Minister’s Letter 4/1/2025
Beloveds,
What a day we had on this most recent Sunday. I tell you, being in the pulpit for nearly 90 minutes in platform high heel boots was quite the workout for my calves. I certainly felt it through the evening. To those of you who wear similar shoes more often, I continue to be wowed and amazed. It was such a pleasure to spend the day before Transgender Day of Visibility talking about gender revolution. Amidst heartache and pain, we are also living in such transformative times of truths being revealed everywhere we turn. I’d love to hear more about how you express and understand your gender in the world. If there are 6 billion genders out there, what does yours feel like, look like, sound like? I’d love to hear ALL about it!
I want to express my immense gratitude to Megan Dunning for facilitating us through our congregational meeting on Sunday as we collectively engaged in decision making about housing a vulnerable migrant family in our church building. I want to extend heartfelt thanks and admiration to Alicia Obando for the overwhelming amount of work and leadership she has been offering our congregation as we move forward in this sanctuary ministry. Alicia has been a gift to 2U in countless was for so many years. Our church is blessed to experience her dedication and care.
During the conversation on Sunday we heard a wide variety of opinions. We do not all agree, I would suggest that even those who voted in favor or against the motion do not all necessarily agree on everything with one another. The binary of for and against often misses the realities of the middle where things live with complications. While I am very much in favor of us giving life to this project, I am anxious about the challenges ahead of us. I was very glad that we set the threshold at 75% to affirm the decision and joyous that we exceeded that number. I cannot imagine taking on such a big project without the loving support of this community. In particular, I cannot imagine inviting a family to come stay with us when half of the congregation did not want them here.
Those of us who have been supporting the effort to house migrants in our church must listen with a loving heart to those in our congregation who are not aligned. We are still of the same church, and we still have much to learn from one another. One of the things that stuck out to me was the argument that we could do something else with potentially greater impact. One of my great hopes is that as we build an authentic relationship with a family living in our building, we will learn even more about the realities of how harmful the immigration system is and we will feel compelled to deepen our involvement. For me, this is not an either/or but a both/and. We certainly have finite resources and I look forward to us figuring out together the best way to utilize them for the good of the world and in honor of our Unitarian Universalist values.
Lastly, please, please fill out your pledge cards, my friends. We NEED this information to plan for the year ahead. Our staff salaries need to be covered. Our many ministries need to be resourced. Our building needs to be cared for. Here are some hard numbers –
As of right now, we have 92 pledges for a total of $264,096. Those renewing have increased by 8.4% on average. We have 23 new (a few returning pledges), 42 increases, 18 flat and 9 decreases. The amount to date is 70.2% of our goal for gross pledges of $376,300. We should feel proud of what we have done and we should feel compelled to raise the rest. We cannot do this alone. Each and every pledge is essential. You have seen this many times in the Anvil and you have received a physical mailing as well, HERE is the site to fill out your pledge form. I filled out my pledge form, have you?
In faithful solidarity,
