Bloom where you're planted

And in the good, healthy soil of this beloved community, I have bloomed. Am blooming.

It is not for want of nurture here, or a search for a “better” place to do ministry, that JD and I are spending the first week of April in Massachusetts, as candidates for co-ministry at First Parish Brewster, an
historic UU congregation on Cape Cod. I love doing ministry here in Arlington –
love my colleagues, Michael and Linda; love the people, the committed leaders
and the staff; love the particular opportunities and challenges of ministry so
close to the political power center of the world; love living in the DC metro
area. I love it all.

And I love my partner, JD. The path of commitment is joyful and sometimes steep, as anyone who has been in a marriage knows. It has been challenging to find stable ministries in the same
geographic area. JD and I do so much better together when we are not separated
by time and distance. In this new ministry we look forward not only to the
prospect of living together, but also to sharing a commitment to a single
congregation.

Of course this move remains potential until after Candidating Week April 4-11, when the congregation in Brewster has the opportunity to vote to ratify the choice of its Search
Committee. Or not.

For now, however, it has been and continues to be a joy to be one of your ministers. There is much to celebrate. If JD and I do accept a call to Brewster, I look forward to a tender
leavetaking, with long conversations that include looking forward as well as
looking back to see where we’ve been together. Even without transitions, it is
good to take that time to notice – to pause, to smell the roses, and to
appreciate the beauty and the vigor of the blooming -- in our individual lives,
and especially here at UUCA.