Dearly Beloved,

Not to be a major buzzkill, but I’ve been thinking a lot about grief and suffering lately, and you can probably guess why. There is no escape from the suffering of this life. Not for Christians, not for anyone. If there is anything I have learned from my first ten years as a pastor, it’s that each one of you carries a unique and beautiful story, and each story is laced with both joy and suffering. And so many of your stories begin like this: “I never imagined this would happen to me…” Suffering is never part of our plan. 

So we often try to escape the suffering -- convincing ourselves that if we just cut and run, we can surely find a place where the grass is greener, the deal is sweeter, and life is easier. Other times we try to numb it, so we keep pouring the wine, keep scrolling, keep buying, keep eating, and thereby we bypass a chance at growth. For the caterpillar to become a butterfly, she must first let herself disintegrate into absolute mush inside the safety of the cocoon. She must die to her old life before rising to the sky.

Most importantly, the cross teaches us there is only One suffering. Whenever we suffer, we participate in the One suffering of Christ -- the God who was, and is, and will always be close at hand when we are in pain. And this pain, as we learn through the holy scriptures, is always transformed. God promises a rainbow after the flood. God promises resurrection after death. Our suffering will not be erased, but it will be transformed, either in this life or the next. Ultimately, all things will integrate into Love: this is the dynamic of salvation.

Much heart, 
Rev. Anna

​

Dearly Beloved,

Your church misses you. Who would have thought 15 months ago, that it would be this long until our greeters would swing open the doors to our sanctuary again on a Sunday morning? I am dreaming of greeting you all again face-to-face. What a celebration it will be on July 4, 2021 when we come back together in person at our 9 AM and 11 AM services! Between services, we will be having a time of fellowship outside with popsicles and single-serving drinks for all.

On July 4th, you will have 3 different options to join us in worship. You may join us at either of our two indoor worship services at 9 AM or 11 AM. Alternatively, you may join our 11 AM service online as we stream live from our sanctuary to our website, to our Facebook page, to our Youtube channel, and to our Twitch channel. To find any of these online options on Sunday morning or afterwards, you can simply type uccaustin.org/live into your search bar. There will no longer be a 10 AM service.

Your In-Person Team has worked so hard to create the best possible in-person worship experience for you -- one that is safe, comfortable, and accommodates the number of people we anticipate returning to our building. They have also had to continually adapt their plans as the situation on the ground changes. Most recently, given several changing variables, they, along with your Council’s approval, have decided the best way for us to foster social distancing will be for us to move to two nearly identical indoor services at 9 AM and 11 AM, rather than trying to temporarily remove and store our pews. This means we will be asking you to social distance yourselves, keeping 6 feet between you and those next to you in the pews, and doing your best to stagger yourselves front-to-back so that there is six feet of distance between you vertically. We encourage our 11 AM worshippers to consider attending our 9 AM service to spread out our numbers, and we hope to foster that by making the two services very similar.

Two weeks ago we held a Town Hall meeting for those interested in learning more about our plan for coming back together. If you missed that Town Hall, you can go to our website at uccaustin.org/indoorworship. In short, you will be asked to mask, social distance, and refrain from singing for the time being. Our Nursery Care and Sunday School will be on hold for now, but two vaccinated children’s volunteers will be available to take children outside after the children’s sermon. Hymn lyrics and prayer responses will be on two flat screens hung on the pillars on either side of the sanctuary. Bulletins will, therefore, be optional but accessible on your mobile device. We will continue to use single-serve communion for now and refrain from passing the offering plates. 

We return to worship as different people. Worship too will look a little different. Our practices will continue to evolve, however, as the situation evolves, and especially as our many children become vaccinated. If there is anything we have learned from the last 15 months, it is how to adapt. So thank you for your grace and understanding as we prayerfully balance your need to be together, to worship God, to be safe, and to feel comfortable.

Much heart,
Rev. Anna

​

​Dearly Beloved,

Even though most of you have not yet returned to our physical sanctuary, there are SO MANY big and great things going on here right now that I don't know where to begin: VBS, Youth Mission Trip, Town Halls, Updated Website, Congregational Meeting, Playground Planning, building updates... but let me aknowledge first that even good change is change, and change can be hard.

Church, you have done amazing and hard things with such grace the last 14 months while we have been physically apart. Now we are doing the hard work to come back together, but we are not the same people we were before. We may go back to our sanctuary, but there is, dearly beloved, no going back to before.

When you come back, worship is going to look different. There will be cameras, screens and digital bulletins. For the time being, to foster social distancing, and especially while are children are not vaccinated, we will be using chairs. We won't be singing together just yet. Plates will not be passed around.

So we ask you to arrive at worship in July early, filled with grace, and with an open mind, knowing that everything we are doing is in the great prayerful effort to balance your comfort and safety. Also keep in mind that our worship practices will continue to change and evolve with time, the guidance of the CDC, and with the vaccination availabillity to all ages.

We also want you to know that if you choose to continue to worship with us online, you are not a second-class church member. We are doing everything we can to fully include you in our worship services. On Sunday mornings, simply go to uccaustin.org/live to view our worship service on our website, or click the buttons to view our services on Facebook or Youtube where you can interact in the comment box. You do not need a Facebook account or a Youtube account to view our public livestream on either one of those platforms. Thank you for your understanding that we unfortunatley will no longer be able to also manage a zoom room on top of our livestream platforms and in-service technology.

For all the information about our coming back together plan, please go to uccaustin.org/indoorworship.

I hope to see you at our town hall Sunday after worship and our Congregational Meeting next Sunday, and on July 4th, either in-person or online.


Much heart,
Rev. Anna

​Dear friends,

On May 18th, at our executive council meeting, the recommendations for In-Person practices were approved! What does this mean? Well, it means our church doors are going to start opening more and more for various activities, including hybrid worship in July.

On Sunday, June 13th, we will have a zoom town hall meeting after worship, where we will hold space for anyone to ask questions about our coming together in-person plan. While a lot is packed into one plan, we thought we would take the time to highlight 3 specific things that were included, based on feedback from the congregational survey.
1)    Masks. Inside the building, those over 2 years of age and without a precluding medical condition will be asked to wear a mask that covers the mouth and nose. Masks will be provided for those without. One fully vaccinated worship leader at a time may remove their mask when speaking (or singing) on the chancel but must put it back on when not speaking or singing. 
2)    Children and youth volunteers. Any volunteers working with youth and children must be fully vaccinated. If you are not fully vaccinated but want to volunteer with children or youth, we will be happy to find other ways that you can contribute that don’t involve contact with children.
3)    Seating. Pews will be temporarily moved out of the sanctuary to allow for better social distancing. As a temporary solution for seating, we will use our metal folding chairs and the blue choir chairs. We ask that the blue choir chairs be reserved for those with mobility issues. Households will be asked to leave two empty chairs on either side of their household. Up to 50 worshippers may sit in the sanctuary, additional seating can be provided in the fellowship hall if needed.

To take a look at the full recommendations for returning safely to in person worship, go to https://www.uccaustin.org/indoorworship.html. We look forward to discussing this in more detail during our town hall meeting on the 13th. 

Blessings,
Meghan Trout   

​Wayfaring:
A Poem for Trinity Sunday by Pat Bennett

God be the road on which you travel:
She the mountains
on which you are tested and challenged
He the wells
at which you find healing and peace.

Christ be the light by which you travel:
He the vision
which informs and enlarges you
He the lodestar
shining in your darkest nights.

The Spirit inspire you as you travel:
She the restlessness
driving you onwards
She the stillness
leading you to the heart of God.

The Trinity, the Three,
go with you as you travel;
and may your journey
begin
continue
and end
in the One.