Skip to main content

Hearing the Call: Jane Beckwith on The Power of Our Community

By

We’ve endured one of the most dramatic and difficult organizational changes when we lost our beloved Ministers – so significant was that loss that I decided that no matter what, I wanted to remain here … [and] we’ve flourished … we have held together by holding one another together.  Jane Beckwith


More than ten years ago, like so many others, we were “church–shopping” and came upon this church as one in a series of visits.  When we arrived and saw the sanctuary, witnessed everyone enjoying one another before the service started, watched as the service evolved, then heard the Choir sing, and then heard Reverend Merritt’s sermon, we knew this was to be our church.  As many have also said before me, I never knew there was a place like this, nor did I know that I was in search of such a place.  We joined the church two weeks later – that’s how sure we were, in our hearts if not yet in our heads.

In the past few years, I’ve understood better what’s so very special about our church.  We’ve endured one of the most dramatic and difficult organizational changes when we lost our beloved Ministers – so significant was that loss that I decided that no matter what, I wanted to remain here because of the friends I’d made here and to continue to sing in the choir.  But we’ve flourished.   

During the ministerial search process, I developed a better understanding of how we’ve managed so well and of the depth and power of our community.   We are, to be sure, a demanding and diverse group – we are a congregation with those formerly devout in many traditions as well as agnostics and atheists, but we all are asking questions that are spiritually evocative.  Our backgrounds differ, our views differ, our opinions differ, but all of those differences seem to add to our depth and broaden our spectrum.  We remain caring and respectful of one another no matter how many ways we may differ from one another.  And we have fun.

We have had wonderful interim ministers and they have helped keep us going forward.  But we have held together by holding one another together.   Our music and faith development functions haven’t skipped a beat, the church staff has kept up with us all, our lay leaders have kept everything going and have moved forward on all fronts; we are still active and healthy and we’re ready and looking forward to the next phase in the life of our church. 


I believe the next phase (with our newly called twelfth settled minister) will be wonderful.   This is a very special place packed with interesting and wonderful people and I am grateful to be here.  Whatever “time, talent and treasure” I’m able to give don’t come close to the value this church and its people (and the music!) hold for me.

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 fr...
2 comments
Read more

This Community Surrounds My Life

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 holi...
1 comment
Read more

What difference does First Unitarian make in your life?

By
We are loved and accepted for who we are. Our struggles and our passions are recognized and shared.    We do good things together.   We are drawn together by love and hope.  Scott Hayman Long before I attended a First Unitarian Church service, or even set foot in the church, I was drawn, without knowing, to its community and its tradition, its people and its abundance.   This was around 1990.   I was working in the trenches running a program called the Donations Clearinghouse, a program created by the Worcester Committee on Homelessness and Housing, which is now known as the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance. The Donations Clearinghouse still operates with the simple mission of collecting donations of furniture and household goods and redistributing them to homeless families making a fresh start in their own apartment.   So around 1990, Will Sherwood, our Music Director, whose day job was at Digital Equipment Corporation, called me up and sa...
1 comment
Read more