Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown

“In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move.” ~ Henry Rollins

I have always found it fascinating that during January and February my mail is filled with seed and gardening catalogues. These companies seem to have been able to tap into the natural “bio-rhythms” of a gardener. Winter is the season that gardeners take time to reflect on last season’s garden (what crop did well and where, which did not do well and why) and plan for the upcoming spring season planting (what plantings will we continue, which might we move to another area where they might do better, which will we not plant again and what are some new things that we might add). And no garden is ever exactly the same year to year because the environmental landscape is constantly changing. Rainfall, temperature, and amount of sunlight are just some of the variables that add to the challenge of gardening. It’s never the same, which is part of what I enjoy about tending a garden. I love this time of year where I can settle into a comfy chair with all my catalogues, a cup of tea and just dream and plan about my future garden.

These “biorhythms” are not that different from those of the Board of Directors of the UUFP. We are spending time reflecting on the past year and planning (and dreaming) for the future. And, oh, has the landscape changed!! And just like the gardener, we are constantly looking at our environmental landscape and determining what we need to do to keep flourishing. Our landscape changed drastically when, due to the pandemic, we could no longer meet in person. We started to provide services via technology. I am pleased to see that more and more people are starting to participate in our virtual services on Sundays. And we have received anecdotal feedback that people enjoy being able to access the services via our You-Tube channel. It is important to take this opportunity to thank the Worship Committee  (Mary Ryan, Lisa Jokiel, Emily Quarles-Mowrer and Allan Pallay) and our own Reverends for creating and delivering quality content for our services. These people have also had to quickly adapt to a changing landscape as many services were modified on a very short timeline to be relevant with current events.

And the landscape continues to change, which makes planning for the future challenging. The board is working diligently on determining how we need to continue to adapt. This will require us, as a fellowship, to continue to try new things. While I have nothing to report at the time of the writing this column, know that the board continues to focus on keeping the fellowship viable and the members and friends healthy and connected as a community.

In gratitude, Linda K.

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” ~ Janet Kilburn Phillips

“You can’t change the past, but you can make adjustments to your present for a better future.” ~ Anonymous

While the turning of 11:59 PM on December 31 into 12:00 AM on January 1 is simply the passing of time, it has come to symbolize so much more. Many people, such as myself, take the time to reflect on the past year and do some personal assessment on how they want to move forward into the new year. For me, it is a time of optimistic thinking – What are the possibilities for this year? And, as President of the Board of Directors for the UUFP, I (along the other members of the board), will do the same thing for the Fellowship.

The year 2020 certainly presented the Fellowship with challenges that we have never faced before. In spite of these challenges, the fellowship continued to function (albeit in a whole new way) and is finishing the year solvent. That is something that all of us should be proud of. I won’t take the time to review all of the things we accomplished in 2020 (you can look at past Sojourners for that information); however, I will highlight some new things that occurred in December. The Fellowship participated in a clothing drive to support Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Pottstown. This church has a “store” where they provide clothing free of charge to anyone in need who comes in and “shops.” Through the generosity of our fellowship, we were able to fill two SUVs with boxes and bags of clothing. They were quite impressed with how much we donated.

In addition, a new walking club was started (Thank you, Kay). The first walk took place in December and many people took advantage of the opportunity to combine exercise with socially distanced comradery and good, old fashioned talking. If you would like to join in future walks, check the Sojourner for dates and times. And, thanks to Miranda Van Horn for spearheading and putting together a Christmas Eve service. That service is always one of the highlights of our year and due to Miranda’s efforts, we were able to have it.

The year 2021 offers so many possibilities for the Fellowship. The board will be spending the first quarter of the new year in assessing what we learned about ourselves as a fellowship during the pandemic and what we need to focus on in order to move forward. However, this type of review cannot be done in a vacuum. We will need input from members and friends, so consider this a “heads-up” that we will be reaching out for your perspective.

I will end by pointing out that 2021 offers new possibilities for friends and members who are thinking that they would like to become more involved with the Fellowship. Many of our committees are always looking for people to help out. If you would like to join a committee (or maybe start a new one), please reach out to the committee chairperson or a member of the board. Your efforts are always appreciated!

Here’s to all the possibilities that 2021 has to offer us and the Fellowship!! ~ Linda