The Thursday group did its regular annual duty of putting up and taking down the Advent and Christmas decorations. Glenn Oswald and his crew took down the blue Advent banners from the Iron Ring, so we cannot take credit for that effort. We also moved the Christmas Tree (should I say Chrismon Tree) to the Gathering Area after removing the decorations, something new this year. Jessica Feeley and Social Ministry plan to use it as a Mitten Tree. Let's all help fill this bigger tree with a generous load of mittens, hats, and whatever. Baby, it's cold outside with so much need out there. A couple of vestiges of the Christmas decorations are still in place ... the Stars, one in the Sanctuary and one in the Gathering Area, to help us remember the three kings through the Epiphany season.
"Christmas story will be told
Gifts of spices, oils, and gold
Angels, Kings, and shepherds gathered 'round
Beneath his Christmas Star
They came from near and far
To the place where Jesus would be found"*- (Excerpt from song "First Christmas", David C. Mercer, 2021)
We have received the permit from the Town of Newington for the installation of our new highway sign. Stewart Sign Company in FL can now release their factory in Alabama to start manufacturing the sign. Estimated completion time for manufacturing is 8-10 weeks. Then the sign will be shipped to NH Sign Company in Auburn who will do final inspection and install it. There is a good chance the sign will be installed by Easter. Yes, I know! It has taken forever to get this done!
As for more mundane property matters, some of you have reported that the back-lighting on the information sign in front of the church is very dim and that the lighting above the office entrance has not been on at night. The outside lighting above the office entrance is activated by light sensors and will be on dusk-to-dawn so long as the bulbs are good and an inside wall switch near the door is in the on position. We determined that one of the two bulbs was burned out and the switch was likely in the incorrect position. The switch in question has a white protective cover to alert folks that it should not be repositioned. The door lighting should be working again. The story for the lighting in the information sign is not so good. The sign has old technology ... four unusually long fluorescent tubes, three of which appear to be burned out. The bulbs are difficult to remove and replacements are likely to be special order if they are still available. The ballast (a type of transformer required to turn the bulbs on for these lights) is a high voltage type that may or may not be available today if it fails. We will seek a quote for getting the sign back in working order and possibly upgrading the technology without having to replace the entire sign.
I feel like I should be singing that Rolling Stones hit, Signs! You may have encountered a sign posted in the family restroom off the Gathering Area alerting users to the lack of hot water. Some users of the sink in the Sacristy may have encountered the same problem and also the very low water pressure for that sink. The two problems are unrelated, but both have been resolved. The demand water heater under the Sacristy sink, serving the Sacristy and the family restroom, failed and it took a couple of weeks or so to get a replacement part and arrange for its installation. The water heater has been replaced. The low water pressure was caused by a clogged faucet aerator (we should have found that one ourselves) which has been removed. Pressure is back to normal.
Unitil, our gas company, notified us that, based upon recent meter readings, they wanted to change our gas meter. Interestingly enough, I do not know if that meant they thought the meter was reading too high or too low! In any case, the meter has been replaced.
We have recently been working on some wall plaster board repairs and painting at a couple of locations in the Gathering Area. This work will be continuing.
Keep on celebrating Epiphany! David Mercer, Property Team Leader