Renewal

As a community, we were renewed on May 4th at the Initiation of Called Ministry and Installation of Yours Truly. It was an afternoon like no other: a ritual and a party, profound and playful. Many UUFM members have told me it truly “felt like us.” My family and friends said “it was so Isabel!” We’re the same kind of weird and wonderful, my friends. We previously made commitments to each other in September 2021 when the board and I signed the contract for my ministry and you voted to hire me, September 2022 when you made my position full-time, and May 2023 when you voted to call me. Last month we renewed our commitment to each other, in new words. I sense that those of us present in body, on Zoom, and in spirit felt more ourselves.

That’s my current working definition of renewal: an experience that makes me feel more myself — even if it’s a new expression of myself. Renewal is the snake sloughing off her skin, which is not always an easy or comfortable process. It’s the (sometimes surprising) revelation of who we have always been becoming. In my case, though I haven’t always been aware of it, ministry has always been my calling, though it’s taken many forms. In the few weeks since our ceremonial promises to each other, my life has been replaying in my mind. I am coming to understand that the vows I took with you all were also renewed vows to myself. All the promises I’ve made have led to this ministry. While the sloughing off of skin isn’t pleasant, there’s also a highly enjoyable aspect of renewal. The freshness, the peace of arrival. And in this case, the celebration!!!

If you did not already get my joyful thank you email, which describes the event and explains how to attend an encore in August, you can read it here. 

You might also want to read the introduction to our Soul Matters chalice circle packet, which we usually publish at the top of the monthly newsletter. This month, one of the key messages is that “faith renews us.” I decided to skip it for the newsletter this month not because I disagree, but because that feels like foreign language for us. (Feel free to read it, though, and let me know your feelings.) But another element of the write-up I really like is that renewal often comes not through new answers to questions, but from completely new questions. They close by asking, “What renewing question do I want to take with me into the summer?” 

Maybe my question will arrive over the next month, but I gotta admit, I’m too tired to feel it coming. A religious educator colleague of mine once referred to this final stretch of the church year as “the 90 days of May.” And I just got an email from a fellow minister saying “Happy Almost-There Month.” Perhaps those of you in school as parent, student, teacher, or administrator feel it too. The final countdown to the winddown. Maybe you’ve already counted down and you’re “off.” But have you shifted into a time of renewal? Have you moved from “almost there” to “there” – and where is “there” anyway?

Of course there are many among us who don’t follow the academic calendar. I wonder how it feels to be ushered into the theme of renewal for those of you who are sticking to business-as-usual over the summer. I hope you will find ways to take breaks over the coming months, if only in subtle ways.

I’ll be taking a good amount of time off this summer, something I haven’t done since my arrival here in Kansas. I’ll be away from church business June 10-23, partly as study leave and partly to attend UU ministers’ professional days and our UUA General Assembly. Then I’ll be away July 8 through August 4th (with a cameo appearance to lead our joint Sunday Service at Manhattan Mennonite Church on July 28th). During June, please DO reach out to me for any pressing pastoral care issues.

I’m expecting some good questions to emerge, and I’m looking forward to hearing yours. This season, in our own ways, may we all find freshness and the peace of arrival.

Much love,

Pastor Isabel