It was recently pointed out to me that this week marks the beginning of my fourth month as Intern Minister here at First Unitarian Church. Wow! In some ways it feels like time has been flying, like I’m still really new here and am just trying to get my feet on the ground. In other ways, it feels like so much has happened in this time, and this past August seems quite long ago. I’ve found the process of getting to know you all to be so fun and gratifying, and I’m sure it will be even more so once we transition to in-person community life.

I find myself reflecting: what does it mean to get to know a whole community? On an obvious level, it means getting to know individuals. And listening to their stories about their experiences within the community. And learning the institutional history. But at this point, I’m also listening to the ways that this community is dreaming for its future–where there’s anxiety, where there’s hope, where there’s warmth and comfort. These stories about the future say a lot about a community.

In my brief time here, I can see that this community is better at leaning toward hope than anxiety than many others I’ve known. Reverend Bill’s retirement means uncertainty, yes. But the process of calling a new senior minister means opportunity for new structures, and different forms of leadership in this community.

This very long and devastating pandemic has broken us all open, and it has also revealed that it is time to change a lot about how we do things: how we worship, how we relate to our physical plant, how we make our gatherings equitable and inclusive. This is hard work, but it has been taken on with openness, and a certain amount of resolve.

As a culture, we have had to face the crises of racism and other oppressions in unprecedented ways, and rather than seeking comfort in withdrawal and denial, this community has taken the time to learn more, to create circles oriented toward personal change. This community has not only adopted the 8th Principle but is actively and earnestly working towards living into it with integrity and accountability.

And the list goes on.

In short, this community is faced with seemingly endless changes, challenges, and general uncertainty, now and in the immediate future. Yet, when I gather with leaders, they speak with hope and determination about living into “the emerging church”. This community is defined by what it is now, yes. But we are also actively shaping and reshaping this community, understanding that it will emerge as something different–with more depth of relationship, more inclusivity, more equity, and more wholeness–in the coming years. For me, it is a gift to witness this process. It feels like I am learning on a deep level in ways that will inform my ministry for years to come.

These are the conversations I think about when I hear the words “Meeting the New Day,” the theme of our 2021 Season of Giving. Often, requests for financial gifts use concrete reasoning: give so that we can keep offering the programs you know and love, give so that we can maintain our building and staff, give more than usual so that we may even grow to make improvements to our programs and infrastructure. These are all true and good reasons, but I know we are a people who hold a vision of a future for us that is more abundant and adaptable than we are today.

Yes, please give so that we may hold on to that which we love dearly. But this year, I also want to ask that your generosity is the kind that fuels our creativity. The kind celebrating and committing to our Emerging Church, though it cannot even fully be imagined yet. This is the kind of generosity to ensure that we may together see a new day which dawns brighter than today.

I want to close with words from John O’Donohue’s “Blessing for a New Beginning”

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure.

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.