An important announcement
Dear beloved UUCPA folks,
With a heavy heart, but knowing that the time is right, I have decided to resign from my position at UUCPA, and move into semi-retirement, effective June 30. We will have served together for 22 years. What a lucky, blessed person I am to have had these years with you and to be able to part on good terms, not because of any problems at UUCPA or in my life, but simply because life calls me in a new direction.
My heart overflows with so many feelings. I am very sad to say goodbye to this congregation and each of you. I am proud of all that we have done together to create the Beloved Community both within and beyond our walls. I am happy that the congregation is healthy, with strong lay leaders, an excellent and experienced staff, a devoted and talented minister of religious education, and three wise affiliated community ministers to help guide UUCPA to its next phase. I am excited about my own next phase. And most of all, I am profoundly grateful. What you have given me since I arrived here, a young minister who had been ordained only three years before, is beyond anything I can express, though I will do my best over the next five months to tell you all that you have meant to me.
What’s next for UUCPA? I informed the Board of my decision on Wednesday evening, just before I sent this letter, and now they and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Transitions Office will arrange for an interim minister to serve here, probably for one or two years. While the congregation engages in the search for the minister you wish to call next, the interim minister will help you with the tasks of this transitional period.
What’s next for our minister-congregation relationship? To put it simply, it will end and become something else in time. While the interim and search processes are underway, and until the next settled parish minister has been at UUCPA for a year, I will put the health of the congregation first by ceasing to engage in any professional or ministerial way with the people of UUCPA. If we run into each other—which may happen, since I’ll still be living in the Bay Area—we don’t have to pretend we didn’t see each other. We just won’t talk about congregational life, because after June, I will no longer be your minister, and you will turn instead to Rev. Cat and the other ministers you bring to UUCPA.
What’s next for me? I will be happily semi-retired, working only part-time. That half of my time may involve part-time ministry, teaching, guest preaching, officiating at memorials and weddings, and/or writing. I look forward to more time and flexibility to be with my wife, Joy, who retired two years ago, and to pursue art and my other interests.
We will make sure to have a celebration of our 22 years together, and we’ll have many opportunities to say our goodbyes before my last day. If you want to speak with me one on one, please choose a time using www.calendly.com/amyzm. I will look forward to it.
With boundless love and respect,
Amy
Photo by Chris Cassell, UUCPA Auction, 2024