In mid-October, I took a two - day workshop in San Diego on Family Ministry.  The final conclusions are conversations I want to have with staff and committees. We talked about what is a family.  Take a minute and think of all the possibilities or take a minute and think about all the things that make up a family.  Our church is made up of several different kinds of families and we all work fairly well together.  Those two days made me so aware of how many different activities we could be having to meet everyone’s needs.  If you have an idea that you or your family would like to see at our church, think about it and let me know. 

The topic sounds easy but I am still processing all that was shared. Here is one quote from the leaders for you to ponder: “Ministry within families is about the interactions between family members that reflect the care tending of one another’s soul.”  

The whole conference began with our topics of conversation being Death, Sex, Race and Money.  They tried to cover all the big ones.  First there was money.  This opened my eyes and questions for me as I took inventory of my money situation.  On a personal note my adjectives to describe money were messy and ugly.  What about you?  Oh, it can be wonderful if you have it. I thought very highly of you, UUCUC for how generous you have been with my salary.  Many DREs were not paid for all that they do and didn’t have a personnel committee. There are programs we can do together to talk about money.

Death was next and our church does a good job with sharing feelings about this.  We have a couple of groups for discussion already present.  The discussions were easy for me because you all were there to comfort me both spiritually, mentally, and nutritionally when I suffered through my mother’s death this past June.  This is an important and caring job for a church and you do it well.  Our church is already teaching the latest program about death with adults in a small group setting.

Sexuality is done well for our eighth-ninth graders and we have some excellent leaders.  Perhaps this is something to think about for our young adults and younger members.  Many of my colleagues talk highly of the program.  This is a topic that consumes who we are and includes our soul.  It should be part of church spirituality.

The conversations about Race were very disappointing.  We were divided from the black educators, which I did not like.  I think our Racial Justice Initiative is doing a great job..  They put a lot into one day.  The beach is beautiful but I will be ready to come home.  Thanks for providing for this opportunity to attend my first Liberal Religious Educators Association Fall Con.