This is a big weekend for us.
On Saturday, we’ll have our postponed Strawberry Festival on the lawn, 11am-3pm. Emily and Stefan have been valiantly carrying this big event forward for us. WE STILL NEED MORE VOLUNTEER HELP — please click here to sign up. This is our annual welcome party for the whole neighborhood.
On Sunday, we’ll have our June, end-of-program-year all-parish meeting. In some places, church annual meetings can be a dreary or tense affair. I’ve heard of some that devolved into fistfights. That’s not how we do things. Ours is a celebration, of all we’ve experienced over the past year and all we have to look forward to — including our transitions in ministry teams, our budget for the year ahead, and the results of our six-month-long purpose clarification process and next steps.
For those of us who have been concerned about the outcome of this process, here’s a sneak peak of what you’ll hear:
-Our congregation feels called to stay in our church building
-Our church building is valued by the community
-In order to stay, we need a different model for managing our church building
In worship before the meeting, we’ll do a spiritual review of the year and we’ll hearken to the promises of God heard through the prophets Joel (2:28):
I will pour out my spirit upon everyone;
your sons and your daughters, your children will prophesy,
your old folks will dream dreams,
and your young folks will see visions.
and Jeremiah (29:11)
Surely I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord;
they are plans for peace, not disaster,
to give you a future filled with hope.
On Sunday, we’ll lean into our future, our dreams, our visions, and most importantly, continue to try to glimpse God’s vision of peace and hope for our future.
And on Monday, at least 30-40 of us will join 1,000 other partners in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) at Temple Israel from 7-8:30pm and bring our campaign for affordable housing to local leaders, including Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, new Secretary of Housing Ed Augustus, state senators, the head of the Urban League, a major housing developer and senior hospital executives. If you want to join in or learn more, check out it here, register here or reach out to our liaisons, David and Connor at gbio@upbrookline.org.
In faith,
Kent
Image credit: Aidan Molloy, 2022
