Week 11 - Make the Connection...

A lot of the discussion regarding the Parish Center has been focused on the impact it will have on the Parish: The meeting space it will provide, the centralized office environment, the gathering space, even the additional accessibility, convenience, and security a new building will provide. It's important that we talk about such things, because we're essentially asking the Parish to take a leap of faith about what the building will become. By describing some of the physical plans for the project, people can get a feel for what the building will DO. But there's another side to this project, and it's one I hadn't thought much about until this weekend. It's about being connected.

At the St. Stan's Polish Festival, I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people about the project as part of the Capital Campaign booth. While we had all the technical information ready, the thing everyone wanted to see was our artist's rendering. They wanted to see what it was going to look like, how it would fit into the campus. They wanted to see the CONNECTION.

The reality is, the building is about more than conference rooms and banquet halls, furniture or technology. It's about building a home for our parish -- a cohesive, flowing unit that, like a family, is greater than the sum of its parts by its connection.

It takes a little imagination, but this week you can start to get a feel for this connection. You can see it (via our photo album) in the work begun this week on the Parish Circle -- the center of our campus -- providing access and connection to all of our campus buildings.

You can see it in the way the new sidewalk surrounding the rectory flows into the sidewalks surrounding the church, connecting the parish to its clergy.

You can see it in the prep work for the new drive adjacent to Farragut St. and the handicap lot, connecting old and new, work and play.

You can even see it in the building itself, with the continuation of the stairwell (connecting present with future), and the conduit that has been run underground that will connect one building with the other for phone and data.

Everything's connected, because we're all connected. Connected as a country as we celebrate our independence next week. Connected in our faith, and in our mission in the church. Connected as a family.

Happy 4th of July!