Greetings,

I hope February is drawing to a close with grace and good will for you and your beloveds.  During February we have been exploring "Where do we come from" as our spiritual theme for service development.  I recently came across the enclosed reading I thought timely to share as we reflect; those whose shoulders we stand upon, those whose wells we drink from but did not dig, those strong willed, strong spirited activists whose life journey's we seek to emulate.  Worship Associate Nancy Paxton, brought us a fine biographical sketch of just one such ancestor in last Sunday's exploration of Rev. Olympia Brown, a suffragette, an abolitionist, a community organizer, and the first woman ordained into ministry (Universalist) in the U.S.  We have good and strong roots.  May we tend to the rootstock, as we nourish and continue our growth here at Beacon, today and for the future!

Long-Haul People

by Rudy Nemser

You find them in churches
when you're lucky;
other places too, though I mostly
only know ecclesiastical varieties.

Long haul people
upon whose shoulders
(and pocketbooks and casseroles
and daylight/nighttime hours)
a church is built and maintained
after the brass is tarnished and
cushions need re-stitching.

They pay their pledges full and on time
even when the music's modern;
support each canvass though the sermons aren't always short;
mow lawns and come to suppers;
teach Sunday School when
there's no one else and they'll miss the service.

Asked what they think of the minister,
or plans for the kitchen renovation,
or the choral anthem, or Christmas pageant,
or color of the bathroom paint,
they'll reply: individuals and fashions
arrive and pass.
The church-their church-will be here, steady and hale.|
For a long, long time.
It will.
For long haul people bless a church
with a very special blessing.

From Bless the Imperfect: Meditations for Congregational Leaders ,

Kathleen Montgomery, Editor.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Kevin