August 28, 2025 Spark Article from Rev. Mary Gear
The arc of the year at OUUC is a bit like the arc of the school year. We take a break from some things over the summer while other things continue. Classes, choir, and Thursday Community Dinners pause while Sunday services, team meetings and social gatherings continue. And at OUUC, just like students and schools, things begin again in September. We hold our annual in-gathering service of water communion, and we bless the backpacks of those returning to school. Community dinners start and classes will be offered.
Underneath all these activities are larger values and themes that inform and support our gathering and what we offer as a community.
We are inspired by the Unitarian Universalist values of Justice, Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Interdependence, and Generosity, with Love at the center.
We are also moved by the vision and mission of OUUC. It is ultimately the vision and mission defined by the congregation that we all are accountable to and work toward.
With all that in mind, the OUUC Board of Trustees created Vision of Ministry for this year to help us focus our activities. They landed on three words that condensed this moment in time: Reconnection, Identity, and Community Care.
OUUC Vision of Ministry for 2025-26,
Created by the OUUC Board of Trustees
Rev. Sara & I used the Board’s Vision of Ministry to further focus our efforts and landed on three areas for our services and offerings this year: Storytelling, Gathering, and Joy.
This year, what we hope that what you will experience, participate in, support, and help lead is informed by these big themes. Our work is to make our values and themes real in the world with the work we do, the learning we undergo, the connections we make, and how we show up for each other, our community and the Earth. More than anything else, we want to support connection and the spiritual growth of individuals of all ages and of our community as a whole.
Here are some upcoming events that you can just show up for:
- Wednesday, September 3 at 7 pm: Choir rehearsals begin.
- Thursday, September 4 at 5:30: Community Dinners resume with activities after at 6:30.
- Sunday, September 7 at both services: ingathering water communion and blessing of the backpacks.
- Saturday, September 13 from 12-4 pm: annual congregational picnic at the Squaxin Park Rose Garden shelter.
- Sunday, September 14 at both services: spiritual grounding for the year and blessing for the Transylvania travelers.
- Sunday, September 14 at 12:15: after service forum on the frameworks that we’ll explore this year to help us make meaning of this time.
And so, we begin again. I hope you’ll join us as we move into the always uncertain future together.
Blessings on your week,
Rev. Mary
Minister@ouuc.org
