Skip to main content

This Community Surrounds My Life

Image
By

I am always inspired and touched by the efforts to build a better world.

Seth Popinchalk, Vice-Moderator
Last week Scott Hayman told me about a 5K road race to benefit Abby’s house. Abby’s House is a family shelter for women and children and provides them with “a safe place to stay, regroup, and rebuild.” I am in fair shape, so when I woke up Saturday morning I laced up my shoes and drove out to West Boylston to find the starting line.
I found Scott and Maddie at the registration area. I also ran into a handful of other familiar First U members wearing race bibs and supporting the event.
There was no plan among members to connect with our First Unitarian community this Saturday morning, but we found each other among the crowd of about 300. I was reminded that I am surrounded by our special community.

What brings us together?
We are a community because we choose to be one. We find a connection with something the church offers: the Sunday services, the sermons, the holiday celebrations, the excellent music, the faith development programming, religious education, and of course community.
What I value most is the connection with other people engaged in the world.
I am always inspired by the engagement of members of First U with the world around them, and I am touched by the efforts to build a better world for all. On Saturday morning our common cause was Abby’s House.
During our stewardship campaign we share the cause of supporting this community.
I pledge to our church because I want to support this community that is around me. I don’t want to live in an anonymous world, just driving from place to place, insulated from human interaction. I love to feel the connection with Worcester. When I run into other First U’s in Worcester it makes my world smaller and more personal.

The finish is in sight!
Our Stewardship Campaign race is nearing the finish. We will complete our campaign on November 24th and celebrate all our gifts with with a luncheon following the service. I hope you will generously contribute to our great community so we can continue to find our connections and support each other in the coming year.
Pictures of the Old Stone Church and finish line by Scott Hayman

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Outstanding Day One for the Annual Pledge Drive

By
" It is rare indeed that people give.  Most people guard and keep. "  If this observation from James Baldwin, one of our contry's most respected philosophers and novelists, is true, then the opening Sunday of our Annual Stewardship Pledge Drive was a rare one indeed.  Consider these day one  statistics : Total amound pledged: $96,628 (32% of our $300,000 goal !) Number of pledges: 62 (6 of these were first time pledges !) A whopping 56% increased their pledge over last year ! Let us keep the momentum going!  If you have not yet sent in your pledge, do so today.   This is truly a wonderful beginning, and it was made even more special by our interim minister's homily.  If you missed Tracey's message, what follows are a few of her memorable and moving insights.  We come through these doors in search, in need, in hope, in prayer. We come looking for something to make our lives better; to make the lives of our family, our friends, our neigh
2 comments
Read more

Hearing the Call: Rudy Cepko, YRU2 Mentor and Advisor

By
“I believed that my day job as an RN in the Pediatric ICU at UMass would make it easy for me to handle a bunch of teenagers.  However, I was surprised to encounter teens willing to gain more knowledge in their spiritual quest and to learn how to use this in their everyday lives.”   Rudy Cepko   For many years I had not stepped into a church except for weddings and funerals.  In the mid-1990s, my wife, Alesia, started attending church to sing with UU choir.  She was impressed by the message that she heard from Barbara Merritt and suggested that I try the church.  I felt I was in a place that spoke to me, and our son Stefan was enrolled in the Sunday school programs. I had some involvement with church stewardship as a volunteer in the Garden committee.  Mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, planting and laying yards of mulch were part of my contribution to the church. Then when my son, Stefan, was in YRU2, he asked if I would be interested in becoming an assistant during the Sunday m
2 comments
Read more