There’s no way to fully express how grateful I am for the opportunity to have served as the Champlain Valley UU Society’s minister for the past 11 years.

It would be a fool’s errand as well to try to list all we have accomplished together. Yes, we transformed a dark basement into a welcoming Fellowship Hall, modern kitchen, and Library/Meeting Room and new bathrooms, with elevator service between the them and the Sanctuary floor. Yes, we replaced the traditional fall auction fund-raiser with the unique and much more inclusive Radical Love Party. We also introduced new rituals like the Mud Communion that may or may not continue to evolve, as well as new Religious Exploration classes and events too numerous to mention. In the past year alone, we have seen unprecedented growth in our music program and adopted a new social action covenant that will serve us well in our ongoing work to dismantle racism and other oppressions.

But rather than go on, just focus on this: we accomplished this and more in the face of the unanticipated, global challenge of the Covid epidemic, growing threats to democracy, and other disruptive forces that pull people apart. Where did we so often find the strength to stand together? Early in my time with you, I wrote a Call to Worship that I imagined you wanted spoken in your name. I sense that it’s still what you want. It’s the rock on which you have built your past and your opportunities to thrive in the future.

“Come into this house of memory and dreams,

Into this space of compassion for those in pain,

Of truth seeking and deep desire to gather

With people of all ages called to the values of Unitarian Universalism

Bring the infant in you, learning to trust in love,

The child in you enchanted by mysteries and avid to play,

The young adult in you, skeptical and drawn to testing limits;

Bring the various primes of your life as you learn new ways to nourish relationships and seek enduring truths;

Bring your old age, brimming with awe and sadness and gratitude for all you’ve witnessed,

And for what you are still learning about trusting Love.

Let us celebrate our transitions together and our companionship on Life’s sacred journey.”

Blessed be, Rev. B