Greetings Church Family,
I pray that you and yours are well these days.
February is an interesting time of ‘looking ahead’ in the life of church as membership, giving and nominating seasons begin to make their plans for the next church year, which begins in April, right after our Annual Meeting takes place. This ‘looking ahead’ offers excitement, deep discernment, and good forward motion, which is nice to feel in the cold months of winter. Quite serendipitously, just as spring bursts forth, so do we! There’s a lovely theological alignment about the whole thing…
Here at First Parish, you should be beginning to consider if it’s time to step back from, or step into, leadership–for nominating season is approaching. This is when the committees of this church ready themselves for changes in makeup, and even charge. Taking seriously how your gifts and needs might best be supported and centered at First Parish is an important question right now. For new friends in our midst, this question pertains to you as well, right alongside another one: are you ready to say ‘yes’ to this beautiful spiritual community and become a member of First Parish? And last, but certainly not least, sits the question of how much this church needs monetarily to support your gifts and needs and live out its mission within and beyond our church walls? We call this our ‘Annual Appeal,’ or pledge season, which officially begins on February 25th.
Whether you’ve been a member of this community for 40 years, or 4 weeks, your sharing in this time of discernment and dreaming is vital. Our commitment to Shared Ministry reminds us that we are all bound up in the ministries of this church–where one flounders, we all flounder; where another soars, we all soar. Please mark your calendars and join us for one of the assorted gatherings that will engage us in big questions and ask us all to consider how we can continue to thrive, evolve and share in the ministries of this church: Getting to Know UU on 2/10, Stewardship Sunday on 2/25, the Committee Fair on 3/3, Annual Appeal Testimonies and Gatherings throughout March, Membership Sunday on 3/24, and our Annual Meeting on 4/7–just to name a few!
To bring forward the words of our previous UUA President, Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, “Now is no time for a casual faith!” Let us all kindle, tend to and warm ourselves by these fires of commitment and community.
In faith and with love,
Rev. Sophia
Reverend Sophia Lyons
Rev. Sophia is committed to radical welcome and spreading the good news that is our bold Unitarian Universalist faith. Some of her areas of interest include interfaith partnerships, addictions ministry, spiritual direction, and working towards collective liberation for all. Rev. Sophia aspires to live her life and fulfill her ministry guided by spiritual seeking, big love, and the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism.