September is the month of Ingathering for UUs. We celebrate returning “home” to our Fellowship from our summer vacations, visits to relatives and friends far afield, our gardens, and perhaps some lazy afternoons on the back patio reading a book or listening to a favorite podcast. It’s a gathering-in of friends and kind of a kicking-off of the new church year. We celebrate Ingathering with one of our favorite rituals (we have so few!), the Water Communion. Each of us brings a little bit of water collected during the summer to this Sunday Service — water from, perhaps, a rain barrel in the back yard, from a summer deluge or from a brook or stream we’ve rested near — a lake, a river, a poolside, or an ocean in another state, or country. Whatever the source, the water each person brings is significant in some symbolic and personal way. At a certain point during the service each of us in turn pours her or his water into the same large collecting bowl and tells the congregation where it came from and why it is significant. As the water is brought and collected in the one container, so are we brought together in loving community once again.
This month the Board will meet in retreat to review goals and plan for the year’s programs and now is in the final stages of hiring a bookkeeper to handle our accounting and office tasks. We hope that this will free people who normally perform these jobs to participate in the more enjoyable aspects of membership. More info about our new bookkeeper soon!
At the time of this writing, the beautiful new RE wing flooring is almost completely installed. If you haven’t seen it already, check-it-out! The Building and Grounds Committee has spent many summer Saturdays, Sundays, and weekday evenings on this back-breaking project. Many thanks, Jon, Mary, Frances, Rick, Matt, and sometimes Gary! What a beautiful job you’ve done! And thank you also, those of you who generously donated to the flooring fund.
Check out September on the website Calendar (Uupottstown.org) and in this very newsletter. There’s plenty planned to do this month. And don’t forget to bring your little container of water to Ingathering on September 9th.
In our common faith, Miranda