Budget
Great meeting on Saturday (Budget Hearing)
Over 40 people attend
Very thorough presentation
Answered a ton of questions
Collected ideas and feedback
Finance Committee continued to tweak the budget last night
Will present to the Board, Tuesday, May 19
Board approved budget will be presented to congregation, May 31

Town Hall Council
Thursday, May 28
Drawing from two funds
Wider Wuurld
Staff salaries for outreach
Opportunity Fund
Plant and programs
Very important that the Town Hall Council approve these requests

Items on our calendar
Worship Sunday
Shea Winterburger, preaching
Happy Trails to Reverend Rick!  June 21,
Please send a photo to Laura Scully
and a 1-2 sentence reflection or quote that captures your feelings about the last couple years. 
Deadline is May 31st for your submission 

Giving to the church
Re-start the paused Stewardship Campaign
And if you haven’t tried text-to-give yet – give it a try
Info is on the front page of the church website.

Saying Goodbye
Message from Ministerial Search Committee to Committee Chairs

Lissa is your minister starting August 1
I know you are eager to get started with her
And she, of course, wants to start getting to know the church
So she will have a quick beginning

I am you minister until June 30
It’s important we make a good ending
You did not have a good ending with your previous minister
And the spiritual principle is that you must make an ending before you make a beginning

I hope to speak with Lissa sometime this week
Probably Thursday or Friday
We will come to an agreement
I’m proposing “Informed but not Involved”
A phrase I borrow from Gary Hoyt
Once Lissa and I have spoken I will share with you all the agreement
That we come up with together.

2)  Message

Endings before beginnings

The ending we had to make of our regular lives
And our church lives
Back in March
Was very sudden
Not a good ending
We did what we had to do.
But we didn’t have time to prepare
That feels wrenching

And then we moved into an uncertain period
Where we still are to some degree
Where we thought we might be able to get back to normal soon
March 31, or April 30

Now, two months later (exactly)
It’s clear we aren’t going to open again soon
And when we return it won’t be to “normal”
As compared to March

So better late than ever
I suggest you think how you can make an ending
To what we had in March
Let’s bless what we had
Let’s honor and thank what we had
Let’s realize that we may need to go through a period of mourning
We have suffered a loss
We need to grieve
It’s painful
I’m also angry
I’m somewhat depressed
All of those emotions are completely natural in the face of loss
And part of the grieving process

The important part of healing from a loss
And we all know this from grieiving the loss of your previous settled minister
Is to feel your feelings
Express your feelings
You don’t need to “deal” with your feelings, just have them
Let them out
In healthy ways
Like creativity
And conversations with friends
And journaling
Or physical exercise
Don’t hold on to them
But don’t push them away either
Just let them go
And eventually a space will open up
Where a new beginning has a chance to emerge.

I’ll see you tomorrow 1pm