Mon, 24 April 2017
In a very passionate sermon, Rev. Christina Leone Tracy discusses transformation, change, UUCAs present and future, as well as the current UU/UUA Climate. How can we give away our church to gain a true and just UU faith? Listen to this sermon. The first 3-minutes are missing so the written text is below: I love the story that I read to you earlier, Brother Juniper, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6051.Brother_Juniper, because it is a sweet, funny, kind story, a story that tells of a man who lived his faith so fully that he took enormous risks, even if he didn't mean to... Here at UUCA, we celebrate a new theme each month--and back in March we celebrated the theme of Risk. Brother Juniper indeed took some risks--in fact, when his companions returned to find him standing in that empty hole they yelled at him, "What have you done! You've ruined our church!" We've all felt that way sometimes, when a risk we take doesn't pan out the way we want at first. But life is about change, and that's what we're talking about this month. April's theme is transformation. This month we have celebrated the Passover, when the people of Israel are freed from bondage and transformed again into the chosen people -- We also celebrated Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus, a transformation of death into life. Transformation is a powerful theme and it feels like we talk about it a lot. I remember when I was a couple years into my time in this ministry here, and we had experienced a number of changes. The beloved DRE had left after 23 years, and I had come into this role. I hired a new RE Assistant to replace the previous one who moved away. The choir director changed a couple times, and the Administrator too. Then the new RE Assistant who everyone loved, decided to take on a bigger job elsewhere and I needed to hire someone new. I remember talking about the changes that were coming, and someone said, "Once all these changes finally stop, we will be able to really do the work we want." "Ohhhh..." I remember saying... "Do you think these changes are going to stop? Oh. I'm sorry. I don't think that's going to happen. I might go on maternity leave at some point (I did), I might have to move on to another ministry at some point (and that point is coming soon). These changes are going to keep happening. Here at church and throughout life, the goal is not to wait out the changes until some change-free time arrives." If you're honest with yourself, there is NO time in life where there are NO changes. The goal is to find a way to go with the changes so that we can continue to grow and thrive with them, to use each change as an opportunity for reflection, curiosity, and improvement. The goal is not just to weather the changes but instead to truly transform! When we think about Transformation, we think about growing, getting bigger, improving, fixing, changing, adding things. I mean, the story of Passover is a celebration of the power of God to perform miracles and free people! (THE AUDIO PICKS UP HERE)
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