As we enter my fifth year of ministry with you here at WUUC, I want to share the news that I will be taking a sabbatical during the 2024-25 church year. This is a normal custom among clergy of all types, and specifically for Unitarian Universalist ministers. In our faith tradition (and in accordance with my Letter of Agreement), a called minister receives one month of sabbatical time for every year of ministry served. This means that this year (year five), I will be taking a four-month sabbatical starting on November 25, 2024, and returning to work on March 25, 2025. My first Sunday worship service back in the pulpit will be on April 6, 2025 (to give me some time to reintegrate back into the community before planning and leading worship again).
I imagine you might have some questions about how all of this will work. Luckily, I’m not having to figure it out alone. I have formed (and been working with) a Sabbatical Team to create coverage plans that will ensure everything goes smoothly while I’m away. There is still some planning to do and details to work out, but our plans are beginning to take shape.
To share what we know so far, we have created a brochure (attached) with information about the upcoming sabbatical. If (after reading the brochure) you still have questions, bring them with you to church on Sunday. After the worship service (this Sunday 8/18), there will be a Q&A session with myself and the Sabbatical Team to address your unanswered questions.
I am looking forward to my sabbatical; and also to returning from it refreshed, renewed, and ready to dive back into the vibrant ministry here at WUUC! As much as I’m looking forward to this, I know I will miss you all very much and be eager to see you all again by the time March rolls around. For the next few months, though, let’s focus on getting this new church year off to a good start.
August is here and that means a new school year is about to begin. Totes to Go is a program that provides weekend food for students who are at risk of missing meals when school food programs aren’t available. WUUC participates by providing supplies for 15 of those students at Maywood Hills School in Bothell.
Our church has been part of the Totes program for many years. We have a list of items that we collect all through one month and deliver at the beginning of the next. So, the items we collect in August will be delivered at the beginning of September.
How does this work and how can you help? We have regular donors who bring particular items each month. We could use some more of those! Just contact me, Grace Simons. Some folks prefer to wait till late in the month and respond to my message about what we still need. Another way to support Totes is to make a financial contribution that will go to purchasing items needed to complete our list. And finally, at the end of the month, usually after our Sunday service, I could use help loading all our items into my car.
It’s well established that hungry kids don’t learn well. We can help prevent “our” kids from coming to school hungry on Monday mornings. We make a difference in their ability to learn every week!
Questions and comments? Contact John Hartman or Grace Simons, co-coordinators.
On May 19th, 2024 our congregation formalized and celebrated our covenant of shared ministry with the Reverend Dan Lille during his Installation Service & Ceremony and reception at Bear Creek United Methodist Church (BCUMC). Those in attendance in-person and virtually, represented a wide swath of people who have supported both Rev. Dan and our congregation through our four years of shared ministry together: Rev. Dan’s ministerial colleagues and mentors, Rev. Dan’s and Emily’s family and friends, WUUC congregants and our family members as well as our amazing WUUC staff. As Kermit Sprang said during the service in his Greetings from WUUC, “we have been through times when we have felt totally unified – and times when we feared we were tearing ourselves apart. And through all of that Dan has been there with us, and we are where we are now –stronger, more together, more ready to face the future –largely because of his presence.
The event itself was made possible by the efforts and coordinated work of the WUUC Installation Team with the music coordinators, guest ministers, musicians, choir, caterers, ceremony & reception volunteers, photographer, and the gracious hospitality of BCUMC Pastor Brook McBride and staff who donated the use of their sanctuary and building to WUUC for the afternoon. I am deeply grateful to all those who made this event so inspiring and memorable.
So, what did we do together during this Installation Service and Ceremony? An installation service formally celebrates the shared ministry and covenantal relationship between the minister and congregation that has called him. As Kermit Sprang further shared, “because we called Rev. Dan as our minister in May, 2020 this installation has a different character as it affirms a relationship that has had time to develop, that has been tested, and tried, and that we already know is working.” And yes, it will always be work in progress for both minister and congregation.
At this Installation Service/Ceremony Rev. Dan and members of the WUUC congregation shared covenantal words with one another, our promises to each other in creating and building this shared ministry together as beloved community. As we finished saying our words of commitment to each other, Rev. Dan and the Congregation finished the Act of Installation with the shared words, “Thus do we covenant. May we live faithfully into our shared ministry with courage, compassion, and love.
Rev. Dan, Emily and Natalie – Welcome, you’re home.
UUA General Assembly (GA) is totally virtual this year, convening June 20-23, 2024. You have elected three WUUC delegates- Dottie Simpson, Pam Green, and Winny Schnitzler.
This year, delegates will be voting on adoption of the proposed revisions (and 4 qualified amendments) to Article II of the UUA Bylaws.
We are providing an opportunity for discussion of these topics; an in-person discussion after church service on Sunday, June 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. PDT and a Zoom session Wednesday, June 12th 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. PDT.
In addition, a survey will be sent via Announce for you to share with us your feedback about the Article II proposed revisions and amendments. Before then I will provide you with the current Article II and the proposed Article II revisions and amendments which we will be voting on at GA 2024.
We will update you on anything which seems pertinent for you to know beyond this info.
