In some ways, the summer went very quickly for me with: two week-long conferences (the UUA General Assembly in Pittsburgh and the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago), visits with family, oral surgeries, and being on call in July for the UU Trauma Response Ministry. But in other ways it seemed to just crawl. I started to feel a little anxious and, well, disconnected. When I stopped to listen to my heart, I discovered what was going on. 

I missed you! I missed having a connection with you through conversations or committee meetings or Sunday services. I missed the drop-by chats, the teasing of the staff. I missed hearing about your lives, walking beside you as you navigated the ups and downs life brings. 

And I remembered that we are connected, even if far apart, through shared experiences and memories, shared work and shared mission. This matters. It matters because it is these things that create and sustain community.

And we need this community to hold us into an uncertain future, to love us in our times of grief and disappointment, to urge us forward and to lift us up when we fall. 

Our Ingathering and Water Celebration is this Sunday, September 10. Bring water to share and come ready to reconnect.

We gather together for solace and hope.

May our gathering bring us wisdom.

May our gathering ignite our passion.

May our gathering awaken our intuition. 

May our gathering ground our hearts.

May our gathering help us feel whole and connected 

and better prepared to care for all in this interdependent web of existence.