Dear UCG, 

There’s a meme that’s been around forever — or as long as I’ve been on facebook — of the old Warner Sallman painting, “Christ at Heart’s Door,” that was once ubiquitous in US Protestant churches with this text superimposed on the image: “Jesus is Coming, Look Busy!”

It never fails to make me giggle, even as it starts a cycle of reflecting on why my life always seems so busy. Am I busy because I struggle with silence?  Do I fill my calendar because I can’t fill the existential void?  Or is my busy-ness just a reflection of the fact that there really just a lot going on in my life — a life full of responsibilities and relationships and joy?

I think about this in terms of our church calendar, too — we have so many meetings and opportunities and gatherings. Are we trying to look busy because Jesus (however known) is coming and we’re worrying that our congregational life might be called to account for ourselves? 

Most of us at UCG don’t seem particularly motivated by fear of divine judgment, thankfully.  Still,  we’re now in Year Three of our three-year-plan cycle and that does seem like a particularly fitting time to reflect on how we’re doing our work together as a congregation and why we make the choices we do. All of us have responsibilities in the congregation and in the rest of our lives, and as we look at our calendars may sometimes feel overwhelmed. Alternatively, we may see wide swaths of time and wonder why we’re not more engaged. Fear that we’re not needed. There’s no one size fits all response in those moments, as tempting as it can be to just cancel everything or sign up for everything all in one fell swoop. As members of a congregation, or folks serving on committees, we don’t want to invent work for the sake of work, but neither do we want to avoid necessary work because we don’t have the space for it. 

I am reflecting on all of this because October is, inevitably, another very full month in the life of the congregation. New worship themes and the start of Lessons and Carols rehearsals! Pride and environmental justice work; congregational budget setting and the making of financial pledges! Our Our Whole Lives program for 6th-9th graders kicked off last weekend with 30 kids and six facilitators beginning a new and vitally important way of learning and growing; and then we celebrated the life of our beloved Mary Clark, with countless volunteers sharing music and food and hospitality and memories. We’re cleaning up from the hurricane, and, in these next rain-free days, welcoming the end of the roofing work on the West Wing. We’re planning for our future together, we’re praying for the health of our community and each of you. 

It is busy! We don’t need to invent work for ourselves — there is already so much to do. But I hope you will join with me in celebrating that we have this very full life together; that while our responsibilities to one another may sometimes be draining, they are also the sign of a community committed to growing together, to changing the world for good. 

Grateful to be sharing this life with you,

Bromleigh