Minister's Messages from Past Months
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March 2008
Spring begins in March, at least on the calendar. It seems
spring in our part of the world often looks a lot like winter, at
least for much of its first month. Yet from its start, each day
becomes a bit longer than the night, and somehow that signals
crocus and early blooming plants to grow and venture forth into
the light.
Taking our cue from nature at this time, we might consider:
What might I grow in my life this spring? What might I risk to further develop
my spirit or spiritual qualities I hold dear such as compassion, joy, forgiveness,
patience, generosity, kindness?
It can be useful to ponder such questions and let ourselves be encouraged by
nature to live the answers. As the light grows in our days throughout the
spring, may it be a symbol and support to us to cultivate a particular quality
or skill or talent or joy in our lives. As the earth prepares to multiply its richness
in sight and sound and fragrance, may we, too, offer our riches for the
blessing of our families, communities, and world.
Wishing you peace and joy,
Terry
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February 2008
February. Valentine’s Day. Remembering love. Love in its broadest
sense. Love not only of one person for a special other, but love of people for
community, the environment, other creatures, the fate of the others around the
globe.
This month, I invite you to take some time to consider how you love and what
you love. Where are the boundaries of your love? Is there a new group of
folks or a new situation you can begin to include in your embrace? Loving
doesn’t mean condoning the bad behavior of others, but it does mean not putting
anyone outside our hearts. I think this is the work of a lifetime, maybe
twenty lifetimes. It involves forgiveness, seeing ourselves in the other and
holding to the work of reconciliation and justice.
How might you open your heart a bit more, beginning this month? I hope
you’ll join me on exploring this question through journaling, prayer, contemplation
and conversations with others.
May we each bring more love into our hurting world,
Terry
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January 2008
The gate to another year swings open and, if we’re lucky, we
get to walk through it. The beginning of a new year is a good time to explore
our dreams — to see what is calling to us to pay attention and to consider
how we might come closer to what brings us joy or challenges us. It can be a
time to affirm what renews and inspires us.
On my first Saturday with you in the new year, January 12, I invite you to
join me from 1:30-3:30 to take time, through reflection and ritual, to listen to
your heart’s longing and affirm this gift of a new year. Pre-registration is
needed, so email me (revtk79@cs.com with “January class” in the subject
line) or call the church phone (679-7944) and leave a message of your interest.
May the new year bring us all blessings and peace that we share with all we
meet.
Terry
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December 2007
Blessings to you in this challenging and wondrous month of holy days.
May ours heart open to the beauty of the season and the beauty of our own
generosity and kindness. May we be saved from isolation and depression.
May we feel a spirit of renewal and hope. May we find ways to share or witness
to our troubling memories and ways to create life-giving ones. May we
savor happy remembrances and continue that legacy. May we touch the
Spirit and know the deeper meanings of this time and grow from that richness.
May we all reach out, each in our own way, small or big, to make our
world a welcoming place for all.
Wishing you healing and joy during this season,
Terry
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November 2007
How good it is to anticipate gathering back together again for a church year of full of discovery,
creativity, connection, challenge, and growing together. I hope you all have enjoyed the
summer season. I look forward to seeing you soon and continuing our journey of heart, mind
and spirit.
Blessings,
Terry
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October 2007
October, and fall is here. I love the time of changing leaves, with the brilliant color, and the
change in landscape the falling leaves create. It seems a time of letting go and getting close to essentials,
to the essence.
The fall invites a certain freedom through letting go of things that hinder or hide. Perhaps attitudes
that hold us back and are unhelpful in creating lives of joy and connection. Fall makes me
ponder questions like these: What can I let go of at this time in my life? Is it time to let go of
harsh judgments of myself and others? Can I let go of rushing around and instead stop and savor
what is in this moment? Is there an old resentment that I might let fall away? An old guilt I can
resolve? A fear that I might drop?
On Sat. Oct. 27, I will lead an adult spiritual exploration class that will focus on Letting Go, using
ritual, reflection, meditation and prayer to consider questions such as those above. More information
on the class is given below. Please call or email to let me know how many to expect. I
hope the fall inspires you, and may you find beauty in the season and in your letting go.
Terry
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September 2007
How good it is to anticipate gathering back together again for a church year of full of discovery,
creativity, connection, challenge, and growing together. I hope you all have enjoyed the
summer season. I look forward to seeing you soon and continuing our journey of heart, mind
and spirit.
Blessings,
Terry
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June 2007
The last month of our 2006-07 church year is upon us. What a good year this has been, with
many newcomers and long-term members regularly attending our worship services and affinity
groups, additional children in our RE classes, continuing Coming of Age program events, successful
Invitation Sundays and Celebration Sunday, ongoing social action programs, and the initiation
of our foundational courses with Building Your Own Theology and A Chosen Faith
classes offered to help us deepen our understanding and experience of our faith tradition. It’s
been a year the congregational tradition of amazing, wonderful, energetic and dedicated leadership
continued as well. My heartfelt thanks to all those who served on the Board and chaired
committees and led affinity groups, with special thanks to Julie Clark for serving as our Board
President this year. And thanks to all who served on committees or did particular tasks or projects
for the benefit of the congregation, and those who guided our children in our RE program.
I am honored to continue to serve as your minister. You make it a delightful, engaging, and fulfilling
ministry.
Blessings to you all and best wishes for a happy summer!
Terry
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May 2007
At this time of year when spring truly comes forth with warmer days, sunshine, the greening
of plants and the brightness of flowers; a time when we think of new life and new possibilities, it
seems all the more difficult to think of the many deaths at Virginia Tech, which happened just a
few days ago as I write this.
I have no doubt your hearts, like mine, ache for the parents of all the young people killed and for
the loved ones of their teachers who also died, for the disturbed shooter and those who loved him,
and for the campus community and the residents of the city in which it resides. There will be
much to grieve and consider. There will be much courage and compassion that will need to develop.
And these deaths draw me to thinking about the many needless, violent deaths in our country and
around the world. About wars and genocides and the aching of hearts around the globe. It happens
every day.
What are we to do in the face of this? I wish I had a wise and wonderful answer. I struggle with
how to understand and to respond to so much suffering. And yet, in my work as a minister, I am
always humbled and awestruck by the ability people have to heal and rebuild, to forgive and to
create health, to promote justice and kindness and blessing. In my life, it is one of the things I
trust most. The process is never easy or quick, and I know it takes the support of caring others to
make it through and that each of us can aid these processes, and we each do so in ways particular
to us. We do it as individuals and we do it in groups. We do it through prayer and ritual and discussion
and letter writing and vigils; through a kind word, a gift, a resource; through listening
and walking together.
The Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda once wrote: “Help me…to sing in spite of pain.
It’s true the world does not cleanse itself of wars, does not wash off the blood, does not get over
its hate…. Yet I go on believing in the possibility of love. I am convinced that there will be mutual
understanding among human beings, achieved in spite of all the suffering, the blood, the broken
glass.”
I appreciate Neruda’s faith and draw inspiration from it. I‘m not always able to affirm it, but I
know it’s the direction that I wish to keep orienting my life, and I know being part of a religious
community that holds that focus helps me keep to it.
I say my prayers for the suffering in the world. I plant flowers, knowing they will die. I consider
what actions I can take that will support life. In this season of Spring, may we mourn as needed,
and may we also praise, appreciating our lives and those of our loved ones and passing on whatever
blessing we can for the possibility of love.
Terry
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April 2007
Last month we considered where we’ve been and where we yet hope to go this congregational
year. This month we are invited to look even farther into the future - to church year 2007-08 -
as we plan our financial and volunteer commitments, which we will offer on Celebration Sunday,
April 22.
This month holds very special Jewish and Christian holy days - Passover and Easter, times of
recognizing miracles and renewing commitments to particular faith traditions and their understanding
of what it means to live a meaningful life connected to the Holy One. All spiritual communities
seek to offer teachings that help their members find their way, and keep on the path, to
fulfilling, wholesome and honorable lives - lives of service and kindness, lives strengthened by
members’ sharing and caring, and lives inspired by community worship and spiritual practice.
On Celebration Sunday we take time to offer praise and thanksgiving for our spiritual community
- its teachings, its caring, and the many ways it enriches our lives and betters our world.
Out of this recognition, we then formally offer our gifts that will sustain and grow this community
so that it can continue to be a force for goodness in our lives and the lives of newcomers, and
continue to be here to welcome those who are seeking.
Thank you all for the many ways each of you supports our spiritual home.
Thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity in making commitments for our future together.
Wishing you every blessing,
Terry
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March 2007
Here we are, already half-way through the church year! What have been some of the highlights
for you so far? What do you hope we’ll accomplish before year end in June?
These were two questions the Board considered at its last meeting. Here are some of their answers:
Highlights:
Before the end of the year:
For myself, I’ve been delighted with the initiation of Invitation Sundays. These seem like good
ways to help others get to know us and to better educate the larger community as to who we are
and our ways of worship. I’m also happy about the start of a set of “foundational courses,” to
guide newcomers and long-term members on their faith journeys and deeper discovery of our
Unitarian Universalist faith. “Building Your Own Theology” had good turnout, as has “A Chosen
Faith,” and participants in both groups have found the material engaging.
Looking ahead, I’m hopeful for a successful Celebration Sunday in April, when folks reaffirm
their membership in our congregation and the many ways it enriches their lives, and offer their
pledges of volunteer energy and financial support. I’m also looking forward to working with the
Membership Committee to create further ways to incorporate newcomers and honor those who
have been members for many years.
The Board has been faithfully monitoring and supporting implementation of the Strategic/Long
Range Plan developed last year and adopted by the congregation last June. You can all be proud
of how much has already been initiated. What a wonderful religious community you continue to
develop and sustain.
Wishing you every blessing and much joy,
Terry
February 2007
Valentine’s Day is this month, that day set aside to celebrate and honor love. Although the
usual focus is on romantic love, we can also use it as a time to stop and consider love in all its
forms, and how we, as spiritual people, foster its growth in healthy, wholesome ways.
One way we might consider promoting love throughout the month is by making an intention to
cultivate kindness, a foundational practice of love. I am continually amazed how extending kindness,
through something so simple as an inquiry to a store clerk as to how their day is going,
brightens the day for us both. It makes the rest of the day softer somehow, and it broadens my
sense of connection to others. My heart expands as my embrace widens.
Last month, I suggested the practice of writing in a journal each day about a new gratitude. How
about this month we add to each entry a noticing of kindness - an incident where we extended it
and/or where we received it.
Maybe through this we’ll bring more love into the world. And what a blessing that will be.
Wishing you every joy,
Terry
January 2007
Blessings, blessings, blessings. Don’t we have so very many? Starting the new year off by recalling
them may be one way we might foster a positive beginning. A gratitude practice can be a
good way to welcome 2007, and I invite you to join me in this for the month of January.
Benedictine brother David Stendl-Rast, in his essay found in the book For the Love of God,
writes that “gratefulness brings joy to my life.” How shall we practice it? he asks, and responds
that there are many methods. One Brother David uses that intrigues me is to take time each evening,
before he turns off the light to go to sleep, to “jot down one thing for which I have never
before been grateful. I have done this for years,” he says “and the supply still seems inexhaustible.
When I stop taking things for granted, there is no end to the surprises I find,” he continues,
“a grateful attitude is a creative one.”
Knowing we are going to record our gratitudes at day’s end can help us be more aware of them
throughout the day. Reading over our lists helps us recognize our abundance and blessings.
So, happy January, and happy 2007! Let’s see what’s on our gratitude lists in a month, and on
February 1 take time to reflect on what we’ve learned by keeping that list. I would guess we’re
in for some spiritual insight.
Wishing you joy and peace,
Terry
December 2006
Can you believe 2006 is nearing its end? In all the rush, struggle and delight of the holidays,
it is sometimes easy to lose sight of that till it’s suddenly upon us. Yet I find taking time to reflect
on the year as it is finishing up is a useful spiritual exercise, one I don’t want to miss.
With my date book in hand to jog my memory if needed, I sit down, light a candle, and with
paper and pen consider what I’ve done with my life, and what life has done to me, over the
course of the year.
Where has the time gone? What were the hard parts of the year, and what parts inspired and
delighted? With whom was time spent? What was learned? Perhaps it’s time to say good-bye
once more to what was lost and maybe a personal ritual of farewell would be useful. Maybe
it’s time to be open to something new and a ritual welcoming this surprise is in order. It could
be a personal gift - a skill or talent, or one wished to be developed - is asking to be used and
it’s time to listen and act. Or an area of community or national or international need is pulling
and course must be set to address it. What list of blessings might be acknowledged and gratitude
offered?
Without even looking at my date book or reflecting on the year past, I know thanks are in order
to all of you for the wonderful spiritual community you continued to create and maintain with
such devotion throughout 2006. I am grateful for your welcome and inclusion of me into it.
My heartfelt gratitude for your many blessings to me, and to our world,
Wishing you peace and much joy,
Terry
November 2006
My hearty thanks to all who invited guests to join us on Invitation Sunday, Oct. 15. It was
a wonderful, successful event for our congregation, with 15 newcomers joining us on that day.
And it was heartening to learn that while some invitees were unable to come on this particular
day, the general experience was that all were grateful for having received an invitation, and
many hope to join us at another time.
Blessings to all who attended the service and talked with newcomers afterwards, welcoming
them and initiating connection. Thanks to the Membership Committee for their good planning
for the event, preparing attractive invitations beforehand and providing thoughtful touches on
that day, from sufficient chairs (Yeah, Site Committee!) to greeters and welcome packets.
Thanks, too, to the Hospitality Committee for organizing the wonderful food that day and all
who brought something special to share. And appreciation as well to those who were part of
our choir, providing beautiful music that deepened our experience of the worship service.
It’s not easy to try something new, yet you did it with such grace and gusto that it still brings a
smile to my face as I reflect on it. And lucky us, we get to do it all again sometime in the
spring! So those who didn’t get a chance to invite folks this time will have another opportunity
to experience the joy (and perhaps trembling) of extending invitations, reaching out to share
with others this unique faith and community, and helping us all further cultivate hospitality in
our hearts, minds and congregation.
Wishing you peace and joy,
Terry
October 2006
Fall is a beautiful time of year.
A time of brightness and color, crispness and harvest. A time
of celebration for the ripening of gifts developed over spring and summer.
As we gather for another year of worship, companionship, learning and service together, we
also enjoy a harvest-- the harvest of last year’s growing, facilitated by our FUUtures Committee,
of our congregational Strategic Plan, a guide we developed together to direct our energies
as a community for the next three years.
At its August retreat, the church Board set as its goal for this year the oversight of the continued
implementation of this plan. Several parts of it are already in progress: the creation of a coordinating
council that oversees a master calendar for church projects and events; a date set for an
Invitation Sunday as a way to reach out to folks in the community and acquaint them with who
we are, as well as a date set for an introductory class for newcomers; the initial step taken for
the congregation to become part of the Uncommon Denomination publicity program developed
by the UUA; and work continues to make the adult and children‘s meeting areas sacred space.
There are many facets to the plan (copies are available in the literature rack at the back of the
meeting room at the Grange) and it will be our delight and challenge to bring it to life this year
so that a new harvest will await us next fall.
In this lovely season, may our hearts, minds and hands enjoy the harvest that awaits us.
Wishing you peace and joy,
Terry
June 2006
June already? This year certainly seemed to fly by for me. It's been an exciting year and I've especially appreciated the good work of the FUUtures Committee as it seeks to chart our direction/focus for the next couple years.
While we often take leave of one another during the summer, except for the occasional picnic, I'd like us to consider doing something a bit different this year. Mitch has suggested we offer a "Foundations Course," a course that helps orient and educate folks to our religious tradition. "Building Your Own Theology," a ten-week class on exploring and developing one's spiritual understandings, is such a course, and if there's sufficient interest, let's do it this summer. If you'd like to take the "BYOT" class, please leave a message on the church phone (679-7944) or e-mail me by mid-June. I'll compile a list of interested folks and we'll go from there. It will be fun!
Also this summer, I encourage all committees to meet in July to review this past year's work and to plan for the upcoming church year which will start in September. In August we hope to hold our first Ministry Leadership council, consisting of all committee chairs, board and all others interested. We will be sharing with one another last year's outcomes as well as plans for the upcoming year, comparing dates and projects, and offering support to one another for our plans. This should help us all stay more connected and in tune with the larger view of our congregations's ministry.
My heartfelt gratitude to all of you for the past year of good work: for your continuing commitment and enthusiasm, for your willingness to listen, be understanding and full of good will, and for your supportive efforts to promote the well being of our congregation.
Let's enjoy ourselves this summer while staying connected and preparing for another great church year.
Wishing you every blessing,
Terry
May 2006
How did Universalism develop in the U.S.? How about Unitarianism? How did both move from Christian-based to spiritual-based? What does the history of our religious movement have to do with who we are now? How can our roots and foundational beliefs nourish our spiritual lives and direct us toward the Holy today?
I'm designating May "Unitarian Universalist History Month," and I hope to explore the above questions with you during this time. First, we'll look at Universalist history, then Unitarian, and we'll conclude this series in June with a sermon on the merger of the two faiths into the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Ours is a touching and inspiring history, and getting a taste of it can help us better understand who we are today as Unitarian Universalists. Such knowledge aids us in centering and rooting ourselves, finding strength and courage from the bravery and dedication of those who have made this faith possible for us, and deepening our gratitude for the gift we've received.
During the month we'll also be making some history ourselves, as our congregation further considers a name change and possible adoption of a long-range plan, and elects new Board members at our annual meeting. We pride ourselves on being a democratic religious institution. For democracy to work, folks need to participate fully, sharing ideas, concerns, joys, problem-solving together, and appreciating the efforts and enthusiasms of one another. Join in the process and come to the FUUtures meeting after the service May 7th and the annual meeting June 4th. What a grand adventure we are on!
Wishing you joy,
Terry
April 2006
This month we'll be looking at what it means to be part of this religious faith and community. It's a time we consider our mission and our ministry to one another and to our world. It's an opportunity to dedicate ourselves, once more, to sustaining and growing our faith and our congregation through our pledges of service and financial support.
In preparation for that dedication, it can be useful to reflect on the influence this religious community has on our lives. How have we changed because of our association with this faith and this congregation? What's different in our lives now than before we were a part of this church? How have our lives been touched here? What's valuable to us about our experience with Unitarian Universalism? Why do we think it's important to keep this religious community vibrant and actively present in northern Chautauqua County? Why does the area need us? What are the special gifts we bring to one another and to our local and global communities?
I invite you to ponder such questions over the course of this month of April, a time of the emergence of spring with its new growth and endless possibilities. A time of promise and hope. A time of declaring our love, through our commitments, for our religious home and the life we share with one another.
Wishing you joy,
Terry
March 2006
How do we talk to others about our faith? What do we tell them? What's important to say? To know?
We're exploring these kinds of questions in our Sunday after-service programs this month. Using the curriculum, "Articulating Your UU Faith," we began last month with the first session to consider some of our personal beliefs and how they have changed over our lives. As part of this exploration, we finished the sentences: "I have always believed ______," and, "I used to believe _____, but now I believe _____." We acknowledged that sometimes transformations in our religious thinking might not have been the easiest thing for us, but we felt we had to do it in order to be authentic and truthful.
We concluded the session by considering this sentence: "Unitarian Universalists are free to believe what we must. We get our religious authority from our authenticity."
What do you think about that sentence? How is it true and/or not true for you? How would you finish the sentences about belief raised earlier?
I hope you'll consider joing us for further sessions of this curriculum exploring how we understand and talk about our UU faith. It's OK to attend any session -- no need to do them all as each can stand on its own. I was touched by the sharing of those who participated in the first session, and my own sense of our faith and its meaning grew by what I heard. I'm looking forward to more.
Wishing you joy,
Terry
February 2006
It's been quite an adventure as we look at the possibility of changing the name of our religious community. As you may recall, when our FUUtures Committee held the cottage meetings with most everyone in our congregation over the summer, the issue of the name of our religious community came up in a majority of discussions as a barrier to folks feeling welcome and part of our congregation. Folks felt "Society" did not adequately identify us as an inclusive or religious community. Because of this, our FUUtures Committee suggested we explore this further and see if we might find a more accurate and affirmative name.
Over the past months, many wonderful, amazing, unusual and usual names have been put forth and thoughtfully considered. In the centering before our last meeting about a name, I asked folks to think about how important a name is. In some cultures it is thought that something doesn't exist, does not even come into being, until it receives a name. Naming is a powerful and important event.
In some ways, deciding on the name for the congregation is similar to deciding on a name for a beloved child. We hope in the process of choosing a name, the parents show love and respect for one another's ideas, as they explore the possibilities, and that the name chosen, even if it is not the first choice of both, is one each can affirm.
Some names make us strong, while others diminish. Some make us proud, others embarrass. Some inspire and draw us to them. When we name, we often seek a name that calls forth in us strength and kindness, power and beauty. We hope for a name that has some indescribable quality that lifts the hearts of those who bestow it and, we hope, those who hear it.
Naming is serious and fun. When we choose a name, we hope it fits the one to whom it is given and is one they cherish throughout their life. In choosing a name for our congregation, we hope, too, that it is one so fitting it will be cherished for generations.
And, of course, a name is just a beginning. How that name is lived -- the qualities a person or a congregation cultivates and exhibits -- ultimately determines its ability to reach and touch others to be a blessing to our world.
May a name be found that brings us joy, and may that name be an honor to the wonderful heritage of this congregation -- that of the Adams Memorial Church in Dunkirk and that of the replanting done by the Fredonia Society founders. I hope we allow the process of the naming of our beloved community, as well as the name itself, to inspire us, and that we follow its lead to transformation, service and blessing.
Wishing you joy,
Terry
January 2006
Happy New Year to you all! As you know, I love beginnings, and the start of a new year has a special place in my heart. This year I'm going to try something different as a way to greet the year. It's an exercise I read about quite a while ago and it goes like this: Write a letter to yourself dated a year from now and describe how the year just passed has gone for you (so our letter would be dated Jan. 1, 2007 and reflect on what happened during 2006). How have you changed? What have you learned? What special events happened in your life? What relationships are important to you? What new things did you try? What challenges did you meet? What dreams have you imagined and actualized?
I think it will be interesting and fun to do this imaginative exercise. I'm curious what might pop up and surprise me. I also think it will be good to add a section on what has happened in this religious community over the year (2006)-- What is its name now? How has it touched members' lives and the lives of those in the larger community over the year?
I invite you to join me in the letter writing. Who knows what dreams we might discover that will guide us in the coming year?
Blessings to us all for a joyful year ahead,
Terry
December 2005
As we prepare ourselves to meet the many holy days of December, I found myself turning to my Celtic devotionals for prayers and intention-setting. I offer below two prayers found in A Contemporary Celtic Prayer Book, by William John Fitzgerald. Both touched me, and I hope they will be useful to you as well:
Prayer at Rising:
Prayer at End of Day:
These winter holy days can be welcome or dreaded--sometimes a bit of both. In the midst of them, I wish each of you comfort and caring. May we all find our way to healing, with kindness and generosity as our guides.
Terry
November 2005
Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday. I love this occasion of setting time aside to remember and honor blessings and to celebrate them with loved ones. The only problem is it's too brief a time to hold all the acknowledgements. So, I've decided to consider this November "Gratitude Month." Rather than limit my remembering and honoring of blessings to one day, this November I'm going to spend time each day of the month considering my many blessings, and I invite you to join me in this venture.
Maybe some days we'll express this by writing down a list. Other days we'll do a narrative. I expect we might start with the many things in our lives in general that are such blessings and as the month goes on, focus on the daily interactions and beauties we experience and see that make our hearts and minds sing. And it would probably be good if we share our lists with our partner, family members or a friend to give additional witness and connection to the glory around us.
Of course our church community will be in our gratitude reflections, and it would be good to share some of those with one another. I invite you to email me a few of yours and we can post them at church for all to consider, and perhaps include them in our December newsletter.
I expect this will be a fun and interesting spiritual discipline. I hope you'll find it so and that through it we'll all expand our ability to see more clearly the treasures that are ours.
Wishing you joy and blessings,
Terry
October 2005
It's been great to get started on our new congregational year. My first weekend with you Sept. 17-18 was full of the joy of re-connection and new beginnings.
On Saturday I enjoyed meeting with the Membership and FUUtures (long range/strategic planning) Committees, getting updates and doing a bit of planning. Later, there was good participation (8 folks) in the adult spiritual growth and learning class I led on the Buddhist paramita of generosity.
I loved seeing so many of you at worship on Sunday. You warm my heart, and your good energy was a delight to experience. It felt good to set our intention for another year of respectful and supportive interactions through our board dedication ritual, to bless our "healing stones," and to hear the discoveries our FUUtures Committee has made about our congregation's values and needs and directions we may wish to travel in upcoming years. Energy, caring, and enthusiasm are high.
Tying into all of this are two important goals set by the Board for this coming year: to support the processes and work of the FUUtures Committee, and to develop congregational infrastructures, particularly as concerns organizational policies and procedures, including a master calendar for overview and scheduling of society events and operations. Both of these goals anticipate strengthening our Society and preparing it to take another step into moving into a larger, "pastoral-size" church able to sustain professional ministry and a home of its own.
In her book, The In-between Church, author Alice Mann tells us that family-size congregations usually operate as a single cell of membership, a committee of the whole. At worship attendance of about 35 people, that single cell becomes stretched and by the time it hits 50, the unbroken circle of members--that defining constellation of the congregation's life--is unable to function smoothly. The way thing have been done, channels of communication, can no longer adequately handle the organization's needs. New forms must be developed. In order to increase further, the system must allow itself to become a multi-cell organism, holding together two or three overlapping networks of family and fellowship. Ways of doing things must become more defined and infrastructure more formally developed.
This year we'll be considering some new forms and ways we might use to accommodate such a growth transition. At Board meetings, we continue to educate ourselves about what we can expect to encounter in this time of change and to be proactive in addressing issues that may arise. It's an exciting time. I appreciate your willingness to look and experiment, listen and share, keeping open hearts and minds. Such an adventure!
Wishing you joy and blessings,
Terry
September 2005
Welcome back! I hope you've all had nourishing summers and are feeling energized for the new congregational year ahead. It promises to be an exciting one, full of learning opportunities about who we are and where we're going.
The FUUtures Committee has been working steadily throughout the summer, listening carefully at gatherings of members and friends to get a sense of the direction and the challenges ahead of us. Thanks to the committee, and to all of you who participated in the programs they sponsored this summer (and to all of you who will participate throughout the year!)
A surprising turn of events in late June resulted in my agreeing to serve as interim minister (one year) on a half-time basis to the UU Society of Cleveland Heights this year while they search for a settled minister. I'll be traveling to Cleveland twice a month, the second and fourth weekends, with a consulting sort of schedule rather like what we do. Interim ministry is a specialized one and I've been busy learning about its tasks and goals and expect to grow considerably from this experience. I anticipate it will be nice complement to our ministry, providing me with new ideas and tools to bring to you throughout the year and enriching our time together.
I enjoyed seeing many of you at the family picnic at Midway Park in early August. Great people, conversation and food! A nice connection during the summer months. Thanks to the Membership Committee for scheduling this treat for us.
Isn't it amazing this will be our third year together? I feel very blessed for our connection and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again soon. I have no doubt that wonderful discoveries await us!
Terry
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