October 2008

“I wonder if the fall has rheumatism?  Do the limbs of the full grown, aging trees have aches like the one in my right shoulder?  The tree, like me, is a perennial.  It too may get weary and crotchety after too many cycles of seasons.  The annuals demonstrate life’s most efficient wisdom, to have one spring and one summer, and have done with it.  Let all things seed through the cruel winters.  If life can be born again in the spring, it does not get involved in hibernation and releafings. “ From Reverend Kenneth Patton, Unitarian Universalist minister, in his book All Blessedness: a Book of Psalms.

As I am writing this, I have a dull pain in my right shoulder that comes when I do too much leaning over a keyboard in just the wrong way.  I have to pay attention to how I sit and make sure I get up and move around every once in a while.  Not altogether a bad thing at all.  I never used to have such strange body aches and pains.   But I am no longer the youngster I once was, when I could get little sleep and work and play long hours with no physical consequences.  Now intentional daily stretching is part of my morning routine.  If I forget, watch out!

And so it is with our congregation.  Paying close attention to where we show our age, where we might be stuck in a pattern of activity that no longer serves us, is good work for any religious community.  We must stay nimble and flexible if we want to be part of the changing landscape in which we worship and gather, stay fresh and alert.

But I am happy to report that I like being a perennial, having the chance to hibernate a bit in the winter, become more reflective, take time to enjoy the short days and long nights.  For the moment, however, I am even happier being part of the change from summer to fall, from temperatures in the mid-eighties to the fifties in twenty-four hours. I think these swift shifts in weather makes us resilient and attentive beings.

With that resilience and flexibility in mind, I have been attending as many committee meetings as I can this past month, just to get to know who you are and find out how you do things, how you meet and greet one another, how you share your ideas and dreams with one another.  I hope to be helpful to you, as a new-comer here, and share feedback and perceptions with you as we learn one another and grow together in our ministry.   We have much to offer the world and one another, and it is good to know the world needs our gifts as much as we need to share them!

See you in church!