“It’s not the weight you carry but how you carry it– books, bricks, grief– it’s all in the way you embrace it, balance it, carry it when you cannot, and would not, put it down.” So I went practicing. Have you noticed? -excerpt from Heavy by Mary Oliver I’ve been spending time with these words as I … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 10.30.24
I’m happy to report that after three and a half weeks of sick leave thanks to COVID, I am back “on duty” as of Monday. However, my energy level is still pretty low, so I appreciate the patience many of you have shown with pivoting to online meetings rather than in-person as I ease back … Continue reading October 30, 2024 Minister’s Message
“The forest breathes. Listen. It answers… If what a tree or a branch does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you.” -David Wagoner As I consider our October theme of Deeply Listening, my first thought was about … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 10.16.24
Join us for the upcoming activities! Youth Group – Pumpkins and Pizza, Wednesday, October 16th, 6:30-8pm https://uufm.breezechms.com/form/49b05744 Intergenerational Hiking at Seven Mile Creek Park, Saturday, October 19th at 10am https://uufm.breezechms.com/form/2cf88a5 UUFM Young Adult Connection Lunch, Saturday, October 19th 12-2pm https://uufm.breezechms.com/form/f4e938 Intergenerational Art Journaling, Sunday, October 20th, 11:30am-1pm https://uufm.breezechms.com/form/6482e9949384573286 A photo … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 10.9.24
I am still at home with COVID; I’m doing okay but am still symptomatic and testing positive, so it’s not yet appropriate for me to return to in-person work. I am also scaling back the amount of work I am doing while I recuperate. I do intend to lead worship on Sunday, but depending on … Continue reading October 9, 2024 Minister’s Message
“To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.” -Henri Nouwen Deep listening has … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 10.2.24
For next book we are reading is: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City … Continue reading UUFM Book Discussion Group ~ Tuesday, November 19th at 5:45, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Tonight: Youth Group – Games and Pizza with Barb and Macey, Wednesday, September 25th, 6:30-8pm. Click here to register: https://uufm.breezechms.com/form/49b05744 As an fyi, CFD Director, Macey Forsyth, will be away this Thursday-Sunday. Keep an eye on next week’s update to see what is happening in October!
Next week, I will be away from Monday through Wednesday, attending the annual gathering of the Prairie Star Chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. We meet at a retreat center in Iowa, where we share worship, learning, spiritual practices, collegial support and connection, and more, as well as holding a business meeting of our … Continue reading September 25, 2024 Minister’s Message
I wrote this prayer from my heart on Sunday evening after getting to gather in a sacred way at a farm with some of my dearest friends. I hope it resonates with yours: I give thanks for how well-nurtured I am by this Earth and for the intuitive, cyclical guidance I sense from the moon … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 9.18.24
