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

Grief and Growth   Love grants us  serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference.             — A version of the Serenity Prayer If someone had told us three years ago that there would be a global pandemic, we might … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – November 2022

Courage and Faith Courage is a remarkable trait–something we notice and celebrate.  The way it’s typically talked about, we don’t really expect everybody to have it.  But maybe we should.  Maybe instead of practicing reverence for the demigods and superheroes who exhibit feats of extraordinary bravery and com- passion, we can begin noticing all of … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – October 2022

Committing to Belonging I was so shocked to learn that the opposite of belonging is fitting in. Because fitting in is assessing a group of people and changing who you are. But true belonging never asks us to change who we are. It demands we be who we are.       — Brené Brown, … Continue reading Note From Pastor Isa – September 2022