tommorrow will be their first glimpse into the beauty that is the dome above their heads.

And while Harry and Rick have been at work on the dome, several other people have been at work adding color to our worship space. A few weeks ago Harry Geist along with Doug and Judy Pollow discreetly added flag-pole brackets to the side walls of our sanctuary. They did so because they wanted to hang banners along the sides of our worship space in order to add color and to visually narrow the width of our large sanctuary. Along with their adventures up the ladders and figuring out the measuring tape a number of women (Karen Grubb, Darlene Annen and Barb Bratt) got out their sewing machines to put hems on eight banners of various shades of red and yellow to hang on the recently affixed flag-pole brackets.

The effect of side banners and the newly cleaned stained glass dome will be, I hope, quite a statement for tommorrow's Pentecost worship. All of the hours put into creating the various visuals is a testament to the church holiday that commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit to enliven the early group of Christians.

Throughout the last few weeks as those named above and others have come together we, at FPC Twin Falls, have seen a glimpse of what can happen when we rely on God to encourage us to share our gifts of time, talent and treasure for the good of the whole church. Thank you to all who have made this visually stimulating Pentecost possitble!