Dear UCM Members & Friends,
I hope you’ve had a refreshing summer, and are looking forward as much as I am to coming back together! From summer camping to visits with family and friends near and far, what a time to be alive it is, indeed.
When we gather together on the 13th, I hope you’ll consider bringing a sweet or savory snack to share during our Welcome Back Coffee Hour – I love to hear the diversity of places we all collect our water from during the summer, and I love to enjoy the diversity of treats we all love to share!
With so much happening this Fall, I especially hope we’ll all take a few moments during this first Coffee Hour to meet and welcome people we don’t recognize, and people we haven’t met before – as we build this beloved community, let’s invite each other in, to appreciate the many incredible programs, groups, and opportunities happening here.
Invite a new friend to a Climate Resilience gathering, a Date With Death discussion, or a Study Group meeting on Prison Abolition – get to know new neighbors, and create relationships that will grow stronger as we engage with difficult and joyful topics – from poetry to belonging, and dying, and living!
I hope you’ll consider joining a Small Group/Chalice Circle, maybe host or attend a Circle Supper, and/or, simply savor that worship time in the Sanctuary – or Fireplace Room – or at home on YouTube – on a Sunday morning.
If you’re not quite sure where you’d like to fit in this fall, I hope you’ll save one or both of these dates:
Hospitality Team Training – Friday, September 25, 5-7 PM
Check out how the Baristas make coffee, how the Greeters greet, how the Ushers ush, and how the Lift Operators get us up and going on a Sunday morning! No commitment to volunteer, just stop by for dinner, learn different roles, and meet new people.
Activities Fair – Sunday, October 11, during Coffee Hour
Explore all the many things happening here at UCM! Chat with Board Members, learn more about the Kitchen Remodel and Climate Resilience work, meet facilitators and organizers of small groups and teams, ask questions and decide where your interests are calling you this fall.
May we all find peace, rest, activity, and joy in just the proportions we need, and may we be together, in love. ~Elaine Ball, Congregational Life Coordinator