Churches Participate in Good Friday Cross Walk

ATTLEBORO, MA (April 21, 2014) — More than two dozen youth and adult attendees of the Attleboro Covenant Church and several other local congregations traced the Stations of the Cross as they walked through streets in their community Friday.

The group made stops at downtown landmarks that symbolic links to the stations during the third annual Cross Walk. For example, Jesus being nailed to the cross was represented outside of the Foley-Hathaway Funeral Home. A local cemetery was the final stop and represented Jesus being laid in the tomb.

Youth from the churches took turns leading the procession while carrying a cross. The final stop on the walk was the Old Kirk Yard cemetery behind the church.

Doug Bixby, pastor of Attleboro Covenant Church, said he was pleased to have an opportunity for area youth to express their faith in a public way.

The Attleboro Area Council of Churches sponsored the walk, which was led by Sandra D’Amico, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Attleboro, and Bixby.

 

Samarkand Dedicates New LifeCenter

SANTA BARBARA, CA (April 21, 2014) — Residents, staff, and local officials dedicated the new $4 million LifeCenter at the Samarkand Covenant Retirement Community earlier this month.

The 9,527-square-foot facility includes a fitness center, indoor-outdoor cafe, wellness clinic, aerobics-multipurpose room, computer lab, office space for the community’s 40 resident-led committees, studio for the in-house TV channel, and space for the residents’ clothing and accessories resale boutique.

Architect Todd Kilburn of Kilburn Architects LLC in Seattle, Washington, says the contribution of the resident team was unprecedented. “In addition to senior living communities, we do a lot of work with condominium boards. There’s often a resident committee. But this was more intense. We had monthly meetings for about six months and their input really contributed to the final design of the building.”

The Samarkand, a faith-based, nationally accredited, not-for-profit is administered by Covenant Retirement Communities, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit senior services providers, on behalf of the Evangelical Covenant Church.