September 2025
We are just days away from my October-December sabbatical. Staff and leaders are prepared, energy is up, Sunday attendance is good, and the stewardship campaign is off to a good start.
 
We have spent September “building belonging” with our ingathering rituals and sharing meals, by discerning how to “meet the moment,” by illuminating Latino history together, and by opening our spiritual home to the public. In the end, our belonging rests in our key values of love and interdependence, guided by the accountability provided by our shared covenant.
 
Next month, we’ll work on “cultivating compassion” through conversations about our shared needs (and shared resources) around faith formation, by honoring Anishinaabe wisdom with former member Jon Cleland-Host, by reveling in the beauty of fall color with seasonal music, and by welcoming guest minister Rev. Rudra Dundzila from the Brighton congregation. (He’ll speak multiple times during my absence.) Compassion derives from our commitment to the key UU values of pluralism and love.
 
In November and December, we’ll work on “nurturing gratitude” in a time of thanksgiving and “choosing hope” with the beauty of the winter holidays — highlighting our key values of generosity and transformation, which come with the ever-turning cycle of the year.
 
All the while, the Pastoral Care, Worship, Faith Formation, and Social Justice teams will be keeping on. The Rev. Andrew Frantz, from the Mt. Pleasant fellowship, will help out with any pastoral issues that arise. And board and staff members will be present as always.
 
If I do not talk with you by the end of September, I hope you have a rewarding, enlightening, and transformative three months. I’ll plan to do the same.
 
Thank you!
Rev. Eric