Desert Notes November 13, 2025

I had a busy weekend and enjoyed seeing some of you at Satang America, the Peter Mayer concert, and the Gratitude Gathering in Gilbert. This next weekend we will have a table at Chandler Pride from 4–8 pm (if we’re not rained out!!!). It’s really great to be out in our community together!

This weekend we begin the kickoff of our Stewardship campaign. We are asking folks to sign up for a cottage meeting to begin our Stewardship Campaign. I know some of you have been thinking of this as an unnecessary step because you are already planning to continue to make a pledge.  

Let me offer a different way to think about this: Our pledge campaign has become, over time, a bit too transactional. It has been missing the important element of members engaged with each other in building our organization and discussing how VUU helps us live our values–in other words, missing the relational part of this work that helps us understand what others are receiving and needing from our community and how that connects with our own needs. 

These conversations are as important as the contributions you make. Newer members need to hear from older, established members about why you give and what this congregation means to you and also to share with others what has drawn them into this congregation. One way we struggle as a community is in developing a cross pollination of cohorts of members–too often I notice that many people only know a few members of VUU, usually folks who joined about the time they did, or are about the same age, or…you get the point. If we are to build and sustain an organization that meets this wide range of needs and interests, we need to be in deeper relationships with one another. So please, sign up and come be part of a conversation that’s not just about how much we are giving, but also about what we are receiving and what we are creating–together.

–Rev Sarah