A2U2 community,

May this note find you well and enjoying the sunshine! These past few days of sun and the beauty of fresh snow have been a balm to my spirit as the heartbreak of our country and horrors of war abroad continue. There is so much grief and it can be difficult to carry it all. Ignoring it and pushing it away can work for a time, but it does resurface. Allowing it to rise up in us and then allowing, too, for gratitude and joy and connection to rise up is the path forward. It’s just a very difficult one. 

 

I’m excited for you to meet my UU colleague on Sunday who will lead worship. Rev. Lara Campbell is the Emergency Department Chaplain at Maine Medical Center, and has already met a number of you when you’ve been a patient at MMC (and gave great care to some of our members who died earlier this year). Rev. Lara’s ministry is about accompanying people through some of the worst moments of their lives. It is about finding the sacred in moments that seem anything but. She’ll share a message, “An Unlikely Holy Place,” and stay for coffee hour to meet and make connections with you. Please introduce yourself! Should you ever find yourself in the ER or at Maine Med as a patient, family member or caregiver (or even staff!), Lara will be a resource for you. 

 

I will be away this weekend offering the prayer for a UCC colleague’s Service of Installation in New Hampshire. And then I’ll be thrilled to join you again for an exciting series of collaborative Sunday services I will co-lead with the Worship Committee, the speakers in this year’s second annual “Wild and Precious Lives” service, and the Social Justice Committee. It is wonderful to have so many voices in the pulpit this spring. 

 

Reminders: Make your pledge for the coming fiscal year! Check out what your Board has been up to! And, as always, stay up to date with the many happenings in our community through the Friday ENews.

 

Be kind to yourselves and get some Vitamin D and fresh air if you can.

 

In faith,

Rev. Tara