Casual Comments from the Minister – March 2011
We’ve been talking about change at a theoretical level for several months now and the time has come to move to discussing it at a personal level. Big change is just around the corner for all of us! The first Sunday in March you will begin the process of searching for a new minister in earnest and in just four months I will complete my service as your minister. That means we need to spend this last time together with intentionality. I see three things we need to do:
- Let’s make certain that all the good work we’ve done together establishing shared ministry is firmly in place. We have worked together so well, building a strong, healthy congregation that I know this part of our last months will be easy work. Still we don’t want to become complacent — work still needs to be done.
- We need to plug holes and tie up loose ends [finish those projects we’ve started]. Two that come to mind are the communications issues and the adult education program for which we’ve received a UUA grant. Please, please fill out the communications survey which is on line and will be available in the church office. We need your input in order to adjust the communications program so that it meets everyone’s needs and preferences. And plan on attending the “Green Theology” class which begins this month and ends with a weekend workshop in April.
- We need to say good bye. The UUMA covenant calls for me to “disappear” for a period of time so that you can do the work of transition and then welcome in your new minister. And I intend to live up to that covenant. It may seem harsh to some of you, but it is the only way to make this transition as healthy as possible. We need to acknowledge that there will be a hiatus during which we will not be in relationship and if, in the future, it is appropriate for me to be part of this community again, it will be in a very different relationship. Because we often find partings difficult and painful it is tempting to ignore them. What I learned a long time ago, from a very wise teacher of mine, is that if we say goodbye, fully owning up to whatever emotions that brings out, we will be able to move forward in a healthy fashion and we will have honored the importance of our time together as minister and congregant.
We’ve done so much good work together — let’s complete our time with the same integrity, energy, and love that has characterized it for the past thirteen years! I do not know yet what I will be doing next year. I have several “irons in the fire” but it is too soon for them to materialize. I promise I will let you know when I have determined my future course.
In the meantime, may you…
Go shining,
Karen
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