Read the March 14 issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal May 14

Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal May 7

This week, Rev. Ruth writes:

One of the favorite parts of my ministry is working with the Coming of Age youth. Every year this beloved group of people dedicate their Sunday mornings, and some serious daydreaming/wondering time, to the big questions of faith: What is God? Is there God? What is the nature of being human? What is spiritual? What is significant about this life? What is death? What is community?

As Unitarian Universalists we hold to the principle that in order for faith to be vital and real, you have to be free to question and wonder. And in order for faith to have meaning, we have to be responsible with our search and the answers we hold true. This is not a faith in which you can believe anything you want. It’s a faith tradition in which we ask what are the truths that will grow our souls, enliven our communities, and make our world better.

This coming Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m., 20 youth will be sharing this culmination of time, discernment and digging deep by reading their statements of faith. Although COVID-19 has made this year’s class more challenging and stressful, their statements of faith are heart opening, and truthful. A faith statement or credo is so much more than simply stating your spiritual or religious beliefs, your agreement with this or that. A credo is coming to terms with where you place your trust. What do you trust? The Latin word Credo means: to set your heart. So, instead of saying, “This I believe,” I think it’s more accurate to say: “This I believe. These are the truths to which I set my heart, the compass I will use to guide my living and loving.”

Do your heart some good and join us on Saturday at 3 p.m. Support our youth in this major threshold of sharing their credos, and give your thirsty spirit a big gulp of hope.

In faith,
Rev. Ruth

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal April 30

In this week’s issue, Rev. Jen Crow writes:

Some of you know that lately I’ve been playing this game to steady myself. I ask, “What’s the same?” And somehow, the answers settle me down. 
When I ask this question about our church, so many things come to mind. What’s the same about First Universalist Church?

• Our mission, grounded in racial justice, of a love so big that it will not let anyone go. 
• Our commitment to care for each other and our larger community.
• Humor, kindness, innovation, creativity.
• The carpet in the sanctuary – trust me, it’s still there. 
• Our determination to push ourselves, never settling for having done enough for justice.
• Church helps us remember who we are and what is most important. This is where we go to get grounded and supported as we live into our values. 
• We are committed to creating an inclusive church that welcomes and works for everyone. 
• We are a church that honors the wisdom and experience of the past and that lives in experimental mode – we are adaptive and responsive to the world we live in. 

These truths are helping me live with all of the change that is happening in our world. And a lot is changing. I know you’ve heard me say before that this is a marathon, not a sprint. That we are in for a long haul. And that church is a part of that changing landscape that we are all living in. 
Here’s the biggest change I see: We will be gathering online and in small groups for the foreseeable future. Large group gatherings will not be safe for everyone to participate in in-person for a long time. My colleague, Rev. Jake Morrill, explains this new future for our churches this way – it’s 4 minutes, and well worth your while.   

As we let this new reality settle in – that church will be taking place online and in small groups for more than just a few weeks or months – your church leaders are working hard to take a deep breath and settle ourselves, ground ourselves in our mission, hear all voices, and re-orient how we do church to meet this moment. Our values are clear. We are a church committed to racial justice. We are a church that welcomes everyone – young and old, sick and well, living on the margins and living with privilege sometimes all at the same time – learning and growing together into an inclusive future where all of our identities are valued. We are in this storm together, shoring up each other’s boats and holding each other close in solidarity and support.

In gratitude,
Jen

Please join us for an opportunity to hear an overview, ask questions, and provide feedback on the proposed operating budget for the 2020-2021 church year. We’ll gather via zoom on Sunday after church at 11:30 a.m., and on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. You can view the proposed budget here. 

Watch the recording of the May 3 meeting here.

Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal April 23.

In this week’s Liberal, Rev. Jen Crow writes:

It’s hard to believe that it was only six weeks ago that we closed our church building and moved our operations online. These have been weeks that have felt like years, and for some of us, days that have felt like weeks. So much has changed in such a short time. A month ago, our Board of Trustees met to consider how this global pandemic and the resulting economic uncertainty might impact our building renovation plans. They thought carefully about the financial pledges that are still outstanding to our capital campaign, the costs of extending our plans further into the future, and our deep desire to move forward. At the end of that meeting on March 26, the Board decided to split our building renovation into two phases: phase one taking place this summer using the gifts already received and phase two taking place once the remaining financial commitments to the capital campaign have been received. In essence, the Board decided that this was not the time for a loan, and we would proceed carefully with our shared dreams and resources. 

While the overall scope of the renovations had already been determined, splitting the building project into two phases was a significant change in course. Over the last 3 weeks your Building Committee, project manager, and our contractor and architects have been working hard to determine the most cost-effective, impactful, and practical way to stage our renovations. On Monday night, the Building Committee met and unanimously agreed that we will split the project into the following phases:

Phase One: (Mid-May 2020 – Fall 2020)

Extensive remodeling of the Education Wing, Chalice Room, Atrium, Offices, and some Exterior Work

• We will create a more welcoming and accessible central entrance with a dedicated in-person greeting station when you enter the building.
• We will complete critical repairs including roofing, electrical, and HVAC upgrades.
• Our education wing will include religious education and adult meeting spaces that better meet our needs, two banks of gender-neutral restrooms (one on each floor), and a multi-use room that can accommodate a family living with us for an extended period of time. 
• Offices will move to the first floor next to the atrium, creating more efficient and welcoming workspaces for staff and congregants. 
• The Chalice Room will become the new Cummins Room – an accessible, welcoming space for the community and the congregation. 
• We will be building and renovating with a focus on environmental and racial justice – finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of our building and putting our vendor policy to work in the hiring of all contractors and subcontractors. 

Phase Two: (Summer 2021)

Renovation of the Sanctuary and Social Hall, and Additional Exterior Work

Our sanctuary and sanctuary will be refreshed – including new paint, flooring, lighting, electrical work, audio visual equipment, ceiling repair, the creation of an accessible chancel, and installation of a hearing loop. 

The Building Committee considered several factors as we made our decision about these phases: 

• We kept the original intent of our capital campaign, Not for Ourselves Alone: Building an Inclusive Future, at the forefront of our conversation, looking for ways we could most effectively improve accessibility and hospitality, improve our worship and religious education spaces, and secure our financial future. 
• We looked at what renovations would be most impactful for the most people in our congregation and community at this time.
• We considered the many interlocking pieces of any renovation project, and what pieces of the project would be most cost-effective to complete together. 
• We looked at our economic reality as a congregation, and the desire to be able to rent spaces in our building in the near future. 
• We looked at our unfolding physical reality, and the truth that we will be gathering together in small groups much sooner than we will be gathering together in large groups for some time. 

We are excited about this decision, and look forward to sharing more with you. Please join me this Sunday, April 26, at 1 p.m. for a Zoom meeting where, along with Officers of the Board and the Building Committee, I will share images, details, and excitement for what is to come. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we have worked hard to make our shared dreams into a responsible reality, and a big thank you to those of you who have accelerated your capital campaign gifts, allowing us to include more of our work in Phase One of our renovation. Your generosity of spirit and resources is greatly appreciated.

In faith,

Rev. Jen Crow
Co-Senior Minister

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal April 16

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal April 9

Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal April 2

This week, Rev. Jen Crow writes:

In the midst of so much hard news in our lives and our world, I’m thrilled to have some good news to share with you from church this week.

Rev. Ruth MacKenzie will stay with us through June 30 (about six weeks beyond her originally planned retirement date), and as soon as we can after that, we’ll say goodbye to her in person with a dance party/retirement celebration. We are incredibly grateful that Rev. Ruth will continue to share her leadership and care with us for a little longer.

Arif Mamdani, our Director of Membership and Adult Ministries, was welcomed into fellowship last week by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Association. This means he has successfully completed all of the requirements for ministry, and now we just need to wait for his ordination before we can call him Rev. Mamdani. We’re thrilled for Arif, and we are also thrilled that he has agreed to increase his time with us, effective April 1. Arif is now with us full-time.

We look forward to Rev. Justin’s return from sabbatical on July 1, and we are grateful to continue to have Rev. Karen Hutt with us on a quarter-time basis.

As so many people all around us face the economic insecurity that comes with this global pandemic, we are glad to say that as an employer, the church will continue to keep all staff fully employed at pre-pandemic levels. No one is being laid off or having their hours reduced at this time, and we hope to be able to maintain full staffing throughout this crisis. The church is needed now more than ever, and we need our staff to help keep us connected.

Many of our staff are re-orienting their work right now to better serve our congregation and our community. For instance, our part-time front desk host, Aj Williams, is now our part-time video editor. John Steitz, who you used to see in the sound booth on Sunday mornings, is hosting our Sunday worship service on Zoom. Liz Farmer, our Administrative and Adult Ministries Assistant, who used to be responsible for office hospitality, creating the order of service, and administrative and program support, is now helping to support our move to virtual programming, including helping familiarize our lay leaders and congregants with Zoom. Lucia Webb, our Events Coordinator, who used to schedule your meetings in the building, is now scheduling your Zoom rooms and helping train the congregation in using Zoom. Jenn Stromberg, our Communications and Office Manager, has quickly turned into the coordinator of Sunday worship digital content and all things tech, keeping us connected as so many things change. Our facilities staff, Tracy Van Epps and Richard Thomas, have been deep cleaning the building and beginning renovation projects. Everyone is doing something new, and we are pulling together as a team to meet this moment.

I often say that a big part of my job as your co-senior minister is to ensure that the values of our church are being lived out within the institution itself. One of the most important ways we do that is by being a fair and equitable employer. I hope you will join with me in sharing your gratitude to our staff for all of their work in this trying time. I also hope that if you are able, you will let us know about your annual gift to the church for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1. Your gifts are the primary source of income to the church, and our primary expense is our staff. Your annual gift, as well as any additional donations you can make, support the vital work of the church as we care for one another in these unprecedented times.

In gratitude,

Rev. Jen

Read the full issue of this week’s Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal March 26

In this week’s newsletter, Rev. Jen Crow writes:

This past week, our online small groups and worship opportunities reached out across the country and the continents to welcome people in. We had visitors from Saudi Arabia, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, California, Alaska, and New Zealand – and these are just the ones I know about. Our message of love and hope, of no one outside the circle of a love so big that it will not let us go – is needed now more than ever. 

With the world at large and our worlds at home changing so much so quickly, it helps to remember who we are and what is most important. We are the people of love and hope, and no matter what is going on around us or inside of us, love is not cancelled. And I wonder, how is love showing up in your life, and how are you showing love?

Love showed up this past Sunday in my life in the form of a phone call. Your Co-Senior Minister Rev. Justin hit me up on What’s App and it was so good to hear his voice. Rev. Justin and his family are living across the ocean in New Zealand during this sabbatical time for him, which runs from January 1 to June 30. The area of the country where they are is not showing community transmission of the coronavirus at this point, and given the lack of federal leadership and testing here in the United States, I encouraged Rev. Justin and his family to stay put, and stay safe, trusting that as a church community we have what we need to take care of each other here. They will continue to monitor the information in New Zealand and here in the United States and make decisions week by week. 

We shook our heads in disbelief together, connected by some magical internet mojo. A global pandemic really isn’t in the protocol books for how to do ministry, or sabbatical. What is in the books about ministry, and what is so clearly in both of our hearts, is love. Love for each other and this church. Love for each of you. Love for the larger circle of people we will never meet (some of whom are joining us from Saudi Arabia!). Love for those who are with us and for those who will pass on. It is love that will keep us connected. Love that will lift us up. Love, that will make every suffering bearable for us all. 

Love,
Rev. Jen

Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal March 19

In this week’s Liberal, Rev. Jen Crow writes:

Dear ones, 

It’s been a whirlwind of information and change this past week. Can it really only be a week since we made the decision to close the church building, back when the schools were still open, you could find food on the shelves of the supermarkets, and our president was encouraging us to go on with business as usual? It was only a week ago. Most of us are living in one state of shock or another. All of us are living with lives changed and a future we cannot predict. We are living in a state of uncertainty, all of us connected, with so much in flux. The Buddhists would tell us this is how it always is, we just see it more clearly now.  

From this state of shock, I have been searching for what stays the same. Looking for what I can count on, cleave to, and let go of, if needed. I’ve been thinking a lot about the blessing I wrote for myself when we returned home after our house fire. How scared I used to get, and how I would settle myself down. I’m using it again now. 

I’ll share my blessing here, knowing that it won’t work for all of you, that the particulars will need to be changed to match your reality. I do want you to tell me, what might you notice now in the six foot circle around you that helps you feel safe, grounded, and secure? How can you settle yourself, or let yourself crumble with the wave of emotion that needs to wash over you, trusting that these feelings will pass, and we will begin again and again and again in love?

Will you tell me? I’m listening. 

With love,
Rev. Jen

Notice, you.
For you who thought it would never be rebuilt, the pieces never found, the structure never sound
For you who worried your family and spirit had been torn apart, never to knit back together again
For you who lost so much – the expectation of safety in the night, her first day of kindergarten, old photographs all gone
For you who wondered if you’d ever feel whole again
Swept along on a current in a river you did not choose
For you who wondered and worried how this story would turn out
Notice, you.
Notice the firm couch beneath you that sits on the beautiful wood floor, gleaming and scratched by the dog’s too-long toenails
Notice your grandmother’s buffet, refinished and strong, an anchor of weight and history flanking your side, family silver tucked inside, polished to gleaming by the hands of friends and strangers
Notice the pictures of your children smiling on top of it
Notice your favorite leather chair sitting under the window that frames the lilac tree you planted, a gift as you moved home, marking your own new beginning
Notice the relief you feel, the result of hours of effort and the washing power of tears
Notice how your children sleep soundly in their own beds most of the nights now, and so do you  
Notice this 
here
now
A web of kindness and care is visible that had gone unseen before 
Notice and breathe this clean air 
No smoke, no mold, no water here 
Clean, clear, air
Notice your home,
you’re home.