“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”—Irish Proverb
It’s good to be back in Mankato after a week of travel. One of the blessings of driving at this time of year is the chance to see the foliage changing color. Shades of green give way to golds and reds, to the russet and near-purple of scrubby brushes. Grasses once a uniform sea moving in the wind reveal their individual types, browns and reds and yellows unveiling specific leaf-shapes and differing heights. It is simply a beautiful time of year for a drive, a reminder that the earth lives its seasons with predictability even in the midst of the surprises wrought by global climate change.
Our Fellowship is dependable, too, providing all of us shelter from the storms of life even as new people bring new energy and the inevitable change. I am one of those new people, bringing change, I hope, in a deliberate and purposeful way, allowing us to feel that blue boat moving beneath our feet but not so much that any of us gets tossed out into the waves.
You may have noticed that I am a great lover of ritual (perhaps you will let me know what you think of that!). And, together with our Stewardship Taskforce and our musicians and our Director of Children’s Faith Development and members of the CFD Team and some of our talented actors and some of our children, I have crafted a ritual of receiving and giving to mark your gracious willingness to make a financial contribution to our Fellowship.
Why is this necessary? So that our Fellowship may continue to be a beacon of light and love in our larger community. Nay, to be a brighter and more recognized and more vital sign of the goodness of life and our ability to create goodness for ourselves and the world we live in. Every contribution in any size is a worthy and a welcome contribution. When we give from our hearts, we give in recognition that our Fellowship is a saving place and our Unitarian Universalist faith is a saving faith. Worshiping and working together under our “big canoe” shows that we affirm life and our interdependence and the blessed opportunity to use our gifts to amplify goodness within ourselves, among us, and around us.
I am eager to make my first contribution of record to this sacred community, during the ritual on Sunday. I invite you to participate, too. If you will not be attending, I ask that you mail your pledge forms in so that we may add them to the bounty this Sunday. And if you struggle to make a financial contribution, know this: that any amount is a blessing, that you are always welcome, that you receive and you give in kind, and that you can be part of this ritual also. I look forward to seeing you, all of you, there.
And I’m wondering, did you give that spiritual practice of providing shelter to another a try? Here’s a link back to last week’s message if you want to give it another go. As always, looking forward to seeing you soon, even in church!
Blessings and best wishes, Rev. Rita