For what do you look genuinely and consistently? Or, for what do you intend to look? At the beginning of this church year, your Board decided to make connection our shared mission this year. And many of you have been genuinely and consistently doing the work of creating and strengthening our connections: phone calls to check in with each other, meeting with covenant groups, joining worship online or in the sanctuary, spending time with our young folks in Children's Religious Education, working together in the garden or on our new covered pavilion, planning service projects, and so much more.

I expect our hybrid meetings will continue through the current spike in COVID cases, but I want to ask each of you to think carefully about your own safety, health, and risk levels. If you would like to join us in person, please continue to sign in when you arrive, to wear a good mask properly, and to maintain space between yourself and others while inside–these measures help us keep each other safer. Please, please, be sure to get vaccinated and boosted as you are eligible. But also consider your own individual level of risk: if you have underlying health issues, or other areas of your life involve higher levels of risk or exposure, please be mindful of whether or not your overall well-being is best served by joining us in person or online. Our policy and practices cannot keep us perfectly safe, but if each of us is thoughtful and careful, we will all be safer and able to sustain the congregational connections that nurture us.

I hope your holiday season is filled with whatever you most want or need, and that you are taking time to relax and enjoy it.

I am away from work this week (returning to work on Tuesday, January 4), enjoying some time away with my family.

The big news locally is that we will gather to celebrate Christmas Eve on Friday, at 4 p.m., in the sanctuary and online (Zoom and YouTube). We will share some stories, some music, and a few reflections, ending as always in candlelight. Please be sure to read here about Christmas Eve safety and programming for the Sundays of the holiday season.

Rev. Michelle is available to provide pastoral coverage while Rev. Denise is away.

I hope you will read today’s Eblast and explore all the articles; congregational and community life is picking up and you have many options for connecting in the next few weeks.

On this day before Thanksgiving, I feel like I should be gathering my thoughts about all for which I am grateful, in preparation. (And if I were doing that, GNUUC would certainly be on my list!) What I am doing, however, is doing my best to be present to myself and those around me, rather than to my (perhaps a tad overlong) to-do list.

Wow, this month has been even more liminal (on the line between one place/time/reality and another) than November usually is!

Starting this Sunday, we will be slowly finding our way (both technically and socially) back to using our sanctuary for worship services. Upcoming services will continue to be available on Zoom (except for 5th Sundays, which we will spend working together on service projects), but will also be available to enjoy in-person in our garden and/or sanctuary. Different options will be available on different weeks, so please be sure to watch the Eblast, website, and other communication channels for reminders each week.