Dear UUSS community~ What a fabulous weekend! Thank you to all who volunteered, attended, and/or participated in Yuletide Revels!! Thank you to Music Team Chairs Sarah Bilofsky and Christine Bernard who lined up the wonderful speakers for the celebration of Gary Griffith’s work here! We will continue to honor her dedication and time here through her final service as Music Director on Christmas Eve, including a brief presentation of gifts and an opportunity for Gary to speak to the congregation this Sunday. Please take the opportunity to say thank you and good-bye for now, as we will follow the guidelines that create a space of a year or so of no intentional contact so that a new music director can build relationships, and thrive in this new position and just as importantly, so Gary can settle into retirement. If you see each other at the grocery store or the nursery after Christmas Eve, it is fine to say hello, just avoid talking about the church. Ask how she is doing, tell her about your family, etc. This will be a big transition. Let us all enter it with grace and compassion for all the feelings that this kind of change brings.

We also share with sadness that Susan Marino’s mother is in the hospital after a sudden medical emergency yesterday. The family is with her at the hospital and it is very likely that her mom is approaching the end of her life. We thank you for your patience as communication may be a bit slower over the next couple of weeks as we give Susan the space and time that she needs to do what she most needs to do and be where she most needs to be. We also thank Kristin Cleveland for assisting with some of the office tasks such as putting the bulk of this Circuits together.

In faith,

Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy