By Rev. Nina D. Grey
July, 2005
Rev. Millie Rochester ends her ministry with us now, with a month's vacation, before going on to her next ministry. I am grateful for all she has brought to our church's ministry. She has been a great colleague. It is clear that you, too, have felt blessed by her ministry, and will also miss her. We wish her and Roger a wonderful new life and ministry in Clearwater, Florida.
Colleagues offer each other support, thoughtful ideas and creative resources and enrich each other's ministries. That's one reason why, despite my broken ankle, I went to Professional Leaders Days and General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas.
Most of you know that I broke my ankle near the end of sabbatical time. Riding around the GA hallways and sidewalks, and crossing streets on a motorized wheelchair was a learning experience. There are accessible restrooms and then there are accessible restrooms. Getting through doorways and around corners isn't always easy. And sometimes, in a wheelchair, you are invisible to others. This learning experience opens my eyes and my heart to realities I was noticing less before. Now I will think about the words we say at the beginning of our worship service about welcoming those of different abilities with a deeper understanding.
Many First U folks were at GA!! Our delegates, Neil Gerdes, Ken Schug, and Zarinah Ali were all there. Norma Poinsett was there for some of the time, and Betty Holcomb was there. She is on the GA Planning Committee, as Norma has been in the past. Betty was also Zarinah's sponsor at GA. Allan Stern was there, working with the GA website, and Susan Scrimshaw was there especially for Unitarian Universalist Service Committee programming. She is on their Board. Lee and Kris Barker attended. Lee is president of Meadville/Lombard. A number of Meadville/Lombard students who attend our church were there as well. I learned more about Meadville/Lombard's progress at their Saturday morning breakfast. And I am sure I am leaving out some First U folks who were there, but whom I may not have seen.
People create their own GA days from many choices. I look forward to hearing about the experiences of our members who were there. Most, I expect, heard Pete Seeger sing at the opening celebration or during a special concert later in the week. Patrick O'Neill's sermon at the Service of the Living Tradition practically blew us out of our seats. It was a charge to the new ministers, but really a charge to all us ministers, both clergy and lay. The charge: in these most times of growing oppression, to speak and act with a new fire, to make real and passionate a prophetic ministry from pulpits, in our churches, in the world. You can see and hear his message in his own compelling words, and other GA programming, on the web at www.uua.org.
That sermon and other GA programs energized my hope as we move toward a new church year, and new opportunities to offer our caring and our passion, for the sake of our world.
With love, in faith,
Nina