Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Weaving the Web

January 13, 2006
Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

At New Year’s time, I try to reflect on what I’ve done well, what I want to do next, where I put my attention and how I’d like to change. As a church, we’re beginning the New Year with reflection and resolution: at the January 21 workshop we’ll assess where we are, at the February 4 workshop we’ll determine where we want to go next, and our Membership Renewal Campaign “Hand in Hand with our Future” begins shortly. It’s a good time to reflect on what we do well as a congregation. What accomplishments do we want to applaud and expand? Out of the many successes of the past several years, the Rev. Darcey Laine and I have each selected a list of ten.

Darcey’s will follow in the next issue. These ten (in no particular order — it was hard enough to narrow it down to this number!) are a mix of things I’ve helped make happen and others that I’ve seen happen during the 2 1/2 years since I arrived.

Get Better Bistro
Our Baby Café has been such a great way to support each other — with many members recovering from hospitalizations, often people who live alone, we’ve expanded the concept to support them too. Pat Thomas pulled it together last year for Julie Cockroft, and I made it an institution with the help of Ila Keiper, Sara Newcomb, and now new coordinator Ginny Faxon.

Science and Religion, Writing as a Spiritual Practice, and Our Transcendentalist Heritage
I enjoy creating Adult Religious Education offerings from scratch, and these three were particularly satisfying both in the work that I did to pull together different ideas, and in the sparks that the participants generated. We have such a rich intellectual community.

Bass Lake 2005
We weren’t sure the Bass Lake Weekend was going to survive into last September, with changes in funding and structure and Harry Bahlman’s “retirement,” but led by Gloria Geller, a great team made it not only survive but thrive. Bass Lake is one of the peak intergenerational experiences of the year and a model for us to imitate in the things we do here in Palo Alto.

Staying Connected through Confusing Changes
I’m the third settled parish minister in a row to divorce shortly after beginning my Palo Alto ministry, and my marriage to Joy also followed a UUCPA pattern (or broke it: in the other two cases, it was the minister’s spouse who then entered a lesbian relationship!). Was this coincidence, or the working out of some kind of karmic pattern? In any case, it dredged up a lot of old hurt feelings for many people, and weathering the turmoil together is an accomplishment we can be proud of.

Lights! Camera! Activism!
This movie series, created by the Peace Umbrella in partnership with WorldCentric and the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, is a tremendous service to the community and has brought many hungerers for justice through our doors (and into our Sunday services).

The Opportunity Center
for homeless and at-risk Palo Altans has been kept before our eyes for a long time by Litsie Indergand, Rev. Darcey Laine and others. Then, two years ago, Daryce Peterson, Susan McBain and Gail Claspell urged us each to give generously to raise $50,000 and put it over the top — and we gave over $100,000. What a legacy we are giving our community!

Building the Labyrinth
Darcey’s brainchild, we planned and led this complex project together, along with the youth and many others from here and Redwood City. We worked with our bodies, minds, and spirits to make a place for everyone to explore the body, mind and spirit. It is a thing of beauty.

Peninsula Interweave
Even before the tensions of last spring and summer, I heard leaders saying, “We need to take our next steps as a Welcoming Congregation.” With the support of Welcoming Congregation chair Marnie Singer, I organized the first meeting of our Interweave chapter in April 2004, and it’s met faithfully ever since. It’s a small group, but it brings together people from four UU congregations (sometimes more), and heterosexual, gay, bisexual, lesbian people of a wide range of gender identities.

My and Darcey’s partnership
Within one congregation we have many — sometimes conflicting — understandings of the parish minister’s and MRE’s roles. Out of them, and despite having barely met before my arrival, Darcey and I have forged a strong team built on respect and honest communication. We have fun leading together, and we each make the other a better minister.

Coming of Age Credo Class & Service
As a lovely treat for me last year, while Darcey was on sabbatical, I got to lead the Coming of Age credo class and guide these teens in their spring worship service. The depth of their beliefs, and the clarity with which they expressed them, were a testament not only to them, their parents, and the Coming of Age program, but also to our Children’s Religious Education program and our entire congregation.

Stay tuned for Darcey’s list … and tell us: what other successes should we celebrate together?

— Blessings,
Amy