ALONG THE WAY
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR MINISTER

Here are a couple of poems about hawks:
 
HAWKS
 
I loved seeing those hawks
just now, how obliquely the sun gave tinge
fleeting and flushed to steering feathers.
Red-tailed we call these hunting creatures,
though when close, not fifty feet above,
they are buff and bland in the belly.
Only astroke the curving air
in afternoon light do some feathers flicker
rouge enough to suggest that name to we
who are the naming creatures.
 
A HAWK AT TWENTY YARDS
 
Has eyes
of jewel blackness
needs not
our admiration.
 
I have never been a serious birder—no expeditions, no life lists—and only in later years have come to a keener appreciation of these dinosaur descendants found almost everywhere—ground and sky, wood and lake, ocean and desert, winter and summer.  I happened to live for a time near a reserved area of ponds, woods and meadow crossed by very tall, high-voltage transmission lines.  You couldn’t design a better habitat for raptors and soon I came to recognize the little, hawk-formed apostrophes on the spars of the towers.  They spent their time doing what raptors do, looking for things to eat at the interface of tall grass, trees and streams.  They were also bold, perching at times in small trees if that’s where they thought they could find a meal, and couldn’t have cared less about the occasional human with binoculars leaning on a car roof at twenty yards, breathless with excitement at seeming to look directly into their enormous, hunter’s eyes.
I also lived for a few years in Arlington Heights, Massachusetts, a densely populated suburb of greater Boston that borders Belmont and Cambridge. Thus, it is hardly a nature preserve, but many times I saw a pair of red-tailed hawks hunting over a patch of scrub bordering a ball field hard by busy Route 2, and more than once perched in a poplar bordering my backyard, smack in the middle of fifty homes.  They hardly seemed bothered by cars, humans and houses, in fact, didn’t seem much to notice us.  I’m happy about that.  With all of our human self-centeredness, it is well to be reminded of our true place in the world.
See you in church,
Rev. Steve

 

Greetings from your Church Board!

On Saturday, we met for our first Board Retreat at the Community House in Hopedale.  This was an opportunity to meet as a board to officially discuss our needs as a church community. Reverend Steve led sessions about leadership styles, challenges, and a review of our congregational goals.
 
We developed 3 goals last year. Since the beginning of this church year, we moved as a board to support the healing needs of our church;

 ‘On both congregational and individual levels, we will seek to understand, reconcile, and heal from conflict related to our Covenant.  We will continue to support this congregational goal by exploring and processing our experiences of loss, grief, and what happened over the past few years that illuminated the need for this work.’

This, we hope, will reestablish a foundation of trust in our church community.

We also discussed both technical problems and adaptive challenges at our church. Technical challenges are a bit easier to resolve like the repair and upgrade of our sound system, replacing sanctuary lights for increased efficiencies while also supporting our Green Sanctuary certification, and managing our budget, to name a few.  Adaptive challenges at the church can be a bit more complex, and at times, can be difficult to identify.  These include; continue research around our evolving values and needs, our roles as parishioners, and the approach we will take to work on our goals. An example of an adaptive challenge will be the way we will approach our Life Span religious education program.  How should we align ourselves to meet the ever-changing needs of our church, our local communities, and global challenges that we face today?

All in all, it was time well-spent learning about our common call, love, and need to serve and lead our church in these changing times. We concluded the best way forward is to co-create with you and invite you to let us know how we’re doing.  How is the church year going for you?  What type of programming would you like to see? Reach out to Rev. Steve or any of the Board members (contact info below).
 
May Peace Be with You,
Your Board   
 

Church Events and Info...

Share the Plate Partner-Community Meal

HAPPENINGS IN THE UUA

Events Calendar 

• ACOA Meeting, Mondays at 7:30 PM
• Choir Rehearsal, Sundays at 9:00 AM 
• Board Meeting, 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM            

Contact Information

Publication Policy