As we rapidly approach the end of the Summer months and the beginning of our program year* I’m thinking a lot about what makes us the community of meaningful relationships that we are. Part of this is the nature of the work that I do, trying to build community and create those opportunities for connection. One of the things that I’ve realized is that we, the staff, only really create the container and it is the amazing people here that fill that container to overflowing. To be sure, it is a theologically sound container created with hard work and love, but it is only as full as what our community members pour into it. And I see how this community does that. I see us as we share our work with each other, share our play with each other, share our hope with each other, and share our pains with each other. 

Sharing our work can mean the activism work that stems from our convictions in what are consistently “unprecedented times.” This can mean commiserating about 9-to-5s and making professional connections. It can also mean finding places for our areas of expertise to push the missions of our congregation forward as I have seen with many of our committees and teams in particular these last few months.

Sharing our play can mean our creative endeavors, our laughter, and our joy. Whether it is the choir and guest musicians, or the Sing-Along, or the fiber arts group and hiking group, there are places to share our play with each other. Of course this is seen in the Faith Formation programs as well, for children of course, but also for adults. I am thinking specifically about the Creativity Matters and UU Writers groups but others as well.

Sharing our pains is inherently vulnerable, which makes it hard to do. While it may not seem like a vital ingredient in the container, it is a test of a good community that pains, griefs, and needs can be shared within it. I have the opportunity to be one of the facilitators of the Good Grief Group. It is an honor to be trusted with the grief and pain of some of the folks in our congregation. Because of that work, I also work with the Pastoral Care Team, and what a gift that team is to this congregation. The earnest care of the individuals is not to be taken for granted and I would personally go to any of them with anything that I am carrying. 

Sharing our hope can maybe be the most vulnerable of all. It’s letting others help our hope along while risking disillusion and regret. We do this by engaging in advocacy and activism work defending voting rights or reproductive justice, or working towards solutions (large or small) for climate change. (Or many other important causes). We also share our hope when we give “Church” another chance after too many disappointments or outright religious traumas.

So I thank you for sharing so much of yourselves with this community, filling the container that we on staff work hard to create with your work and your play, with your pains and most of all with your hopes.

Gratefully,

Trevor

*If you are new here, we run many of our programs September through May, giving some bounds to the work that we do, and working around the often busy and/or chaotic summer schedules of many in our congregation.