Although our meeting was long, and we had some areas of contention, I appreciate the hard work we did last weekend at our congregational meeting and the learning we did as we tried new ways of voting. I am sure the Leadership Development team will be reporting the results of the meeting in this edition of…
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This week I met with participants in the closing circle of the music program process led by Rev. Sam. We spent three hours together reviewing our work, our commitments, and our hopes for the future. I am grateful for the 30+ participants in this process and for the work we did together this year and I am…
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Last week I joined music program participants at an end of year celebration that was joyful and delicious. Sunday, we celebrated our diversity and pluralism through a Flower Communion. As you may have noticed, we have experienced a near-miraculous financial re-bound as so many of you have stepped up to increase your pledge, make new donations, and…
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The Transformative Community Conferencing process with Rev. Sam is in its final stages of completion. We have two short gatherings to close this work out after six small groups met for 2.5 hours each and then 6 hours with those participants last Saturday. We’ll offer more reflections from this work soon, but I want to say that it…
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There’s a lot going at VUU! I hope a takeaway for you is that we can have hard conversations and share what’s on our minds and in our hearts–and when we listen to each other we have the opportunity to be changed, to see things differently, even if we still disagree. Agreement isn’t a requirement for…
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What does it mean when a position is an “interim” position? Watch this video instead of reading, or while you read. Many people think of interim work as a placeholder while a congregation conducts a search. Nothing could be farther from the case, if the interim work is done right. Interim work is developmental work…
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Last weekend I was excited to join many VUU families and members (over 50 of us!) at CampWay in Prescott where we spent a couple of nights and a day enjoying the trees, the breeze, the squirrels and many activities including several cool art projects, zip lines, team building, an un-talent show, and a giant…
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Rev. Sarah is attending the VUU Retreat in Prescott this weekend.
As some of you learned at service last week, I participated in some civil disobedience last week in support of Unite Here (union) concession workers at Sky Harbor. (Article here) With two NAACP representatives (both pastors, one is a Bishop) another African American Bishop, and 15 other individuals, we helped draw attention to the issues facing these…
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Desert Notes will return soon!
