Termite Tenting
The church is being fumigated for termites
Taking advantage of the church being closed
The process takes three days
We will have a security guard at the church throughout the process
Please stay away.

Montesorri School
Making Plans to re-open June 1
Board authorized CU&A to prepare agreement
Based on CDC guidelines for child care centers
As always the school is responsible for child safety and must carry liability insurance.

Town Hall Council, May 28

Congregational Meeting, May 31

Covenant between Rev. Lissa and myself
I have asked, and Lissa has agreed
That for the rest of this month and through June 30
When my interim ministry ends
That the primary focus should be on our making a good ending
To end the current year
To the interim ministry
And to make a pause before your attention turns to the new year
And the settled minister
Once we get to July
There will be time to make plans for August
And time, in August, once Lissa begins,
To make plans for September and the rest of the church year

In order to keep the focus in June on making a good ending
Lissa and I agreed to follow the principle
Informed by not Involved
Feel free to share any minutes or documents
Add Lissa to your email distribution list
But Lissa should not attend meetings
And please don’t invite her to join discussions
However, if there is some specific issue or question
Where you feel it’s important to involve Lissa before June 30
Please speak to me and I can either get the answer you need
Or guide the interaction.

After June 30, I will no longer be your minister
The agreement for that stage is that I will no longer
Have contact, or seek contact, with you all
For about one year
That will give you all time to bond with Lissa
And adjust to her leadership
After the one year
We could be in touch again
But I will let Lissa guide that process
And let her invite me to participate

The principle here is that churches have one minister at a time
So Lissa is giving space to me, from now until the end of June
And then I will give space to Lissa after that.

I was thinking about space lately
And how our relationship to space has changed
Since the pandemic

Spaces we can no longer be in
Like Wylder Hall
Or concert halls
Or restaurant dining rooms
Spaces we can be in but only with social distancing
Like we’re all suddenly very aware of 
How crowded a space is
And how close we are to other people
So even outside there’s a conscious sense of being enclosed
In our private space.

Some of you know that my husband and I share a loft style apartment
So we have basically one large room now
For our entire lives
Our home and my work space and his work space
A church and a middle-school classroom
And a lot of Zooming
All in one shared room
And we’re spending a lot more of our time at home now
Because we aren’t going out to other spaces

So there’s a feeling sense of the world diminishing
The physical space
And the psychic/spiritual space
That I occupy lately
Is much smaller than before

I’m glad it’s a comfortable space
And I continue to be aware that my apartment is much more than many people have
And technically I’m free to go outside whenever I like
If I wear a mask
But I feel constrained
And my spirit feels constrained.

But then I remind myself that I am still free
I am connected outside this room
through facebook and Zoom
I can watch TV.
I can read
Which takes me to other worlds
I have my memories
Concerts I’ve been to
Places I’ve visited

My mind is always contained within my head
But my mind is also as free as my thoughts are.

Which reminds me of a song from our hymnal.

291, “Die Gedanken Sind Frei”

Die Gedanken sind frei, my thoughts freely flower.  
Die Gedanken sind frei, my thoughts give me power.  
No scholar can map them, no hunter can trap them, 
no one can deny:  Die Gedanken sind frei!

My thoughts are as free as wind o’er the ocean, 
and no one can see their form or their motion.  
No hunter can find them, no trap ever bind them:  
my lips may be still, but I think what I will.

A glimmering fire the darkness will brighten; 
my soaring desire all troubles can lighten.  
Though prison enfold me, its walls cannot hold me:  
no captive I’ll be, for my spirit is free.

See you tomorrow at 1pm