Spiritual Life Commission Minutes
June 12, 2004

Present: Judy Hubley, Rev. Diana Benjamin, Rev. Marcia Charles, Rev. Carl Gunn
Jessie Dill, Marty Resotko, Beth Haynes
Reflector: Jessie Dill
Recorder: Beth Haynes

Judy opened the meeting with a "traveling prayer" to start the summer off!
The minutes were read and approved with the following correction: Jessie Dill and Judy Hubley were the ones that volunteered to help with Leaders’ Convocation for next year.

Judy also stated that the roster should be corrected to read that Marty Resotko’s term was up in 2006. She will try and e-mail a corrected roster before the end of the summer.

Check-in:
Judy updated us on her friend’s condition. Her cancer is terminal, but her spirits are high. She also had been able to take a watercolor class and her new goal is to paint every day. Jessie told us that her youngest sister had broken her arm when trying to hug a fellow dialysis patient but was on the mend! Marty had returned from a wonderful trip to Florida (a jewel of a state) where she canoed, hiked, and enjoyed the numerous state parks. While she was vacationing she was also able to help her father out who was recovering from cornea transplants. She has had other losses so it has been a sad season. Her church is also in a struggle to find the "right" call even while enjoying an inspiring interim minister. Marcia is looking forward to her week of counseling at Pilgrim Lodge. Her daughter, Lizzie, will be on permanent staff this summer and is actually excited about her mother coming for the senior high week. Her church has had their first meeting with Denise Goodman for the Parish of Promise work. It was an eye-opening experience in that it showed the tremendous amount of work and energy needed in the days ahead. Marcia is enjoying her "summer contentment" of gardening and longer days and the returning of her "snowbirds". Diana was celebrating passing her ecclesiastical council! She will be having her ordination on July 11th at 3 p.m. at the Calvary Community Church. Her church also has begun the summer influx. Carl reported that he was halfway through his sabbatical. (Looked rested and tanned) Last week he had visited a new grandson in Portland. He was on his way to take a course in Colorado on renewing your ministry - balancing your life.

Unfinished Business:
The Coordinating Council will meet at Pilgrim Lodge in June to discuss the camp’s celebration in 2006. Of course there will still be the budget items to "juggle" some more before presenting to Annual Meeting.
One Conference concern was that Pat Cleaves was retiring from the Placement Director position. Since there was no one present to represent the Conference no other news was taken up.
The Church & Ministry Chairs Meeting on September 15 in Waterville is set. Judy will do the lunch for the group.
Judy mentioned that she thought that maybe Millie Baggs would be willing to be on the Church Leaders’ Convocation committee. Also Diana volunteered. There still has not been any response on a possible chair from Janet Lanahan. This committee will meet today after the conclusion of this commission meeting.

The Spiritual Life Team (represented by Diana) reported that a bibliography would be submitted with the Spiritual Life Directory. Diana will continue to review more books. She especially liked "Woman of the Bible" by Ann Spangler. Another one that stood out was "Yes, Lord. I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses" by James W. Moore. This is a good start.

Spiritual Life Directory will be finalized by Marcia. She went around the group checking on those listed that had still not responded. It should be ready for printing by the end of July. Marcia will turn over a hard copy and disc. Judy hopes that the conference will want to update this every three years. Judy will also check with Annette to see if there is a disc with the present cover recorded. If not, then Judy will come up with something for a new cover.

Both the Clergy Consultation report and Seminary Debt report were skipped.

The Clergy Compensation Guidelines for part-time clergy are on the Conference website. Judy passed out the recommendations for changes in the fulltime salaries. The rest of the document was the same as last year.

Seminary Day at Bangor Theological Seminary is set for both the time and place. Rev. Anne Roundy and Rev. Marcia Charles will be conducting the worship.

New Business:
Election of officers was held. Jessie motioned that Rev. Anne Roundy be nominated as the new chairperson. Mary seconded it. Anne was elected as the new chair. Jessie led a "thank you" for all the hard work and leadership that Judy has given this commission during her chair. Beth Haynes will continue as recorder.

Judy ok’ed funds (up to $900) to help with the cost of the Holy Conversations workshop. When she was called, only 8 churches had registered so more money was needed to insure covering the cost.
Darren Morgan, a seminary student, had requested $100 to cover the Maine Conference’s portion for him to attend the United Church Council of Theological Education conference to be held in October. This amount was also ok’ed.

A new Prison Project task force was formed with Carl, Mary Beth, Diana, Denise and Beth as members. Diana reported that she had visited with Jim Plourde at the prison along with a tour. Soft Bibles are needed for the lockdown prisoners. There are presently no linens or curtains in the chapel, which is a multi-purpose room. There is also a need for portable tape players, VCR and Bible study materials. Mary Beth still wants to pursue a possible Partnership Reading program too. Often publishing companies will donate books for this. New Books, New Readers program also has been used but the commission will have to look into this.

Reflection:
Jessie ended the meeting with a "reflecting" prayer.

Next Meeting:
October 16, 2004 at So. Parish Church
Next Year’s Schedule:
October 16th So. Parish Church
November 20th So. Parish Church SLC has worship and food
December off
Janurary 8th Waterville
February 12th Waterville
March 12th Waterville SLC has worship and food
April 16th Waterville
May 14th Waterville
June 1st Waterville SLC has worship and food