Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

December 2008

This month’s newsletter column serendipitously falls on the Wednesday after Election Day, so I can hardly keep myself from commenting on the results. At a church staff meeting this morning we each took turns reflecting on the election, each of us marveling – often with tears in our eyes – at what our nation has achieved by electing Barak Obama president. It goes far beyond partisan politics to the fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed – we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” We did that on Nov. 4. We rose up and judged a man, as King put it, “not by the color of (his) skin but by the content of (his) character,” and by the largest majority in favor of a Democratic candidate in a couple of generations elected him to lead this country. It is hard to overstate the significance of that move for every man, woman and child in this country, and as a person of faith – faith in hope, dignity and love – I am buoyed up and reaffirmed.

Meanwhile, we have cause for excitement in our church. In the last week you should have received a letter announcing that the Board of Trustees has reached an agreement with the owners of the Glad Tidings church, at 1 Sunset Parkway, across Charlotte Street from us, to purchase their property. You’ll hear more about this building, plans for financing, and the factors that went into the decision by church leaders to pursue it at a Town Hall meeting after services on Nov. 16. I, for one, am thrilled by the prospect of having this space available for the programming of our church.  It has been achingly clear for some time that we are desperate for space, especially for our growing Religious Education program as well as for our able staff. This property would give us that as well as the kind of large gathering space outside of the sanctuary that we have always needed and never had and free up space for meeting rooms, nursery and a library at 1 Edwin Place.

But I think what excites me most about this move is that it is the next step we need in taking ownership for the congregation we have become. Our growth in recent years in membership, in programming, in Sunday morning attendance has squeezed us. We have added a worship service, added staff and begun exploring changing our governance structure to adapt to this growth. The last and in many ways most challenging part of this shift is to expand our facilities. The unexpected availability of the 1 Sunset Parkway property gave us an answer to that need.

It’s true that taking on this building will be a challenge, financially and otherwise. But I believe we are up to it. We are a strong and vital congregation centered in principles and values that the world needs. We are a welcoming, warm engaging people covenanted in freedom and love, committed to religious inquiry, spiritual growth and the pursuit of justice who walk our talk. Sounds like a happening place to me.