Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

September 2009

Welcome Back!

Our 60th fall worship season begins with a few changes that I wanted to let you know about and an approach to worship themes that I hope you will find meaningful. On Sept. 6, the day of our annual Water Ceremony, I invite you to welcome members of our church community who will be playing a new role in Sunday services, that of Worship Associate. These seven women and men will take turns helping me with worship each week and coordinating services when I am not present. I see this new church program as another dimension of shared ministry, a way of broadening participation in those activities that are the vital work of this congregation. To help accommodate this new role, you will see, I am changing the regular order of service slightly. I welcome your thoughts on these changes. Meanwhile, please welcome your new Worship Associates: Juli Altschul, Linda Bair, Melissa Himelein, Joy Christi Przestwor, Virginia Ramig, Frank Valenti and Bill Williamson.

Each year I look for ways to approach our worship life that help us think about the ways that we as a congregation hope to make a difference in the lives of our members and in the world. Last year I focused on the notion of spiritual maturity, suggesting that the journey that each of us walks in our religious life is toward developing the disciplines, wisdom and understanding that it takes to live in a fulfilling, centered and compassionate way. This year I want to follow that thread further and explore some of the values that are central to that goal. So, each month I’ll choose one of those values and make an effort to have each service that month touch in some way on that value.
In deference to the new church mission statement that this congregation approved in June, I will begin by focusing on the values named in that statement. You’ll recall that the mission is:

We nurture individual search for meaning as we work in community for freedom, justice and love.

So, in September, beginning Sept. 13 at our Ingathering Service, we’ll focus on Freedom. In October we’ll turn to Justice; in November we’ll consider Love; and in December the focus will be Community. I’ll introduce the rest of the themes for the year at a later time. Along the way, I invite you to reflect on how these values touch your own lives and how you realize them in your living.

Finally, a couple of logistical matters to keep in mind: Please remember that we return to a two-service format at 9:15 and 11:15 AM on Sept. 13. For the last 10 AM service, our Water Ceremony on Sept. 6, please bring water to share in our common bowl. It can be water from your travels this summer – the Seine, the Atlantic, the French Broad – or simply from your tap or back yard pond. All water, after all, flows together eventually, and after a busy summer, we, too, gather again to recommit ourselves to this community. See you in church!