Then the questions really began: "Well, does your church believe in the Bible?"

My response: That is a creedal question. We are a covenantal church. We share a covenant of how we try to be together, not what we are expected to believe together.

This answer is not a flakey cop-out. This answer emerges out of a history throughout which people struggled with what it means to be Christian, what it means to be religious, and what it means to be "saved." These people often risked their livelihoods, if not their lives, to say, "I am a thinking person, close to God by virtue of being born, and I should not need to be told what to believe by other mere human beings."

Thom's answer emerges out of the first action of the pilgrims when they landed in Massachusetts which was to form a covenant on how to live together as religious people. This answer emerges from the thoughts of devout early Congregational ministers who read the Bible and thought, "This is less about worshipping one man and about walking a path encompassing love." This answer emerges out of religious philosophers like Ralph Waldo Emerson who could not believe that God was the possession of only those sitting under one kind of roof, who read the newly translated works from the East and thought, "We are trying to say the same thing: Life is full of blessings and injustice and God is everywhere." This answer emerges from the fervent hopes of the humanists, who thought, "With or without God, our duty is to be good to each other and work for justice in THIS life."

In the weeks to come, let us help each other find ways to articulate this beautiful, flawed, challenging and brave tradition. It is worthy of our faith.

Faithfully,
Katie

October 2009

Dear Friends,

Recently, I started attending a Bible study group. Twice a month this group of ten or so gathers to read a small section of the Bible, talk about it, and enjoy each other's company. It's a motley crue. We are Catholic, Episcopalian, Congregationalist, and Unitarian Universalist. Three of us have been to seminary, but most of the group is just interested in studying the Bible as a spiritual text, as a book that might have something to tell us about how to live.

I was worried at first about how I might fit into this group. My relationship with the Bible as a sacred text is by no means exclusive. I am as apt to find wisdom and inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha or in the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was right to believe that others in the group might have a more intimate and familiar relationship with the texts, especially the Gospels. Most of the members of our group have been relating to the stories in the Bible their whole lives. While I went to Sunday school as a young person, those stories never felt familiar to me the way they did to many of my friends. Because it wasn�t a focus in my family, the Bible always felt like someone else's book. So, while I now find great value in it and enjoy studying it, I know that I don't have the same fluency with it as people for whom it was integrated into their childhoods. I also worried slightly about the ways in which my interpretations might vary with those of other members of the group. I am aware that the Bible has been interpreted from countless perspectives over the course of centuries, and I wasn't sure how my thinking would land in this theologically diverse group.

Much of my anxiety was immediately soothed by my first five minutes there. As I entered a busy kitchen people were laughing and offering each other tea. Each person welcomed me in a way that felt both intentional and genuine. We sat for a time at the table and they asked me questions about myself and told me stories about their lives. Eventually, we began the more focused part of the evening with silence, and then out of the silence someone began reading the short passage we would be discussing. People told stories and shared ways that they could relate to the text, as well as making more scholarly observations. Many of us started with phrases like, "I wonder if what Jesus was trying to say was" without really knowing for sure.

After an hour and a half or so we closed. People were even more intentional about their leave-taking. They stood in the entry noting what a nice time we had had and hugging. Each person made sure to tell me it was nice to have me there. I left feeling centered, thoughtful, and reverential.

It was as if the time was just slightly more sacred because the guest of honor was the Bible, that having Jesus as our focus helped us to see each other and our lives through slightly holier eyes. I decided that this is how worship feels, like we have put ourselves in the presence of the holy and have let it make an impression on us. Let us continue to create a place where we can see each other and our lives through holier eyes.

Faithfully,

Katie

September 2009

Dear Friends,

Our house is quiet this morning as we digest the news of Senator Kennedy's death. It's a respectful quiet, like it is not right to complain or to talk about the day's mundane details in the presence of such a meaning-filled life. Regardless of our political perspectives, we can appreciate the compassion-driven life of this man and learn from his example. What Mr. Kennedy reminded us again and again was that a life lived for a larger purpose can pull a person through grief, disappointment, failure, and mistakes. A life built around a "mission" separates the wheat of our days from the chaff and shelters us from what might discourage, depress, or detour us.

However, lives like Senator Kennedy's do not exist in a vacuum. They depend on the support provided to them by family, community, and institutions. Institutions, especially, like churches. There can be no doubt that our little church serves this vital purpose to many and that it plays a role in creating a more just and loving world.

As we look forward to being together again, let us renew our pledge to buttress efforts to make the world ever more compassionate and to support each other in living lives built with integrity, energized by authentic passions, and tempered with gratitude.

I am looking forward to seeing you all at our first service of the church year. Bring your friends and family to join us in celebrating good company, casting our dearest hopes into the confluence of our combined energies, and renewing our promise to live lives directed by love. See you then!

Faithfully,
Katie

June 2009

One of you recently offered me the fabulous insight that May is thenew December.  I trust that this refers to the number of commitmentsthat seem to mound up in our weeks during May and early June and the energeticcrescendo that seems to precede the end of the school or church year. It does feel suspiciously like the post-Thanksgiving/pre-New Year's window,during which it can require every ounce of our Buddha-natures to actuallybe *present* for the cascade of celebrations and commitments.  Itis a particularly hard condition under which to say a proper good-bye toeach other for the summer.  Honoring transitions, however, is onething that church is good for, and I hope that you all will be able tocome to our last service and the annual meeting to mark the close of ouryear together.

As we near the end of the year, I am sometimes moved to tears as Ireflect upon the small ways in which you have grown the presence of loveand kindness in the world.  I am thrilled by the efforts that the whole religious education team made on behalf of our children.  I am optimistic about your desire to put into place a more integral and intentional approach to social justice and community service.  I am energizedby your commitment to expand the reach of the church.  All this makesit a little hard to say good-bye to our worship life together for the summer. However, I am comforted knowing that while our doors will be closed, ourefforts to stay in community will continue.  I hope you find timesto reach out to each other through the women's and men's groups, impromptudays at the beach, e-mails and phone calls, or days helping out with the maintenance of the property.

This has truly been a tremendous year.  I anticipated that beinga part of this church would be a blessing, but I had no idea how enormousthat blessing would be.  I am so grateful to have found you. May days this summer be graced with love, health, and laughter.  Pleasestay in touch.

March 2009

As we have been engaging more intently in discussions about how we might “choose to bless the world” and engage in social justice work, I keep thinking of a pair of congregants from the church where I served as an intern. At Unity Church Unitarian in St. Paul, a volunteer always maintained a presence at the front desk. One of those volunteers was a 91 year old retired law professor and ex-navy commander, with a piercing intellect and dignified presence, that we will call Henry. The year before I came to the church, Henry’s wife took ill with kidney disease and had to move into an assisted living facility. This was a difficult transition for Henry, though I understand he bore it with characteristic reserve. During coffee hour one morning he remarked to another congregant, a man with two young kids who worked for public radio that we’ll call Ben, that one of the hard things about living alone was wondering if anyone would know if something happened to him. Ben, who did not know Henry well, asked, “Would you like me to call you in the morning?” at which point Henry did not say “No.” And so the next morning Ben called, just to say, “Good morning.” And so it went for every day after that. Some days Ben would just say, “Good morning,” and Henry would say, “Have a good day.” Other days their conversations were a little longer. It had gotten to the point where Ben’s kids would remind him, “Did you call Henry today?” As I was leaving the church, Ben and Henry had shared this practice for two years without missing a day.

I have been thinking about Ben and Henry for a couple of reasons. First, this act of service, of blessing the world, came out of Henry venturing to share his real concerns to a member of his community. He may not have thought about it this way, but in doing so he was blessing Ben with the opportunity to care for someone and to build relationship. Second, this blessing came out of Ben hearing Henry. One of the most important aspects of social justice and service is listening, being attentive to where the need lies. Third, this became, for Ben, a spiritual practice. It wasn’t long before it was so integrated into his days, that he did not think about it as doing something for Henry, but as a part of what made his days feel whole. For Henry, it expanded his understanding of his support system, soothed his loneliness, and repositioned the church inhis heart as a part of his family.

This is social justice work as much as marching on Washington is. Granted we should still advocate for compassionate systems for caring for our elders. We should pay close attention to support systems like Medicare and Social Security. However, we should not dismiss the tremendous blessing that is brought upon people when they engage on a more intimate level in co-creating the world in which they want to live. As we approach our discussions about social justice and let ourselves think big about what is possible when we pool our energy, let us also maintain reverence for the smaller gestures we daily make in the name of building a more compassionate and connected world. In doing so, we are, in some ways, letting ourselves live in that world as we are creating it.

Faithfully,
Katie

January 2009

Dear Friends,

A couple of weeks ago (December 15), Newsweek magazine’s cover featured a Bible with a rainbow-striped bookmark sticking out of it. The headline read “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.” The article itself was interesting and contained many of the arguments that are now well known in religious circles. The article is worth a read, if only to remind us of the sound arguments that can be made against those who would use the Bible and other religious teachings as the final word in condemning gay and lesbian relationships and arguing against marriage equality.

It is interesting that on the heels of that article, Barack Obama announced his choice to give the invocation at his inauguration: Rick Warren. While it should be said that Warren, a popular evangelical Christian minister, has been a fierce advocate for the poor and has made theological arguments for environmentalism, he has also condemned same sex marriage as being akin to things like incest. He makes the now familiar argument that once a definition of marriage includes gay and lesbian relationships we are on a slippery slope towards depravity and the degradation of an important societal institution. There are many arguments to made to the contrary, which I will not belabor here. However, what this choice points to is that, while Massachusetts may have chosen a stance of equality and inclusion for gay and lesbian families, our nation as a whole is far from having come to any resolution about what marriage means, what the law dictates, and what role religion plays in the argument.

I hope that regardless of where you are emotionally and intellectually on this issue, you will continue to study it and engage with it. Let your heart and mind be open to those who disagree with you, so that we can all continue to dialogue and grow. Lean into your essential beliefs to find your course. Know that I am open to your exploration of your thoughts on this issue, wherever you are on your journey.

Faithfully,
Katie

October 2008

As the year progresses, life will inevitably become more complicated; it always does. Standing here at the headwaters though, I am grateful that this congregation's foundation is one of generosity, as I know it will allow us to begin again and again in love. May we, in these uncertain times, continue to find ways to return to a grateful heart and a spirit of plenty.

Faithfully,
Katie