Good People,
Our church community is beginning to ramp back up as the risk of catching and spreading Covid is falling.
With any luck, the church will be able to open up in person more and more over the next weeks and months.
None of us will be quite the same again, and yet we are coming alive again.
In this springing of the year, we are poking our heads above ground like crocuses, daffodils, and calla lilies.
There are a few small tasks that will help the community feel more like itself.
We are all weary, and so I set before you small(ish) things that can help us be together with heart open, faces smiling, hands willing hands, and maybe even arms hugging (with renewed care and permission).
The Caring Committee
This committee’s biggest task is helping with receptions after memorial services at church. They come early to set up and stay after to clean up. It is a great gift to a grieving family and allows the minister to focus on the service. The group also supports the Pastoral Associates, writing cards, organizing meal trains, offering a ministry of simple care.
With Joe Hutchins memorial coming up on April 9, this is a great time to pitch in and give this team a try.
Contact Madelaine Okano – maddyokano@yahoo.com.
Kitchen Kabinet
For now, Coffee Hour is a simple(r) offering of coffee and hot water for tea or hot chocolate on a cart wheeled outside after the service. In the spirit of more hands makes lighter work, it would be great to have 2-3 people to take this on one Sunday a month. Then you can be on the inside track for helping shape the Coffee Hour of the Future..!
Contact Yukio Okano – yukio.okano@yahoo.com.
Greeters
Yes, people are returning to church and someone needs to greet them at the door.
Our mode of greeting may need to shift a bit, though the warmth and invitation will be the same.
If you can sign-up to come a bit early just one Sunday a month and smile happily as you welcome friend and newcomer alike, it would be a particular ministry of its own.
Contact Gudrun Eastham – druzel@msn.com
Counting the Offering
Though many are giving to our offering online, some prefer the ritual of giving cash or writing a check. So, we still need two people to count the money after church. It only takes a few minutes, though this is a significant position of trust.
Contact Dennis Charles – dennischarles987@gmail.com.
RE Set Up & Clean up
Another time to come a bit early and help with the set up and preparation for our RE program. Others can stay a litte after to clean up. For now, RE activities are outdoors, though this help will still be needed when our kids are back in their classrooms.
Contact Fidelity Ballmer – fidelity@uuventura.org
Building and Grounds
We are having a B & G “Work Party” on Saturday from 9 until 12. It is every third Saturday. We encourage and challenge others to come out and work on making the outside look better. We have some hand tools but it helps if folks can bring some of their own.
Contact Linda Pietrzak – linda.w.pietrzak@gmail.com
2 women in 2 hours. If we had 5 or so groups think of what we could do.
I still find myself resisting the word ‘normal,’ particularly in the context of ‘getting back to normal.’
(There are just too many ways that our previous ‘normal’ was not great for too many people.) Yet I also know that there is comfort in familiar ways of doing things.
As we come together again after more than two years, we have a chance to be thoughtful and intentional about which ‘old’ practices we pick up again, which we let go, and which we adapt and change for a new moment.
Still so glad to be in this with you all.
With love,
Rev. Dana
