| President's Column - Jul 2010 |
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President's Column - July 2010 As I write this column for the July ORACLE, it's June again ... a time of commencements and farewells and bittersweet joy. Like Janus, the Roman god of portals and new beginnings, commencement always looks both back and forward, but leans to the future. And so, too, our Beloved Community looks back to our past and values it immensely, but joyously sees our future complete with high hopes and passionate intentions. Hearty and sincere and loving thank you(s) are keenly sent to our outgoing interim minister, Reverend Roberta Finkelstein. Our church is truly the better for having you as our minister this year, and we will remember you with respect, love, and laughter ... We wish you the absolute best that life and Unitarian Universalism can bring to you and to Barry. Your directness and humor were so helpful and refreshing. I would be remiss if I didn't thank again so many people who have made this year so successful: The Transition Team, the Interim Search Committee, the Board of Trustees, the Council, the Program Committees, and the Religious Education Program. We have all journeyed long and hard together and learned much, and I feel we have grown in our attempts to create and sustain our Beloved Community; we have also gotten actively involved, outwardly, in more Social Justice activities. The future holds so much for all of us together. Thanks again must be extended to our wonderful Search Committee who brought us Reverend Kathy Schmitz ... our new minister who will begin with us in August. We literally are beginning a new chapter in the history of our church ... in August. With the leadership and guidance of Reverend Kathy, our church will be ready to meet the social challenges that plague our society and to engage in finding solutions to those challenges. Again, the future holds so much for all of us together, so hold on to your hats! When I was very young, my mother taught me how to make bread. The first time we made bread together, I was puzzled when she put a dampened towel over the bread bowl and put it on the back of the stove away from drafts. "Why?" I asked. "The yeast needs time and warmth to grow," my mother said. So, too, we have July and early August ... to rest, renew, and regain any energy lost from the rigors of the year. Several of us will be attending the leadership school at the Mountain this summer, and several of us will be attending General Assembly in Minneapolis. They will be bringing new ideas to us when they return. The rest of us will scatter to the four winds ... and regroup again late in August and in September. During that time be assured that our church loves you and wishes you well and will be grateful to see you again in the Fall. In the past year, I quoted President Barack Obama in each column with a "Yes, we can!" ending. Well, yes, we did, and yes, we can again in the future. In the meantime, I leave you with a thought by poet Walt Whitman... "I loaf and invite my soul." Love to all of you, Patty Reynolds This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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