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Showing posts from October, 2016

Our Response to a Stewardship Visit

Aaron and I both really appreciated the Stewardship Visit from Lee Reid and Steve Knox. It was nice to talk quietly and make personal connections, and it was good to see what the financial goals of the church were. We had talked through some thoughts about how Aaron and I could contribute to the church community. Lee and Steve seem very connected to the different people in the church, and I know that I appreciated the recommendations for personal introductions. -- Jennifer deWinter Aaron McGaffey and Jennifer deWinter Aaron and I both really appreciated the Stewardship Visit from Lee Reid and Steve Knox. We joined the church hoping to form communal bonds (among other reasons), and we came to realize that people were driving in from all over, so connections outside of church times were harder to form casually. It was nice to talk quietly and make personal connections, and it was good to see what the financial goals of the church were. Lee and Steve seem very connected to the

Stewardship: Paying Our Way

We’ve benefited from the UUA’s services directly: during the transition after Tom Shade’s retirement, in the search for our Director of Faith Development, and from a number of materials including our Hymnals and publications from Beacon Press.  Many of our church leaders and members participate in UUA programs that are vital to our church community. --Jesse Anderson One of our goals in this year’s pledge campaign is to reach a point where we can pay our UUA and New England Region dues, currently $60 and $19 per registered member respectively.  At First Unitarian Church we are used to thinking of “pledging units” or households, but UUA dues are on a per-member basis, so dues for one of our typical pledging units is $158 in 2017. I’m often asked, “Aside from a copy of the UU World , what do we get for our money?  We have so many things we should be spending it on in our own community!”    To answer, I need to talk a little about American Unitarianism in general, as well as our

Stewardship: A Bridge to Belonging

Our church on Court Hill is where we  practice our beliefs and actions – crazy as they seem to others. It is where we take risks. It is where we can leave our comfort zones.   It is a place to humbly try to live outside of one's self.     That is why I'm here. That is why I support First Unitarian. Please join me in this important work.  -- Jay Lavelle At the Prudential Committee retreat in June, we came up with a set of goals for the year 2020. The first was “ Create a diversity of modes of spiritual experience for members, friends, children and youth." My own path is relatively diverse: austere New England T rinitarian P rotestantism based on service, charity, and being of good will, a dash of C harismaticism, and a heaping spoonful of Tibetan Buddhism. And that is not that uncommon. I know Catholics, Jews, Buddhists of all denominations, and Sufis in my ken, all of whom find a home at First Unitarian. There are agnostics and atheists living by the light of re