A gift to live in Vermont
by Bill Kuschel
It was a gift to me to live in Vermont and worship Good Shepherd. Many many fond memories! I now live in Green Valley, AZ, about halfway between Tucson and the border. One of my many GSLC 'favorite stories' was when we were planning the sanctuary expansion you now worship in.
The Church council was wrestling with the inside structure. Several of us had traveled to Maine to see a 'hammer beam' structure. We had contracted a builder in Cambridge, had the plans and needed to make the decision. We really wanted to commit to the Hammer Beams. It was late one night and the decision facing the council was financial. We had run out of time and I was to call the contractor the next day with our decision.
Hammer Beams or plain 2x6 framing?
The 'Hammer Beams' cost $30,000, money we just didn't have. So after trying hard to find a way forward, the Council VERY reluctantly voted about 10pm that we must settle for alternative-plain construction methods. We adjourned. God had other plans.
About 10:30 that same night I got a call from the parents of one of our members. They lived out of state. They knew about the vote and said they wanted to donate the $30,000 for the 'Hammer Beam' construction.
Construction continued through the summer and fall. Then comes Christmas Eve morning. We had services scheduled for that evening and planned to hold them in what is now the narthex where we worshiped during construction. But God had different plans.
I don't think we actually planned this meeting but several of the church leaders, our pastor and the construction manager 'happened' to be in the building on Christmas Eve, early morning. We looked longingly at the beautiful but unfinished sanctuary. Someone present asked the construction manager "Could we hold services that night in the new sanctuary space?"
The sanctuary space was far from complete. The hammer beams were in place and structurally safe and sound. But no heat, bare insulation showing, only construction lighting where the chandeliers are, temporary 2x6 supports in the small bridge between the two buildings.
With the construction manager's approval, we decided we would indeed worship the Christ child in our 'Manger Space.' The construction manager took the temporary supports down, we cleaned the floor, moved the chairs into our sanctuary, sent an email to our members alerting them to the plan so they dressed warmly, moved a piano in and welcomed the arrival of our Savior that magical night.
I'm sitting here decades later with tears in my eyes just thinking about this whole adventure.
To God be the glory! God is good, ALWAYS. Bill Kuschel
P.S. Jan Steinbauer adds to the reminiscence - "I was the Council President who had chaired that meeting (also Volunteer Coordinator of the Building Project), and Bill was the Building Committee chair. I recall him calling me with that unbelievable news. I was part of that small group present and I think it was me who asked if the new space was ready for worship. When the answer was yes, we all looked at each other and said, well, why not, since that had been our original goal since August. My memory is that the temporary Sheetrock divider wall (to keep out construction dust) near the current Usher table was still in place when it was asked if we could take it down. And the answer was yes- so it felt as it was being removed that we were opening a huge Christmas gift. And then for the first time we could easily see and walk from the narthex into the sanctuary. Amazing!"
