Dear Ones,
In just one month and one day, the 2022-2023 program year begins anew at UUFM. Though COVID lingers, and its effects continue to devastate vulnerable populations and individual families, we begin to return more securely to in-person gatherings. Many of us have reason to feel fortunate in this time, our families spared or recovering from infection and illness. Many of us have suffered losses—COVID losses and those predictable and heart-breaking in human life—of loved ones, beloved pets, friends and neighbors. All of us recognize that the effects both of climate change and of oppression persist, disrupting our sense of security, our mental and physical health, our understandings of the purpose and meaning of our lives.
A new program year for our Fellowship is a way to re-start relationships—within our immediate community of Unitarian Universalist, with our larger community, and within ourselves. Look for familiar rituals to engage. Look for new opportunities to engage. Look to the Leaders and congregants of UUFM to both give and receive wisdom and compassion to sustain your lives, as you remember, today and every day, 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