Dear Saints in Santa Fe and other far-off places,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who opened his arms and welcomed children to come to him.

Infants and children and youth.  Oh my, what a Trinity!  Add their parents and we have four gospels teaching us how to love, cherish, listen to, and support young families.

So, get your scorecard out (you may need it!) and I will explain the changes happening on the third floor and the reasons for them.  After weeks of discussions with various parties affected by the changes, the following was approved unanimously by the session:

The Youth Room is moving across the hall to the Business office, and the volunteer break room/CDC teacher lounge will become a classroom for our Children’s Ministry.  At some later date a door will connect the two rooms.  The Business Office has already moved to the end of the hall while every other room down this hallway—Andrew Black’s office, History and Archives, and the counselor’s office–remain untouched.

A little history:  The Youth Room, you may recall, was once my office when I first arrived in late 2011.  In 2014, I moved to my present space on the first floor so that the youth could have their own room and make it their own, which they did.  Our present youth now have the chance to do the same.

An Infant Care Center, to be run by our Child Development Center, is being planned for the Moore Conference Room and former Youth Room to respond to the overwhelming need in Santa Fe for infant care.  Once the permitting process is complete both rooms will become one and will care for eight infants a day.  The cost for care is being paid for by the state of New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s Tuition Assistance Program.  Construction costs will be covered by private donations and a foundation contribution.

Why all the changes?  Do we need them?  Would it not be easier to leave as is and go on as we always have?  Yes, certainly it would, but I don’t think we are being called to do easy.  Especially today, especially here.

I think we are called to do bold, to stretch beyond what we might now see, to let go of things we might hold dear and open our hands to receive the needs of those before us, to regard all children as our children and CDC families are our families, and to symbolically plant trees that we may never see grow but coming generations will.

It sure begins to sound like the gospel is coming alive on the third floor.  I hope you will join us in seeing it prosper.

Grace and peace,

Harry