Well, here we are at the end of a church year – our first year together as minister and congregation.  We’ve worked together, played together, started getting to know each other.  So what now?  Where do we go from here?  That’s the question I’d like to address this morning.  But first, I think it’s important to reflect a bit on where we’ve been so far in order to put our possible future into context.

     I could just refer you to the annual reports that were distributed at our Congregational Meeting a few weeks ago.  And for those who want more detail than I can give this morning, I do recommend those documents.  I would like to consider what we’ve done this year in relation to what we set out to do.  Shortly after my arrival, we had a Ministerial Startup Workshop here, at which we set some goals for the year.  The four goals we established were:

        1.  To explore the meaning of membership in our congregation and adapt to growth as it occurs.
        2.  To better understand and emphasize that social action and spiritual growth go hand in hand
in our faith-based community.
        3.  To foster community through our shared ministry to each other, the community around us and the world.
        4.  To continue to work on review and renewal of our mission and vision.

     On membership and growth, we had two workshops specifically addressing the question of the meaning of membership, inviting all interested members and friends to come and express their views.  The Membership Committee has held several New UU sessions, at which relative newcomers are invited to consider what it would mean to be a member.  And it turns out that this is a timely topic.  The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Appraisal has selected “Meaning of Membership” as its area of study for the next couple of years, and will have materials and workshops available at General Assembly later this month.  I’m sure several of us will take advantage of those resources, and come home ready to continue the conversation.

     As to growth, we had a town meeting to discuss the impact of growth on the availability and effective use of our space and facilities.  Out of that meeting came the creation of a Growth Council, which is considering how we might address those issues.  In fact that group will be meeting later today. They’re on the job, and we look forward to hearing what they come up with.

     On the integration of social justice and spirituality:  I have tried to model in a number of my sermons how those two aspects of life are inseparable and can be most effective when they are intertwined and feed off each other.  One example was the life of Martin Luther King, who was both a spiritual leader and a champion of social justice.  The spirituality provided the foundation and the strength for the social justice work; the social justice work gave shape to a spirituality based on the connections in this world.
 Perhaps our best expression of the integration of spirituality and social justice was our second annual Freedom Seder.  That was a truly spiritual event, with a clear focus on social justice.  The high level of participation and enthusiasm in that event truly warms my heart.

     Everything that we do together, ministering to one another, fosters community.  That includes, in particular, the sharing of joys and sorrows on Sunday mornings, trimming our Christmas tree in December, bringing the generations together in our Secret Friends program and our Spring retreat.  Then there are our annual service auction and yard sale, and small-group programs such as book groups, Dinner Club, and Adult Religious Education.

     We have also ministered to the larger community through participation in Interfaith Mission and the Interfaith and Community Coalition Against Prejudice and Violence, and through our Book For Every Child program.  Also through campus ministry and our Joseph Priestley District Chalice Lighters Program, both of which serve the future of the greater Unitarian Universalist community.

     We’ve definitely done a lot of good work as a community this year.  One comment I’ve heard is that with all the work we’ve been doing, maybe we haven’t taken as much time as we should to just have fun.  Well, I agree with that.  And I understand that creative minds are at work planning some things for the coming year to redress that imbalance.  So be ready for some fun along with our continuing work.

     Vision and mission work has indeed continued this year.  Early in the year we formulated and adopted our congregational covenant.  The statement, which appears each week on the back of our order of service, reminds us of how we want to be with one another.  In fact, let’s remind ourselves right now.  Please look on the back of your order of service and repeat the covenant with me:

     We, the members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, covenant to:  Come together in a spirit of trust and respect; to love, listen, cry, and laugh; Shaping a mutually supportive community that nurtures our minds and spirits, and celebrates the worth and dignity of us all.  We commit ourselves to do this with caring, compassion, and understanding, through open, honest communication.

     Articulating those sentiments was an important step, but in some sense it was a first step.  The really important part of having a covenant like this is to try to actually live it; to make it descriptive as well as prescriptive.

     We also had a Vision Building weekend earlier this spring, with the purpose of creating a vision and mission statement for the congregation.  Many good ideas were generated, and you all had an opportunity to vote on your favorites.  The sometimes arduous, but appropriately deliberate process continues as the Long Range Planning Committee works to craft the many wonderful ideas into a suitably concise statement which can then be discussed and adopted by you, the congregation.  Stay tuned for its unveiling in the Fall.

     So that is some of what we’ve been up to this year.  I have by no means covered everything, but have at least hit some of the highlights.  I hope that gives you just a glimmer of the level of energy and enthusiasm that has brought us to where we are, which I think is a pretty good place.  I thank you all heartily for the part each of you has played in making this year a good one.

     So now what?  Where do we go from here?  Well, the first point I’d like to make is that none of the four goals for this year is “finished”.  And, therefore, they will continue to provide direction for us.  On the other hand, there are likely to be new areas of emphasis that will shift our priorities somewhat.  The Board of Trustees will be having a retreat early in the Fall to set its direction for the year, and there will certainly be opportunities for the entire congregation to provide its input about goals and directions.  In that sense, where we go from here depends on an ongoing process of discernment, discussion, and consensus that involves all of us.

     But, in the meantime, I can say a little bit about some themes that are likely to guide us in the coming year.  I think one of the major themes of the Board is going to deal with the development and empowerment of leadership within the Fellowship.  This is crucial if we are to live out the promise of true shared ministry.  I welcome that effort with open arms.

     In addition to that, my own vision for the next year includes two major components.  One is primarily conceptual, designed to provide a framework for thinking about and experiencing our religious life together.  The other is more concrete and structural, designed to provide a real vehicle for enhancing our spiritual journeys.

     The first is actually an extended metaphor that will help to shape many of my sermons.  The metaphor is that of pilgrimage.  We often speak of “walking together” or of our “spiritual journey”.  Well a pilgrimage is a journey, walking a path, traveling through space, or time, or life.  But pilgrimage implies more.  It implies a sacred journey,  traveling or journeying with mindfulness, with soulfulness.  It implies being alert and attentive to what is available around us on the journey.  It means mobilizing the imagination and enlivening the heart so that we might, in the words of Louis Pasteur, “see everywhere in the world the inevitable expression of the concept of infinity.”

     Pilgrimage strikes me as a fruitful way to think about the spiritual journey that we are on, both as individuals, and as a community.  I was inspired by a book I read recently, The Art of Pilgrimage, by Phil Cousineau.  Its seven chapters, following the universal round of the sacred journey, will guide much of my preaching in the coming year.  It progresses from the longing that initially pulls us toward the journey, to the call that beckons us onward.  Then there is the drama of departure, the treading of the pilgrim’s way, including the archetype of the labyrinth. Last winter, many of you enjoyed the experience of the labyrinth right here in this room.  There are plans underway for creating our own labyrinth.  That effort will fit nicely with the theme of pilgrimage.  I’m excited about that.

    Finally, there is arrival and return, bringing back the gifts of the journey.  We’ll actually start the new church year with a return bringing gifts.  Our annual Water Service will be the Sunday after Labor Day.  You are invited to bring water gathered on your travels, whether it’s around the world, or for a backyard  barbecue.  We especially invite water from a place where something warms your heart, lifts your spirit, or feeds your soul.

     In addition to that, the second piece of my vision is small group ministry.  Many of us are already a part of small groups: book discussions, the choir, occasional Adult RE, and so on.  The idea behind small group ministry is to provide that kind of small group experience on a more general basis, for anyone who wants it..

     Many people find their experiences in small groups to be among the most meaningful and spiritually satisfying.  Small group ministry is designed to foster that kind of experience.  The model I’ll be proposing involves groups of eight to twelve that meet approximately twice a month, with a structure that encourages deep sharing and a level of group intimacy that is just not possible in a Sunday morning service or social hour.

     Here are some of the comments from participants in one congregation’s program:  “Small Group Ministry is the spiritual development group that I’ve been hoping to find for a long time... [it] has re-connected me to the church community... [it] helps me build personal relationships...  [it] goes beyond the coffee hour... [it] has helped me to be excited about Sunday and going to church... [and] It’s fun!”  I promise you that you’ll hear more about this in the Fall.

     So that’s a glimpse of some of what will be coming up in the near future here at UUFCC. In responding to the question, “So what now?”, I think it’s appropriate to think ahead, have some goals, make some plans.  Planning, like so many other things, is good – but not if done too compulsively, to excess.  In the interest of freedom and creativity, it’s always good to leave some room for surprise, for the unexpected, for grace.

    In the book, The Art of Pilgrimage, Phil Cousineau quotes theologian Rebecca Armstrong’s recollection of a lecture by Joseph Campbell.  She writes:

    “After the lecture he was besieged by those who had pressing individual questions for him...  A woman in her late thirties or early forties approached Joe and, speaking very rapidly, with great emotion began to outline her plan for going to Greece to ‘find the spirit of the goddess that you spoke of tonight.’  She pulled out a notebook and showed Joe her itinerary.  She had made precise calculations of the best times to visit every major cultural attraction and just where and when she would make her salutations to the various deities whose statues remained.  ‘Do you think this is sufficient?’ she pressed Joe.  ‘Do you think I’ll find the spirit of the Goddess?’

    “Joe had been staring at her while a parade of mixed emotions played over his features.  Now he took her one free hand in his and with great kindness and solemnity said, ‘Dear lady, I sincerely hope that all does not go as planned.’

    “With that, he slipped into his overcoat and we left the building.  Sitting in the backseat of the car on the drive home, I could barely contain my curiosity.  Finally, mustering all the courage of my seventeen years, I leaned over the front seat and said, ‘Mr. Campbell, that woman who was going to Greece – why did you tell her you hoped things did not go as planned?’  Joe paused as if trying to sort through all the encounters of the evening, and then threw back his head and laughed with a mystic’s glee.

    “How will the gods ever find her when she has done everything in her power to make sure that they never will?!’ he exclaimed.  Then, very soberly: ‘Unless you leave room for serendipity, how can the divine enter in?  The beginning of the adventure of finding yourself is to lose your way!’

    And so, even as we set our goals and make our plans, may we always be open to the unexpected gifts of grace and serendipity.  That is to live in the present moment, to engage our immediate circumstances.  That is a feature of a successful pilgrimage.  The opening words I used last week said that “yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision; but today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.  Look well, therefore, to this day,”  that is, to this segment of the journey.

    One day a man was being chased by a ferocious tiger.  He ran until he came to a sheer cliff.  As the tiger came bearing down on him, he grabbed a rope hanging over the cliff and climbed down out of the tiger’s reach.  The man looked up and saw the tiger leering at him, waiting to devour him.  Then he looked down to see the deadly drop to the rocks five hundred feet below.  Then he looked up and saw two mice beginning to chew the rope.  What should he do?  The tiger above, the rocks below, and the rope about to break!  Just then he saw a bright red strawberry growing out of the side of the cliff.  He stretched out his hand, plucked the strawberry and popped it into his mouth.  The juices of that strawberry were so sweet that as he ate it he couldn’t contain himself.  “Delicious, that’s the best strawberry I ever tasted.”

    That is living in the moment.  May we follow that example, and be prepared to accept and appreciate the gifts and opportunities that present themselves to us unbidden along the way.  And let us remember that real life is often what happens while we’re making other plans.

    With that, I wish you an enjoyable, productive summer.  I look forward to resuming our journey, our pilgrimage, together in September.