Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme and the state of the church. The theme for September is Embracing Possibility. This month’s post is offered by Fred Hulting.

September has arrived and – just like every other year – we are returning to schools and work and churches after summer breaks.  Of course, this year is not like every other year, as the challenges of the last 18 months have changed the world around us.  We now find ourselves doing the same old things, but in ways we’ve never done them before.

So, as we get ready for reopening our UUCM church building, it is understandable that we are approaching this with caution.  We will be finding our way over the next weeks and months, guided by the values of safety, inclusion, and consent, as Rev Lisa tells us in her midweek video message.

At the same time, we are confronting a future ripe with possibilities and potential for our congregation.  We now have the possibility to look at our church values and mission through the lens of our pandemic experience.  The possibility to experiment with worship and try new approaches to social justice and religious education. The possibility to choose the best of what we did before and during the pandemic, and to leave other things behind.  The possibility to learn and to grow in a spirit of courageous love.

Our Soul Matters theme this month is “Embracing Possibility”.  It is not just about believing in possibility, but also about the willingness to work towards making it a reality.  And it seems like the perfect theme for this moment at UUCM:  as we come back together in new ways, what possibilities do we want to embrace as our future reality?

We have a unique opportunity to think differently as we plan for what is ahead, and we want to engage everyone in that process.  Later this fall we will hold congregational conversations using the World Café format.  In these sessions, we will bring our new perspectives to examine the many possibilities before us.  Your ideas will be used by church leaderships in our annual and long-range planning.

I wish you all the best with your fall transitions, and with the possibilities that you will embrace in your personal life.

— Fred Hulting
President, UUCM Board of Trustees