6400 W Del Rio St, Chandler, AZ 85226
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Desert Notes

Love is our Doctrine. Service is our prayer. Justice is our calling.

Desert Notes

9-15-2022
Last week’s water ceremony featured a gift from me to VUU–a fountain! Everyone was invited to add their “drop of water” into this fountain as a symbol of our shared commitment to this community. I also invited folks to fill out a “drop of water” with the answer to what you bring to VUU and what you get from VUU. I hope to display these next weekend. The fountain will remain in the sanctuary as one of the small rituals you can engage on Sundays to reconnect with the living waters of our community.  

This weekend I will be attending the installation of Rev. Christine Dance at UU Congregation of Phoenix at 3:00 on Saturday, September 17, which is also a celebration of their 75 anniversary. Rev. Christine and I both graduated from Iliff School of Theology, and we share very similar visions for our ministries and the future of Unitarian Universalism. I was honored to be asked to participate in this service with a Call to Justice and shared action, and I look forward to living into that call with other UU congregations in this region and other faith communities who share some of our core values and commitments to the larger communities we serve together. If you can attend as an online participant or in person, I hope you will! At some point VUU will also need to do an installation service with me as your new settled minister, so this is a good chance to see what one is like but also to celebrate a sister congregation and its leadership.  

Finally, last night I had the privilege to watch the bell choir and the VUU Singers begin their rehearsals. These are open to anyone who is interested, and there was a lot of excitement around beginning a new year together. We also all noted that enthusiasm for many of us is not matching our actual capacity to “do all the things” we used to do in the ways we used to do them. Be gentle, dear ones, with yourself and each other. These last two years took a bite out of our collective energy and capacity and it will take awhile to re-orient ourselves. We are not aiming for perfection, just for deeper capacity to be together as people of faith, hope and commitment. Whether you are in the garden or singing in the choir, meeting with a neighborhood cohort or “UUing” the Vote, attending service or volunteering in Faith Formation, (or the multitude of other ways you are engaged in this community!) you are an important part of the life of this congregation and its future.  Thanks for being here and being you.  

 –Rev. Sarah

If you are interested in setting up a time to meet with me, or you’d like me to join a meeting or small group event already scheduled for VUU members,  please fill out this form. I can also be reached at minister@vuu.org.

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