Sep. 28, 2022
“There’s no place like home.”
-Dorothy
Hello, friends!
Many of you know that we use resources provided by a program called Soul Matters to structure much of our worship and religious education programming. From Soul Matters, we receive a monthly theme and suggestions for readings and reflections on those themes. Our theme this month has been Belonging; on Sunday, our service will introduce next month’s theme: Courage, and in November we’ll be thinking about Change.
In my mind, however, our theme for the fall months is simply Home. In part, this is because I have been with you for just a little over a year now, and we are (I hope) getting to feel at home with each other. I’ve had plenty of time now to observe how y’all take care to build safe and welcoming spaces for each other. And, this fall we are bringing closure to some of last year’s disasters and disruptions, not just the pandemic, but also the challenges of repair and renovation work on our buildings and grounds. We are reclaiming some of our spaces and celebrating the shared life that all of our campus makes possible.
Between now & Thanksgiving, your Worship and Shared Ministries teams have planned several opportunities for us to celebrate together our sense of community and appreciation of our shared home. I hope we will see you at one or more of these events: an active & interactive blessing of spaces throughout our campus (Sunday, Oct. 16), a Worship Team retreat open to all (Saturday, Nov. 5), and a Homecoming Sunday (Nov. 20). Please watch our weekly email and website for more details about these, but first, I’d like to invite you to help me think and plan for these:
If you would like, I’d love to hear about your favorite spot on our church campus: Where do you feel most at home? And why? What is special, comforting, awe-inspiring or whatever about your favorite GNUUC space? Please send a quick email to let me know!
Yours in the joy of co-creating home,
Rev. Denise
Rev. Denise Gyauch
Minister, Greater Nashville UU Congregation
RevDenise@gnuuc.org