Minister’s Letter — May 2006

By the time you receive this Newsletter, our pledge drive will have ended. Based upon the early pledges (50% of membership), you have been very responsive and generous.

On May 7, we are planning a town-hall” meeting after the 11 a.m. service from 12:15 – 1:15 to discuss the results of the recent “opinion survey” and allow all who are interested respond, offer more feedback and together decide what areas of our ministry need greater attention in the coming months.

Speaking of ministry, after a few years of research and consideration, Committee on Ministry has recently been appointed by the minister and the Board of Trustees. The establishment of this committee was endorsed by the congregation at our annual meeting in 2002. For your information, a more detailed explanation of the COM is included elsewhere in the Newsletter and more information will be forthcoming.

This month we will honor all teachers and children who have participated in our Religious Education program. May 14 is RE Sunday and on May 21 we will recognize and honor those who have led and participated in the Our Whole Lives program on human sexuality

And finally, as of this writing, we have about 12-16 people signed up for our Getting to Know UU orientation class on April 30. In recent months, our membership committee, chaired by Anne Summers, has been quite active in reaching out to all the many visitors we have and friends who are nonmembers. As active as the membership committee has been, I want to emphasize however, that all of us need to be welcoming and engaging of those who visit us. I must say, the comments I have received recently from many of our visitors indicate indeed how welcomed they do feel and how friendly they experience our congregation to be. On May 21 we will officially welcome our newest members.

So obviously there’s a lot of positive stuff happening. And I like to think or hope that the result of this activity is ultimately a sense by many if not most of us of a vital human connection. This is not always experienced by people who join us or visit us, and the reasons for that vary.

And so a few decide to leave us and move on to something else. I am always saddened when that happens, and wonder, what if anything I could have done or others of us to help make people feel more connected. It is not always my responsibility or our fault, but I do try to reach out to those who have left to understand their experience. Invariably, for different reasons, most say they didn’t feel “connected.”

Nevertheless I believe our Fellowship remains a growing and vital community. However I don’t believe the connection I refer to above is based primarily on “faith” or “theological diversity” or “spirituality” or political affiliation. We all have very different points of view about those matters. I believe the key to our connection is not that we believe together but that we walk together. We are bound together( religion means “to bind together), not by common beliefs but by a covenant to walk together into the mysteries, fully respecting the diversity, relishing learning from one another, vigorously discussing the issues that confront us and living an ethically responsible life . We have chosen to walk together “in a world where the lights are dim and the very stars wander.”

I do believe our “principles” provide an ethical framework for our journey together. And I believe that is very important. If one cannot feel comfortable with our principles, chances are you will never feel quite right with the Fellowship.

But I am inclined to say that it is not the principles themselves, or reason or spirituality or history or richness of diversity that fosters the connection– though these all contribute – but that we are on a journey together.

What really connects us is less ideological than narrative. It is our stories intermingled with the stories of others and the collective story of humanity.

What holds us together is a very curious sense of being on an adventure of the spirit without a known destination. We remain open to the Mystery and we share our experiences and points of view. We may disagree. But because none of us claim to know the whole truth about the Mystery of life, we can still remain respectful of each other’s world view or the window through which the light of truth, as we say when we extinguish the chalice each Sunday, shines for each of us respectively. The “fire of our commitment” to justice and an ethical responsible life is enkindled all the more. Therein rests the most vital source of our connection with each other—or as we say: “the warmth of our community” where we share our journeys, live courageously, and celebrate the gift of life with both joy and humility.

See you at the Fellowship!
Jim Covington