The Board kicked off our new year on Saturday, August 19th with an all-day workshop led by Sarah Schurr, our UUA Pacific Region field representative. We explored the relationship between governance and ministry, and discussed ways to effectively differentiate the roles of each within TUUC. It was a productive day and great opportunity to introduce new … Continue reading New Beginnings and a New Program Year
It’s summertime and many in our congregation, including most on our board members, are away, so I’m spending my summer days pondering what’s ahead. TUUC is at the point of New Beginnings. We have a newly settled minister, Linda, three new board members, and clearly defined goals — engagement, social justice, and financial stability. Oh … Continue reading Summer Wonder
About a year ago, the Tahoma UU Congregation entered into a partnership with the Vashon Island Unitarian Fellowship. Our minister, Linda Hart, works with their Board and provides worship service support to the community at Vashon. Both congregations are supporting, and receiving the benefits of, Matt Aspin’s ministerial internship. In early April, the Boards of … Continue reading Partners in Transformation
Spring is here. We enjoy more light each day. We see buds and new growth in forests and parks, gardens, and backyards. Our wonderful corner of Cascadia is feeling new energy and creating this year’s version of what it means to be the rain-soaked, ocean-fueled, mountain-encircled, salmon-growing jewel that we call home. Spring is here. … Continue reading How Will We Then Thrive?
On Sunday, March 5, 2017, the membership of the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation voted to call the Reverend Dr. Linda A. Hart to serve as the settled minister of our congregation. Linda accepted the congregation’s call, agreeing to continue her ministry at TUUC (helping us to laugh, dance, and be fantastic). The congregation’s vote affirms … Continue reading Calling Rev. Dr. Linda A. Hart as Settled Minister
Happy! Lucky me. Lucky us. I get to share the good news that the Rev. Dr. Linda A. Hart is a candidate to become the settled minister for the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation! In late January, a Task Force of five TUUC members convened conversations in which about 70 congregants: discussed their experiences during Linda’s … Continue reading Happy!
Like most organizations, the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation has written statements of vision and mission. Through a series of #fUUtureFaith conversations that Rev. Linda Hart facilitated last winter and spring, we affirmed these statements, which convey our view of the future of Unitarian Universalism in Pierce County. To paraphrase: We sustain an enduring Tahoma Unitarian … Continue reading Our Vision of the Future
November 2016 seems likely to feature prominently In the story of our communities. We’ve been rocked by an election campaign and election results that that seem both shockingly unprecedented and reminiscent of some of the darkest chapters of our history. Dickens’ famous opening sentence about “the best of times … the worst of times” builds … Continue reading “… the epoch of belief … the epoch of incredulity”
“And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?” This question is the opening line of Raymond Carver’s “Late Fragment,” a poem that seems to reach out to me every few years. Earlier in 2016 I heard this line as the culminating “bonus” question in a commencement address at the Harvard … Continue reading “And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?”
I’ve been thinking about stories. In part because I’ve been reading stories and essays about stories. (Thank you John Barth and Wendell Berry.) But also because I’m part of the team of Tahoma UU Congregation members who will be sharing from the pulpit during our (fairly) annual “What I Read This Summer” worship service on … Continue reading Sharing Stories
