by Connie Spearing, Connections Coordinator

Through March, April and into May we waited for the day when we could come home to UUSM, when we could walk through the doors, see the chalice and the stained glass win- dows, see each other’s faces and raise the rafters in song. Virtual hugs are nice, but they can’t take the place of the real thing.

The other shoe fell in May with the realization that it will be months before we will be able to gather as a whole congre- gation. It may even be some time next year. I must admit to a few days of total panic, even depression at the thought. After all, I’m the Connections Coordinator; my life is all about showing up and encouraging others to do the same. Ours is not a solitary salvation; we carry out our ...

by Tanya Webster, Director of Religious Exploration

In a blink of an eye, spring has come and gone while we shelter in place. Time seems to speed by, yet I also feel it dragging the toes of its trainers along the pavement, slowing my journey down the road. Days repeat, days blur, days just are. At Blue Boat Chapel, one child summed it up perfectly; “Well, I don’t really have a high, or a low, to share. Everything’s just sort of a middle.”

And so, we wait. And we give thanks – for our loved ones’ health, for the brave and good citizens who show up every day to tend to our ill and to our communities. And we pray – each in our own way with thoughts, reflections, energies, ...

by Rev. Pam Gehrke

If you visit Chartres Cathedral in France, one thing you might notice as you approach is that the two spires over the building’s main entrance do not match. This is because one was built in the 12th century and the other in the 16th. I find it odd that the designer of the later spire, which replaced the original after it was destroyed by lightning, chose to update the style. The result is an asymmetrical façade.

This asymmetry calls attention to the fact that the cathedral was built over a period of centuries. What might have transpired in the time between the original towers’ construction and the completion of the new spire? We might imagine fires, wars, and advances of building technology. And yes, the construction was no doubt interrupted—possibly ...