Sanctuary Renewal

The Truro sanctuary was completed in 1959, and underwent major renovations in the mid-1980’s. Now in the year 2024, it’s time to renew the sanctuary, reflecting our gratefulness for the history of this wonderful worship space, and our confidence in our vision for its future.

We invite your financial support of this vision, over and above your regular giving, to make this renewal possible in one fell swoop this summer.

Sunday, August 25: Worship service plans:

Our 7:45am service in the chapel will be held as usual.

Our 10:00am service will be held outdoors! We’ll provide you with a worship guide so you can follow (and sing!) along. Child care in The Nest will be offered as usual.

Truro Kids in kindergarten through 6th grade (including Club 56) should check in outside and come to the undercroft for Move Up Day! Parents of new kindergartners, please walk your kindergartner downstairs to get them settled for their first time in Truro Kids!

We’ll have chairs available for you to use if you’d like, but if you’re able to bring your own chair(s), please do so!

In case there are any folks who would rather not worship outside at 10:00am, and would rather not get up early to come at 7:45am, we’ll offer an additional worship service at 5:00pm in the chapel.

February 28 update:

The speaker grills have been replaced, except for the bottom grills on each side. Once those arrive, they will be installed.
The scissor lift is gone!
A representative from Waggoner’s Pew Cushions will be on site next Thursday to address the issues with the corner kneelers around the communion rail.
The installation of all the kneelers in the main section of pews continues this week. Our thanks to the extra volunteers from our men’s ministry who will be helping us with this on Friday and Saturday.

February 21 update:

Lighting:

The lighting installation is complete. The final piece of the puzzle was the new recessed lighting above the balcony.
Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll continue to fine-tune the brightness and colors of the lights.

Pew cushions and kneelers:

One-by-one, each of the pews in the main section of the room is having their kneelers replaced. Each pew/kneeler (from the 1950s) presents different problems that need to be addressed. Some with the wood, some with screws, some with both!

Speaker grills:

The white speaker grills have been shipped, and are due to arrive next Monday. They will be replaced next week, Lord willing.
For this reason, the green scissor lift will be in the narthex again this Sunday. We apologize for the inconvenience of that large lift, but since our lighting electrician had already paid for the lift rental for a month, it will save us $1,000 to take advantage of that lift while we still have it, instead of renting our own.

Miscellaneous items:

As we approach the completion of this project, smaller miscellaneous items will remain to be taken care of over the coming weeks. Handrails on the platform, replacing the joist system for the chandeliers (and getting their top fixtures flush with the curved ceiling), etc., will happen in time.

February 14 update:

Lighting:

The ceiling lighting has now been fully upgraded. The congregation will usually only see it in a neutral warm color. But we have full color and dimming control of those lights now.
The cabling for the lighting in both transepts has begun to be replaced, to enable us to soon have dimming control of the transepts.
The balcony lighting will be addressed next week, Lord willing

Kneelers:

Hugo Blondel and Steve DeThomas continue to work on each pew kneeler individually, to replace the padding and (when needed) replace old wood and screws
The corrected corner kneelers for the communion rail are on their way
Newly upholstered ropes have arrived for when we decide to rope off the transepts and/or balcony

Speakers:

The speakers that hang over the main section of the room are about ten years old. But you may have noticed that the speaker grills are discolored. These will be replaced (hopefully) next week.

February 7 update:

The old lighting that illuminated the ceiling was replaced this week on the left side of the sanctuary. This required major work:
- Unbolting all of the pews and moving them to the right
- Building scaffolding on the platform
- Using a scissor lift in the left aisle
The lighting that illuminates the ceiling on the right side of the sanctuary will be replaced next week, Lord willing
Cabling has been installed which will allow us to soon have dimming control of the transept lights
The recessed lighting above the balcony will be addressed soon as well

January 30 update:

So much renewal work has been completed in the sanctuary over the last few months. Thank you, Lord. And thank you, Truro for your significant financial support to make it happen.

What work remains to be completed?

Lighting:

Installation of the new lighting for the ceiling will begin on Monday, February 3. This will require moving all of the pews once again, in order for the lift and scaffolding to fit in the room. The lights/pews on the left side of the room will be addressed the week of February 3. The right side of the room will be addressed the week of February 10.
The recessed lighting above the balcony will be replaced after that. This will require scaffolding.
The lighting company installed the wrong cabling for the transept lights, meaning that we do not currently have dimming control over those lights. That cabling will be replaced after the ceiling and balcony lighting has been upgraded.

Pew cushions/kneelers:

The new kneelers for the main body of the pews will be replaced once the ceiling lighting has been upgraded, since the pews need to be moved for the sake of the lighting work.
The corner cushions around the communion rail will be need to corrected by the pew cushion company. They are aware of this. We have not been informed when the corrections will be done.

Another final detail we hope to take care of in the coming weeks is a hand rail at the side of the platform, for those going up and/or coming down the platform stairs.