We ARE a Multigenerational Community

In our multigenerational religious community, we build Beloved Community through inclusive welcoming, compassion, care, generosity and forgiveness. We create a supportive place to take risks and grow in service to others…

Six years ago, our congregation wrote these words as a part of our End Statements. This is an expression of our aspirations, who we want to be and how we want to travel together on the path of living our values. This past Sunday we moved a little further on the path of multigenerational religious community by launching our Faith Formation Hour. After all-ages worship, some gathered for Forum to learn about compassionate communication, some stayed to talk with me about the worship service and Unitarian Universalism more generally, and some of our youth gathered in person for the first time in many months. It was a modest turn out, not as robust as the Faith Formation Force and I had hoped. We need more volunteers, and we hope more families will feel drawn to stay and participate in all-ages faith formation. (This Sunday Faith Formation is All-Ages Art and Music!) However, we know that this new way of being together in community will take time to build.

Returning to the building has been an adjustment. There are many things to consider as we pivot and adapt to the continuously changing landscape of the pandemic. While it is the staff’s role to manage the use of the building and the shape of worship, during the pandemic, we have relied heavily on the collective wisdom of the Covid Task Force, which includes doctors, lawyers, board members and staff. We have been meeting for 18 months to navigate a return to the building and together decided that it is safe enough for us to gather in person with these expectations and protocols:

1. We all (those 2 and older) wear well-fitting masks over our nose and mouth
2. We have adequate ventilation and air filtration
3. We wash our hands
4. We respect each other’s personal space
5. And if we can be vaccinated, we are vaccinated

The Covid Task Force and I have confidence that our congregation has a very high vaccination rate. This means those who are unable to be vaccinated are protected by the high number of those who are. In addition, we’re mitigating risks with ventilation, air purifiers, and HVAC filters, and, for now, we’re refraining from higher risk activities like eating and singing inside. Finally, we are offering the ability, for anyone uncomfortable with in-person worship, to participate from home.

Though I’ve said these things many times in many formats, I’m saying it again because I’ve heard from a number of folks that we ought to be requiring vaccinations for people to attend worship. “After all, many venues such as concert halls and restaurants are asking for vaccinations. Why shouldn’t we?” I’ve tried to answer this question with generosity and forgiveness, but I have to say, the suggestion feels counter to our End statement:

In our multigenerational religious community we build Beloved Community through inclusive welcoming, compassion, care, generosity and forgiveness. We create a supportive place to take risks and grow in service to others…

Unlike concert halls, bars, or restaurants, we are a multi-generational community of faith and covenant. We practice faith in one another, and we practice inclusion, welcome and openness. To require vaccinations would mean excluding our children, families with children, and those who are unable to be vaccinated for a whole host of reasons. To question our parents about the wisdom of bringing their unvaccinated children to church among vaccinated adults is dismissive of their ability to navigate the risks for their family and an afront to who we say we are: a multigenerational, covenantal community of faith, practicing inclusion and radical welcome.

This Sunday, we will begin an exploration of our End Statements, with the goal of rewriting and rededicating ourselves to them. This is a healthy process for a congregation to go through every five years or so and we are overdue. We will begin by clarifying our shared core values and purpose as a faith community. In preparation for this service and this process, we invite you to be thinking about these questions:

• What is our most significant collective purpose as a congregation?
• How does UCE help you tell your story of what matters most?
• Reflect on an ‘experience of the holy’ – a time you felt a deep sense of meaning, connection to all, or transcendence.

For several months following the October 10th service, you will be asked to join in a small group discussion and process of exploring our shared values. These will be open-hearted, spirit-filled conversations. We will gather some insights from these conversations and begin to draft a new set of ends to be presented to the congregation for feedback and ultimately approved by the congregation next May at our annual meeting.

Here are the dates* of these small group discussions. Please sign up for one:

• November 7^th (Sunday) from 1-2pm on Zoom
• November 10^th (Wednesday) from 7-8pm in person at UCE
• November 13^th (Saturday) from 9:30-10:30 am in person at UCE
• December 4^th (Saturday) from 12-1pm on Zoom
• January 2^nd (Sunday) as part of Faith Formation Hour, 11:30-12:30 in person
• January 5^th (Wednesday) from 5:30 – 6:30 on Zoom

*We may add more dates and times later in January or early February, based on need.

We hope that you will find time to take part in this process of determining where we are going in shared ministry, for what purpose we are committed most as a congregation, and how we strive together to build the multigenerational Beloved Community of faith and covenant.

Yours in faith and service,

Rev. Eileen