Explosive Growth in Historic Times
Dear Unitarian Society of Germantown,
This Sunday marks my fourth week back in the pulpit since returning from parental leave. I am starting to get my sea legs under me as a parent of two, working full-time, but still haven’t quite gotten back in the saddle with night meetings. Those remain uncharted territory. I am definitely feeling the constraints of fitting everything into a 9-5 time frame, knowing that before and after those hours, I belong to my children and my family’s needs. That being said, this congregation has been beautifully supportive and appreciative of what my life looks like now and I feel incredibly lucky to be the minister here among such compassionate and encouraging folks.
When I looked around this past Sunday, I gulped when I realized just how explosive our growth has been. Our Children’s Spiritual Development Program already has 57 kids registered in it, compared with last year’s 22. We are averaging 140 folks attending in-person on Sundays, compared with last year’s low-80s. We are feeding people in a packed fellowship hour. Our visitor forms are flying in and our community feels important and vital in these times. I am inspired and awe-struck.
While so many of you have expressed deep and profound enthusiasm for what is happening, there have been and will continue to be growing pains. I believe we are only just beginning this journey towards becoming a place of powerful hope and spiritual formation, brimming with people of all ages. It will take us all adopting the mantra “these are good problems to have” as we navigate the ramifications of scaling up quickly. Flexibility will be needed as we try to plan how to use and assign space to our various meetings and programs Sunday post-worship. Perspective will be needed as our Wiggle Room welcomes eleven kids under the age of two each Sunday. Attention will be needed as we create a culture of respect for the elders who helped shape the welcoming home so many of us want to be a part of. Being in community means being accommodated and accommodating in varying measure at varying times. But grace will abound if we remember these are all good problems to have.
We are also in a particular moment in history and we have big decisions to make as a community about how we want to live out our values and embody our faith. We need a mission and a vision and a five year plan that ensures we are all following the same North Star, working together to pull our congregation, our city, and our denomination towards a future we believe in.
I’m going to give you all a bit of homework right now: I want you to think about what we could be. I want you to be dreaming about what USG could be to the neighborhood, to the city, to the world, and to one another as historic events unfold before us each day. What are we called to do? What are you called to do? Think about it. And share your thoughts with me at minister@usguu.org. I’ll collect as many as I can and we can start to think about where there is cohesion among our dreams.
Two other bits of homework:
- It is an all-hands-on-deck situation to get our children’s spiritual development program supervised to the level that ensures safety and playful learning. If you have not yet, please do sign up to volunteer with CSD. Zoe will train you and help you get oriented, but if you have ever considered volunteering in this capacity, NOW is the moment to help us out.
- Take this skills inventory survey. We need to know what we’re working with–who has what kinds of expertise, skills, and hobbies. We are going to leverage all the knowledge that already exists in this community to get organized to respond to whatever may come.Â
Sending you all love and faith in this time. While the world has hard and big problems, the ones we’ve got at USG are good and filled with possibility.
In faith,
Rev. Hannah