Dear Church,
Late summer greetings to each of you! I hope this finds you well and you have been enjoying these final weeks of summer. I am back full-swing at church and have enjoyed slowly reconnecting with a number of folks. I wait with great anticipation for our full ingathering worship celebration on Sunday, Sept. 8th!
Summer flew by too fast for me, of course. Some highlights included a hiking trip and family visit in Colorado (photo above), a few wonderful weddings, running the Wednesday night Back Cove 5k series and Beach to Beacon, time with family & friends around Portland, meeting Tig Notaro (famous lesbian comedian) in the airport, watching the Olympics (mostly track and field) and some great reading. Oh, and a fabulous potluck and book discussion of the Monk & Robot novellas with A2U2ers just last week! As I did last year, I’m attaching my summer book list below to share what I’ve been reading. Do we have any overlap? Do you have any favorite books from the summer? Please feel free to share! I’d love to know what worlds you’ve been immersed in.
Non-fiction
– Seeds of a New Way: Nurturing Authentic and Diverse Religious Leadership ed by Nancy McDonald Ladd and Manish Mishra-Marzetti
– Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott
– What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
– Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
– What it Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis Hemphill
– In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom
– A Gadfly Report: Examining Unitarian Universalism’s Reactionary Fringe by Dennis McCarty
– He/She/They: How we Talk About Gender and Why it Matters by Schuyler Bailar
– Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth by Debra Rienstra
Fiction
– A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
– A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers
– The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman
I hope you might have some fun and rejuvenation over the coming holiday weekend, and will join for this summer’s final lay-led service on Sunday (thank you worship leaders and coordinators!!!). Then next week we begin the 2024-25 program year at A2U2. Huzzah! Check your Friday ENews for events and news.
With joy,
Rev. Tara
(they/them pronouns, keep practicing!)