Both Sides By Rev. Nina D. Grey September, 2004

On the second day of my visit, Hannah, 9, said, yes, she would like to go to Coney Island. I didn't have a clue how to get there, but I checked the web and figured out the train lines. Granddaughter Hannah, though, knew which trains were express, what platform to catch the next train on, and what direction to walk in once we got there. I guess a little child can lead us! Experience can be a good teacher, and Hannah has lots of experience with subways and New York City streets. That adventurous week concluded a wonderful two-week vacation with Hannah and her mom, Kim. The first week we spent at Ferry Beach in Maine, a UU Camp and Conference Center, where Kim was a workshop leader in Modern Dance, and I took her workshop. My daughter, also my teacher.

Not only can we learn from people of all ages, leadership can also come from the group's wisdom. With our new mission statement and soon our vision statement, we are "Claiming Our Future", together setting direction for our religious community's coming years. The Claiming Our Future Task Force, using your responses, is crafting a revised Vision Statement for a September congregational meeting. Grounded in this work and the subsequent covenanting process, we'll then move toward goal setting and strategic planning in the latter part of our church year. Our planning will be in the context of the needs of all of us, individuals and families, and also of our community and world's realities. We hope you, our members and friends of all ages, will participate in this all-church long range planning.

We begin again our common faith journey first with our Board and Leadership Retreat on the Labor Day weekend, and our Labor-focused September 5 service, then our Water Ceremony on September 12. Bring water from some part of your summer's journey, to pour into our common bowl. We continue with our Rosh HaShana/Yom Kippur service, September 19, celebrating the New Year, reflecting on the guiding light of our Unitarian Universalist principles. Then, September 26 we replenish our vision with the shared dreams for the future of our community.

Let's join together in the joy of the journey, worshipping, learning, caring and leading. We can all help show the way.

With love, in faith,

Nina