When was the Last Time you did Something for the First Time?
Saying good-bye back in June to the Rev. Howell Lind after seven years of service with us was more difficult than I anticipated. I know I will see him again. After all, he is the Interim Minister at the Foothills Unitarian Church in Ft. Collins; however, it hit me that Howell would not be our Developmental Minister anymore.
A lot happened at UUCB during his tenure. We became a teaching church almost immediately, working in fellowship with Gretchen Haley, Kelly Dignan, Amy Rowland, and Diana McLean. We have a thriving young adult community. We have been introduced to and most certainly use the Mindful Meeting format at beginning of almost all of our Council/Committee meetings. Our Social Justice Council continues to engage the world: Our immigration ministry went to Nogales, Mexico and holds vigils at the ICE detention center in Aurora; we walk in solidarity Standing on the Side of Love on the Denver Capital steps; we will soon be designated as a Green Sanctuary; our garden grows beautiful as a reminder of the importance of Mother Earth; our Climate Change Ministry continues to remind us of our responsibilities and to make us better stewards of our planet, and we are starting to engage in our community with Black Lives Matter. In all of this, a Spiritual presence resides.
We’ve done some of this in the past, but some of this is new to us. Yes, I have plenty of other memories with Howell: cigars, bulldozers, weddings, fatherly advice. My recent memory of Howell was the Flower Communion at UUCB, where we all exchanged flowers, shed a few tears, and had a celebration in the Sky Room with the giving of presents, signing of cards. When I looked up, he was gone.
Diana McLean will be our Summer Minister. Diana has preached regularly for some time now, but not as an official Minister. I’ll always remember shedding tears about her fish story delivered from the pulpit recently. I have learned that Diana is an excellent blogger. She is doing new things for the first time with us during the end of June, all of July, and two weeks in August. Already she has had to fill Ministerial roles such as writing a letter of condolence to the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in South Carolina.
After Diana leaves us, she will be working ¾ time at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greeley as part of the regional team with Foothills Unitarian Church in Ft Collins. We have been fortunate to have Diana as our Intern/Minister.
Kelly is doing things for the first time also, such as being called as our Settled Minister. Kelly will take us to the next level with her special energy. She has a way of engaging everyone from the pulpit and outside the pulpit. She will be challenged by the goals set in our Strategic Plan (which can be found in the Members Only section on our churches website). She has new ideas of her own for us, and I can’t wait to work with her and see what is in store for us.
What new thing will you do for the first time to Deepen your Faith, Live Well, and Enact Justice?