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Summerlea Hosts Montreal Presbytery Monthly Meeting
May 13, 2003
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The May 2003 monthly meeting of Montreal Presbytery was held in Acadia Hall of Summerlea
United Church in Lachine. Tom Pavlasek, Summerlea's Presbytery representative, organised the
hosting of the event, which was attended by some 75 members and guests. If you would like to know the details, the minutes of the meeting will be published on Presbytery's very nice web site, maintained by Shirley Stark, at www3.sympatico.ca/mtlpres Below are unposed shots of some of the activities. You can pick the icon to see the full-size photo. To return here after viewing the photo, click Back on your browser. |
Tom Pavlasek and George Provias arranged Acadia Hall in a meeting hall format, set up to accommodate what looked like a lot of people. As it turned out, all seats were filled and some late-comers had to sit in the corner. A welcome overhead greeted the assemblage.
Presbytery personnel Monique Harris, Lynda Ecott and Shirley Stark (Shirley also runs the Presbytery web site) arrived about 4:30 to lay out the documentation for the participants. The paperless society?
Tom Pavaslek tries out the pick-up routine.
Early arrivals included Acting Secretary Fred Braman and Cedar Park United minister Sharon Moon. Sharon's husband Howard Clark, Summerlea's minister, was in Trois-Rivières on a French course.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Summerlea stalwarts Ruth Heim, Marion Golden and Undeg Edwards were setting up refreshments prepared and brought in by members of the Summerlea congregation, including a bunch of really professional goodies prepared by Susan White. It all looked very impressive when set out later in the hall, but we missed our chance to take a photo.
The meeting opened with a brief worship service, during which the assemblage sang (unaccompanied) Haydn's "I Sing the Mighty Power" (231 in Voices United). Not one of the more familiar hymns, but they did very well.
Following the worship service and some lively discussion about the agenda, the "Courtesies" segment allowed folks to introduce their guests. Then Marion Golden presented a brief history of Summerlea. With Marion are the head table folks, Acting Secretary Fred Braman, Chairman Rev. Frank Giffen and "keep it on the rails" person Lynda Ecott.
One of the topics of discussion concerned "Managing our Income", in an era when low or negative investment returns are leading to erosion of Presbytery's major source of income, the Finance & Extension Board grants (derived from accumulated endowments, etc.). For this discussion the meeting broke up into small groups, which provided an opportunity to catch some of the participants on camera (unposed).
While the members discussed, the leaders took it easy. Acting Secretary Fred Braman, Chairman Rev. Frank Giffen and Recording Secretary Lynda Ecott.
Lots more reports and discussion ensued, and the meeting broke up about 10:15 PM. It's not easy to keep a large group like that on topic, but Rev. Giffen seemed to manage it pretty well and very amicably. Makes the House of Commons look like a bunch of school kids!
The minutes of the meeting will be published on Presbytery's very nice web site, maintained by Shirley Stark, at www3.sympatico.ca/mtlpres
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