Hello UUCSW!

Welcome to September and to the 2022-2023 church year. It’s exciting that after two years of virtual worship, we are starting this year in a new way – we’re intentionally hybrid.

There are so many things going on in September.

Recently, my yoga teacher read this letter in a class:

There’s a sacredness to autumn, a blessedness. We witness autumn’s golden sunlight shifting lower on the horizon. Ethereal sunlight streams as though through cathedral windows in the sky. This time of year, it’s easy to be awestruck by the deep beauty of the heavens and the earth and our astonishing place in between.
 
Autumn is a time of extraordinary transformation, when nature lets go of summer’s abundance and begins to turn inward. We see animals building up stocks of food and warmth to prepare for the long, cold winter months. We see deciduous trees dropping the leaves that gathered sunlight and fueled growth all spring and summer. The branches let go, allowing the leaves to become soil for new seeds. This is a life-long process for the tree…growth, release, growth. 

This idea of growth and release – happening at the same time – captures September for me. We’re excited for what’s coming in the fall – new school year, football season, church resuming, harvest celebrations, comfort food and pumpkin-spiced everything. And we’re releasing things that won’t carry us into the new season – from beach toys to BBQ gear to extended summer bedtimes and Sunday mornings “off”.

I always look forward to coming back to church in the fall. My loose summer weekends become anchored by our Sunday 10:30 service. No matter what other Fall changes are happening, I know that our church community will both support and inspire me. With intention, I come back to church and celebrate the blessedness of autumn.

~ Ellen Rutter for the UUCSW Board of Trustees