Minister’s Letter — October 2006
In 1957, 12 local members of the White Plains Community Church decided to look into the possibility of forming a fellowship in the Croton vicinity. They started meeting in the Croton Community Nursery School and established a Sunday School for about 35 children. A few years later, because of the need for more space, the Croton Fellowship purchased the Boscobel Methodist Church, the building where we presently meet.
And as the saying goes, “the rest is history.” In the coming year we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary. In fact, on October 8 the program committee will begin the celebration with a program on the Fellowship’s history. In the spring we will have a gala celebration in conjunction with our grand fundraising festivity. But throughout the year we want to remain mindful of this important anniversary.
Next year, I will also complete my 17th year as the Fellowship’s minister, which means I will have been with the Fellowship for one third of its existence. I find that almost incomprehensible, and yet, that is indeed the case. I spoke last Sunday about our ministry through institutions. Institutional religion has negative connotations for some people and I can understand why. It does for me as well. Yet, as I said in my sermon, where would we be without institutions and particularly our own religious institution to carry on the liberal values, rituals and religious education for both adults and our young people?
I am indeed very proud to have been a part in carrying on that faith tradition our founders began in Croton 50 years ago. While every generation has different needs, we owe it to our founders, ourselves and our children to keep that liberal tradition going forward. Being your minister for the past 17 years has certainly been one of the most rewarding, challenging and cherished experiences of my life. And I want to help the journey our founders started and we ourselves have joined and shaped and shared over the last half century to continue on into the future. Together, with faith and service, I have no doubt that we will. When we light the chalice each Sunday we say together, Life is a gift for which we are grateful. We gather in community to celebrate the glories and mysteries of this great gift. And at the end of the service, I say: And now the service begins. With those comments we express our gratitude for the gift of life, our awe for the magnitude of existence and our duty to preserve the gift we have been given. These are expressions of the religious impulse. They are the center of our reason for being together as a religious community.
And by the way, if you know of others who you believe are looking for that kind of religious community experience, invite them to come with you on Sunday, October 1, our Open House, Bring a Friend Sunday! See you at the Fellowship.
Jim Covington