Gathering with UUs near and far helps us remember we are not alone. You have heard both of us preach this message and now also Rev. Ashley Horan in March and Rev. Cathy Rion-Starr this past Sunday for our cluster service.

It is a lot of work to bring 5 congregations together and we are grateful to the planning team, the music professionals, the religious education and member professionals, the ministers, childcare providers, maintenance and administrative staff, and ALLLLL the volunteers who helped with prep, set-up, worship, tech, beverage and snacks social hour, workshop, and clean-up. It takes a lot of people and a lot of hours to prepare for this joint service. Thank you to those of you who lightened the load.

We turn our attention now to preparing for MayFest! Last August, the Board gave us an Annual Focus of Ministry ‘to make courageous decisions with Love at the center, and take collective action to meet this moment together.’ The AFoM is a way to guide our focus on the church’s broad mission for the year. As we serve the mission (the church has ONE mission and each Ministry Team, and thus program, needs to have some purpose in serving that One Mission)-Connecting in spiritual community, we celebrate life with joy, grow in compassion, and create justice- the MayFest Planning Team has been doing both beautifully!! And so have others!

Many thanks to those of you who have already been helping with the Grounds clean-up, with pop-tents and safety vests, with contributions to the 125th Celebration (if you haven’t, now is a GREAT TIME to do so for $125 or $1,250, or $12,500 or some multiple of any of these or any amount you can afford). We’re also grateful to William Kleinhandler for his bequest for music and cultural events as his legacy will be supporting the music stage.

We hope to see you this weekend and again the following weekend for the MayFest if you are in town! Bring your friends and neighbors!

With gratitude,

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn