June Minister’s Musings

The Season of Transitions
By: Rev. Lydia Ferrante-Roseberry

May and June. The bursting forth of spring. Graduations and weddings. The end of school. The beginning of summer travel. This is the season of transitions!

Life has its cycles, and so does our congregation. Of course, this year has seen a lot of coming and going with my sabbatical. But that hasn’t precluded the annual wrapping up activities of the Fellowship, and the feeling of transition around here. Budgets have been prepared, new committee chairs selected, projects wrapped up, and our summer service time returned to its 10 am summer time on Memorial Day weekend.

The following week, June 2, we’ll have two of our annual ‘wrapping up’ activities — our annual Flower Ceremony — please bring a flower to share — and our Annual Meeting, which will include honoring volunteers, electing officers and voting on our budget. Please do plan on being at the Fellowship for this special Sunday.

This year, we have a very special transition to note — our intern, Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan, will officially be leaving us on June 9th. With me on sabbatical, Sarah was asked to do an extra-ordinary internship. And, by all accounts, she did an extraordinary job. She offered herself fully to the ministry of this congregation, excelling in particular in providing pastoral care, in holding the container for worship, and in leading adult

RE classes that intersected social justice and spirituality. She stepped in where she saw the need, and asked meaningful questions no matter what the occasion. And I think she may have personally tasked herself to find a meaningful way to use the word “Facebook” at least once each Sunday. Thank you Sarah for gracefully helping to bring us into the 21st century!

I know many of you have fallen in love with her cheerful and soulful presence. My only regret is that I got so little time to be in a ministerial partnership with her! While she’s finishing up at Iliff Seminary next year, Sarah will also be the ½ time contract minister at our congregation in Laramie, WY (where member Penny Rather retires from this year). I have no doubt that Sarah will succeed in any ministry she is called to.

Transitions can be hard. UUA and UUMA guidelines ask us to fully release Sarah from her ministry with us by not having contact with her for a year after the internship ends. This enables her to more fully understand ministry as service, and for all of us to process the grief that comes from leave-taking.

Together, we navigate the sometimes challenging waters of transitions — with our tears, and our fears, as well as with our joys and anticipations.

In Peace,

Lydia