Budget
Moving forward
Board will review and approve, Tuesday, May 19
Approved budget will be presented to congregation, May 31 for final vote

Other events are on the church calendar

Lissa and I spoke yesterday about the Covenant we are creating
Still waiting to receive edits from Lissa of the draft we discussed on Thursday
She says she will have that to me by Monday.
I will share in more detail once that is finalized
I am moving forward with two guiding principles
“Good Endings make good Beginnings”
Let’s focus on making an ending to the Interim Ministry
Before you switch to starting your settled ministry with Lissa
“Informed but not Involved”
Feel free to share information with Lissa you think she should know
Please don’t invite Lissa to attend meetings or join in discussions
If there is a particular issue where you think it’s important to involve Lissa before June 30, please speak to me and I will see what I can arrange.

I have begun preparing documentation of my ministry at the church
I will have that ready by the middle of June
And Lissa and I will go over that together
Before I leave at the end of June.

Yesterday I shared with you a message from UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray
Where she asks our congregations to plan for virtual gatherings for the next year
Through May 2021
I think her advice is correct
Hard to accept, but correct
Rev. Frederick-Gray does say, and I agree
That we should stay atuned to developments that will come during the year.
And that although large gatherings like worship will remain problematic
It might be possible to accommodate smaller gatherings 
Like a small study group or team meeting
With appropriate physical distancing and other precautions
And possibly limited staff presence in the church office and so on.
But that giving the uncertainty of the coming year
It’s best to plan for a virtual year
While also planning to be flexible.

In Susan Frederick-Gray’s announcement she gives the bad news
And then asks us, “to take a breath”
Let me share two thoughts about that.

First
Thank you Rev. Frederick-Gray for your leadership
She does what a leader should do
She tells the truth
She bases her leadership in reality
Not fantasies of what might make us feel better
Or her job easier
She trusts our strength to hear and bear difficult news
She respects us, as intelligent people who can see the world for ourselves
Who can read the same sources of information
And hear from the same experts
she can
And then she makes a tough decision
And gives it to us directly
Allowing us sufficient time to make our own decisions in response
And, 
without sparing the difficult news
She also attends to our feelings in a pastoral way.

I hope that I can be a leader in a similar way
I hope that you can also be a leader in a similar way
In the places where you are asked to lead.

And second,
Rev. Frederick-Gray’s perspective on what the next year in our church might look like.
Also applies to what the next year in each of our personal lives might look like.
I think we should begin to plan with the expectation that this epidemic will be with us throughout the next year.
We should plan to be flexible.
Local circumstances might change
We might get extraordinarily good news about treatments or a vaccine
But we should also begin to imagine what our lives will look like
With the possibility that where we are now in this epidemic
Is where we are going to be for some time.

I notice in me
I’ve been holding on to a sense of resentment and resistance
I’m irritated by the change.
And I’m still focused on what I’ve lost
Rather than beginning to create what can replace what I’ve lost.
That’s an appropriate response to a temporary situation
But that’s not appropriate for a situation that may be with us for a year.

So there are two spiritual qualities that I think are important here.

One is endurance
Spiritually healthy people have the ability to bear up to hardship
We can last
We see a big picture, and a long view
We are connected to big principles
And to a long history
And a vision for the future
We have developed discipline
in staying committed to a spiritual practice
We have identified sources of strength and comfort for ourselves
We have a regular source of encouragement and inspiration
In our faith or our church community

The other spiritual quality, necessary at this time
Is creativity
We can imagine a new way of being
We can imagine new solutions
We are reality-based
Which also means we are used to adapting as reality changes
We are willing to experiment and play
Spiritual people love the world deeply
But hold it lightly
We are able to let go, when we need to
And we are gifted to do our part in re-building what has been broken

I have seen all of that
Endurance and creativity
In this congregation during my interim time with you.
Those qualities will serve this church well in the coming year
Which will also require endurance and creativity
As well as in your personal lives in this coming year.

Words of Olympia Brown, Universalist Minister
One of the first women ever ordained by a denomination authority

569, “Stand By This Faith” by Olympia Brown

Stand by this faith.  Work for it and sacrifice for it.

There is nothing in all the world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before us the loftiest ideals.

Which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty and made the world beautiful.

Do not demand immediate results but rejoice that we are worthy to be entrusted with this great message.

That you are strong enough to work for a great true principle without counting the cost.

Go on finding ever new applications of these truths and new enjoyments in their contemplation, always trusting in the one God which ever lives and loves.

See you tomorrow at 1pm