July Update from Minister Search Team

Greetings Westside! And Happy Seattle Summer! If you’re spending your summer at home, or in the area at least, you already know that Seattle finally hit its summer stride in the past two weeks. The other day Tony said, “How is it already my birthday (July 20th) this week ?!” It has felt like time has flown, but if you haven’t gotten to the beach yet, don’t fret, there are still a couple of juicy summer months left on the Pacific Northwest calendar. In my last and first newsletter to you, I accidentally referred to our Ministerial Search Team as

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Minister Musings Among the Mountains – Rev. Alex Holt

The Truth-telling Age We are living in an era where the marginalized and the oppressed feel more empowered to share their stories and speak their truth. We who don’t experience apparent marginalization or oppression can find ourselves off balance and confused when others speak their truths about painful and tragic circumstances arise in life. What do we do? How do we respond? Do we translate their powerful or painful language into words that are polite ones but that appear to be censoring ones? I am part of another organization that is facing a similar challenge of hearing words of truth-speaking.

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To Be Called – Margo Rinehart, Ministerial Intern

The Poor People’s Campaign This Memorial Day I chose to leave my relaxing, sunny yard and drive for sixty miles to our state capital in Olympia to participate in week three of “The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival” public witness. Each week of the six “moral Mondays” has a theme, and this time it was The War Economy:  Militarism and the Proliferation of Gun Violence. First, after recently reading the biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, which brought me to tears and to my knees, I wanted to participate and be counted. Second, I heard a rumor that Unitarian Universalists were

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July 8 Annual Poetry Service: Resilience

This service will feature several members of the congregation reading poems of their choosing (written by them or another author), related to the overall theme of “Resilience.” RESILIENCE: Latin, resilīre – to spring back, rebound 1)  the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or adversity; toughness; buoyancy 2)  the power or ability to return to an original form or position, after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. If you are interested in reading a short poem related to the theme of “Resilience,” and also briefly speaking about why that poem is meaningful to you, please contact Lisa Reitzes at lisa.reitzes@seattlechildrens.org  no later than

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Minister’s Musings Among the Mountains – Word Meanings Matter

One of my favorite lines from the Chinese wisdom book The Tao te Ching (ca. 3rd century before common era) by Lao Tzu is “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” (verse 64). It’s very familiar to many people here in the Western world. The words seem straightforward. The journey began with a first step. I don’t know about anyone else, but that suggests to me that whatever journey I am thinking about started some time ago “back when.” Here’s an example. Westside’s journey began many years ago in 1959 when a group of people began to meet here

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We’re In This Together: Nearing the End – Patti McCall, Board President

The final words of my final letter to you as Board President is about the upcoming year. WSUU has experienced a long transitional period. Rev. Peg retired just shy of three years ago. Our DRE Betsy Lowry retired a year later. We had an interim minister who stayed with us just one year and who was fortunately followed by the steadfastness of Rev. Alex Holt. Our hardworking and conscientious Ministerial Search Team of 2017 finished their year of work without the satisfaction of a settled minister. Now we learn our beloved chaplain, Rev. Mark Newton will be retiring at the

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DRE Column for May – Chaplaincy Institute Graduation and Ordination

It is with great joy and excitement that I announce that I have graduated from the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley and have been approved for ordination as an Interfaith Minister and chaplain.  The ordination ceremony will be held on September 22, 2018 in Berkeley. In the world of Religious Exploration, we DREs are responsible for finding creative ways to encourage, inspire, and support the work of faith exploration and formation at home and at church. As Westside’s RE program evolves to keep pace with the evolution of the needs and availability of children, volunteers, and parents, I am ensuring that

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Minister’s Musing Among the Mountains – Week of May 4

“What’s the hardest part of being an interim Minister?” The above question was one of those questions from last summer’s “Stump the Minister” service. I’d planned to respond to the unanswered questions over the course of this church year. Events caught up with us and I had to delay the responses until now. So, what is the hardest part of being an interim minister? The main challenge is moving every year or two (or occasionally 3 years as here). Everything in a temporary home has to be sold, given away, or packed up to move to a new location. Books

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