Minister’s Message

What a joy it will be to gather this coming Sunday. This will be our third Ingathering since I was called as your full time settled minister! Though much about our ways of worshiping together has changed, the spirit of compassionate and justice-seeking community remains, vibrant and active even though we continue to maintain physical distancing and online gathering. Many of us have adjusted to this reality, not knowing how long it may last. We manage our frustrations with schooling and meetings online, with work and family gatherings on Zoom.

And yet worship can seem strangely unsatisfying—no special building, no hugs and handshakes, no coffee hour, after worship classes, quiet time in the library or on the grounds. Too much like all the changes that we have had to make in our work, educational, and social lives. And, if our spiritual lives, if our religious lives are important to us, we will all find a way to set aside the time. We will find a way to make the time special, at a given hour on Sunday morning or whenever you read the sermon and view the worship links posted on the UUFM website.

Worship from home can be as formal or as informal as you need it to be—enjoying breakfast in your pajamas is not necessarily a problem. But try to avoid those distractions that you would not indulge in if you were actually at the Fellowship. The need to use technology for worship may not serve you if you also check your email or read Facebook posts. A picture of the Fellowship, a chalice, a trinket from other worship services arranged near your viewing screen might serve to remind you that our time set aside for worship together is good for you, sustaining and meaningful beyond this strange time of isolation and worry. Worship together is the clear sign that you are never alone, not even when you feel most alone, not ever. I pray you know this, too, today and every day, as you remember that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita