Greetings, church –
Same weekly note, new name (Between Sundays)!
Blessings to you each as we pass the spring equinox and enter the true season of spring. Even, in Maine, if it involves a bit of snow! I don’t know about you, but I have been relishing the longer, brighter evenings. And noticing the emerging buds and blooming crocuses and other flowers in my new neighborhood. Even when we take a step back in the direction of winter, we are moving forward.
This weekend your Worship Committee leads the Sunday service and I will be out of the pulpit. I look forward to seeing you next week, just in time for Easter!
As we move towards Easter, we are also moving to the completion of our Stewardship Campaign – the annual pledge drive which funds a large portion of our church’s annual budget. We need all hands on deck to fund the coming year of church programming. Every minister has a different take on pledging in the congregation they serve. These past two years, as your Transitional Minister, I chose to make an annual pledge to the UUA. As I move into the role of your Developmental Minister and deepen my commitment to our shared ministry, I felt called to fill out my own A2U2 pledge form as an expression of my belief in the work we are doing and the community we are building together. I hope you will join me in making your FY25 pledge (of any size) if you haven’t already!
I’ll leave you today with the words of Terasa Cooley, on spring –
In this time of anticipated spring let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation—to value the time of budding before blooming, of seeding before sprouting.
This is a time of revelation: the revealing of that which is eternal, which we see every year, but still need to be reminded to see it in a new way.
There is also the revelation of that which is new. Every spring we encounter something never before seen. It is that very newness which embodies hope and potential for the wholeness which is yet to be.
Let us allow spring to unfold slowly that we may appreciate the true mystery of rebirth and renewal.
With appreciation, anticipation and much love,
Rev. Tara