August: Fully Through the Door

Hello! I’m so joyous and grateful to finally be present with you as your settled and full-time minister! July felt like I had one foot in the door and one foot out, as I set up meeting times for August, followed email discussions, and did some worship planning and sermon writing. What a blessing to be fully through the door!

August and September in the congregation will be especially busy. Multiple committees have retreats planned. Staff from the Pacific Southwest District will lead a congregation-wide “start up” event the evening of Friday, September 7 (save the date!), something they do with all congregations that have experienced a transition in ministers. And of course, I will be orienting myself more fully to congregational life, learning everyone’s names, and trying to be where I’m expected to be at the right place and time.

I hope that attending Sunday worship is always a high priority for each of you, but I want to make note of two upcoming services of particular interest:

Our first multigenerational service together will be August 26. The re-visioning of what multigenerational worship can be is something many of us talked about when I was with you in May. The result is that we are going to experiment with monthly multigenerational worship services, and these services will have a different “feel” than other Sundays. The focus will be more on ritual and movement, with less of a sermon. This will not only help us better meet the spiritual needs of our younger congregants, but will also help nourish the spiritual yearning we all have for more embodied forms of expression and experience. I hope to see you on August 26.

Second, please note that September 2 is a hymn-sing service, which will be followed by a celebratory barbecue and picnic. What are we celebrating? Labor Day, the end of summer, the joy of congregational life…everything!

I am looking forward to putting down roots with you in the weeks and months to come, to getting to know each of you better, and to serving as your guide and companion on this journey we are taking together. Chalice is a very, very special place, and I’m privileged to join you.