Transcript
Lightly edited for readability.
Greetings from Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church. I’m Rev. Tara. My pronouns are they, them, and theirs, and I serve as the minister at Allen Ave UU, or A2U2 for short.
And I wanted to share a little bit about what we have going on in the congregation, in the wider community this fall. It’s a lot.
We kick off the program year on Sunday, September 13th, with our annual ingathering and water communion service. After the 13th, we’ll be back full swing with all of our programs, including child care on Sunday mornings, religious education for our children and youth, and all of our regular affinity groups and committees will be rolling at that time as well.
Later in September, the next two Sundays after that, I will lead the services, and we’re going to do a deep dive into all things community.
What does it mean to be a community that shares the ministry, shares the labor and the joy of the work between the minister and the entire congregation, members and friends? What are the practices that we engage in as a community to make our relationships and connections strong?
What are our covenants, and what’s the way that we engage with one another when things are hard? What do we want to commit to this year as a congregation in terms of how we are together? Because that is the core of our faith.
Other things coming up in September include launching a shared ministry survey, getting a sense of what you’re interested in, what your passions and skills are, and how you might like to share them with us at A2U2.
As well as, on September 27th, an opportunity fair for you to hear a little bit more, learn a little bit more about what our congregational leaders are up to, what their groups and committees are, and see if you might like to get involved.
October worship services will be an illustration of some of this community practice embodied. There will be a series of collaborative worship services all through October:
- The first being a service co-led by myself and Reverend Laura Randall from the UU Service Committee.
- We’ll also have a service led by our lay worship committee.
- A collaborative service between myself and our lay pastoral care committee.
- And then later in the month, a service with Alex Capitan, who will be visiting us from the Transforming Hearts Collective over our Trans Faith and Justice Weekend. That’s late October.
Other October events include:
- A traditional bean supper, which is surely going to be really fun.
- The Trans Faith and Justice Weekend.
- An inner child play date, an opportunity for people of all ages to get together, carve pumpkins, get messy, and have fun together.
Over September and October, we’ll also be getting out the vote. Our justice team will have many opportunities for you to engage in get-out-the-vote efforts in anticipation of the upcoming election.
November brings our annual Remembrance Sunday service, Trick or Treat the Values, our annual Thanksgiving Sunday intergenerational worship service, as well as a few others.
In early November, I will lead a new to Unitarian Universalism class for those who might want to learn more about UU faith, theology, history, our congregation, just to know more, or because you might be looking to deepen your commitment and even perhaps become a member of the church.
And then on Thanksgiving Day, we’ll have our second annual A2U2 Thanksgiving Day potluck, where we all bring a dish and those of us who don’t have somewhere else to be gather and enjoy one another’s company for a low-key, all-are-welcome kind of event.
There’s more, too. You can stay tuned with all of the comings-ups in our Friday afternoon e-blast. You can sign up for that on our website.
And I hope to see you, whether on a Sunday morning over Zoom or in person in our sanctuary on Allen Avenue, at a meeting, at an event, somewhere. I hope to see you, to connect, and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you’d like to get together and talk.
You need some care. I’m here for you. My email is [email protected]. That’s probably the best way to reach me.
I hope to see you soon. Be well.