November 2008

Dear Ones,

As I ponder what it is I want to write to you this month, I am thinking about how much you have taught me already. In just a short time, I have learned so much about this community and how much you love this congregation. It shows in all the ways you step forward to care for one another, and in the depth of passion which each of you brings to the beloved community.

I have found in you models for how to care for the world, for what it takes to step out, over and over again, in courage and in hope, to be good stewards of this faith we love.

The times in which we live are not for the faint of heart. There is so much going on that threatens to disturb all the foundations we took for granted in the past. Not the least among these is the upheaval we have seen in our country’s financial status.

I hear on the radio and on the TV the warnings to stay calm, to stay the course, to not panic, to avoid rash decisions, and all this makes sense to me. At the same time, I wonder about how those among and around us will make do with less, how people will learn to stretch further and further the meager dollars they have to get through the month. It takes courage to step forward, into the unknown, over and over again.

I take comfort in the knowledge that we are survivors of all sorts. Those of us from the northeast, particularly upstate and western New York, have already had too many years of being smart about making dollars stretch. I think we could be the people who write books about this for others to read in detail, so good are we at this, instead of the ones reading and listening to the pundits telling us what to do.

But then I wonder: What else can we learn?

Perhaps the question should be: What else is it that we have to teach?

I think there is still much to be hopeful about and much to celebrate. This congregation has stood through many years of hard times, within a community that has withstood hard times, and yet you still meet and sing with joy and heart every Sunday morning.

You still gather here in this building on the corner of Clinton and Court and work with RAIHN or organize and plan your ministries. You teach your children, or one another; you know every square inch of this building, top to bottom, and you love its peculiarities, even as you struggle with its challenging and aging design. And you write notes of care and concern, make visits and phone calls, check in with one another, always looking to the future, while relishing the present moment.

I look forward to our time together whenever we meet; I know I still have so much to find out about who you are.

In the coming season, as we anticipate ramping up for visitors, special celebrations and times that have, in the past, called for spending extra money, when we can expect to feel swept along with the holiday hype, let us take some time instead to listen to one another, plan in some quiet reflection time, take walks in the brisk fresh air sweeping in off the lake, make tea or cookies and invite the elderly neighbor to come and visit. Find and create new ways to recall what it is that has named us into being in the first place, and practice one of the most important of the ‘holy manners’: that of listening for the voice within that calls us into full interaction with life.

May First Universalist continue to stand proudly here and remain a symbol for the future. May we continue to grow in our knowing of one another and the world, and may we continue to find ways to fill our mission to “Nurture the Spirit and Serve the Community.”

In love and faith,