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The Old and the New

Autumn is a time when the cycle of nature is particularly evident, when the changing colors and textures of leaves offer unmistakably graphic evidence of change. Autumn can be a bittersweet time, calling our attention to changes in our own lives and in our communities. For just as the leaves fall, framing the bare branches of the trees in stark contrast to the sky, so is autumn a time in which we may come to a clearer perception of the ongoing changes in our own lives' situations. For changes, even those we seek out, often entail at least some sense of loss.

Several events mark this season as a special time for our Fellowship. Ruth Halldorson, who for five years has volunteered her time, energy, skill, and her considerable choral resources as our Choir Director, has recently announced that health concerns force her to step down from that role. I know that many of you are as grateful as I am to Ruth for her work in forming and leading our choir and for the beautiful music that we have enjoyed so much. Ruth's resignation marks a significant change in our community.

Another change relates to our old building, which has been "on the market" for over a year. In the course of writing this column, I've just heard that we have completed the process of selling it. In the spirit of> autumn, a change that was inevitably coming has now been made dramatically clear to us. A house that was our home for more than forty years is no longer ours. Some may feel a sense of relief at this change, while others experience a sense of loss, or even one of disappointment - whatever that disappointment may be. And while we acknowledge those feelings, we recall that this is autumn, the season that calls us to let go of aspirations or dreams that have not been realized.

Perhaps by chance, the sale of our old building has taken place within a few weeks of the service of dedication of our new one. Just as the sale and legal transfer of 301 W. Elm marks the end of one era in our Fellowship, so our dedication ceremony will mark the beginning of another. The dedication, as I think of it, marks the end of the season of transition from Elm Street to Parrish Lane. We know that we are still learning - learning who and what we can be in this new home, learning more about how to grow while maintaining that which is most precious and unique in our Fellowship. Our guest speakers - the Rev. Bill Sinkford, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and Larry Wheeler, who worked so closely with us as a consultant and helped us so much over the past ten years - will challenge us with who we have been and may become. Yet the work of creating a vision of our collective future is not theirs, but ours. 

Over the past five years, our Fellowship has devoted a great deal of its collective intentionality, energy, and trust, to the process of change and growth. The future lies ahead of us, ours to shape. May we honor that which is now behind us, even as we anticipate the possibilities now present and those yet to come. With intention, energy, and trust, amazing things can be done!

Yours in the spirit of autumn, (signed) Bill S.