Happy to be back!

It has been wonderful to see everyone again, as I've come back from sabbatical and we've all come together again into our autumn church life! I have been a little overwhelmed by emails, so if you have emailed me and not heard back yet, please try again. I want to connect! I have appreciated your welcome back messages, and feel happy to be with you all again.

I am so terribly excited about our funding campaign, “Walking With Care on This Earth.” After our long process of sorting through ideas and principles and options for our building and land; after our permaculture design process in which those ideas were brought together in a plan; after hours of research by many church members about sustainability and costs and feasibility—now we are actually raising the money to do it! Our consultants say we can do this. There are great leaders involved in the work. Now they just need all of us to participate in whatever we are able, and we will be able to begin work next spring.

Thanks to Connie and Dave for co-chairing this effort. Thanks to all the members of the group working on it. If you weren't in church when they made an announcement, I will mention that they are organizing one-on-one visits for all church members, in two waves. Margy and I were visited recently by a member of the team, and he answered any questions we had about the project, we had a chance to chat, and then Margy and I made a confidential pledge for our contribution to the projects. It was really fun to connect, and I was blown away by the brochure that they created for the campaign.

The first wave of visits will conclude by mid-October, and then the second wave of visits will happen between mid-October and mid-November. So if you are a member you'll be getting more information soon. And if you don't get information, but would like to participate, contact the church to make sure your contact information is all up to date, or to pass a message along to Connie and Dave. Non-members are welcome to be involved too. This is one more way we can bring our mission alive.

I also wanted to mention that this year I will be serving as a teaching pastor for a first-year student at Meadville-Lombard Theological School. His name is Israel Buffardi, he is a member of First Parish, and is beginning to follow a call to UU ministry. This year he and I will meet once a month, for mentoring and reflection on ministry. Then, if all goes well, he may serve as a half-time intern for A2U2 during our next church year starting in Sept 2016. The Board and I were happy for our church to continue on a path of helping to teach our next generation of UU ministers.

All the best, Rev. Myke

Liminal Time

As I return to church from my four-month sabbatical, I am feeling grateful and deeply appreciative of this time. Thank you to all of you who helped to make it possible! It has been a wonderful opportunity for refreshment and renewal. But I am noticing that I haven’t actually finished the two big goals I set for myself at its beginning.

One goal was to complete and publish my book, Finding Our Way Home: A Spiritual Journey into Earth Community. I am happy to say that I was able to finish another full revision, and I sent out several queries/proposals to publishers. In a positive development, one publisher, after seeing three chapters asked to see the full manuscript. Now I am in another period of waiting to hear back. I am learning just how long the publishing process can be. I also submitted one of the chapters to the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship's publication Quest for Meaning, and am happy to announce that an edited version of it was just published in their September edition. You can find it at http://www.questformeaning.org/quest-article/forgiving-the-broken/

Another goal was for Margy and I to align our living situation with our ecological values. We have started a process to find greener housing. We are hoping to downsize, move closer into the Portland area, and find a house we can convert to solar energy. We had a chance to outline what we want in a new home; we engaged an environmentally knowledgable realtor; we have looked at many houses that didn’t fit, and we have sorted out financing options. We’ve also begun the process of simplifying and letting go of things we no longer need. Now we are waiting for a house that will match our hopes and needs. I also began blogging about our #searchforgreenerhousing at my blog at http://findingourwayhomeblog.wordpress.com (If you are interested, you can sign up on the blog page to receive posts by email—they also appear on my Facebook page.) Blogging has been a way to share the journey with the congregation, and it also helps me to stay present to the process, rather than to get anxious about completing it.

In the midst of all of this, a new goal emerged. In July, I was able to attend an 11-day Intensive workshop with eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, on the Work that Reconnects. I found myself more passionate about helping people to make the changes that can move human beings into a more beneficial relationship with all life on earth. That in itself is not a new goal, but rediscovering the tools that Joanna Macy has created for this work has been a true blessing. I am already planning ways to bring those practices into my ministry with the congregation, and beyond, starting with the worship service on September 20^th.

I feel like I have been planting seeds and tending the soil, but the harvest time is still up ahead somewhere, as yet unknown. And for now, it is important to let it be unknown. I love that there is a word for the sacredness of being in between one time and another. It is called liminal time. It is the moment when magic can happen, when anything can happen. I am in a liminal time with each of these goals. If I want to experience the sacredness of this time, I must open to its mystery and uncertainty, I must celebrate its possibility, I must wait for its unfolding. The Holy is right here.

I look forward to seeing all of you on our re-gathering Sunday, September 13^th! I hope these months have brought each of you some form of learning or beauty or kindness.

Rev. Myke