Desert Notes June 6, 2024

This week I met with participants in the closing circle of the music program process led by Rev. Sam. We spent three hours together reviewing our work, our commitments, and our hopes for the future. I am grateful for the 30+ participants in this process and for the work we did together this year and I am humbled by the challenges we faced together that have led to growth, both personal and communal. 

Our task in the coming year will be to lean into that growth and avoid old habits–to remember to catch ourselves when we are walking down a path we know will lead to misunderstanding and conflict rather than creating shared reality and known, accepted differences.  

I also had the opportunity to join sixteen other VUU members and meet with our VIP partners in a Delegates Assembly where we agreed to deepen and broaden our work across the valley by planning a multi-issue, large scale metro area action this fall. You’ll hear more, but I am excited to continue this work and to be looking at how we can develop its scope and scale. Funds for our dues as VIP members are one of the areas in our budget we still need to reinstate. I hope we will find a way to do this and to come closer to paying one percent of our budget as many other institutions are doing. Our dues help pay for professional organizers whose time and training are deeply valuable to this shared endeavor.  

My letter of agreement with VUU gives me four weeks of study leave and four weeks of vacation. For some of you, this is surprising because most other denominations and faith communities do not prioritize healthy clergy work expectations the way UU’s do. In addition to taking one Sunday off a month, I use the summer as study leave and take the other four weeks as vacation during the year to match the time off my family has in the fall, winter and spring due to school year calendars. 

As a result, I will be out of the pulpit and office this summer as follows: from June 16-23 for UUMA ministry days and UUA general assembly attendance (you can attend the business meetings for free or for all of the offerings for a registration fee https://www.uua.org/ga/registration). This year these are all online only. After this I will begin my study leave until I return to the pulpit on July 21. I’ll be back in the office sometime before July 21, to be decided. Please reach out to pastoralcare@vuu.org or to Todd Sirrine admin@vuu.org if you have pastoral care needs or administrative needs.

So…catch you on the flip side!

In gratitude, 

Rev. Sarah