Ministers Musings
The Reverend Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry
Dreaming, Part 2 …
I love when life works like this … when seemingly disparate pieces begin to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, enabling a more coherent whole to present itself.
In my column last month, I invited us to ‘dream’ — to ask ourselves and each other questions about how we want to shape this next chapter in the life of our Fellowship. I laid out open-ended opportunities for this dreaming as we live in this fallow time between one important congregational weekend — the Assessment — and the next, to come in the fall — Searching For Our Future. (Please see the article on page 4 of May Connections.)
This month, I offer you a dream-catcher … a congregation-based community organizer by the name of Ashlin Spinden, from an organization called Metro Organizations for People (MOP). Thanks to connections made through Kathy Partridge, Ashlin came knocking on my door at what feels to me and the Board like just the right time. She’s now been invited in to help us name for ourselves our passions and our visions for who we want to become, particularly in relation to the world outside our doors. With her help, we’ll be churning up our dreams all spring and summer so that by the fall, we’ll be ready to pull them all together during our weekend with a UUA consultant.
The first step in any community organizing process is for the organizer to have many one-on- one conversations with members of the congregation. Through these conversations, we will discover many things about ourselves, and see the thread that weaves together our individual passions. The Board and Program Council have agreed to begin these individual conversations with her and hope that many more of you will also meet with her.
The congregation-based organizing process can be an enlivening, enriching way for us to discover our passion and then learn effective tools for engaging in the public realm. We’ll be learning about it as the process of meetings unfolds, and are in no way committing ourselves to the longer process by Ashlin’s presence with us at this time. For now, I want to encourage you all to welcome an invitation by her to meet with you.
Let’s see what emerges when we put these pieces of the puzzle together! Happy Spring!
- Rev. Lydia