.jpg)
Photo: Adrian L. Hilliard
My favorite season is spring! After scraping by through the winter with all its darkness and cold and quiet, and these past few weeks of gray cloudiness, it is literally rejuvenating to finally have the return of long days filled with sunlight and the warmth that it brings. To see new life shoot forth from the ground in the form of crocuses and daffodils, to have trees in bud—I hope you enjoyed the cherry blossoms—and the chirping of birds reintroduced to the world, to go outside wearing shorts and a t-shirt: all of this brings me the most profound sense of joy. The excitement in the air is overwhelming! The exuberance of the season is palpable and self-evident!
Spring is a time of births, of beginnings, of renewals. Any change in season is by definition also a time of great transition. In Unitarian Universalist congregations across the nation, ministers traditionally announce the end of their tenure with their particular congregation at this time of year. Whether departing in order to retire, to expand the scope of their ministry by doing something altogether different, or even to accept a call to ministry with a new congregation, in any of these cases a lot of institutional and personal change occurs.
There are several congregations in the Joseph Priestley district, which includes all of Maryland, that are currently “in transition”. Among them are the UU Fellowship in Easton on the Eastern Shore, the Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, and the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore. The Baltimore congregation today inaugurated what is known in UU circles as “Candidating Week” whereby the minister selected by the church’s Search Committee will get to know the members of the church and vice versa. At the end of this week of intense gatherings and discussion, the congregation will gather to vote on whether or not to call the candidate as its next minister, and the candidate will discern whether the match is right and suitable. This is very different from having the pulpit filled by appointment from a larger ecclesiastical body, as is common in many other denominations, because UU churches practice what is known as congregational polity – or home rule, meaning that each congregation is in charge of its own affairs.
What does all this have to do with spring? I’m so glad you asked! Once all of this business of Candidating is finally said and done, all of this pre-season prep work being finished, each congregation is born anew with a freshness and vigor that will keep it going through every one of its transitional seasons until it reaches its next period of rest and reflection – its next winter. Our faith and our experience tell us that after every winter comes yet another spring, and the cycle is repeated once more.
May it be so.
Comments