Friends, 

I have remarked to many of you already that I stumbled over the finish line of the school year last week. The school days were ridiculously short, the house grew steadily messier, the meals more thrown together and the to-do list ever longer. By Friday morning, I was singing Les Mis as we dragged the kids out of bed. 

It was ever thus, but this year those last days were also marked by tragedy and grief, as word spread of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, on the same day that Gainesville High School also went on lockdown for twenty-five minutes. We’ve been busy in the office, too: finishing up the program year, transitioning to new leadership, applying for a loan to replace the West side roof, getting ready to send Andy off for the summer. My desperate need for a break was both mundane and awful. 

I cried through the marvelous Board of Parish Ministry service, so incredibly grateful, in particular, for Heather Dewar’s words about childhood, The Boxcar Children, and gun violence. I don’t think I had realized until I heard her speak, just how much grief I was carrying, and just how little I felt I had left to give or say. I quoted a friend to several of you after the service, “I just don’t think I have any more massacre sermons in me.”  I was a mess. It was kind of embarrassing. But it was also a tremendous relief to be ministered to by Heather and the Board, by those who offered hugs and a listening ear.

I have been serving at UCG for more than a year and a half now. We’ve scheduled and rescheduled my installation (and once more! September 11, 2022, God willing and the Covid don’t rise). We’ve formed all the sub-committees and task forces we possibly could. Returned to in person services, moved inside and out again and back in… planned and adjusted and pivoted more times than I can count. As I have come to know you, but moreover as I have gotten to know UCG as an organization, I have learned so much about what has been and what is now. I have also had so many conversations with so many of you about where we go from here. 

This congregation has been a tremendous gift  in my life, even in this short time, as I know it has been for many. UCG is unique in many ways, but we also face the same challenges that many churches and religious communities do, especially around money. We have a lovely campus that is showing its age; many of our biggest givers are getting older, too. Younger generations have less disposable income thanks to educational, medical and housing debt, as well as: less secure employment with lower wages. Inflation and the cost of living are on the rise, as are insurance, utility and technology costs.

If I were responsible for carrying and balancing these needs and concerns on my own, I’d be losing sleep. But, I’m not. We have gathered a compensation philosophy task force to help us learn more about fair and equitable compensation, have assembled a financial sustainability and stewardship committee to look far and wide at best practices in other congregations and suggest resources and ideas to our boards and committees. Our Board of Business has taken on the task of assessing our physical plant and seeking funding to begin some needed repairs, and you — the congregation — voted to approve our application for a loan at our last congregational meeting.

These days are full, and busy, and stressful. The world is really, really hard right now. But that BPM service and the bazillion roof meetings, too, remind me that we are in this together. We have to get the money stuff figured out, but this is a thriving congregation. We hold each other up; we take turns doing the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively); we find words when another has none, offer prayers and meals and rides when others can’t. We play and sing and learn and make many, many phone calls. 

 I am grateful for you all. For the ways in which you share in this life together. For all the work we do and all the love we have.

Grace and Peace,

Bromleigh