“Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can be.” ~ Anonymous
While Mother Nature does her magic with bringing beauty to the grounds of the UUFP, many members of the UUFP community have helped with beautifying the indoors of our fellowship. Our social hall is now, just that – a social hall. All of the items that were accumulating at the one end of the room were finally removed. Homes were found for some items and the other items were either recycled or thrown out (yes, sometimes we just need to throw things out). Thanks go out to Mary Ryan for sorting the items, Erica Duske for finding homes for some items at another church’s rummage sale and Kim and Matt Kulp for lending their truck and their dumpster to help the cause. It is amazing how large the room looks now – it is quite a pretty space. Changes have also been made in the sanctuary in that the chairs have been put back in rows rather than having them spaced out for social distancing. While the fellowship still needs to be careful regarding the potential spread of COVID-19, the decision to social distance now lies with the individual attending our programs. The seating choice is now yours.
The next item of change to update everyone on is that of our search for a new minister. As was announced previously, Reverends Kerry Mueller and Dave Hunter will be retiring at the end of June. One of the things that we have come to learn is that, like a lot of other things in our society today, there is a shortage of ministers. This is making the search very difficult. The Board is looking into various options to fill the position, including the potential to share a minister with another UU congregation. If we do not find a minister for the next fiscal year, there are a lot of other options that the Worship Committee can tap into in order to fill our Sunday Services with interesting and thought-provoking speakers. More information will be provided as we continue down our ministerial search path.
The final item of change that I would like to address are the changes that are occurring in the world due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I won’t belabor the human suffering that has been brought on by this conflict. The news outlets have done their job in keeping people informed. I would, however, like to make sure that if anyone would like to support the humanitarian aid effort, The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a non-profit organization that specializes in supporting grass roots aid organizations to get help to the people that need it most. Please visit UUSC.org to find out more.
With Gratitude, Linda K.