by Sue Mosher
Richard Hurst, Dave Skidmore, and I were warmly welcomed along with more than 100 other attendees to the fourth Revival organized by the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. It took place at First Unitarian Church in Worcester, MA (http://www.firstunitarian.com/), a 200-year-old downtown congregation that survived both a devastating hurricane in the 1938 and a fire in 2000 that caused $4 million in damage. Yes, their sanctuary has been rebuilt not once but twice!
We all participated actively in the program – Dave and Richard led small groups, and I presented a workshop on “Jesus and Hospitality” that will be refined into a sermon on “Holy Hospitality” for January 9 – and made many new friends. Many people were aware that we’ve been through a tough year and genuinely wanted to know how things were going.
Highlights:
As requested by Worship Committee chair Rob Bertram, we hit up everyone for their thoughts on hymnals and got an earful to report back to our Worship Committee.
Together with Peg Bartel from the Mt. Vernon church and the 3-person delegation from the Charlottesville UU church, we decided to try to stage a regional UUCF event for people in the Joseph Priestly and Thomas Jefferson districts. This event will tentatively take place on Saturday, May 14, 10-4 p.m. at the UU church in Charlottesville. Plans so far include registration/check-in, labyrinth walking, brief worship, lunch, a business meeting to plan future events, some kind of program on spirituality or theology, with a communion service concluding that day. Home hospitality will be available if a few people want to stay over on Saturday night. The Rev. Danny Reed of Norfolk UU, and Rev. Barry Whittemore (Johnson City, TN – Holston Valley UU church) enthusiastically indicated their interest in attending, which is one reason why we chose a date so far in the future – so they can work their preaching schedule around it.
Individually, we had chats with many ministers and seminarians who wanted to know about our plans for calling a settled minister. We also heard some dynamite preaching. I have no doubt now that, when we submit our packet, we’ll have a number of excellent qualified applicants.
We learned that the Rev. Dr. Barbara Merritt, senior minister in Worcester, is largely responsible for that church’s turnaround. It had 30-40 in worship when she arrived there about 20 years ago and was very much in decline. Today, the congregation seems thriving, with vibrant music and RE programs. We wondered if we might invite her to come preach to us and lead a workshop sharing what she’s learned in Worcester that could help us.
The UUCF conducted a giveaway of 60 years of materials, so they don’t have to be discarded or shipped to the UUCF’s new office in Oklahoma. We shipped back a box of pristine Hymns of the Spirit and a couple of pamphlets in sufficient quantities (10-20) to be useful for adult RE classes. We’ll lodge those in the library on the 2nd floor.
Dave and I spent 2 hours Saturday afternoon drumming – what bliss!
If you want to mark your calendars, the next Revival will take place November 2-5, 2005 at First Jefferson UU Church in Fort Worth, Texas.