This past Tuesday I worked with the family of Jamila and Damian Pulliam to create a memorial and celebration of life service for Jamila’s sister. Samira, who died last week after a short but fierce fight with cancer. Together with VUU volunteers and paid assistants we hosted an amazing, inspiring ritual and community gathering that…
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Desert Notes will return next week.
Spirituality of Conflict Last week your Board of Trustees, Committee on Shared Ministry and I met with Rev. Dr. Samantha Wilson to begin our work on the Spirituality of Conflict. The small group ministry capped out at 34 participants, and we had a very engaging and deep set of conversations that explored our own responses…
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Quick Desert Notes: One of the books that influenced my reflection last weekend was a book called “How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community” by Mia Birdsong. I hope some of you have a chance to read it! In addition, my colleague Kimberly Debus has a blog and a couple of the recent posts…
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Developing our Capacity to Manage Differences This month a lot has been going behind the scenes! Rev. Sam Wilson has been in 1:1 conversation with many member leaders and staff. Members of the Committee on Shared Ministry, the VUU Board and the Leadership Development Committee will also be meeting with Rev. Sam during our kick off weekend…
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Desert Notes will return next week.
This Sunday, we got word that my father in law had died. He was in hospice with cancer and had suffered a couple of strokes. We knew his time with us was short. We are sorry to lose him. Chuck was a man with a big heart – he took folks in when they were…
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Last week’s New Participant Welcome Luncheon was a festive occasion with good food, good conversation and questions, and a chance to get to know some new participants. These happen quarterly and are followed by a class and invitation for those who are ready to join. Current members and leaders are encouraged to join us and help…
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The VUU Staff met this week to go over the year ahead of us, planning our calendar of activities. We will also be reviewing the previous year. We’d love to hear from committees about your plans for the year so we can make sure our planning is collaborative and supportive and avoid accidental overlaps in planning. Send us…
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Dear Ones! If you experienced our online technical difficulties last Sunday, we are very sorry! Ryan, our new Tech Booth Lead, is helping us sort out the source(s) of the issues. In the meantime, I know many of you missed the sermon, and I’d like to share the script I worked from. I know it’s not the…
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