Sharing Sad News.

This is a very sad day for our community as I share with you that Eve Talmage and Dean Martin died today. They are each a very significant loss to our shared life.  Dean’s death comes as a huge shock.  Many of you know that he was struck by a car on Wednesday evening, but was checked out by doctors and released.  We still have no official word on what happened, he appears to have died last night in his sleep.   Eve has been in hospice care for several weeks and died peacefully in her sleep, It had been a couple of especially difficult years for her, but I was often amazed at the courage she mustered through very painful treatments and the huge grief of losing of her husband, John, a couple of years ago.  Our thoughts and prayers and love go out to friends and family who are grieving tonight.  While all of Dean’s friends and family are in deep shock and sadness, our caring thoughts are especially with Carol tonight!  Carol needs some time and space to even take it in.  Please show your love to her by respecting her need for privacy and refrain from calls or visits right now.  If you want to express your thoughts in a card or letter, I am sure that would be appreciated.  When I am able to talk with Eve’s family directly I will let you know more details as well.    I have such deep love for them both, I will miss them enormously.  Dean was truly a wonderful, gentle soul who was so giving and caring in his interactions.  Eve lived with amazing elegance and intelligence. She had so many passions and interests that she shared generously with her friends.  Their presence was such a gift to us all, and their absence will be felt powerfully in our community!

Some Wisdom from this Summer's Resource Sharing Circle!

A gathering of BUFsters came together this summer to share some wisdom about how they have gotten through their times of economic hardship in the last few months. Here are some of their suggestions. Perhaps you have some ideas of your own that you would want to share? We will have another wisdom circle this fall. Stay tuned for time and bring your own wisdom to the circle!

When entertainment dollars are tight:
Volunteer at Mt Baker Theater orTheater Guild
Look for places that have free concerts -- Bellingham has tons of them, especially in the summer.
If you don't ask you won't receive -- ask is there another way that I can pay for this?
Barter/trade services.
Fourth Corner Exchange. www.LifeDollars.org are a couple of ways to shop local and save money
Exercise everyday!
Volunteer with people vs working alone. Their company will help your perspective!
Search for answers before you get into a difficult place.
If you really need money you can sell plasma. It sounds much worse than it is, very much like giving blood.
No shame in what you are going through. Keep your friends close.
Keep a Gratitude Journal.
Maintain or start a meditation or devotional practice.
Remember to keep structure in your life. Give yourself things to do every day, including moments that recharge your spirit.
Accept assistance gracefully and shamelessly.  There will be opportunities in the future to pay it forward.

A Shout-Out to Our Board!

As the church year begins its slowing to get ready for the joys of summer in the Pacific Northwest, I am so grateful for the dedicated ministries of so many leaders here at BUF. The only way that BUF has made its way so well through this time of great change is by the continued dedication of all our leaders. The list of kudos could be endless, but I wanted to focus for a bit on an essential group of leaders whose good works can often get lost in the busyness of BUFness. Specifically I want to offer a heartfelt accolade to our board. Board Work is incredibly important ministry. Our board is charged with holding the larger health of the congregation in its oversight. They are the keepers of our vision as a congregation, and they seek to bring greater clarity to that vision through careful dialogue with you, the congregation, and the larger world. It has been particularly meaningful and daunting work in the past three years as we have prepared for, journeyed through and come out the other side into a newly expanded amazing facility. The board has helped us move into a healthier, more well-considered place as a mid-size congregation. It has not been easy work, but they have worked with great care, skill and love for the congregation. I have been and continue to be very moved and encouraged by their ministry. Every year the board’s membership changes at least slightly to allow a well-deserved retirement from this service for some folks to move on to other things, and a new crop of board members with fresh ideas and energy to inspire the board’s continuing work.
I am especially grateful for the work of our outgoing board members: Lizz Roberts, Janice Condrin and Jim Reimer. Lizz has provided great compassion, passion and larger vision to her work as our board president. Janice has offered the gift of calm, wise insight and careful facilitation as our moderator/vice president. Jim has served us well as the secretary of the board, and has been tirelessly dedicated, diversely gifted and infinitely goodhearted in his service in so many capacities in the last three years. They were truly the right people to bring us through this powerful time with great love and aplomb. Kudos to each of you!! I am very pleased that our continuing board members are so strong and dedicated, and will continue to serve us well as they have in the past year! Deep appreciation to you: Kevin Zvilna, Jan Krouskop, Virginia Prowell and Carl Oekerman.
Next time you see these good folks, I hope you will take a moment to offer your own words of gratitude to them!

Blessings and a summer of fun and restoration to them and to us all!

See you soon!
Doug

The UUA Japan Relief Fund

Greetings dear people!
I know that most of us have been watching the images from Japan with great sadness and concern. It is really quite mind-boggling. There are many, many sites making it easy to contribute to the rescue efforts. If you have a favorite one, I encourage you to share it. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee suggests supporting Oxfam Japan. However when I tried to donate via their link, it appears to only accept yen at this point. Maybe they will make some changes soon. The UUA has also set up a support fund partnering with their local connections.

Here's the that link!

Let's keep our thoughts and prayers flowing to Japan. The full scope of the tragedy is not even close to being fully revealed yet, and past experiences tell us that the dangers and difficulties will only continue for weeks.

Sending my good thoughts your way as well!
Doug

Doug Searches for Excellence in Ministry

Something like a decade ago the larger Unitarian Universalist movement began (returned to) a conversation about our collective future. There was considerable anxiety about our lack of significant growth and continued ups and downs in other indicators of health in many, many of our congregations. There was a great deal of discernment about what was going on and what might help. One almost universally acknowledged conclusion was that the leadership of our ordained clergy needed to be carefully fostered and challenged to be up to the daunting task of ministry into the twenty-first century. There are an almost infinite number of styles of ministry that “work” and almost as many setting in ministry that often call for some unique gifts. That being said there is a significant list of common components that make for a healthier minister and, therefore, ministry:

A robust theological education and continuing education
Healthy collegiality
A wise credentialing process
A clear, consistently deepening understanding of ministerial identity and culture
An ever-expanding clarity about the world surrounding one’s ministry. Including an understanding how issues of anti-oppression and changing cultures are essential to all ministries.
Emotional and spiritual maturity
Ministering with laity that take their own spiritual depth and personal growth seriously
A vision of direction for the future

The list could easily go on, but these were some common traits of excellent-fostering that our movement identified. My over twenty years of ministry leads me to agree with the wisdom of this list, so my dedication to working on these areas have only deepened over the years.

It takes a huge amount of time and energy. The UU Minister’s Association was concerned that often our attempts to help strengthen our ministry were lacking in the depth necessary for the task. So they’ve been carefully considering what to do and are offering the first ever Institute for the Excellence in Ministry. I will be going to it this next week. It starts Monday and goes for just under a week, it is perhaps the longest and most in-depth UU focused ministerial experience I have seen since I’ve been a UU minister. This year about 375 UU clergy from all over the US will convene in California. We will worship together, engage in spiritual practices, spend a couple of sessions a day engaging in an in-depth seminar and daily sessions of peer reflection to figure out what it all means. I will be in the seminar that is being lead by Ysaye Barnwell, a UU musician and a member of Sweet Honey in the Rock since 1979.

I can’t really do justice to convey how important these kind of experiences are to our shared ministry. I appreciate your support in being a part of them more than I can say. I look forward to returning home and sharing what I’ve discovered. Wish me luck!!

Making a Difference in the New Year!

While I am writing this before the holidays are over, I am already thinking about what we can do together to make a difference in our own community in these difficult times. I’ve already written a little about this in an earlier article but I hope this further information helps. Even before we moved into this time of economic upheaval, I have been working on the Housing team of the Interfaith Coalition and the speaking with both BUFsters and people in the community about the extremely difficulty they are having with their lives. I realized how difficult it is to even know where to turn for help or what to do when you are in times of financial hardship. In the last few months there have been even further changes in what resources are available to be of assistance, many of them changing for the worse. I feel like we need to do something and we can begin by educating ourselves and go from there. In February, I would like to give us an opportunity to explore options with the larger community and even think proactively for the future of Bellingham. We must continue to weave the concerns of ecological, economic and social justice as we move into this scary, exciting time.

I invite you to come explore how we might offer this to the community at a planning gathering on January 12 at 7 PM here at BUF.

In the meantime, if you want to look at some of the areas under consideration. Follow this link!

Hope your holidays are full of safe, warm and filled with love and joy!

Doug

Sending Lovely and Loving Thanksgiving Wishes!

After a wonderful Sunday of celebration and joy, I am hoping that the chilly temperatures finds you at home, safe and warm, and surrounded by love. May this Thanksgiving be a time of experiencing the important things that inspire gratitude within us!

While you are contemplating your blessings, I want to plant a seed of sharing that gratitude in a meaningful way. A group of BUFsters met a few weeks ago to talk about how we might explore justice work with the larger community as a continuation of the Economy and Ecology service. Specifically, we want to invite the community to come to explore some of the practical issues of surviving this period of economic challenge and hardship. We want to combine our resources both within the larger community and within the BUF community to invite people from Whatcom County to learn about these resources. We also want to explore a more equitable and sustainable future. I want to invite you to join us in this endeavor. I will give you more details soon.

In the meantime, I will be sending thankful thoughts your way and hoping you have a wonderful holiday!

With much love,

Doug