In a little while I'll be going off to work with other Whidbey folks on our forested lot, where soon a new UU church building will rise, thanks to the hands-on efforts and the financial support of the UUCWI congregation.
We will soon sign mortgage papers, hold a groundbreaking ceremony, and start pounding nails, but today's work will be clearing ground a little more, getting rid of slash (PNW term for cleared brush and limb piles), and trading jokes with the assembled crew of folks from the congregation.
Also this morning, I will go to SEKK (South End Koffee Klatch) down by the ferry dock and spend a couple of hours chatting with whoever shows up, including the barista, Rene, at Rockhoppers coffee shop. Rene is a UU and we meet at her folk-art-bedecked shop every month.
But today is also the day I need to write the sermon for Sunday and I've been looking for the right way to start it out. My work on the land and attending the koffee klatch are actually secret missions to look for what is at the heart of this congregation, this community.
The sermon title is "Faithfulness to our covenant with our commmunity" and you'll hear more about it later in the week.
3 comments:
Tthe only time I have been around that sort of stage in church life
was when we had to have torn down the Unitarian church in Canoga Park that was severely damaged during the LA earthquake of '94 (which occurred when I and a friend were staying overnight with a group of homeless people in the basement), and then replace the church. The replacement process lasted longer than expected, from the beginning of '94 until dedication of the new building at the end of '96, and the new church was more expensive than expected, partly because of requirements to make it wheelchair-accessible, etc. I trust that such applicable requirements have been investigated or you would not get your building permits. Your narrative just jumps to before construction, a nice optimistic period.
LinguistFriend
That's a good idea, Ms. Kitty, to socialize with your crowd to check their pulse. Listening is undervalued and overlooked these days, I think.
And Linguistfriend, i love your description of preconstruction as optimistic. Well said! It very much is a time of "yes! this is really happening!"
Thanks for your comments, LF and Pixie. It is indeed a thrilling time here, as we get ready to start construction. Wish we had you here, Pixie, to cheer us on in architectural terms!
Ms. Kitty
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