Pastoring (or student pastoring) a Unitarian Universalist Church is rewarding, challenging, inspiring, fun, fulfilling, enriching and growth-producing. And exciting! But it is never easy.

This is partly because of the wide diversity of intelligent, thoughtful, head-strong, and opinionated people within UU churches (and I say that with utmost affection!), and the wide variety of thoughts, feelings, ideas and spiritual beliefs they embrace with the hope that these will be nourished and nurtured by their church experiences. As ministers, we simply cannot address such a wide variety of beliefs every week. At best, we make our services varied enough that you each, hopefully, will be fed deeply at times, while understanding that at other times, your hunger may be diminished but not fully sated. We trust that your reading, study, discussions and other activities both within and outside church, will fill the gaps, giving substance to the notion of the individual search.

This church has a decidedly humanist proclivity, from my observation, although there are many other spiritual leanings as well, including a number of you who embrace a more Christian theology. Our Maundy Thursday service may ordinarily speak more deeply to you of a Christian bent, but this year we want to vary it a bit, retaining an emphasis on Jesus’ teachings around love and connection, while expanding the format to include a more humanist tenor.

Changing the way things are done, changing a beloved tradition, is a delicate matter, not to be undertaken without care and deliberation. After discussing it with Brandon, Thomas, and the church staff, we have opted to alter the service somewhat this year. We hope you will find it nourishing.

Derek Parker will be assisting me with this service on Maundy Thursday, April 1st. The service will follow a potluck dinner which will begin at 7:00 p.m. The service itself, including Communion and a time for sharing, will probably begin around 7:30 p.m.

Beth Lefever, Your Student Minister