Dear Ones,

Committed.

That’s the title of the service I’m preparing for this coming Sunday, in keeping with our Soul Matters theme for March. “What does it mean to be a people of commitment?” is the question at the top of the resources packet from Soul Matters.

We are a people of commitment. As you’ve heard me say before, the theological and organizational core of our Unitarian Universalist faith is covenant. 

Martin Buber once said humans are “promise-making, promise-keeping, promise-breaking, and promise-renewing” people. We make promises, mostly we keep them, sometimes we break them, and then we must renew them. This is the covenantal way – for a covenant is simply a special sort of promise. 

Most of us make lots of promises in our lives. As children we may have made “pinky promises” or “crossed our hearts,” as adults we have probably entered into mutual agreements of various kinds. Perhaps the most profound commitment most make is in marriage, promising to care for one another “until death do us part.” 

About a year ago, we made a commitment to keep one another safer by suspending in-person gatherings. I know many of our members are now fully vaccinated – that is, are at least two weeks past the final COVID-19 shot. Your Board and I are closely following the developments of guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as well as the development of best practices for in-person meetings and worship. 

We don’t know when we will begin phasing back into in-person gatherings. What we know at this point is that we will not be going back to what was business as usual right away. Stay tuned…

I’m grateful to be here, and I’m committed to this congregation. I’m also glad you’re here and part of the Fellowship. Get vaccinated when you can, if you’re able. Be well, and stay safe!

Blessings,
Rev. Lori Hlaban