Dear Members and Friends of Saint Peter's,
It has been a busy few weeks around Saint Peter's, and there are a few updates I need to share with you at this time. Please feel free to be in touch with me by email at rector@stpeterschicago.com if you have any questions at all. The Sale of the WAUCC Building We have been aware that Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ has been looking for a potential buyer for their building for some time, but there has been a new and fast-paced development over the past month. Wellington has voted to sell their building to another organization and they are currently in the process of drafting a Purchase and Sale Agreement. While we can rejoice with Wellington and give thanks for this development for them, it does mean something unforeseen for us: the new owners may not permit other organizations to rent space when they assume ownership of the building (which may be as soon as September 1). We do have a legally binding lease through the end of this calendar year, so it is still unclear how this could play out--we may very well be permitted to remain in the building until December 31. Nonetheless, we need to be prepared for the possibility that we may have to vacate our space at Wellington by September 1. I am sure this comes as a shock to many of you. It came as a shock to us (Father Shane and the Vestry) as well. We have had a wonderful two years at Wellington, and it is quite unclear what we can do without this home away from home right now. Still, the Son of Man had "no place to lay his head" (Luke 9:58), and in our Lord's steps we still move forward. Renovations on Belmont Molly Ekelof and I had a good meeting with our Architects from Altus Works (along with our Owners Representative, Cary Johnson, and Courtney Reid and Tom Camell from the Diocese) on Wednesday to review the process of our Transformation and to take a look at our Revised Schedule for the rest of the project. Currently, we are looking at wrapping up design development within the next few weeks and moving into the development of contract documents at the beginning of August. These will then be reviewed by the Building Committee at the beginning of September, after which Bidding and Permitting will begin. Construction is slated to begin toward the end of the calendar year, and tentatively scheduled to be completed in June of 2021. Of course, stuff happens, and delays are inevitable, but for now, this is what the picture looks like. I hope you will join me in giving thanks for the Building Committee's and Altus Works's phenomenal work so far. We still have a ways to go, but we're definitely moving forward. Bringing These Things Together First of all, if you have any specific questions about what I've just laid out, please feel free to be in touch with me or to join me after church this Sunday in our virtual coffee hour for discussion. Specifically, I want to hear your thoughts about what the next year at Saint Peter's is going to look like. Here are some specific questions that are currently up in the air.
There's a lot left to figure out. There are a lot of questions still unanswered. I'll freely admit: I'm a little anxious myself! But that's OK--we're in this together, and I am so grateful to be in this with you. As I've already said, please feel free to be in touch with me if you have any questions at all. I am here for you and I want to know what's on your mind and heart. Join us on Sunday for worship and conversation. Reach out if you need anything. As always, In Christ, Shane Patrick +
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Here's another short message from Father Shane talking about Psalm 88 and detailing some new features of our website!
Here's a short reflection and update from Father Shane, sent out in our weekly e-blast yesterday. God bless you!
We're taking a hard reset on our updates: if you've ever checked this page you know that it's updated very infrequently. We want to make a better commitment to updating people on what's going on at Saint Peter's, though, so do check back more often and see what's going on. Updates of interest will often include the process of Saint Peter's Transformation, our process of renovating our building on Belmont and moving back in. But whenever something else is coming up (Holy Week and Easter, for example), we'll also make it a priority to post something about it here. Most immediately relevant, of course, is the situation surrounding the spread of COVID-19. Because this has a direct effect on our common worship, please visit the special update page about this issue, linked here and below.
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