Beloved UUCW community,
As we begin a new year together, I find myself thinking about rivers. A river is always moving — its waters are never quite the same from one moment to the next. Along the way, tributaries join it. Rocks and bends alter its course. The landscape changes around it.
And yet, there is something enduring about a river, too: a current that carries it forward, the sources from which it flows, the continuing sense of direction and possibility.
We begin this new year of shared ministry amid change. As we continue living out our values and supporting one another, our staff team is changing. Our wider world, too, seems to be shifting beneath our feet with unsettling speed. There is much we do not control.
And yet I have come to trust the very deep and strong currents of this congregation. I see it in the warmth you extend to one another and to those who enter our doors for the first time.
I see it in your capacity to ground yourselves in love and in the present moment, rather than being swept away by anxiety about the future.
I see it in your willingness to return, again and again, to the values of our shared faith, which call us toward justice, transformation, generosity, and love.
A river does not resist every change in its path. It flows around obstacles, gathers new waters, welcomes the rain, and continues on. Sometimes moving swiftly, and sometimes still, it is always becoming.
This year, I look forward to discovering together where our deep, strong currents will take us. May we bring our whole selves to this shared journey, trusting that love is not only something that steadies us on the riverbank, but also the powerful current that carries us forward together.
In faith and gratitude,
