It’s been a whole week since I became your minister, and I am having such a good time! Thank you for the warm welcome and your generous gifts of time and attention to the process of getting me oriented.

We welcome our new minister, Rev. Denise Gyauch. Today is her first day as our minister! Denise, we are so happy you are here! If you have not yet watched the welcome video from Rev. Denise, click Read More below. If you would l like to reach out to Rev. Denise, she has been added to Breeze and Slack. Her email is: revdenise@gnuuc.org

Although I have said most of what I want to say in my final board report and in my June 20th service, I want to make sure those who don’t attend can access the remarks. I want you to know how much I love, appreciate, and wish you well.

Last night, I learned that another UU colleague had died. He was only a bit older than I, and he followed me in interim ministry at the UU Congregation of the South Jersey Shore in 2016. He’d had a stroke a year ago, but was recovering. He had been planning to preach in CT just 2 weeks ago.

At times, the deaths of the past year seem overwhelming. Even as COVID deaths begin to decrease, we are left to contemplate the losses the pandemic has wrought. Not only has the virus taken the lives of tens of thousands, (almost 600,000, nearly 3.5 million worldwide) but so many have been unable to travel to be with family or loved ones who died by other causes, or to attend or even hold services.

This week, we will honor our graduating Seniors, Xander and Zoe. Each of them will have time to say a few words about their plans and you will have the opportunity to donate to the traditional Cash Jar Fund for our senior grads. I hope you will make time to attend and show these two amazing young people how much we love them and support their next steps.

I have been on leave this month of April, and one of my goals was to work on getting to the bottom of why my chronic illness (migraines) have become so much worse in the past few years. Although I am otherwise healthy, and even though I hate complaining, because it doesn’t help, I want to let you know where things stand.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of our first “pandemic” Sunday, I am sharply aware of how much has changed.

The last time I spoke at GNUUC was March 15th, 2020. When I left that day, I left all of my sermon notes, my books, my files, and a good deal of my clothes in Nashville. I could have come back for a day or two, but I haven’t.