St. Jude's Hosts an Open House on Sunday

Just beyond a small orchard of apricot trees at the corner of Stelling and McClellan roads is a small respite where folks of all walks can sit a spell and unwind. This unknown bit of quiet won’t be so peaceful though on Sunday when hosts an open house.

There will be hot dogs, popcorn, cookies, lemonade and music rockin’ the place between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to celebrate the church’s 50th year and the completion of a campus-wide renovation, and everyone’s invited.

Actually, there’s more to come in the renovation department at St. Jude’s but the outdoor area visible from the new parking lot is lovely and inviting—just the way the planners envisioned it.

Where once there was a parking lot and a Dumpster there is now an open walkway, grassy areas, a covered patio area with tables and chairs, a bubbling rock fountain, a labyrinth and scenic landscaping.

Among the goals behind the new look were to create a more appealing and inviting entrance from the street view, says Vance Nau who sat on the planning committee for the church.

A split rail fence that surrounds the apricot orchards at the street corner is but one way the welcoming look was achieved.

The parking lot was relocated so that a courtyard area bordered by garden beds, trees and scattered benches open up to the street. To appreciate the full scope of St. Jude’s sanctuary within a suburb, one must walk the new walkways in and around the grassy area to the far side of the property where a meditative labyrinth awaits. It’s a contemplative corner open to everyone, Nau says, not just church members.

Meant for meditation and finding one’s peace within, the labyrinth sits open, inviting anyone who cares to take a stroll on its circular path.

“It’s a place where people from the community can come if they need a quiet moment,” Nau says.

Nau beckons others to join him by the nearby stone fountain where the gurgling water isn’t quite loud enough to drown out the car traffic, but it’s soothing enough to capture one’s imagination. Three large natural stone pieces—representing the Holy Trinity—bubble water down into a circular collector lined with large river stones, circled by an inviting seating wall.

Stand at about the center of the labyrinth and look one way toward the street corner, then face another direction and see into the chapel and the fung shui planning is evident. The designed is intended to channel chi (or energy) into the church grounds and sanctuary.

The sanctuary is always open and at any given time someone from the community can be found inside praying, meditating, or simply stealing away for a contemplative moment, Nau says.

The project, which was five years in the planning, and three years in the making will continue around the back of the church where a partially finished meditation walk—constructed thanks to a Boy Scout Eagle project—meanders past a walnut tree that dates back to before the church was officially a church—there are more original trees on the lot including apricots, says Jim Harrah, one of the founding members of the church.

“It’s almost a community path, if you will,” Nau says.

It leads around to a mostly-finished memorial garden that will enjoy small improvements in the future, perhaps something like a fountain.

At the front of the church property where Live Oak Adult Care and Organization of Special Needs Families live there’s a must-see tile display made by church members’ and their children. It’s a favorite of Terri Hoornstra’s, she says pointing out some of her favorite decorated tiles.

“They’ll always be here. I can just see (the children who made them) coming back 50 years from now to see them,” Hoornstra says.

Come Sunday though the meditation areas won’t be so peaceful and quiet, it will be more like the happening scene of summer time when there’s a party going on to celebrate our country’s birth.

“We do a bang up Fourth of July,” Hoornstra says.

Check out and report back on how St. Jude’s does on it’s “Welcome to the Orchard” open house, won’t you please?

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