From the Minister – March 2024

Transformation with image of butterfly

Welcome back, for those returning!
Welcome in, for those seeking!
Welcome to all!

For those who don't yet know, I am not planning to renew my contract with UUCTS. Conversations in the summer and fall around the congregation's relationship with its finances were one motivating factor in my decision, as the recommendation was put forward to move to a half-time ministry position for the 2024-25 program year. (To be clear, I fully support this decision as a start to the congregation being more financially sustainable, as one piece of many decisions). 

The spiritual theme for March is Transformation, and our worship services are working out to be engaging in the related ideas of listening, growing, and health, and how those connect with the practice of covenant. Every year of my time with UUCTS has presented its own challenges and growth, although this year there has been a shift that has allowed the congregation to engage with the challenges more deeply and directly than it has in the past. And there is still much work to do -- but covenant has the power to transform us all.

I know that this is a difficult time in congregational life with this much change. I know I will be missed by many, though not all. Know that I will miss you, too. One way for me to express my care for you is to continue supporting the board as well as the congregation as a whole through this time. 

This month's services came together without any discussion with our guests in the pulpit, so it's been a pleasant surprise to witness how the ideas emerged and connected. It's one of the reasons I love working with spiritual themes -- we have the opportunity to do a deeper dive from different perspectives that still share common threads.

As Unitarian Universalists, the thread that holds us together is covenant, an invitation again and again to return to conversation and commitment in our journeys together. It's important to name both the conversation and the journeying: without both, we either talk with no action or we act without reflection. Neither will allow us to grow or be transformed in the community. And without that, what are we doing?

If you'd like to reach out:  You can reach me through email at uuctsminister@gmail.com

In faith and service, Rev. Kristina Spaude (She/her)

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