From the Board-Saying Grace, Showing Gratitude

From the Board Chair-
Saying Grace, Showing Gratitude
By Natalia (Natty) Averett
[as published in the September 2010 Arlingtarian]

The church fiscal year begins July 1, but it’s in September, when we return to two Sunday services and when many activities which are on hiatus for the summer return, that it feels that the church’s new year has begun. The church has a “first day of school” feeling. Activities get into full swing, sign-up tables abound, the new-visitor rosters swell. I wanted to write something fitting for the start of the year and struggled for an idea. Then I remembered our former minister, Rev. Mary, quoting Meister Eckhart: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” And I remembered Rev. Linda’s story of the Sukkot, also known as the feast of ingathering, or feast of tabernacles, and how it takes all kinds to make the sukkah, the place that shelters us. For this month, I decided to share with you the reading from our first Board of Trustees meeting this year.

Here is my kick-off for the year: a poem and prayer. I am “saying grace,” giving thanks, with words borrowed from the Rev. Janet H. Bowering.

“The Church is People”
By Janet H. Bowering
Minister emerita, Universalist
Unitarian Church of Haverhill,
Massachusetts
Published on www.uuworld.org.
January 11, 2010

"A church is people. It is not a body of belief, a set of
principles, or an impressive structure of stone, wood, and
glass. A church has roots in the past no matter how recently
the congregation was organized. A church represents a
long procession of people willing to work with others
toward shared goals, worship with others of similar belief,
and hold in honor the wise and courageous people who
have gone before them.

The people who constitute a church come with their needs
as well as their gifts. To the extent that they can share their
concerns and vulnerabilities and become sensitive to those
of others, they will be part of a beloved community.
A church consists of people who are not too sure they are
right, who are willing to be somewhat uncomfortable in
order to correct what they see as wrong. It is made up of
people who order their priorities and choose their way with
a generous spirit (and often considerable rhetoric).

In a church there are those who are practical about
institutional needs as well as the needs of the human
family. There are people who understand our
interdependent web of existence, those who can share the
poetry they find in the stars, and those who can circulate a
petition to save the wetlands.

There are those who can speak out against nuclear
madness and those who can remember that the roof needs
mending. Churches need people who can help feed the
hungry of the world and people who can help feed the
hunger deep within the souls of those gathered.

A church is composed of people who continue in the long
procession knowing that others will follow—others for
whom they must make a better world, to whom they owe a
heritage of carefully examined discoveries and challenging
possibilities. A church is made up of people eager to be part
of that procession yet fiercely aware of their individual
identities within it and alert to the fragility of the
relationship.

A church is a granite base and a silken web, a crystal ball
and a cup of fire."

Thank you to all the volunteers, staff, and stewards of the church who keep the lights on and to the children and adults, members and friends, who give us a reason to.

In peace,
Natalia (Natty) Averett, Chair
On Behalf of the Board of Trustees
nataliaaverett(at)aol.com
703-868-8189