Index of Rev. Grey's Columns

Each September, right after Labor Day, we celebrate the ingathering of our church and beginning of a new church year. We are, of course, actually a 12 months-a-year church. Throughout the summer, we worship together, although some of us are vacationing at different times of the summer. Throughout the summer we care for one another, and this summer is no exception. Members of our Caring Committee as well as the Lay Pastoral Care Associates have offered a faithful caring ministry to members of the church. Others have responded as they have heard about particular needs. And throughout the summer, we tend to the practical needs of the church, provide comfortable space for our own groups and committees, and for other space users, like Affinity, Al Anon, Alateen, Tai Chi, and others. And some of our committees have met in the summer, as has our Board of Trustees. Both the Board and the Charlotte Lackner Committee have paid special attention to concerns about racism that arose at the 2005 General Assembly, which they learned about at a summer First Forum. And they have been formulating responses to the UUA and thinking about relevant programming for our church.

Life in this liberal religious faith community goes on in every season of the year. In a way, our church year is like the ring in the old song, a circle with no beginning and no end.

Yet once a year, on that first Sunday after Labor Day, we choose to mark a beginning. A re-gathering. A coming together again. This is a way to honor the mysterious reality of community. When we bring the waters from our summer to the Water Ceremony, we re-weave, as it were, the fabric of our interdependence.

Through the Water Ceremony, we also make room in the weaving for those who are new to us, strangers whom we welcome into this diverse and united church, this colleagiality of seeking and caring. Some of us may forget to bring water (some of us do, of course) so there will be water for any who wish to participate in this joyful, multigenerational celebration.

Now we re-gather for the seeking of truth in community, for the opportunity to ask and converse about difficult and important ethical and moral questions, for the celebrating of life, for the learning and growing and spiritual nurture of all of us, younger and older, for the chance to join together as we seek to make a difference in the world. This start up of our new year coincides with the start up of school years, and of course students are getting ready -- new clothes, perhaps, books, pens, notebooks, maybe a new computer or other object to help them make the most of their educational opportunities.

We've been getting ready, too -- welcoming our new Director of Religious Education, thinking together about worship and the RE program for all ages, and hiring a new full-time administrative assistant. The choir will soon begin its fall rehearsal schedule, the RE teachers will be trained in this year's curricula, the adult education committee will choose programs for the fall, and church leaders will meet in retreat on the Labor Day Weekend. On Labor Day itself, some members and friends will come together to spruce up the church. All who can are warmly invited to be part of this work day, a vital way to prepare our space, and all are invited to join us for the Water Ceremony, as we begin a year of celebrating, learning and growing, and of living the values we hold dear.

In faith, with love,

Nina