September 2008

Things are really starting to Rev Up (no pun intended) at First Universalist. I can feel the excitement in the air as we begin to meet with one another, plan for the upcoming church year, share stories of summer adventures and challenges and describe our hopes and dreams for this beloved community.

In my initial conversations and meetings with you, I continue to be inspired by you. Your enthusiasm and energy not only for your faith community, but also for Unitarian Universalism; our message of hope and salvation for all of us in the here and now keeps me smiling and lifts my heart.

Amidst all the news of tragedy and demise spread across our daily newspapers, all that arrives in our email accounts and what we read on blogs and websites, we are challenged to find ways to hold out hope for our world and for one another.

The particular tragedy that struck our UU Knoxville Tennessee congregation a couple weeks ago, which took the lives of two and seriously injured seven congregants, struck too close to home for many of us.

To take all this into our hearts and minds, to find our way among and amidst this, we must open up fully to what it is we can stay faithful to, what it is that calls us together Sunday after Sunday, to commit to raise our children in our tradition with the stories of UU leaders who have made a difference in the world. We can give them assurance that we build upon generations of those who have come before us who have not been afraid to speak for justice, or to intervene in ways to keep us safe, even when it has been unpopular and risky.

Our work is to find new ways to companion one another on this path to a new type of fidelity.

The coming autumn season brings images of going back to school, starting over again, making new friends, cracking open new textbooks and contemplating closing the season of open, relaxed schedules that allowed more daydreaming than date books.

This September, my date book is quickly filling up with appointments and committee meetings, and I hope, conversations that help me know who you are. Please call me or email me or, better yet, stop by the newly refurbished Minister’s Office – it is beautiful! – to say hello.

I look forward to time spent with each of you as we get to know one another, continue to dream of the possible, building this community as we go.

See you in Church!

Join the Reverend Sally Hamlin in her first ‘official’ service with us, as we begin our fall services with the annual water communion. Did you travel somewhere this summer near a body of water? Or perhaps you enjoyed a ‘Staycation’ instead. Bring a (small) bottle or other container of water that represents the ways in which you were refreshed or renewed, blessed or bothered this summer….as we join the waters together in this moving ceremony.

Join us afterward for a reception to welcome Reverend Sally to our church family.