Happy Winter everyone!

We wanted to share this, our last colloquy message of 2020, with a shout out of gratitude. Many thanks to the Worship Team-we all had a steep learning curve with manifesting worship in this new online world. Thank you to those who are volunteering teaching and assisting in religious education (RE) to help our kids and to those participating/leading adult faith development so that we can stay connected to this faith and to one another.

A shoutout to everyone who serves on a ministry team who has chosen to adapt, to take a break, to change direction, to keep on as needed. Thank you to those who volunteer on Advisory Committees that assist the Board of Trustees-to whom our shout could not be loud enough to express our gratitude for their hard work these many months. And speaking of hard work, a humongous expression of gratitude to our beloved staff who have pivoted, shifted gears, learned new skills, and are carrying on the share ministry in their portfolios and also cross-collaborating.

Thank you to those of you who come to worship online from all over the world. It really matters that you show up. It helps everyone feel less alone in this strange time. A big thanks to Kat Wolfram and everyone who chipped in postcards, phonebanks, text banks and contributions to the #UUtheVote effort! Thank you for the care after the shut down, after the fire, and after Wendy’s aunt died. Thank you for your financial contributions to support the shared ministries of this congregation. Thank you for reading Circuits. Thank you for doing your part to get to this day.

It has been 285 days since we closed the church and 289 days since we worshipped in person together. We miss you. We miss being with you. We know that some of you have been carrying so much. We have been thinking about you and sending you so much care and love. Please be gentle with yourselves as we navigate continued changes, cancellations, losses, adaptations, new insights, and technology learning curves. This past Sunday, folks wrote dozens of things in the Zoom chat that they have found to be gifts in this strange time. They were quite lovely to read; holding the both/and of this time -the hard stuff and the joy.

We hope to see you on Christmas Eve at 7pm. Bring your candle and the bobeche (white disk) from the worship goodie bag or another you have at home if you don’t have a goodie bag. Merry Christmas to you UUSS!

In faith,

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn