This month we reflect on where we have come from as individuals, as a Fellowship, and as a community of communities. Heritage is more nuanced than history: it is the story we weave when choosing ancestors and claiming their legacies — both beautiful and vexing — as our responsibility. As said so well by atheist … Continue reading A Note from Pastor Isa – October 2023

The Gift of Welcome Wherever you have come from, whoever you are, whomever you love, whatever your journey has been, it has led you here. Welcome. Thus speaketh every Convener on Sunday mornings at UUFM, in their own language. But what do we really mean by welcome? According to this month’s Chalice Circle packet, Welcome … Continue reading A Note from Pastor Isa – September 2023

Pausing at the Threshold Aaah, summer. We’ve been told it’s the time of the year to catch up on fun, reconnect, put our feet up, cool down. We can finally get out on the water, take that trip, update the landscaping, read that stack of novels, finish the to-do list, do nothing. As a kid, … Continue reading A note from Pastor Isa — August 2023

Delight despite it all It is a delight to serve as the called minister here at UUFM. Thank you to all the members who participated in the May 7th Congregational Meeting to vote on the call. It was a momentous decision for the Fellowship, which has never had this kind of relationship with a minister … Continue reading A note from Pastor Isa June 2023

Creativity beyond the secular “All that you touchYou Change. All that you ChangeChanges you. The only lasting truthis Change. Godis Change.” ― Octavia E. Butler, Black feminist science fiction writer Immersing in our monthly theme of Creativity, I’ve been thinking of the theologian Henry Nelson Wieman. He wrote extensively of the “Creative Good,” a process … Continue reading A note from Pastor Isa May 2023

Some resistance is futileSome resistance is fertile September through June, our Chalice Circles, Sunday Services, and Religious Education classes draw from monthly themes we get from Soul Matters, a UU community of collaborators. This month’s theme, resistance, lends itself to two interpretations. First is political resistance — organized resistance to injustice and oppression. Many of … Continue reading A note from Pastor Isa — April 2023

It makes sense to me that our collaborators at Soul Matters chose Vulnerability to follow February’s theme of Love. To love deeply and truly is to make ourselves vulnerable. Since love is the center of our theology, there’s really no way around it. Whether it is a private conversation we have with someone who shares … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa — March 2023

Love at the Center The theme this month for our congregation — and for many across the country — is Love. Although it coincides with Valentine’s Day and our young kids are taking a deep dive into our sexual education curriculum OWL (see Sandy’s post), we’re not just talking about romantic love. Love is at … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – February 2023

Finding Our Center, Starting with Vision We are starting the year on Sunday, January 1, with personal visioning. (You can see the service information here.) We’ll spend some time on the following questions: What do you want more of in your life, and what do you want less of? What is your ultimate goal, how … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – January 2023

Stillness, Wonder, Commitment When I spoke to our December Conveners about Wonder, our theme for the month, they lit up. It was beautiful to watch people remembering their experience of childish awe when encountering things for the first time, or watching others do so. Though we were all adults, we felt like children, remembering moments … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – December 2022